The Daily Grind

I did not drink coffee until I retired. Yeah, it just doesn't make sense! But, I had tried it when I was young and it didn't appeal to me. Then, when Starbucks overtook the east coast, my family would occasionally stop in, and what's a girl to do? I'd have some sort of sugary, creamy, fattening concoction. I discovered I like coffee flavored milk and cream, with sugar! And so, my journey with coffee began.

A few years ago, I came into my Dentist's office for a routine visit and the receptionist offered me coffee. She took me over to their Keurig machine and I was smitten. What fun! I wanted a single cup coffee brewer, too. Just think, I could have flavored coffee on any given morning. My hubby could have bold coffee. I could change my mind and have a light roast. He could start with a morning blend and then have a cup of something a bit stronger. What fun! So, a not-so-gentle hint was dropped near Mother's Day and my family, being the wonderful people they are, delivered. (Hmmm, could it be they also recognize the old adage, "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"?)

Yesterday my Keurig stopped brewing. It was a sad, sad morning, at least for my hubby. Having risen first, I did get a cup in before the machine went on hiatus. We tried all manner of things. We turned it off. We turned it on. It would tell us it was brewing, but we didn't hear any water being pumped and nothing was coming out. We unplugged it. We plugged it back in. We turned it on. Again, it would tell us it was brewing when it wasn't. It was lying to us! So, what's a girl to do? Get on the Internet. Check out the manuals. Look for troubleshooting guides. The FAQ didn't have my question. It didn't have my answer. So, as suggested in the Keurig literature, I called Customer Service. After only 3 menus the phone was answered quite promptly by a girl with a lovely accent (insert eye rolls here). Is it just me? I have trouble understanding some foreign accents. But we proceeded. She asked a few questions then walked me step by step through the process of cleaning the needles of our machine. Literally. She went with me on my quest for a paperclip. She helped me scrounge through the drawer to find the measuring cup. She waited, oh so patiently, while I performed minor surgical procedures on the machine's needles, plugged the machine back in, turned it on, waited for it to be 'ready' and then she waited while it spewed a cup of water. She stayed on the line insisting that I run three more cups of water through the machine. It worked! Well, it worked, that is, until we hung up. Then, the first time hubby tried to brew a real cup of coffee, it failed to perform. I went back to work with the needles and eventually he did get his coffee.

But, I wasn't done. Since we obviously were having some sort of blockage (oh, and you don't want to know what those first cups of water looked like after the voice on the phone helped me unclog the needles) it seemed advisable to descale the coffee maker. Off we went to the store to buy large quantities of vinegar. The Keurig site has helpful videos that show just how to do this. They are cute. The have numbered little coffee mugs to show you how many steps it will take to perform whatever process you are considering. They have a little clock feature that shows you the time it will take to perform your magic. So, I emptied the water tank - Step 1. I poured 30 ounces of vinegar in the water tank - Step 2. I ran the vinegar through the system by 'brewing' cups of vinegar - Step 3. Yes, it smelled perfect for the day before Easter. I should have recycled that vinegar by coloring some eggs! Darn! Missed opportunity! The vinegar percolated for four hours, then I began running water through the system. I ran more water through the system. And more.

So, on this beautiful Easter morning everything is right with the world. I have a coffee machine that is working. I am writing a blog post for my friends, sipping my morning coffee, which has only a slight overtone of .... vinegar!

Happy Easter to all of you. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Easter Haffies' Hallmark Moment

Easter Haflingers are on their way,

Pulling the heavy Easter sleigh

Full of eggs and treats galore.

You thought cute little bunnies did this chore?


I hope you and your family have a 
wonderful Easter!

This week's Saturday Centus challenge was to use 25 words to create the innards for a greeting card. I think we were to use Jenny's illustration... but I couldn't resist... I had to bend the rules a bit! 

To read other responses to the challenge, visit Jenny Matlock's ... off on my tangent blog. 

D'ya Think She'll Notice?

Pssst....Doc.

What is it, Pippin?
I'm trying to sleep.

