The Return of the "Normal" Weather

It was more overcast this morning when I got up, and as the day went on the clouds became closer together. After breakfast I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up and then went outside and worked on pulling the grass growing in the flower bed on the other side of the sidewalk from the driveway.

After I got the weeds pulled I re-dug the channel to drain the water off the sidewalk into the garden. Once I had that dug I decided that I would start pulling out the vines that have been taking over the flower beds next to the house. I managed to get the west side bed seventy-five done and the other side along the house but my wrists were hurting too much to continue.

After putting my tools away, I cleaned up and then emptied the dishwasher. Then I made myself some reduced sodium soup that Andrea gave me as she did not like the way it tasted. My children know that I can eat almost anything and this was no exception. I actually could not tell much difference in the cream of celery soup that I made today from the regular stuff.

After I finished eating I put my bowl in the dishwasher and then went back outside as I had noticed some ants on the foundation when I was pulling the vines out. So I got my gallon of insect spray out and sprayed the foundation on the two sides and the front. I did not do the back as I need to pull some of the thyme away from the house but I have not noticed any ants on the back side of the house anyway.

After cleaning up I sat in my chair and took a nap for a while. I seemed to have a little more energy today, but still not very much. Around 1600 I heard a car drive by and I could tell that there was water on the street. I had just started raining and so I had to go out on the porch and "smell" the rain.

Even in the "rainy season" it is still nice to smell the rain when it has not rained for a couple weeks. Tomorrow it is suppose to be rainy most of the day; I think that it might be a good thing for the plants that I have transplanted.

Well, I am doing this as I watch Fox News, because I know that if I wait until after we eat I probably will be too tired and it will not get done.

More Nice Weather

This is the forth day in the sixties with now rain either; for this part of the country and this time of year that is unusual. I think it was two or three years ago that we had a snow storm...how times change.

I played out in my garden again today, since I seem to only have a couple hours where I have any kind of energy I might as well take advantage of the nice weather. I transplanted some lily plants that were growing in the new walkway that I have created with the chippings that I made from the branches and other things.

I also pruned the roses a little more, more for making them look better more than any other reason, although a couple I cut just because I could see that they would be growing into the walkway when summer got here.

I also gathered up a couple piles of brush, mostly from the lavender bush that I took out a few weeks ago, but there were also some raspberry stalks as well.

I also fertilized the blueberry shrubs in hopes that we will get another harvest like we got last year. I am not sure if it was the fertilizing or just a good year for blueberries, but I want to do whatever I can to encourage a lot of berries.

After going in the house and making myself some lunch, I went back out and mowed the lawn for the second time this year. I think that my reprieve from mowing has come to an end and I will be mowing at least once a week until the hot dry summer weather stunts the growth of the grass. This time of year the lawn really looks nice all green and healthy.

After cleaning up and sitting down for a while I sat down in my chair and took a nap for a while. Our neighbor called and woke me up, she said that one of my refund checks had been dropped off at her house and wanted to meet me at the back fence to give it to me. I received the first one earlier in the week and when I checked the web site it said that they both had been mailed out so I had been waiting for it.

I did not want to go to the bank and just deposit one of them and was getting a little concerned when the second one had not shown up.

It finally got to be 1745 and Kathleen still had not made it back home today so I reheated the left-over spaghetti from last night for dinner. She called just as I was cleaning up my dinner mess and loading up the dishwasher and said that she was on her way home.

A Day of Digging

Today started out really foggy but as soon as the fog burnt off it turned out to be a really nice day. I think that the temperature got up to around sixty degrees today and there was not very much wind either so that made for a good day. The weather folks are saying that our winter is officially over and do not expect anymore chance of snow of below freezing weather...I like that!

I went outside about 1115 and started puttering around the gardens; I dug up some holy seedlings, and moved them to west of the driveway. I also dug up more fox glove plants and moved some to the west side of the garage and others along the east fence line.

After a while I decided to sit a while in my Adirondacks chair and rest for a while. Even though I had not done a lot of work, I was really tired and I am learning that I need to rest a lot more than I use to.

After resting for a half hour or so I went back to transplanting fox glove plants. Say Andrea you were asking about what you could plant out back; I have several more fox glove plants that I will be moving so if you want any of them let me know.

