Free Is Good: 4 Knitting Patterns

From KnitPicks: Four free knitting patterns. A cat, robin, bunny and frog! Here is the link... http://www.knitpicks.com/wpblog/happy-friday/?media=FCBKpost

Hope you have fun with it!

Free Is Good: Cookbooks

From Recipe.com: three free eBooks with mouthwatering recipes. Here are links to each of them.

The Ultimate Warm You Up Recipes
The Ultimate Tailgating Recipes 2012
The Ultimate Holiday Recipe Winners 2012

Hope you enjoy them!

Free is Good: Free Crafts Class TODAY ONLY

Craftsy is giving a free craft class today. There's several to choose from. I picked the Re-Piecing the Past: Civil War Blocks Then & Now class. Am grateful that it's online and I can watch it at my pace.Yippee!!! Free is good.

Free Is Good: Books

You can thank my cousin Leona for this one. Free digital books at BookBub. All you have to do is give them your email address. Not a bad deal at all. You can download reading apps from Amazon HERE.

Note: Amazon also has some free eBooks to download.

Thankful Thoughts - May 7, 2013

Today I'm thankful that Spring has sprung. In no uncertain terms. Seventy plus degree weather has had everyone out enjoying Mother Nature. This old lady has learned to appreciate the nice days when they appear. No regrets! Right?!

 The flowers to the left are called "Red Trillium". Trillium erectum according to Wikipedia. They are one of the constant spring flowers all along this Appalachian Mountain range.

Looks like we might get a frost in the next week. The apples and pears are just starting to bud. We lost the whole crop last year because of the frost. The year before (when I moved back home) was the most beautiful and full I have ever seen. Apples literally dripping off the trees. What an abundance! With the economy as it is it sure would be nice to see another bountiful harvest like that one.


As long as the weather holds I'll be outside catching up on painting projects. Quilting is on hold for the time being, but I'll be posting about a couple past projects. Namely a Blue Jean Quilt made from used blue jeans. Took a bit of planning for that one. Will also show some other past projects (hobo bag, stuffed baby toys, etc). In the meantime hope y'all have a great evening. Give thanks for the Sun (Son?) tomorrow morning when you wake. Another day of living!

Friday Foolishness - May 3, 2013

Here's a little poem to remind you to enjoy life.

 

 

Dust If You Must

by Anonymous

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture, or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed;
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb;
Music to hear, and books to read;
Friends to cherish, and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair;
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go (and go you must)
You, yourself, will make more dust.

Unemployment and the Sequester

A Customer Service rep asked me what I did for a living the other day. I told him that I was currently unemployed and having trouble finding work. He said "Oh. You're pretending to look for work." Unfortunately, that seems to be the popular point of view these days. At least with business people who are currently employed and who have obviously never been unemployed before. Let alone in this economy.

Here's a clue folks: No one ever got rich on unemployment. It's considerably less than working wages. Since the beginning of April unemployment benefit payments have been reduced 10.7 percent. Ouch.

As someone over fifty living in rural USA -- finding a job is a daunting task. There just aren't any jobs out there unless you have an engineering degree or can drive a truck. I don't have that degree and because of my disability can't drive a truck. I refuse to go further into debt to get another piece of paper so that I can get a job that won't pay me enough to live other than paycheck-to-paycheck. Where's the sense in that?

Employers complain about not being able to find suitable personnel. They want experienced workers but don't want to pay for that experience. For years now employers have 'doubled-up' job duties calling it catchy names like "streamlining" and "consolidation". Employers seem to be more concerned with their bottom line than their employees (imho).

Employees are consistently doing more for less money. Job seekers take entry level positions and devalue themselves just so they can work again. Who can afford to live on minimum wage? While discussing the current economy I remarked that I couldn't pay my bills on minimum wage, a doctor told me "Most of the girls that work here work two jobs. You could always do that." WTF!!! Where is this mindset coming from? Is everyone out for themselves these days? Would the doctor work two jobs if he was only being paid minimum wage? It's a long way from college and Daddy palming you a few hundred on his way out the door and real world America where most of us wonder where we're going to be living six months down the road. Way too many of us are a paycheck (or unemployment check) away from the poorhouse.

When I was last in the workforce [2012] I was making the same wage as way back in 1994. $13.50 per hour. What a joke. AND with noticeably fewer benefits. I understand that the cost of health care has gone up, but so have corporate profits. The old adage "The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer." has hit home for all of us here in the USA.

This isn't the country I grew up in. I want my country back. It's not a matter of political party. I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat or Libertarian. I just want an end to this bickering and finger-pointing. Get some work done for crying out loud. Work together. That's what I miss. The common courtesy of setting aside disagreements and finding a solution that works -- without all the pork belly stuffing that goes on.

Can I get an Amen? How 'bout a Hallelujah?

