%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
|
BLOG DESCRIPTION:
   Shi Blogs Too: from out of the mountains where I live. I will now be keeping a journal. This is something new for me. I have no idea what I am doing, just that I am diving in. This should be an interesting journey for me. Mainly because I consider myself to be a semi-private person. I live with my fiance and our two kitties, in what I have come to recognize as a small community in a somewhat remote area. Retirement has it's own life style and livelihood. Far away from the norm.       ![Merit Badge in Blog Camping
[Click For More Info]
Sorry for outbidding you in the [Link To Item #2113623] ...I'm not a fan of bidding wars and feel bad about it. I know this isn't the same thing as the package itself, but it's the least I could do. *^*Smile*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Blog_Camping-1788309_13.gif) If you want to find out more about me...read my Author Bio ~
|
| Just another entry to say that I am leaving tomorrow morning for Port Orchard. My daughter will be picking me up at the ferry landing in Kingston. Her hubby leaves for San Diego with his job for a week from the Bremerton Navy Yard. So, she has invited me to stay with her and the kids for a couple of days. I should be back on Wednesday evening. I'm really looking forward to my visit with them all.   |
| Just a quick blog entry...you know the kind...get it in before another reminder comes. I've been all over the site, reading, reviewing and reading more, but I haven't taken the time to write in my blog. So I have something important to say for tonights blog entry- I'M SMOKE FREE FOR SEVENTEEN DAYS NOW! HIP HIP HOORAH! HIP HIP HOORAH! HIP HIP HOORAH!   (Pats herself on the back and bows before she leaves) |
I found this lovely forum today. Here it is
I am entering in my blog today what I wrote in this forum earlier: What a nice place to stumble into. I love the tribute poem to William Wordsworth- "Daffodils". I can recall it being one of the very first poems I had ever read. It's a joy to read the poems and articles written here by these talented WDC members. I feel so drawn to this place because of my love for poetry. Poetry has always played an important part in my life. It was always something I looked up to with great admiration. Yet, something that I felt I could never be good at. It was where my thoughts revealed themselves and unraveled. Yet it never came easy for me to put them down on paper. I could never get the rhyme and meter right. Still poetry was something I turned to for expression and inspiration over and over again for many years. It was my secret place to go where I felt I somehow had existed there eternally. That it held my soul for thousands of years. When I joined WDC a year ago, I finally felt like I truly could do one of the things that I loved most- write poetry. Thanks to all the kind and generous people around this site, I was able to write with confidence and even improve my writing. It has been a thrilling experience for me. Poetry is such a big part of my life now. Poetry has made my dream come true. Then I posted my most recent poem called "Because You Cared For Me". I won't post it here now because it's in a few blogs down. It never ceases to amaze me what you can stumble into on this site! I am always finding something new and interesting. You got to hand it to The StoryMaster and The StoryMistress for creating and running such an incredible writing community on the web. |
| Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Or at least to those of you who celebrate it. I personally don't...but that won't stop me from saying it. Today we went for our walk earlier in the day. It was 70 degrees here so we thought we would go for a walk in the sunshine. We could smell the flowers and the Cedar trees as we walked. Maybe, I should say "I could smell the flowers and the Cedar trees". That's really something that I can do now that I have quit smoking! I would say that is truly one of the pleasures of quitting. Mother's Day is creeping up on us. We are still hoping to go over to Moses Lake. Ron's sister Pat still has a bad sinus infection which flared up again on her a few days ago. So we haven't made the trip yet. Hopefully by next week she will give us the "come ahead" word that we are waiting for. I haven't heard from any of my kids yet as to any plans for Mother's Day that may include me. Last year they all went in together and rented us a motel room at the Day's Inn in Port Orchard. It was great having them all come up to the motel to see me then. Of course they all came bearing gifts. I really don't expect that to happen again this year though. I will be content with just a phone call. I'm thinking of maybe going down to take my granddaughter Alex,(who is turning 13 years old) her birthday gift before May 23rd. That is Ron's birthday also! We will be celebrating his birthday when we go to Moses Lake. His sister has his gift waiting for him. I would imagine his Mom will have one too. She always writes out a check for those kind of occasions. Bless her heart. I already have my Mother's Day gift from Ron. We picked out a bunch of silk flowers at Michaels for the pot that his sis Pat painted us for Christmas last. So by the time we got done with that expense I told him they were my Mother's Day gift from him. He agreed to that. Here is a picture of the finished look. We love it! ** Image ID #1422703 Unavailable ** |
