O is for Outdoors

 or Is It Out-of-Doors

Outdoors, out-of-doors, or outside. I never really thought about the differences among those words until now, when I was thinking about an O post. Upon further investigation, I figured out that outside is a noun while outdoors and out-of-doors are synonyms for adverbs of place. Makes sense when I think about the context in which they're used. Now the next question. If we say out-of-doors, why don't we say in-of-doors? The answer for that will just have to wait until another time. For now, here are a few pictures of a recent hike that I took with Ward and Wally out-of-doors.

The trail began along these rocks.

Then it went down a hill where we hiked along a river for a while.

And along railroad tracks. The trail went back up the hill before we went through the tunnel.

The woods were mostly gray, but we did see some color like this old forsythia hedge
at the edge of a clearing.

Yellow was the color of the day. Not only did we see the forsythia, we saw frequent clumps of this yellow wildflower,

And ever-tenacious dandelions popping up here and there.

N is for Never Have I Ever

Never Have I Ever is a game played in a crowd during which someone states something they have never done, but if someone else has done it, they lose a point, have to take a drink, remove an item of clothing, or whatever version of scorekeeping the group decides on.  I got a list of potential questions for the game from the internet that I'm going to answer here. I'm not sure, but I may win this one since I'm playing by myself. :)

1. Never have I ever missed a flight. I have missed a flight. One time when we were traveling when Wally was an active toddler, we had him in a quiet part of the airport away from the gate to keep him out of other travelers' hair. We were far enough away that we didn't hear the boarding calls and missed our flight. We were able to reschedule, but it was an awful feeling when we realized that our plane had left without us.
   
2. Never have I ever drunk-dialed my ex. I have never drunk dialed my ex. I've never been drunk, so this was an easy one.
   
3. Never have I ever ridden a motorcycle. I have ridden a motorcycle, but it was not a good experience, so I've never done it again.
4. Never have I ever lost a bet. I have lost many bets. Now, if I could only remember one of them.
5. Never have I ever gotten lost alone in a foreign country. I have never been lost alone in a foreign country. I have never traveled alone in a foreign country, and I don't think I've ever been lost. That goodness for my husband's good sense of direction.
6. Never have I ever bribed someone. I have bribed someone; however, I prefer to call it a behavior modification technique. I have offered my kids various "rewards" to change their behavior.
7. Never have I ever gone skinny-dipping. I have not gone skinny-dipping, but I was at a skinny-dipping party in college where I was one of the few who left their clothes on.
8. Never have I ever played hooky from school or work. I have played hooky from school. When I was in high school, I used to take days off to visit my sisters in college. I never got permission to go from the school. I just went. And I didn't have to have a note from my parents. I'm not sure why there wasn't more accountability, but I was a good student, so I think that helped.
9. Never have I ever broken a bone. I have never broken a bone.
10. Never have I ever lived alone. I have lived alone. I lived alone during college and enjoyed it.
11. Never have I ever been on a yacht. I have never been on a yacht. I don't like any boat bigger than a canoe because I get seasick.
12. Never have I ever stolen anything. I have stolen something. When I was a little kid, I stole a piece of candy from an open candy bin at the local 5-and-dime store. It tasted good, but I always felt guilty about it.

Have you ever played this game? How did you keep score?

M is for My Morning

My morning yesterday was fairly routine, or some might use the word boring, but that's okay. I like boring. Here it goes.

I got up a little before 7 am after laying in bed for a while. I like to plan my day before I rise and shine.

After I got up, I checked my email and logged into my fitness program. I am rewarded at work for participating in the fitness program, so I try to do that first thing before I forget. This is my temporary office while construction is going on. Wally got me that chair for Christmas. It's a gaming chair but is quite comfortable as an office chair.

Then I went to our temporary mini kitchen in the living room for a bowl of cereal.

I watched TV while I ate. I turned on one of the morning shows without the sound and read the news crawlers. That's usually how I know if anything significant happened overnight.

Then it was time to release the cats from the basement where they spent the night. Annie was quite vocal about me joining her here, but I had other things to do.

 Ward and I were off to do some errands. We took the back roads, and it was a pretty drive.

The first stop was the recycling station to drop off some cardboard and metal.

The next stop was Lowes for some mulch. So much to choose from.
The winner? The kind that was on sale.

