Electric Energy

I'm sitting here with our electricity bill on my lap.  One can't help but wonder how the same house, same appliances, same everything can cost $132.84 a month when once it cost $15 a month. 

Our service company gives a breakdown of their charges, of course.  There's the Summer 1st Step charge, the Summer 2nd Step charge, the Energy Cost, the Regional Transmission Service, the Basic Service Charge, the State Tax charge, and the Local Tax charge.  Plus, I have to be careful to pay the bill by September 15th or they'll whack on the Late Payment charge, which would be an additional $1.99.

There is an electrical gadget, called a meter, attached to the south side of our house that counts the numbers of kWh's we use.  It's one of those services that we hope is on the straight and narrow, but that's putting faith in something we can't be sure about.

Our electricity provider does offer some good perks to their customers.  They will send a recycling contractor to pick up and dispose of old, working refrigerators and give up to $50 for them.  Keeping an old refrigerator in the garage, and running, can add up to as much as $100 a year.  They also recommend that before we dig up our yards for any kind of project, that we dial 811, their One-Call Center.  They will notify the utility companies, who will come and mark the locations of underground lines with flags or spray paint, for free.  Any yard project, like putting in a mailbox, building a deck, planting a tree, or laying a patio are all projects that would need to check first before digging.  Hitting a utility line could be nasty business, one that a person does want to prevent.

If a storm comes through and knocks out the power, we all go berserk.  I have one easily-accessible drawer here in the hallway devoted only to candles for this specific scenario.  I buy these power-back-up candles at garage sales.  You'd be surprised how one candle lights up a dark room.  Always keep matches or a cigarette lighter close by, or you'll find yourself rummaging through drawers in the dark, wailing like a banshee.  Been there, done that.

Paying this electricity bill will be a breeze compared to the old-fashioned way of writing out a check, recording the amount in the checkbook, detaching the check from the checkbook, finding an envelope, addressing the envelope, putting the check and invoice in the envelope, finding and licking the stamp, and getting it to the post office.  Now all I do is open my online account, scoot over to the bill-paying screen, type in the amount, push a couple of computer keys and the bill is paid.

Guess I've got to be mindful of the latest luxuries, like online bill paying and blog writing, that are made available to me with these higher prices.  If I choose to use these services, then the cost of electricity is worth every penny. 

Bottom line is this, "If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching television by candlelight."  -George Global        

Tuesday...Full of Grace

At 6 a.m. every Tuesday, a big truck stops in front of our house and picks up our weekly household disposals.  That's the only significance Tuesday plays in my life right now, but there's a whole lot more to Tuesday than that.....

• Tuesday is a fairly popular first name for girls.  The one that comes to mind is Tuesday Weld.  She was one of our teen idols back in the 50s and  60s.  She played Thalia Menninger, the gold digging girl that Dobie Gillis couldn't get in the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

• Tuesday represents the planet Mars, primarily red in color.  Ancient holistic health practices encouraged wearing red and being around red flowers on Tuesday, as a way to improve general well-being through the subtle force of color.
• If you were born on a Tuesday, the Mother Goose nursery rhyme tells that you would be 'full of grace.'
• Before the religious Reformation, the day before Ash Wednesday was known as 'Fat Tuesday.'  That was because of the tradition of eating especially rich and fatty foods before the fasting started for Lent.
• In the United  Kingdom and Ireland, 'Shrove Tuesday' is often known as 'Pancake Day' or 'Pancake Tuesday.'  The name Shrove originates from the old word shrive, which means to confess.  Back in the Middle Ages, Shrove Tuesday was traditionally a day of confession prior to Lent.  All eggs and butter not allowed during Lent would need to be eaten up on Shrove Tuesday, so they made pancakes.  Their basic batter was made by sifting 4 oz of plain flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl.  They made a well in the center of the flour, dropped in an egg and 1/2 pint of milk.  The mixture was beaten by gradually drawing the flour into the liquid until smooth. 
• Australia's most famous Tuesday is the first Tuesday of every November, the day of the Melbourne Cup horse race.
• Our federal elections here in the U.S. are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.  Tuesday was practical for polling in the 1800s because citizens would have to travel for a whole day to cast their vote, and they didn't want to leave on Sunday, their day of worship.

