Power Wheel re-invented
14 years ago
Monday, September 15, 2008
Itinerary
Thursday we depart fom Memphis, to Amsterdam, to Barcelona. Then we are free to explore until we board the Norwegian Gem on Sunday. Monday we are at sea. Tuesday we arrive in Valletta, Malta 8am-3pm, Wednesday we arrive in Naples/Pompeii 8am-7pm. Thursday we arrive in Rome 7am-7pm, James is taking a country side bike ride, Chuck & Cheryl are touring the Vatican, while I am free to explore what I didn't get to see the first time. Friday we hit Livorno/Florence 7am-7pm. Our last day finds us in Villefrance/Nice/Monaco. I'll have to look my best. Sunday brings us back to Barcelona and on our way home.
Power Outage
When the eye of the hurricane went our northern Arkansas, we lost power for 30 hours. Good thing my man is handsome and handy! He boiled water and poured it into my coffee maker...Yum. Then he plugged in the generator and hooked up the fridges.The strangest thing about that morning was how quiet my house was and could I stand the silence. A-Ha, iPod. Then I started packing for our cruise since I could make use of the daylight. Time to make some calls and talk to some of my peeps. Another cord led to the TV/Bose, another one snaked up the stairs and hooked up the internet. It's getting difficult to walk around the cords and the fridge is dusty. Real Simple publishes the A-Ha Use for items - outdoor Christmas cords make wonderful electricity from the generator to my home.
Whenever life gets too crazy, try to live a day with the lights off and see how beautiful life is under candlelight. It's been a good 30 hours.
I think I'll try it again tonight!! A-Ha la la la la!
Whenever life gets too crazy, try to live a day with the lights off and see how beautiful life is under candlelight. It's been a good 30 hours.
I think I'll try it again tonight!! A-Ha la la la la!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Pizza oven and fireplace update
Yeah baby, it's looking great! Check out that scaffolding! Eventually, it was 3 levels high.
Stone path from kitchen to outdoor kitchen
The new path is easy to walk down the hill. A big hit for me!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Farm Help
A successful rancher died and left everything to his devoted wife. She was a very good-looking woman and determined to keep the ranch, but knew very little about ranching, so she decided to place an ad in the newspaper for a ranch hand.
Two cowboys applied for the job. One was gay and the other a drunk. She thought long and hard about it, and when no one else applied she decided to hire the gay guy, figuring it would be safer to have him around the house than the drunk. He proved to be a hard worker who put in long hours every day and knew a lot about ranching.
For weeks, the two of them worked, and the ranch was doing very well. Then one day, the rancher's widow said to the hired hand, 'You have done a really good job, and the ranch looks great. You should go into town and kick up your heels. The hired hand readily agreed and went into town one Saturday night. One o'clock came, however, and he didn't return. Two o'clock and no hired hand. Finally he returned around two-thirty, and upon entering the room, he found the rancher's widow sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine, waiting for him.
She quietly called him over to her. 'Unbutton my blouse and take it off,' she said. Trembling, he did as she directed. 'Now take off my boots.' He did as she asked, ever so slowly. 'Now take off my socks.' He removed each gently and placed them neatly by her boots. 'Now take off my skirt.' He slowly unbuttoned it, constantly watching her eyes in the fire light. 'Now take off my bra.' Again, with trembling hands, he did as he was told and dropped it to the floor. Then she looked at him and said, 'If you ever wear my clothes into town again, you're fired.'
Two cowboys applied for the job. One was gay and the other a drunk. She thought long and hard about it, and when no one else applied she decided to hire the gay guy, figuring it would be safer to have him around the house than the drunk. He proved to be a hard worker who put in long hours every day and knew a lot about ranching.
For weeks, the two of them worked, and the ranch was doing very well. Then one day, the rancher's widow said to the hired hand, 'You have done a really good job, and the ranch looks great. You should go into town and kick up your heels. The hired hand readily agreed and went into town one Saturday night. One o'clock came, however, and he didn't return. Two o'clock and no hired hand. Finally he returned around two-thirty, and upon entering the room, he found the rancher's widow sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine, waiting for him.
She quietly called him over to her. 'Unbutton my blouse and take it off,' she said. Trembling, he did as she directed. 'Now take off my boots.' He did as she asked, ever so slowly. 'Now take off my socks.' He removed each gently and placed them neatly by her boots. 'Now take off my skirt.' He slowly unbuttoned it, constantly watching her eyes in the fire light. 'Now take off my bra.' Again, with trembling hands, he did as he was told and dropped it to the floor. Then she looked at him and said, 'If you ever wear my clothes into town again, you're fired.'