| We found the new Red Cedar restaurant down in Concrete to be a real delight for the town. We went there for dinner this afternoon. They have only been open for two weeks. The interior was decorated really well with an antique theme. We took special notice of how clean it was and how the kitchen looked. It passed our inspection. Now on to tasting the food. We ordered hamburgers and fries...just to be on the safe side. They were very good. Our waitress told us that they have prime rib on Friday evenings only. We will have to go back some Friday evening! We love prime rib...(of course who doesn't?)...but it is the cholesterol thing you know. Maybe we can do it on rare occasions.,,,uh hum. At least I can say this much for the new restaurant. YEAH! We sure needed it here after trying out the town's famous Cajun Grill only once...and that was enough for us. We tend to be picky with our food and restaurants that's a fact. We both know what we are looking for and will not settle for less. The last I heard on the fire downtown was that three 12 year old boys had set it. I will have to check to see what they have done to reprimand them. Oh my non smoking program is working really well. I have not had a cigarette in ten days.Yippee! I'm proud of myself...so is Ron. Of course I started my third week with one more week to go until I go back to the dr. We will see if I need to continue with the program after that. We have been keeping up with our daily walking. I can really see an improvement in my legs and hips lately. They are loosening up and don't ache as much as they did before we started our walking routine. Sometimes I may not feel like walking but Ron is persistent about getting out the door! So we walk...usually in the evening. Gotta go now. |
| Today we were able to see the elk in Hurn Field along Highway 20. It was a sunny day and we were on our way home from town. They were grazing toward the middle of the long field this time. So Ron decided to go home and get the camera and binoculars. When we got back to the field the elk were still there. It's a big field and even after zooming way in on them with the camera you can't get a close up shot of them. These are the best of the lot. These elk originated in Yellowstone National Park and Eastern Washington. They are North Cascade Elk (Nooksake Elk). They have been coming to Hurn field to eat and rest for many years. In 1999 The property was bought by The Skagit Land Trust and turned into a maintained habitat for wildlife in the area. You can see the elk in the field all through the winter months. After they breed the antlers fall off of the bulls. With our binoculars we could see some of them growing new velvety antlers. During the summer they will move to higher ground. We saw what we think was the big bull elk at the edge of the woods above the herd. The young were laying on the ground throughout the field. We counted 59 elk in this herd. Here are a couple of photo's that we took today. ** Image ID #1420704 Unavailable ** ** Image ID #1420728 Unavailable ** |
| We woke up early this morning. Ron was dreaming and moving around in his sleep. I had been dreaming also. I have been experiencing some really weird dreams since being on the Chantix non-smoking medicine. I was talking in my sleep and that's what woke me so early. It was almost 5:00 a.m. Ron was awake and talking to me. "You know that big castle building, well it burned down to the cement last night." I thought he was telling me about his dream. We have been watching a series called "Monarch of the Glen". It is a BBC series filmed in Scotland. It centers around a family living in a huge castle. So I assumed he was referring to that castle. I was wrong. He was on his KOMO news site last nite on his computer and saw that the historic school building down in Concrete here that was being remodeled by a developer, and looked like a castle, was destroyed Sunday by a huge raging fire. Witnesses said flames from the fire could be seen from a half-mile away. The cause of the fire has not been determined, but it's suspicious because there was no electricity to the empty building and people have been breaking in. It appears that there were no injuries or fatalities. The fire raged through the building just off Concrete's Main Street, and across the Skagit River from where we live. We didn't pay any attention to the siren going off in town-if it did, and I assume it did. We have heard it so many times as they have the drill every week. Ron had been gone on a bike ride early in the day, and said that he recalled seeing what appeared to be smoke toward the north of us later in