Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

 It is a new year here for the House of Howard; as it is all over the world.  We, any of us here, rarely make resolutions.  It is just another year to live and love.  I usually set a few goals; center my life around my faith more, write more, both on here and for my writing group, declutter some more, buy less.  That is pretty much it. We do have a few plans for the new year.  Ellen will go back to uni here in a few days; I think her first day back is the 12th. I am going to concentrate, as I said, on writing, managing my alpha gal and histamine intolerance issues, and on gardening.  Last summer I pretty much failed at gardening for several different reasons, I just felt so awful from this syndrome. This year I am on a med for it, plus I am learning how to manage it.  I am also going to garden a bit differently...  But I digress.  Ellen and I are planning on going to California to visit family over Memorial Day weekend. We are hoping to ...

 Back in the days of my youth and naivety, I used to think when I reached my 50s life would be slow and staid and not much going on.  I figured I would spend my days sitting in my rocking chair and thinking about days gone by.  My 50s are rapidly running out and so far that hasn't happened.  For one thing, I don't even own a rocking chair.   I realize my parents, particularly my mother, had quite a deal to do with my earlier perceptions of my future.  My parents kept to themselves for the most part. We had extended family that would visit off and on, but we didn't entertain anyone aside from family members. My parents didn't belong to any organizations or clubs or suchlike.  It just wasn't how either of them were raised.  As a family in my younger years we would on occasion go to the beach. When my uncles would visit they and my dad would go surf fishing. My dad had been a lumberjack back in the day, but by the time I came along he worked as ...

 It has been a mild fall this year.  We had a brief skiff of snow here a couple of weeks ago, maybe an inch.  It didn't stick around long.  It fell on a Monday afternoon.  Ellen went to college, then stayed overnight with a couple of friends out there.   Ellen:  This past year has been a big one for Ellen. She graduated from high school and started college.  She is majoring in psychology with the end goal of high school counselor.   She is doing well in college.  I think she has realized that indeed she did NOT in fact "peak" in high school.  She is having fun in her UAC group, University Activities Committee.  They have planned a couple of Bingo nights.  There was the Grocery Bingo night; in which a couple/three of the members, Ellen was one, went grocery shopping at Walmart and bought over $500 worth of groceries; both food and cleaning products.  Then that evening they played Bingo and if they won they go...

This is Chica. We figure Chica must be a bit over a year old now. We added her to our family the day before Thanksgiving last fall, which was about Nov 27th, I believe. We figured she wasn’t quite 8 weeks old so she would have been born in early October.  She wasn’t blessed with a great deal of brains, which is how she was separated from her Mama. Or at least that is my theory   Since she got herself stranded up a tree two different times, I have not let her go outside alone since last winter.  She does go to the cat habitat, as we refer to it.  She likes to go out there in the mornings after her breakfast  I bring her back in about mid day.   She is stretched out on my lap on the sofa at this very moment.  I’m glad she likes to curl up on my lap  I missed that when Matilda died.  Smudge isn’t a lap cat   This is Smudge. Smudge has one interest in life. Eating.  You can’t really tell from these pictures, but Smudgie is about 16 poun...

 This is a grilled cheese sammy I made for Ellen a couple of days ago. It’s on keto bread, so low carb. But it has real cheese on it, which I can no longer indulge in.   Apparently I truly have become histamine intolerant or something. On the way to the Paul McCartney concert my “new” pants I got at a local thrift store set off my histamine alarm bells and my ears buzzed for the next 12+ hours; tinnitus I believe. In the thrift stores they don’t wash donated clothes but spray or steam them with some sort of solution. Even after I’d washed them the smell was super strong. I put a throw over my lap when I realized what was going on, but the damage was done. I’ve washed both pair of jeans twice since we came home and they still smell!  They must have really doused them. Anyway.  The point being. I’ve had to get new pants because I’ve lost about 20 lbs so far. I probably could lose more weight  but my “safe” foods include too many carbs; including oatmeal, rice, pot...

Yesterday we took a long drive to Tulsa to catch a concert from a living legend!  Yes. Paul McCartney!  He is going pretty strong for a guy in his 80s!   We stayed in a motel just a bit on the edge of the city. Then Gary drove us downtown. The traffic wasn’t all that bad. Not half as bad as Portland Oregon, that’s for sure! We had an absolute blast and I don’t regret one minute of it!