When I think of Tuesday, the 1997 non-fiction novel "Tuesdays With Morrie," written by Mitch Albom comes to mind.  It's the story about a professor who suffers with Lou Gehrig's Disease.  He and his former student meet on Tuesdays to talk, and their talks become powerfully emotional as both of them watch Morrie's frail body parts surrender to death, one by one.

"No matter how hard we try,

 words cannot express the horror, the shock,
 and the revulsion

 we all feel over what took place
 in this nation on Tuesday morning.

September 11 will go down in our history

 as a day to remember." 

 -Billy Graham, American Evangelist

The Art of Simplifying Life

Simplicity, as Leonardo da Vinci wrote, is the ultimate sophistication.  Simplicity frees us from the artificial burdens, leaving us with energy to re-infuse into the world. 

It seems that when I take time to throw away material things, a simultaneous liberation goes on inside all of me.  The more stuff that I have to deal with, the more unrest there is inside of me. 

We don't have to look very far to see a growing number of unmet needs these days, ranging from caring for our elderly to helping educate our young people who are being left behind in the crowded classrooms.  When we're so smothered by our own decaying infrastructure, there's no time for us to contribute ourselves to the purposeful needs waiting to be met. 

Volumes have been written on how we can simplify.  They boil down to two things.....identifying what means the most to us......and getting rid of everything else.

Well, that's easier said than done, for me anyway.  In order for me to buckle down and get rid of stuff, I need a plan.  I'm one who needs a map to get where I'm going.  The more I see on paper, the easier it is.  Here again I go with this business of making lists.

1.  What 5 things do you want to do in your life?  Take a good look at what's going on in your life, what is giving your life value and what isn't. 
2.  It may be necessary to redesign your day.  It's senseless to devote precious time to work that just doesn't get us anywhere.  Identify the essential work and eliminate the rest.
3.  Anytime we can eliminate or delegate, let's do it.
4.  One major key to simplifying is learning how to say no when someone else wants our time.  Taking on too much is a problem we place on ourselves, and, therefore, have no right to complain or fret about it.  Since I retired, my goal is to "stay under the radar" and involve myself minimally in organizations that place me in the line of fire.  At this stage of the ballgame, I don't need that in my life, and I won't bring it on myself anymore.
5.  Do the one-room-at-a time evaluation.  Get rid of everything taking up space and making you crazy.  Even a piece of furniture can bug a person.  The last living room set we had was patterned, and the color literally drove me nuts every single day.  Then I snapped.  Either we replace it, or I would have to set it on fire.  Needless to say, the problem was eliminated, my nerves calmed, and life is good again.
6. Closets and drawers are awful places to visit.  The way I decide if I should get rid of a piece of clothing is by asking myself if I would wear it today.  It's obvious that if it's not good enough for me to wear it today, it isn't ever going to be worn.  In the bag it goes.
7.  Some people aren't comfortable spending time in solitude, but it has been proven that quiet time gives us time to hear our inner voice.  When we spend time alone, a channel opens for the Great Spirit to hand over helpful hints to get us through our journey.  He knows our path, and He knows what we need to walk it.
8.  Create systems.  One system that I've managed to simplify is the paperwork that trickles onto the kitchen counter every time we get the mail.  If paperwork isn't managed properly, it piles up and it's easy for us to be late in paying bills or being lax with routine matters, like insurance, investments, things like that.
9.  If we could program ourselves to want less, we would buy less.  Impulse buying brings more junk into our homes than anything else. 
10.  How much is enough?  If there isn't room for it, let's not buy it.  When I buy something and drag it home, I see to it that I discard something else.  Migod, if we don't do that, the pile takes on a life of its own and controls us.
11.  Getting rid of and simplifying the "busy-work" that we make for ourselves, will give us time to find a creative outlet.  We all need some form of self-expression, whether it be writing, drawing, or making strawberry jam.  There lives a cavity in each one of us that needs to be filled with our individual creative talents.  Creativity is critical to contentment.