While you were out...
AFTER PHOTO
Looks like the stone guys were BUSY this week - they made some real progress while I was out of town visiting the grandsons this past week.
check out more at Fliker
Looks like the stone guys were BUSY this week - they made some real progress while I was out of town visiting the grandsons this past week.
check out more at Fliker
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
try as i may, i just can't seem to get the picture i want, "a room with a view" of the progress of the pizza oven & fireplace being set in stone, literally. TONS OF STONES. so let me make an attempt to describe what i see out my kitchen window. a larger than life structure, much bigger than i had thought. you see, we are in an Arkansas "hollow" so my oven and fireplace must have tall chimneys to draw. it's so beautiful,tho. i picture the new stairs with a banister and beautiful gardens spilling down the wall.
You see, i watch the progress looking down on it from my kitchen window, my deck, my bedroom. it is beautiful in it's ugliness, the cinder blocks and it's form, it's height and girth. There's a new oven and fireplace in my home, but outside.
today Tye, the stone layer (and a good looking young man, BTW) set the facing on the oven. it looks so good. i can see he ponder which stone to fit in the large puzzle. unfortunately, the recent rain had made a puddle, making his scaffolding unsafe. Another day delay.
You see, i watch the progress looking down on it from my kitchen window, my deck, my bedroom. it is beautiful in it's ugliness, the cinder blocks and it's form, it's height and girth. There's a new oven and fireplace in my home, but outside.
today Tye, the stone layer (and a good looking young man, BTW) set the facing on the oven. it looks so good. i can see he ponder which stone to fit in the large puzzle. unfortunately, the recent rain had made a puddle, making his scaffolding unsafe. Another day delay.
Monday, August 11, 2008
REAL men do clean toilets...really
Today is the first day that the new housekeepers started. Although my previous housekeeper is recovering from the gangrene on her legs, she doesn't think she clean houses anymore, much to my dismay. It had been at least 3 weeks since her last visit and my house needs it every week because of all the dog hair. This company works in pairs so that it will get done faster, 4 hrs. instead of 8, plus they have a backup person who will eventually train with the pair. One's a gal and - get this ladies - the other is a man, albeit young, he does toilets!!! WOW/ I thought it was against their DNA to be able to do toilets, vacuum, dust, do windows - yes - even windows. Now, don't that beat all!!! SO far, they seem to be doing a good job for their first day. I am so relieved to finally have all that dog hair vacuumed, the stove top cleaned and the floors mopped. Yippee!
Friday, August 1, 2008
Dream vs. Reality
DREAM OUTCOME
FUTURE PIZZA OVEN AND FIREPLACE
View more photos at Flickr
I can guarantee that the one I'm going to get looks nothing like my dream picture that I printed to give to the contractor. Welcome to Arkansas.
FUTURE PIZZA OVEN AND FIREPLACE
View more photos at Flickr
I can guarantee that the one I'm going to get looks nothing like my dream picture that I printed to give to the contractor. Welcome to Arkansas.
What would Betty do?
The other night, while I was cleaning up, waiting for my 10 farm-fresh egg frittata to bake, I had a FREAK ACCIDENT. I dropped the NEW bottle of canola oil on my tiled floor, it broke the cap, and the bottle of oil spilled on the entire floor!!!! Frantically, I grabbed the bottle and a bunch of towels to soak up the oil. My husband comes in with a couple of towels bigger than my drawer of kitchen towels. I get one more terry towel... it was the one I got in Minneapolis, at General Mills. Betty Crocker is the known queen of domestic cooking knowledge. Embroidered on the towel is "What would Betty do?" What would Betty do? I think to myself. I get the towel and dread the mop up job. Crocodile tears and sobs sputter out of my mouth. I am in misery...snif sniff. My dear husband says," don't worry, honey, it's only a spill, I'll mop the floor".
That's what Betty would have done, cried. and I did and he did. and the eggs were good.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Outdoor Kitchen
This is an update on our out door kitchen, ODK. The pizza oven came and the foundation has been poured...yahoo!!! I better start learning how to make dough!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancgbear/sets/72157606098549843/
Progress on the Outdoor Kitchen
Here are some photos of our outdoor kitchen. We have an antique Chambers stove that was my husband's mothers' since forever, a flat grill like at Benihanna's, a sink, fridge and a grill, of course. It's been in progress for a long time now, but completion is in sight.
Check out more photos on Flickr
Check out more photos on Flickr
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