Ponder Pages

It was the morning before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a cat, and there are three of them. The stockings were hung from the bookshelves with care because let's face it there is no fireplace. The children were still sleeping, dreaming of electronics, video games and such. The husband was snoring at 5 am, so I got out of bed to start the day early. I sat in the kitchen, drinking my tea, thinking about all the things that had to be done before the next day. With pencil in hand I began to make notes. "Look at this list. Where do I start? I'm not sure it can be done all in one day." So I let out a big sigh and started my work. Halfway through the morning the others awoke. The list was half done, will I get any help? After each finished their breakfast, I smiled a big smile. " Before you decide to plop yourself down in front of the TV or run outside to play, I have a few chores that you need to get done." Oh, they whined

It's cold outside! Right now it's about 6 below and it's suppose to stay around zero all day. Brrrrr. I guess it will be a day to stay inside and get things ready for Christmas. Baking cookies, writing out the cards (I know I'm a little late), wrap a few more presents, watch a little TV, do a little house work, that kind of stuff. I'm not sure how much snow we got last night it's still dark outside. The more snow we get the happier the people who have snowmobiles will be. I for one do not snowmobile. We do have one but we barely use it. It's been such weird weather in different places so far. Like snow in Vegas. My older sisters son lives there and right now he is here. It snowed there after he left. Maybe he will get lucky and there will be more snow for him there when he gets back. It will be like he never left here, except for the lights on the strip and allot more people to deal with. He has to go back on Christmas eve. He plans on having Christmas wit

It's getting harder to watch the news lately. So many people are losing their jobs because of everything slowing down. No job of any kind is very safe any more. With so many people losing their jobs what does the future hold for any one. I worked yesterday but I think it will be the last Saturday work we will have for awhile, maybe. They let the temp workers go on Friday, but it always gets slower just after the holidays for us. But this next year will be one of the worst ones we have seen in about 26 years, I think. Where the husband works it will get even worse. He works for a factory that makes windows and doors. Anything to do with construction is being hit worse. How did we get where we are? Did extreme greed finally run it's course? And we are now left with the mess of trying to figure out how to fix things. Who are the ones that are profiting from all this the most? What do they hope to really achieve? Like the governor of Ill? Or do these people suffer from the 'I a

Watching the news about the governor of Ill. ,boy it sounds like he is the essence of arrogant greed. It sounds like his wife is no better. And talk about a dirty mouth. Maybe people should send them some soap to wash it out. And don't forget to send along the instructions on how to use it. Step 1. Take soap out of package Step 2. Open mouth. Step 3. Insert bar into mouth. Step 4. Close mouth around bar. Step 5. Leave bar in place for at least 5 minutes. For very dirty mouths leave in place for thirty minutes or more. Repeat all steps when needed. To get the best results according to Ralphie in A Christmas Story, Lava would get the best results. Today was whining Wednesday, and believe me people at work were doing allot of it. Complaining about everything, getting on each others case about everything. It always seems to get this way around the holidays. Oh well, it's always interesting listening to all the problems and being thankful I'm not involved. It also doesn't

With so many people losing their jobs you would think that some people who have a good job would do their best to hold onto it now a days. But unfortunately I know a number of people who still think that they will go to work when they feel like it and the job will always be there no matter what. Well, it's time to wake up. Be responsible for yourself, take care of yourself, earn your own way or be prepared to pay the price. So many people raise their children in a way that make them believe they will always get everything they want without doing anything to earn it. That low paying jobs will always be beneath them no matter what. Physical labor is out of the question. So many moms and dads and even grandparents are breaking their backs to give these children everything their hearts desire. And it never seams to be enough. I like to say that the last couple of generations allot have been raised to think they are princes and princesses. I like to call them Royal Pains. They want eve

I'm not sure what I'm going to write about I just have the urge to write something. So lets see. It sounds like they have finally admitted that we are in a recession. It's about time they saw the light of reality. I think things will get a whole lot worse before they get better. A lot more people will still lose their jobs. Terrorists are continuing to make noise again in different countries putting the whole world closer to the edge. I wonder how they really see things. The leaders of these groups have some strange ideas and reasons for killing people. Someday, unfortunately, they will succeed in destroying a country or even the world. But will they be around to enjoy the results they wanted? Chances are no. The world could be thrown back in time in such a way that it will be like starting over again. What will happen to us? What kind of people will we become if we survive? Or will we be more dependent on things to help us survive? Thought of the day: "Productive is

