Someone Lied About Buckeye Lake

We've lived out by Buckeye Lake for over 8 years now. We're newbies compared to most out here, but, we love the lifestyle. We love the "resort" atmosphere here year round. We don't have a boat, which definitely puts us in the minority, but we have a golf cart, which puts us in the majority!

This time of year is when Fairfield Beach and the whole of Buckeye Lake shines. The boats get uncovered, the fire pits start flaming and golf carts, motorcycles, 4 wheelers and legs become the mode of transportation. There isn't a night of the week where you won't see a bonfire and people gathering.

Oh, how things have changed.

The longtime residents noticed that the lake spillway was still open. It's opened in November to lower the lake to "winter pool" level for dock maintenance and is closed on March 1st to allow the snow melt and spring rain to fill it back up. When it still hadn't been closed, more and more people started asking why. When the ODNR (Ohio Department of Natural Resources) couldn't hide anymore, they put out a report from the Army Corps of Engineers saying the 177 year old earthen damn was in imminent danger of failing. Evacuation plans were made and the risk of an 8 foot wall of water, muck & fish flooding the area was right around the corner! The engineers recommended the lake be drained but if it was kept at winter pool, it might be okay. They directed all their blame on the lakeside homeowners who had built their docks & decks into or atop the dam.

As the shock wore off, people started asking questions.... The engineers look every year at the dam, why is it going to fail now? Why blame the homeowners when the state is the one that hands out the permits?

Governor Kasich came out, listened to ODNR, the Corps & some politicians and said the lake was to remain at winter pool levels, no debate. He said they were going to build a brand new dam and clean all the debri from the lake. It would take 5 years.

Now here's the rub. Buckeye Lake is not at winter pool level. It's damn near empty! It may be 16" deep in the middle, maybe. This is winter pool.

Not this! Same place!!

There's been pushback to the ODNR & Governor Kasich. A lot of it. Just last month there was another inspection paid for by the CoC and done by Rizzo Associates, a firm out of Pittsburgh and they said that if an earthen dam fails, it does it in the first 5 years. They also said that closing the spillway but lowering it 18 inches would keep the lake at a safe level and save the ecological torture the lake is experiencing and would bring back at least some of the economy lost by the lack of tourists and fishermen w/their boats. BTW, the Rizzo group is the same group ODNR hired in 1997, w/basically the same recommendations.

Every bar and restaurant at Buckeye Lake has a dock for their customers. Their docks are all filled this time of year. These are the docks at the AMVETS Post today

This is how they all look. Papa Boos, Sailor Joes, The Buckeye Lake Yacht Club, The Copper Penny, Port Lounge and I'm sure I've missed others.

What it all boils down to is someone lied. ODNR or Kasich, someone lied. Buckeye Lake is not at winter pool level. This is not winter pool level.

And sadly, neither is this! This picture was taken by Aaron Parks and if you look closely, that's a 4-wheeler riding across the lake to an island house!!

The picture of the boats at the top of the blog was taken last spring. This is this spring.

Something's rotten in Buckeye Lake State Park.

Back To Five

When I first stated this blog the url was justthe3ofus. Then we got Petunia in 2010 & then there were 4. Well, my sister Shirley moved in with us last August and shortly afterwards she got a baby white rat, I mean Chihuahua named Pi. Now we are 6

Not too long after Shirley moved in, she ended up in the hospital & then rehab for her broken back, & we were in charge of Pi. Pi was a free spirit, loved exploring everywhere & listened to absolutely no one! I opened the side door & Pi ran out & into the front yard. I called for him & he ignored me. He went out into the street, all the while I'm yelling at him,and into the yard across the street he went.i turned around, walked towards the door, Pi decides to come back across the street...Dead Pi. Damn car just kept on going. I didn't recognize the car, haven't seen it since. Down to 5.

Sis got out of the hospital, we managed to survive the winter & for Christmas, my girls got Shirley a new white rat. This one is Lulu. Back to 6!!

This winter was a rough one for our GSP, Mocha. She's 15, losing bladder control & falling a lot. A month or so ago, she was standing on the area rug & her legs just gave out & she collapsed. We decided that it was time. May 4th she crossed the rainbow bridge & is now pain free & chasing squirrels like she did when she was healthy. It's not the same w/o her. All of us, including the dogs, still grieve over her absence.

