Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Facebook will often bring back a post from years past and ask if you want to share it again. This one popped up from 4 years ago and I look back and remember that I gave a lot of my crafting supplies to the grandkids and my DIL. Have not missed them one whit.

May 16, 2014 · 

Words of wisdom from Dan Galvin’s TFTD: “If you keep anything long enough, you can throw it away.”

My thoughts on this at that time — As I sort through all of my paper crafting supplies for things to pass down to my grand-kids, his words surely ring true for me.

It’s an overcast day today and I’m a bit sore and tired from yesterday’s events, so will make this post a short one and wish you all blessings. Be safe, be well, and be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them. One final word — a friend sent me an article on chronic pain that had 17 tips on living with any chronic health problem. The 17th one resonated with me — “17. When all else fails, go to bed!”

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Thursday, May 10, 2018

I love how neat my fabric stash is now that I’ve gone through everything. It took me the better part of a week to clear it out, sort and refold the fabrics. As I went through everything, I set some fabrics aside to donate. I folded the pieces of fabric that were the size of a fat quarter (11″x22″) and stored them by color in plastic bins.

A recent blurb in a quilting blog suggested that fabric scraps could be rolled into color-sorted rolls. I need to begin to sort and roll my fabrtic strips!

Be safe, be well, and please be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Some of our new plants have fared better than others. I plucked a few of the double blooms of this little plant to share with our departing guests who have been visiting for the past couple of days. Luis and Rosa were our neighbors when we lived in San Diego and we’ve been friends for over 30 years.  Rosa wanted to press some of our California Poppies that are in bloom all over the place and I felt that a bit of blue to go with the orange would be nice. Our other neighbor/friends, Larry and Anita, were here about a week and a half ago. It’s so nice to be able to see long-time friends. They love our view just as much as we do.

This is a photo of our Armeria.  It’s a very hardy, flowering plant that we had great success with on our layout in San Diego. When I saw it at the nursery, I picked up a six-pack of it and every single plant has not only survived, but thrived! I love its beautiful pink blooms. They remind me of Dr. Seuss’ book, “Horton Hears a Who”. That tiny pink puffball of a flower that Horton carries around with his trunk is just what this Armeria looks like. Such a cute plant.  See more photos here:

http://www.costafarms.com/plants/armeria

I took photos of the plants I’ve put in the layout over the past day or so and uploaded them to the FaceBook page for the Sunset Pacific Ry.  If you have a moment, please check out the FaceBook page.

Not much going on for the rest of this week. I have cookies to bake to satisfy a promise I made to a fellow railfan, and I have aprons to sew for the Depot gift shop. I made an apron and took it in on Sunday. It sold in the next 10 minutes. I neglected to take a picture of it so can’t show you how cute it was. I will try to do better in the future.

Be safe, be well, and please be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them.

 

Friday, May 4, 2018

This is as close as I can come to a visual of “April showers bring May flowers”. Aren’t they gorgeous? I have three packets of seeds to plant in the back yard. Two of them, (one White Asyllum and one Mother of Thyme) will go into the layout and the third one (Blue Morning Glory) will be planted up next to the fence.

Photos of Mother of Thyme and Morning Glories are from Park Seed Co., where I buy the majority of my seeds.

Enjoy the signs of Spring. Be safe, be well and please be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them.

 

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

 Hard to believe it’s already Wednesday. I was out watering the plants on the railroad earlier this afternoon and remembered I needed to get the rest of the plants I had out front planted in the layout. A quick trip upstairs and I returned with half a dozen pots. I still have that many (or more) left to be put in the layout.

I decided to put the new plants in the Southeast part of the layout. I’m hoping they take and do well with the partial sun they’ll receive.

Robert called down to me as I was finishing up smoothing the soil around the newly planted plants, asking me if I wanted to go with him to get a truckload of garden soil. Translation: Ride along and when we get to the store, pay for whatever he wants to buy! No biggie. We got our 3/4 yard (one truck bed full) of top soil and headed back home. A stop at the mail box was in order and we found that Paul had received a package. The only other mail was an electrical bill, which I could do without.

Nothing else to share so will closer this with blessings. Remember to tell those you love that you love them. Be safe, be well, and please be happy!

Monday, April 30, 2018

No more Amtrak trains for the forseeable future. It was nice seeing the trains come through. It would be so wonderful if they would actually make a stop here in Tehachapi. What a boon that would be for the town!

