Beautiful Card

Isn't this a beautiful card? It came all the way from the Netherlands. My daughter is so nice to me in my old age. LOL This card reminds me of the silhouette pictures I have hanging on the wall, except the pictures are black silhouettes and this is a very pretty red. Along with this birthday card came a beautiful silver pin that sparkles with hematite stones in the shape of a musical G clef. I just Love It. Thanks Sandy!! Maybe I can do something nice for you sometime. (grin)

Yesterday a friend came over to show me how to create a website. I've been thinking about that for a long time and was hoping this friend would have the time to help me get started. I am so happy that she is willing to help me. It might not be as difficult as I thought, but it will take some time to do what I want to do before it will be ready to upload. The website where I used to send pictures of tombstones to hasn't been updated for a year now. The last 36 pictures I sent have not shown up, so I decided I'd like to do it myself. This is going to take a long time, especially since I have other projects that have a higher priority right now. But one of these days it will be there and with more than just pictures of tombstones.
It will be great!! Just you wait and see.
I'll be sure to put a link to it on my blog when it's ready.

Weekend

Yesterday (Sunday) my sisters and I visited with our Aunt Luella in Sacramento. She was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Her memory is fading fast. Aunt Luella is in an assisted living place, but she needs a lot of care and attention. Cousins Nancy, Jackie and Steve are spending a lot of time with her, making sure she eats something; that she is comfortable and just being there for her. They are all our heroes right now. Such wonderful caring cousins for our dear aunt.
Cousin Jackie took the above picture of Aunt Luella, my sisters and me.

Saturday was the Merced County Genealogical Society meeting. Pictured is Board Members being sworn in for 2010. Not able to attend was the new president, she will be sworn in next month.
The genealogy society meets the 3rd Saturday of each month in the Gracey Room in the Merced County Library in Merced. An interesting program is featured each month.
In March, Kevin from the Clarence Hiebert Library at the Fresno Pacific Bible College in Fresno will talk on Mennonite Research. Visitors are always welcome. So, if you have an interest in Mennonite history, mark your calendar, March 20 at 1:00 p.m.

Cat Tree, Day Two

I took this picture this morning of Maggie on her cat tree. It's a perfect spot to look out the patio door and the window.
Last night I uploaded her picture to amazon. I tried several times to put a link here to go directly to her picture, but it didn't work. But you can go to Amazon and look for "Molly and Friends" cat tree, the one I have is number 2323. Then click on customer image.
I don't know how long amazon will keep it up there. So far someone has given her one yes vote that they like it. I think it's a cute picture of her.
This Molly and Friends cat tree is more expensive than most, but it's well worth it. You don't have to assemble it, it's totally put together and it is very strong. I read a lot of customer reviews before deciding on this brand. I'm glad I got this one, it will probably outlast me!! There were several kinds to choose from, some up to 7 feet tall. I should get one of those (some day) for in the bedroom, Maggie likes to get up on the plant shelves and this would make it easier. Especially when she gets older and fatter.
I had fun tracking the cat tree from Carlisle, PA; to Harrisonburg, VA; Wytheville, VA; Memphis, TN; Little Rock, AR; Amarillo TX; Alburquerque, NM; Kingman, AZ and finally to Fresno, CA then to its final destination. The shipping was free.

Maggie's Cat Tree

Maggie finally got her Cat Tree today. I was told it would be delivered before noon; it finally got here at 4:00 p.m.
We had a lot of thunder, rain and wind last night and it scared Maggie. She used her cat door to go in the garage and hide under my car. I was surprised to find her there with her head peeking out.
So, today, she was still kind of skittish. She doesn't like the rain of course. Then when the big truck drove up and the big box was wheeled to the front door, Maggie disappeared. This gave me a chance to cut open the box, put the furniture movers under the tree and move it to the corner by the patio door. Even had a chance to sprinkle some Catnip on each level before Maggie showed up.
I put her on the 2nd level and the first thing she did after smelling the Catnip was to sharpen her claws on the rug covering. Well, I guess that's what it's there for.
Then I put her on the 3rd level and she enjoyed that view out the window for the longest time. She rolled around in the cradle and wanted to play rough with me.
Look at the expression on her face in the second picture. Total Bliss. You can tell she is just loving it. She almost forgot to bug me for her canned cat food tonight.
So far, Maggie only got on the first level by herself, but I'm sure that will change by tomorrow. Sometimes she runs around here like a crazy cat, running behind the TV, jumping on the back of the couch and just going nuts.
This "Molly and Friends" cat tree should keep her off the far end of the table and the 4 foot bookcase. She used those to look out the patio door.
Tonight she is one happy cat!!