Back to 5.

Wake Up Call

So I'm sitting on the couch late one night in early February, watching TV, when all of a sudden, my left arm drops. I mean a dead drop. I couldn't lift it, I couldn't move it, it was dead. I thought "uh oh, this isn't good"... Three minutes or so later, it's back. Cool! Wonder what that was.. Early the next week I told my Dr what happened & he took a listen to my right carotid artery. "Sounds good", he said. That Friday, Valentines Day, my daughter, grandkids & my grandson's girlfriend came out for dinner. I was sitting in the kitchen w/Patrick & his girlfriend Amber & my left hand fell asleep while I was eating. (I am left-handed) I told Patrick not to say anything to my daughter Erin about it because she would freak out..think I was having a stroke or something. (She had a stroke about 7 1/2yrs ago & still has problems)Mike knew my hand was numb & asleep, & I had convinced him & myself it was carpal or cubital tunnel. The next day, it hadn't gone away, in fact, it was worse & that's when I decided it was time to go to the ER to see what was going on.

When I was finally seen by a Doc & he did some neurological tests.."smile, stick out your tongue, touch each finger w/your thumb, etc", he concluded that I had had an "event" & he wanted to admit me for tests. SHIT! Diagnosis was TIA. I was there for 3 days and had every test known to man..CT, TEE, MRI which showed multiple small strokes, & finally and angiography which showed an 80% occlusion of my right carotid artery which was the reason for the stroke. They consulted a vascular surgeon & he said I needed to get that artery unclogged.

Dr Franz told me he'd have to wait 8 weeks after the stroke to do surgery. In the mean time, no salt, take my meds & try to stop smoking... About 3 weeks later I went to my Dr & when he saw me, he shook my hand & said "Congratulations on being here!" I was very lucky, it seems, VERY lucky. He was mortified that he missed the sound that a blocked carotid artery would make & wanted to listen again. Still, no abnormal sound. "This is a teachable moment for me," he said. "The next time I hear a story like yours & don't hear any abnormal sounds, that person is getting a Doppler! But, in your case, it wouldn't have been in time, you were in the hospital before one would have been done. Lucky, you were very lucky."

Dr Franz scheduled a stress test for me to make sure my heart would take the surgery. When that was deemed "normal", they then scheduled surgery. I was supposed to have it April 28. But, 3 days after they scheduled it, they called me back and said that Franz had a cancellation on Monday, the following Monday & would I want to have it then... I asked it this was an April Fools joke, & she said, nah, that's Tuesday. I talked w/Mike & we decided to just get it over with and do it. So, on March 31st, I had a carotid endarterectomy on my right carotid artery.

I went home the next day on 2 weeks rest w/no lifting or driving.

Two days later, I took off the gauze to take a shower and ten days after that, the steri-strips came off and all that was left was a big ass scar and tape goo that seemed to be destined to be there forever.

It's now the end of May, and after 2 follow ups, I'm doing well. Unlike before, I take my medicine everyday. I haven't quit smoking, but, I have cut it down from 2 packs a day to less than a pack. My first goal is a half pack a day. If I can do that..I can quit. I think the noncompliance w/my meds was my undoing. I was sporadic taking my blood pressure meds, & hadn't taken any high cholesterol medication for 2 years because every kind of medicine they prescribed, gave me cramps. Muscle cramps..curling toes, Charlie horses, stuck fingers, back cramps, you name it, I'd get them. Well, now I take my Lipitor religiously and just suck it up w/the cramping..Better cramps than becoming a veg.

I do have residuals. My left middle finger tip down to the top knuckle is dead, no feeling at all & my left thumb is tingly. Surgery residual is just numbness at the top of my neck and bottom of my chin on the right. I'll take it.

Petunia

Petunia is a flower

She also is my dog

She's every bit as pretty

But she eats like a hog

Since I've retired.......

It's been almost 9 months since I've retired.. Getting up before 8 ( and sometimes before 7) is the norm. I was never ever a morning person, but, damned if I'm not now! We make our morning run to TC Market (about 5 miles away) to see what's in the deli. If it's something good, it's our "brunch". After "brunch" settles in, a daily nap ensues. Maybe some cleaning or laundry happens after the nap....maybe. I've become a slug. If I'm not on the iPad or iPhone, I'm catching up on DVRd television. I'm just too busy to clean, let alone do laundry!

