What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread) Showing 3,651-3,700 of 8,509

[Jim]

Now that's the way to hold a Memorial service. I want them to do that at mine, too. I've had a good life - celebrate it.

[Nina]

Good pictures Jim. Who took them? Rascal is a beauty.

[Nina]

Joy, your aunt's funeral sounds a bit like when we attended my husband's aunt's funeral in Milwaukee. Never like that in Kansas City. I liked the way it was done there and so hope you do have a nice time seeing old relatives and new.

[Jim]

Thanks! Marg & I took them, Nina. You'll notice one or the other of us wasn't in them.

[Nina]

They are interesting to see the horses with one another. Was Erin always on a horse from the time she was little? My daughter Megan got her first horse when she was fourteen; she is fifty two and has not been without one or two ever since. When she was in high school we lived in the suburbs but her horse was at a stable not far from us so she was able to ride almost every day; so was I.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "Now that's the way to hold a Memorial service. I want them to do that at mine, too. I've had a good life - celebrate it."

I'm home now from visiting my sister and going to my Aunt's memorial services, which included:
1. a gathering at the funeral home (no casket, just photos)
2. a mass at the church
3. a gathering at a clubhouse with full buffet, a D.J. and dancing.

I'm wondering if this is a new trend, having a party after a solemn gathering. I'm all for it. After all, the events where we see the most relatives are usually weddings and funerals. I think it's wonderful to be able to re-connect in a festive way with long-lost cousins and their children, whom we haven't ever met. So much love is re-newed at events like this, especially between relatives who are scattered in states all around the country.

[Nina]

Well, sometimes we are told death is a celebration of life well lived so why not be surrounded by loved ones even though the host or hostess might not be present except in spirit? How old was your aunt, Joy?

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina, my aunt was 88 years old, ten years older than I am. Her daughter spoke at the church, saying that her mother loved to have company and loved preparing food for them. That was so true. There was always an abundance of homemade food wherever Aunt Anne was. Seems to me that this is a wonderful characteristic even though it's often taken for granted. After all, food is a prime ingredient of every festive occasion which brings people together.

I don't like to cook or prepare food but I sure like to eat! LOL Hurray for the cooks among us! LOL

[Jim]

Nina wrote: "They are interesting to see the horses with one another. Was Erin always on a horse from the time she was little?..."

Erin was just about born on horse back, literally. When Marg was 3 months pregnant with her, she raced in the Voss Ladies' Race.

At 7 months pregnant, James' pony was misbehaving, so Marg hopped on it. It bucked & I came home to find that she'd lost the plug & had to spend the last 2 months in bed with her feet up & crossed.

Well under a year old, before she could walk, Erin crawled out the dog door - twice!!! - & we found she'd pulled herself up on her pony & was hanging on to her hind leg & tail.

At 2 or 3, we'd find her laying on top of her pony asleep. She got her first set of stitches about then. Her mounting method was to climb the fence & jump on. One time she slid too far & fell on her face on a rock. One of the many times she mounted that way, few times she fell.

We had a lot of trouble keeping her dressed & an awful time keeping shoes on her, but the worst time was getting her away from the horses. Like her mother, if she doesn't get around them on a regular basis, she gets moody, depressed, & generally unbearable. It's like a drug addiction. About as expensive, too.
;-)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

"I've often said there's nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse."
---Ronald Reagan

[Jim]

True!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Happy Easter and Happy Passover!

[Jim]

I'm having an interesting weekend. Marg left yesterday to visit Erin in Nashville. Apparently the rest of the world decided to go there, too. It took her 6 hours to make the 3 or 3.5 hour drive. Bumper to bumper the whole way.

She had one lady that was honking her horn & tailgating her, whizzed ahead of her & cut her off, then got behind her again in the mess & was being a complete jerk. Then they came to a place where a third lane opened up & the woman pulled out & flew by her. A cop pulled out & went after the woman & pulled her over. Yay!

I had a good evening, but a busy one. I got the last of our hay transferred to the horse barn. It was only 2 dozen bales, about enough for 2 weeks. Spring better show up! It's hard to get decent hay at the best of times & this is the worst time of year for it. It will be crappy & expensive. I think we'll make it, though. The horses & goats helped by grazing on the hay as I was trying to unload it. The dogs kept bouncing around to inspect each bale, too.

