Never thought retirement would be like this
- Thread starter NancyNGA
- Start date
What does "Time Out" mean? Are you taking a break from the internet? I have to do that ever so often.
Nancy, how long are you going to leave your holiday lights up? I took everything down yesterday. Thought I better do it while the weather was nice (I was sweating). They say we are going to get some cold weather in the next week.
Nancy, how long are you going to leave your holiday lights up? I took everything down yesterday. Thought I better do it while the weather was nice (I was sweating). They say we are going to get some cold weather in the next week.
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Yes!
Apologies for not getting back to you sooner.That's a good question about the decorations. There are a lot of student renters on my street and most were gone by the 18th. They are starting to trickle back into town. I'll probably leave everything up until New Years Day. They are the ones who often leave theirs up until end of spring, so a few will appreciate it. I'll get an earlier start next year, before they leave. Most students are actually great neighbors, in spite of what some might imagine. I noticed tonight one house had decorated a GA Bulldog.
My old girlfriend from Ohio and I were discussing why our traditional schedules seem so out-of-sync with everyone else's, so I started searching, of course. Looks like a lot of traditions had to do with old superstitions, with the reasons long ago forgotten, except the last one.
Some Popular Myths & Beliefs
- It is said that the houses were decorated on Christmas Eve to prevent the danger from capricious forces.
- It is not allowed to bring the Christmas tree into the house before 24 December.
- The Christmas trees must be decorated only after children go to bed.
- It is believed that the Christmas decorations must be removed on the 12th day of Christmas Eve (Jan 5th or 6th).
MORE
Well, now I know my mother lied to me all those years.........she said it was bad luck to leave your Christmas tree up after New Year! I guess she was tired of seeing it and used that as an excuse! LOL Well, I guess I'm doomed this year because I took my tree down on December 27th AND put it up before December 24th! YIKES! But on the "up side", according to the Myth my decorated tree means Spring should be here shortly! LOL
:lol: Maybe it was mothers who started *all* those superstitions. Tomorrow night it's supposed to get down to 29 and windy. Brrrr! :winter1: Need to put out more straw for the goats. Then a long streak of rainy weather, unless they change it.
Spring may very well come early. Who knows?!? Happy New Year!
Nancy, did you get that straw out to the goats? Dang, it has been very windy here for two days. Was hoping the wind would blow all the leaves to the neighbor's yard! LOL Got a lot of projects I want to get started after the new year Already have been filling up garbage bags with just useless things that we will never use! Happy New Year!
Yes the goats are all taken care of. The driveway out there was so covered with leaves last time you couldn't tell where to drive. I was going to rake them, but ran out of daylight. Today they were all gone!!! From wind! Sometimes you just get lucky.
I want to get started after new years too, but I'm having an awful time deciding where to put up those shelves in the basement. There just isn't any good place. Still haven't done my kitchen light. Might go shopping for a new fixture tomorrow. Then again, maybe not.
I want to get started after new years too, but I'm having an awful time deciding where to put up those shelves in the basement. There just isn't any good place. Still haven't done my kitchen light. Might go shopping for a new fixture tomorrow. Then again, maybe not.
I wish I would fill garbage bags with junk. {sigh}
Coincidences
There are only 3 things that make me really angry, like hair-on-fire angry, and none of them occurs often. I had just written a little story for this diary discussing the least important of them, when all three actually happened. All at the same time! Had to call a quick time out instead. I hope I can cope with it better next time.
'Nuff said on that.
I'm really glad I found this forum, and have enjoyed the give and take with members here. It has gotten me through a couple of rough periods, even though I didn't mention it at the time it was going on. I hope 2017 is better than 2016, and that I'm still around this time next year to wish everyone Happy New Year.
This is a cute little song I only discovered recently. It has become one of my favorites when I get a little annoyed.
Lazy Day - Smiley Burnette
Thanks Meanderer.
Jesse adds a nice little twist to the lyrics near the end.
A couple of big time stars did a version too.
Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson - Lazy Day
Did you know Smiley Burnette wrote that song? I never cared much for him in the Gene Autry movies. He was soooo corny. But I've grown to appreciate his talents more after reading just a little bit about him.
Jesse adds a nice little twist to the lyrics near the end.
A couple of big time stars did a version too.
Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson - Lazy Day
Did you know Smiley Burnette wrote that song? I never cared much for him in the Gene Autry movies. He was soooo corny. But I've grown to appreciate his talents more after reading just a little bit about him.
I didn't do anything either, except plug in the Christmas lights. Ha! I still can't get over feeling guilty when I don't do anything. But it doesn't stop me (from not doing anything). So the thing to do is pretend you meant not to do anything. We worked hard long enough. Declare a Lazy Day, or three of them.
Going to hit the ground running Monday. I hope.
Pappy
Living the Dream
Have taken down the second round strings of lights on the porch, but left the original first two rectangles. The problem is the neighbor has not taken her decorations down yet. I can't take mine all down until she does. Otherwise she will be #1 tonight!
All she has to do is go out on the porch, pick up her dinky little tree with white-only lights and walk inside with it. She could even do it after dark! :eewwk: I should call her and find out what she's up to.
.
Chemical symbol is FY (maybe they ought to change that)
All she has to do is go out on the porch, pick up her dinky little tree with white-only lights
and walk inside with it. She could even do it after dark! :eewwk: I should call her and find out what she's up to. .
Chemical symbol is FY (maybe they ought to change that
)
This is a fuzzy picture of my old '75 Chevy Camaro, parked at my parents' farm on Rt 26 NE of Marietta, OH. You might be able to see tiny traces of mud on the tires. There is a silly little story that involves that mud.
It's embarrassing to admit you were afraid of your parents when you were 30 years old, but I was. It wasn't fear of bodily harm, just the dread of hearing those awful words,
"We told you so, you didn't listen to us, and look what happened!"
With that in mind, there were two ways to drive to that farm from where we lived in NE Ohio. One was straight south through small towns and rural areas. The other was south on I-77 to Marietta, then head back up Rt 26 coming in from the south. The second way sounds crazy, but actually took less time and was easier driving. I preferred it. My parents always went the stop and go route, the "correct" way.
On this occasion we all took off headed for the farm at the same time, but driving separate cars. I was determined to take the Camaro down I-77, not about to trail along behind them like a child. Right off the bat, they weren't happy because I chose to go a different way. I told them I would get there before they did. Took off speeding down I-77, not absolutely sure at the time I was right. Then I made a big mistake.
Decided on the spur of the moment it would be even quicker to take a back road from I-77 straight over to Rt 26, bypassing the trip down to and back up from Marietta. I had never tried it before, but I could read maps!
What maps don't tell you is the condition of the road. The shortcut I chose started out fine. No traffic, in fact not a single vehicle in either direction. Hmmm... What I didn't know was that it crossed into Wayne National Forest, and that many farms had already sold out to the government. Most houses you passed were actually vacant.
The paved road eventually turned into gravel, and much later into a one-lane dirt road. By then it was too late to turn back, because I would have been terribly late.
Finally the road headed down the side of a very long steep hill, with mud puddles and washed out gullies. Eventually I got stuck in the mud. Couldn't move the car forward and certainly not backward. [And, yes, I had had the short version lecture on how to drive in mud/snow/ice---"Spinning your wheels is stupid!"]
However... if all you can do is spin, you don't have much choice. I noticed the car would move sideways when the wheels would spin, and I thought it might eventually hit something solid and gain traction. Long story short, the car slid *completely* sideways in the road. The front was almost against the side of the hill, and the back was almost sticking out over the edge. Talk about panic. (I was a sissy back then.)
That was before the days of cell phones. The nearest house was many miles back and I didn't know what was ahead. No one would ever find me because no one knew I chose that route. Boy was I gonna be in trouble! It might be easier to just die there and get it over with.
The only hope was to keep working the wheels back and forth. The car eventually slid back around and hit solid ground. I went on my way, and still made it to the farm first.