It's Saturday after Thanksgiving and all is quiet here for me. It just did not feel like Thanksgiving this year. For one thing once again no snow for the hunters. This is the first year that the husband has not yet gotten a deer with the gun. He has not even seen one. Two of his brothers have not gotten any either. I don't think the deer population is as big as the DNR tries to make people believe. Or maybe the deer have just gotten smarter. Because there is no snow the deer can lie down in the tall grass and are hard to find. My Mom told me of a guy who was sitting in a tree stand, during bow season, when he saw a big buck start to come his way. As he was watching it hoping it would come closer he heard someone else start coming toward him and the deer. He watched as that deer lied down as flat as it could with only it's horns sticking up. Then he watched the people walk within a couple feet of the deer and they never saw it. Boy I bet he wishes he had a video camera. That

When Paulina agreed to stay for awhile I thought it was best to introduce her to some of the others already living here. The first one she was able to meet was Cletus. He wanted to shake hands with her right away and tried to push her off the chair. The next one she met was Minnie Me. Minnie don't look like she is very happy about Paulina. Time will tell how these two will get along. The next one to meet was Jazz. As far as I can tell he approves of Paulina. Then she met Fawn. By the look on her face I'm not sure Fawn wants to be very close to Paulina. In fact after I took this picture Fawn jumped down and just looked at her from a distance. Paulina was very excited when she met everyone and she knows in time they will all become good friends.

I meant to write something this weekend but it was a little busy and unsure. The unsure part was my father-in-law. I said once before how bad he was, well he past away yesterday. I'm glad he is finally at peace. I think the funeral will be Thursday but I'm not positive right now. I just hope everyone behaves themselves and they don't do anything to draw too much attention to themselves. But we'll see. The other thing that kept me busy this weekend is that my oldest one and I went to the Packer game as volunteers. We were servers in the enclosed seating area. We did a lot of running, delivering drinks to people, so we didn't see allot of the game but I enjoyed the view from up there and it was a warmer then being out in the cold. That is really all I have to say for today. I plan to try to post again hopefully later this week again. But we'll see how that goes. I will say that this next Saturday ( Beginning of gun hunting season around here for deer) my oldest

This is a picture a took yesterday morning of the sun rise. And this a picture I just took. I'm not real sure I'm ready for the white stuff yet.This snow might stay or it might not. I'm just glad we didn't get the snow they got out in Deadwood South Dakota. About 3 feet of it. I wonder if the hunters around here will have real snow to hunt in this year or not. Thought of the day: "Find the time everyday to do something for yourself."

I usually don't write on a Friday but I have the day off. It was a voluntary day. I could have worked if I wanted to work on the line but I just needed to have a three day weekend for once. If it is the same next Friday I will work no matter what. It is slow for this time of year. But it does happen from time to time. Other factories are also slow around here. It's hard everywhere. I'm just hoping things will start turning around for the whole country soon. But I know it will more long months then people have patients for. Anyway last Sunday before I went to the baby shower this is what we saw out the window. They would have been there longer but the oldest one decided at that moment to go out side and feed something to the dog. There were about a dozen of them. They still show up from time to time. I just wonder how much I'll see them this winter. Here a couple of pictures from the shower. This Baby Shower sign was the only thing telling you it was a Baby Shower.

Another quiet Sunday Morning. I hope it don't take to long to adjust to the time change. I hate waking up to early during the week. I get up early enough without waking up an hour before I have to. Anyway here is the news that I know this week. Up north between Cameron and Rice Lake someone or a group of people dug up a grave of a baby that died in 1925 and took the skeleton and casket. I just ask why. Is it a Halloween prank they planned on pulling on someone and decided to use a real skeleton? Did they think no one would miss one that had been dead for so long? Was it something someone dared someone else to do? I just wonder how long it will take to hear the truth about why it was done. In more personal family matters. It looks like my father-in-law does not have long to live, I think. His heart is really bad. It is just a matter of time. I just hope that when the time comes he can go very peacefully and that there will no drama from others in the family. I plan on staying in the

It's been another quiet week for me here. I'm looking forward to the election being over. I'm tired of all the political adds that are forever on TV. Just as long as it turns out the way I want it and know it should be, all might get better, eventually. I did see something on the news one day that if McCain is elected I think that one of the terrorist groups has something planned to welcome in another four more years of Bushism's so to speak. All I will say is that if you want to be safer vote Obama, hopefully things will start to change. The world would like to deal with someone who will listen first and can respect each other. Understanding is something so many people refuse to do any more. Jumping to conclusions is what most people do now a days. I like everyone else has had a moment when someone is convinced that what they know about you is the absolute truth when it is so far from it. When this happens to me I do my best to tell them the truth or show them how wro