Since I retired in 2006, I've taught myself how to live differently.  I've intentionally detached myself from situations and people that may cause me anxiety.  There's no way our heart and soul can be quiet and content if we're running in fifty directions dealing with this, that, and the other unnecessary thing. I've successfully reprogrammed myself to make and take time for me.  Even the Lord took a day of rest after working six.  His example should be a stern lesson from which we learn.  Why should we avoid enjoying simple pleasures because of silly man-made guilt?  Pleasure is as critical to our well-being as water is to flowers.  Give yourself space.  Enough space so you can spin and twirl freely if you wish.   Why make life harder than it needs to be.  

"We have grown literally afraid to be poor.  We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life.  If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spirtless and lacking in ambition."  -William James

Wild Morning Glory

The hedge bindweed, more affectionately called the wild morning glory, is growing in our roadside ditches.  When I zoomed in on these two white trumpet-like blossoms, a small white butterfly flit into my view and sat down on a leaf just in time to get in on the picture.  The little bugger blends in so well, it looks like a blossom itself.

The vines of this plant are known for binding and entwining.  A good share of the time they invade gardens where their heart-shaped leaves and pretty flowers twist and crawl until they become unwanted weeds.  For me, though, they are like the dandelions....sweet little souls that have a right to be here like the rest of us.

Looks to be another gorgeous pre-autumn day.  This past week whizzed by, and now we're into Sunday.  The crossword that's in our Sunday Paper is larger and more difficult than the puzzles in the daily.  It sounds silly, but I wait for Sunday simply to work the crossword!  When I don't know the answer, I either cheat or search the Internet.  It's a good test to tackle things that stretch our brains a bit.

We've been away from home a lot this week, so I promised the fuzzy one that this is 'her' day.  By that I mean that we won't go anywhere and leave her behind.  Her idea of a perfect day matches ours.  She's the first one to the front door when either of us suggests going for a late afternoon drive and stopping for Mickey-Dee's ice cream. 

Somewhere on the Internet I read that today is National Cherry Turnover Day.  It wouldn't be right if we didn't somehow honor this sweet holiday, so I will leave you with an easy way to make cherry turnovers.

1.  Take store-bought pie pastry dough, thaw and let come to room temperature.
2.  Dust working surface and rolling pin slightly with flour.
3.  Place pie pastry onto working surface, roll out a bit more if you can.
4.  With knife, cut pie pastry into four equal sections.
5.  Spoon only 2 Tablespoons of store-bought cherry pie filling into each section of pie pastry.
6.  Fold over.  With fork, seal edges by pressing down and crimping the dough.
7.  Put parchment paper on cookie sheet, to help release your baked turnovers.
8.  With a spatula, slide folded pie pastries over to the cookie sheet, leaving a couple inches between each turnover.
9.  With a knife, cut a few slashes across the turnovers to allow the steam to escape during baking.
10.  Place on middle rack of a 425-degree pre-heated oven, and bake for 15 minutes.
11.  Let cool before locking yourself in a closet and eating 'em all.

A Tree and Tassels or Tassels and a Tree?

"I like trees because they seem

 more resigned to the way

they have to live

than other things do."

-Willa Cather, 1913

Easy and Smart Cupcakes

Nothing reminds me more of mom than chocolate cake baking in the oven!  Usually I don't bake cakes or desserts for just the three of us, but today's cupcakes are different.  Here's why.....

They are waist-friendly.  I took a box of chocolate Betty Crocker Super Moist cake mix, added a can of diet Sierra Mist soda, stirred it up like a regular cake, put it in paper cupcake cups, and baked them for 20 minutes. 

We couldn't wait to taste a warm cupcake, and it was over-the-top good.  Not only did I save 3 eggs and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, but our arteries won't suffer with clogging cholesterol.  The reason I made cupcakes instead of a 9 x 13 cake is to limit the portion size.  My eyesight can get pretty skewed when it comes to cutting a piece of cake!

There's room here for lots of experimenting with different cake mixes and flavors of soda.  Strawberry and orange soda comes to mind with a white cake mix.  Top that with sugar-free pudding and fruit, and wouldn't that be a healthy dessert.  I wonder what diet root beer would taste like with a yellow cake mix?  Lots of combinations to play around with.

When I  see a place to save......whether it be money, time, or calories......I'm johnny on the spot.  It's the wise thing to do these days when prices are going higher and obesity is getting to be a national worry.

