Blogging 2010

I didn’t post a blog in January. I’ve already posted most family birthdays, some of them twice. There are no new “Magnacalendar” pictures. If you want to review the entire year of “Magnapictures,” they are posted here. I haven’t been very good at writing up stuff, so have neglected my blog shamefully.

However, I do have a new area of interest to write on. My pastor is giving an excellent series of messages, and I have been keeping notes on them. It helps that he gives us a brief outline each Sunday with “Fill in the blanks.” With his permission, I will be posting a brief overview of each of the messages in this series, and perhaps other messages eventually. I will probably occasionally write up a completely original blog. I am working on one right now. But I do have the notes ready to go for the first four sermons in the series I mentioned.

December

Every month I am later and later with the first-of-the month blog. I need to get back into writing a little again!

Today I decided not to go to Sunday School since we were having freezing rain. It was a good thing I made that decision. About fifteen minutes after I would have left, I got a phone call telling me all the morning services had been cancelled.

I have our Christmas tree up and decorated. I may post a pic later, if I can find my camera.

Birthdays for December:
December 14 – My oldest sister Leora
December 27 – Me
December 27 – My nephew Philip
December 30 – My nephew Richard (Philip’s brother).

And of course, on December 25, we celebrate Jesus' birthday.

And the last Magnacalendar image:
Magnacalendar images:December

There won’t be any new Magnacalendar images next year, as Mike didn’t make any. Hopefully he will have a new one for the following year.

November Features

OK, lazy me, finally getting to post the “regular” features for November.

For the birthdays:
November 6 – My nephew Paul
November 16 – My niece Amy’s husband René
November 16 – My granddaughter’s husband Carl
November 21 – My nephew Gene
November 23 – My great-granddaughter Briana
November 25 – My great-great-niece Annelise
November 28 – My half-sister Lois

My father was born on November 23, 1877, and passed away September of 1967
My half-brother LeRoy was born November 25, 1921, and passed away in 2000 (August, I think, or September).

Magnacalendar!
Magnacalendar images:November

Baby Svana was scheduled for surgery, I think it was Monday November 9. I’ve heard nothing further. She had growths where the previous surgery on her esophagus had taken place, making swallowing difficult and painful. She had to go full-time to the feeding tube. Prayer that the surgery will be successful & permanent.

I’ve got a great deal of clean-up done in my yard this summer! I can now haul stuff in the wagon right behind the house where the ground is flat. There is still a lot to go, and I want to get some more work done in the garden before winter really sets in.

We got almost a bucket full of apples from our two trees. A very late frost destroyed most of the developing apples; others were affected in such a way that they had a rough scab-like surface on the skin, and it kept them from growing to full size. However, they got very ripe, and even if they afford just a few bites, they are delicious!

I ordered a bunch of books for Mike & me. One of mine was lost in the mail, and I was reimbursed for it. I’ll probably reorder it later.

Good news for my niece Suzanne! She & her husband Bob have the date set for going to the location of their missions assignment. Keep them in your prayers.

September features and other things

Last weekend was a good time. My brother Tommy, his wife Pat, and my half-sister Lois were down from Michigan. Tommy was here for his high school reunion. They stayed at Middy’s. I was down there most of Friday and Sunday afternoon. We don’t see them often. Tommy brought us a bunch of apples. On Sunday, I guided them to the cemetery where our mother is buried. Her parents are also buried there, and her brother and two of her sisters. Lois’s father and his parents and one uncle are also buried there, as well as two of her full siblings – Lucille, who died as a toddler, and LeRoy who died just a few years ago.

For those of you interested in the story of baby Svana, she is now home, and almost up to normal for a child her age. She still has some problems with feeding – she has to have supplements via artificial means because she is not yet able to eat enough to sustain her.

And now, for the monthly “features”:
Birthdays:
September 4, my great-niece Kathryn
September 26, my grandson Christopher
September 27, my sister-in-law Pat

I hope to keep building up my list of family birthdays; there is still a large number of them that I don’t have any birthday info on, and some that I do not have all. I’m not making a practice of posting the birth year, but I do want to get all that information in my own records. I have just recently added several more, which will show up when their “month” comes up.

