or would be if not for a couple of things (Boston Tea Party, Declaration of Independence, Revolutionary War, \u2026, this is Sunday):<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.snopes.com\/holidays\/christmas\/boxingday.asp<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n Beginning last weekend:\u00a0 This weekend has been the most relaxing in recent months.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have to go to town, and only had to feed ourselves, our animals, and play with the new kitty.\u00a0 We did a little house cleaning, but not as much as we should have.\u00a0 All weekend and most of Monday morning I finished sending our annual newsletter to folks, via email.\u00a0\u00a0 We will not be sending conventional cards this year, except to a few, who don\u2019t have computers.\u00a0 The letter was written with wide margins and is too long for printing to send with cards.\u00a0 At least the news this year is a lot better than last.\u00a0 I found the sad letter John sent to a few people last year.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how he managed to do that with all the rest of the things going on.<\/p>\n He even moved me out of my university office, while I was in the hospital and the rehab center.\u00a0 He packed 22 boxes of stuff and hauled most to our outbuilding.\u00a0 We have yet to even think about going through that yet.\u00a0 The house also has boxes stacked up in the living room, den, back bedrooms, and hall.\u00a0 I never felt like going through any of this since I have been home.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have the stamina, which has just returned at the end of this year.\u00a0 Maybe in twenty-eleven, I will slowly tackle some of the clutter and we will have an un-Boxing Day. <\/span><\/p>\n The most important thing now is to make room on the counter for my laptop computer where I can enter tax receipts into an EXCEL spreadsheet.\u00a0 Then I can copy totals by \u201ccode\u201d from there to enter in the Turbo Tax software.\u00a0 Oh, fun, but it will be, because we really need to get the taxes done.\u00a0 They will be very complicated this year with all the things that happened. <\/span><\/p>\n One day this week John made a big pot of chili which is good for my low-salt diet. The only thing with salt was the can of chili beans, but the garbanzo beans and tomatoes were without.\u00a0 It seems he will have to start with dried beans to get to a near zero salt concoction \u2013 will it still be chili? <\/span><\/p>\n This week marked the first day the kitty has ventured out of the back computer room and into the rest of the house with the dogs and us.\u00a0 He\u2019s gaining more confidence and the dogs are getting used to him.\u00a0 This morning and last night, he was lying on the floor with the dogs, in front of my chair, waiting for a handout. If any of us move in the \u201cwrong\u201d manner he dives through a slot and disappears behind the chair.\u00a0 His idea of wrong still eludes us, so while the situation is somewhat tense, it is getting less so.<\/p>\n Tuesday, we were invited to a Solstice party and were served potato pancakes.\u00a0 We took a cut-up fruit cake along for the group.\u00a0 People were asked to bring their musical instruments and there was some jamming afterwards.\u00a0 It went well.\u00a0 There were a couple of friends there we did not expect to see.\u00a0 The food was pretty good, and there was apple sauce and our fruitcake and salad to eat with the potato pancakes.\u00a0 One person also brought an apple pie.\u00a0 I had several of the great Christmas cookies one of our friends brought.\u00a0 We sang some songs, but I was the only one willing to play my fiddle.\u00a0 Our friends brought several percussion instruments and played along with the tunes.\u00a0 It was fun.\u00a0 John thought if one is going to make real shredded potato pancakes then the rest of the food ought to complement those.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t the case (except for the applesauce) so he came home and searched the web for an idea for next year.\u00a0 The one he liked is artery clogging but the Winter Solstice (\u2018sun stands still\u2019) only happens once a year so how much harm is there in this:<\/p>\n Potato Pancakes, Kielbasa, Caramelized Onions, Sauerkraut<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.yousaytoo.com\/polish-kielbasa-with-caramelized-onions-sauerkraut-and-crisy-potato-pancakes\/247602<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n Wednesday was a strange day.\u00a0 It started snowing in the middle of the night, and kept going all morning.\u00a0 We had over six inches before it ceased.\u00a0 Our neighbors do not have 4 wheel drive and they are in their 80s, but needed to go for two tests at the hospital.\u00a0 John drove them in, and also let me off to play music at Dry Creek.\u00a0 We played (just 3 of us) in the lobby for a large and appreciative crowd.\u00a0 They sang along on the Christmas carols and songs.\u00a0 We stopped by a friend\u2019s house for cookies and to see their decorations, and to receive a gift.