CAUGHT MYSELF A LUCKY BREAK THIS MORNING

OUT FOR A WALK ON OUR PARK’S PINE TREE TRAIL EARLIER TODAY

Made sure Wednesday night the sliding patio door beside my chair leading to the porch was closed.  Didn't want to start the day off with another mad rascally Raccoon scramble but I did start the day off with a different kind of mad scramble anyway.  Not the raccoon but something from the sky this time……….

OUR YELLOW DANDELIONS ARE GOING TO SEED

Luckily I woke up at 4 a.m. & decided to listen to some quiet music instead of snapping on that brain numbing television.  About half a way through the first piece of music I became aware of a growing sound which after about 10 seconds didn't seem to fit with what I was listening to.  Probably took my mind another dozen seconds to all of a sudden put 2 and 2 together.  "Oh-No"............. RAIN!!!!  I was out of my chair in a flash & the scramble was on but here's where I caught myself a lucky break.

OUR LILACS ARE IN FULL BLOOM NOW AND SMELL OH SOOOOOOO NICE:))

I had checked the live feed Exeter radar weather map before going to bed & there was no sign of rain in our area anywhere but figured while my Wednesday night post was publishing I might as well move some of the furniture off the deck back into the sunroom.   Fortunately that is what I did so only 1 bedroom dresser left on the open deck & luckily I had a tarp laying nearby & quickly threw it over the top.  I knew the Motorhome door would be open so in my Gummy Bear PJ's I quickly hustled myself across the driveway through the soft falling rain & closed the rig's door double checking on my way the Jeeps windows which were for some unusual reason all the way up.  I knew both shed doors would be open so scrambled myself into the back yard closing both doors & checking for anything else sitting out along the way.   A minute later I was back in the house slightly soggy but once again stretched out in my comfy recliner surrounded by nice soft music.   The single rain cloud passing overhead had been gentle & instead of pouring down a deluge of water it only left us with a 20 minute lite shower.  Not enough to help area farmers with their newly planted crops but enough to set me scrambling out of my chair for the second morning in a row.  What is it they say about whatever happens twice will happen a third time.  Well it darn well better not but just in case I’m gonna get up extra early & sit quietly in my chair waiting for something to happen!!  

HERE’S PHEEBS SHOWING OFF HER NEW JEEP PASSENGER SIDE SEAT COVER

THIS LITTLE RED SQUIRREL IS FACE FIRST INTO THE SEEDS

There was already humidity in the cloudy air when Pheebs & headed off for a walk this morning about 7:30.  We were greeted with a lot of deep throated ‘Chug-R-Rums’ coming up from the Park’s pond.  Multitudes of Frogs must have hauled themselves up out of their muddy hibernation spots overnight.  So nice to hear them all Chug-R-Rumming in such sweet harmonious bliss.  Encountered our first Mosquitoes of the year as well & that snapped us back to reality & we had to cut our walk short & run fast for home.  Well Pheebs ran fast & I kinda did a brisk waddle.

LOTS OF ‘CHUG-R-RUM’ FROGS IN THE PARK’S POND NOW

Wise Energy's Matt & Jeff rolled in shortly after nine while I was out in the car-port painting some trim.  Now for you older readers out there notice I said Matt and Jeff and not Mutt & Jeff.  It was just a couple hours later at 11:10 while sneaking a quick rest in my recliner that I all of a sudden felt the house heating up & heard the smoke alarm go off.  Well not to worry, the boys had just fired up our new furnace for the first time.  Compared to our ill running 35 year old electric furnace I was amazed at the amount of heat hardily blowing out of the registers.  ‘Wowzers’ I thought to myself, we sure did make the right choice switching to gas.  A bigger & better blower as well & the whole set up is quieter.  Bonus.   The guys headed off for lunch and Jeff came back shortly after 2 o’clock to test the A/C.   Everything checked out A-OK and thank heavens for air conditioning:))

NO NOT AUTUMN JUST SPRINGTIME COLORS

Decided to begin putting things back together by starting with the sunroom and I soon had our deck all cleaned off & most of the porch.  Things finally began to take shape and resemble some sort of logical madness again.  Still a ways to go but by golly we’re finally over the renovation hump.  However I couldn’t help but notice how faded & scruffy our deck planks have become & methinks I may have myself an outside deck painting project coming up soon.

I LIKE WHEN OUR PINE TREE TRAIL FILLS IN & TAKES ON A MAGICAL TUNNEL EFFECT BUT i SEE I HAD BETTER GET BUSY WITH A WEE BIT OF TRAIL MAINTENANCE SOON

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Ever Wonder Where Some Of Those Old Sayings Came From??

“Houses had thatched roofs with thick straw-piled high and no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.  When it rained, it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, ‘It’s raining cats and dogs.’  There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.
Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.”

“The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the term, ‘dirt poor.’  The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing.  As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.  Hence, ‘a thresh hold.’”

“In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day, they lit the fire and added things to the pot.  They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day.
Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, ‘Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.’   Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.  It was a sign of wealth that a man could ‘bring home the bacon.’ They would cut off a little to share with guests, and would all sit around and ‘chew the fat.’”

“Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.  This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.  Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the ‘upper crust.’”

“Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.  Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.  They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.  Hence the custom of holding a ‘wake.’”

“In old, small villages, local folks started running out of places to bury people.  So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.  When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside, and they realized they had been burying people alive.
So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.  Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (‘the graveyard shift’) to listen for the bell.  Thus, someone could be ‘saved by the bell,’ or was considered a ‘dead ringer.’

“Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.  However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.”

“Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.  The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women, and finally the children. Last of all the babies.  By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!’”

“They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot. Once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery.  If you had to do this to survive, you were ‘piss poor.’  But worse than that were the really poor folks who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot. They ‘didn’t have a pot to piss in’ and were considered the lowest of the low.”