indiana territory

MOVING

Hi,

I am moving on over to another website at The Leaning Cow until I can decide what I really want to do with Indiana Territory. A lot of the later posts on Indiana Territory are already at The Leaning Cow

posted by Jody @ 8:13 AM 0 Comments

I look better in the upstairs bathroom mirror

Yes, I have noticed that when I look at myself upstairs in the master bath with the sunlight over my head, that I don't look too bad. Sometimes, I will not look in another mirror for a long time and then I will catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror somewhere else and I am surprised at the dumpy plain person I see. It occurs to me that I cannot conduct my life from that bathroom but the magic is in THERE, not in the other places I go. I ponder having a picture taken of me in that mirror and pasting it on my face. I guess I could start out with first pasting it on a bag and then putting the bag over my head. I don't think anyone would take me for a bank robber since I am not a president nor a movie star. But they might take me to the funny farm, which isn't politically correct to say and yet it falls naturally from my tongue.

Now, "asylum" - that would probably be real bad to say. Unfortunately, I say it sometimes: "Well, I'll just pack my bags and go to the asylum." No, I don't say that. I say, "You pack your bags and go to the asylum." Of course, I use asylum so much that no one thinks too much about it being insensitive. Odd though, it's okay to say you're seeking political asylum . . . Oh, never mind, I see my mind is all over the place.

posted by Jody @ 5:27 PM 0 Comments

Beware of Stephen King's Christine - the movie

Last night, I knew Christine was going to be on TV and when I finished reading my book and talking to my mother (see below) on the phone, I turned on AMC and watched the latter part of it. I didn't think the car - Christine - was so spooky, in fact, I liked the way it repaired itself. I did think the actor playing Arnie was a bit on the scary side; he made me feel very uncomfortable, more villain than victim. Anyway, it ended up and I started thinking, "Where is that copy of the book?"

Then I went to sleep . . . and I dreamed: long, relentless, slow-paced events that centered on my getting in and out of the little green car (RIP). I had a little kid with me I had to keep track of and the car seemed but together oddly, giving me the feeling that any moment I would not be able to understand how to drive it.

I remember, toward the end of the dream, picking up screws off the floor at a Wal-Mart; were they mine that had fallen out of my head, having been loose for so long?

Waking was not an easy task; I had to talk myself into reality. I really dislike that type of dreaming; where are the dreams of beaches and convertibles? Well, it would be a bummer waking up from them as well.

posted by Jody @ 8:50 AM 0 Comments

Reading and interruptions

I am one of those people who reads - a lot; fortunately for me, when they talk of addictions they don't call readers addicts - they call them bookworms. I have learned to adapt my reading to what is going on around me after all these years, but sometimes I revert to my primal state. Tonight was one of those times. After several questions from my grandson, I asked loudly, "Can't you see I am READING?"

That brings my granddaughter out to where I am to quote what I said to her the night before: "If you can't ignore people talking, you are not a good reader." And, of course, I had to answer that there is a difference between people talking and being asked a direct question. But then, to her anything her brother asks is not worthy of note and I am wrong not to ignore him as well

So, I get them off my back . . . and then I get a phone call. Okay, fine, we're talking, talking, talking and then that call is over and I settle in. I always call my mother in the evening to make certain she is all right; tonight she called me and after a while I told her I was reading, almost to the end of the book. Finally, finally she gets off the line.

Then 30 minutes later the phone goes off on the table, playing Honky Tonk Blues and vibrating against the wood. And I knew. I really, really knew. I answered with a gritted out hello and I heard, "Did you finish your book and then . . . and this is from a notoriously grouchy lady . . . laughter.

This is that lady, in case you don't remember:

posted by Jody @ 11:51 PM 0 Comments

Sign of spring . . . finally

ACK! Blue color washed out in sunlight.

posted by Jody @ 11:11 AM 0 Comments

Earthquake felt in Kendallville, Indiana . . . after memory tweaking

They had an earthquake this morning in some 130+ miles east of St. Louis - a 5.4 or 5.5 (now being listed as a 5.2) and I didn't feel it. Although some news reports said it was felt as far north as southern Michigan and that building's in Chicago's Loop swayed, I DIDN'T FEEL IT.

I was awake, but stretched out on the sofa, thinking should I doze or keep reading. At one point the dog jumped down, turned around and stuck his nose in my face - maybe it was the earthquake, but I assumed he wanted a dog biscuit to add to his collection. Later I saw the breaking news story, but didn't say anything to anyone in the house. My daughter-in-law just now caught a snatch of the story on TV and exclaimed, "Oh, my gosh, I felt it!"