On to the pulmonary specialist visit. He’s Egyptian and though he had a bit of an accent, he was very nice and I liked him. I go back on the 25th for a pulmonary function test and then see him the following Monday (the 28th) to discuss the results of the test. He took my history and then said he thought my problem was Emphysema rather than Asthma … and, he added that Dr. Cribbs put Stage 2 Emphysema down as the suspected diagnosis. So much for thinking it was just an asthmatic cough … I told him it was like De ja Vue for the time when I found out I had Asthma. My regular dr. sent me to a Pulmonologist and when I went in to see the Pulmonologist, he asked me why I was there. I said I had this cough that I couldn’t shake. He said, “Well, some people with Asthma cough and some people wheeze — you cough.” I looked at him and said, “Who said anything about Asthma??” He said, “Don’t you know you have Asthma??” Fast forward to the present when I’m finding out second-hand that I have Emphysema. And 2nd stage at that! From what I can tell from looking at information on the internet, there are 4 stages to Emphysema and thankfully, I’m still in the lower end of the scale. I went online and looked up the symptoms for Emphysema and they dovetail with my complaints. Ah me. It is what it is. The dr. took me off the two inhalers I had been using and replaced them with one inhaler that has 2 medications in it. I’m to use it once per day at the same time each day. We shall see…

I finished the 10 table runners that I was making for the Depot volunteer appreciation dinner and delivered them to the Depot today.

They really turned out nice.

After watching that cow give birth a week or so ago, we’ve been keeping an eye on the grazing land across the way, looking for new little ones. I took a picture earlier this evening and I think there’s a couple more little ones running around.

Not much else to report so will close this with blessings to all. Be safe, be well, and please be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them.

Friday, April 27, 2018

Once again, a huge thank you to the next door neighbor for putting in a rail camera and hooking it up to YouTube. We had Amtrak train #11 detour through the Tehachapi Pass this afternoon and I was able to capture it on my camera, standing on our deck, and once it went by, I went to the Tehachapi Live Train Cam West Cable site and took a screen shot of it as it passed by the Rail Cam.

 I had promised fresh baked Banana Bread to MB’s mother, who is also a moderator on the rail cam site, so I made Banana Bread this afternoon and took it over. His parents were there and I realized that I couldn’t remember her name. I think my memory is failing a lot more than I think it is. I think old age has found me…

My sewing skills are still sharp, even if my memory isn’t. I finished 10 table runners for the Tehachapi Depot Railroad Museum’s Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, which will be held on May 15th.

Five are black & white with sunflowers and five are red & white with sunflowers. I made the leaves from fabric. No decision has been made yet, but I’d like to see them given away as prizes. We shall see.

About two months ago I came down with what I believed was that horrendous flu that everyone was getting. I was left with a nagging cough and congestion in my throat. I was forever clearing my throat and it just never got any better. So off to the dr. I went. She did a pulmonary breathing test and decided I needed to see a Pulmonary Specialist. So off it went to Bakersfield yesterday. And, in a Deja Vu moment, reminiscent of when I was diagnosed with Asthma, I was told I had Stage 2 Emphysema.

Back in the late 80’s, I worked for a utility company. My boss and a coworker smoked (I had quit long before now) and I eventually developed a severe allergy to second hand tobacco smoke. Every time I was exposed to tobacco smoke, I came down with a respiratory infection. I went out on sick leave when the infection turned into bronchitis and laryngitis. Eventually, I had to see a Pulmonary Specialist because I just couldn’t shake the cough. When the Pulmonologist first came into the exam room, he greeted me with, “What brings you in?” I told him I had a cough that wouldn’t go away. He replied with, “Well, some people with Asthma cough and some people wheeze. You cough.” I replied, “Who said anything about Asthma?” To which the dr. said, “Didn’t your doctor tell you that you had Asthma?” Noooo, they didn’t.

Fast forward to today — when I last saw my current dr., all I heard her say was that she thought I had “…the beginnings of Emphysema.” The Pulmonary Dr. clarified that to be Stage 2 Emphysema. There are four stages to the disease. He asked if I ever smoked tobacco. I said, yes, years ago–I smoked less than a pack a day off and on for about 5 years. I quit in 1973–45 years ago. But I’ve had allergies for years that caused recurrent respiratory infections which almost always evolved into Bronchitis and Laryngitis. The Asthma and Chronic Bronchitis have now evolved into Emphysema. I’m on a different inhaler now, and although I don’t care for it (contrary to the prescribing information I CAN taste the medication when I inhale it, and it doesn’t taste good!) But, that said, I think it may be working better than my two previous inhalers.

That’s all the news that is the news for now. Be safe, be well, and please be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them. Know that you are loved in turn … take good care of yourself — you are important to so many people — not just the ones who know you now, but those who have yet to come into your life. Blessings to you…