Then a couple who run the local Humane Society came by to pick up some bowls I'm donating for their silent auction fund raiser. We had a great time chatting. He's a woodworker, she knits, & we all love dogs, so lots in common.

I never did get in a ride, although it was a gorgeous day. It hit 60 & the ground dried up, but it got too late by the time I got everyone fed. I didn't get dinner until after 8. I FINALLY managed to start watching the new "Total Recall", but Marg called & I only got 2/3 of the way through before it was time to go to bed. I'll try to finish it at lunch today.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow & I'm getting a late start, but lots on the list. We got up quite a few times last night. I made up a new trap for the coon, but he didn't trip it. Still, the dogs kept hearing him & we went out to check twice which meant getting dressed each time since it went down to freezing last night & the dogs were bothered by Marg not being here so they kept swapping places & cuddling all night.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Hi Jim,
Hope Marg has a safe trip back.
Our family will be visiting this weekend. Old lady, Alice, the dog, arrived last night with our son. We'll be babysitting her for a while. She's having fun with Romeo. They love going out into the yard with each other. There's a good connection between them.

Hope your animals get enough good hay.

Which "Total Recall" are you referring to? You know how curious I am! LOL

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Hey folks, I'm having trouble accessing FunTrivia. Can you access the website? The link is:
http://www.funtrivia.com/
Let me know, OK?

[Nina]

HAPPY EASTER TO MY GOODREAD FRIENDS AND THEIR FAMILIES.

[Werner]

Same to you, Nina, and to all the other members of this group!

[Jim]

This is the new Total Recall:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386703/?...

This is the old one.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100802/?...

---------

Busy day today, but gorgeous. The dogs are all tired out. We got some grading done, holes filled, took a ride, weeded, & all sorts of groovy stuff. Gorgeous day once the fog cleared off.

[Nina]

Jim wrote: "I'm having an interesting weekend. Marg left yesterday to visit Erin in Nashville. Apparently the rest of the world decided to go there, too. It took her 6 hours to make the 3 or 3.5 hour drive...."And a good time was had by all. We need days like this. our weather perfect also; just small patches of snow here and there. I am waiting impatiently for the night temps to raise so I can safely start planting.

[Jim]

We need the temps to go up so the grass starts to grow faster.

It must have been a spooky day. Chip was shying all over the place tonight. About dumped me because of a ball of dead grass that was blowing just a tiny bit. We went past it at high speed sideways so he could keep his eye on it. Sheesh!

Far worse though, Mom started leading in a horse this morning & it spooked. Jumped up & over & landed on her foot. She's not sure if it's broken, but it sounds likely. At least today was their last day of hunting, so she won't miss out on that. But Mom said she might sleep in tomorrow, so called me tonight. I can't remember the last time that's happened, so it must be bad.

Mary's (her friend, same age) leg isn't doing as well as she'd hoped, either. She was the one that got kicked while riding a few weeks ago & got a compound fracture. Next weekend is the start of the steeplechase racing season, too. Both Mom & Mary usually help out at them & love watching them. Next week is the Voss race. Both Mom & Marg have ridden in the Ladies Race & all my kids have ridden in the kids' races there. A real drag.

[Nina]

Sorry to hear of the troubles. Painful, at best. I will remember both in my prayers tomorrow at Mass. Take Care. nina

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim, I hope your mom and her friend will heal quickly.

About "Total Recall", thanks for the links. While searching around, I learned the meaning of "eidetic". (Of, relating to, or marked by extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall of visual images.)(pronounced: "eye-DET-ic") Wish I had that. A friend of mine had a photographic memory. She was salutatorian of our 1951 H.S. class. Doesn't seem fair. :)

We too had gorgeous weather here on Saturday. The whole family arrived and tomorrow we're going out to eat. It's a family weekend. We celebrated my birthday. I'll be 79 year old in about a week. (Is that ME?)(Can't believe it!)(No wonder I need so many naps!) LOL

[Jim]

Happy early birthday, Joy!

Thanks, Nina.

I missed getting the damn coon again. I don't know how he managed to trip my barrel trap & still escape, but he did. Bugger. He won't even go into a Have-A-Heart trap after twice stripping it of its bait & escaping. Bugger. He's torn up several bird feeders now so we can't feed the birds in the back yard. I'll have to put my thinking cap back on.
:-(

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Thank you, Jim.

