Just need to talk to my friends (190)

ronald71111

Good morning front porch friends!

Judith, I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. That generation sacrificed so much for our country and the world.

HB, when you mentioned your mother's fall it reminded me of a incident I had posted a couple of years ago. I was going to the VA for the last radiation treatment for prostate cancer when I had a incident with Lou. I was going down the wheelchair ramp with her and the ramp was a little slick. Needless to say I started falling backwards holding on to the wheelchair all the time. I ended up on my back with her and the wheelchair on top of me. When we finally was able to get help Lou was fine and I was just a little bruised up. I still have some dark spots on the leg with bruises.

Lorita, I know you must have had a wonderful 44 years with Charles and the memories will always be with you.

I have my handyman coming tommorow to repair the wheelchair ramp. Their arose real places showing wear and tear so I'm having him replace everything.

I still need to work on getting a carport, seems like I'm waiting on hail damage to wake me up. My poor checkbook doesn't like me lately!

Ron

loveskitties

Lorita, you asked about how I make the afghans.

There are several ways depending on what the customer wants. Sometimes, as with the one for the dog rescue, they will give me a logo or clip art of what they would like. Sometimes, they will just have a general idea of what they want and my daughter and I put our heads together and then look for clip art. Once in a while the customer will have found a pattern they want.

If I am doing it from clip art, there is a free program which lets you make a graph of it. Most times it takes some tweeking to get it just right. Then I will write up the pattern based on the graph.

I enjoy it...keeps me busy and out of trouble...lol.

jfkoc

Just up...the air is crystal clear this morning! All the colors are so bright....

Lorita

Well, Marie they are beautiful- and this is crochet? My MIL used to knit and crochet. She also made beautiful Afghans and she made a gorgeous, white cape for me. I never learned because we weren't together long enough for her to teach me. I admire anyone who can do that kind of needlework.

Judith, just up? You slept in this morning - wonderful morning for that. Cats and GPs won't let me do that. It is a beautiful day - really chilly early. I spent a good part of the morning feeding birds and Rusty and watching them. He was so cute - a holly shrub was close to the feeder and he'd stay in it and reach out and grab the feeder, lean over and get a sunflower seed. I put a lot along the bannisters and I saw him eating those too.

If we begin #191 is there a way to go back to #190 - asking that because there is a lot of good information on it about how to do things?

Ron, I remember that accident you and Lou had with the wheelchair and ramp. You both were lucky you didnt' get injured more than you did.

Nothing going on here today - watching a college softball game. Carol's husband watches them all the time but I can't get the Oklahoma games for some reason. I remember playing softball - I was playing firstbase that day and went after a ball but slid in some mud in a ditch I had to go over and hyperextended my knee. It had swollen to twice it's size by the time daddy got to school to get me. It's a wonder kids get through childhood with all that can go wrong.

Going to take down the trash late this afternoon - glad I got the barrel down there so I won't have to get up so early to get it down. Hope all of you have a good Sunday - supposed to be pretty cool here all this next week. Enjoy the day.

BethL

We're home from our cruise. We had a very good time. We had stops in Costa Maya, Cozumel, Roatan and Coco Cay. Also spent some time in Miami. Will attach a pic or 2.

Marie, your afghan is amazing!

I'm too tired to write more at this time. Vacations are tiring! But worth it. Will write more this week.

Beth

Lorita

Beth, glad you made it home safe and sound. You're right, vacations are tiring. We always said we had to come home to rest. The pictures are beautiful love the sunsetting over the water. I read the northern lights might be visible tonight as far south as Iowa.

Iris L.

Beautiful sunset!

Mint

Beautiful Beth

eaglemom

Oh Beth, the pictures are wonderful. There is nothing like a palm tree to relax me. Add a sunset over water and that's my happy place. Thanks for posting the pics.

eagle

loveskitties

Beth, thank you for sharing the lovely pictures.

Rest and relax after what looks like a wonderful vacation!

Lorita

Morning, our weatherman said there were many places where e northern lights could be seen last night. He said he had received a picture of the lights taken in Antlers, Okla. In southern Okla. We had a man working for us years ago who lived in Alaska Gor years and he said the lights were in several colors. What we often see in pictures is green.Thought that was interesting. Back later.

