We Dodged A Bullet

 We dodged a big bullet last night.  The first round of bad storms missed us, and the second round hit us but it was earlier than the weatherazzi had predicted.  It was pretty bad for about half an hour, with tornado warnings all around us.  But once again, we were safe here in our little spot close to the Ohio River.  We didn't get any of the big hail, either.  

Now to get ready for the monsoon that is supposed to start Wednesday.  As of yesterday morning, the weatherazzi are predicting 6 - 7 inches of rain.  Wish us luck. 

Batten Down The Hatches

 The weatherazzi is calling for big ass storms tonight.  Unfortunately, the Ville is right in the center of the most severe weather, calling for tornadoes and hail.  In Kansas, this storm has already produced 2.5 inch hail.  Hunker down and remember to keep your cell phone charged up today.  

Flashback Friday

 The Old Man and I were watching an episode of MASH the other day.  Col. Blake's wife mailed him her cancelled checks and check stubs, for him to reconcile the checking account for her. That immediately made me think of what happened to cancelled checks?

Of course, the obvious answer is today's technology.  But I remember back in the day when your bank or credit union would mail you the cancelled checks that you wrote in the previous month.  I realize that there is a generation (or two) today that have no idea what I am talking about.  I can vividly remember my Grandmother and Mother at the kitchen table with their checkbook registers (another thing that has gone by the way) and going over the cancelled checks to reconcile their checking account.  And when I had my first checking account, I did the same thing until everything went online.  Today's generation are lucky to have all of this taken care of for them. 

Play Ball

 Today is the Old Man's favorite day of the year - MLB opening day.  I printed out the Reds schedule for the season in a spreadsheet for him to keep track of the games and more importantly, of their wins and losses.  In keeping with our opening day tradition, we will be wearing Reds t-shirts and have ballpark food for supper: hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn and a good cold beer.   Go Reds. 

Welcome Sunny D

A month ago, our neighbors lost their awesome and gorgeous rooster, Duke.  Things were quiet around The Compound until this morning.  As I was walking out to the garage to leave for my BSF group, I heard a rooster crow.  It sounded very very close. I knew immediately it wasn't from the farm a few houses down.  This afternoon, I was happy to find that one of the neighbor's chickens passed adolescence and is a full-fledged rooster.  His crow was music to my ears.  Welcome, Sunny D.   

Updates From The Compound

 The Old Man is happy today - first, because he is over his nasty cold he had for a week, and second, because MLB opening day is on Thursday.  I just printed out the Reds schedule spreadsheet that he follows every game, and we have provisions for our traditional opening day supper - hot dogs and nachos.  It's on.  Now it's just up to the Reds to win.  

What A Great Day This Is

 What a great day this is!!! First of all, the Old Man is over his cold and feels great.  Second, the sun is shining and no rain in the forecast today.  Thirdly, I got my first Social Security "check" today.  Life is good. 

Updates From The Compound

 I am happy to report once more that the Old Man is feeling and sounding better.  I just asked him and he said that other than feeling drained from being sick this week, he feels pretty good.

An update on my Crazy Daisies pictures:  production is still going strong to build up inventory for the April 12 craft bazaar.  Today's project is to screw in cup hooks on a 3-foot piece of 1-by-4 so I can have a way to display the banners.  Stay tuned. 

Flashback Friday

When I was growing up in the 60's (damn, that sounds old) stores and gas stations in our area would give their customers Top Value stamps.  Some stores here gave out S & H Green stamps, but in keeping with the family tradition, we only saved Top Value.

When Dad would put gas in the car, the attendant handed him Top Value stamps.  When we bought groceries, the cashier would give us stamps from a dispenser that sat beside the cash register.  When Mom and Grandma changed purses, a few Top Value stamps would fall out, stuck to a Kleenax or a Certs wrapper. When I would go with my family to get gas or groceries, if I behaved and didn't act up in the store, I would get the stamps.  That was incentive enough to be on my best behavior.  As soon as we would get home, I would run and get the cigar box from underneath my bed that held the priceless stamp books, and the pasting would begin.  I still remember what was at the top of each page - "Paste one single stamp in each of the fifty blocks on this page or paste one Top Value 50 here."  The coveted 50's!! I usually had singles, but they all added up.  I remember how if I didn't move fast enough, the stamps would start to dry after I licked them, and then I'd have to get the glue. You had to be very careful when using the glue, because it would seep through the little perforations on the stamps and before you knew it, you'd glue the pages together. 

When I thought I had "enough" books, Mom and Grandma would take me to the Top Value catalog store, where I could buy something with my books of stamps.  The store clerk carefully inspected the books, counting points per page to catch any attempts to defraud Top Value.  I still have one item I bought with my books of stamps - a shiny copper cookie press. 

Shopping with stamps wasn't the only way to acquire sixtie's era stuff without paying for it.  We had a set of drinking glasses from the gas station whose value rested on the number of gallons purchased.  At today's prices, they should hand out Bacarat crystal.  And we owned quite a few towels that were included in boxes of Breeze detergent, so happily advertised by Dolly Parton on "The Porter Waggoner Show."  People went after this stuff the way kids paw to the bottom of a box of Cracker Jacks looking for "the prize."

I like remembering that I was once so young that my most immediate goal in life was to fill five books of Top Value stamps.  I'd like for things to be that simple again, even for just a little while. 

Update From The Compound

 I am happy to report that the Old Man is feeling much, much better this morning.  He had a good night's sleep, and even slept in a bit.  More good news to report: so far, I haven't caught his cold. 

