Around OakMeadows

Winter is definitely here--31 on the porch. The wind was just ferocious last night as the cold front moved through. We are snug and warm inside. My cat, Bandit, pitched a fit to go outside last night but immediately changed his mind when he got into the cold, wind, and rain and decided that life on the electric blanket was a better choice. 

We had our daughter's dog, Daisy, with us last week. She is an aged cocker spaniel--deaf and arthritic-- but such a sweetheart! Loves to go in the car anywhere, anytime, loves to play ball, and loves to eat anything and everything. 
We had nice weather so walking her was not a problem.  She is back at her real home but I am sure she knows she is loved here too. 

My Invacare scooter which I refer to as My Precious has been malfunctioning recently so I had the repairman come out and take it into the scooter ICU. It is 10 years old and rather battered up with use but it is the best scooter ever and I don't think you can even buy one like it anymore. Always expecting things to take longer and cost more than estimated, I settled in to be without it for a couple of weeks. But to my pleasant amazement, they brought it back completely fixed in only 5 days. The total cost was $225 and well worth the money to have My Precious back and functional. 

I had to have a breast ultrasound Thursday because I have a fibrocystic area in my right breast. I have had it for about 12 years. It isn't my favorite way to spend an afternoon but it is necessary since my father's mother died of breast cancer. I was aggravated by having to pay $310 because we have not met our insurance yearly deductible.  

Quilting has taken a back seat this week but I did manage to get the table runner layered and ready to pin and baste. Slooooowly she goes.....

Good reading this week: 

Empire of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood has been such an enlightening book for me. I always supposed that the Founding Fathers just all got together and worked out the best way to set up and govern the newly formed nation.  Not exactly. They were as fractious as politicians are today. I knew about the Hamilton - Jefferson divide but I didn't know how uncertain the election of 1800 was, I didn't know how much Jefferson disliked Chief Justice John Marshall, and 
I didn't know how contentious setting up the federal and state judiciaries was. 

Countdown by Alan Weisman was another excellent book on the overpopulation problem. All our efforts at conservation and climate change will be useless unless population is lowered. Every 4 1/2 days we add another 1 million people on the planet. 

I made one new recipe last week, the Slow Cooker Old-Fashioned Beef and Noodle Soup. It was delicious. Next time I make it, I will use about half the amount of noodles called for though. 

JMM has one more week at work before he retires. I want him to just enjoy having time to putter around. He is planning to work 2 days a week to bring in some extra cash so that he won't have to dip into his 403b funds until he is 72. We shall see.  Next week he has his retirement party and another 2 days he is being taken out to lunch. I hope he enjoys his retirement as much as I love mine. 

Lots of birds at the feeders. Goldfinches, titmouse, cardinals, bluejays, doves.  Raccoons and squirrels. Haven't seen the possum or armadillo lately. Maybe they hibernate, don't know.