The Week That Was

Last Thursday my sisters took me out to lunch at the Jantz Cafe in Atwater for my birthday. I always enjoy going there. We had a 'sliver' of pie even thought it was not free pie day. (grin) It was a very nice celebration for my birthday. I wore the scarf that Sandy knitted for me, but the picture didn't turn out too good.
In the afternoon I had the front brakes worked on and they rotated my tires. On the way home the front passenger tire blew. Big surprise! The tires are less than one year old. I haven't been careful with the tire pressure, so maybe that was the problem. When I went around a curve, I heard a noise, but it didn't feel like I ran over anything. When I stopped I saw that tire was really FLAT. I should have called AAA right then, but I was about a mile from home and decided to drive home and then call. I assumed the tire was wreaked already anyway, but that was probably not the case.
The next day I went to lunch with 3 friends at Carrows. We always have a long lunch and a good visit. After that I went to Costco to buy a new tire. (The other tires were not purchased there.) When I got home, I notice a back wheel was missing the hub cap. Good Grief!!!! (It wasn't the one with the new tire from Costco.) That car has had a total of 10 hub caps. They used to stay on just fine until about a little over a year ago. Two replacement hub caps came from the Dodge Garage, but they are so expensive now (one hundred dollars each) that I bought a set from Kragans that looked pretty good and only $40.00 for the set.
Now I have just one extra hub cab in the garage to replace the one I lost. Not too long ago, I was tired of losing hub cabs, so I hammered them on. That worked until I had the tires rotated. Guess I'll have to hammer them on again.
I'm through buying hub caps. Next time I'm going to splurge and buy new wheels that don't have covers.
So, what else is new?
Maggie's cat tree should be delivered tomorrow morning! I can't wait. Maybe it will keep her out of trouble for a little while. She tries to get into everything. Last week she jumped from the back of the recliner to the 7 foot bookcase, but didn't quite make it. She was scratching with her back legs, trying to pull herself up, but she's too heavy. She finally had to give up and fall to the floor.
The other day she tried to squeeze into a small space by a bookcase in the office. Well, a large heavy book fell over and got her head caught and she couldn't pull herself back out. It scared her and she panicked. Maybe the cat tree will hold her interest for a while.
Oh, here's a picture of my friends and I at Carrows. I'm wearing the scarf again that Sandy knitted for me, this time with a pink top. The lace scarf is really neat, it goes with anything because whatever you are wearing shows through the lace. It's made of New Zealand wool and is very light weight and soft. Thanks Sandy!!

Winton Hometown News

The January / February issue of the Winton Hometown News was mailed Tuesday, December 29. This one was fun to do. Several people sent in their stories which made the pages fill up fast. Wonderful!!!
We had stories about growing up in Winton or what we did in the summer-time.
For the March / April issue I asked several people to write about their memories of Winton school. Should get some interesting stories out of that topic.
I'm hoping to also get more stories of working in the fruit harvest in the hot summers of Winton.
We have a little more than 160 members and the newsletters are mailed to Oregon, Idaho, Illinois, Arkansas, Washington, Texas, Iowa, Mississippi, Colorado, Alabama, Missouri, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Canada and numerous towns in California. That's quite impressive, considering we are just a small group who meets the first Tuesday of each month in Winton. I think we average 10 to 15 people attending our meetings.
It's a good group of friendly people and it is enjoyable to get together once a month. We welcome others with an interest in Winton history to join us.
We meet at 1:30 in the CLEO (Community Law Enforcement Office) on Winton Way.
Dues to join the Winton Historical Society is $10.00 per year, which includes 6 newsletters per year, mailed every other month with memories of by-gone days of Winton. Our mailing address is: WHS, PO box 554, Winton, CA 95388.