Those raccoons are so smart! Wiki says:
===================================
"Raccoons are noted for their intelligence, with studies showing that they are able to remember the solution to tasks for up to three years.
...
"Only a few studies have been undertaken to determine the mental abilities of raccoons, most of them based on the animal's sense of touch.

"In a study by the ethologist H. B. Davis in 1908, raccoons were able to open 11 of 13 complex locks in fewer than 10 tries and had no problems repeating the action when the locks were rearranged or turned upside down. Davis concluded they understood the abstract principles of the locking mechanisms and their learning speed was equivalent to that of rhesus macaques.

"Studies in 1963, 1973, 1975 and 1992 concentrated on raccoon memory showed they can remember the solutions to tasks for up to three years.

"In a study by B. Pohl in 1992, raccoons were able to instantly differentiate between identical and different symbols three years after the short initial learning phase.

"Stanislas Dehaene reports in his book The Number Sense raccoons can distinguish boxes containing two or four grapes from those containing three."

FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoons...
=========================================

[Jim]

I think this one must have some monkey in him. I have a 55 gallon barrel standing on end. The bait was over a foot down on the trigger which had to be pushed down to trip the door. I figured he'd jump down on to the trigger, fall to the bottom, & thus be 3' below the closed hatch 3' above him. Apparently not, though. There's no sign that he managed to pull the hatch open. I didn't get a great look though. It was 5am, rainy, & dark. I saw he wasn't in there, but didn't check too closely. I will a bit later when I feed the horses.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim, I think the raccoon is enjoying his battle of wits with you. LOL

[Jim]

So far he's winning.
;-)

[Werner]

Jim, so sorry to hear about Marg's foot! Hope it heals up quickly, and that she'll be as comfortable as possible in the meantime.

[Jim]

Mom's foot, Marg is in Nashville without any horses. She left them all to me.
;-)

Change in plans there, too. Marg will now be coming home this evening. I hope she has a better drive home than she did going down. She & the kids are going to Josh's mothers for Easter lunch & that's in Bowling Green, so she's an hour closer to home by that point. I doubt she'll be home in time to feed tonight, though. Lunch isn't until 1:30 Central time, so she'll lose an hour coming home since we're on Eastern time.

[Nina]

Weather; it's sixty eight degrees today. Last Sunday we had a foot of snow falling. Crazy...

[Werner]

Same wishes for your mom, Jim, and sorry I didn't read that correctly! I must have been in a hurry.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Mild temps here but it was windy today. Current temp is 44 degrees and it's raining. It's very quiet here. All the company went home except our guest, Alice the dog. Alice doesn't like rain. :)

[Jim]

We had a rainy morning, but a super afternoon. We hit 60 & I got a lot done.

No problem, Werner. I understand. I'm rushing right now since it's past bed time. Running late, though. Marg did come home tonight.

[Jim]

I just got a call from Marg. She was going to do the weekly grocery shopping & then pick me up from the Chevy dealership (My car needs work.). Then we were going to go to the John Deere place & Tractor Supply, but now says shopping is cancelled.

She was riding Rascal in the south field when Lily came out of the woods & scared him. She came off & her foot got caught briefly in the stirrup. It was just enough to pull his saddle to the side. It went under him & he took off. He wound up going through the electric fence around the ponies' paddock, then jumped a 3' log jump & went tearing around the north field. Curtis, our 89 year old neighbor to the north, saw him & came by to find Marg still on the ground, although she was struggling up at that point.

Nothing broken, but she landed hard on her rump - the right cheek - & is somewhat bruised & battered. As she says, she's too fat & old to be taking headers off horses. I haven't noticed her slowing down on the riding, though.
;-)

[Nina]

The old chliche "Always something," seems to apply here. Sorry for Marge and possibly the troublmakers.

[Jim]

We had an interesting wake up call last night just before 2am. The coon that's been raiding our bird feeders got a little too cocky & the dogs got it.

Amber, Pixie, & Lily were really doing him in before I got out there - hurriedly dressed in a robe & boots - & put an end to the fight. Pixie was horrified & ran to Marg. Lily stood off a bit, but Amber just worried him a bit more to make sure he was dead. Now we can go back to our regularly scheduled bird feeding program. Yay!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "I just got a call from Marg. ... She was riding Rascal in the south field when... her foot got caught briefly in the stirrup... Curtis, our 89 year old neighbor to the north, saw him & came by to find Marg still on the ground, although she was struggling up at that point. ..."