And now the “Magnacalendar” for September:
Magnacalendar images:September

Blogger's note - once again, I have to edit my blog to correct the relationship of one of my grandchildren.

First post of August, and other stuff

Well, I always have something to blog about the first of each month, even if it’s just family birthdays and Magnaclams.

I missed posting in time to catch Lucile’s birthday – in fact, I kinda forgot it until Kathryn brought it up on her blog.

Well, anyway, here are the August birthdays, as far as I know. Once again, any of my family members, if you can help me out, I’d like to get a list of all of them – both day & year, although I won’t be posting ages – except occasionally, perhaps, for the very young.

August 1 – my sister-in-law, Lucile
August 16 – my half-brother Paul (Lucile’s husband)
August 18 – my niece Melody
August 25 - my great-grandson Gavin
August 31 – my great-niece Kitiara (Melody’s daughter)

And here is the link to the August Magnacalendar:
Magnacalendar images: August

Our church was robbed a couple of weeks ago. Whoever did it broke into the window of the pastor’s study, but they knew where to find the keys to the church office. They took the safe. Everyone who frequents the church office – or even goes in there at all – was asked to go to the police station to be finger printed, so they would be able to eliminate as many as possible of the many finger prints they had collected from the site. I went down last Thursday and was fingerprinted. The really funny thing (I thought) about the fingerprinting was that one gentleman who was fingerprinted is retired FBI.

The following two Sundays, they have taken the offering at the beginning of the service, had it counted immediately, so it could be dropped in the night depository at the bank immediately after the service, and would not stay overnight in the building.

Welcome to the Rat Race!

Things have been rather hectic the last week or so. It actually dates back to my last doctor’s appointment in early May. Nothing I did gave me relief from the pain in my back that I get whenever I spend more than 5 or 10 minutes doing a task that requires standing or walking. He prescribed a very strong pain medication, and faxed the perscription to my perscription company.

It was that same week that my hot water heater went out – well, it started leaking. It was still working, but a leaking hot water heater is not to be tolerated. A neighbor, who does most of my plumbing work, got a new hot water heater and installed it. This was on Thursday. He lit the pilot light, and fired up the heater. It lit up for a few seconds, then went out. After trying for some time to make it work, he found out that it was a factory fault – in a sealed compartment. GE was to call me and make an appointement – they would come out with a new hot water heater and install it. When they finally called me, they said they didn’t have a rep in the area, so I should have my plumber do the work, and they would reimburse him. Well, he doesn’t do much plumbing work any more (I’m one of his few plumbing customers), and he runs a tourist trap, where he and his wife were running a seminar that weekend, so it was out of the question for him to get back to me until Monday. So no hot water before Monday. Ray came Monday morning and took out the tank, to get the replacement. He had to go to Oil City, and cut a lot of red tape, and did double duty by doing some personal shopping while there. By evening I had hot water again.

But to continue with the story about the medications – Monday morning, my perscription came in the mail. It was one of those “take one or two tablets every 6 hours as needed for pain.” Well, in the doctor’s office, he said take two, etc. So I took two. This was about 11:00 am. Around noon I ate lunch. Shortly after, I started feeling weak and a little dizzy. Then my stomach started acting up. I grabbed the sheet that came with the medication, and read the side effects. It included all of the above. I called the doctor. He said, “Cut the medication to 1 tablet, and take every 4 hours.” Just shortly after that, I experienced another of the side-effects – vomiting. Loss of appetite was another. As I told several people, I not only lost my appetite, I lost my lunch. I slept all afternoon. After Ray came back & reinstalled the hot water heater, I went back to bed, and slept out most of the evening.

I ended up just taking the medication twice a day. Oddly enough, it still affected my appetite, to the point that I lost about 12 pounds in 6 weeks. I’ll take that side-effect any day of the week. Unfortunately, it seems to have worn off, and I’m gaining a little back.

OK, now fast forward to a week ago Monday. I did my laundry as usual, and was able to hang the clothes out. However, I was having just a little more pain than usual in my hips.