Look...there's your dinner.
Our Mrs. Owner left it outside the stall.
That really wasn't nice of her to
take your food away on account of
you being a little late to come in to the barn.

I have to admit I didn't like that...

But the green grass was soooo good.
It was almost worth missing dinner! 

Ya know, if I stretch my neck..

and my lips...

I just might be able to reach the food.

My neck is longer than yours.

Let me try.

Maybe it'll help if I push you from behind.

A--al--al--almost got it.

Push a little harder.

Uh oh.

Got it!

D'ya think she'll notice?

Ya gotta love drafty horses!

If it doesn't move ...

push a little harder!

The boys bent the plywood and metal door to the stall.
They bent the latch that holds the door closed.
They escaped!
Apparently they enjoyed the feed
and a night 'out on the town'....
well, a night out in the yard (with lots of green grass!)
They left some fertilizer and footprints behind.
The escapees were apprehended and returned
to their cells stalls in the morning. 

Look what came in from the cold....

The barn manager at the therapeutic riding center
is now a surrogate mom. 

Charli was born too early.  

Her first-time mom had no milk 

and the other cow with a calf wouldn't accept another. 

So, what's a wonderful working gal to do? 

Well, perhaps it is bring a calf to work day!

 

I haven't had a chance to be this close

to a calf in a looonngggg time!

And now... let's chat!

It's time for Chats on the Farmhouse Porch.

Patrice has provided some questions for us....

1. What was the first sign of spring that you saw this year?

    The very first thing that I noticed was a tuft of green grass growing by the barn. The next thing that told me spring was indeed on it's way was seeing the subtle change of color in the bark of some trees. The snow we had yesterday has kinda dampened my spring spirit, but luckily it didn't get too terribly cold, so hopefully all the budding trees and flowers will all be OK, and actually benefit from the moisture!

2. What was the last package you received in the mail?

   This one is thrilling.... are you ready? Will you be able to handle the excitement? I got the tax documents from the accountant for a small trust that I manage for my father. That was too much excitement for me! But, the package before that was a bit more exciting.... my new bra came! I finally went bra shopping last week. I wanted a racer-back bra so the straps don't fall down - that always happens when I'm riding and it is very annoying. The store didn't have my size in the color I wanted, so one was ordered and shipped directly to me. Hooray! Happy girls!

3. Do you have any Easter, or spring traditions in your home?

Now that the boys are living away from home we don't do much for Easter. In fact, I have some Easter decorations that are still in boxes in the basement! When the boys were little the EB would hide their baskets and leave puzzles or clues for them to follow to find them. We would sometimes have a family Easter egg hunt or one in the neighborhood. My favorite hunt was the year that my oldest was 2 1/2. Once we were ready I went outside to hide the Easter eggs we had decorated and colored. I went out the front, traveled around the yard hiding eggs in appropriate places for a toddler, i.e., easy to find. I came in the back door and hubby and I came out with our son and his basket to find the eggs. The only problem was that my sweet little boy couldn't find the eggs I had just hidden. They weren't there! As we followed the path I had taken the mystery was solved. Evidently our Golden Retriever had followed me, and there he was happily scarfing down one of the last eggs I had hidden!

4. Do you hand wash or machine wash dishes?

  Since we moved into our house in July I think we have run the dishwasher about 6 times! With just the two of us it is so much easier to wash the dishes by hand. I will admit that hubby does most of the dish washing - a habit he has recently acquired! That's the type of habit I like!

5. If I had an extra hour each day I would..... I would....... I would..... I'm not sure! There are so many things I would like to do and somehow never find the time for, that I can't pick just one. It would kinda be like taking a kid to a candy store with all kinds of candies, and having him pick just one!

To join in the chat, or just to read other responses, visit Everyday Rurality and click on the links to other blogs.

This to That

From this:

To that:

81 degrees on Sunday; 29 degrees today!

Yay! Colorado!

(If I posted this on April 1, everyone would think it was a joke!)

100

One hundred. 

It's a great number. 

