Freewheeling Friday

  

I was supposed to work for about 4 hours today, but when I got there the computer I work on was down and even with help from tech support it wasn't coming back up. They said they would have to send a technician to the office at some undetermined time, so instead of working I came home and changed clothes and went to the gym. I can't say I worked too hard at the gym, but my arms are well aware of the time I spent on the rowing machine. It is funny how a plan to attend a school reunion in a couple of weeks kept me on the machine for an extra 5 or 10 minutes.

Anyway, I'm using the rest of my found time to empty my brain of thoughts for posts I didn't write this week in a little Freewheeling Friday.

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I wasn't paying much attention recently to an interview on TV with someone who had written a book about women's friendships, but something I did hear really stuck in my mind.

They said that spending time with a good friend is as important to a woman's health as regular exercise and a healthy diet. I wasn't listening closely enough to cite any scientific proof for what they said, but that is a health tip that I can gladly follow. I liked it so much that I had to call my good friend Patty to plan a coffee date....much more fun than all that time on the rowing machine.

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Even when I am not a very good blogger I try to be a good commenter on blogs I read. Sometimes, even when I find a post interesting, I don't really have an interesting comment to make. I think we all like comments when we write a post, but sometimes I can't decide whether to leave a boring comment or no comment at all. What kind of commenter are you? Do you leave a comment on every post you read.?

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My little crocus' survived the 10 inches of snow they got covered by last Saturday and are happily blooming today in temps in the 70s.

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BTW, I like comments, even if they are boring.

Six Word Saturday

Where have all the flowers gone?

The prediction is that these little crocus' outside my window and the tulips in front will be covered with 10 inches of snow by the end of today. We had temps in the 60s earlier this week and should be back in the 60s next week so hopefully the flowers will be back soon.

To participate in 6WS visit Cate here: http://www.showmyface.com

Note: This little post is a violation of my pledge to myself not to do posts about the weather but the poor little cold crocus' looked like they needed some attention.

Dog Telepathy

Doc and our dog, Dodger, pretty much fit the phrase "joined at the hip". Most of the time wherever Doc is, Dodger is right there with him. The exceptions are if it is time for a meal or a walk when Dodger sits and stares at me until I fulfill my responsibility to him, then he is back to Doc.

I am beginning to think that in addition to being joined at the hip, they may also be joined at the head....in other words, there seems to be a little dog telepathy going on. When Doc leaves the house, more often than not, Dodger goes with him. When Doc leaves without him Dodger usually just naps on Doc's pillow on the bed or sits at the back door monitoring the activity in the open space behind the house. Then at some point he suddenly lifts his head, perks up his ears and trots to the front of the house and sits and looks out the front window, and within 10 minutes or so Doc's truck pulls into the driveway....every time.

Doc doesn't come and go on any set schedule, so it's not like Dodger's inner clock that tells when it is time for something like a walk, that usually happens at about the same time each day, is due to happen. The only answer I can come up with is Dog Telepathy . I'm sure there is a better, more logical explanation as to how Dodger always knows that Doc is nearly home but I don't know what it is. For now, I am sticking with Dog Telepathy.

I just hope he doesn't learn to levitate his
treats out of the cabinet next.

Junior High Reunion

I'm not sure why I am going and I am not sure I really want to go, but I have just made plans to attend a junior high school reunion at the end of March. I have never been to any kind of school reunion, but I have thought about going to my (gulp) 50th high school reunion which will be in 2015. Maybe I'm thinking that starting with a junior high reunion will be a good way to work my way up to a full blown high school reunion in a few years. Oh, and I saw an airline ticket sale online so I booked a ticket and now I am going.

Why a junior high reunion? I think it started as a football team reunion (they won some big championship) and grew from that. Also, ours was the first class to go through all three years at a newly built junior high school. I went to Orville Wright Junior High in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The school was built in 1959 (I think) with a unique architectural style....it was round, and yes, all the classrooms were a little bit pie-shaped. I think it is now an elementary school.