On Tuesday, our “hen party” was scheduled. That’s a bunch of us ladies who went to high school together. That was also my grocery day. I went to Brookville early, cashed a couple of checks, then went to the BiLo to get my vitamin D perscription filled. There was still a little time before the dinner, so I went up to my sister’s in Roseville and shot the breeze with her for a while. Then over to the Country Club for lunch. I was sure I couldn’t eat the whole meal that I ordered, because of the effects of the medication. I didn’t eat all of it (I’m usually a clean-plate person) but most of it, with no apparent ill affects. Then, by the time I got out of there, my stomach was started to get a little queasy. I drove over to Clarion to the Walmart for my regular grocery shopping. On the whole trip, my stomach was in pain. I started pushing the cart around, and in a very short time, the pain dissipated. The weather outside was rather warm, but they had the air conditioning going in the Walmart. So, now, I am pushing my cart around the nice, cool Walmart – and sweating like crazy!

By the time I headed for home, all my symptoms were pretty well gone. But I still had some pain in my hips.

Now we’re to Wednesday morning. I turned on my computer, and did some other things while waiting for it to boot up. I came back to a blue screen with a few messages on it, the most significant being “No Boot Device.” I restarted it several times, with no luck. I went to setup, and it appeared that one of the disk devices didn’t exist. I called Dell. After the tech had me try several things, it was concluded that the system didn’t recognize my hard drive. It could be either a cable, or the drive itself. The computer was still in warranty (and in-home warranty, at that!), so Dell made arrangements to have a tech come out and do whatever needed to be done. That took a while to get all straightened out since I’m out in the boonies, and I didn’t get the problem fixed until late Friday. Unfortunately, it was the disk, not the cable – and I lost everything, except what I had backed up, which was precious little. I lost absolutely all my documents. I had pictures backed up to September 2007; most of the pictures I lost were scanned in (so I still have the originals) or, if digital, the ones that were any good were posted on the internet and I can retrieve them from there. I still have some software I have to download.

One thing I lost – I had an ancient piece of software with which to record recipes. I had copied everything from an old diskette, and downloaded some software to convert them to a usable format. I’m pretty sure I have since thrown away all my old diskettes. I was usually able to read them, but I couldn’t reformat them, because of their age. Some of the recipes I still have somewhere from another source. Some I never tried – they were that type of “I’d like to try that some day.”

Now, while all the rest of this is going on, the pain in my hips is getting worse, and I can barely hobble around. I had ordered some plastic clogs from a mailorder house to wear outside in the mornings, because the grass is always quite wet. They arrived in the mail this past Monday. They don’t fit quite right. They are a little large in the back, but they put pressure on my big toes. What was amazing was that as I walked around in them, the pain in my hips eased. I suspect it something to do with the composition of the soles – thick, spongy plastic. They didn’t completely eliminate the pain, though. The next day, I was thinking, now the doc said that I could still use my OC pain medication (naproxen sodium) in addition to the prescription meds. I decided that I’d try taking one of them in the middle of the day, and maybe it would help a little. I have done so for the last three days, and it has virtually eliminated the hip pain. Now, if I could only get rid of the back pain . . .

Now, for the “monthly features” – first of all, the Magnaclam calendar:
Magnacalendar Images - July

And birthdays:
July 15 – my great-niece Qavah
July 21 – my daughter Karen
July 25 - my brother-in-law Phil
July 30 – my granddaughter Annie

Just fixed that last entry - Annie is definitely not my daughter!

Hey, family, I lost my birthdays list when my computer crashed, so I’d appreciate any of you helping me out with getting them back. I have at least the month & day for all those that I have posted here throughout the past year, but if possible, I’d like to have the year, too. I’d like to have a comprehensive list of all the birthdates in our family, and there are some whose birthdays I have never had – or at least, never had recorded.

June's Beginnings

It’s a new month. June. It’s supposed to be almost summer, but when I woke up yesterday, the temperature was 32º. Brrr!

Monthly features:
Magnaclam Calendar:
Magnacalendar Images: June

I love those little "Magnajets" in the background!

June birthdays:
My nephew’s wife, Dawn – June 20
Great-great nephew Nehemiah (Dawn’s grandson) – June 21
Brother Tommy – June 25
Niece Suzanne (Tommy’s daughter) – June 25
Nephew Larry (now deceased) was born on June 15, 1949

Once again, it looks like my “check engine” light problem has been solved. This is the longest I’ve gone without its coming on since late January.

