And stupid strikes again....

Well, I knew it was only a matter of time....I knew that something would happen. This could have been really, really embarrassing....Thank you God that it wasn't.

There's little old Deanna (ok let's be realistic...There's big old Deanna) standing there at her mail case, minding my own business. Things are going pretty well. Almost done pulling all my mail down into buckets so I can leave on the route for delivery. My leg brushes up against my stool which for some reason is sticking out a little from under the case. OUCH! I've hardly touched the thing and it bit me!

Right behind my right knee. I think to myself, maybe I already had a scratch that I didn't know about and I just bumped it when I hit the stool. Ok, there's an answer for it. I continue on and finish pulling down and then head out and load my jeep. The whole time my leg is hurting worse and worse. I cannot for the life of me figure out what is wrong. I head into the bathroom and very quietly look...a HUGE sliver is embedded in my leg. It is over an inch long and really in there. Oh great. How many people can pull a sliver out of the "back " of their own leg? I am not a contortionist. I can hardly walk without killing myself and here I am with this?

I start trying to pull it out. It's not coming. I can't get ahold of it. Now, I'm figuring that I'll have to run out and get my friend Rita to try to get it out or I'm going to have to head to the ER of all places for a sliver. You know how work is when there is an injury of any type. They are so afraid of getting sued that they will send you for anything. I am not looking forward to explaining this to anyone....let alone a Doctor. I could just imagine the smirks.

Well, as I'm pulling up my pants leg to head out to get Rita to help me, the denim catches on the sliver and pulls it out. Whew. Saved by the pants leg. That could have been really embarrassing for me. So.....of course I had to come blog about it. Go figure.

Now lesson number two......when you have lost 14 pounds do not try to run in the rain in baggy pants. We were reading meters, of course in the rain, although that's much better than snow. I was slogging through the muck and mud with my baggy pants on holding the clip board trying to keep the paper dry. Good luck with that one. Anyway, I decided to try to jog back to the car. I'm only wet. Other than that I'm feeling pretty good. Guess what happens?.......Pants down to the knees. Right in the middle of the yard. Thankfully, no one was home and Will was not looking. I think he would have laughed himself silly. As it was he laughed at me hiking my britches up the whole way anyway.

Lesson number 3:

When you really, really have to go (you know what I mean), DO NOT TRY TO "GO" IN A MOSQUITO INFESTED WOODED AREA ALIVE WITH DEER FLIES!!!!!!!!!!

There were no bathrooms around. None. We are miles and miles from no where. We stop at this house that is a hunting cabin back in the woods. I figure I'm safe running into the woods quick. There were all of these little pine trees I could just disappear into them and no one would be the wiser because Will was reading the meter on the other side of the house, a long, long way aways.

As soon as the naked flesh hit the air.......thousands and thousands of the little buggers headed for me. It was like they heard some radiopathic, sonic, psychic bulletin.........COME AND GET ITTTTTTTT!! It looked like those pictures of all of the bombers during the world wars as they did air raids. I was going as fast as I could LITERALLY and they ate me up! I grabbed everything I owned and ran back to the car. Then the misery started. Itch! Itch! It was terrible.

BUT ! My saving grace was my baggy jeans. Yes they might be hard to run in, but let me tell you when you got misery and the only way to fix it is Hydrocortizone cream, which I had in my purse. They are a blessing. I just sat in that seat and put on that cream without taking my pants off or anything.. You don't think I was going to risk the air raid again did you. I stayed in the car and my pants were baggy enough to slather that cream all the way down to my knees. What a relief. For you women who will understand this, it was that same kind of feeling that you get while you are getting a permanent.... you know the one where your whole head is on fire with the solution and then they rinse it. It is one of the best feelings in the world.

All I could say was shut up Will. He was laughing like a loon over there. Of course he was sympathetic while I was itching, but my solution sent him over the edge. He just came by now, read two lines and left laughing like a loon again.

Then when we got home, I'm taking off my clothes to get into the shower and guess what falls on the floor?? All of these dead mosquitoes. That'll teach em! Of course we laughed some more after I told Will.

So I guess this is my month for stupid pants stories. Did I ever tell you about taking my shirt off in front of the Florida State Capitol? Well, there was this bee and I'm allergic. He flew in and it came off.....

Stupid things happen to me.

Have a great day.
dea

About the pics below...