But, spring has sprung & summer is nearly upon us, and I woke up! We've given the front of the house some curb appeal! A clematis is the centerpiece of our little garden with succulents and dianthus scattered around. My beautiful dogwood croaked this past winter, so it had to come down.:-( And in its place, in order to continue to feed the hummingbirds that came every year to that tree, this is what we came up with! Finally, the part of the house under the bedroom window was pitiful, just plain pitiful..With the rest of the front of the house looking very cool, we had to fix that, too. This was harder to do. I had to actually paint!! I had several versions up, until I decided this was it! The Browns flamingos made it perfect!!

I forgot! Right after I got my retirement money, the first thing I wanted to do is have a deck built. My back yard is weird. You go UP into it! Then there's a gulley between the house & yard. So, we had the deck built to cover the gulley. In addition, we put a back door in to go from the kitchen onto the deck. I must admit, this is one of the best ideas I've ever had! I can let the dogs out from the house now and not have to go outside, open the gate, let them in the yard and wait for them to do their bidness, then back into the house. This back door is a Godsend!

Brunch has settled in...time for a nap.

We Are No Longer Free

What has happened to our country? Aside from the lies about Benghazi, we are now faced with first amendment rights being blatantly violated by this administration. First it's AP having records & phone calls seized by the DOJ, then we find Fox News' James Rosen was targeted. Look a little deeper and no, not just James Rosen, ALL of Fox News has had their lines tapped, e-mails read, & family members targeted. Oh yeah, then there's the IRS targeting and singling out groups filing for tax exempt status, because they have words like "Tea Party", "Patriot" or "Constitution" in their name. And they targeted GOP big money donors.

And the great thing about all of this is, nobody knows a thing. Eric Holder, Attorney General of the United States & head of the DOJ, recused himself from the AP/Fox/journalist mess, his Deputy did that investigation...Holder, he knows nothing. And the guy that was asked to step down from the IRS, the Acting head of the IRS, the guy whose term is up June,1, Steven Miller & the former head of the IRS, Douglas Shulman...Oh that was a couple of zealots in Cincinnati that did that.....Miller & Shulman, they know nothing. Just like Hillary didn't see anything come across her desk for more security for Benghazi...Hillary, she knew nothing. And of course, our President....He didn't hear about the IRS thing till he saw it on cable news...And the AP thing..he heard about that a couple of weeks ago. And Benghazi...he went to bed..

Aside from the fact that NO one seems to know ANYTHING, what this all boils down to is Chicago style, intimidation politics! We have a bunch of thugs running the government! You disagree with this bunch, your lines get tapped, your e-mails are read, your Tea Party organization is targeted & you and your business is audited. It's happening, it's already happened! All done to put the fear of Obama in you.

Would you want to donate money to a cause knowing you and/or your business might get audited because of that donation? It would seem that this is a real fear of some big money donors to conservative causes. A GOP bundler has reported that business people are afraid to write checks after they hear of fellow business people they know, being audited and/or having hit pieces published about them after they've donated. Besides targeting conservative groups/people, the IRS gave personal info on these people being targeted to a progressive political group, Pro-politica. They, in turn, released this info to newspapers, tv, progressive blogs, etc, where hit pieces were published about them. One big donor was audited, his business was audited x2, the ATF anti-terrorism unit visited his home and the mainstream media called him a "shady Romney, millionaire donor". Would you want to donate?

And the idea of journalists phone calls, emails & personal lives being scrutinized by the DOJ......No matter what your politics, this is just plain wrong. What happened to our First Amendment? Supposedly 20+ AP lines were monitored because they broke a story of a terrorist plot broken up, before Obama could go out there and claim another victory on terrorism, himself! James Rosen of Fox News is being named a co-conspirator because he spoke to a State Department whistleblower.. And Fox News was scrutinized because, well, they're Fox News. We all know how much the Obama administration loves Fox News.. Fox News & Rush, Obama's favorite whipping boy. Oh yeah, and Bush...

Intimidation, fear, bullying and don't get me started on voter fraud....All are the tools of Chicago style politics, and all are being utilized to the max, in the Obama (a Chicago guy himself, ya know) Administration.