About 1430 I went back into the house, cleaned up and made myself some lunch. After putting my dishes into the dishwasher I sat down in my easy chair and took a little nap.

Kathleen had come downstairs, so I had her go outside with me to show me which ferns she wanted me to move to the front where I took the Bird's Nest Spruce. So now I have a project for tomorrow if I can muster up enough energy.

Tonight made some Ivar's clam chowder for dinner and added a little hot Hungarian paprika to it to spice it up a little. I only had a bowl as it only made enough for two bowls.

Bye Bye Bird's Nest Spruce

Today is about the eleventh day with the weather in the fifties. The weather has been unseasonably warm and almost dry for the last couple of weeks. I think that it has only rained part of three days and most of that has been in the evenings leaving the days dry and somewhat sunny.

After my walk today; and I cut it short as I could feel my hip starting to get that little tinge to it that usually proceeds it really hurting, I rested a little. Then feeling a little like I needed to be doing something; I decided that I would trim some more off the Bird's Nest Spruce. I reached a point and then decided that I would get my shovel and stubbing hoe out and actually take it out.

It came out rather easily and the roots did not go into the lawn and were pretty small in diameter so that after I chopped a couple of the larger roots I was able to push it over. I think that I will transplant a couple ferns in the spot where it was.

The ferns are smaller and I already have them on the other side of the walkway. I am even thinking about adding another cement stepping stone on the other side of the walkway to give a larger area to come in from the front lawn.

Even though I did not expend a lot of energy digging out the spruce I was tired enough that I needed to take a nap this afternoon. I seem to have just enough energy to complete one task a day...this is getting pretty old.

Later this afternoon I spent some time in the kitchen killing ants; one of the things that I seem to be doing a lot of lately. They seemed to have found an open bag of hard Christmas candy we are talking hundreds of them. So I took everything out of the bottom shelf and wiped everything down and then the shelf down as well. Even after dinner I was still finding a few stragglers but nothing like what I found this afternoon.

A Day at the Doctor's

Last night when we got home, after watching the total eclipse of the moon, around 2000 we had a message on the phone reminding Kathleen that she had an appointment with her sleep doctor. I reminded her that she had also agreed to watch Brandon at the same time, so she called Andrea and Andrea was able to get Toni to watch him.

This morning we took off to Tigard for her appointment. We were there for over an hour and we got home about 1230. I changed clothes and went outside to see about pruning the Rose of Sharon. Kathleen came outside just as I had gotten started and said that she had made an appointment with our G.P., and wanted to know if I wanted to go with her.

So I stopped what I was doing and changed clothes again. We no sooner got seated when the nurse called her in. They did some blood work, a chest x-ray and an EKG and they all looked good. She had been having some pain in her breast bone area and her sleep doctor suggested that she check with her G.P.

After finishing with the doctor we stopped at Home Depot so that I could pick up some Soil Sweet for the lawn and also some ant killer to spread around outside and also some spray for the inside. After that we stopped at Fred Meyer to pick up several prescriptions for Kathleen.

When we got home I put the soil sweet into the garage and went inside and changed clothes again. Then I went outside and put the soil sweet on the lawn and then put the ant pellets around the east side of the house.

We finished the deli sandwiches, cold slaw and potato salad that Kathleen had brought home last night. So we got three meals out of it, not too bad, I can remember the days when we would have finished eating it in one sitting.

Another Almost Nice Day

This morning after making and eating breakfast, reading the paper and emptying the dishwasher I decided that I would try to get the Jeep through DEQ. So I changed my clothes and took off. I passed without any problem but when it came to the paperwork the DMV put the wrong fee on it. I told them that I would pay the higher fee even though they did not have it on the paperwork.

Finally I talked the attendant into having his boss make the decision; so after a little deliberation he agreed that I could pay the higher fee without having to go back to the DMV. It would not be so bad except for the fact that the wait is long and I already had to make an extra trip there because the had not put the correct information into the computer two years ago.

I changed to salmon plates two years ago rather than ordinary plates so I have to pay a little extra every time that I renew them. I do not mind it too much because it does go toward a good cause.