I want to say it's a quiet Sunday morning, but if that's the case I would still be in bed at5:30 right? I either want to blame it on the regular habit of getting up at 4:10am during the week or maybe it's the fact that at around 5am the husband starts sounding like a buzz saw for some reason. Maybe his body is so use to me getting up at 4am that it's just part of his bodies habit to start snoring at that time. Who knows. I'm up now what? I could talk about the debate last week which I did watch. I watched it on a station called Current TV. It's a very interesting place to view this kind of thing. They had it set up so that people could sign on through Twitter and leave comments about what was going on. I got a bigger kick out of those comments then I did actually listening to all the details the candidates were saying. The way I see it I think there were more people in favor of Obama then McCain. I will say I am an Obama supporter. It is time for the old boys c

It's Sunday and I think this is the start of the end of our Indian Summer. Today it is suppose to get about 72 I think. The thing I hate about this time is that those stupid Asian Beetles are flying around trying to find a warm place to start hiding for the winter or to hang onto where it is warmest. Every time I open the door to let the dog in or out I always have to make sure that they don't try to sneak into the house. And when you squish them, boy do they stink.They are a huge pain in the butt. Just trying to walk around outside without one landing on you is impossible. And when you drive down the road you hit so many that by the time you get home you can hardly find a clean place to look out. Cleaning the windshield is always fun too. The dumb things are not even native to our area. They were brought here to try to control another bug. The birds won't even eat them because of the smell and taste. I say if mother nature didn't put them here herself they don't b

These are scary times we live in. The stock market keeps taking a nose dive. I wonder how low it will get before it levels off? I wonder how much I'll have left in my 401k? It's going to take a long time before the world will feel good about itself. The whole world is a mess no matter what anyone try's to tell you. It's the kind of mess that each country is going to have to fix for themselves. Lets face it we are all too interconnected. When one country tries to mess with another it will eventually affect the whole world. It's common seance. There is no denying it. We must all learn to care for ourselves in a way that we don't harm anyone else. Respect, that's what we all have to live by. People are always saying that we are here for a reason. I believe that. But so many people feel so lost and hopeless. It's hard when so many people are trying to make you feel like you are worthless because they said so. I ask, who are they to judge? Why are they a be

I recently came across a letter that gave me an idea for a story. To tell you the truth the letter just popped into my head. It's a kind of cool idea and I'm not sure if I should follow the idea. So I'm going to write it here and let you all tell me if it would be doable or not. First let me tell you how I think the letter will be found. There is an old house that is being torn down and people are given the chance the get things out of the house. Like molding that is still good, the amazing old staircase, the flooring, you know things like that. In the attic behind a false wall is a crawl space. And in that crawl space is an old trunk. When the old trunk is opened a letter is found on top addressed to Whom ever opens this trunk please read first. This is what the letter says. To the person who is reading this: My name is Cora Johnson. In 1948 I am the teacher in a one room school house in the township of Grover, in the state of Wisconsin. This is an introduction to what thi

Around this time every day if I look outside there is a high chance I will see a flock of turkey's. One flock has about ten. Another one has about twelve and another one has three. My outside dog just lies there and watches them. But when Fawn see them she starts barking, whining and wanting outside. I try to get her to wait till they are out of sight before I let her out. I just keep telling her "If you don't look out the window they won't bother you." But she usually don't listen, like every other dog who gets upset when another animal has invaded their territory. Every year there seam to be more and more turkeys. They have the worst sense of birth control. The problem is there are not enough natural enemies in the wild to control them and you have to apply for a permit to shot them. I say give a few more years and maybe someone can convince the DNR or who ever decides these kind of things, that turkeys can be seen as small game like rabbit or partridge so y

Fall is here. Everything is falling. Leaves, acorns, stocks, banks, incomes, hope and soon there will be snow. Which means that there will bigger raises in the prices of everything in our lives. Will we be able to figure out the best way to get things under control? How long will it take to feel comfortable in life again? Where did it all begin? Who is really in control of things? In my opinion greed has taken over the whole world. Nothing the average person can do will help. Maybe we should all go back to the barter system. We need to learn to live within our means. Having everything does not make you a better person. Being a happy healthy human being will get you allot farther in life then having the latest so called hottest trend in your home. Live simply and stress will be lower in your life. I believe that no matter what we humans believe about being in control is totally wrong. Mother nature will decide our fate. And right now I believe she is going through the change. So hang