Our Constitution is being ripped to shreds. Our freedoms, as Americans, are being taken away, one by one. With every new law, comes more infringement of the freedom that made this country the backbone of the world, and that "shining castle on the hill" that so many look to. We better wake up before it's too late. It may be, already.

Benghazi - A National Disgrace

It all started with a video, at least that's what the administration said. A bunch of Muslims pissed off at a video came to protest at our embassy in Libya. It just got out of control. Nothing to see here, sorry about those 4 Americans killed. That protest turned into a mob. That's what Susan Rice, Ambassador to the United Nations for the United States of America said 5 days later on all the Sunday morning news shows.

It had NOTHING to do with the fact that it was the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, it was "spontaneous". A "spontaneous" mob with RPG's. Ok, nothing to see here.

How long would it take for the administration to admit it was a terrorist attack? How long would it take for the administration to say that it was Al Queda? Both Clinton and Obama disgraced those dead men and their families in front of their coffins, by blaming the attack on that video. Two weeks later when President Obama addressed the United Nations, he was still apologizing for the video and never called the attack a terrorist attack!

It turns out that the administration knew all along that it was a terrorist attack, and why they never admitted it until just this last week, watch Obama's campaign commercials.."Bin Laden is dead and Al Queda is on it's heels". That's all he can run on is killing Bin Laden and killing Al Queda terrorists with his drones.(He sure can't run on how awesome the economy is).

Now, they're saying it was a terrorist attack, and tossing blame everywhere but in their own hands. First, the video, then the Libyans for letting it happen, then insiders inside the embassy that let the terrorists in.

Hillary Clinton has blood on her hands. Our embassies are under the umbrella of The Department of State and Hillary Clinton. All ambassadors report to her. The State Department had been sent 13 requests for more security for the Benghazi embassy, and they turned them down. One democrat blamed the republicans for denying funding for the State Department, trying to deflect blame away from the Secretary of State.

I don't know how high up this goes, I do know that Secretary Clinton is in charge and that puts the onus on her. I do know that there was a concerted effort to cover this whole mess up by the White House. Why else would press secretary Jay Carney say over and over again that a video was to blame and terrorism was not involved. Yesterday, he swore he never said that. Why else would Obama apologize for the video two weeks later, when they knew from day one that it was Al Queda. They watched the whole damn thing in real time!!

Today Stephanie Cutter a spokesperson for the Obama campaign, said that "Benghazi wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for Romney & Ryan". REALLY???? 4 men dead, our embassy destroyed, (embassies are considered AMERICAN SOIL)cover-up after cover-up with countless lies and it wouldn't be an issue except for Romney and Ryan??????????

This country has been attacked once again on our own soil by Al Queda and this administration has done everything it can to cover it up with the help of main stream media, until it just couldn't be hidden any longer just because it is a month away from the election.

This is my humble opinion: ANY one who would vote for this administration to stay in power is asking for the complete downfall of this country. The constant lies that come from this administration and broken promises will continue if President Obama is reelected. This reminds me so much of the Carter years. We were constantly attacked by foreign entities, and threatened by others. From hostages taken in Iran by Muslim extremists to Ambassadors being assassinated by Muslim terrorists, it's the late 70s all over again! (Including the lousy economy!)

They Think They Know What's Going On

I was having a conversation w/a voter tonight, and he told me that social media, blogs & you tube will eventually make "mainstream media" news obsolete. That may come some day, but, it's not there yet. There are still people that don't have a computer.

There are still people that don't have cable. Seniors, mostly. Seniors that live in the same farm house they've lived in for 40 yrs out in here in the boonies. They watch the noon news right after The Price Is Right, watch the local news and then the network news ABC, CBS or NBC in the evening and think they know what's going on.

They hear the news about Romney wanting to take their Medicare, and they believe it. Brian Williams said so.

They hear that the recession was Bushes fault because of the unfunded wars, the unfunded tax cuts and out of control spending and they believe it. Scott Pelley said so.

They don't know a thing about Solyndra. They never heard of Fast and Furious, they think the Tea Party is racist and Occupy Wallstreet is full of patriots. They heard that Rush Limbaugh said a poor college student afraid of not being able to pay for her contraception is a slut. But, no one told them she was a 30 yr old professional student and is a women's rights organizer w/ties to the Democrat Party. Diane Sawyer never said anything about that.