Once I got everything signed off and got my new 2009 tags I drove off. As soon as I got to a place where I could stop, I stopped and put the new stickers on the plates. I did not want to drive any more than I already had with expired plates. I had passed a couple police cars on the way to DEQ and did not want to press my luck.

On the way home I stopped and got gas for the Jeep, I had not filled up since last July, so it had been seven months on that last tank of gas. At that rate I almost do not care what they charge for gas, although I noticed when I was logging in my fuel consumption that gas had gone up about twenty cents a gallon since I last bought it. Of course it has gone down and back up in the course of the last seven months.

When I got home the garbage truck had just left so as soon as I put the Jeep back into the garage I gathered up the garbage can, the yard debris barrel and the two recycling bins. On my way back with the recycling bins I also picked up the mail. So since I had the recycling bin, I went in the house through the back door so that I could drop off one of the bins in the back porch.

There seemed to be a lot of catalogs and magazines in the mail today, of course there was no mail yesterday so that might explain some of the extra reading material.

After reading the mail, I made myself some of the butternut squash that I got from Alyssa last week and also had a couple pieces of toast to go along with it. This time I added a little cayenne to the soup...well maybe it was more than a little, and it did give it a good flavor.

I did not get a lot done the rest of the day, I had thought about going outside and working in the yard, but since I put the fertilizer on the lawn yesterday I thought that I would wait until it rained again before doing anything in the yard. Besides it was starting to get a little chilly, the temperature did not make it to sixty today; I think that it only got to about fifty-six degrees or so but there was a pretty strong east wind blowing.

I was going to trim off the rest of the branches from the birds nest spruce, but I thought that I would wait as it will be another two weeks before the yard debris gets picked up again. I spent a good portion of the afternoon killing ants; it seems that the warm weather the last couple of days has had the ants out looking for new digs.

I will leave you with this Pickles cartoon; it is rather appropriate only the one with the glasses on their head is usually Kathleen. Unfortunately the Pickles cartoon has more truth to it in our lives these days, but it is still pretty funny most of the time.

Here is the web address as the picture is a wee bit tiny:

http://www.comcast.net/data/comics/pickles.gif

Taking a Mental Health Moment

I thought that everyone could use a little mental health moment!

Enjoy!

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=dfdwvqns_0dnz4kgdz#

Springtime in February

For the past three days the temperature has been in the high fifties to low sixties, so it has been really a tease as to what I have been missing for the last several months. Tomorrow the "normal" weather is suppose to return, so that means rain.

I have been doing some things the last couple of days, but today I started out by transplanting fifty or so daffodils and tulips that I had in a couple planters. I put them around an old apple stump that is just about ready to fall over.

After I finished that I decided that I would give my roses their spring pruning, so I got out my good pruners and gave them a haircut. I probably will be doing a little more thinning later this spring, but I want to wait until they start to bush out a little before I do anything too drastic.

After dumping the rose clippings into the yard debris barrel, I decided that I would transplant some of my raspberries that were growing in places where I would rather they not. I put them in the rows where the rest of the raspberries where but were a little thin.

I had just about gone in the house when I thought to myself that the weather was so nice and the grass was dry...so I thought I would see if I could give the grass in the front yard a haircut as well.

I was a little surprised at just how much I was cutting so when I finished the front lawn I did the back lawn as well. It is just about this time of year where the grass can really start getting ahead of me; between the grass being too wet or my not having time to do it.

Just to make sure that the grass grows really well, after I finished mowing I decided that I would put down the rest of the Scott's winter fertilizer from last fall. I thought that I would only have enough to do the front lawn, but I had just enough to do the back lawn as well.

My poor fertilizer spreader is broken, it actually broke last fall, but I thought that I would wait until spring to get another one. I still need to do that as it was really hard on my wrists trying to hold down the stub of a lever that allows the fertilizer to drop at the correct rate.

Well, it is late afternoon, but I though that before I got too tired I would jot down a few notes. So that is all that I can remember from today.

Beautiful Weekend

This certainly has been a great weekend...well at least for the middle of winter. Yesterday I roto-tilled the garden; it took a couple hours; most of it was cleaning out the tines of mud. It really was kind of gumbo like, but at least now it will have a chance to dry out a little so that it will be easier to do the next time.

