RIP Dear Friend

I just found out that a sweet lady passed away on the 29th. I had the pleasure of meeting her when several of us from a message board I still frequent got together a few years ago. She was also from western Pennsylvania, but farther south. She will be missed by all who knew her.

We Were LookieLous at the RV Show

Dave wants to get an RV sometime after the van, his that is, is paid off. He's saying that we'll be able to go to more places than we do now and also if we wanted to get away from things without getting away from things, we could go and hang out in the RV. Plus there are some nice places here in the state that we could go and camp at. That's the only way I will go camping. No sleeping in a tent for this girl. It was okay when I was a kid, but I don't think my body could take it now.

So we went to the RV and boat show at the fairgrounds today. We didn't know that the circus was in town at the same time. Another reason not to like the circus. The traffic getting out of the fairgrounds was like a day on the freeway going through Atlanta. Believe me, if you've never been, you don't want to be. I'm really just joking, kinda, I've never been to the circus, but I don't like clowns and clowns are at the circus, thus the reason for not liking the circus and today's traffic jam didn't help matters.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Boy did we walk and climb steps to get into the things. For something like two hours we walked and we climbed and walked some more. It also starting getting really hot and stuffy. At one point I thought that I might pass out. We finally went to look at the ones outside. It was chilly and after awhile, downright cold, but when we first stepped out of the building it felt great. But man, were my legs starting to ache. It felt so good to finally sit down when we got to the van.

There were some really nice RVs that weren't that expensive there though. I saw a few that I really loved, but as it turned out, they were also the more expensive ones.  There were some that had fireplaces in them. They were so cool. They were electric fireplaces, but they added a nice homey feeling to the inside of the RV.

There were some I wasn't so thrilled about, but the biggest problem was Dave's height. He would almost touch the ceiling in most of them. I guess if we get one though, he's going to have to learn to deal with it, that is unless we can find one at a descent price where his height isn't an issue.

It's probably something that will be some time before it happens. After the van is paid for, he wants to double up on the mortgage payments. He said that he can probably get it paid off in four years or so. Unlike a lot of people, our mortgage isn't that high. Once Dave's van is paid off, he'll be able to with no problem. Anyway, getting a RV is something to look forward to.

Where Did Spring Go?

We woke up to about two inches of very wet snow on the ground this morning. It's actually almost melted already. I was expecting rain, not snow, but unfortunately early spring snows are not that unusual around here. But still, I don't like them.

It still boggles my mind that three days ago we were talking tornadoes and now we're back to talking about snow. We're supposed to get more tomorrow.

Don't get me wrong, I would rather have a couple inches of snow on the ground for a day or two than to have tornadoes any day. I just don't like having cold weather when we're supposed to be getting warmer. I know the warmth will be back, but I'm inpatient, I want it back now. I want to not have to wear turtlenecks or heavy sweats or my winter coat, even though I do like my winter coat, I got a new one this year. It's the kind I had been wanting for awhile, but I feel aside from that, I should be getting it cleaned and put away until next winter, not still wearing it. I should also be wearing garden gloves, not winter gloves and short sleeve shirts instead of long sleeve ones with a sweatshirt on top. I also want to get out my bike and go riding on nice dry roads instead of ones muddy from melted snow. We live on a gravel road, so when it gets wet, it gets muddy with ruts the size of Texas from all the tractors and trucks that go up and down it.

You really need to be careful of the ruts, otherwise if you aren't you can get thrown for a loop when your wheel goes into one. One time I almost lost control of the van because I wasn't paying attention, was going a little too fast for conditions and hit a really big rut going down hill. If I had been a little bit tired before, I wasn't after because that got my blood flowing and the adrenaline rushing. After that, I made sure to be more careful the next time.

But even in spring and summer, gravel roads can be dangerous if you're not used to driving on them. Another time I was again going a little too fast around a bend, hit some loose gravel and almost ended up flipped in the ditch on the side of the road. I definitely learned to slow down after that, especially going around that one bend. And when it rains, they still get ruts the size of Texas. And talk about trying to keep your car clean; I gave up unless I'm going out of town and know that I'll be driving on paved roads for awhile, or wash it once after all the winter weather is done to get all of the brine solution off of it from the roads.

I'm sorry, I got off topic there, didn't I? But anyway you get the idea, I want spring back, or at least the nice weather that comes with it. I'm sure that others are with me on that. Think maybe if we have a protest in front of the local TV station that does our weather, it'll happen? Well, it's a thought any way.

Dave and I Saw a Tornado

This happened the other day, you know, the one where I woke up so early. But no, I wasn't hallucinating, since Dave saw it too, I couldn't have been, plus I got a picture of it to prove it.