the day after returning home. An investor purchased the old school more than two decades ago, he had added a huge castle like structure to the top of the building. It was, in my opinion, outrageous, and gave the building the look of an Insane Asylum! Or at the most that someone insane had come up with the idea to have it resemble a castle! We thought that it was such an eyesore for a town already known for it's huge ugly concrete silo landmarks. One with the name CONCRETE sprawled across the top of it some hundred feet or so up off the ground! The silos are reminders of the once thriving concrete making that occurred here in the past. The concrete was made from the rich lime deposits in the river and shipped elsewhere by trains from the silo's. Getting back to the burned building, as it turned out the developer hadn't done anything with the building over the last two decades. Leaving it a prime target for vandals. Witnesses said it appeared the fire started in one of upper corners of the building. It had gutted the entire interior of the building, leaving only the cement walls standing. Fire crews from as far away Mount Vernon were called in to fight the fire. Crews continued to pump water into the blaze for hours into the night. Ron and I drove down to take a look awhile ago. It was all roped off with yellow tape around the property. The trees behind what was left of the building were all blackened. We didn't see any hot spots still burning. We saw a Sheriff questioning some young boys nearby. There was a young woman scribbling on a pad with pen as she talked to an elderly couple along side their vehicle parked across the street. When we drove away I couldn't help but say to Ron " I hope that whoever set that ugly building on fire doesn't get arrested for it." Ron had to chuckle at that. He says that whoever set the fire should get a "community service award." Oh, not that we don't feel someone should be arrested for arson. We just can't help but think that they should put up fliers all over town stating - "Was it Arson or Outstanding Community Service?" |
| Today was a beautiful day here. We ate our lunch then headed out on the Vulcan. It wasn't long and we were up in the North Cascades. We stopped in Newhalem just before heading up to Diablo Lookout. All the pink blossoms were blooming on the trees around the park . It is always so pretty to see. The temperature here at home was nearly 80 degree's when we left. Up at Diablo you could feel the chilly mountain air. The mountains there are covered with so much snow this spring! It's going take a hot summer to melt most of all that snow. We didn't go any further because the road is closed with the gate across at Ross Lake. Above the dam there. The North Cascade Pass is still closed and may not open till the middle of May because of all the snow. The avalanche danger will be high now. Usually the snow here on our mountain- Sauk Mountain will completely melt off by around July 19th. or so. This year Sauk has so much more snow than what we seen last year. It should be interesting to see when it will be completely gone this summer. I am going to insert a picture or two of Diablo Lake here taken at the Lookout. This is such a beautiful area. These pictures were taken several months ago, however. We did not have our camera with us today.  ** Image ID #1418940 Unavailable ** |
Because You Cared for Me I sailed around the world wide, searching from sea to sea. Then our ships they did collide. Our love was meant to be. I climbed the highest mountain peak. Reached down and found the way to free those words of love I dared not speak, Because you cared for me. Finally, I conquered all my fears, and watched my sorrow flee, as you gently wiped away my tears, Because you cared for me. |
| I have to throw this blog entry in this evening also. We went for our walk around the community block a bit ago. We take the big block walk - that goes all the way around the Cedar Grove Community where we live. As we were walking along the road that runs up above the Skagit River and takes us back to our road, I saw what I thought was the back end of a horse, or cow, or possibly an elk off in the distance walking down our road and crossing the road ahead of us. We came to the end of the road and sure enough there was an elk standing at the edge of a yard staring right at us! She was a 'cow' allright! A female elk, and she was a big one. We weren't the only ones who saw her either. There was a fellow standing in the middle of our road taking pictures of another elk in the woods there. Then we looked around and saw a few more back behind some houses. We spoke with a gal we know that lived right there and she said that she and her friend saw the biggest bull elk she had ever seen just the other day on their walk! That is the first time we have seen the elk in our neighborhood since we have lived here for almost two years now. We usually see them in a field off of Highway 20 heading down to Sedro Woolley. We saw a whole herd of elk in Cape Horn grazing in someones yard one day. Ron decided not to take the camera back down and look for them because they were heading into the woods by now. One of these days I promise to take some pictures of them  |