Orville Wright School, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Whatever the reason for the reunion, and why ever I am going, I will be there. I'm not sure that I will know anyone or that anyone will know me. I went through elementary, junior high and high school with a lot of the same kids, so there should be someone there I at least used to know. I will see who went bald, who got fat, who came out. One thing for sure, we've all gotten old so that should make it interesting.

I'll let you know how it went in a few weeks. In the meantime, do any of you reunion goers have any advice on how to best navigate this quagmire of a social situation?

My Valentines

When my kids were growing up every day was Valentine's Day for them. No, not because they were showered with candy and flowers every day but because they grew up with the last name Valentine. I'm sure they were teased a little around this time of year, but in 1977 they got their 15 minutes of fame when this picture appeared on the front page of the local paper with a feature about "Real Valentines." It replicated a picture of their dad and his sister that had appeared in the same paper in 1951.

Jill and Rob 

The above picture was taken a few months before my 3rd little Valentine was born, and yes, the dress seems to have survived to celebrate another Valentine's Day.

Joanna

I've shown you my Valentines, now show me yours. I know a lot of people don't like the commercialism and pressure of Valentine's Day, but any day that comes with a big, fat Starbucks gift card like I got this morning is a good one for me.

Old Men and E-Mail

Doc has a couple of friends that send him e-mails pretty much every day.....you know the kind, jokes, funny pictures and so forth like we all get from time to time. Every so often I hear him chuckling and a few minutes later he'll say "I forwarded a funny e-mail to you." What I have figured out from this is that I don't usually have the same sense of humor that e-mailing old men have. Most of the e-mails they share seem to be jokes about women or jokes about politics or politicians that they oppose, with a little sex or nudity thrown in from time to time. Since I have had a sort of ho-hum week, in other words not much to write about, I am sharing some pics from an e-mail titled You Had One Job, that Doc forwarded that actually made me chuckle.

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We are getting some light snow this afternoon, with a couple of inches expected overnight. It is certainly nothing like the east coast is going through. As I have watched the overblown news coverage of the east coast storm I don't know who to feel sorrier for......the cable news people who are reporting from the middle of a real blizzard or those who have to come up with  some kind of storm story when the place they got assigned to only got a couple of inches of snow.

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BTW, it is probably best if it doesn't get back to Doc that I referred to him and his e-mailing friends as old men.                                                                 

I Fell and I Couldn't Get Up

I had my first ever "I've fallen and I can't get up" experience over the weekend. Fortunately it was on the ski slopes at Winter Park and not in the bath tub......not tragic, but still a little embarrassing. A little tangle-up on a tow rope that we thought we needed to take to get to the lift we wanted sent me and my granddaughter, Hope, tumbling down in the snow. When I got up my right leg didn't hurt but it wasn't working quite right, like it wasn't quite getting enough info from my brain. We were on a pretty easy slope and kept going until we got on a not so easy slope and I fell again and couldn't get my leg to work to help me get up. Fortunately, my daughter, Joanna, came to my rescue and after a few tears, mine of laughter and embarrassment, Hope's thinking I was really hurt, and Joanna's, trying not to laugh too much, she was able to pull me up with my ski pole. Once we got down to the base and ate a late lunch I, wisely and probably to Joanna's relief, called it a day.

Even with my little mishap it was a wonderful few days in the mountains with my daughter's family and her in-law's and their family. I didn't get any actual skiing pictures, but I got a few before and after.

We stayed in a beautiful mountain house that Joanna
had bought the use of at a charity auction.

Ready to hit the slopes with Joanna and Hope 

(before I knew I would literally "hit the slopes".)

These wagons for carting your equipment around were new to me

 and a great idea.

Hope taking a little break with the Coca Cola polar bear.

The day was a little snowy and cold,

 but the new snow made for great skiing.

The best part of a ski day......a little apres ski time in the hot tub.

My leg seems to be mostly okay now and my ego is (nearly) healed, in spite of my 5 year old granddaughter, EJ, telling me "Grandmom, you should probably never ski again."