This and That – Maddie's Mom Writes

Stairs

Courtesy of RentCafe The first place Bernd and I lived after we got married was a very small bachelor apartment in Santa Ana, California. It was about 500 square feet and inspired efficiency and organization in all things. It didn’t always work out that way, but we did our best. Courtesy of Apartments.com This isContinue reading “Stairs”

Nobody Told Us: Projectile Car Ramps

Courtesy of Dragzine. Bernd’s car was white like this one but lifted higher in the back. The Chevy Nova of the time also looked a lot like the Chevy II, so it’s hard to be sure if this is actually the Chevy II. Years and years and years ago, when Bernd and I were firstContinue reading “Nobody Told Us: Projectile Car Ramps”

Nobody Told Us: Frozen Waste Pipes

EcoClean We are accustomed to cold winters. We lived for almost 28 years in the higher elevations of Arizona. Temperatures could dip into the single digits in the winter and we would get snow. But we never had a waste pipe freeze. We never had to do anything special to keep them from freezing. Didn’tContinue reading “Nobody Told Us: Frozen Waste Pipes”

Snow!

This one is from 12/22/22. There is even more snow now but the driveway looks messy so I didn’t include a picture from today. As a child, growing up in Southern California, I loved snow. The few times my parents took us to Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear were like magic for me. I couldn’tContinue reading “Snow!”

Safe Winter Driving

In actuality, the safest thing to do when the snow is falling and the temperatures are below freezing is to just stay home. That was advice that I gave myself and planned on heeding in the future no matter what my husband, Bernd, might have to say. Because we had everything set up for ourContinue reading “Safe Winter Driving”

Sam, or Not Sam

I like squirrels and we have a lot of squirrels where we live. Our neighbors have named some of them. One of them is named Sam. He’s a cheeky fellow who will take peanuts from their hands, but hasn’t yet let me get that close. We have a line of juniper trees in our backyard.Continue reading “Sam, or Not Sam”

I Remember Feeling Adult

It was coming up on Christmas. I was in my first year at college and I needed to do some Christmas shopping. I drove myself to the Whittwood Mall in Whittier, California. I figured they had enough different kinds of stores that I could find everything on my list. In the middle of all theContinue reading “I Remember Feeling Adult”

Fourth of July in Our Front Yard

Every year, Dad would put on a real show. He would visit all the fireworks stands (yes you could actually buy them openly in California at that time and did not have to go to Mexico for them). He would select only the best rockets and fountains and whirligigs. There were fire crackers (how heContinue reading “Fourth of July in Our Front Yard”

Fear In Advertising

I recently read a post by a very perspicacious WordPress blogger. It was about the power of curiosity to motivate. It got me to thinking. Really good writing and really good posts do that to me. My husband and I haven’t watched broadcast television in a very long time. We don’t stream either. We getContinue reading “Fear In Advertising”

Thunderstorms

There is so much to love about our home here in Wyoming. But there are a few things I miss about our previous home in Arizona. Thunderstorms are one of them. In our previous house, the nook off of our kitchen faced mainly east. During the summer, most of the weather came at us fromContinue reading “Thunderstorms”