On to eating in MO

And then there was Springfield, MO. Oh wow !
We had to "park" there in Springfield because the truck had to have a different kind of hook-up installed. This was a good thing. While we were parked, there was an enormous thunderstorm with gallons of rain. The trailer leaked...and the seller was able to send a fix it man to fix it. He was awesome. Named "Waco"....you can guess where he hailed from. He rocked it. Fixed the shower stall that you could get into but not out of....fixed the leaks, fixed the fridge door that did not lock. He was awesome.
Next door....literally steps from the door of the trailer, was a place called "Lamberts...home of the throwed rolls". And, yes, they "throwed" their rolls. Like Pete's Place, they had all you could eat fare. Order a main dish and they would bring around fried taters with onions, fresh rolls ( if you dont catch one, they keep throwin' them  until you do ) macaroni with maters and sweet peppers, fried okra and you cannot eat all they bring. Wow.
I cant wait till we are on the road again......

Nope....did not order them

No....we did not order the "lamb fries". The wonderful thing about this restuarant is that it comes with so many freebies. The fresh, hot baked bread, the anti-pasto, the salad, the spagetti, ravioli, the meatballs...all of which are "endless". You can order just the spagetti plate ( which includes all of the above, in endless quantities ) or add an entre.
What is rather sad, in my mind, is that the quality of the sauce on all the above items SUCK. Maybe I am just used to fresh herbs and spices or maybe my hubby's Noni was just a better cook.
The waitress was shocked ( shocked, I tell ya !!) that we did not want take-out boxes. Ummm, no. She even told us that "Reba" came there often. Makes me sad that folks think this is good Italian food. Have no idea how they have stayed in business this long, if it were not for the " all you can eat" feature. Seriously.
Got a t-shirt anyway. Interesting, if nothing else.

Maybe its time....

...to start blogging again.
So much has happened. Loki died in my arms and I miss him. A Pom who didnt know he was the smallest dog in the house.
We bought a travel trailer....and maybe that makes us trailer trash...not sure.
We got a new (used) truck to pull it and put 1400 miles on it the first week we had it. Discovered a leak in the trailer and the seller fixed it while we were camped in MO.
I am looking forward to seeing this country and will post when I can while we travel. I have seen so much of this world in Europe and Asia and so little of the USA.
Excited and a bit scared...but looking forward to the journey.
So far we have had some luck with the food, if not the lodging on the way to pick up the trailer.
A place called "Pete's Place" in Krebs, OK. Open since 1925. Italian, or so they say. The place for "lamb fries"....which is the same as "mountain oysters" except these "fries" are thin sliced, batter dipped and fried.
"cough"
Did not know this ( and had not ordered them ) until an older  gentleman, he reminded me of my Dad, got a look on his face that can only be described as rhapsodic, told us about them.

Silence is......

....really quiet. Not to say, that with 5 dogs it is ever truly quite, butt without any cable it is more still than I am used to. I had no idea how quiet it could be.

I put the TV on in the morning just to hear the weather ( mostly another human voice ) or the "breaking news", whatever that entails. I have it on, just for the noise.

The cable went out on Thursday, last week. It was fixed today. This has been a blessing in disguise. Silence is hard to handle if you have not asked for it.

Yesterday our Pastor gave a message on prayer, on how we dont make time for it...on how the shortest distance between ourselves and God is from our knees to the ground. How we need to forgive those we see as having damaged or hurt us. On just letting it go.

When I talked to Msgr. Collatta on Ash Wednesday about my other failures when it came to Lenten sacrifices,  he told me to give up anger. I almost fainted. I cannot think, nor could I then, of something harder to give up. Not just anger at family ( the easiest to  be angry with ) or others of our faith or others of our state or country.....but ALL anger. OMGoodness....seriously ?

And oh, how I have failed. I do not remember being this angry at so many for so little in my entire life. Go ahead and say there is no "evil" entity....I beg to differ.

Pleased....and mortified

Today I watched Barrack Hussain Obama take the oath of office of the President for the second time. I am grateful that we have a continuation of power that was not marred by violence. I am grateful to live in this nation and I love it.