Mint

Good morning,

It has snowed almost all morning here, But no accumulation. Looks like the sun might be getting ready to come out though, so that’ll be nice., But no accumulation. Looks like the sun might be getting ready to come out though, so that’ll be nice.

When ahead and did my grocery shopping since they’re giving it sunny in a little warmer on Wednesday. Hoping maybe I can get some more mulching done that day.

Lunch today was fast serve spaghetti, salad, and baked potato. That was quick to do and tasted good. Let the potato bake while I was putting stuff away. Think I will have Mexican theme supper.

Hope each one doing ok

Iris L.

Did anyone see the northern lights? They are truly mesmerizing to see.

ladyzetta

Hello All.

I Love all those pictures you guys have been posting. Maries, Aragan Rons, kitchen, Beths vacation. It's amazing how well the pictures are showing. I am still trying to figure this all out. Then maybe I will be able to show some pictures. I still trying my best to understand all this new stuff.

Sara. I can finally say I have no snow. I was surprised to hear your still dealing with snow, but I guess someone is always having to deal with snow, someplace. It's still cold where I live 40 is the high for today but then weatherman says it's going to be in the 80s by Friday.

Lorita. It is nice your able to get outside more often. I miss sitting on my front porch in the morning with my coffee and in the evening with my glass of wine. Looks like I will be doing that pretty soon, then my world will be happier place. Now all's I need is a TV on my front porch so I can watch Gunsmoke when Iam out there.

Take care all Hugs Zetta

Jo C.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just step up and enter Beth's beautiful photo; so relaxing looking. Glad you are home Beth, now to empty the suitcases and head for the laundry . . . .

I too am surprised you got more snow, Sayra. Goodness; almost May and here we are. However; when I was a child, I remember that on my birthday the end of May when walking to school there was still snow in the shady areas. We will be wishing for some of that cold stuff come August and September.

I have always wanted to see the Northern Lights; I can imagine they are amazing and other-worldly looking. We had friends who went to Iceland just to see the Northern Lights during the time of the year they are best seen - but sadly, it rained and was overcast and they missed seeing them. Icelandic people are lovely and friendly, so they still had a very nice time.

It is such a good idea to have that ramp fixed, Ron. I do remember when you had that fall on the slippery ramp; that was a doozy, so am glad you are taking a prevention step for future use.

Lorita, soft good thoughts being sent to you as you remember your anniversary with memories of Charles. The two of you had an amazing relationship and partnership.

Talbot's has an online catalog, Lorita. This summer their clothing seems to have been taken over by overly floral prints that are overdone. They have classic clothing for women and you can tell by their pricing that they are very proud of their clothing. The Talbot's store near us closed, so no more easy looking. Though their prices are over the top, they often had really great sales in the store that I liked to take advantage of with clothing at a much lower cost. Appleseed's catalog used to be good for classic women's clothing too, but they have changed and are not so good and I have read complaints about quality. It is really difficult to find nice classic women's clothing at a reasonable price - well; at any price lately it seems. Still waiting for the day that they routinely get back to a bit longer tops and tees; the 26 inch length is rife with showing skin if one bends over or stretches.

Just renewed my RN License; $190 to last the next two years plus the cost of the continuing education classes. That is okay; I like to keep up to date on things. Have some phone work to do as well as some donation business to conduct, so I'd best get going.

Good new week wishes for everyone,

J.

jfkoc

I have a purse from Tolbert's that I brought when my daughter worked there when she was in high school...she is now 57!

BethL

I used to enjoy Talbot's; haven't been there in quite some time. My favorite store was Younkers, which has gone out of business a couple of years ago. I do like Land's End as well.

Today we went to Pella, Iowa, to see the tulips. Tulip Time is next weekend - it's super crowded so we go see the tulips before or after. Google Tulip Time if interested in what it's all about.

Many in Iowa saw the Northern Lights. I did not. I tried but either didn't look at the correct time, or the fact that I'm in town meant too many city lights.

Some pics from Pella today. The white tulips are for you, Judith. Hope you had some bloom at your home! It is much easier to post pics on the new format. Before, I had to re-size them.