I've seen these people. I've seen them at the local market. They drive in once a week to get groceries in their 15 year old car w/their lined bifocals, walkers and hearing aids the size of cell phones. If they're here in rural Ohio, they're all over this country. That's a lot of misinformed people. And that scares the hell out of me. It scared me last election and it scares me even more, this election.

How do we get to these people? How do we tell them that their Medicare is safe if Romney is elected and The Affordable Healthcare Act is repealed? How do we tell them that when they need a pacemaker or a new hip, it will now be taxed, if they're allowed to even get that pacemaker or hip. How do we tell them that Obamacare will take over 700 billion dollars from Medicare to help pay for itself. Not from them directly, but from the hospitals that they go to. They will cut the reimbursements to hospitals for Medicare patients. That will affect their care, they'll go home sooner, because if they stay longer, Medicare won't pay. Some tests may not be done, because Medicare won't pay for them or pay at a reduced rate (more reduced than before) And that a lot of those hospitals and their doctors are considering not taking Medicare patients anymore because of this. I am a retired healthcare worker, I know of what I speak.

How do we get to these people? If you know someone like this, talk to them. Ask your friends if they know anyone like this and ask them to talk to them. These poor people think they know what's going on and they don't. Inform them, let them know.

Text for Matteo

This is for my grandson, Matteo. He just turned 4. He has severe Autism and has unlimited energy. And he's a runner. The Delaware County Sheriff's office has placed a gps monitor on his ankle so he can be found if he takes off. He's gotten out of the house several times because someone/anyone forgot to lock the 4 locks on the door to keep him in, and has covered 200 yards in the matter of minutes. He's nearly caused auto accidents from cars trying to avoid him running across a busy street near his home. There are bars on the windows of his home.

In the past year, he has improved by leaps and bounds. He talks now, and will actually look at someone and kind of engage in a conversation w/them. He still spins, has meltdowns, stays up all night, wrecks the house, and does anything he can to get out of the house to escape. The boy has no fear of anything. The county did provide a 6 ft privacy fence, so he can now go out in the back yard and play. He scanned that entire fence, trying to find a way out, and had such a look of frustration when he couldn't find any place. But, he enjoys the back yard, where he plays w/his brothers & sisters.

The above organization is helping Kelly raise the money to get Matteo a service dog. The service dog will help him interact more but what is more important, a service dog will protect him. If he takes off, the dog will stop him. The dog would be at his side 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Service dogs are expensive because they are being trained to do something specific for a specific individual. 13k is the cost. The organization that trains and gives the dogs homes has decided to match any funds Kelly raises to get him his dog. If Kelly can raise 8k, the organization Autism Service Dogs Of America will match it, and Matteo will begin the process of getting his own service dog. The extra money will provide the transportation cost for Kelly and Matteo to fly to Oregon for the training.

I'm asking that anyone who reads this, text the above number tomorrow August 22 and ask your friends to do the same. Times are hard for everyone these days, but, $5 isn't much if it helps the cutest kid on the planet!! (No bias here!) We're hoping that if we can get enough people to do this, Kelly can get the money needed a lot quicker.

Thank you.

So..

I guess my retirement came earlier than I first reported. THE boss called me yesterday and since I had requested vacation time for my last week of work, she gave me the rest of this week off as well. So, as of August 15, 2013....I am a retired person!!!

New Phase of Our Life Will Begin Soon

Before the month is gone, I will be retired. After almost 28 years of working for one company, I will say goodbye. I've worked at home for this company for the past 12 1/2 years. But, before that, I've watched and helped this organization change and grow.

We have gone from index cards and microfish to paperless medical records.

We have gone from one specified person taking a needed chart to the floor to the doctor being able to pull the chart up on a computer screen.

We have gone from doctors coming into a room to physically sign their charts and to dictate their reports, to electronic signatures and recording devices on every floor of the hospital.

We have gone from 13 coders in an office coding from a foldered chart to over 75 coders coding in their jammies in front of their computer at home.

I was one of those coders. Jammies, coffee, cigs and a computer. That was my world. For over 12 years that was my world. From uploading my work every morning and hand writing all the codes and faxing it into the department, to reading an already scanned chart, coding it and hitting finalize and watching it disappear, to a computer program that supposedly codes the chart for you. Yeah...a computer program that codes the chart for you...