\u00a0 I left the gift there to display for Christmas because we don\u2019t have an appropriate flat place yet cleared in our house.\u00a0 Perhaps by next Christmas!\u00a0 It is a plastic\/crystal angel playing a violin \u2013 lovely. <\/span><\/p>\n Thursday.\u00a0 We started the morning with a nice gift from our neighbor (different one) with a big tractor, who plowed out our driveway and the area up on the road in front of our mailbox and paper delivery boxes.\u00a0 John went out and talked to him and his cousin, and thanked them.\u00a0 John had just broken the handle off of the broom implement he uses to push snow around.\u00a0 Then we played with kitty Sunny, and I got ready to go for a haircut at my neighbors. \u00a0Wow. \u00a0\u00a0I have hair again grown back to be able to cut.\u00a0 Another nice gift for the morning before Christmas Eve.\u00a0 I was all pretty to go to play music at Hearthstone Cottage, and I put on a vest I found in the old chifferobe (choose your own spelling), in our bedroom, where we store seasonal clothes.\u00a0 On the web you can see a picture of one that looks like ours.\u00a0 Ours is walnut, and belonged to my parents, who were married in 1937.<\/p>\n http:\/\/en.allexperts.com\/q\/Collectibles-General-Antiques-682\/2009\/5\/antique-chifferobe.htm<\/a><\/p>\n OR:<\/p>\n http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chifforobe<\/a><\/p>\n Search Google images for the variety of styles.<\/p>\n The vest is black velvet, with snowmen, and a blue denim back.\u00a0 I don\u2019t recall where I acquired it, nor that I have ever worn it, and it was way too large for me, but I wore it anyway.\u00a0 After our playing, my friend in the music group heard me talking about it, and how big it was, and offered to \u201ctake it up\u201d for me on her sewing machine.\u00a0 I was thrilled and she carried it home with her while I did other things in town, and I picked it up on my way home.\u00a0 She has done alterations before for a theater group.\u00a0 Perfect.\u00a0 Now I have a lovely new vest that fits. I showed it to John and he had me link to this:<\/p>\n http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052748703581204576033591833091626.html?KEYWORDS=christmas+vests<\/a><\/p>\n Thursday evening I spent more time on the retirement celebration page, which is still under construction, but can be accessed at:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.elixant.com\/~nancyh\/2010retirementCelebration.html<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n Before I quit Thursday\u2019s reporting, I need to tell a story that I had left out, but just told John the day after Christmas as we were driving to town.\u00a0 He said I needed to add it to the blog.\u00a0 So, here goes.\u00a0 I played music that day (discussed above) and left the Hearthstone Cottage.\u00a0 I had to park on the street because the parking lot was full.\u00a0 So did my friend, and we left together.\u00a0 I was closer than she and got to my car and managed to get in and shut my door before a car came screaming by splashing slush up on my car.\u00a0 I watched as the car proceeded by Mary still standing by her car, with the door open, and watched in horror as she was covered with the slop by the inconsiderate driver.\u00a0 I drove up beside her and got her attention to say I saw what happened.\u00a0 She was sitting there in disbelief and said she was composing a letter to send to the local paper for the Thumbs Down column.\u00a0 I left her and drove to the grocery store.\u00a0 As I drove a few blocks down west I saw two people walking IN the street because the sidewalks had not been shoveled.\u00a0 They were in their fifties, and looked like they needed a \u2018thumb\u2019s up\u2019 experience, instead of what I had just witnessed.\u00a0 I slowed WAY down and drove by them, waving.\u00a0 I had not gone a half block when I suddenly pulled a U-turn and went back to ask them if I could give them a ride.\u00a0 They were first a bit surprised, but quickly accepted and told me their names and I told them mine.\u00a0 I moved my fiddle case over and got my purse, and the man sat in the back seat and the woman sat in the front.\u00a0 Once in the car, they said they were going to the hospital, which was about 2 blocks down the street, and I figured maybe they lived near it.\u00a0 As we approached, the woman said, just pull up there by the dumpster (behind the hospital).\u00a0 I figured they must be in the apartments behind, but not.\u00a0 She opened the door and got out and went past the dumpster to a black container to empty the contents.\u00a0 Her husband told me they were addicted to nicotine but couldn\u2019t afford to buy cigarettes and so she was getting butts and they would take the tobacco from them to roll their own. \u00a0Source shown here:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.newpig.com\/us\/janitorial-supplies\/cigarette-ash-receptacles\/cigarette-posts-urns\/<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n YIKES.\u00a0 I smiled and told him he needed to figure a way to kick the habit, even though I knew it was hard, that I had lost my dad at 58 to a heart attack and he smoked cigars.