Lorita

Beth,thank you so much for posting the tulip pictures. They are so beautiful it took my breath away. How God made so many beautiful flowers and colors is amazing. I bet you had a hard time leaving those beautiful flowers. It has been really cool here today and there's some rain just west of us. We may get up to 6" this week - not overall but in places. This should really help our drought conditions\

. I just heard on the news that Bed, Bath and Beyond stores are closing - I think it said there are 300 of them, also Bye,Bye Baby. I haven't been to any of them. There's a Bed, Bath and Beyond in Tulsa and we alway thought we'd stop in but never did. You all are so right, the price of clothes has really gone up - partly because of the price of cotton, they say. Jo, if you'll watch QVC, Denim & Co. you'll find tops that are longer, many of them are an inch or so longer in the back, too.

Haven't seen anyone today except the FedEx driver briefly. I placed an order with WM and, of course, two hours after I placed it I thought of several other things I needed so ordered again. Today, according to their tracking they were to deliver a caftan but it turned out to be a cleaner I had ordered. I have the order numbers and will keep track of what they do deliver. I had to wait until Susie got in the paddock west of the house so I could close that gate to keep her in and opened the driveway gate so FedEx would come through. Just got back in from reversing all of that and checking the barn. Guess I'll have to do that the next three days because they seem to always break the order into at least three deliveries.

Susie is getting around very slowly but guess she's healing some. Wish I could let her out into the driveway because there's some really good grass just outside the gate but she'd drift on down toward the county road. I haven't tried to post any pictures on this new format - haven't taken any new ones lately. I do have one that I may post - it's a picture of the house,barn and pond with some of the girls grazing - taken from the MH. Looks like a nice, peaceful place to be - and it is. The GPs stayed inside last night, then went out this morning - all of us slept eight hours straight through. Stormy came back in but for some reason Sheena doesn't want to come in but she did and has been asleep in the bedroom this afternoon. I'm rambling so will stop. Again, Beth, thank you for posting those beautiful pictures - so enjoyed them. Sleep well tonight.

Lorita

By the way, how do you post pictures on this new format?

loveskitties

Lorita, to post picture...at the bottom of the "leave a comment" frame you will see 4 icons...the first is a smiley face...the next one is for loading pics. Click on that one.

It will open another window for you to search your pictures for the one you want...Click on the picture...and then click on "open" button on that window. It will then put your picture in the comment box.

Lorita

Marie, the picture of the above afghan is beautiful. How large are the ones you make?

I see the four icons but my first one is H2 and I can't tell what the next one is. I'm on my tablet so maybe that's the difference,- will try the computer tomorrow. Thanks for the information,- sounds easy.

ronald71111

Nice and peaceful on the front porch this morning and with Beth's pictures, the view is beautiful.

Home Depot sent me a survey on how satisfied I was on my home upgrade project. Big mistake.......even though I love the finished project, getting there was a big hiccup with hone home depot and their coordinating.

Sent my primary care the two weeks of blood pressure readings which wasnt that bad. It was low at times, but overall not that bad. I did have a few times outside of the twice a day time slots I recorded that I went low. One time when I was walking around the house I felt lightheaded and sit down to take the pressure. It was 100 over 64! I still dont understand why since the blood clot incident that after taking blood pressure medicine for over 40 years I no longer need it.

The last few days has been good days with Lou, she has been the angel I married over 56 years ago. I cherish these days with the knowledge they are short lived. We will be meeting some church friends later today for lunch.

Hope everyone enjoys Lorita's front porch rockers as much as I do. Love you all!

Ron

loveskitties

Ron, I am no medical person by a long shot but there are many things which could have an impact on why you no longer need the BP meds. Certain meds may cause a change...are you taking blood thinners? Loosing weight? Less salt in your diet? Adding or taking away meds can cause change.

Lorita, the size of the afghans vary depending on what the customer wants done. Most are about 4.5 by 5 ft. Some like the soldier above was much bigger because of the pattern. Some are for larger adults so I try to make them "fit" the customer to use as a cover up.

harshedbuzz

@Jo C.

I agree there are a lot of overly bright florals in the newest arrivals at Talbots. There's even an entire capsule of orange- both the fruit and the color- themed dresses, sweaters, trousers, and tees. Last spring-into-summer they featured lemons. My mom bought pretty much one of everything from that collection. It's a bit much. She and two of my besties also love the bright colors. I'm not as a big a fan-- I stick to neutrals with an occasional jewel or pastel so long as it isn't too twee. I only shop the sale. I got a nice linen tunic in medium blue, a black and white striped tee, a big white skirt with polka dots and black top to go with last week. The latter 2 pieces are for a benefit tea to which I am taking my mom Friday. It looks chilly and rainy which will make parking and the tented event unpleasant.