What a week everywhere. Stock market was like being on a roller coaster. I wonder if it's going to level off any time soon? My guess would be, nope. After being off for a week from work it's always a little hard getting back into the swing of things. My feet take a while to get use to walking on that cement floor in steel toed shoes for over 8 hours a day, again. At least I didn't have to have work Saturday. My husband on the other hand had to work extra hours on Friday and Saturday. He also made some hay this week. He's a bit tired and plans on taking the day to relax. Friday was a very interesting day at work. First I heard about a scandal on second shift over pie that we were given the other day at work as a treat from the company. They do that sort of thing for us maybe once a month. When they offer pie and ice cream to us they call it "A pie and ice cream social". Any way the way I originally heard the story was that some woman took two pieces of pie. Im

Well we made it back from vacation in one piece. At least we didn't kill each other, but he was starting to get on my nerves. It just might be the last one for awhile depending on how much more out of control things will become. As we traved out there it was not hard to see that so much has changed in just the last year. Last year my husband and I took a trip to the Pacific Ocean. It was also a good trip. One of the big differences I noticed from last year was not only allot fewer big campers but also allot fewer semi's. At least it seamed like I saw allot few, almost half I think. And this was before Ike hit Texas. How much higher will things get this year alone? Enough about that. My husband was very happy this year with the number of different animals we saw and that we were able to get some good close up pictures of them. Here are a few that we saw. This is a herd of elk we saw just before we got to Yellowstone park. All does and no males until we got to the town just insid

My husband and I took a walk in the back woods on Labor Day. We walked around the corn field next to the woods and this is what we saw. Actually we were out there twice. The first time we went out there is when we found the damage to the corn. My husband was a little nervous after we found the spots. He wished he had brought his pistol with just in case a bear would show up. We went back out there later so he could put up a trail camera. This time he had his pistol with him. We didn't see any bear but we chased a few turkeys around the woods. Sorry no picks of the turkeys. They're quick buggers. I wanted to get some pictures of some turkeys that keep coming into the yard, but they are very jumpy. Every time I try to get a picture they seam to know it and start heading away as fast as they can. But when I can I will post it. Friday if all goes well with my husband getting a shot in his back, we will be heading to the west. Hopefully we will be able to explore Montana for a wee

I'm not sure what others think about McCain's choice for VP but to me it looks desperate. I think his choice is dumb. To me it looks like he picked her because; One she is a woman. I think he thinks women will vote for him because he picked a woman (Hillary supporters). Two, she is a member of the NRA. She even hunts moose with her husband. Big deal. Another VP who could shot someone in their hunting party by mistake. Three, she is pro life like him. Sorry I'm pro choice. Four, she has a child with down syndrome. This could bring in voters who have children with disabilities or have disabilities of their own. Five, she's young and inexperienced,kind of like Obama. This way both tickets have one experienced person and one not so experienced. The only thing is McCain has a higher chance of dieing in office from natural causes then Obama. She could become the first woman president. But I think it would be all a set up. She is already under investigation for something.

What should I ponder about today. I could ponder about the up coming election but enough people are putting their pondering ideas into that. If you want my opinion it's going to be what it's going to be. Not every person will be happy about it. Shocker right. There are some people who are not happy unless they are making a fuss about everything. I think they are thinking something like, "I don't agree with anything no matter what. I must be miserable at all cost. And make everyone around me even more miserable." I'm really not into politics. I'm pondering on making a desert with Jello and different fruit in it. One is blackberries. It calls for a cup. I wanted some fresh ones and lucky for me there was some growing at the end of my driveway. I wasn't sure if there would be enough because it's been a bad growing year for a number of plants. But I have my cup of blackberries. The name of the desert is Over the Rainbow. It has four flavors of gelati

Sunday night around 8:30 there were reports of a man, dressed all in black, running around on the highway north of town. He was running at cars causing people to swerve to miss him. People were calling the cops to tell them about him. Before they could get to him he was able to jump out in front of a car and finally got what he wanted. The person who hit him said he was like a deer. He jump out so quick he could not react in time. The man died. He was 20 years old and for some reason wanted to commit suicide. As of right now I have not heard of why. Was his life so bad he couldn't handle it any more? Or was he on something that drove him to want to kill himself? I feel so sorry for the person who hit him. He will have the memory of this for the rest of his life. I don't think it's fair for him or anyone else to have to live with this sort of thing. A person who is so bent on ending their life and do it in a way where someone else is responsible for ending their life, to m