...and bad purchases.
I had intended to include many more pictures below than I did. It was brought to my attention that there were many who have yet to see those and better was how much fun it was to remember how all those wonderful people looked back then!
So, that was my intent; to focus this time on the other people who attended. What got us started was the purchase of our first "scanner-printer". I had thought we had done well. We bought a Hewle*t PacKard. They are supposed to be among the best when it comes to printers. Perhaps they are but GRRRR! their software truly "inhales". Seriously, they leave a lot to be desired. This software behaves more like a virus. It is terribly intrusive and poorly executed (I'd like to try a hand at "executing" it!). Just another "something" I shouldn't have bought, that doesn't work as I had planned. (sigh) No surprise there.
So, after battling with this software for over an hour I discovered that the software had "lost" almost half of the pictures I scanned. I am sorry, but I wasn't going to spend another hour rescanning pictures. Maybe later. Besides, we should have another Wedding album around here somewhere with even more pictures of people from 1990!

Now, to the Pics below:
The first is the picture of our wedding rings. There is a story here that perhaps explains a lot about the flaws and faults of Myself and Deanna. We don't have those rings anymore. Either one of us.
I love to tell people that in true Redneck Fashion, I "Hocked" Deanna's Engagement ring on our first wedding anniversary.
The truth is: I bought her an anniversary band but it wouldn't match up right with the wedding set. After surprising Deanna with the band and discovering it wouldn't work (see the trend?) I took her and her ring to the store to see if we could find a band that would work.
The wedding set I bought her a year and a half earlier was beautiful but deadly. Both of us carried more than a few scars and scratches from it. Deanna had to really be careful no matter what she was doing or someone was going to bleed.
When we got to the store the clerk told us that her wedding set was worth more now a year later than it was when we bought it. So both Deanna and I started doing the math: If I add the price of the anniversary band to the price of selling the wedding set...hmmm. Then Deanna pointed down and said, "there is the set I really wanted..." What??? Why didn't you say so a year ago??? Her reply: " I thought it was too expensive" ARRRGGHHH! I remember shopping for her wedding set and telling her over and over to stop looking at the prices.... Long story short, she now has a different wedding set. My ring couldn't stand the abuse of a clumsy oaf such as myself and a few years later was replaced by a plain band. It serves it's purpose: announces that I'm private property, bought and paid for.

The Next picture is a younger pic of my brother in law David followed by a picture of his wife Rhonda (right) and my sister in law Dale (left and below that).

Our wedding has been called "a pretty good musical" and part of that was because of our very good friend Cathy who was one of the "dancers" in the pictures below. I had another one of her "dancing" with one of our stuffed bears but it was one of the ones "lost". The last one is the wedding cake which really took my by surprise by how wonderful it was. All those flowers on the cake are icing. All of them. They were tasty too!

Well, I've made myself late for work adding this because I didn't have time to add it yesterday. (I was hunting ...lost pictures arggg!).

God bless and a Great day to you.
Will.

And still more pics!

18 Years?!?

Do you remember when you turned 18? When I turned 18 it really was a big deal. From the time you are in elementary school you start looking forward to and dreaming about the day you turn 18. It took forever! Between the ages of 18 and 25 there were some bad times for me but mostly I have really good memories of the short period when time moved at it's normal pace. Then I was blessed with a wonderful woman who apparently lost her mind for long enough to say "I do".

I'm sure I heard a "starters pistol" and the words: "...And They're Off!" because that's when "time" kicked it into high gear! Wham! Blink! and it's now our 18th wedding anniversary! Whuh? whoo? huh? Where'd it go?

It's a good thing that I trust what God does or else I would think He has made a mistake. Seriously, shouldn't the school years have raced by and then start to slow down after that? Wouldn't that make more sense? As someone once said "Youth is wasted on the Young".

We have a few minutes this morning together but that will be all. As old poor married folk, Deanna has to work this am and I will have to work this afternoon reading meters. Perhaps she will be able to meet me this afternoon, but probably not. So, for our anniversary we get a few minutes in the morning and maybe a few tonight to reminisce over the last 18 and to dream about the next 18.

Just don't blink, and if anyone sees that guy with the starters pistol, give him a slap and take his gun away!

Will.

We have a great dog!

You know how some dogs are just special? Well ours is one of them. Not only does he potty on command, he waits until all humans have gone through the door before stepping one foot over the threshold. It's something that we taught him after watching the dog whisperer guy on tv. It's really nice to see him have manners.

The really funny things that crack me up are the human characteristics he shows. No, I'm not saying he's human or anything like that and we all know what I think about Darwin and his theories (God said it and it was....much easier to believe for me), but Sam can act very human like.