I dumped a bunch of shredded paper inside my fenced-in garden area. I covered most of it with newspaper weighted down with stone. It seemed to be staying in place pretty good, even where not covered. The grass and other plants are growing up through it. But I suddenly started noticing a bunch of it on the ground under the nearby hemlock tree. It didn’t make sense, because there wasn’t any evidence of it being blown about by the wind. And periodically the amount under the tree seemed to increase. I wondered if perhaps the birds were carrying it about. I looked up in the tree and saw a big gob of it hanging from a branch. I guess I need to cover the rest.

I have several bags of shredded paper that I want to spread out in the garden area. I put some out there once before, long ago, and it improved the soil in those areas considerably when it deteriorated. I’m also putting out big pieces of card board, hoping to kill out most of the weeds – especially the quack grass! And the peppermint which is virtually taking over the garden, and not being worth much because it always gets leaf miners very early. There is better peppermint growing down by the road, but I have to get it before the deer eat it off.

I’ve got my "burning place" rebuilt where I want it, and without any concrete blocks or pieces. I will probably build it higher, bit by bit, by bringing rocks from a pile in the southwest corner of my property. Someone was dumping them there before I bought the place and I have continued the practice.

This 'n' That

I just sent off a birthday card to my great-granddaughter Keely. She will be 2 tomorrow.

My grandson Christopher is getting married Saturday. I haven’t sent them anything yet. I notified my daughter, and told her I would be sending something, so they won’t be disappointed not to have heard from me. I wanted Mike to make an image of a Magnaclam bride and groom for a card for them, but I don’t think he’s gonna do it. I wanted a baby Magnaclam for Keely’s birthday card, and didn’t get that either.

My brother-in-law & my nephew Rich installed a signal-booster on our TV antenna so that we can get digital TV. So far, we still can’t get it. The only option left to us is to buy a new antenna, and I hesitate to do that, because, what if, after spending all that money, it still doesn’t work?

Rich hauled some rocks in my yard down to where I want to set up a place for burning stuff, and at the same time, getting the rocks out of a place where I want to mow. He missed a few. He set up the rocks in a circle, but (shhh, don’t tell him) I’m doing it over. He set it up just a little too close to my garden fence. Also, there are some concrete blocks in it, and they don’t hold up very good with fire. Today I hauled down the rest of the rocks he’d missed, and started rebuilding the circle. I wanted to be able to burn stuff without going half-way up the hill, where I’ve been burning stuff for some time.

I may finally have got the “check engine” light on my car fixed. The tech caught it just at the right time with an intermittent problem, and replaced a part. So far, it’s gone over 160 miles without the light coming on. Those intermittent problems are really the bear to find.

I had to replace my hot-water heater a couple of weeks ago. I may have to replace my clothes dryer, too, before the year is out.

Life is never dull!

May Musings

I suppose, while posting the Articles of Faith with the graphics, I should have gone into some detail on at least some of the graphics as to why they represent the specific article. Some, of course, are self-explanatory.

Earlier this year I got a little kitchen gadget I thought might be useful. It’s one of those little things you find in novelty catalogs that may or may not work correctly. It’s a little plastic slicer with a nice sharp blade. It gives you warnings about proper use to avoid cutting yourself. The problem was, it didn’t tell you how to wash it. I was washing it preparatory to use, and managed to “slice” a bit of my index finger. Ouch! However, I will say, as for the use, it works very nicely. I sliced up a couple of potatoes to fry, and they sliced up fast and uniform.

Yesterday was one busy day. I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning – just routine stuff. I went from there to the hospital for X-rays to try to find out why I have so much back pain. All the X-rays showed was a little arthritis.

From the hospital, I went to Middy’s, expecting to stay there until my car appointment in the afternoon. I had intended to skip lunch. Middy wasn’t home; my nephew Rich probably was, but he would be leaving very soon to go to work, so I just drove off. I went to Plyer’s and had salad bar for lunch. Then I went to the grocery store & picked up a few things. On to the garage. I was early, so I sat in the car about 20 minutes reading. Maybe, just maybe, I’ve got the check engine light fixed . . . I went back into town & the grocery store, and picked up some frozen stuff. Then gassed up the car. I should have done it when I first got into town before my Dr.’s appointment. In the mean time, the price of gasoline had increased by 5¢.