For some reason, it's not letting me upload the picture. I'll have to try later.

Thank God it was 25 or so miles away. It touched down in Creston. I was surprised we could see it from here, but we live on a hill, so maybe that's why.

We were watching it from our front porch, or rather I was and then told Dave that it looked like one was trying to form and sure enough, as we were standing there, we saw it drop down out of the storm cloud and touch down. The funny thing, the sun was shining here. That particular storm moved northeast into Madison county and caused quite a bit of damage near Winterset. I believe that in all, they said 15 tornadoes touched down, but thankfully, there were no injuries.

I have to admit, it was fascinating to watch a tornado form, but that's the last time I would like to see one. Here's a picture of it. I hope you can see it. I tried to enhance the picture as best as I could and with the lighting the way it was, it looked sunny on the backside.

Also, thankfully this was when it was still light out. I hate when we have tornado watches and warnings at night because those, you can't see coming as well. We were in a situation like that years ago when we were moving to Virginia from Washington state. We took the southern route ans stopped in Jackson, Mississippi for the night. Apparently they were under a warning and a tornado touched down five miles from where we stopped for the night. Thank goodness we never saw it. They can travel for quite a few miles. The one in Madison county the other day traveled 11 miles.

Okay, let me try this again. Nope, still a no go. I'll keep trying though.

Success! Finally, we have a picture!

I Can't Believe I Got Up So Early

I can't believe I was up as early as I was. I was awake when Dave got up a little before 5:00, laid in bed until about 6:15 and after being told by Angel, or should I say, being licked by Angel, I decided that it wasn't in the cards to try to go back to sleep, so I got up.

I just got back a little while ago from taking David to work. Dave left around 7:30 to go into the office, so now it's just me and the pets. I do need to get a few things done today, but that'll be after I take a bath. I love taking baths when no one else is home. I can stay in there as long as I want, or until the hot water holds out.

For some reason I haven't been interested in watching my soaps. I don't think I will today either. I did tell myself that I want to start exercising today. Even though I've lost 20 pounds, I need to get into shape. If it doesn't rain, I'll take a walk this afternoon. I also want to start back on doing my Wii. I also downloaded a yoga guide onto my Kindle, so I can use that if I don't want to use the Wii. Either way, I need to start. June is going to come fast enough and I want to be in pretty good shape by then.

Right now all four dogs are snoozing and so are all four cats. The dogs are all in here except Max. He's probably guarding the dog food from what, I don't know; but that's his thing to do every morning. Ah, now he jumped on the couch to snooze too. I guess he figured that he didn't have to guard the food anymore, that it was safe for now.

The cats are divided among the bedrooms. Oreo is either watching the birds from the perch in their room or on our bed with Patches. Peanut and Pumpkin are both probably snoozing on David's bed. That's their favorite place to snooze. It gets more sun than our room, that's when the sun is out anyway. It's supposed to rain today, possible strong to severe storms (Oh Thrill!), so it's cloudy right now.

I need to get a move on here. This is not getting things done, now are they, so I'm telling myself to get off of this computer this minute and go get them done. Think I'll listen?

How I Can Tell Spring Is On Its way

"Well, duh," you're probably saying, "The first day of spring is this coming Sunday."

Well, yea, I know that, but I can tell in other ways too. First of all, the robins are back, but aside from that, the longer days and warmer temperatures, the true sign that spring is on its way is that the blackbirds are back and singing and the vultures are back. Those are the two signs that spring is definitely on its way.

Blackbirds have a very distinctive call, you'll know it the first time you hear it, well that is if someone tells you that's what it is, but after that, you'll know. The first blackbird singing is a sure sign that spring is almost here. They're also one of the last birds to return, along with the vulture. The blackbirds around here are called red winged blackbirds. They have a bright red stripe on their wings along with two yellow ones.

Also, seeing vultures circling overhead, you know. Like I said earlier, they're one of the last of the birds to return. They come back and the eagles leave. I would much rather see the eagles year round, but at least we get to see them for awhile. There have been a lot of them around the state too, which is good to see. They are magnificent birds.

Vultures look different than eagles when they're flying. Of course there's the eagle's white head and tale, but their wings are also wider than the vulture's, not the wing span, but the wing itself. Vultures have skinnier wings and tend to float among the wind drafts longer than eagles do. They look so graceful when they're flying, but seeing their red bald heads up close and you know that they're rather ugly birds. I remember too when Jake was still a puppy, they saw him in the yard and started circling over him. We hid him under the glider on the patio until they left. Another time, Rolli was out doing her business and wouldn't do it unless she was under the tree for that same reason. The vultures never swooped down on them, but we weren't taking any chances and neither was Rolli. Now that they're older and bigger, we don't have to worry about that happening.