After I finished roto-tilling I went into the house and took a shower as we needed to go pick up Natalie before going to Andrea and John's. My wrists and fore arms were so sore from rototilling for several hours.

We had a good time celebrating Chucky's twenty-eighth birthday and had lots of good food to eat. The grandchildren had a great time playing with each other and it was amazing that six children can get along so well and play without fighting.

By the time we got home last night I was too tired to do much beside go to bed. It tool me a while to get to sleep as my body was so sore that it was hard to get comfortable, but when I finally did I slept well.

This morning I was still pretty sore and so I did not try to go to church, Kathleen did not wake up until after noon, so neither of us made it today. Then this afternoon I started feeling better so I went outside and transplanted about a hundred fox glove plants a couple roses and one hydrangea.

After digging and transplanting for a couple hours I set up my Adirondack chair out and sat out in the sun for a half hour or so. It sure felt good to sit in the sunshine for a while. There is something that I do not get to do much in the winter.

Then tonight Kathleen made some stir fry using the left over duck from Gustav's the other night and she added some rice, carrots and broccoli. There was enough left-over for me to have it again for lunch some day.

Well, I am sore again tonight from all the digging, but it is a good kind of sore and I would much rather be sore from working outside in the sun and fresh air than just being sore for no good reason. I think with all the fresh air, I should be able to sleep well again tonight.

Days with the Grand Children

In the last three days I have seen all of our grandchildren. First Andrea and Brandon stopped by for several hours to see us on Wednesday; they yesterday Aaron and Tami stopped by with Becca and Alexis and I gave them their Valentine's Day chocolates; and then today we stopped by to see Alyssa, Natalie, Zander and Hayden and give the children their chocolates.

We were out in Gresham at the DMV getting the paperwork that I needed to take my Jeep through DEQ, so while we were there we thought that we would go visit the other grandchildren. Dan was at Mount Hood Community College where he teaches part time and so we did not get to see him.

Alyssa gave us a large freezer bag of butternut squash, so when we got home I made a pot full and had it for a late lunch along with a glass of organic buttermilk that she gave me as well. I had not eaten since breakfast, so by the time that we got home around 1630 I was more than a little hungry.

Tomorrow is Chucky's birthday, so we should see almost everyone again as we are all meeting at Andrea and John's to celebrate. Tomorrow is going to be a little busy for me as I have men's breakfast in the morning and then later in the afternoon it is off to Andrea and John's.

We have not gotten to do anything with the remodeling lately, we need to get busy and finish priming the upstairs so that we can put the sub floor down and then paint and put the flooring down. Our upstairs rooms are full with all the things that we took out of the hall way and landing so we need to get those things out so that we can use the other rooms.

Yesterday I took Kathleen out to Gustav's German Pub & Grill in Clackamas for dinner. She had a roasted duck in apricot sauce with green beans and mash potatoes and I had three kinds of sausages with sauerkraut, red cabbage and German potato salad. Then for desert Kathleen had a chocolate mousse and I had a dark chocolate cheesecake; we both had a cup of decaf coffee to wash it all down.

When we were done the just rolled us out into the parking lot and then we drove home. By the time we got back I was too tired to blog so I thought that I would just wait until today to do two for one.

I guess that this is about enough for today; I think that I have run out of words for now.

Vegetarian Hash

Well, I did not get much done today; I was out in the garage this morning and saw that plates on my Jeep had expired last December. For some reason I never got a renewal notice. I called the DMV and explained to them what was going on and for some reason they had it expiring in December 2005.

But I was looking at the receipt that I had and it showed that I had gotten a new license plate in October 2005 and it listed the new tag numbers, so I do not know what happened. Anyway I need to go to the DMV and get a form and then take it to DEQ and get it passed through there and then I can get my new tags.

I was working on my taxes when Andrea called and said the she and Brandon were going to come over around 1100. She and Brandon got here a little after 1100 and stayed until around 1730.

While she was here I washed, dried, folded and put away two loads of clothes. After the second load finished, I noticed that there was still water in the utility sink, so I took the plunger to it. It took a lot longer to clear than I would have expected, but I finally got it cleared. After I got the water to drain normally I mixed up a batch of my drain cleaner and poured it down the drain.