I am sickened that this man was elected, not once but twice and that his "faith" in God is so occasional  and his faith in this country is so conditional. I hate all that he stands for and all that he espouses as his beliefs. He  is NOT Christian ; not as I understand Christianity. He is not a lover of America...at least not the America I grew up loving and beliving in. He is not even close to anyone I would have voted for....and yet.....he is standing in front of this entire country proclaiming his love for it. The next 4 years will give proof to what he has already begun...which is the shredding of the Constitution.

I pray for him wisdom and knowledge and love of country. I do not think he has it in him although I do know God Himself coud enlighten him. I do believe he wants this country to be socialist........do you ? While I am pleased this affair of State went without issues.....I am sickened that Obama is still POTUS.

Think on this.

God help us all

I only miss two things about "city living"

There is not much I miss about living on an island only 45 miles around with almost a million people on it. I do NOT miss hearing my neighbor in the shower, doing whatever he does and listening to it.  The houses are so close its embarrassing. I do not  miss being in traffic for over an hour to go 16 miles. I do NOT miss having to fly whenever we want to go somewhere other than that cursed  island. Matter of fact, I HATED living in Hawaii ; paradise my sorry white ass. Hated it. From the moment I got there -  that was in '71 -  till the day I left and that was only in '09. Hated it. With the exception of the fast food...(and yes, these are fast food in Hawaii  ..  Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Portuguese ...etc )   available....that I do miss.

 I sincerely do not miss that hot mess that is the " Peoples Republic of Hawaii ". It is as communist - or Facist - depending on your politcal stance,  a state as you can get, outside of Cuba.  ( That is one of  Odumbo's 57 states, right ??) Democraps control the state and I hated that. There is no " 2 party "thing there. If you are not a Democrap, you have little chance of being big in politics in Hawaii.  That being said, there are two things I do miss.  ( I know, the food makes it three ).

I definately miss garbage trucks that pick up stuff in front of my house. I hate having to slog my nasty,stinking stuff down the mountain for pick up. I hate having to lift all that smelly, drippy stuff into my car. I hate having to try and  find an empty bin and lift all this stuff into a hole that has two kinds of locks ( bears are smart critters and can open most garbage bins if they dont lock more than one way ) and try and shove said bags in , while holding said doors open....good luck with that one.

I also miss USPS mail delivery, to my door. Sigh. What a simple thing it is...yet huge. Imagine wondering if your driveway is too slick with ice to get out and if its ok, wondering if the "street" is clear enough to drive without the dreaded " fishtail" action. Always interesting...if not downright terrifying.

All things considered....I am in paradise now....and I am (mostly) "Lovin' it ".

Mostly....

Mysteries from the frozen depths.....

I am not talking about things frozen in my yard...although there could be some of those too. Nay, nay dear friend, these are things closer to home, in a manner of speaking. Ok... way too close in, all honesty.

I have found some things that I cannot identify, frozen beyond recognition. I am pretty sure they are either flora or fauna, animal or vegetable and not mineral. They have no smell and cannot be recognized as to origins. They do not frighten me. I have children and grandchildren, so frightening me is not easy.  These things were (operative word being "were") in my standup freezer, ensconced in Tupperware ( or one of  its cheaper sisters ).

Let me just say, right here, right now, that for the most part I am not a fan of left-overs. There are a few exceptions....cold pizza, stroganoff, fried chicken ( all gladly eaten, as is, from the fridge ). Not much else.

My beloved sees things differently. He loves anything he can eat which counts as a left-over, as close to the "food posioning" date as possible. Where I look to see, if whatever is in said Tupperware has changed either color or life-form, John smells it.

Being the Gentleman he is, he always asks me if I want to smell it too. *cough* NO, I DO NOT WANT TO SMELL IT. Nor do I want to smell anything else of questionable history...this includes socks and other "things" that might just be spoiled and / or dirty. NO, just NO.

Which brings me to another of my beloved's endearing habits. He thinks its "interesting" to freeze things without labels. He thinks its "fun" to defrost something, not knowing what it is, for dinner. I am not that amused by this. And today, I cleaned out both the indoor freezer and the one in the garage. I have found many "interesting" things and at least the ones that could be generally identified or classified...sorta....  are all on one shelf ( in the outdoor freezer, thank you very much ), awaiting my love's attention. The ones to which I had no clue are gone.