Of course the start of my day is usually watching my hubby play with the dog. This will consist of Sam running to grab a toy for them to play with and Will throwing it a few times (yes in the house, but boys will be boys). After Will throws it a couple of times, he turns his back on Sam and Sam who does not have a mean bone in his body will stand behind Will and growl like he's this huge mean ferocious thing. If Will still ignores him he runs right up to Will and beats him in the butt with the toy growling and Will just giggles (so do I). They do this every morning and it doesn't get old playing or watching. It's a hoot watching Sam trying to entice Will to skip work. Come on play with me, don't go to "that place....you can do it....ignore the door...ignore the door...." When Will walks out the door and gets into the car Sam stops watching at the door, sighs, turns around and flops on the floor. Every morning.

I have also taught the dog to pick up his own toys. Of course this is as much work as asking my children to pick up their toys. Sometimes it's much easier just to do it myself. You see Sam will pick them up, but he thinks it so much fun to pick up the toys with me following around making him do it, that he will pick up his whole clothes basket full of "Sam toys"and empty it at my feet when we are done so that we can start all over.

Then there are moments like last night when Will and I were both tired and here comes the dog with the rawhide plastic bag stuck on his face. Evidentally it had fallen from it's usual place on the buffet and he found it. Here he comes barely able to see over the bag to show us that he had found it with his nose stuck inside and his mouth wrapped around one of the chews. Then he pulled the bag off after we had seen him, and showed us that he had one "special" (it's what we call them instead of his regular cookies) and then proceeded to dance for us showing us his special. He gets so happy that his eyes squint shut and he wags his tail so much that everything in the vacinity gets thrown. Of course we laughed and that made him happy so he laid down at my feet and ate it. He only grabbed one and he only ate one. Funny dog. It was almost like he had to show us so that he would not be sneaking it. Maybe the best part for him is the dance and showing it to us? What a hoot. I needed that laugh last night.

Things around here are hectic. Will and I are going through one of those rough patches. Not between us though. In fact the kids both went to lifefest this last week and we really enjoyed being together not having to worry about anyone but us. It was strange but nice. Things around here are just "tiresome". I cannot think of another word for it. For every one thing that we get accomplished 3 more show up. We are trying to finish the remodeling, but life keeps getting in the way. I spend my days running after kids and he seems to be spending his days running after car parts. This next week we read almost 1000 meters for my Mom and Pop who are in Charleston on vacation. It will be nice to have the time together, but still makes it hard to get things done.

The only thing that makes this easier to handle is knowing that God has a plan and everything is in his control. It's been one of those summers where everytime I turn around someone needs money or someone needs time. Both are in limited quantities.

Then yesterday my work shorted me 3 days on my paycheck. Not a terrible thing, but something that seems to happen every time I take annual or sick leave. I finally had to file a complaint. I hate filing those, but they seem to be the only way to get anything accomplished. It still makes me feel bad, because people do not mess up on purpose, but when you mess up enough that it becomes a bad habit instead of a mistake it's time to fix it.


We had almost 7.5 inches of rain in 2 days around here with 70 mph winds. It was exciting for a little while. Lots of soggy areas now. Still have lots of standing water and high rivers and creeks. Not so much where we are because of our sandy soil, but Tomah still has water issues and I think all the places that were flooded in June are back in the same boat although you won't hear about it on the news.

Well, time to get busy on pot luck food for after church. Although it's Sunday and the kids are still asleep. I might just head back to bed for awhile. I normally don't but everyone deserves to sleep in every once in a while don't they?

Hope you have a great Sunday!
dea

I forgot the Gathering Report

Things went really well at the Gathering aside from the fact that everything and I mean everything went wrong that morning before we left. Thankfully my Uncle Ken came and helped load some of the stuff into his car. It was a huge help.

Devils Lake is beautiful, even if the lake was a little larger than it normally is. We were in this huge room with entire walls of windows that overlooked the lake and this huge bluff. Good food and fun times.

Jacob starts a little summer school class load tomorrow. It should not last long. The teacher just wanted him to come in and finish a couple of things up from last year before going on to next year. As soon as he is finished, he can stop going and be a summer bum again.

It is raining here and I am glad. Today was one of those muggy summer days although it was beautiful out. Will and I went with my Dad to learn their new meter reading route. We will be reading meters for them this month so that they can run to Charleston with my sister and brother and their families. I hope they have a wonderful time. It will be strange for us doing the meter route without 3 feet of snow on the ground.

While we were on the route today, my hubby bought us an icecream cone. There are not many things that are better than a cone on a hot day. Just hits the spot.

