I would like to knock down that old wreck of a table and get started on the new potting table. There is a whole lot to do outdoors before summertime. In addition I must get some mushroom soil and put Turf Builder the on the yard. We shall see.

Tuesday, April 20, 2004 7:19 AM 61 deg at LVIA and 57.5 in the bus stop
This morning my blood glucose was 136 and the weight 204. The first thing we did this morning after Queen came downstairs was to go for a walk. It is cooler and much more comfortable this morning. A jacket felt comfortable.

 As we got to 1^st street I stopped and took some pictures of the new assisted living complex being built by the Palmerton Hospital .

              

It is an imposing structure.

Then we walked on down to 5^th street and on the way back as we neared Dr. Leshock’s house Dr. Nicholson beeped at us on his way to the hospital on his morning rounds just as I was taking these pictures.

            

The Leshock’s forsythia

It is unfortunate that I didn’t have full sun to augment the colors with all these pictures.

I shall have to get started outdoors soon. There is much to accomplish. I did get the top of the old wire reel smashed flat. A few shots with the sledge hammer made short work of it. It was almost completely rotted. I took some of the biggest chunks up to the alley and put it in a big garbage pail. More of the smaller bits are in  garbage bags. In the meantime Queen was weeding and cleaning the lower planter boxes next to the street. We both called it quits after a time. We did enough.

I was sitting on the porch reading the paper when Tommy called on the phone for me to get my fanny down to the gap. The re-seeding of the west side of the gap was in progress with a crop duster biplane. Golly, but I had quite a time. Queen and I took the car over to the “Tanks” area and I set up to shoot some pictures. The plane was just departing the area and when I took a shot, poof the batteries went flat. The emergency mercury batteries in the car were also flat. The one picture that I did get from there was an excellent picture of the Devil’s pulpit area. Sheez!!!

Back to the house we went. I replaced the batteries with a freshly recharged set and we were ready to go. We went out the door with no car keys. In factwe had no house keys either. I had to go to the emergency house key. There they were lying on the table. At that point I told Queen the Hell with it. She said no lets go. This time I drove down to the Gap and parked where the fishermen park.

                                   

I got this from Charlotte Rehrig. It is good.

 A lady goes to her priest one day and tells  him, "Father, I have a problem.  I have two female parrots, but they only know how to say one thing."
 "What do they say?" the priest asks.
 They say, "Hi,  we're hookers! Do you want  to have some fun?"
"That's obscene!" the priest exclaimed, then he  thought for a moment.

 "You know, I have two male talking parrots,  that I have taught to pray and read the Bible.
 Bring your two parrots over to my house, and  we'll put them in the cage with Francis and Job.
 My parrots can teach your parrots to praise and worship, and your parrots are sure to stop saying
 that phrase in no time."

 "Thank you," the  woman said , "this may be the solution."
 The next day, she brought her female parrots to the priest's house. As he ushered her in, she saw
 that his two male parrots were inside their cage holding rosary beads and praying.

 Impressed, she walked over and placed her parrots in with them.

 After a few minutes, the female parrots cried  out in unison: "Hi, we're hookers!  Do you
 want to have some fun?"

 There was stunned silence.
 Shocked, one male parrot looked over at the other male parrot and exclaimed,

 "Put the beads away, Frank. Our prayers have been answered!"

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 7:13 AM 52 deg. at LVIA and 42.5 in the bus stop

This morning the blood glucose was 138 and the weight 204.It is a damp day outside this morning. It isn’t raining now but it sure looks threatening. I will be heading out to look as soon as my jump start for my heart is ready. It is my trusty 8 O’clock coffee.

Well instead of my sitting outside we decided to go for a walk first thing this morning. It is a gray dull looking morning.

Here is an excerpt from the Wall street Journal’s computer guru Walt Mossberg.

“One of the best ways to share and preserve your digital photos is also one of the least-known. Few people are aware that you can turn your digital images into a custom-made, inexpensive, professional-looking bound book that is produced overnight.

            Now, My Publisher is launching a new, even lower-price version of the custom photo book that it hopes will make the product much more popular. Starting today, the company will be offering smaller soft-cover photo books, still printed on thick glossy paper and still professionally bound.These 6-by-8-inch books cost about a third of the price of the 8-by-12-inch hard-back books, and will hold twice as many pages -- $9.95 for 20 pages and 49cents for each additional page. Each book also carries a $4.95 shipping charge; the hard-cover books cost $7.95 to ship.”

https://www.mypublisher.com/photobooks

We have quite a pile of refuse for the garbage men this week. I went downtown this morning and got gas for the car. While I was away Queen cleaned a lot of the bits and pieces of the table ready to go to the alley. Now we have most of the old top of the “table” taken up to the alley.

