random thoughts

everyone is waiting for tiger to resume his game. no exception here except that this is the golfer we're anxious to see.

wire kitchen baskets can be an effective storage solution in the corner of a closet.


tim was home with the flu thursday night through saturday. thankfully it looks like i'll dodge this one.
his normal course - chills, fever, delerium - was augmented by the standard symtoms that most of us associate with flu. he was miserable. and today he's on his feet washing sheets, spraying surfaces, looking into nooks and crannies whose existence he'd forgotten. i'm just trying to stay out of his way....

at what age do less than classically handsome men become so easy on the eye? i'll just name 3: donald sutherland, michael caine and tony bennett who have become - if not handsome - certainly distinguished looking men.

i spent friday chasing around central nebraska. i had a delightful couple hours to myself in hobby lobby in kearney looking for table decorations and accents for the garden club convention in april. and then we switch to the scene from the music man where the old biddies do their pick a little number at a meeting not in river city but in lexington as we tried to discuss the table decorations for the....

i recently bought my first red lipstick. i enjoy wearing it.

valentines day

lest you wonder if valentines day went unmarked at our house this year - of course not!!
tim and i have settled into a pleasant rhythm for february. he decries the forced sentimentalism and commercial expectations created by slick marketing execs and i deluge him with small, relentless reminders of the inevitable. works for us. we both know there's no pressure - an annual ritual that we play out with good will and fun. i will say that tim is a pretty thoughtful partner all through the year and i agree with him that pressure placed upon husbands, lovers, boyfriends leading up to this ultimate declaration of love is unfair. i will further add that i've scored some pretty sweet gifts over the years. this year was no exception but that story will wait.

tim 'suffered' through a variety of cards sent both to his office and home, there were m&ms and assorted sweets/nuts and these shortbread which were divine:
1 1/2 c flour
1 c unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 c cornstarch
1/2 c powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla - optional
cut together. roll to an even thickness ~1/4 inch and cut out. chill on baking sheet about 15 minutes before baking in a 350* oven for 8-12 minutes depending on how thick you rolled them. sprinkle with sugar before baking.
i baked them as a whole sheet (piercing with a fork to avoid bubbles) and cut the hearts just after they came out of the oven. (closer to 15 minutes)

he also got a chef's knife which he skillfully used to prepare 2 delicious chicken dishes that night.


when tim realized that i wasn't leaving he changed his plans (he was supposed to tape a friend's basement) so we could hang out together. we went to get the oil changed and he said his idea was to get a bag for my computer(which he had given me for christmas). i told him i had one but if he could find something better i'd be happy to let him upgrade me. and then i remembered something and made a proposal. he has a vintage, leather attache case that i found in a thrift store on a visit with naphtali. i love that bag and had tried my laptop in it after christmas, adjusted the straps, looked in the mirror...

so there in the middle of the store we shook hands and made the transfer of ownershop official. (his staff had given him a laptop/briefcase for christmas the previous year so he's covered.) i'm happy, he's off pretty easy, we could call it done and go home......

but our outing wasn't finished. i also came home with 2 cds - a tony bennet and a collection of 'classic' love songs - and a wireless printer. we had a fun day just wandering around, ate well, took a walk this morning. a good weekend.

change of plans

i have been looking forward to a girl trip this weekend. one sister, valerie, is combining business with a quick visit in fort dodge. naphtali, aidan and i were going to have a slumber party at the other sister's (andrea) on friday night and join valerie at mother's in fort dodge on saturday. i was thinking hobby lobby, spinach dip etc and was packed and ready to make the 7 hour drive on friday morning.

we had a snow storm.
i shoveled about 6-8 inches yesterday. reports are that everyone else made it and is having a good time.
the up side to having your plans ruined by a snow storm is that now you have a snow day which in my book means free, unaccounted-for time of my own. multiplied by the i-wasn't-even-supposed-to-be-here exponent and there should be no question of productive, run-of-the-mill tasks. no laundry. no cleaning. leave the bed unmade...

read. lounge. nap. those were my plans as i sent tim off to work yesterday.
he called me 3 times during the day. i was asked to write out the bills and get them in the mail. i made (a very good) chicken rice soup. i called andrea, my mom and naphtali to fill them in on the latest. and marg to cancel the plans for taking care of charlie at noon. there was no nap. i shoveled.
i had a harry bosch home for the day and barely finished 2 chapters.
today is off to a much better start, an earlier start than i would have liked, but better.

finishing touches

one last look.
we worked hard, had some fun and slept well that night.

here is dawson doing his part.

we all oohed and ahhed at how pretty the wood was.

oh - and happy valentine's day!!

the tale continues

this nifty cart had been used at the nursing home to move rolls of carpet. maybe we should submit this to real simple's new uses for old things? it really made the job go easier.

tj and cameron taking a well deserved break. these 'stumps' were later cut down and left pretty much intact for milling.

as mentioned previously access was an issue as the trees sat in the middle of the yards. what couldn't be carried was carted or rolled to the nearest gate to be loaded on the trailer. timk made 5? 6? trips to the dump with the stuff too small for firewood. he used a tractor to lift the big ones over the fence and then down the alley to the trailer.





speaking as someone who has trouble backing out of my driveway it was fascinating to watch timk maneuver the loaded tractor through the tight turn and down the alley.

quite a day!!

my main regret with the following pictures is that it is impossible to really give you the scale of what happened here on friday. it was simply a big job. big trees, big piles of limbs (thankfully, all tree limbs) BIG piles of limbs! no one was hurt. none of the surrounding structures were damaged. everyone played nice. it was a perfect day hitting the mid 60s in the afternoon with little or no wind. and i hope no one minds me saying this about a day of hard work but it was a fun day with plenty of good natured banter and laughter.
tim keiser, his son tj, daughter jayde, cameron frazho, pat larson and tim were the main crew. jill ostergard (pat's sister)and her 6 year old grandson, dawson, came by just to check things over and dawson wanted to help so they spent a good part of their day with us also. there will be pictures of dawson later - he was a good worker!! you won't see me in the pictures but i was part of the clean-up crew.

the power lines to both our house and our neighbor's ran through the trees so timk had contacted the city asking if they would lower the lines giving us (i say 'us' meaning the guys)(pronouns are going to be a bit casual throughout this report) one less thing to worry about. (you can see a good picture of tim and the power lines in the previous post - just scroll down)

we got started around 8:30 with the city guys lowering the power lines, which we had expected them to do. they also used the cherry picker to cut the top of the biggest tree - which was unexpected and very much appreciated.


this probably gives the best idea of just what those trees looked like. access was another factor- both yards are fenced with standard size entry gates.


this is the first branch down, courtesy of jason anderson in the bucket.
check back tomorrow for another installment.

acrobatic precision

mention the word chainsaw around our family and 2 names will come to mind: craig stover and bryan gates. singular men, both strong in faith and loyal in friendship. last week we added a new name - tim keiser.

there were 3 walnut trees that straddle our property line and with some prompting from our neighbor we looked for someone to take them down.

tim with his son and a friend showed up last week and took out the smallest tree. they will burn some of the wood and hope to sell some of it for milling. tomorrow they return to tackle the other 2. the city will have to drop electrical and cable lines to both houses. tim (my tim) will take the day off to lend a hand.

i have a meeting in the morning but will plan to get some new photos of the operation.

happy birthday

and the celebrations just keep rolling at the jordison's this weekend!! i'm not sure if this puts jacob in a new demographic group but this should be 26 for him. hope your day is memorable and your friends close!!