I hope so. Not sure if anything I have to say will interest anyone, but it’s kind of therapeutic to at least attempt to “see” people. I don’t get out of the house except to go to doctor appointments or emergency problems with my step-dad. Hope you all had a great 15 months since I last “saw” you. Fall is my favorite time of year, so I’m hoping to have something good to blab about.
As a side note: My motherboard fried and I have lost a lot of comments, addresses, etc. If I did not answer somebody's comment or email, I am truly sorry. I DO reply to everyone I can, so please forgive the machine and myself.
As of Monday, I have become a college widow. Hubby, Ray, is back in school. I envy him. I LOVE learning, however the academic world is geared for wayward teens or young 20’s type people and NOT middle-aged broads like me. The usual Academic Hazing leaves me cold. I still kind of wish I was going with him, though. My husband and I met in Sept, 1992 at the University of Minnesota – Duluth in an 8 am Calculus III class. We were in our 30’s and had to sit in the front of the class so we could see the blackboard. They probably don’t even use blackboards anymore. Anyway, we both kind of stood out from the rest of the 18 to 20 year-olds. Ray and the Professor were pool/drinking buddies. We all smoked cigarettes before and after class getting our nicotine fixes and got to know each other. One day, Ray asked me if I wanted to meet up with them at the Reef (a college hangout with bar and pool tables) and I said yes, but I had to leave early because it was my grandmother’s birthday. I went, had a beer, and was sorry to leave. Two days later, I met Ray for drinks and we had a great evening. Two days after that, I had him over to my place for steaks on the grill and he never left. We shacked up for the next 5 years, got married, bought the farm, and we’ve been blissfully happy the whole time.
I met a lot of great people going to college, even though I was 10 to 15 years older than a lot of those people. The Math professor lived with us for a time before he moved on to a different university. Another friend is teaching at a community college in Illinois, one is teaching Micro Biology at a college in southern Minnesota, one is an MD working in Wisconsin, one is a Great Lakes Biologist., one has a good computer job at a hospital and her Biology Teacher husband is raising the 2 kids. Ray and I kind of took a different tack for 10 years, but he is back at school and should have a “real” job in a year or so. Me, I am a couple of credits shy of 3 degrees: 2 classes for a Math major, 4 classes for a Physics major, and 4 classes for a Computer Science major. Never could make up my mind, but at age 50 and crappy health, I’m never going to get a job whether I finish any degree or not. Having over 260 university credits to your name doesn’t mean anything anymore. We see our MD friend often, but I don’t keep up with the rest as often as I would like. I’m hoping to do so now that the computer that took me 11 months to build is almost done. Now, if I can only salvage the address book from my fried computer…. It’s not putting together drives, Motherboards, processors, etc. that is difficult. It’s loading in all of the software, updates and all of the files I’ve saved that takes time and effort.
Speaking of old farts, I turned 50 this June. I had big things planned by the time I turned the big 5-0. Aw, well. You know what that say about the best laid plans… I did go out for a bowl of soup with my nephew, his partner, and my husband. That was nice. Of course all of the farming, fiber, and weaving things that were to be up and running by this year haven’t even been started and, to be honest, there is a real chance that they never will. It’s looking like I will never get better than I am now, so there is a real chance that I will need to sell off everything and…. It’s impossible for me to look past the current minute, hour, or day. It’s been a long, hard 5 years or more since I have been going downhill and, at this point, there is no light at the end of my particular tunnel. I’m still fighting as hard as I can, but I should have an answer one way or the other around October 1.
Since I got so ill and lost my main computer, I’ve been unable to keep up with most of the blogs I usually read. I’m hoping to get back to reading them and commenting again. Living in a 4 room pole barn with no windows is like living in a cave. Not being able to be outside makes me feel like a fungus. I am so out of touch. I HAVE kept up with a lot of the political happenings. Lying in bed day after day with a laptop that is very hard to type on doesn’t leave much else to do. I have been so fascinated and disgusted with the whole process. With all of the information access, I have been overwhelmed by the nastiness of the political wrangling. I am shocked by all the bold-faced lies and disinformation being spewed by a lot of our elected officials in all branches of the government. It makes me very sad, because so many people are in dire straits and the people who are supposed to be looking out for us common folk are only looking out for their own interests. The good part about all of this information access is that we peons can organize and send letters and petitions to our congress people and possibly be heard, for better or worse. I just don’t have the strength to do more, but I do all I can.
I did manage to go to the Minnesota Shepherd’s Harvest in May. It was kind of a freak reason for getting there. I had to be at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for some tests. We weren’t sure how long I would be there and we ran out of meds, so I contacted a friend who was going to go to the Fest and she brought down our medications. Since we ended up at the Mayo for almost 2 weeks, it was a good thing we were able to get the meds. The Fest was only 2-1/2 hours from the Mayo so we met her there and made the exchange. It was really nice to see the Spinning gals even for such a short time. I miss them. I could only handle a few hours walking but managed to pick up a few things.
Just for fun, I bought a bag of Cotton Bolls. I thought that it would be a fun thing to demonstrate at the county fair that I spin at.
I bought some more Black Diamond Top (Carbonized Bamboo) to add to my previous purchase so I would have enough to actually make something from it.
I got ½ pound of Camel down to play with for only $14. That should be enough for a Smoke-Ring or two.
As I go through this stupid, debilitating illness, I am really hoping to think about the stuff I truly love and chatting with all of my cyber-friends again. I have found that life is sooooo short and the truly important things have nothing to do with one's self.
Take care of yourselves and please accept a large amount of hugs and good vibes from your's truly.
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