I mix 1 Cup of baking soda and 1/2 Cup of salt down the drain followed by 1 cup of hot vinegar. I heated the vinegar in the microwave before adding it to the drain. Then I wait 5 minutes before flushing the drain with 2 quarts of hot water. This whole thing can be repeated a few times if it is necessary. I did not because the drain was running freely before I did the first one.

I am not sure why the drain stopped up as it had been running fine or at least I did not notice it being slow before today. Anyway I think that I spent a little over two and a half hours working on it. When I finally got to sit down I noticed that my wrists were really sore from using the plunger so much.

After Andrea and Brandon left I sat and rested for a while and then I made myself some vegetarian hash. First I added some olive oil to the frying pan and then added a block of tofu (about 12 ounces), then I sliced up some onion and diced it. While that was frying I grated a couple potatoes, leaving the skins on. I kept stirring the mix until it had all started browning and then I stirred in some Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.

I let it sit a while to brown and then I turned it and let the other side brown. Then I put it on my plate and added a little ketchup...not bad even if I do have to say so myself.

Well, I am tired so I think that I am going to call it a day.

Sunshine + Warm Weather = Spring Flowers

I was really sore and tired yesterday from working out in the yard Saturday so I did not do much of anything except sit around and read the paper. We both made it to church yesterday, I think that is the first time in about two months that Kathleen has made it.

She stayed up late last night so she has been really tired today. I gathered up all the cut tile from our upstairs bathroom. I had just left them laying out by the garage where I had cut them and was going to get rid of them when Kathleen said that she might want them, so I put them into a couple boxes for her.

This morning when I first got up I emptied the dishwasher and then I picked up the rugs in the kitchen and swept, mopped the floor. After a while I also vacuumed the downstairs carpet...gee, I guess that is the only place where we have carpet left.

I have been noticing that the spring flowers are popping up all over. The heather and primroses are blooming and it will not be long before the snow drops pop open as well. The other bulbs, crocus, daffodils and tulips are all up and getting pretty big, so it should not be too long before they start flowering. Spring must be in the air; the weather has been in the fifties for the last three days and Saturday it was pretty close to sixty.

I got our credit union statement in the mail today so I reconciled my checking account as well as our savings account; I always like it when it reconciles on the first try. I also got my monthly statement on my investments; I wish that I could say that I am making a killing, but I do not think that anyone is right now.

Well that was pretty much my day, I think that I will call it a day.

Sunny Saturday + Feeling Good = Yard Work Gets Done

Our wireless system was having issues last night, so I did not get to blog as I did not get back up and working until almost 2300 last night. Kathleen ran out and bought a new wireless router about 2000 and by the time she got back and I installed the new one and hooked up to it I was too tired to even think about working on the computer any more so I just went to bed.

I did not sleep in as long as I would have liked to but I was awake and felt pretty good so I just got up. After making my hardy Saturday morning breakfast, I read the paper and finished my coffee. Then I put my dishes into the dishwasher and washed the pots and pans that had been in the sink for a couple of days. I was just too tired to do them and they did not get done.

The mail came after a bit so I got it, not much of anything worth bothering with, so I went outside and ground some of the branches and fir cones that have been collecting in a pile under the fir trees. I gathered up enough to fill three barrels and then I drug the barrels into the back yard so that they would be close to my chipper.

I took the chips and poured them on the pathway in the large rose garden. It makes a nice soft pathway and also helps keep the weeds somewhat at bay. While I was chipping the branches I was listening to CCR on my iPod...good music to work by, or just listen to for that matter.

Just before I was about ready to call it quits I noticed that the battery was getting pretty low, so I went back into the house and put it on the charger. I only had about another half hour before I was finished and I thought that I could probably make it with out my tunes.

Listening to the music helped cancel out the noise from the chipper and it made the time go by a lot faster. By the time I put everything away and got cleaned up it was about 1600. I surprised myself a little as I actually stopped before I was too worn out and before it got too dark that it made it hard to get everything put away.

Now I need a good shower to get all the stuff off my body that is going to start irritating my allergies. I could tell that I had been on my feet more than I had been use to as my feet are really throbbing...another thing that a shower is going to help.

Kathleen reheated the roast and mash potatoes with shins from the other night, she also heated up some peas for a vegetable. I think that I am going to have several pots and pans to clean up tomorrow. Well, I think I will end this for tonight so that I can take my shower before my eyes get so irritated that I cannot see the monitor.

