Back to Blogging

I have been very negligent in blogging. I have no excuse, just laziness. I am challenging myself by signing up for the NaBloPoMo, which stands for National Blog Posting Month. The rule is you blog every Monday through Friday for a given month. I’m starting the October challenge so beginning tomorrow my hope is to blog every day, including the weekends. I can’t find as much information on this challenge as I’d liked. One source I found lists prompts for October. The prompts don’t fit in with the purpose of my blog.

To illustrate what I mean, here are the prompts for the first week:

• Monday, October 1, 2012
  When you saw the word mask, was your first interpretation protection, covering up, persona, or performance?
• Tuesday, October 2, 2012
  Are you good at hiding your feelings or is your face an open book?
• Wednesday, October 3, 2012
  Do you enjoy acting?
• Thursday, October 4, 2012
  How good are you at telling a lie?
• Friday, October 5, 2012
  Do you tend to cover up your failings or admit your mistakes?
• Monday, October 8, 2012
  If you had the superpower to know what everyone was thinking (but not saying) would you use it?

So, wish we luck.

To update one event while I wasn’t blogging. My 4 y.o. tortoise shell kitty Clare became very ill the last week of July. I don’t want to go into everything we went through, it was very traumatic. The cause of her death was two-fold. She had a condition of her spleen we didn’t know about, it was destroying her red blood cells. Her hemoglobin was 4, incompatible with living more than a few days. In addition it appears she ingested a tylenol I’d dropped, as her liver went into failure. The damage the vet saw on her autopsy was consistent with tylenol ingestion. Had her spleen been functioning she might have survived but the two together was too much for sweet Clare to tolerate. I miss her a lot.

Two weeks later I was at the vets with Clare’s litter mate, just for a well cat check and immunizations. A feral kitty had been brought in and the vet needed to find a home. So, he now has a home. His name is Cork, after County Cork in Ireland. He also has brownish ears that look like corks. He’s a very sweet kitty.

Cork, feral once, now part of the family

Mystery House Number One

When you drive by abandoned houses do you ever wonder what stories the house could tell? Maybe I’m just weird but I always wonder about who lived in the house over the years. Who had it built? Who was the last family to live there and why did they leave? Every abandoned house has a story, in fact, has many stories. I am going to try and learn, in the words of Paul Harvey, the rest of the story about abandoned houses I come across. 

This is house number one. If you are driving east on Highway 64 in Wisconsin this house is on your left, a few hundred feet into Chippewa County. I’m guessing it has been at least 25 years since anyone has lived in the house. There are a few out buildings and a large barn. The barn is in fairly good shape. I think it might be being used to store hay. There are tire tracks in the driveway.

I will be trying to find out more of this house’s history by visiting the Chippewa County Historical Society and the county surveyor’s records. When I learn more I will post the rest of the story.

There is an abandoned house in southern MN near the IA border I want to learn more about. It’s on Highway 52. It will be mystery house number two. I’ll post it next month. I hope to do one house per month.

As viewed from Highway 64 West

As viewed from Highway 64 East

The front of the house

The side of the house

From Google Maps

Tomahawk Pow Wow Days: 4th of July Parade

Tomahawk always has a big 4th of July parade, one of the largest in the state. This year’s seemed smaller, possibly because the 4th this year was in the middle of the week. There definitely seemed to be fewer parade watchers this year. It was a great parade. It was a very, very hot day. I felt sorry for the various bands who marched. Here are some photos of the parade. To see more photos go to the Tomahawk Main Street page on Facebook.

The empty wheelchair represents those veterans who have died

Tomahawk High School Alumni float

This group comes every year from Janesville, WI

Any parade in WI has to include the Packers

This was most welcomed by the dogs who attended the parade

A Toothache

When I moved here a month ago my plan was to keep the same dentist in St. Paul since I just need cleanings every 6 months. I like my dentist there and didn't want to find a new dentist. I'm continuing with my oncologist, primary care physician, ENT, GI doc, and pulmonologist in St. Paul  so I figured I'd keep my dentist too.

But last week, when I got a mail reminder about my July dental appointment, I decided no, I don't want to drive 220 miles each way to see the dentist. The dentist I had when I lived here in the 80's is still in practice and I like him. I planned to call after the 4th for an appointment to get my teeth cleaned.

Then Sunday I started getting a toothache. It has gotten progressively worse and, of course, trying to sleep is difficult because when I lie down the throbbing gets worse. I called my old/now new dentist's office and left a message, hopefully he can see me today (Monday).

My younger son Alex and his 5 y.o. son are here for the week, with his wife and 2 y.o. son coming over on Tuesday. They are staying at my former husband's place. We are all looking forward to fun activities all week with them and my daughter's girls. So I really don't want to be going through this right now. Compared to what some of my ocular melanoma friends are going through this week, with liver metastasis just diagnosed, this is pretty insignificant. I will keep that thought in mind and try not to complain too much.

Tomahawk River Walk

The Tomahawk River Walk is a short walking path between North Fourth Street at Memorial Park to the public library. It follows the river. It is only a half mile long. I get on it at the library and walk to Memorial Park. It goes under the bridge on 4th Street, which is nice. In the summer it can be difficult to cross the street from Memorial Park to the Dairy Queen across the street. I don’t like Dairy Queen so it presents no temptation to me. Here are some photos taken along the walk.

A view of the 4th Street Bridge, and Tomahawk water tower

Fishing the Wisconsin River

Evening Walks in Tomahawk

I’ve been able to take walks most evenings since moving to Tomahawk. I am one of those people who always carries a camera. You never know if you are going to see something you want to take a photo of.  I’m happy we now have digital photography. This allows users to delete the bad photos, unlike the past when we had to pay for all photos developed, even the bad ones. Here are some photos I took on a recent walk.

A cat with a Charlie Chaplin mustache

A blue dragon fly

Can you see the 4 leaf clover? I'm always finding 4 leaf clovers.  Still haven't won the lottery though.

An Old Wringer Washer

Do you remember wringer washing machines?  I sure do. Ours was in the cellar of our house in Cassadaga. Doing the laundry was an all day affair. You had to be very careful not to get your arm caught in the wringer or you could end up with a major injury. Supposedly the newer wringers have an automatic release. As a student nurse I saw a couple of kids who had wringer injuries. My former husband’s great aunt used a wringer until the day she died in the mid 1970’s. She got a terrible wringer injury to her arm not too long before she died. We had encouraged her to get an automatic washer but she was having none of that new fangled stuff in her house. I’m guessing there might have been accidents too where hair got caught in the wringer. The Amish still use wringer washers. Maytag quit making them in 1983 but they last forever so can still be found for sale. There are companies, or at least one, that still makes wringers but they are made out of the country. The one source I found has wringers made in Saudia Arabia. I’ll pass, thank you just the same. 

http://countrylife.lehmans.com/2009/05/14/wringer-washer/

The reason I’m writing about wringers is because the other night I saw this cool thing you can do if you happen to have an old wringer washer.