Wow, Jim! I hope Marg is OK. Good thing your neighbor was there to help afterwards.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "We had an interesting wake up call last night just before 2am. The coon that's been raiding our bird feeders got a little too cocky & the dogs got it.
Amber, Pixie, & Lily were really doing him i..."

Jim, what a story! I feel sorry for the raccoon. :)

[Jim]

Marg is very stiff & sore today. Slept poorly, too.

I don't know why you'd feel sorry for the coon. He had the whole outdoors to wander around in. He just kept pushing his luck after we made it clear he was unwelcome, so he got the inevitable.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: ... I don't know why you'd feel sorry for the coon. ..."

Jim, the raccoon was just doing what comes naturally. :) Remember that song?

[Jim]

No, I don't remember the song. What's its name?

Raccoons that 'naturally' beat up my bird feeders & make my dogs bark multiple times each night live unnaturally short lives. I'm mean, I know.
;-)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim, re barking dogs... our grand-dog Alice is a good girl but when I let her out during the wee hours, she starts to bark when something catches her attention. I hate that because I'm afraid she'll wake the neighbors.

About the song, here's a YouTube link to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1R1-o...
"(Annie Get Your Gun): "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly" - Betty Hutton"

[Jim]

It was definitely one of THOSE days, today. Missed sleep due to the coon, had an upgrade this morning that was a mess & spent the rest of the day not able to get anything accomplished.

Bad news on the car, but it was supposed to be ready at 4pm, so I came home, drove 30 min back to get it & found it wasn't ready & wouldn't be until tomorrow! Finally got home & the Internet service was down until 8pm.

Ugh. I'm going to bed very soon. Tomorrow has to be better!
;-)

[Jim]

Thanks for the link to the song, Joy. I've never seen that movie nor heard the song. Funny.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Good night, Jim. Sleep tight. Hope tomorrow will be better.

ORIGIN OF "SLEEP TIGHT":
"Before the days of mattresses, beds were square frames elevated from the ground, with ropes tied across in a sort of weave. It was similar to a hammock in concept. Anyway, in order to sleep well, the "mattress" couldn't sag, so the bed had to be 'tight.'"
FROM: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/r...

I actually saw an old "rope-bed" on a tour of an old homestead.
Can't remember where though.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

On the other hand, OTOH, there's this:
================================================
What is the origin of the phrase 'sleep tight'?

"It seems that tight in this expression is the equivalent of the only surviving use of the adverb tightly meaning 'soundly, properly, well, effectively'. The 20-volume historical Oxford English Dictionary labels this adverb 'now dialectal'."
FROM: http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/word...
===========================================

I like the other explanation better. :)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "Thanks for the link to the song, Joy. I've never seen that movie nor heard the song. Funny."

Hard to believe! I thought EVERYONE knew that song... everyone over 70, that is! LOL
"Annie Get Your Gun" starred Betty Hutton in 1950.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042200/
"The story of the great sharpshooter, Annie Oakley, who rises to fame while dealing with her love/professional rival, Frank Butler [played by Howard Keel]."

Ask yer mom. :)

[Jim]

I've heard of "Annie Get Your Gun" & it's been highly spoken of, but I never got around to it. Like books, there are too many movies & such out there to see them all. Marg watches a lot more TV than I do. I'm usually busy fiddling with something.

[Jim]

It was a rotten day yesterday. Besides everything else, I'm trying to make a pony out of Speedy yarn - eventually. First I have to make it out of store-bought yarn though. The first was knitted in one color & piece. It kept looking like a weiner dog. You might be able to see it here. Not sure if you need a login or not.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/libra...

This new one is crocheted & uses 3 or 4 colors. It's bigger, too. It's here:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/libra...

It was frustrating me last night. I have 2 legs done & each is 16 stitches around. The 3d leg with the same number of stitches & crochet hook, but somehow got half again as big. How the did I do that?!!! I pulled out a bunch & even restarted from scratch TWICE! Last night, I just pulled it down to the hoof, which is black & about impossible to see properly, & doubled up on a few stitches until it was the right diameter.

I got over 1/3 of the way up during Justified & then found out it was the season finale. Didn't it just start up?

Today is my Friday & it will be a good one... or else! So far it's started out rather frustratingly. We'll see though.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim, the knitted ponies are adorable. I didn't know there were such things! Thanks for the links to the pics of them.

Why is today (Thursday) your Friday?