No Rain + Working Outside = Tired Bob

After a rather stormy evening and night I was able to get an almost normal amount of sleep last night. After breakfast, coffee, reading the paper and cleaning up the kitchen I decided to go outside and pull some more weeds along the driveway.

This time of year there are a lot of weeds around here that pop up and if I do not get them pulled before they go to seed they spread all over the place. These weeds actually are "spring loaded" and when they get brushed against or one tries to pull them they spring their seeds all over; that is why I try to get them pulled before they get a chance to flower and go to seed.

This time of year the weeds pull up pretty easily the problem is getting them and the associated mud off ones fingers and into the can that I use to gather them up before putting them into the yard debris barrel.

About the time I was noticing that I was getting a little sore and tired it got very over cast and a storm looked eminent. So when I got done with the area that I was working on I dumped the bucket of weeds and put my tools away. Then by the time I got back into the house and cleaned up it really looked dark outside.

Later on I noticed that it was raining out, although not nearly as bad as it looked like it might while I was working outside. I did manage to actually lay down and take a couple hour nap today and I felt better once I got up again.

My eyes have really been teary the last few days; it must be "spring-time" allergies starting to work their thing on me. I washed my hair and face with baby shampoo. I like using baby shampoo because it is not only easy on my hair but I can also wash my eyes an face with it to help get rid of things that cause my allergies to flair up. Washing my eyes seemed to have helped for a little while but my eyes are starting to tear up again...maybe I am just a sensitive type of guy!

Not Enough Sleep + No Energy = Really Tired

For some unknown reason I woke up around 0300 this morning and after tossing and turning for a couple more hours I decided that I would get up. I knew that I would be really tired later on today, but I actually felt pretty good considering that it was so early.

I read the paper and made a pot of coffee, then after reading the paper I put the oatmeal, that had been soaking, into the micro-wave. After putting my dishes into the dishwasher I sat down in my chair for a while.

Around 1000 I went outside and pulled weeds and raked the front parking strip as it had gotten pretty chewed up from vehicles driving on it. By the time I got everything done and in the house and cleaned up it was almost noon.

Kathleen had an appointment at 1330 so after she left I made myself some lunch and then sat back down in my chair. Kathleen called from Winco around 1600 and woke me up. I dropped the phone three times trying to answer it I was so groggy that I could not coordinate my thought of answering the phone with actually picking it up and pressing the talk button.

I was suppose to meet with the guys tonight, but I am still so tired that I do not think that I can safely drive tonight. I have a harder time driving in the dark than I use to so unless I am feeling really well I try to avoid it whenever possible.

I seem to have some energy about every other day and I think that today was my day for energy. It was kind of nice that it was somewhat nice out today, although it was still pretty mucky to work out in the garden. My Muck Boots were pretty well caked with mud by the time I finished working in the garden.

I think that I have pretty much run out of steam tonight; who knows maybe tomorrow I might have energy!?!

How True

http://www.arcamax.com/newspics/4/451/45173.gif

This was in the paper a couple of weeks ago it rang so true that I had to cut it out and put it on the refrigerator. Pickles has become one of my favorite comics, I find that I sometimes have more in common with that cartoon than I like to admit.

Dilbert is another comic that I enjoy although I do not relate as much to it as I did when I worked at Boeing. So much of what was in Dilbert looked like it might have come from someone that I worked with it was uncanny.

I felt better this morning when I got up, my headache was gone and my stomach felt better as well. I even got a few things done today; I did a load of towels, a load of dishes and I straightened up the front porch a little bit. It still has a lot of lumber on it so there is not a lot that can be done with it.

I reheated the leftover whole wheat noodles and added a can of sardines to it for my omega 3 dose for the day.

Tonight Kathleen sliced and diced some potatoes and added some of the pot roast and onions from last night for dinner for kind of a roast beef hash kind of meal.

Well, I need to get the dishwasher emptied and the dinner dishes loaded into it, so I am going to end this for now.