While we were working outside the biplane was busy still reseeding the mountain. They must be almost done by now.

This from Tommy

 An elderly lady phoned the telephone company to report that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called - and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her pet dog always barked right before the phone rang.

 The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile elderly lady.

He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house.

  The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog barked loudly and the telephone began to ring. Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:

 1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground post via an iron chain and collar.

 2. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the phone number was called.

3. After several such jolts, the dog would start barking and then urinate on the ground.

4. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.

 Which goes to show that some problems really can be fixed (or at least found) just by just pissing on them.

Tonight for supper Queen had meatloaf, baked potatoes, string beans, raw carrots, cherry tomatoes, and cottage cheese. It was excellent as usual. 
For all of you “thrifty souls” out there [read cheap] here is a listing of free ISP sites enabling one to getonline either free or very inexpensively. Look for yourselves. http://www.all-free-isp.com/index.php

This evening Tommy came over and we assembled the K-Mart potting bench. We had to follow directions but it went surprisingly well. Actually no profane language was even needed. This is a good sign. The directions were all right but not as good as we would have wanted. However we got it together.

           

Maybe”Martha” will be putting them together soon.

Queen is busy at her computer this evening reading her mail and looking for recipes which she prints on the network printer.

Earlier today I got a response from grandson Andy who after examining my screen print that I sent him told me exactly what I was doing wrong. Boy that is nice.


Thursday, April 22, 2004 7:23 AM 52 deg at LVIA and 53 deg in the bus stop

It is a cloudy day this morning. Showers and thundershowers are predicted for later in the day.
This morning the blood glucose was 131 and the weight 204. This morning we go to the dermatologist in Treichlers for Queen’s follow up check-up.
Queen suggested that we go for a walk this morning so we took our usual walk. We spoke with Mrs. Leshock this morning while she was cleaning their property much as Queen does. Marline Bollinger drove by and hailed us as we were on our walk. She plans to get back into the walking regime soon. It is great being out for our walk. It is very unusual not to see someone to talk to in our travels.That is indeed one of the joys of a small town. Everyone knows everyone else.
I recall when we were visiting Queen’s sister Grace in Huntington, West Virginia. We always went for a walk in Ritter Park about a block from Grace’s home. We didn’t know a soul there but if you walked there regularly we soon met other regular walkers who were always congenial. We both noticed that many walkers seen to be that way

Ritter Park is indeed a magnificent park for walking and jogging. It is composed of shale like surface that drains quickly after the heaviest rains. There are lots of joggers as well as us casual walkers. There are plenty of benches to rest or just sit and enjoy. Whole families often picnic there at the available fire pits and other cooking facilities.

The Huntington city’s citizens know they have a good thing. The main park walking area encompasses a not perfect circle of about a mile. The entire park complex actually follows a small stream the goes the length of the city out several miles. Out at the extreme western end is the Chesapeake and Ohio Steam locomotive also seen below.

                      

We are back from out doctor’s trip and all went well. She had a few more blemishes frozen and removed but does not have to return.

After lunch we went to Walmart. Queen had to get some special sunscreen and moisturizer that Dr. Robbins suggested she use as well as pick up a prescription at Rite Aid before our afternoon rest period.

Friday, April 23, 2004 7:32 AM 55 deg at LVIA and 56.3 in the bus stop

This morning the blood glucose was 143 and the weight 204. I was out with Butternut and although it must have rained during the night, it was not doing so then. This morning we plan to do our food shopping.
This is from Lee Bollinger,

 Jenny's husband, Charley, was a male chauvinist. Even though they both worked full-time, he never helped around the house. Housework was woman's work! But one evening Jenny arrived home from work to find the children bathed, one load of clothes in the washer and another in the dryer, dinner on the stove, and the table set. She was astonished--something's up.

It turns out that Charley had read an article that said wives who worked full-time and had to do their own housework were too tired to have sex. The night went well and the next day she told her office friends all about it. "We had a great dinner. Charley even cleaned up. He helped the kids do their homework, folded all the laundry and put everything away. I really enjoyed the evening."

"But what about afterward?" asked her friends.

"Oh, that was perfect too. Charley was too tired! " God is good!!

These pictures are  from the New York Times

               

Well I had best end this for the week.

Please Love one another, Mom and Bob [Queen and Bobby]