Stork Bingo

So, the past month or so we have been going to Tennessee every weekend and ususally once during the week for me as well. My cousin died recently and we have been cleaning her house getting it ready to sell. Last weekend my sister was cleaning in one of the bedrooms when she came across something that caused us to laugh until our sides hurt. It was a Stork Bingo game from 1957, brand new, never played, still in the box. We had a good laugh just reading the items on the cards... nipples, rubber pants, chux, syringes, enema, boric acid... too funny! Guess those items really date the game. I was born in 1957 so wondered if it was a game she had bought for my baby shower and never played it. Who knows? Here is a photo of what it looks like.

Pear Trees in Bloom

Several days ago I was on my way to Tennessee when I passed by an old orchard full of pear trees in full bloom. That was on Friday and I knew I would not have a chance to photograph them in their full glory because I would not be back that way for several days. This is not far from where we live... only about 4 miles away. Of course I forgot about them until yesterday and decided to drive by and see if the trees were still in bloom. Many blossoms have already turned to green leaves but some remained in bloom and I took the photos here using my cell phone camera since I didn't have my camera with me. The fields looked so pretty when all the trees were in full bloom but these photos will give you some idea of what it looked like. It appears to be an old orchard.

A Lot Going On

Sorry I have not been blogging on a regular basis. I have way too much going on right now and can't seem to find time for it. Nothing has been interesting enough to write about anyway... that is until yesterday... If nothing else I learned a valuable lesson and I would like to share it with those of you reading this. Never, and I do mean NEVER, remove a new ink cartridge from your printer and shake it. I had been working on a project that I needed printed in brown. It was working well then suddenly the brown was printing out hot pink! WHAT??? Well I knew the color cartridge was almost empty and that tends to happen when it is time to replace it. So off I went to the store and purchased a new color cartridge. I came home, installed it and continued printing. All was well and a nice shade of brown. Then suddenly one came out hot pink again. I couldn't believe it. I removed the cartridge, gave it a little shake then replaced it and tried again. Brown! Yes! Every so often hot pink would show up again and I was getting frustrated. I kept removing the cartridge, shaking it then replacing and it would work fine for a while. Finally I had enough of this so I took out the cartridge one last time and this time I shook it with vengance! I was going to make certain the ink was distrubuted and would come out like it needed to. To my surprise I noticed pretty color ink drops all over the place... all over me, my clothes, the laptop, my camera, the wall, the floor, the carpet, the desk and all over some of the things I had printed. OH MY GOSH! I couldn't believe it! I just stood there for a few seconds in disbelief. I tired cleaning it up but that only smeared the ink. I finally got my project completed but I think my hair became even more grey from all the frustration I experienced in the course of the day. So please learn from my experience and never, ever, remove an ink cartridge and give it a good hard shake unless you want colorful ink droplets all over everything.

In Like a Lion

Old Man Winter decided to make a visit to our area yesterday. Fortunately for us we must have been in a warm pocket because all around us got quite a bit of snow but we got about 2 inches here. We woke up to a steady down pour of rain that lasted throughout the day and at times it turned to sleet when the temp would drop a degree then back to heavy rain. We also had high winds all day long. It was COLD! Around 6:00 last night it turned to snow and within minutes the ground was white. It was a wet, heavy snow so didn't take long to cover everything. Later it rained again then as the temps got lower it all froze and now we have ice mixed with the snow. David decided to go in to work this morning and when he arrived he found only 3 cars in the parking lot and a security guard told him to go back home... there is no electricity in the building. I keep hearing that lots of people are without power in NC and SC. We still have power but the lights keep flickering from time to time. The winds died down some during the night but are picking up again this morning. There is a major pile up of vehicles on I-85... the northbound lanes are backed up for 30 miles and the south bound lanes for 10 miles... as of early this morning. People have been stranded on the interstate since midnight last night. David is back home now, he said the roads are horrible and no one is out driving. We have food, heat and power so we are fortunate. Oh yes, last night we also had snow thunder. It's pretty rare but we had lightening and thundering while it was snowing. So the old saying goes something like this... If March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb. Let's hope the worst is behind us. I'm ready for Spring... to heck with snow and cold, winds and ice! Bring on the warm stuff and sunshine!!! I haven't ventured out today to make any photos. It's just too cold. If I get brave later on I may go out and see if I can find some interesting photos to take and share but for now I am staying inside where it's warm and cozy!