If anyone comes up with a really yummy cake-soda combo, please feel free to leave a comment for the rest of us!

On a totally unrelated subject, I'm adding a very special post-script to today's blog.  On July 12th I asked my readers to pray for our dear friend who suffered complications during surgery that left him in critical condition.  Thank you all for praying, because our prayers worked a miracle.  We are going to visit this guy and his wife at their home and even go for a special outing that we had planned prior to his surgery.  The doctors call him their "miracle patient," and maybe it was your prayer that turned the tide for him.  All I say is, thank you from my heart, because this friend is ever so special to us.  Life without him would be unthinkable.  God bless you all. 

Northern Pike Y Bones



The guys had a good day out on the Mississippi yesterday.  Besides these three Northern, they had a lot of fun reeling in other pan fish, like bluegill, crappies, bass, and one of them even caught a dog fish.  Of course, they threw the dog fish back into the river, because it's a rough, inedible species. 

There are those who won't and don't eat Northerns because of their pesky bone structure.  Between their rib cage and the top of the back, there's an unusual series of bones, called the Y Bones.  These bones run from the gill area about 3/4ths the length of the fish to the tail.  My hubby, and other fishermen, have a slick way of removing these Y-bones.  To see how this is done, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS_cHdKS-_A.  When a Northern is properly de-boned and fried to a golden brown, it is one of the best tasting fresh-water fish in North America.

I came from a family of fishermen.  Grampa took me and my best buddy cousin to nearby rivers when we were little kids.  He'd tie long cane poles to the side of his car, and away we'd go!  Gramma would ride along and, because of her arthritic knees, would patiently wait in the car while we fished.  There was no room for sissies when we were around my maternal grampa.  He had us playing in the dirt, fishing, swinging from trees, hunting for frogs that gramma would fry for us, and he always told us we had to eat "this much" dirt if we wanted to be healthy.

That was what fishing was like in the 1950s, but today it's grown into a sophisticated sport.  When we go to a Cabela's Store, there are aisles of colorful bait, jigs and rigs, and lord only knows what all to tantalize the fish to the hook.  I'm so old-fashioned, it's embarrassing.  I just think fish want a worm or a wiggly night-crawler.....something with a little meat to it! 

It's been so darned hot this summer, we've not had our little boat out.  As soon as cooler weather gets here, I know we'll be hooking up and heading out.  A day on the river, or a lake, is enough to tucker the three of us out.  Even if the fish don't bite, a day on the water gives us fresh air.....the only natural energy booster.

I used to like fishing with a bobber, but I don't anymore.  It's more fun to hold my pole and feel the nibbles and bites, and that way I know just the right time to give my pole a jerk and reel in my catch. 

This time of year I get mighty itchy to head up north to the lakes.  Not a big lake, but one you can see across to the other side.  The big lakes are too choppy for our Misty Harbor. Yesterday while the guys were fishing, I spent time online looking for an affordable pet-friendly resort.  I'll be darned if I didn't find one. Now, all I have to do is coax the other two here to go.....and, just between you, me and the tree......that'll be an easy-peasy job for me!

Girls Day

A heaven-sent rain blessed us yesterday, and the crops are especially thankful.  The beans and corn fields were getting mighty thirsty.  Along with the rain came thunder and lightning.  Nothing feels as cozy as a dreary dark rainy morning when we can hunker down with a cup of coffee and stay indoors.  Cozy is one of my favorite words.

We delivered ten of my crocheted comfort crosses to the rest home.  It's so sad to see the quivering chins and watery eyes of the dear souls who reside there.  Both of our mothers spent their last few years at this facility, so we're acquainted with a few of the nurses.  You gotta love these angels, who still greet us with open arms and tight squeezes.  I warn 'em right upfront that when it comes my turn to move in there.....well, I intend to purposely pee in bed!  They laugh now, but.......

Other errands took us from one end of town to the other until finally we decided to eat supper out.  A popular pizza joint won the flip of the coin.  It was either pizza or Chinese.  Back in the '60s when we were dating, we could polish off one of their large pizzas, and I'm pleased to say nothing has changed.  Our waitress told us that during President Obama's stay in town last week, the Secret Service picked up one of their well-known pizzas to take to the President's hotel room down the street. 