It's once again a quiet Sunday morning, for now. I've been thinking about what to write and had allot of different thoughts. Like a few weeks ago my neighbor to the north of me put up private property signs along the road. How odd. We may live in the country and they own about 2.3 acres of land, which is all woods with half of it swamp. Why did they feel they had to put up those kind of signs now? In my opinion anyone who puts up those signs, are in fact guilty of trespassing on other people property. You have to know these people to know they are not trust worthy people. My father in-laws health has been bad for along time. My mother in-law has had him one foot in the grave for about 7 to 10 years. It's hard to remember exactly. According to her he has about a half dozen different cancers, he only has one kidney, he has had open heart surgery, one knee replaced( they can't do the other one because he would not survive the surgery), he has poor circulation, has had a n

It's a quiet Sunday morning, everyone is either sleeping or working. But I think later today we will be moving my youngest one to her new place over in Mosinee. It'll be closer for her to get to work. For me other wise it's been kind of peaceful. Do real dramas in my life right now. But it seams the rest of the world is have allot. The Olympics is off and running. With one American being killed by someone who then took their own life. I wonder if this person was one of the people who lost their home because of the Olympics? It's possible. Or maybe he was just unstable. I just hope no other people are hurt in anyway while they are over there. Lets see what else is going on. Russia is at war with Georgia. Innocent people are being killed for what real reason? I say if top people have a problem with each other they and only they should be sent to a special Island where problems such as these can be settled with out involving people who just happen to be there. I know this

As a packer fan I say enough is enough! Last night I was going to watch the local news and what comes on instead? A news conference about the future of Brett Farve as a Packer. In my opinion the same question was being asked over and over again for over a half hour. Why did two local stations feel they had to show this farce? I don't know what has really gone on behind the scenes at Green Bay but someone better stop this nonsense. If Brett wants to move on let him go or if he wants to play for the Pack as a starter why not? I can kind of see the team might already have things planned out without him and want to work with this plan. Then say so. Let Brett go. This stupidity is only making some fans want to turn away from the team. It would be weird seeing Brett play for another team but people will get use to it. They get use to other players doing the same thing. A team is more then one player. The bad feelings that are already there will only get worse the longer this is dragged

Oh how my garden is growing. I planted a row of sunflower seeds and right now they are maybe over 7 or 8 feet tall, I think. They are very tall. I also planted a couple of pumpkin plants and gourds and the one here is the beginning of a pumpkin. As it grows bigger maybe I'll take a picture of this one and maybe others. I'm just hoping they can grow to the size they are suppose to before it gets to late. My husband thinks we could have an early frost. Time will tell what Mother Nature has in store for us. At work today this one guy said something so funny and weird I had to write it down. He said, " I've too much on my mind. I'm trying to get my ass in order." I thought it was funny. It was the beginning of our shift and things take a little while to get a good flow going. Thought of the day: "Take a moment to thank yourself every day."

It's a question I keep asking myself. People live and work here but they don't like to do anything else here. Like not last weekend but the weekend before we did a production of "A year with Frog and Toad." I know I was involved with it so I might sound a little opinionated but it was a very good show. The people who saw it loved it. But they were small audiences. Most people in my home town would rather go to another town or go camping then to spend time here. This last weekend they had the Annual Auto fest in the park. There was also craft booths set up along the river walk. My youngest one and I went to check out the crafts. When we got there there was hardly anything there. Other years there have been more booths set up but not this year. And the number of cars on show was I think way down. Each year it gets less and less. This next weekend will be the County fair. I know it will once again be a bust. It has gotten worse and worse over the years. The same old sa

Believe it or not I had to work yesterday. On a Saturday. It's something that is almost rare to hear now a days. It was voluntary. So not everyone worked. But I might be working more overtime starting next month. It usually gets busier about that time of year. It was posted at work the price that we pay for cheese at work is going up 5 cents to thirty cents a pound depending on the cheese we want to buy from the office. I wonder if anytime soon we will see the price go down. I doubt it. Everything has gotten so out of control so fast. It makes my head spin. To me it looks like no one really cares, especially our leaders. I always thought things were suppose to happen gradually, like a nice gentle rain. Not a down pour all at once. Over time, not in a matter of months or weeks. I see that oil is starting to go down. But as much as it has gone down, why hasn't the price at the pump gone down just as fast as it went up? Who is really in control of our country? Is it oil companie