Yep, spring is about to spring upon us, just a couple more days now. One thing I've noticed though is that winter didn't seem to last as long, at least to me it didn't. Maybe it's because we've had some warmer days mixed in here and there and not as much snow as last year. Last year it seemed like it was never going to end.

My Adventures at the Laundrymat

Last month I bought a new comforter for our bed, by the way if you want a good deal on designer things for the home, check eBay,  the comforter I got was a Lauren Ralph Lauren and I paid far less than I would have in a store.

Anyway, the comforter I bought was a oversize king, which fits our California king perfectly, the only bad thing is that it doesn't fit into our washer or dryer. Well, it will fit, but there's really not enough room for it to wash or dry properly. Thus the reason for taking it to the laundrymat.

First off, it's at least a half hour's drive to get there, but I knew that already. Second, the laundrymat wasn't at the address that was listed in the phone book, or where I remembered seeing it. They had relocated it. Okay fine, no problem, we found it without too much hassle. We even got a parking space right in front of the door. Now that I think about it, that was probably supposed to be for the lawyer's office next door, but it didn't have a sign saying it, so I parked there anyway. There was parking on the side of the building though, just in case. There was also no one at the laundrymat when we got there, another plus. No having to wait for a washer or dryer, especially since they only had two of the big load ones that I needed to use.

But dang, those places have gotten expensive. It cost $5.50 just to wash the comforter in their big load washer, but at least I know it got clean and the cycle wasn't too long. The dryer on the other hand was another story. For every quarter you put in, you got a whopping seven minutes of drying time. I saw the rest of my $10 in quarters dwindling fast. I remember being able to do the family's wash and dry for less than $10 and still have a few bucks in quarters left over. Those days are definitely gone for good. I also should have used a higher setting to dry the comforter. I put it on low because that's what the drying instructions said and this being the most expensive comforter I ever bought, I wanted to make sure I followed them. It took two hours and that was after giving in and switching to the high setting for the last half hour and it still had damp spots. Next time I'm putting it on a higher setting, maybe even high from the start. This is the second time it's been washed and dried, I tried it at home the first time, so it shouldn't shrink, right?  They said to put it in on low so that way it would help puff the stuffing. That's fine, but it should puff anyway by being in a big enough dryer, right? Thankfully I had my kindle with me, so I had something to occupy my time while I waited.

I feel sorry for those who have to do their laundry at a laundrymat each week. It can really add up in costs. Thank goodness I have only the comforter that I have to do and it's reversible, so I can go a couple weeks without washing it. That's bad enough.

ETA: I forgot to update you all on Dave's van, he got it fixed and it only cost him the price of the diagnostic thingy and the new part; each were only $50.00, a lot cheaper than it would have cost had he taken it somewhere else to get fixed.

Also, my debit card worked when I tried it, so no having to get a new one. ☺

Prayers for the People of Japan

This morning it was reported that an 8.9 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami hit Japan. The tsunami also hit islands such as Guam and areas on the west coast of the United States.

Our thoughts and prayers here at the Ballard household go out to everyone in Japan and the areas hit by the tsunami.

Sometimes I Can Be So Dumb

The other day when I stopped to get gas, some of it spilled out all over my jacket (it does this most of the time, nothing can be done about it, but I can usually keep it from splashing all over me). Well, after I ran the debit card through the slot, I stuck it in my pocket intending to put it back in my wallet when I got back in the van. I forgot to. When I got home, again I intended to and again, I forgot.

I again forgot to before I washed the jacket and everything else that smelled of gas. The card not only went through the washer, but through the dryer as well. David found it yesterday when he did his laundry. Looks like I need to stop by the bank today or tomorrow and tell them that I need a new card. Maybe I'll try it first to see if maybe it might work. Nah, I doubt it, it's now also warped.

There are times when things just slip my mind, but I do usually remember. The other day I had other things on my mind too, like the snow we were getting that no one called for. Well, there was a chance, but it was supposed to happen later that night, like real late.

I was worried about driving conditions on Dave's commute home. Remember, it's an hour commute one way and that's on a day with perfect weather. There's one bend in particular that worries me because you're turning at about a 45ͦ° angle, but you're doing it going downhill. That part of the freeway has a reputation for being one of the worst. Many a car and truck go off of the freeway there in the winter if they're not careful. Most of the ambulance calls for the county that are on the freeway are on that stretch. I happened to be on jury duty once with one of the people who drive the ambulance for the county. He told me that. In case you're wondering where that stretch of highway is in case you might travel through Iowa sometime, it's at mile marker 39 on the I-35 going south.

