I had to take a trip out to the county today to "unblanket" the horses. I saw a few baby calves on the drive out there! Many of them looked like they were recently born. I saw one with the umbilical cord still attached.

We have had two days of severe weather - FORTY DEGREES! We had to wear jackets! It has been such a mild winter here, this is probably the end of the cold weather for us. I guess Spring is here. I like the warm weather in Florida; but of course Summer will be brutal with temps. in the high ninties. I guess you have to take the good with the bad!

I have been trying to keep up with my exercise with walking everyday. I try to take a bike ride in the morning, then a walk. Usually the dogs want to go with me. I can't walk at a quick pace while wrangling the dogs, but I know they love to go and they need exercise too.

Fast forward

I have great dreams. They are always very vivid. Sometimes I dream about cop stuff and crime scenes that I have been to. Often times the dreams are scary and unresolved. Many times they are nonsense or just everyday happenings. Lately I have noticed that if I am going along in a dream and it seems mundane that I can fast forward. I attribute this new phenomeon to watching too much television. I have a digital recorder on the television. I can record shows when I am not home to watch later. Sometimes I fast forward through the boring parts when I am watching these shows. Who says that you can't teach an old dog new tricks?? My old brain has learned something. Weird.

Murphy bed installation

This morning Marion & I installed the bed in Preston's room. Installation is always the scariest part to me. Marion has proven to me more that once that NO ONE's walls are plumb; so securing a cabinet to a wall can be a nightmare if you don't know what you are doing. After years of being a "helper" I have watched Marion more than once square up kitchen cabinets that I thought would never go in. She knows all the secrets to making everything fit. Of course while all this is exciting to me - it is drudgery to Marion who refers to herself as an "old woman with a broken back". She bitches & curses the whole time. We installed this bed on the short wall next to the closet. Preston's room is only 12 ft. x12 ft. so there is limited space. He will have more room now when a few friends come over to play music or video games ; they won't have to sit on the bed. This is the way it works - the bed closes up into the cabinet. To open it you lift the handles (they become the feet) to unlatch the plungers that hold the bed into the cabinet. the cabinet has gas pistons which allow it to slowly lower with the weight of the mattress . To close, you just lift the bed and with very little pressure (you can do it with one finger!) it slowly rises and recesses into the cabinet. You push the handle legs flat to lock it in. I have fashioned a temporary shelf beside the bed to hold Preston's alarm clock, reading light, etc. This is only until I can talk Marion into building a matching side cabinet!!! As she drove away today I think I heard her yell back at me, "I 'm retired now so leave me the hell alone!" (I will give her a few weeks rest!)