I got home at about 3:00 pm (after leaving home about 9:00 am).

Now for the monthly features:
Magnaclam image for May
Magnacalendar images: May

May birthdays:
My nephew Ben – May 5
My niece Elizabeth – May 7
My nephew Steve – May 8
My brother-in-law Erling – May 25
My great-granddaughter Keely – May 29

If any of you know any family birthdays I’ve missed, let me know. There are a lot that I don’t have a record of.

Another month, another blog

No matter what, I can’t seem to get into writing a blog more than once a month these days. Last month, with the nice weather, and the improvement in my health, I was able to get out and do a lot of yard work. There is still a lot to be done. Some of it, of course, is seasonal, and is here to be done every year, but I’m also doing some “one-time” stuff that will be finished for “time & eternity” when I get it done. I am thankful for the health to be able to do this work.

Last week, my brother’s mother-in-law passed away. I had read that she was in the hospital & not likely to live almost a week earlier. I had read about it on my niece’s (and her husband’s) blog. See “Bob and Suzanne” in my links. It was great to read that she had found the Lord a little over a week before her passing. God is good.

Did you participate in “Red Envelope” day? Three red envelopes went out from our home. Among the many free addresses labels I have received, I found the perfect return address label. It pictured a child sleeping with an angel guarding it.

For the “regular” features:
The “Magnaclam” calendar image:
Magnacalendar images: April

April birthdays:
April 11: My sister Mildred
April 19: My great-nephew Paul Burton (III)

I also have a very good friend whose birthday is April 8. I just sent her a birthday card using a Magnclam bearing a cake as the front. Mike posts this picture regularly on RO when wishing someone a happy birthday.

March!

The past month has been relatively hectic. I am a township auditor, and we finally got that completed. We were also able to persuade the commissioners to take some steps that will make for a cleaner and easier audit in the future. We still have a county-related audit to do, but that job will be passed to another township next year.

There have been a few small changes in my life that have had significant effects. 1 – Mike took down my old double bed that had a mattress that was about done for, and put up my twin bed that I had bought and been using when I was working in Ohio, spending weekdays there, coming home weekends. The mattress on that is relatively new, and more inducive to comfortable sleeping. 2 – the doctor agreed to let me stop using my cholesterol medicine. The result of this was that I was able to cut my arthritis medicine in half, and still feel a lot better. 3 – the doctor also noted on my blood work that I had an extremely low level of vitamin D. This was probably what was causing me to feel weaker and weaker as time went by. So now I’m on a very high dosage of vitamin D. I no longer feel quite so weak; I’m not nearly as strong as I would like to be, but the change has been significant.

Now for the regular monthly features. First, the March Magnaclam image:
Magnacalendar images: March

March birthdays:
March 16 – my ex-son-in-law, Marlin
March 23 – my nephew David
March 30 – My nephew Rick (David’s older brother)
March – exact date unknown – My niece Amy
My half-sister Mary was born to my father & his first wife in March of 1907. She died in October of that same year.


Here is an old hymn that you don’t often hear anymore – in fact, I only know it because about 47 years or so ago I was working with a children’s group in our church, and this song was supposed to be learned by the children, according to literature from denominational headquarters for the group. I had to learn it myself first, and then teach it to them. I don’t think I’ve ever heard in any other circumstances, before or since. It was written by Haldor Lillenas, who was also the writer of the great hymn “Wonderful Grace of Jesus.”

The Bible Stands

The Bible stands like a rock undaunted
‘Mid the raging storms of time;
Its pages burn with the truth eternal,
And they glow with a light sublime.

Chorus:
The Bible stands tho’ the hills may tumble,
It will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble;
I will plant my feet on its firm foundation,
For the Bible stands.

The Bible stands like a mountain tow’ring
Far above the works of men;
Its truth by none ever was refuted,
And destroy it they never can.

(Chorus)

The Bible stands and it will forever,
When the world has passed away;
By inspiration it has been given,
All its precepts I will obey.