Personally, I would rather eat Ramen noodles.

Pom pajama party

I dont like sleeping alone. When John is gone, the girl Poms get to share the bed. I do draw the line when it comes to the Rotties and our male Pom, Loki. He has a tendency to "claim" things and for him the bed is not one of those options. The Rotts are just too big, too heavy and they both snore.

One would think a Cali-King bed would be big enough to share with 2 Pomeranians. It is not. Lady always claims the little cave between John's pillows and mine and its not her face she points toward me. Bikki claims John's spot or sleeps on top of his pillows. Until Lady moves...then its a round robin. Bikki does not lie down gently..she sorta slams herself into you, then rolls onto her back. She is a big girl, as Poms go, and her "snuggling" will wake you.

If I happen to get up in the middle of the night for water or whatever, they move to opposite corners of the bed and wait patiently for my return. Then we start over.....

Lady and Bikki seem pretty well rested come morning ...wish I could say the same!

Oh happy day!!

I am not one of those who has an easy time asking for help. Personally, I would rather chew nails than to send out an SOS. I dont know why...I never mind helping out when asked but it makes me crazy admitting there is something I cant handle.Which is not the same as saying I can handle everything that comes my way...quite the opposite. It is the admission of failure or weakness that bothers me. Or it is pride.....

What  I have been blessed with, since we moved here, are friends like I have never had before. In Cindy I have a friend who listens and understands all the drama and trauma that comes with being a Mother and Grandmother. She does not judge or condemn. She will pray with me and for me and I love her for that. When I told her about the ATV breakage she told her husband, Tom. She called to tell me he was coming over (?!?) to take a look at it.

Tom took one look at it, got out the right tools ( who knew you needed a ratchet to tighten the dang thing ?) and had the shovel fixed in less than 20 minutes. John had been telling me " call Tom" and I had resolutely REFUSED.  I know how busy both our friends are and the last thing I wanted to be was a pain in the posterior. I did not want to be seen as the helpless, hopeless wretch I truly am.

The Lord knows me well.....and has in His abundant Grace, gifted me with friends that are more valuable than gold. Thank you Lord, for giving me what I could never have asked for and for seeing to my needs even when I am too proud to say I need help.

I pray I am able to repay the kindness, some day in some way.

Am I having fun yet ????

The answer to that would be a resounding NO!! John hasn't even been gone a week yet and the excitement has already started.

At about 7am this morning the snow and wind started. Wind blowing snow upside down and sideways,sounding mostly like a freight train and dying to a low growl. Snow blowing every which way except down. Drifts mounting and husband saying " dont let it get too deep before you plow".

Ok, no problem. I dress in my Michelin man snowsuit that covers me from neck to ankles. Add to that a pull on cap, scarf and gloves. Sunglasses...to protect not from the sun but from the blowing ice particles. Boots that fit Zack and two pair of socks. So far so good. *cough* Cute too.....or not.

I climb onto our trusty ( sure it is ) ATV and out into the elements I go. I get the path shoveled that  I need to get out of the garage and onto the street. I go to push the last bit of snow blocking the driveway out of the way, rewind the shovel and start to back down the drive when SNAP....the cable that holds the shovel in the "up"position breaks. Its ok, thinks I to myself, I can still make it back into the garage.

I back into the garage with said shovel still in the "down" position and it pulls up part of the grate covering the drain pipe in front of the garage door. Said grate turns into an elbow macaroni and bends in half. Ok, says I to self, if its that easy to bend up, I can bend it down. Wrong. That sucker snapped like a potato chip. Still, got ATV into the garage, thinking I can fix this puppy.

Back to the broken cable. John says its just a thingy that needs unscrewing and that the cable then needs to be rethreaded . Got it unscrewed. Went to shove the cable back through the thingy and tried to rescrew it. Ha, Ha, Ha. Apparently I dont have the strength to screw it back in AND the cable is tangled and will not unwind. John says call for help. I dont like calling for help.

It is times like this I think I will just stay here in the house till John gets back in two weeks. I have coffee, cream for coffee and plenty of food...dog and human. It's that or move to the condo...which is looking more enticing by the minute. Providing I can drive the car out over the grate.

Staying put is sounding better and better.

Organized ? Well, I try....