I managed to get out without buying any plants. That's an old sale sign, or I might have been more tempted.

Next up was Costco for a fill-up.

After getting home, Ward and I were able to get two beds weeded and mulched before the rain hit. The main goal of the mulching was to slow down the weeds
while we're waiting to plant more things.

Although the sun was hot, I enjoyed being outside, where the colors are so vibrant this time of year. The crabapple is blooming.

And the cherry tree is just beginning.

As is this apple tree. We rarely get apples from this tree, but it is pretty in the spring.

Then it was time for lunch and a shower before heading off to work. So there you have it, My Morning.

Until next time...

L is for Lineman

 I went to the well, and the well was dry when I was trying to come up with an L post. L should be an easy letter to write about since it is one of the most common letters in the English language. And you can guess what I did after I wrote that last sentence. I checked the statistics on how common L is. It turns out that it is 11th out of the 26 letters, in the top half, but not as common as I thought.

Anyway, after going down several dead-end L paths, I decided to rerun a post from seven years ago that is near and dear to my heart. 

My father was a lineman for the electric company.  He spent his entire career climbing poles and working with high voltage wire, and it was a job that suited him well. He loved being outdoors and doing physical work. In fact, when he was offered managerial positions, he declined because he didn't want to be inside all day. His mother should have known that this might be the career he would choose when she saw him as a boy jumping from tree to tree playing tree tag.

However, parts of the job were difficult, and that's what I remember most. Daddy had to go out anytime day or night in the worst weather because that was when there was usually a power outage. Severe thunderstorms with lots of rain. My father was out. Ice storms. My father was out. Deep snow. My father was out. Sometimes for days. One time he worked 54 hours straight without a break. Luckily since then, there has been a rule that you can't work that long at any one time. But linemen still work very long hours in very difficult situations.

This brings me to one of my pet peeves--people complaining about how long it takes to get their electricity back on after a storm. When it takes more than a few hours, the complaining starts. News reporters get man-on-the-street comments about how bad the electric company is and how things should be fixed by now. No one seems to think about what might be involved to get the electricity working again. It takes a lot of hard physical work, usually done in severe weather conditions.

Enough lecturing. But you know, we all have buttons that can be pushed, and you just learned one of mine.

The picture is of an amazing cross-stitch done by Aunt Martha. The man on the pole looks much like my father did, including the blue jeans and work shirt he is wearing.

K is for Kookaburra

or a Kind Act

Sarah is a special needs buddy that I spend time with on Sundays when I help her maneuver through church activities. She is one of the most loving people I know, along with a keen appreciation for nature. I always enjoy my time with her. Here is one of the mornings we spent together.

The air had a chill as Sarah and I did our regular walk from one building to the other on a short path through the woods. Sarah enjoys these walks because she loves everything to do with nature. We always stop and examine a leaf, bug, or bird along the way. Actually, we examined many leaves and bugs- some of which we collected. More often than not, our pockets are full of her treasures. This morning as we were walking along, Sarah said she saw a skunk. I told her I wasn't sure it was a skunk and suggested that maybe it was a cat. I then told her about a black and white cat I used to have named Samantha.

I shared stories about how Samantha would stand up on her hind legs and hold her paws like she was praying. I also told her how Samantha would drag clothes into a pile and how she made a pile of my mother's underwear by the front door one time. Sarah was amused by these stories and asked how old Samantha was. I told her that Samantha lived a long time ago and she had died.

We finished our walk to the other building and sat down to examine our treasures. However, Sarah had other things on her mind. She was obviously still thinking about Samantha because she told me that it was okay to be sad sometimes and gave me a big hug. She said that she had my back and she loved me. But to top it all off, she dug through the bag of stuffed animals she had with her and picked out one specific one for me. It was a very well-loved Beanie Baby bird that she told me was a kookaburra. I was afraid that Sarah would miss this bird when she got home, so I suggested that she could keep it for me and she could bring it back every time we met. You see, even though Sarah has dozens and dozens of stuffed animals, she has given each one a name and personality. So she would definitely know if one were missing. But she insisted that I keep it, so I did.

After our very tender moments of Sarah consoling me about the loss of Samantha, we started to sing Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum tree laughing as we sang. A perfect ending to another special morning with Sarah.