@BethL at one time 75% of my wardrobe was Lands End but I am just not finding styles that I love there lately. A lot of it skews little old lady or super casual for me. Plus, it seems they tweak their fit regularly, so I feel like I need to try things on. It's still my go-to for bathing suits and outerwear though.

I feel like I'm in a place where clothes are either too old or too young for me. It's depressing to shop. I decided to sew myself something. I mostly sew for others and usually formal or dressy stuff. We'll see how that goes. Most of the fabric stores near me are either filled with fleece or quilting cottons. Finding good quality and appropriate fabrics is hard too.

Mom has an appointment with her PCP today. She took a pretty hard fall on Friday which means she's still banged up. We went out for a celebratory lunch, and she missed a step in her 3" heels and landed on a stone floor. I had gone down the stairs ahead of her to break her fall, but she missed me at the bottom. She was fine but shaken up and struggled to turn off the SOS on her Apple Watch in time. I half expected the EMTs to turn up. I expect I will be asked to step out so they can ask her if anyone is hurting her.

HB

BethL

Hello everyone, Today I will begin planting cold weather crops, i.e., carrots, lettuce, beets and radishes. I still need to do my garden clean up. I also have to prepare and deliver meals to 3 friends, two with cancer and one who just had a baby. So, life suddenly got busy! It is good to be productive though. And I love gardening. I have tulips, daffodils, Lenten rose (hellebores), creeping phlox, Virginia bluebells and also a peach tree and serviceberry tree in bloom. I have 2 crabapples that will bloom soon, one white, one deep pink. I am so happy the peach tree bloomed! I grew it from a peach pit from a "Colorado peach" and it is probably 5 years old. This is the first time it has bloomed - it has lovely pink blooms and lots of them. I hope it produces fruit too.

In Pella yesterday we ate "Dutch mess." It is a wilted lettuce with bacon etc over mashed potatoes. SO YUMMY! I googled it and it'd be easy to make. Any wilted lettuce fans out there?

Marie, your soldier afghan is amazing! You are so talented. Thanks for sharing the photo.

Sandy, I loved the horse photo. Does your family "rescue" horses? Does anyone ride or drive them?

Joan, did your handyman get all your projects completed? We have some things that need doing too - not for a handyman, but, for example, carpet cleaning, 2 windows that refuse to stay open, new bed/mattress, etc.

Sandy, your travels sound wonderful. Hope Bob is recovering well from his cataract surgery.

Ron, loved the pics of Lou. She is a lovely lady. Glad you are having a good week. Enjoy your lunch out!

Iris, I'm sorry the turtle didn't make it. You did your best. You have a good heart! Enjoyed seeing your photo of the sea lions. By the way, are seals and sea lions different?

Zetta, glad your weather is improving. Hope you are doing well and enjoying life.

HB, I am so glad you joined the Porch Friends. You have interesting posts. I enjoyed reading about you and your mom's clothing choices. I need to go shopping! I'll go to Talbot's, then to Dillards and who knows where else. I know a lot of people like Kohl's but I've never found anything there that I liked.

Sara, your cooking sounds good. Hope your mom is doing a little better. You are an angel to her but she just doesn't realize it.

Lorita, I so enjoy your interesting posts about your life/farm life. You are a very busy, productive woman and you should be proud of yourself. How is Sarah doing?

I shall close now. Have a good day! Beth

loveskitties

In case you missed it, as it is on the general topics thread, Quilting Brings Calm just lost her 31 year old son.

He didn't live close by, so they had to have police do a wellness check when they couldn't contact him and he didn't show up for work. Preliminary thoughts are that he had a seizure in his sleep. He had epilepsy.

telinde

Good morning. Raining here this morning with snow showers and sleet predicted today and tomorrow.

Beth, the handy man fixed everything except the siding. He’s going to wait for a week or so when the weather should be more stable. The house painter came by yesterday to measure for a quote to paint the house this summer. You have a busy schedule this week. I love those times that keep me busy. It makes me happy. The tulips are gorgeous . I can’t plant them here because the deer pull them all out and eat the bulbs

Loveskittles, your quilts are beautiful. I used to crochet and knit all the time, but my hands are all messed up now and can’t maneuver the needles. It’s a nice hobby that I really miss.