One would think that when I am the only human living in this house, that it would be spotless and well organized. It's not.

I do manage to keep the laundry washed, the dishes done and the bed made. Actually, I can gage my mood by making the bed...if I do it well, I am feelin' good. If its a half hearted job, I am probably a bit low on the energy/motivation side. If I look at the bed and know I am not going to make it, the temptation is to climb right back in and pull the covers over my head.

With 5 dogs it is just not possible climb back into bed. Come dawn, whether that be just after 4am in the summer or closer to 7am  in winter, its "going outside to do our business" time. It is  impossible to ignore them. The two males are the worst. Loki ( a pom with a collapsing trachea ) starts coughing and Stryker takes an interest in grooming himself in areas best left unmentioned. The sound of this alone is enough be bring me gagging off the bed at a bound.....

I am not the sort to spend my days polishing and shining and whipping my dustrag at every mote in sight. Truth be told, there are tuffs of dog hair drifting in the corners and dust on the furniture as I type.  I do keep things relatively neat, relatively straight but organized I am not and its not for lack of trying, in a half-hearted but hopeless sort of way.

Every few months I have to reorganize the pantry or the shelves in the garage or my closet and I am the reason they keep getting messy. I know, in my head, that if I put that can of soup on the right shelf, with its brethren, the pantry will stay neater, longer. Doesnt mean I do it and I really don't know why.

It seems like a battle with myself that I am constantly losing. Entropy and his brother chaos are my constant companions and I dont much like them but at least they are familiar. Ah well.....I will continue to try and fight the good fight - or curl up on the couch with a good book.  I am pretty sure the dust will still be there tomorrow but for now, I need to go make that bed.

There is cold, then there is .....

Oh my. When we moved here I thought it was cold in winter. Which, truth be told, it was. What I have discovered, moving into year 3, is that everything is relative.

The first year I kept the house hovering in the 80's and the heating bill was over a thousand buckaroos a month. That first summer never saw me unpack one tank top or pair of shorts. I could have gone the entire year ( had John not been here at least half the time ) and never shaved a leg because nobody, save the dogs, ever saw them.

By year 2 I did unpack shorts and wore tank tops, albiet under other shirts...flip flops (aka "slippas") were still under the radar.

Last summer I actually did wear both shorts and tanks when it was "broiling" here in the low to mid 80's.

What I have discovered is how tiny the comfort zone is for us humans. I have gotten ok with temps in the 30's and 40's ( not in shorts ) but when the temps plunge under freezing, into the minus zone, its not cute. Even the dogs are not ok with it. They, long of coat and warm of body, do their business and  want back into the house.

I do not understand how those people of long ago lived in tents, when the wind is howling and the water freezes on contact with anything. How did they survive in animal skins with only a sputtering fire to warm them ?

I am still in awe of the birds who continue to frequent the feeder, even in the worst weather. I dont know how they manage....but I am grateful and feel blessed to have a furnace that works and a fireplace for the worst days and very glad I am not a bird.

Maybe now I can speak......

The last year has been a hard one. I lost my Dad and I am not the only one who has lost loved ones in this family. I have had a thousand, thousand words to speak and have been speechless. Sometimes, when the heart is wounded, only the Holy Spirit can speak for you, to the Father. Maybe to others, also.

I lost my Dad in 2012. As an only child, whose Mother and Grands have passed, this had been more than difficult. It has been unspeakable. See above.

It has also been a time of the Lord's gifts.....of Jacob ( our first Wyman male, thank you Lord ), of Ezra (thank you again Lord for blessing his mother with health after several frightening days of fever in the hospital) , of Joseph ( after terrifying days of pneumonia and lung leasions in the NICU )...... of SIL Joseph coming home from Afganistan and SIL Thomas from the Phil. We do pray, Lord, that they may be absolved, both in their waking and sleeping, and find peace.

Also in this year, I have read the worst book I have ever read, been blessed with good books, have a son who reads and can forward titles and authors and understands what I do not ( hellooooooo.....serious SCI/FI  vs the light stuff ....)   Wish I could just watch the TEE/VEE butt I cannot. I do NOT want, ever, any kind of "digital" reader. Just send me a book, TYVM.

I do promise to try and articulate what I am thinking and feeling....
Wish me luck,
Janna