Today the fuzzy one and I are having a girls day cuz the man of the house has gone fishing with one of his buddies.  Maybe I've mentioned this before, but when I was a little girl and the men of our family went fishing, mom would declare it girls day and that's when she and I would clean out the left-overs in the fridge.  We'd scoop them all together in a skillet, brown em up a bit, and then add scrambled eggs. Both of us smothered our Girls Day Hash with chopped raw onion and ketchup. To this day, that's probably my favorite thing in the world to eat...........next to about 312 other things!

Memory baffles me.  Where and how are we able to carry our whole lifetimes around with us like we do? The older I get, I see myself thinking more and more about my childhood and all the fun stuff our little family of four did.  Most everything centered around farm work and going fishing, but still I have a silo full of warm fuzzy stuff that my head churns up for me to think about.  My brother and I had an old Model-A car that we tooled around our farm with, up and down the hills.  We took the back seat out so we could haul 10-gallon cans of water to the pigs in the pasture. By the time we got to the pigs, half the water spilled out from the bumps we bounced over.  My brother drove like a maniac, and I sat next to him proud as any little girl could be.  Ahhhhhh, my heart actually aches a dull ache when I think of how life built barriers between us.

Humidity has returned.  When it gets really humid outside, our windows get steamy and fogged over.  That's how they are this morning.  A good place for us girls will be in the air-conditioning, on the couch and next to the t.v.  And, for lunch, I just might go scrounge around in the refrigerator and see what needs to be recycled.  Who knows, history may just repeat itself!

Ta-ta. 

Men Say the Darndest Things!

Two guys, one old and one young, are pushing their carts around Walmart when they collide.  The old guy says to the young guy, 'Sorry about that.  I'm looking for my wife, and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going.' 

The young guy says, 'That's okay, it's a coincidence.  I'm looking for my wife, too.  I can't find her and I'm getting a little desperate.'

The old guy says, 'Well, maybe I can help you find her.  What does she look like?'

The young guy says 'Well, she's 27 years old, tall, with red hair, blue eyes, is buxom wearing no bra, long legs, and is wearing short shorts.  What does your wife look like?'

To which the old guy says, 'Doesn't matter......let's look for yours.'

Bejeweled Butterfly

This Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly landed as softly as a whisper on my Spirit Sister's host butterfly bush.  This nice nature moment was one I had to have, so I barefooted my way to the car for the camera.  Wouldn't you know it, by the time I returned to the outdoor patio, he was gone.  A minute didn't pass before he flitted back, I was camera-quick, and 'tah-dah' I captured his open wing span.  Isn't he precious?

Whenever I see a butterfly, I wonder if it isn't our answer to the big question of what happens to us when we die and leave our bodies behind.  Guess that's as good an answer as I've found so far.  I always wonder why that thought comes to me......and who's sending it!

On our drive home after dark last evening, we saw a deer standing along the road and an opossum scurrying across the highway.  What must it be like for creatures to run as fast as they can across a highway in the dark and see headlights coming closer and closer toward them.  Their little hearts must pound like jungle drums. 

My hubby left early this morning without me even knowing it, cuz there was a note on the kitchen island that read, "Good morning, girls!  Gone fishing."  Now that the weather has cooled down a bit, trout fishing has lifted itself higher on his to-do list.  He mentioned that he'd like to smoke a batch of trout one of these days. It usually doesn't take him long to bring home his limit of 5, so I expect to hear the back door open any second.

Before I go, I want to share this Butterfly Prayer ........

Lord,
Bless me with the ability of a butterfly to endure the changes that will happen to me in my lifetime.  Help me to accept these changes with a positive and loving attitude.
Bless me with the beauty of a butterfly to allow me to reflect the colors of my soul, being and individuality, and to look for these things in others.
Bless me with the ability of a butterfly to create and instill the feeling of wonder, passion, and excitement toward all of your living creatures.
Bless me with the butterfly's ability to pollinate your flowers, so that I may cultivate your human garden with love and compassion.
Last, but not least, Lord,
Bless me with the grace of ascension, so that I may ascend into your glorious heaven like a rising butterfly, when my journey here on earth is complete.  Amen.
-Author M. Dilts