| Today Ron and I were reminiscing over tuna sandwiches at lunch here at home. He remembered when he was about 6 years old and his Mom took him to The Bon Marche. He said they went to the basement there where they had the best tuna sandwich that he ever ate. That got us started. He then mentioned that he could remember going to Ivars downtown Seattle when he was a kid with his whole family. It was his Dad's favorite place to eat. His family consisted of Dad, Mom, an older brother, older sister, himself, and younger sister. His memories were from 60 years ago. Mine, as I began recalling them were from over 50 years ago. I told him that I could not remember ever going out to eat like that with my family when I was young. There were seven of us siblings, four girls, three boys, and Dad and Mom! What I did remember was our Sunday drives when we would pile into the Buick station wagon and go for long rides out in the country. Sometimes we would go visit a relative or sometimes just go for a scenic ride. Usually, my brothers would sit on one side of the car while my sisters and I sat on the other side. Most always the older ones sat in the seat while the younger ones rode clear in the back. They were more prone to stretch out and take naps back there. I was the middle child. Three older siblings(Duane, Gary, & Lorraine) and three younger siblings(Ellie, Jim, & Carol). I remember sitting on the seat somewhere towards the middle most always. We would play a game where us girls on one side would watch out the windows and count all the animals on our side. My brothers would count all the animals on their side. Then when we would come to a church on 'our side' we would lose all of our animals and start all over again! I can remember it was most always great fun and kept us from quarreling amongst ourselves. Which we rarely did in the car back then. Many times my two older brothers would not even be along for the rides. As they got older they would be off working jobs somewhere. It must have been a relief for us as my oldest brother was the biggest tease of all! We always had pillows and blankets in the back end of the station wagon. I think that they had a permanent place there because our Mom always took us all to the Drive In movie on Wednesday nights back in Burton Township, Michigan. In the summer time Mom would pack a big picnic lunch and take us all to the lake just about everyday. I think she probably did that to get us away from the house so that our Dad could get his sleep during the day. He worked the night shift and graveyard shift , operating a crane at the old Fisher Body shop in Flint, Michigan. He was a crane operator for Fisher Body for 35 years. He retired from that job when he was 60 years old. As fate would have it...he died of a massive heart attack at age 61. Way too young. My first memory of eating out in a restaurant came when I was 12 years old. My Aunt Tressa took me to Smith & Bridges downtown Flint, Michigan. There we ate on the Mezzanine floor restaurant, where I had my very first bowl of Chop Suey . |
| It has been sometime now that I got back my report on my leg ultra sound. They were looking for artery obstruction. It's just that I got so busy with my books that I never bothered to mention it in a blog here. Well, I got the good news and I got the not so good news. Good news being that I did not have any 'tightened' areas in my legs-arteries. Therefore I did not have to have any surgery. The not so good news is that I have hardening of the arteries in my legs. The medical term for this is atherosclerosis. It means that I am at high risk of forming a thrombus in a coronary artery. My legs were blocked 50% all the way down! I can tell you I did not take this news lightly. My dr. understood how I was feeling about the news and he did hand me a kleenex. He's a nice guy. He put me on a blood thinner to help prevent any blood clotting. Of course I am watching my diet even closer now. We are starting to eat fish more.I am cutting out the cheese almost entirely. I say almost because I have cut way back on it...but did have very little on a sandwich. That is a hard one for me as I love cheese! I have begun the Chantix non smoking program that my dr. chose for me. It seems to be working fine with me so far. I am determined to make it work! It's a matter of life or death to me now. I need to walk more , however nasty the weather is outside. I'm considering buying a treadmill type piece of equipment. I have not researched that one as yet. I go back to my dr. May 21st. he will schedule me for a heart scan after that. I told him that I had had a heart cath done about 15 years ago. At that time I was having chest pains and packing a two year old grandson on my hip while his Mom attended classes five days a week. The heart cath showed that the veins in my heart did not grow to the bottom of my heart as is normal. I was experiencing ischemia I was told. So stupid me- I continued to smoke cigarettes. I had the no fear back then. I have the fear now...finally. You might say I am a slow learner. Of course I already knew that something was wrong there...long before that. You just sense those things. I always knew that I was not normal.  I am not looking forward to this heart scan.  At least our weather is improving somewhat |