Well, shucks, today they said that we were supposed to see sunshine and the high was supposed to hit the 40s. It's still cloudy out...wait, what do I finally see, clearing skies and sunshine. The weather guy on the station we watch in the bedroom at night said that it was already clear to the west, which usually means it will be here when we wake up. Not this time. We had clouds up until now. I still doubt we'll hit 40, but it depends on what the temperature is now and I haven't looked at our little weather thing since earlier and we were still in the 20s then. But it feels good to finally see the sun again after what has been a very miserable past couple of days.

Dave told me that even Spots and War weren't liking it either because all that wet snow we got the other day had frozen back by the stable, making it hard for them to walk around. Spots is a very prissy pony anyway, he thinks he's da bomb, must be the Mustang in him. But I can understand them being skittish when there's ice.

This is Spots

Shucks, now it's cloudy again, but at least the sun is trying to make an appearance. Let's hope it wins.

ETA: It won!

Random Ramblings

I changed the ringtone on my phone again yesterday. I have a ton of them now to choose from. The main one is now the theme from The Twilight Zone. It's cool, and most importantly, it's loud so that I can hear it. I also changed Kenneth's from the theme from Caddyshack to one that says, "Mom, pick up the phone." The funny thing is, it sounds just like him, well at the beginning anyway. ☺

The coyotes were really making a ruckus last night. They were in the field right behind our property howling like crazy. The dogs were out there barking at them and either their barking, or my screaming for them to come in the house, scared the coyotes away. The sound of them howling always sends a chill up my spine, especially when they're as close to the property as they were last night. I also don't like the dogs being out there when I know that coyotes are close by. I don't know if the coyotes would do anything to the dogs, but I don't want to take that chance.

The dogs also almost got skunked last night. We think there may be a skunk living under the workshop or close by and the dogs startled it once last week and it sprayed. Thankfully none of them got it, but man, it sure stunk out there. Last night, before the coyotes, they startled the skunk again and again it sprayed. Again, none of them got it, but the smell followed them in and for a couple minutes, it really stunk like skunk. Dave sprinkled them with some concoction he made with I think baby powder and some other kind, just in case they got a little of it, but I do have a recipe for a solution to get rid of the smell just in case. If anyone would like it, let me know.

They all need baths so maybe I'll break down and give them all one, depending on the weather this week. If I don't, nobody else will, but I don't really mind it, they're good when it comes to taking baths.

Yesterday was Jake's 11th birthday. I forgot all about it, but I also wasn't paying attention to the date. Today and tomorrow are sad anniversaries. Today it's been 10 years since our cat, Velcro died and tomorrow will be a year since our mare, Sottie died.

There's a lady bug on my space bar that keeps getting bumped up and down whenever I hit it. Poor thing is probably sea sick by now.

I want to do something today, but I'm not sure what it is I want to do. I know I need to get a bigger box to ship something back east to friends of ours and make a dentist appointment for this week, but other than that, I'm stuck.

Good news, Weight Watchers is going very well. I'm almost down to where I was when I quit the last time. Once the weather cooperates, I need to pull out my bike and start riding it again. I also need to start using my weights again. I want to look good for my niece's wedding in June.

Well, I do need to do something, so I need to get off of my duff. Have a great day everyone.

UGH!!!

I was supposed to have my van today, Dave was going to take his. The reason why he took mine instead, instead of letting his van sit before he started it, he went out and started it several times this morning and when he needed to leave, it wouldn't start.

Remember last week it sat overnight in the mall parking lot before it started. Well, this morning he came up with the idea that if he went out and tried to start it every so often, that when he needed to leave, it would still start, WRONG! So, at the last minute, he came walking in to tell me that he had to take mine. I was in a very good mood until then.

I had planned on running to the store, post office, and bank today. Well, now I have to wait until tomorrow, couldn't go yesterday because he had my van then too. I didn't go Monday because I was waiting for a book to arrive that the book club sent because their records have wrong information, that I hadn't already gotten the book and paid for it. Even after they sent me a letter about the book being on back order and giving me the option to cancel, which I did, I got the book anyway, so now I have to send it back at my expense because they screwed up. Oh, and did I also mention that I haven't been able to watch my soaps since last week because the station won't come in until later and I don't like watching them on line because they don't stream in well?

Yes, I am in a very bad mood right now. I hate having to wait for things and I hate when things don't go the way I planned. I just hope the weather for tomorrow doesn't turn out the way they're predicting, even though there's a very slight chance of what they're predicting is supposed to happen. Otherwise I'm going to be in even a worse mood than I am now.

Oh well, at least I got the last payment out on a credit card that I used when I went back east the last time, so now I don't have to worry about that anymore.