Super Bowl XLII

I felt somewhat decent this morning when I got up so after eating breakfast I got ready for church. Kathleen was still sleeping when I was ready to leave at 0915 so I left by myself. I was not feeling as well as I was when I first got up; my insides just did not feel quite right and my head was starting to develop a headache. My eyes were also watering quite a bit and I thought about turning around and staying home...but I did not.

About half way through Sunday School my headache got worse and I could hardly keep my eyes open. Then a little while later the worship team for the second hour started practicing and since our class meets right below them the heavy drums did not do my headache feel any better. It got bad enough that I had to leave before it was over.

By the time I got home I was really sick to my stomach; I think from the pain in my head and eyes as much as anything. I took some Tylenol as soon as I got home and took a quick nap in my chair when I did get up I felt somewhat better. My head still hurt and my eyes were watering but my insides felt better.

After eating something I sat down and watched to Super Bowl, I was glad to see the Giants win. It was a rather uneventful game mostly a defensive struggle, but a good game anyway. I would much rather watch a close game than one that was really lopsided.

For dinner tonight Kathleen made a pot roast with "dot" noodles and green beans. I did not eat a lot as I still was not feeling good. If I were still working I would consider this a wasted weekend as I did not get anything done; but since all my days are like a weekend I guess that it was okay.

With that said I think that I am going to call it a day as my eyes hurt to look at the computer screen; they hurt no matter what I am doing. Right now I am just hoping that they feel better in the morning. This is two days now that my eyes have been giving me fits.

Happy Groundhogs' Day!

Well I guess Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, so I guess that means six more weeks of winter. I also read that Gen. Beauregard Lee, Punxsutawney Phil's counterpart in Lilburn, Ga. Beau did not see his shadow today so that would mean that spring will come early. So I guess it just depends on where one lives. I am not sure whether our groundhog saw his shadow or not but we did have snow all morning,
but none of it stuck at our house. Alyssa and Andrea both reported that it has stuck but was melting. Aaron said that depending on where he drove there was snow in some places but driving a little further he would run out of snow.

It has been a pretty uneventful day here, I did get the dishes washed, unloaded and put away but that is about all I did today. I did spend a lot of time on my computer looking at flooring web sites to see what I could find out about the flooring but I did not really accomplish much and probably could have taken a nap and done myself some good.

I made myself some hash browns and added some of that onion, and pepper mix that we got the other day. I even added some of it to my egg beaters for my omelet and had a couple veggie sausage links and toast for breakfast.

Tonight Kathleen made some rice and chicken in a cream of chicken sauce. After it was done she added some apple slices and I added some raisins on top of that. It was pretty good. Kathleen thought that it needed something red to go with it and since we did not have any cranberry sauce I opened a can of pickled beets.

Kathleen did not have any of the beets so I wound up eating the whole can myself. I am not sure why I like beets but I think that I always have. I do not know too many people that do like them, so I do not eat them as much as I would like...usually only a couple times a year.

I sure would like to start feeling better pretty soon, I am really getting tired of not feeling well. Some of it may have to do with the weather and not being able to get out and work in the yard at all. Even on dry days the ground is so soggy that I cannot do anything; that plus the fact that I only have about ten minutes of energy a day.

Well here is to six more weeks of winter!

Bob's Fabulous Food Friday

Alyssa posted her Fabulous Food Friday today and I got the idea to do one myself. I originally posted this as a comment to her Super Bowl Chili recipe but here it is again:

Sometimes beans do not agree with everyone so here is a different take on your Super Bowl Chili.

Ingredients:
* 1-1/2 pounds ground beef, ground turkey or whatever
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
* 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed chicken gumbo soup, undiluted
* 1/2 cup ketchup
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 3 tablespoons vinegar
* 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 12 sandwich rolls, split

Directions:
In a large skillet, cook beef or turkey, onion and green pepper (you can buy a mix of onion, red and green pepper in the frozen food department, I bought it at Winco and it was made by Flav-R-Pac) over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain off grease.

Stir in soup, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, horseradish, bay leaf, salt and pepper.

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Spoon onto rolls.

This should make about twelve servings.

As a suggestion to make this a more complete meal, serve them with baked beans or potato salad, and dill pickles.

This way is someone wants beans they can have them otherwise they can just have the potato salad and pickle and have the option for bean or not.

Enjoy and I hope you like it; let me know what you think