| Here it is past the middle of April and we have snow in the forecast today tonight and tomorrow! What a crazy combination of Spring weather we have been having all month. Now just last week it was 92 degrees here on our back deck! Now this...ugh. I am sick of snow...snow...snow  No more please.How can we get out and ride the bike in this stuff? Let alone get out and walk in it. Thank God for our computers and DVD's. Tonight we watch more of The West Wing on DVD. It's a great series. I can't imagine why I never watched it when it was running every week on prime time TV. I think I must have been too busy with kids and grandkids at the time. We sure are enjoying it now. Well, hey my books all have their ISBN numbers except for the one I am waiting on now. You can check them out at: http://stores.lulu.com/shishad if you like. I also have prints and images in my storefront. You may want to check those out too! |
| I was just over at Nada's Blog reading. She claims that her blog is boring. I told her that I think mine is 'more boring'. Lately I can't think of anything to blog about either. Maybe it's got something to do with the weather. Who knows? One day it's really warm and sunny here and the next day it's cool & cloudy or down right cold and rainy! That can tend to send the mood swinging a bit. At least in my case it seems to be the thing lately. I'm really not sure what it is that is causing my lack of blogging interest as of late. Seems like I no sooner get on the site with intentions of blogging and I find myself reading something else then logging off a little while later. I can remember when I used to come in here and spend hours at a time, doing all sorts of things around the site. I really haven't been blogging that long compared to most bloggers here. Do you think there is such a thing as Blog Burnout?  |
| It's a beautiful spring day here today. In fact it's more like summer! You're not going to believe this, but it is 82 degrees here today! We are running around the house and outside in our t-shirts and shorts. What a wonderful reprieve in the weather. It has been so cloudy and cool with rain off and on for weeks now. Today is just such a welcome change. Ron went bike riding earlier, but I stayed home to catch up on my housework. Things tended to get a bit neglected there while I was so busy working on my books. I have just one more ISBN number to get assigned and then it's just a matter of weeks before they show up online at Amazon.Com and Barnes & Noble. I actually have three books that I published myself. Of course no one has bought them yet besides me. I must admit it is a very time consuming yet rewarding venture. The best part about it is- now my kids and grandkids will have some books that I have created.  I'm sure that they will enjoy them for years to come. |
| I'm trying to catch up on my blogging here. I've just been awfully busy. Well my goodness, my one year anniversary on Writing.Com is Saturday, April 12!!! It just doesn't seem possible. The year has really gone by so fast. I am so happy that I found this fantastic site one year ago. I am so grateful to all of you here who I have gotten to know this past year. This is one wonderful community. |
| I have been so busy getting everything done that involves my published books. I'm sure it is all worth the effort though. I just have to catch up on my sleep, however.  Off to take a nap now. |
| It has been snowing here off and on for the last few days. This morning it's really coming down! Can you believe that? What happened to our spring weather? I've been keeping busy getting some things done around the house. I've got my computer cabinet organized again and cleaned up my messy paperwork. That's an improvement in my work area here! Ron's been downloading some really nice relaxing piano music. He's burning CDs too. He's also got some of Grace Potter's music. He likes to experiment with the newer artists out there too. My poetry books are published, but I have them set to private because I am getting help with the formating on them. I can't wait until they are finished and out there! My two proof copies should be here tomorrow at last. |
Cheers Cheerfulness removes the rust from the mind, lubricates our inward machinery, and enables us to do our work with fewer creaks and groans. If people were universally cheerful, probably there wouldn't be half the quarreling or a tenth part of the wickedness there is. Cheerfulness, too, promotes health and immortality. Cheerful people live longest here on earth, afterward in our hearts. ~Anonymous~ |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