Speaking of my hubby, our anniversary is a week from tomorrow. Can you believe 18 years? What a hoot! Sometimes it feels like 3 months and other times it feels like we have known each other forever. I am so glad that God sent him my way. Who else would put up with me?

Well, time to get some more laundry done before I head to bed. Have a great day tomorrow.

dea

News from Jam and Jelly central

It's summer here as it probably is at your house (except our friends in Australia, who even in winter have summer temperatures compared to our winters). Around here things are really starting to pick up as plants start producing fruits and veggies. That means the work in that department starts to pick up for our family too. Yesterday afternoon the whole family spent over two hours working in the garden together. For the most part it was a great time. Of course there are always those "Awe Mom...." moments, but they get over them sooner or later and things go on. Will and Jacob built a fence around my garden this year and that has really helped to keep the deer out. Before the fence went up, just this year the deer ate a whole row of garlic plants, some of my onion sets and 7 potato plants.

We're really proud of the garden this year. All 50+ tomato plants and 40+ pepper plants are growing well and are starting to show fruit. It's exciting. My watermelon and muskmelon plants are even growing....something never before seen in my garden (mostly due to the deer). It doesn't matter if they like the taste, they try every plant. Things are looking good.

On Thursday a friend of our who owns a strawberry/apple/cabbage farm invited our church out to pick strawberries for free. I went out with Jessalyn and my Mom, and Uncle Ken and between us we picked 4 dish pans full. I spent yesterday making jam. It took between 6-7 hours to make 7 batches of jam. Sugar free, low sugar, strawberry freezer jam, strawberry banana freezer jam and regular strawberry jam. It was fun, but last night for the first time in a long time, I had problems with my foot again. That in it's own way is a good thing. Now I know that it will stay good unless I stress it out by standing too long in one place. Helpful knowledge for me.

I baked homemade drop shortcakes yesterday and we had strawberry shortcake. Will and Jessalyn had it as both lunch and supper. I know, I know I'm a terrible Mom, but it was the 4th and it was there. They liked it! Who am I to argue?

Last night was our local fireworks display. It was the best ever! Our little fire department works hard during Cranfest selling Brats, steaks, burgers etc in their beer tent. It's the only place beer is allowed on the festival grounds and it is monitored. They do a great job keeping the peace and with them doing that the rest of the festival stays family friendly. Anyway, all the proceeds that they get go towards fireworks, and then local businesses donate and to make a terrible pun "THEY DO A BANG UP JOB". It was beautiful and I don't know if I have ever seen such huge fireworks. The outside edges of the explosions were huge and wonderful. We really did "oooh and ahhhhh".

Well it seems that band has hit the dirt for Jessalyn. She is not really enjoying the flute and is worried that with Show choir and all the practises she will have trouble keeping up with her homework. I think it's probably a smart move. Being in both would be a lot of wear on a 12 year old. Truth be told, she loves singing more than about anything.

The kids leave Wednesday for "Lifefest" a Christian Music festival held over by Oshkosh. They will spend the night over there and attend for a couple of days. Jessalyn will be staying until Saturday, but the boys have to come home on Friday morning because both male chaperones have prior committments. I don't think that Jake's real upset about that. He's a little nervous about being left out, but I really think that it will be fine. I think that one of the chaperones is really looking forward to spending time with Jake so that he can get to know him better. My friend Vicki will be going too, so I'm sure that he will have people to wander where he wants to wander. His Grammy in Florida should be there to go with him. She'd love the music and he'd love to hang out with her. Maybe she should think about that for next year???? It might end up being about the same time as the Iola Car Show. Seems like an even swap to me.....music for Grammy and cars for Grampy?

The Oakes Family Gathering went well. Devils Lake is a wonderful place to visit. I want to take the family back some day. We can have a picnic, grill out and Will and I can take a walk and enjoy each other, while our friend Luke (who volunteered) can take the kids on a hike to the top of the 500' bluff. I'd love to go up. We'll see. It's not the going up that gets me...it's the coming down with my knees. That's the one thing that still hurts. I'll probably try it though, just to say that I did it. Man I sound like I'm old and falling apart, but I was born with my knee problems, so they don't count!

Well time to go to work. The day after a holiday usually means lots of mail for us. Yuck. I know, I know, job security. It's just that it's Saturday, which means I have to babysit the new substitutes as well as do my own work. Makes for a long day.

Hope you have a great day!
dea

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Gotta love a forcast like this:

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 72. North wind around 6 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. East wind between 3 and 5 mph.

Independence Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. South wind between 3 and 6 mph.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 51. South wind between 3 and 5 mph.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 81. South wind between 5 and 9 mph.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59.