G... Um...

You might notice I didn't write a blog yesterday.  It would have been Zzzz, not G.  So, I will write through Sunday, then I should be back on track again... I also haven't caught up on reading and replying, that will happen over the next few days.  I apologize, and thank you all for your continued reading and replying!

So, G is for Grandma's Kitchen.

My Grandma M. had a different kitchen, but it took me a long time to realize why.  One side had an electric stove, and a refrigerator.  There was the usual cupboards, sinks, and then... There was the wood cook stove.  And the wringer washer.  Right next to the electric dryer.

She lived at the end of what amounts to a canyon, and they lost power frequently.  Dad even remembers when they got power in the area...  So, they had to make sure they had a way to have heat and cooking when the power died.

I remember more than one dinner where veggies and sides were simmering on the electric stove, the main dish in the wood stove, and a pie or other dessert on the warming shelf above the stove.  I tended to stay very near the wood stove, to this day I love the heat from wood.   Grandma would admonish me not to play with the stove.  (I only played with the handles that you use to lift the lids.  That wire thing on the handle was interesting to me, for some reason...)

Grandma would wash the clothes, then run them through the wringer, where I was again admonished not to put fingers up near.  Pretty much, I wasn't supposed to do anything but sit quietly when she was washing.  I did sit, generally, but quiet?  Maybe not so much...

I also remember her flour and sugar bins.  They were HUGE!  You opened a cupboard door next to the sink, and there were these bins of sheet metal, basically a quarter circle, that I think could hold as much as 50 pounds or more of flour.  Again, they lived in place where a trip to the store wasn't just a quick jaunt.

Grandma also had gravity feed water.  This was great, wonderful water from the creek on the hill.  Until a bear found the new screen.  The bear thought the new screen was a great toy, and tore the heck out of it.  Dad ended up having to paint the screen black so it wasn't so noticeable to said bear...

Grandma now lives in a retirement home, with food available from a full kitchen with cooks.  Laundry is taken care of.  Water comes from the city.  It is so much easier for her.

But it just isn't as interesting, Darn it...

*****

I have been on the go of late.  In fact, I made a choice, I have been skipping a group thing I do on Mondays, so I can get more taken care of as far as shopping, and in-town chores.  I even need to get a haircut, but haven't managed to do so.  Just call me Mistress Fluffy, at the moment...  I did finish a pair of socks, but that was mostly because I knit while waiting, or when I was "on break" when doing my shift at the substation.  They have found some work for me to do, and there is a LOT of it, so I try to work on it for about 5 hours.  (It's checking information accuracy, and I check a paper printout against a computer. Much more than 5 hours, and my eyes cross...)  I also will be helping occasionally at the Sheriff's Office, they are having a Citizen's Academy, where I help with things like handing out and collecting papers, leading people to the restroom, (it's in a somewhat restricted area, so I am an escort), and generally helping as needed. 

So, I will be slowing down for a few days, then gearing up again, plus the yearly Doctor's appointment, which is when I am going to have to ask the Doc all sorts of questions.

Such as, if I can get my weight down, my energy up, and possibly adding an extra 2 or 3 hours in the day.

But somehow- I think he might not have much of an answer to the last one.

Meh.