Sara, how was your Mexican themed supper? I made lasagna on Sunday, so ate leftovers yesterday with a salad. It turned out good, but I used a bit too much cheese and it was almost too rich. I hope you got your mulch laid before the stormy weather.

Lorita, you are busy opening and closing gates, keeping Susie safe. I hope your deliveries are still coming to the porch. I’m the opposite of you and Jo C. I’m always looking for shorter tops. At 5’ 0”, everything seems to hit me almost to my knees I have to stay away from tunics because they are really long, even in a petite size.

I like Talbots too. I have ordered quite a bit from them, especially when I was working. The quality of their clothing is great. I wear mostly casual clothing now, and only have a few dressy things in case I need them.

Laundry and pressing is finished here, and I dusted and ran the rhumba yesterday, so maybe I’ll tackle another closet this afternoon. I’m stuck at home today until I get my meds delivered by Fedx. They are pen injections I have to give myself, and have to be signed for. Of course, the delivery time is between 10:00 and 4:30.

I hope everyone has a great afternoon. Joan

telinde

Ron, I forgot to tell you how nice your countertops and new bathroom sinks look. I love the white. It looks so clean and modern.

HB, I can’t imagine wearing 3” heels. I’ve had to go to flat shoes, and now have orthotics because of a sprained tarsal/metatarsal. Bravo for your Mom but so sorry she fell. I hope she is healing well and she’s so lucky nothing was broken and no concussion.

Hi to everyone on here.

Iris L.

Beth, sea lions have small ear flaps and hind parts that allow them to "crawl" on land. Seals have no ear flaps and "waddle" on land. Here is a photo that I took although I did not capture all of the sign.

I have not seen a post from dayn2nite2 since her post on Crushed's thread just after the transition.

Iris

Lorita

Hi, I haven't seen a post from Day either. Hope everything's okay with her.

It's been raining all day here so there's water everywhere - not heavy but steady. FedEx just delivered some things to the porch - I wouldn't have been surprised if they said the roads were too bad. I had closed Susie west of the house and opened the driveway gate so he'd come through so had to go out and "redo" everything. Most of the girls are in the barn and I kept hearing a calf bawling so thought I might go in and see what was wrong. Decided it wouldn't be wise to go in with all of them in there. If it was just the cows we'd raised it would have been okay but those 20 heifers of Mike's is a different thing. Some of them ran out when they saw me coming. Now I'll be worried until I can get in and see if something's wrong. Seems like I heard a calf bawling last night when it began to rain but too dark to see.

HB, sounds like you enjoy sewing. I used to sew a lot. When I first started working, back in 1961, all of the women sewed. We'd get off work, stop by the fabric store to get fabric and notions, make the garment that night and wear it the next day. I still think about clothes I used to make and wonder what happened to them. I loved to sew double knit - have you ever worked with it? It was so easy to sew and never, never needed ironing. I do not like to iron - in fact, I still have the iron I had when we got married - and it still works, I guess.

Joan, glad you got most of your work done - seems like it takes forever when you decide to get it done, then fine someone and hope they show up to do the work. Yesterday I looked out the kitchen window and saw some insulation from what I thought was an electric line hanging down. Called Jimmy and we decided it was the line my parents used many years ago to attach to a yard light they could turn off and on from the house - that was before security lights came to be. So felt better after I talked with him. He's still planning to run the line to the barn so I can have lights out there - really miss having them.

Sara, also wondering about your Mexican dinner. There used to be a Mexican restaurant in the mall and we went there a few times. They had spinal enchiladas that were really good. One of my SIL's used to make green enchiladas that were delicious. I've never attempted that. Usually stick to spanish rice, frioles and guacamole. There's several good Mexican and Oriental restaurants in the bigger town close to us - not close, 30 miles. I haven't been there in probably a year - funny I was thinking about that this morning.

Fed the birds and Rusty this morning but since it's raining I doubt they're out and about. Joan, I haven't worn heels in many years except for a 2 inch heel on my boots and summer sandals - can't wear a show with a strap across the heel and I can't wear flat shoes either - also makes the back of my heel bother me. As usual, my laptop is running low on power so better stop and paragraph. Anyone figured out how to do this without that step?

Ron, we all love you and Lou, too. Glad things have been better this week.