\u00a0 The guy said, \u2018Oh my.\u00a0 I\u2019m 55.\u2019\u00a0 I said, \u2018Well, you give me a Christmas present and try to stop smoking.\u2019\u00a0 He claimed he would.\u00a0 She came back to the car almost empty-handed as someone had beat her to the container.\u00a0 Then I still had the two of them, and didn\u2019t know where they lived.\u00a0 I asked if I could give them a ride home.\u00a0 He said he had to go catch a bus (no idea where), but I said, you mean you have to go to the bus station?\u00a0 \u2018Nope, just to Bi-Mart.\u2019 \u00a0\u00a0I assumed it was to wait for Central Transit there (free bus service around town).\u00a0 He told me they were married but lived in separate places.\u00a0 So, I took them there and realized she was not going on the bus with him, and so I offered her a ride home.\u00a0 She said no, I can walk; I live right behind there in Briarwood.\u00a0\u00a0 So, I bid them adieu and wished them a Merry Christmas.\u00a0 That completed my thumbs up for the year.<\/p>\n Friday.\u00a0 We need eggs we forgot to get when in town, to make John\u2019s mom\u2019s Pecan Pie for sharing with the neighbors\u2019\u00a0family for Christmas dinner.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps we should just go borrow some from them and save the trip to town.\u00a0 John decided he had 3 eggs, and could make just one pecan pie to take along, so we saved a trip to town.\u00a0 We have a half of blueberry and a half apple we have combined and frozen.\u00a0 We\u2019ll take it along too.\u00a0 There are 16 coming to dinner.<\/p>\n Tonight we were having chili –I was in my recliner and John was in his chair across the room from me.\u00a0 I looked up to my right (on a table) and Sunny Kitty was coming in over my pillows and blanket headed to my chair.\u00a0 He came on over to see what was on my plate.\u00a0 Nothing at that point.\u00a0 I was holding the bowl of chili out of his reach.\u00a0 Remember, he doesn’t like the recent canned food (pate’) John bought for him.\u00a0 So, he was so interested and jumped down on the floor and back up on my foot rest.\u00a0 I moved my plate down to the foot rest.\u00a0 I put some chili, with tomato, beans and meat on the plate.\u00a0 He ate the tomato and the meat and sauce, but not the beans.\u00a0 Funny kitty.\u00a0\u00a0 We offered him some more fresh canned food later, and he declined.<\/p>\n He will still eat his hard food, so that\u2019s good.<\/p>\n It\u2019s Christmas Eve.\u00a0 It is not snowing here, but we hear there is a lot in the rest of the country, Great Britain, and even Australia where it is mid-summer. <\/span><\/p>\n Christmas we will be going to two different homes for dinner and for dessert.\u00a0 First is to our neighbors across the street and second is to our friends\u2019 parents\u2019 house out East of Kittitas. \u00a0We had a nice visit both places.<\/p>\n Today, Sunday, we went to visit a family about 12 miles south of us, in the valley.\u00a0 Their girls are home from work and graduate school, for the holidays.\u00a0\u00a0 It was good to see them again.\u00a0 Hadn\u2019t seen the one gal in well over a year, as she is in Oklahoma. She brought up a USA snow-depth map on her lap top.\u00a0 There is even snow in ol\u2019home town Atlanta. \u00a0What a hoot! \u00a0\u00a0I remember a snow when I was a kid in Atlanta, and writing 1951 on the windshield of our 1950 DeSoto.\u00a0 I took a picture of it with an old \u201cbrownie\u201d camera.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure it is buried some place in my mom\u2019s stuff we hauled up from GA many years ago.\u00a0 To finish our visit:\u00a0\u00a0 we ate cookies and fudge, saw their gifts and admired their Christmas tree and Gingerbread house cake with candies.<\/p>\n Will close now with hopes John can get this on the web for our regular readers while it is still December 26, 2010. [John adds: Read the \u201cSightings\u201d thing at the bottom of the \u2018Snopes\u2019 link. Maybe today\u2019s blog entry should be headed as Nancy\u2019s emulation of Good King Wenceslas \u2013 helping strangers in the snow.]<\/p>\n We\u2019ll be back next week.\u00a0 Have a good last week of the year, and a safe New Year\u2019s Eve.\u00a0 It will be the new year 2011 the next time we write.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nancy & John<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" or would be if not for a couple of things (Boston Tea Party, Declaration of Independence, Revolutionary War, \u2026, this is Sunday): http:\/\/www.snopes.com\/holidays\/christmas\/boxingday.asp Beginning last weekend:\u00a0 This weekend has been the most relaxing in recent months.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have to go to town, and only had to feed ourselves, our animals, and play with the … Continue reading “SUNDAY — Boxing Day . . .”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p72iNf-bp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":709,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions\/709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}