(Chorus)

The Bible stands ev’ry test we give it,
For its Author is divine,
By grace alone I expect to live it,
And to prove it and make it mine.

(Chorus)

February already!

Since it doesn't fit very well on the blog, I'll just put up a link for the Magnacalender:
Magnacalendar images: February

For February birthdays:
My li'l sister Lil - February 25
My "baby" brother Gale - February 28 (he'll be all of 67)
My niece Jenny (Gale's daughter) - also Februay 28

My mother was born February 1, 1898. She passed away in March of 1974.
My brother-in-law, George, was born February 20, 1925. He passed away in late 2005.

Did you hear about the global warming conference at Buffalo State College yesterday? They weren't prepared for a temperature of -6 Fahrenheit.

I forgot!

I forgot January Birthdays, and here the month is almost over!

January 12, my great-nephew Colin.
January 16, an unidentified niece.
January 22, my twin nieces, Judy and Jackie.
January 25, my niece Connie.

And here is the January image of the "Magnacalendar" (sorry - it got cut off a little - the far right of the pic shows the Daddy Magnaclam shovelling the snow off the driveway):



You can see the whole picture here:
Magnacalendar Images: January

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Last Friday was Mike’s birthday – number 44! I had a tee shirt made for him with the single “Magnaclam” floating through space, on the front, while the Magnaclam fleet can be seen on the back. Unfortunately, the colors didn’t come out right – instead of shades of gray & black, they turned out brown. The people who made it said it had something to do with the paper I had the original images printed on, but that makes no sense to me, as they scanned it into their computer. I wanted to put it on a black shirt, but they only do light-colored shirts. Another defect was that they didn’t get the picture on the back centered properly.

Underneath the Magnaclam on the front was the “salute” Mike made up for the Magnaclams: “Oh, hail to the great Magnaclams! May their neutronium shells shine in splendor forever!”

I also had a cake made with a Magnaclam on it, and it turned out better than the shirt. I have a picture of it that didn’t turn out too well, because the flash against the white made everything look washed out.

Picture on the front of the shirt:

Picture on the back of the shirt:


Sorry about the pictures being cut off at the edge!

Sarah

I never met Sarah in person, but I considered her a friend. We posted together on the same internet site. She was a feisty little lady, hot-tempered sometimes, but quick to cool off. She was very intelligent and had a quick wit. She was beautiful in body and mind. She was instrumental in Mike’s “invention” of “Magnaclams.” (See the blog dated June 22 – 3 entries down). She and Mike chatted on line a great deal.

Sarah passed away late this past May, at the age of 24. She left behind her father, her husband, and her young nephew, all of whom depended on her. She and her family had already gone through a great deal of trauma in the past few years. She was the glue that held her family together. Now it’s broken. Her husband is planning to take a job in Hong Kong, where they had been planning to move before Sarah’s illness. Her cousin has taken in her little nephew, who has suffered far too much loss for a young child.

The first phase of treating Sarah’s illness – supposed to be a very treatable form – failed. The last we had heard of her, she was looking toward a more intense treatment. We heard nothing from her after that – from about February on. Her cousin knew she had many friends on the internet, but wasn’t able to find them until last week. I have been in email communication with the cousin since then.

When I first heard of Sarah’s illness, she became a subject of my daily prayers. Having acknowledged no religion at all, I just wanted to be sure that she would be ready to meet her Maker when the time came. During all that time, I never heard of any change in her beliefs. So, when I first heard of her passing, I was troubled, and prayed asking the Lord to let me know. I received an indication from Him that Sarah was indeed ready! I had several indications of that later from different sources. I praise God for his mercy!

We miss you, Sarah! I will not say the familiar line “Rest in peace;” instead, I will say, “Enjoy Heaven!”

If you hasten off to glory
Linger near the Eastern Gate,
For I’m coming in the morning,
So you’ll not have long to wait.

I will meet you,
I will meet you
Just inside the Eastern Gate over there;
I will meet you,
I will meet you,
I will meet you in the morning over there.


Memorial to Sarah here

Just for fun

The Magnaclams are coming!


Check out this link:
Magnaclams!
You might also want to check these:
Magnaclams are FAKE
CTG Revisited