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dooley
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Recent Entries to this Blog It's Fall already!
Posted: 08 Oct 2015
Moving Day is approaching!
Posted: 04 Mar 2015
2015 already!
Posted: 01 Jan 2015
It's been a great while!
Posted: 30 Dec 2014
An anniversary comes but once a year!
Posted: 27 Aug 2014

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dooley's Blog




It's coming together!

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:40 am

I've been really busy lately. Dan is getting married on this coming Saturday. His two brothers are coming with their families and though they are not staying with us I had to do some major house cleaning to make it safe for a one year old little boy. I packed a lot of things in boxes and stored the boxes in the exercise room. May as well use the room for storage as I haven't been using it for exercise lately. I cleaned and dusted and sorted and boxed so much stuff. I now just have to vacuum all the floors and mop the kitchen and bathroom. I have a granddaughter who is twelve, I think. Maybe she is thirteen. I have trouble remembering which year she was born in but I'm pretty sure she is 12. Anyway last year when Fintin was born I made him an Amish Quilt. I told Tom I would make Erin a quilt. He said her favorite color was still pink which I knew so I started looking and planning a pink quilt. She has a twin size bed. At a yard sale I found a lot of pink material in various prints and a big piece of plain pink. I "stewed" about it for quite a while trying to decide what pattern to use. Finally I made up my own pattern. I made eight inch blocks out of the plain pink and took one crazy print pattern and cut hearts out of it and sewed them on half of the blocks. I had a lot of lace so I put lace around each heart. The other half of the blocks have hearts the same size embroidered with six strands of different pink thread. Now, today I finished all of the blocks. I can sew them together spacing them with the crazy pink material I used for half of the hearts. I bought some pink material at WalMart to make the backing from today. Instead of quilting it, I have a lot of pink buttons of various sizes and shades and I will use these buttons and the various shades of pink thread to tie the front to the back through the middle. I'm hoping I can get it done by Thursday but it depends on how much else I have to do before then. I know that the yard that I just mowed last week has to be done again and I still have a few things to do outside. Even if I don't get it all together I will have most of it done so she can see what it will look like finished.
We are having a birthday party on Friday and the wedding on Saturday and the boys aren't going home until Monday so it will be a busy week. Jacob had a birthday on July 13th, Tom and Ben have a birthday on August 6th and Fintin has a birthday on August 13th. dr's birthday was June 13th and Andy's birthday is September 4th. So as long as they are all here we will have a birthday party. I guess the party will be for everyone for the whole year. we are having barbeque brisket and ribs and hot links. For the kids who don't like hot we have "hot" dogs. I bought Anasazi beans today to make red beans and rice and will make cole slaw and salad with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and onions and a mixed fresh fruit salad. Cake and ice cream. Maybe! Dan is bringing his cheese cakes to put in the freezer so maybe I won't have room for ice cream but we should really have a cake. I guess I'd better put on my thinking cap for that one. Anyway with working and cleaning and the birthday party and the wedding I've been really busy. No wonder the weeds have outgrown us. Have a nice evening. dooley

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Today's List

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 4:20 am

Today's list was a bit longer because I didn't have to go to work. I had a mental list of things to get done today. We started by going to an estate sale. We bought quite a lot of things there of which dr will sell a good portion. Then, we went to breakfast. We got there at just the right time. There was one parking space two from the door. There was a booth empty and we got waited on right away. Then, the rush began and when we left there were people waiting in line. We went to WalMart next. I wanted some SureJell for the plum jelly that was on my list. We bought a few other things. We started for home but the truck turned at a yard sale sign and we went to a couple of sales but didn't buy anything. We went to the post office and the bank and back home by ll:15 am. That's good because I still had a big list. I got out my little lawn pup and mowed Chances back yard. It's about 40 by 50 feet. Then, I did the path through the storage yard and around the lower driveway and along the front fence in the side yard. I took the lawn pup outside the front gate and did around the upper driveway and down along the front fence line and up along the top of the yard (Outside the fence.) Then I got the little weedeater and did the upper front yard. It isn't big enough for the lawn pup. Too much stuff in it. With all the shade it wasn't too bad anyway. This all took about two hours and I was sweaty and thirsty so came inside and had something to drink and a shower. The drink and the shower were not on the list. I made sandwiches for lunch and checked in on the Stew. Then, I went on with my list. I washed the plums that nice man gave me yesterday. There were three grocery bags of them. It took three big pots to cook them. I drained them through a cloth into colander's and let the juice drain until it stopped running. Then, I dumped the pulp and seeds into large colander's and set the colander over a bowl and using the end of a glass, I squashed it all and got the pulp out and threw away the seeds. What with the plum refuse and the apricots that I raked up from under the trees my trash can is pretty odorous this week. Before I stopped to make supper, I decided to make just one batch of jam. It made 10 half pint jars. They all sealed so I'm hoping they jell now. It too the apricot jam just ages to set up. A few jars persist in being a little syrupy. Oh, well we can always make french toast or pancakes. After I washed out the cloths that I used to strain the juice I hung
them on the line. I glanced over in the garden. The zucchini plants have grown huge with the rain we've been having. There was a zucchini about 6 or 7 inches long. The first one of the year. I hadn't even noticed it growing. So, I took a picture of it.