This, I think, is the main reason I am retiring. Coding isn't enjoyable for me anymore. Spending my evenings deleting erroneous codes and rearranging good codes is not my idea of coding. Spending my evenings trying to make a chart look as if it has been coded correctly, the way I was taught, and then being criticized because my production is down is disheartening and just plain wrong.

Maybe I should explain what "coding" is: You go into a hospital to get your knee fixed or have your gallbladder taken out, or you go to an outlying facility and have an x-ray or a mammogram or you fall and go the the emergency room. When you do that, someone has to pay for it, hopefully, your insurance. In order for your insurance to pay for it, they have to know what was done. That's coding. Putting your diagnosis and procedures that were done into ICD9 & CPT codes. Those codes tell the insurance company what was done to you and they pay your bill based on those codes. In other words...I don't code it, it doesn't get paid and the hospital turns into a parking lot.

With that said, you can see how the accuracy of coding should be paramount, right? It would seem that this is not the case anymore. This computer program that codes the charts for us, is a disaster. It's function is to pick out key words and convert them to diagnosis codes and key phrases to turn them into procedure codes. Subsequently, some of it's "coding" is beyond ridiculous. Example: lady comes in w/a headache. Her neighbor had a stroke last week and the headache scared her. Diagnosis from the program? Stroke. I could go on forever, but, I'm not going to. This is what I've become, a deleter..not a coder anymore, a deleter.

I guess I delete too slowly, because for the past 3 months, my production has been down. Since it's been 3 months and I haven't improved, I was instructed that I had to come IN to the hospital to work for 2 months or until my numbers went up.

I have been home since the last century. Never any problems before. Always got good yearly reviews and my raise. Now, because of this monstrosity called ACTUS, I'm not a good enough coder anymore. So, instead of driving 50+ miles one way 5 days a week for 2 months and going out to buy a work wardrobe (jammies aren't part of the dress code at the hospital)I put in my 2 weeks notice and I will retire early.

My daughter told me I should blog now that I'm going to be a lady of leisure..ok, this is the first.

A Story

I was just born at 11:16 pm. I saw my mom's face and she was crying. The Dr took me in a blanket while my mom rested. 
While I was the nursery, my dad watched through the glass. I was taking a bath it felt funny! My mom and dad named me a cute name!!!!
30 days after I was born, my mom got a letter from the health department saying my PKU came back abnormal, genetics said I had Alpha thalassemia which makes me look more pale. But it's not going to hurt me.
I'm 2 now and spinning is my favorite. I don't look at my mom a lot and I run fast. I explore everything and look at close details; details interest me a lot.
Water feels good on my skin and so does sand and dirt. I'm not scared of anything. I do daring things like jumping off my mom's sofa and coffee table and the tv stand. I look down when I walk and sometimes, i shut my eyes. I also run fast away from my mom. she chases me it seems as if it's a game sometimes!
I'm 3years old now my mom is worried about me because I don't talk. My birthday is coming up, so My mom made me a Dr appointment. maybe I was developing slower than other 3 yr olds. They played with me and watched me. They threw a ball at me and it was all overwhelming. I had a lot to say but nothing would come out. There were so many people there looking at me it and it made my adrenaline move fast. it scared me. A week later we were at the same place more people were looking at me and I felt scared and uncomfortable. I just ignored them and played with the door knobs and phone that was on the wall. When we left, I felt better the radio was on. I love music! A couple days later some people came to my house to see me. I just watched some tv and spun in circles a little bit.
I am 3yrs old and 1 month now. I am getting on a bus I'm scared where am I going with out my mom or dad? I was in a room with kids and bigger people. I get to play out side eat snacks and sing MUSIC!
I've been in this room almost everyday where the big people love me and the little kids try to play with me. I feel loved in this room like the love my mom and dad give me. I smile a lot and hug a lot and my mom shows excitement every time I talk or write my name!
My name is Matteo Chavez I'm almost 4 I have severe autism, so please be patient with me. Enjoy my company, and smile when you see me!
(This is my grandson, my daughter wrote this to try to see things through his eyes)

Checking In

Yeah, I know, it's been a while....Trying to get through a very cold winter here in the Boonies..We're still using that space heater and electric blankets and sweatpants and long sleeved everything to keep the heating bills down. It's still working..