The word comes from Old English 'hundred', which in turn came from Proto-Germanic 'hundaradan'. And, someplace I read that 'hundaradan' means 'counting of one hundred'. 


100 is a milestone. When my children learned to count, reaching 100 was cause for celebration. 100, uttered with finality and a huge, proud sigh!


My boys' teachers used to celebrate the 100th day of school by encouraging the students to bring in 100 things. We used to have such fun finding unusual items to count and carry to school. One year it was drops of water. Another time we took in 100 pine cones - I liked that one... it got them off my lawn! 


As a teacher 100 could be a grade, too. As a student I loved to have a paper come back with 100 on it... in red! 


According to Wikipedia, 100 is:

• the sum of the first nine prime numbers, as well as the sum of four pairs of prime numbers (47 + 53, 17 + 83, 3 + 97, 41 + 59), and the sum of the cubes of the first four integers (100 = 1³ + 2³ + 3³ + 4³). Also, 2⁶ + 6² = 100.
• the number of yards in a football field
• the exact number of prime numbers whose digits are in strictly ascending order. (e.g. 239, 2357 etc.)
• the number of tiles in a standard Scrabble set in most languages.
• the number of US Senators.
• the number of blessings a religious Jew is supposed to utter each day.
• the title of a war fought between the Kingdoms of France and England between 1337 and 1453.... a bit more than 100 years!
• the minimum distance in yards for a Par 3 gold course.
• how many acres the woods were for Winnie the Pooh.
• hekaton in Greek and tien ten in Old English.
• the number of bottles on the wall in the song we used to sing as kids.

My father hopes to celebrate his 100th birthday! I hope so, too!

I have my 100th follower! That's another milestone!

Welcome to Kim. She writes "Millie's Mats". Kim and I have rug hooking in common. We also have a parent with Alzheimer's in common. I'm so glad you are following along!

What does 100 mean to you?

Things That Go Bump in the Night

Despite the fact that I am very visual and tactile-kinesthetic when it comes to learning ....sounds can drive me insane. The tapping of a pencil. The loud tick of a clock. A squeak in a fan. A rattle in our car. 

Argghhhhh!

source

A few nights ago, while we were watching TV, I heard an intermittent gentle thump. "There? Did you hear it?" I asked my hubby.
"What?"
"That bump. Shhh. There! That sound."
"What sound? I didn't hear anything."
So I went on a sound hunt and hubby, thinking I was losing my marbles, went back to watching TV.
I went down in the basement. Sometimes our water tank gurgles. Maybe that was what I was hearing. I sat on the steps. I waited. Nothing. I couldn't hear the sound.
I came back to the living room. I waited. There. I heard the noise again. Tucker heard the noise. He went to the front door. So I followed. I went into the foyer. Yes. There was the sound. But it wasn't that much louder. Perhaps upstairs. Bump. The sound, again. But was it any louder? Where was it coming from? Outside? I came downstairs and went out on the front porch. I didn't hear the sound. Finally, I had to give up and I went to bed. I tried not to hear the sound. Good luck with that! I decided that it must be the screen on the French door in our bedroom. Tap, tap, tapping... while I nodded, nearly napping. `'Tis just the screen,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.'
I finally drifted off to sleep.

Almost a week later the sound returned. Thump. Bump. Tucker and I looked at each other. I began to prowl around the house, ferreting out the origin of the noise. Downstairs. Upstairs. A little louder there. Outside... not so loud. But wait, it sounds like thin metal. Perhaps aluminum. I stepped off the stairs to examine the gutters and downspouts. The wind had picked up. Perhaps we had a loose section of downspout that was occasionally being blown into something. Nice try. Nothing. I heard the sound again. Definitely metallic. I stepped back further and examined the roof. And finally...ta daaaa! There it was.

A piece of flashing had pulled out from under the edge of the roof of a dormer. It was caught on one end and the wind was occasionally blowing it, where it would thump against the roof, making the bumping noise that had been plaguing me. I climbed out the dormer window, retrieved the culprit and finally was able to have peace reign. You don't take me for an April fool, do you?