She's a nurse and she said, "I knew I wasn't having a seizure because I was alert." Okay. Well, I missed it. I can't remember even being vibrated on a cushion sensation. Nothing, Zilch. Even the over-piled coffee table by my usual sitting spot remained unchanged.

Wait a minute . . . you know how police go over and over the questioning of a subject . . . I think I was aware of it; I remember thinking, that, gee the dog is vibrating against my legs.

So maybe I did feel an earthquake, but I had to figure it out . . . maybe it is a false memory. Perhaps if I keep thinking about it, I will suddenly remember being shaken onto the floor as the ceiling fan swayed menacingly above me.

It couldn't have been too much, though, because I was not aware of my body's extra weight feeling like a bowl full of jelly .

posted by Jody @ 11:10 AM 0 Comments

Hot icebox

I know it is not an icebox; it is a refrigerator - the thing that sits in my kitchen. I sometimes call it an icebox, though.

The summer I was born, my father delivered blocks of ice for iceboxes. He was a teacher then and I think he worked for my great uncle's ice business. My grandmother had an icebox, I'm certain. I vaguely remember it. But then we also had a 1948 Frigidaire and to tell you the truth, I don't know if it is still working or not. I know it was a few years ago. It had this little, tiny freezer compartment that came down like a nodule from the inside top - and icecube trays that had a little ratchet type release handle.

I have always been behind the times when it has come to icebox improvements. I did not have an icemaker for decades . . . and only a few years ago did I get a refrigerator that dispenses ice through the door, as well as chilled water - which I don't use.

Yesterday, the divider that separates the freezer part and the refrigerator half got really hot. I vacuumed the coils, but that didn't help. So I called the local repairman; he made a point of getting over last night and found the hose for the water had blocked the compressor fan. So he unblocked it. I paid him and he left, and then I turned to the newly-revealed accumulation of gunky dirt in the refrigerator area and thought, "Oh, my God." So we made a stab at cleaning it. I took no pictures, no pictures at all.

Gosh, I'm a yucky housekeeper . . . I need a maid - or to move every year.

posted by Jody @ 7:10 AM 0 Comments

Hey! The driveway moved.

Now that the snow pack has completely melted off and the trapped leaves beneath it been raked - to some degree - I see that the driveway is not where we assumed it was. That is, to be blunt about it, the actually cement is closer to the spruce tree and farther away from the hedge. We had been quite comfortable making the curve between the two, using the frozen snow path as a guide. As it turns out, the spruce stretched out at the bottom and we were making a bigger arc.

Jody with clippers . . . Ah, the thought is scary, and gets scarier when I think of putting a ladder against the trunk and just dropping those lower branches. Hey, I've been watching Ax Men. Maybe if I watched the show while staying at an Holiday Inn Express, I would be a real expert.

Jody with a chain saw!!! Yes!!! The possibilities . . .

posted by Jody @ 7:09 AM 0 Comments

Mother has her TV converter box

Yes, the coupons came - she says they look like a credit card - and Mother took one of them up to the Wal-Mart in Sturgis, Michigan and purchased a Magnavox model for $49.95 or something like that. (The coupon took that down to $9.95 plus tax.) Since she has 90 days to use them, she is going to check into other manufacturers' product. But now she has this one and we will be hooking it up . . . just kind of for the heck of it, out of curiosity, if you will. We know it's a long time until next February, but heck, we don't want to delay and wind up facing the Christmas Eve Toy Putting Together Syndrome. Now, that's stress.

I'm grateful that these coupons are available because my mother, child of the Great Depression as she is, might decide to forgo getting a converter box and just do more reading. Not that reading wouldn't be fine, but I really would like for her to have some way to watch news stories and important happenings . . . such as the attack on the World Trade Center.

posted by Jody @ 8:23 AM 0 Comments

Two Roberts - 1971 - Kingman, Indiana

posted by Jody @ 10:24 AM 0 Comments

There will be Blood - I watched it for Redbox

Gee, I don't know about this movie. Well, that is inaccurate; I do know something about it - I watched it once, fell asleep in the middle and then watched it over again. Today I watched scenes for a second and sometimes third time.

I think it is a sad movie; I wouldn't rent it again or watch it if it shows up on TV in the future. And I am certain it will. I have seen it; I know what people are talking about when they speak of it; I understand the plot. I have done my homework. That is the way I think of it.

Not only did I find it sad, I found it slowly sad and getting sadder - maybe like a rock rolling downhill with reverse momentum.

I have heard some think it is a great movie; I think maybe it could have been.

I'm sticking with No Country for Old Men when it comes to this year's movies.

posted by Jody @ 8:19 AM 0 Comments