Over the past year we've gotten a new pooch and a new grandchild!! And if I can remember how to do it, I will post pictures of both...

Petunia the bulldog is the new pooch..She's 15mos old. My daughter bought her and unfortunately, Petunia was born w/a dysplastic hip and at 4mos had to have the ball of her hip removed. The breeder gave my daughter a new pup and she thought that Petunia would have an easier life out here w/2 old people and a German Short-haired Pointer than w/her and her 2 kids and a German Shepherd, so.....Her name was originally Candy, but....she snorts, snores, waddles and farts, so we renamed her...She kinda reminded me of Porky Pig's girlfriend.....

Our son, Michael got married in June of 08. He was 34 at t

he time and it was his first marriage...He now has his first child! Riley Nicole Mann came into this world on July 6th of 2010!!

Still fighting the battle of the bulge....I'd lost 33lbs w/the first go-around starting out first w/low fat, then moving to low carb via recommendation from the doctor.... Gained 17lbs back, so, I did the New Years Resolution thang, and am now doing what I feel is the most sensible...I'm counting calories...I started the day after New Years and have lost 14 of those 17lbs. Hubby is doing the same thing. He started a little later and has lost 10lbs. I've got a nifty app called myfitnesspal and by entering in what I eat, it will count my calories for me. It has all kinds of foods programmed in w/their calorie counts and it's not been too hard to find what we are eating in it's data base.

I'm going to try to do better w/this blog..I promise! I'll let you know how the Battle of the Bulge is doing and will try to post more on our never-ending-excitement-all-the-time life here in the Boonies of Buckeye Lake........

Just Some Odds & Ends

I've not posted a blog for a while, so, I figured it was time.

We took a trip last week up to Millersberg, Ohio. It is the Amish area of Ohio. It's about 2hrs away from the Boonies. We went to a couple of antique shops and were disappointed at the prices...I think they kind of hike up the prices for us tourists..We did get some good Amish cooking and stopped at a cheese factory and brought some cheese home. I am always struck by the areas where the Amish live. Their homes & grounds are always immaculate. Houses painted, nothing in the yards that shouldn't be there...Just always so clean..Check out the picture of the farm...

Later on that same week my oldest grandson Patrick, came to visit for the weekend. He brought his friend Will with him. Will came from California to stay with Patrick's family for a while. He and Patrick became best friends when Patrick went to HS in California. As you can see, they took over our living room. They slept there, they played their video games there, they ate there and they wrestled like a couple of gradeschoolers there!! I thought for sure that they would watch the sun come up while they were here from staying up all night, but, I think they are both still on California time. They will come again this next weekend. Next, these next two pictures are for Kat from http://alabamakatgrandma.blogspot.com/. Just a couple of my hummingbird pictures from a couple of years ago.
Then, I was sitting outside on the front porch early one day last week. I heard a noise coming from the side yard. The next thing I knew, I saw what you see below bolt across my front yard and into the street. Luckily, I had my Blackberry outside with me and I was able to take this one picture before he went up the street and disappeared.





Finally, while my daughters have given up on their diets...I have not. It has been slow going, but to date, I have lost 17lbs.

My Favorite Time Of The Year

The dianthus is blooming (my favorite ground cover), the windows are open, grandpa is out doing his magic on the grill and the kids and grandkids are visiting more often. Two of the
grandkids are missing, though...

Patrick, our oldest grandchild, age 16, that good lookin feller on the left, in the white tee shirt, is going to high school in a suburb of Santa Barbara, California. It's a private HS and one of the best in the country. His Godfather is a teacher there, and was able to get Patrick in for free, since he is on the staff of the school. He celebrated his 16th birthday away from home and was not here for Mother's Day. School will be out soon and he will be home in a couple of weeks. I can't wait!! We miss him!!

Then, there is Aidan....poor little guy!! He tried to jump a makeshift bicycle ramp on someone elses bike, and fell from the top of the ramp on his HEAD!! Knocked him out cold! As you can see, he was pretty banged up and since his neck hurt, he had to wear a neck brace until he went to a neurosurgeon and was checked out. He spent Mother's Day in the hospital, and the next day, his mom took him and his little sister Dania to MickyDs for some nuggets!!

I'm looking forward now to the day when all 8 grandkids and all 3 kids and their spouses come out for a big cookout and bonfire...That is my goal for this summer!