Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

  (Sooo...you may or may not have noticed, if you are following this rather random page, and bless you for doing so, that I have been trying to be more consistent in posting.  I feel like I am pretty much posting random nonsense with no direction.  When it was Dairy Daze I had a pretty clear sense of what I ought to be posting about.  Now that we are "Beyond" the dairy, I just wander off on random subjects.  Today will be no different.  Maybe I should just totally rename this blog.  I had considered just calling it "House of Howard" but the "address" would still be dairydaze.   I had considered starting a completely new blog on a different platform, but that seems like a lot of trouble and I don't want to abandon this blog, now that I have come so far.  So I am going to continue on with this one, as is, and will continue to post random entries about random subjects that amount to very little, other than the early morning musings of a mid...

 Yesterday I had to head out early to Bolivar to get my fingerprints taken.   There's an opening sentence to raise lots of questions and eyebrows.  Haha...  Here's the story. Since Gary retired the dairy a bit over 2 years ago I have enjoyed not having to do chores early in the mornings and late in the evenings.  It has been great to not have to fight the winter elements at 6 AM in the black dark every single morning.  For sure I have enjoyed sleeping in an extra hour or so every morning.  But now Ellen buzzes off to school of mornings, Gary has been super busy with his water well work.  Me.  Hmmm...  I have found any number of ministries, hobbies and whatnot to keep myself busy.  However, as the months have gone on, I have become more and more restless for something a bit more constructive. So, last month I took complete leave of my senses and completed an online application to become a substitute teacher in the local school s...

Gary has had quite a few well calls the past week or two; not only for broken water lines from the freezing weather, but other issues as well.  Yesterday he went to a place where they needed a new control box, or something fairly simple.  At any rate the lady was so happy to have water again that she gave him a dozen fresh eggs and this box of goodies. You might wonder; where in the world did SHE get all of this?  Well, if you could examine each box you'd notice that they are all from Nabisco.  Her husband drives a truck for Nabisco and these are all from cases that broke open or were damaged and couldn't be sold.   Of course absolutely none of this stuff is the epitome of health food.  We will eat the crackers, and there was a box of Strawberry Newtons that Gary wanted to try.  We kept a couple of boxes of the cookies for ourselves, for treats of course.  But the rest of it is headed to church or to other family members.   Gary sai...

 The past few days have been busy here, I have been distracted by several different events.  Suffice it to say I haven't been keeping up with my walking as much as I should have.  Plus it has been raining here.  This January we are getting all the precipitation that we really needed back in July and August.   Above you can see tracks in the mud.  That is in the fenced-in garden to the west of the house.  I take Bella out there for walks when I don't want to go down the ridge to the creek bottoms.  If I let her loose down there, it is often close to an hour before I can catch her again.  She is quite clever and won't come when called until she is ready to leave.  haha...  I don't blame her, I wouldn't want to go before I was good and ready to go either.   In any case, back to the above photo.  We haven't had an overwhelming amount of rain, but enough so that the garden area where I walk is all squishy and muddy......

 The above is a picture of our old cat, Matilda, a few months before she passed.  I believe Smudge is in her carrier beneath.   In glancing through my photos to find something to post and blog about I got to thinking about how much things have changed since I first started taking photos.  I had a little 110 camera with those flash cubes.  I remember buying and inserting the film, doubles exposures, rewinding the film, taking it to be developed...etc. Then piles of photos, the negatives, photo albums...etc.   I remember it was always fun getting the packet of photos back so you could see if any of your pictures were actually good, or if they were off center.  Nowadays, with digital technology, a bit of the fun has gone out of it.  But if you see you don't have a nice shot,  you still have the family there so you can make them stay in position to get a better photo.  That part is nice. I do however miss having the packets of phot...

From the get go Bella was to be an outside dog, and so she has been for many years, with the exception of super cold nights.  She didn't really care to be inside when she WAS in here, she just sort of cringed around at the inside sounds of furnace or vacuum cleaner and huddled in the bathroom.   But now, after being inside more often over the past few years due to inclement weather, she is becoming accustomed to it, and prefers it really.   And who can resist this face?   This cat tolerates her to a certain degree, so I am not constantly on edge should they meet face to face.  Matilda, our previous cat, would have nothing to do with her and would fly into a panic at the sight of her.  So Bella stays inside more often now, because I am not as worried about pet drama.  And occasionally she might have learned that if she's cute enough, or persistent is perhaps a better word, she could get a treat. And so she pokes her nose where she ought not be...

 It is difficult to tell that everything is icy today; but it is.  Strangely enough, those are puddles you can see there, but it's ice underneath, so it was treacherous trying to walk around.  The dog and I stuck to walking in the grass or leaf litter so we'd have some traction.  I put old rags or towels down on the porch steps to get out the door. We left a white trail of ice around the yard on our walk. I guess the top picture is a bit more obvious. At any rate, while I am not longing for the 100 degree days and high humidity of summer,  I have had enough of winter weather drama for a bit now.