Kansas Pictures

Yesterday I made the switch from Internet Explorer 7 to Firefox after spending two days not being able to log in to my new favorite site: Swap-bot.com. Well if you know how that site works, you HAVE to be able to log in to find out who your swap partners are, read and leave comments, and so on. Imagine my frustration when the ONLY site that wouldn't allow me in was that one! Sign from God? Well I refused to accept that as an answer, so decided to go with an alternative. Anyone else out there using it? Comments? Anyway.... while looking over my quick links I found this site that I had forgotten about. Yeah, crazy that a state employee forgot about the official state site, huh? Well it's true! If you want to see some awesome pictures of Kansas, go here
It is the official State of Kansas web site and these photos have been submitted by local citizens. It was a nice reminder for me after weeks of cold, snow and ice to remember that in the spring, summer and fall we really do have some very nice geography. Now, it's back to my bookmarks...

Perks of being over 50

My older sister sent this to me today and I just had to share it with you. It's all soooooo true!

1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.

3. No one expects you to run--anywhere.

4. People call at 9 PM and ask, Did I wake you????

5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

7. Things you buy now won't wear out.

8. You can eat supper at 4 PM.

9. You can live without sex but not your glasses.

10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.

11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.

12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.

13. You sing along with elevator music.

14. Your eyes won't get much worse.

15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to payoff.

16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.

17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

18. Your supply of brain cells are finally down to manageable size.

19. You can't remember who sent you this list.

And you notice these are all in BIG PRINT for your convenience.

January Musings

I am sitting here with my lovely daughter showing her how to do some things in MS Word 2007. One of them is to create a blog and publish it, so let's show her how it works!

Recycled plastic bag tote in progress

I finally took five hours to cut strips of plastic bags with my rotary cutter, then spent the next two days hooking the loops together and rolling into balls so I could begin crocheting this tote bag. The next thing might be a rug for the garage using double strands and a large crochet hook. It was really quite relaxing doing all the cutting, tying and rolling. The actual crocheting is a little tough, especially when I get to the rubbery bags with the red circles (you all know the store name...) because they don't slide across the hook the way the other do. The bag will be very tough, durable and very washable. Below you will see the series of pictures showing the stack of strips, then pile of strips tied together, then the balls wound up.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

We will have a white Christmas this year and I am thankful that the roads are clear so travelers will remain safe (especially our daughter and her fiancé who drove 60 miles to his parents' house tonight. We're dogsitting for our granddog, Buddy, who is now waiting for me to let him inside. All is quiet and it's time for me to hit the sack, but I wanted to wish everyone a warm and happy holiday!

We have POWER!!!

After 60 hours without electricity we FINALLY have power again!!! I never thought I'd appreciate a light and heater as much as today, but boy I tell ya... I'm LOVING THEM NOW!!! Turns out our neighbor's tree was the culprit, putting enough weight on the power line below it to freeze it together with another one causing a short circuit (my layperson's way of telling it anyway...). The tree crew butchered her tree so hopefully that won't happen again. Now we have a snow storm coming and hopefully the rest of the county will also have power restored before the bitter cold hits. We Kansan's just don't do cold very well! Not prepared like the northerners who withstand hundreds of inches of snow and much, much colder temperatures. Maybe you folks are smarter and don't plant the trees under the power lines!

Ice Storm in Kansas

The ice crept up over night from Oklahoma and has brought everything to pretty much of a standstill here in Kansas. This is what my beautiful Rose of Sharon shrub looked like this afternoon. If it doesn't get much worse, most of the trees and shrubs will survive. Several branches of our trees have fallen, but so far nothing like Oklahoma and other parts of Kansas. On the up side, we needed the moisture!