Problem was, the car was now covered in mud. There is no mud in Marietta! You probably never saw anyone pull out a hose and wash down a car so fast. Put the hose away just as they drove up.
Funny thing, as soon as you reached the bottom of that hill you were right at Rt 26, just a couple of miles from the farm. I could have easily walked that way. But then I'd really be in trouble when we had to go back and get that car, stuck sideways on the side of a hill. But who knows? They might have just broke out laughing.
Secret was kept for 40 years. No guilt trip, no lectures, but no funny story to talk about either.
It's embarrassing to admit you were afraid of your parents when you were 30 years old, but I was. It wasn't fear of bodily harm, just the dread of hearing those awful words,
"We told you so, you didn't listen to us, and look what happened!"
With that in mind, there were two ways to drive to that farm from where we lived in NE Ohio. One was straight south through small towns and rural areas. The other was south on I-77 to Marietta, then head back up Rt 26 coming in from the south. The second way sounds crazy, but actually took less time and was easier driving. I preferred it. My parents always went the stop and go route, the "correct" way.
On this occasion we all took off headed for the farm at the same time, but driving separate cars. I was determined to take the Camaro down I-77, not about to trail along behind them like a child. Right off the bat, they weren't happy because I chose to go a different way. I told them I would get there before they did. Took off speeding down I-77, not absolutely sure at the time I was right. Then I made a big mistake.
Decided on the spur of the moment it would be even quicker to take a back road from I-77 straight over to Rt 26, bypassing the trip down to and back up from Marietta. I had never tried it before, but I could read maps!
What maps don't tell you is the condition of the road. The shortcut I chose started out fine. No traffic, in fact not a single vehicle in either direction. Hmmm...
What I didn't know was that it crossed into Wayne National Forest, and that many farms had already sold out to the government. Most houses you passed were actually vacant. The paved road eventually turned into gravel, and much later into a one-lane dirt road. By then it was too late to turn back, because I would have been terribly late.
Finally the road headed down the side of a very long steep hill, with mud puddles and washed out gullies. Eventually I got stuck in the mud. Couldn't move the car forward and certainly not backward. [And, yes, I had had the short version lecture on how to drive in mud/snow/ice---"Spinning your wheels is stupid!"]
However... if all you can do is spin, you don't have much choice. I noticed the car would move sideways when the wheels would spin, and I thought it might eventually hit something solid and gain traction. Long story short, the car slid *completely* sideways in the road. The front was almost against the side of the hill, and the back was almost sticking out over the edge. Talk about panic. (I was a sissy back then.)
That was before the days of cell phones. The nearest house was many miles back and I didn't know what was ahead. No one would ever find me because no one knew I chose that route. Boy was I gonna be in trouble! It might be easier to just die there and get it over with.
The only hope was to keep working the wheels back and forth. The car eventually slid back around and hit solid ground. I went on my way, and still made it to the farm first.
Problem was, the car was now covered in mud. There is no mud in Marietta! You probably never saw anyone pull out a hose and wash down a car so fast. Put the hose away just as they drove up.
Funny thing, as soon as you reached the bottom of that hill you were right at Rt 26, just a couple of miles from the farm. I could have easily walked that way. But then I'd really be in trouble when we had to go back and get that car, stuck sideways on the side of a hill. But who knows? They might have just broke out laughing.
Secret was kept for 40 years. No guilt trip, no lectures, but no funny story to talk about either.
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Ha! Ha! My neighbor is home now. Her tree is lit, so I turned my rectangles on. That'll show her!
(ps. Sorry, we were posting at the same time.
)
Aunt Bea
SF VIP
- Location
- Near Mount Pilot
Great story, they definitely were not built for off road use, LOL!!!
I had a 76, Firethorn red with a white Naugahyde roof and red interior. I think I paid $6,700.00 for it new, financed $3,000.00 for 36 months and used to lie awake at night worrying about the huge payments, LOL!!!
I had a 76, Firethorn red with a white Naugahyde roof and red interior. I think I paid $6,700.00 for it new, financed $3,000.00 for 36 months and used to lie awake at night worrying about the huge payments, LOL!!!