Update From The Compound

 It's been a rough week here at The Compound, faithful readers.  The Old Man caught a cold, and has been sneezing and coughing since Monday morning.  I knew he was feeling bad when he willingly and quickly took the first does of cold meds I gave him.  He hasn't had a fever, and I am happy to say his coughing has reduced bigtime since Monday.  As I type this, he is dozing in his recliner.  I hope he will have a good long restful nap. 

Stay tuned. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Top o' the mornin' to you, ladds and lasses!  Here's one of my all-time favorite jokes, that just happens to be an Irish joke.

Paddy O'Bryan was not home at his usual hour, and his wife Kathleen was fuming, as the clock ticked later and later. Finally, about 3:00 AM she heard a noise at the front door, and as she stood at the top of the stairs, there was her husband, drunk as a skunk, trying to navigate the stairs.

"Do you realize what time it is?" she said.

He answered, "Don't get excited, I'm late because I bought something for the house."

Immediately her attitude changed, and as she ran down the stairs to help him, she said, "What did you buy for the house, dear?"

His answered, "A round of drinks!"

Flashback Friday

 As I was working on my bottle cap pictures yesterday, I glanced down at table and saw my glue gun resting in an aluminum pie pan  I couldn't help but think of Gram.  

Heaven forbid if you threw away a pie pan or smaller pot pie pan - she had a special spot in a cabinet for those so she could reuse them.  I would use the small pot pie pan for melting butter on the stove to pour over popcorn.  And if my old memory is right, I'm pretty sure she even washed out and saved aluminum TV dinner trays, too.  I remember her putting leftovers in the trays and putting them in the freezer to make her own TV dinners.  

I know you can still find the aluminum pie pans,  but gone are the days of the pot pie pans and the TV dinner trays.  They were helpful while they lasted. 

Welcome Spring, Not So Much

We have had high pollen alerts here in the Ville for the past three days.  And not surprisingly, for the past three days I have been coughing and sneezing.  I don't have a fever, and last night even used a Covid test and was negative.  So I am chalking this week's ailment to allergies and the pollen.  I don't feel bad - just sneezing and a bit of coughing, thank goodness. 

Stay tuned. 

Update From The Compound

 I am happy to report that it got up to 78 degrees yesterday, with nothing but sunshine.  The weatherazzi is calling for the same today.  I am just happy that there is no snow or rain. 

The Old Man aka The Boss is on me hot and heavy to keep cranking out the painted bottle caps and pictures.  I'm glad he feels spunky enough to encourage me to keep on keeping on on my crafts.  For that, I am happy. 

Update From The Compound

 Unfortunately Neighbor Nick wasn't able to fix our front storm door Friday.  So Saturday morning, he set out to Lowes and then to Home Depot, but they both didn't have the assembly we needed. So he did the next best thing:  Amazon.  He was able to find the locking mechanism that was sticking, and I ordered it and it will be here in a few days and then he will have us ready to go.  In the meanwhile, he put the old mechanism back in.  This means that the door sticks and nobody inside or out can get in, so we are safe.

Stay tuned. And I am still thankful for our great neighbors. 

Easy Like Sunday Morning

 I've been crazy busy the past few days since I amped up my bottle cap flower production to get ready for the craft bazaar in a little over a month.  If I'm not fixing something for us to eat or cleaning up a mess in the kitchen, I'm painting and gluing.  I'm taking it easy this morning and am relaxing and reading until our church service comes on.  After church, I'll be back at it again.  As the Old Man says, the bottle caps aren't going to paint themselves. 

Ohio Valley Weather Update

 Well, we had a couple of hours of light snow last night after supper.  That's all I got to say.

Wow. Just. Wow

 We had a high wind advisory yesterday, and it continues till tonight.  Yesterday around lunchtime, I went out on the front porch to get a package that Amazon had just delivered.  The package was right by the door so I just stepped out on the porch while holding the door open with my foot.  A huge gust of wind came through, blowing the door open as far as it would go, causing it to slam into a heavy long concrete flower box on the porch.  Believe me when I tell you it was nothing short of a miracle that the glass in the storm door didn't break - it knocked the concrete flower box about a foot and a half, almost knocking it off into the yard.  

The wind is still heavy today. But we have battened down all of the hatches.  We're good for now. 

Apologies

 I apologize for no posts for the past few days.  Other than being busy painting bottle caps, I have no excuse. 

I will say one thing today - we have a high wind warning from now until tomorrow evening, and I am thankful that Neighbor Nick had the two big trees between our two houses all trimmed down a few months ago.  Not having to worry about limbs from those old trees fall on my house is a big relief. 

Flashback Friday

 I remember when I was a kid, Gram would make sure nobody in the house threw away an empty coffee can.  She had one on the counter top close to the stove, and she would pour grease into it after frying bacon, chicken, etc.  Grandpa would use the empty coffee cans out in the garage for nails, screws, bolts, etc.  Grandpa made me "stilts" using two of the cans with rope handles on them to hold onto.  I will go on record and say that I could walk much better on the coffee can stilts than I could on the wooden stilts he also made me.  But I digress.  Coffee cans can be difficult to find these days.  The coffee I buy at GFS is a big can, and I'm thankful that I saved a couple of the cans, because now GFS coffee comes in a recyclable cardboard box.  As soon as I open a new box of coffee, it goes straight into the big coffee can.  And I have a smaller can by the stove for grease, just like Gram.