I picked it and it went into a pan with some olive oil, a red pepper and some sweet onion. I put grated cheddar cheese on it when it was almost done and turned off the heat. I did steaks on the indoor electric grill and had tomatoes and cucumbers with it. I did the dishes, finished squashing the pulp and put it in the refrigerator with the juice. I guess my list for Sunday will include making more jelly. I went out and got Chance's water dishes and washed them and refilled them and redid the blankets on her deck and sat for a few minutes. Then, I came in and called Glenda which wasn't on my list but she had called me so I had to return the call. Now, I think I will read a part of my book and call it a day. Tomorrow I don't have a list because I work seven hours on Saturday and don't do too much else. Now, Sunday. Well, the list grows and will probably not be finished but I think I did well with todays list. I still have the lower back yard to start it. Also, feeding the plants. We may make another quick trip to Phoenix. I'm not sure about it yet. I think it depends on the weather. If it's rainy I don't like going down the mountain much. Okay. That's my list for today. Things not done but not really on the list. Letters to about everyone but especially grandma. I have a package to get mailed to her but that will wait until Monday because the post office isn't open for mailing things like packages until Monday. I did take a couple of pictures and posted them in Member's Gallery. I do think I will need a second shower though. It was hot making jelly. Take it easy. dooley

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I'm so excited!

Category: Holidays | Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 3:34 am


As some of you know, my middle son, Dan, is getting married on August 2nd. They are getting married at the Dugas campground where they go camping with their friends spring and fall. His two brothers are both coming and I haven't seen either of them for a couple of years. And all four of my grandchildren will be coming. The wedding is on Saturday morning. But, on Friday night we are having a birthday party at our house. Jacob will be six tomorrow, the 13th, Ben will be 10 on August 6th, Tom (my oldest son) will be 46 on August 6h and his son Fintin will be a year old on August 13th. Brian's birthday was June 13th. So we decided to have a party for everyone's birthday. We can all celebrate. Brian ordered a brisket from Stubb's BBQ in Austin, Texas and got the brisket and a free package of chopped brisket. He also has hot links and hamburgers for the little boys. Tom's daughter Erin who is 12 is coming, too. I'll make red beans and rice to go with, plus cole slaw and vegetables and dip. I saw at Costco the other day cupcakes in the freezer section and the frosting is ice cream with assorted sprinkles. That's combining cake and ice cream and I bet the kids will like them. There will be 14 or 15 family members present. It will be great on Friday and Saturday both. I have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off from work and we'll have a great time for sure. I just can't wait for the end of the month. I'll be busy until them for sure. I have to get the house all cleaned up and child proofed for Fintin. You would know how much work that will be if you could see how much stuff is crowded into this smallish house. I need to clean the front yards, too. The patio section and the side yard section so the kids can go outside. Chance isn't used to kids and I sort of don't want to let them out the back with her. I don't want to pen her up either. She would love the kids but I don't know how she would act around them. Tim goes and plays with her but he is older and wouldn't pull her ears or hurt her by accident. I'm not sure the others would either but I just don't want to take the chance. I hope it doesn't rain. We are into the rainy season. We've had more than two inches the last week and I think it is raining out again now. I wonder if Dan has made alternate plans for if it's raining. Maybe I'd better buy a raincoat and find my umbrella. dooley

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Rain, rain, and more rain

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:27 am

It has been so dry here and the scattered showers have scattered everywhere but here. Yesterday we drove through such a thunderstorm on the way up to work but it was still dust dry here when we got home.
This morning we picked apricots and I washed them and sat down and cut them and threw the seed out. I put them in the food processor and chopped them, just chunky. Then, I found jars, boiled water and scalded them, boiled more water and filled the jars with water and put the lids in a pan and covered them with the boiling water. I made three batches of jam. That's six pint jars and 15 half pint jars. I thought about making another apricot pie but I had dr give the rest of the apricots to the boy across the street. I used up my blueberries and made blueberry pie instead. It got really hot in the kitchen because I turned off the big fan so I could bottle the jam without cooling it off any. It got 103 in the kitchen before I was done. Just as I was finishing the last of it, I heard thunder outside.
I looked out and it was getting very black. I didn't think of my camera like Glenda does. I told dr he'd better go shut the truck windows. I didn't really expect it to rain because usually the storms go around us. This time the whole sky was black, not just a part of it. It started to rain about 3:10 pm and it's still raining off and on. But, for two hours it poured rain, heavy rain with hail in it. When it finally quit the heavy stuff, I went out to check my plants. They were still standing and didn't seem to have any amount of damage from the hail. I think they will probably double in size in the next few days. I know that you can water them every day and keep them from dying but just a little rain makes them grow like crazy. It's very muddy out now. I had an empty flower pot out there and it has about half or three quarters of an inch of water in it. I have this nice rain gauge held up by a little turtle. It doesn't ever get rained on though because I don't want it to get wet. It's really cute. Anyway, it's still raining but not so hard. Chance doesn't appreciate the rain or the thunder so she's stuck so close to me that every time I turn around I trip over her. She's in with dr now. There is more rain in the forecast for the next three days. Of course, the forecast says isolated or scattered showers so who knows if we will get more rain. We're just thankful for what we do get.
I do hope the rain was widespread and the wild fire got as drenched as we did. It would go a long way toward putting it out. This morning it said it had burned about 9.835 acres. I wonder how they measure it. Probably by satellite or something. It was 10 percent contained. But, when we talked to the forest service spokesperson yesterday he said they really weren't trying to put it out, just keep it from burning toward and structures or small towns. They were building fire lines and containment areas and letting it burn up to them hoping the winds wouldn't be strong enough to blow it across them.
We could see it burning when we came home from work last night. Not just the glow but the flames shooting up and large areas of sparks blowing around. It was amazing. I'm glad it's not closer than the 8 to 10 miles. I'm not sure just how far it is but it's not really close to us and has several ridges to cross to get to us, I think. We are in scrubby brush and the fire is up in altitude so it is burning the large trees and brush. Anyway, we are happy with the rain we have and hope for more tomorrow. We had to cook our steak inside but it tasted just fine. dooley

This blog entry has been viewed 678 times




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