A Little Bit of Everything: Mishmash

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We were afraid you might be getting a little lonely and bored. We sure don’t want that. Lulu suggested compiling another blog that has just a bunch of various people and places for your perusal. Oh, lucky you! It is the giving season!

I belong to several groups on Facebooks. Two I follow on a regular basis and often share my own finds. One group is called “Old Farms and Barns”. It is a wonderful group if you enjoy beautiful and unique farm and farm related pictures. My “Santa & Tractor” photo is a recent submission of mine. The tractor wasn’t my photo..but I put Santa in his place ...Go,Tractor, Go!

The other group is called “Weird Second Hand Finds that just need to be shared”. I’m addicted to this group. I spend hours just looking at the unique items folks find in these shops. Some I wish we had. Others not so much. Someone found several delightful heads that Lulu would have made her eternal friends. Too bad...just pictures. The administration of this group is quite lenient with what they allow to be put on....some folks may find them offensive. We can handle all of them just fine. We cover Lulu’s eyes if they get too raunchy. Amazing what people will donate to thrift shops. You’ll have to join this group to see what I’m talking about. My blog is rated PG. You know that. The comments made by the viewers are so funny. Will keep you laughing. It’s kind of like still being in the “business” again (but not quite) and “being on the hunt” for that special thing. Doesn’t cost us a cent.....and we get to visit the shops again .....only to take pictures, though. I posted a few (rather simple ones) for you to see and ??wish you had?? You can join either of these groups on Facebook if you want. Just type their names in the “search” box at the top of the News Feed Screen. Go from there and hit “join”. Try it, you’ll like it! Trust me!

We made it through our doctor and dentist appointments unscathed. We are both healthy and normal (but what is normal, you say) and can continue on with our lives. Hooray! But just in case, we checked out our new headstone that was recently placed in the Hornell, NY cemetery. They said they wouldn’t put the stone on the foundation until we were both dead! WHAAAT! Are you nuts? You’re killing us! We aren’t settling for that! The base of the stone was balanced on little pieces of wood. Do you really think that’s going to support it safely and securely for many years to come? I don’t! Nobody does! Cory suggested storing it in our polebarn until it’s needed. Good grief. What if we ever actually sell our place? We would have to carry it (weighs tons) with us in our RV. I guess we could put it out front of the RV so passersby would know who lived there. NOT! We aren’t planning on “checking out” in the near future....that’s for sure! I ask: so the cemetery would be liable for any damage if the stone gets knocked over, etc.? Huh? Huh? The fellow I was speaking with said a big fat “NO!”......Hah! I won’t repeat what big fat comment I said back. Since our plans are for cremation.....the “policy” changed. Okay.....now we could have the stone placed on the foundation. Why didn’t they question or mention this at the time of delivery? So be it....we’ll call in the Spring and get the job done. Geeze....enough to kill us with all this run around we got. We didn’t realize our stone would be so much larger in size than the rest of my family who are buried there. Cory says we just stand out in the crowd. I don’t think they will say anything. Happy New Year Everyone and what do you want for Christmas? Good news from my dentist: No Cavities! Yeah! I was glad I didn’t have to struggle with this visit. I like my dentist but hate drilling!

As we traveled to our appointments, I took a snapshot of some snow fence. These were the old, wooden, original snow fences. I’m sure the majority of you know what a snow fence is. Just in case there are a few, permanent “Southerners” in our group......here are some pictures and my explanation of them. These thin, flat boards (joined together by wire) can stretch out for a very long way. They are placed in fields on hilltops where it gets very windy. When the wind blows the snow, they act as a barrier to hold back some of the snow rather than just let the snow blow and fill the road. Wikipedia reads: a snow fence is a barrier that forces windblown, drifting snow to accumulate in a desired place. They are primarily employed to minimize the amount of snowdrift on roadways and railways. Farmers and ranchers use snow fences to create drifts in basins for a ready supply of water in the spring. There you go......in case anyone should ever ask you. Start stringing your pearls of wisdom we are handing to you. Your necklace will look gorgeous, Darlin’.

Last night, we took our daughter, Lory, all of her family plus and our son, Cory, and his girlfriend, Penny, out to dinner. We were celebrating Lory’s birthday....EARLY! Her birthday is on December 28th and we will be in Florida. Therefore, do what you can do when you can do it. This date worked fine for all of us. The restaurant/gin mill is located just a couple blocks away from where Lory, Jay and Sara live. Once a month, they offer a Prime Rib special. Hey.....we live small towns here....it’s not like dining in Orlando, Florida. We don’t have daily specials...we have monthly specials! C’est la vie. Most everyone got the special and enjoyed it. A few of us selected from the menu and got some tasty treats. It was a festive evening for all of us. Happy Early Birthday, Lory.

Following dinner, most of us went over to Lory’s house. The outside of their home is nicely decorated with lighted, colorful Christmas decor. But you haven’t seen anything yet! Take a deep breath as you enter into their home: aka...”A Giant Christmas Gift Store” but nothing is for sale! OMG.....it takes your breath away and yours eyes start twirling. Maybe you feel a little dizzy? God....where did she get this collecting addiction? Where? The photos I show you are just a partial sampling of their magnanimous amount of decorations. You couldn’t handle seeing it all. Overwhelming does not quite fit this massive display. It takes her two weeks to set it all up. It would have to. Lory does display her collections in a very methodical and organized fashion. The majority of figures are snowmen but there are many other Christmas characters that fill in the gaps....Hah...there are NO gaps. She has a tree that has only cow ornaments on it (cows are one of her many collections). If this doesn’t put you in the Christmas spirit......I just don’t know. I had to breathe into a brown, paper bag after my tour.....made me hyperventilate. If you want, we can go back at Halloween time. She decorates in the same extreme for that scary, spirited time of the year. Boooooooo!

Jay and Sara just accept it as the norm because they have lived with this interior decorating for so long. Sara is too focused on her car that they just got her. She is off and running. She’s looking for a part time job now that she has wheels to get her around. Be careful and safe, Sara.

I know you are getting so sick about hearing about my troublesome blog site. But I need to keep you updated as I find more and more about it. So bear with me. A few of you are still not receiving our blogs. Instead, you get a warning message (see my photo). Obviously, you turn quickly off of it. I discussed this with our Verizon manager and he reassured me that it was not as scary and meaningful as it seemed. It means that the web site (ex: the Travel Blog site) has not updated its encrypted certificate. Google Chrome (at this time) is the one browser who responds to this lack of updating and sends out this message. If you use another browser ( ex: Safari, Firefox, etc), you won’t get this message. Also, I discovered that when I bring up my Travel blog site on my IPad, I have no problem. When I do the same on our home computer, I get the warning message. I just used a government URL on my computer to get to the New York State Education Department regarding my nursing license. When I got to their site, I got the same warning message! So, Goggle Chrome is not letting you into this government web site, either. I’m sure there are many, many more sites involved. When I did the same action for the government site on my Ipad, I got right in. All I can say, if you aren’t getting through to my travel blogs, try another device or browser. I pray that the Travel Blog administrators update their certificate so life can get back to normal. It’s draining me! Lulu begins to shake when I talk to her about it. She’s like a head bobber for the dash of your car.

May you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Photos

Our headstone
Our family plot

Lory & their tree - one of them
Cory & Penny pose amongst some decorations