If y'all know of any good jobs in the Bradford, PA area contact me. I really need to get back to work.

Current Live Ins Part Three: Third time's the charm?

Perhaps you have already read how BootZee the Cat and Bandit the German Shepherd came to live  in their forever home. If not, you should know that BootZee was one of three cats abandoned by a woman because "my boyfriend doesn't like them".

BootZee is a gray cat with a white bib, belly and gloves. Yep. A tuxedo cat. His "brothers" (what do you call cats who are raised together but are obviously from different ancestry anyway?) were a black and white tuxedo cat and one that looks like a Maine Coon. All three were neutered and their front claws had been removed.

Abandoned. Poor kitties.



We started setting food out for them the winter they were abandoned and 'adopted' an injured BootZee that very same spring (2012).

BootZee's brothers would come around from time to time throughout the summer. They would meow at the back door and be rewarded with food and water. As the summer progressed they came less frequently. The black and white cat stopped coming around in late summer. The tiger/maine coon kept right on coming. From time to time when the weather turned wet and cold I would bring tiger cat into the house. I tried to get him to stay, but he broke through two screens to get out. Not sure if the dog freaked him out or he had just turned semi-wild. He just didn't seem to want to stay.

Summer turned to fall and the days started getting brisk. With winter fast approaching the neighborhood was all abuzz about trying to find a good home for both cats. The McKean County SPCA, a no-kill shelter, agreed to take them in if they could be caught. One neighbor was interested and was considering adopting the tiger/maine. None of us had seen the black and white and assumed that someone had "adopted" it. Or...the unspeakable had happened. We won't speak of that.

But tiger cat kept coming to the back door. Hungry. Perhaps lonely too. Keep in mind that these cats were abandoned in winter. Their former owner had subsequently moved away, but at some point in time probably really loved these cats. They aren't young kittens even if I do refer to them that way. They are probably between 4-6 years old. Raised inside. With no claws. Someone else was feeding them. Knowing the neighborhood several someones were probably feeding them.

I let him in. He cried. He scratched at the door. He scratched at the window. After three days of rain and cold, the temperature was finally nice so out he went.

This went on for about three weeks.  He would come around. I'd let him in. He's meow and scratch until I gave in and let him out. One day he showed up right before a patch of nasty weather. I decided to stick it out and let him meow/scratch.

I named him "Tigger-Tiger". He's a funny little cat. He'll lay down on his back on the floor right in front of me and want me to scratch his belly. He just loves to have his belly scratched. His fur is softer and fuller than BootZees. He doesn't meow like he did when he first came here. But he does want to go back outside. He scratches at the windows and doors from time to time. He would escape in a heartbeat if he could (you always have to look for him when opening outside doors). He seeks me out when he wants petted or scratched. Is much more social than BootZee.

BootZee and Tigger-Tiger play and love on each other all the time. You can tell that they are friends.  You'll often find them stretched out next to each other on the bed.

Both cats are growing accustomed to Bandit. Tigger-Tiger even lets him sniff his butt from time to time (hey - it's what they do) and sometimes will hop up on the bed if Bandit is already there. Bandit has a good heart and tries his best to lay still when that happens. He teases Bandit mercilessly. As a matter of fact, one of his first days here Tigger-Tiger climbed into Bandit's crate and took a nap. Poor Bandit didn't know what to do about that!

BootZee isn't quite so fond of the dog. It took months for him to even tolerate the dog being in the same room. He bats Bandit's nose with his front paws every chance he gets. Sometimes he even goes out of the way to do it (truth). BootZee was caught in the act of sniffing a sleeping Bandit a couple days ago so perhaps a truce is being negotiated. Rather odd too. BootZee had absolutely no problem with Bear-the-Wonder-Dog. He would even curl up next to him to nap.

Well. That's the story of my "Current Live Ins".

Thankful Tuesday on a Wednesday

This stormy sky was above us as we took our evening stroll yesterday. Rather a stark beauty. Brightness in the midst of darkness. A reminder that even in the darkest of days some light can be found if we only look for it. Sometimes we just need to be reminded to open our eyes and look around us.

Several of the trails we hike are alongside some boggy marshland. Yesterday in this particular location we watched as two box turtles dove into the murky water. Of course, the camera was still in its case at that point. Will have the camera ready next time. This is near the area that has beaver sign all around. What's beaver sign?

When you see several trees with wood chips at their base you can be fairly certain that it was caused by a beaver. The only beaver we've seen has been a carcass. We know there is one though because of all the fresh cuttings.

Isn't this just the prettiest little flower. Tiny little things less than a half inch in diameter. No idea what they are. Definitely the prettiest thing we saw on our stroll.




Today I'm thankful for cameras that let us share the world around us, puppy dogs that fetch and friendly cats. May your day be filled with beauty!