Humidity

-Varmt välkommen hit- If your name is Jörgen or Örjan , then today is your day! I woke up at 4am to lightning and thunder. Did not stay awake long. Still thunder when I got up around 730am. I went out to feed the cats and almost passed out! The humidity was oppressive. One of the worst days. At noon there was some sunshine which really made it worse. Tonite the wind came up and it cooled off a bit. I sat outside and it was pretty nice, but now the wind is gone and it is oppressive again. I hate summer. Just sayin’. I had Swedish group to day. We had a ‘real’ Swede talk to us. Her name is Camilla and she is from the Karlstad area. She is related to a local man. She was kind of nervous to talk to us but she did really well. It was fun to hear about all she has done here and how she lives at home. She came here in May and will probably be in university this autumn. At least she has applied. The rest of my day was boring. I was just lazy. Jo has a ‘boyfriend’ now. Willie is less than pleased. But WHO was supposed to take her to get fixed??? Not I. We have a stray German shepherd hanging around. So far unable to find the owner. If no one claims him I guess we will try to keep him. He is gorgeous. Jo has an app’t with the vet on Tuesday. Willie is already suffering separation anxiety. He may have to take a sleeping bag and stay with her overnite!! She is gonna be really upset too. Find me at http://twitter.com/j5uliana And now it is up to us to look at the Man or woman in the mirror And change the way We treat each other. Create your own visitor map! Julie-Ann den  10-07-09       Hemlängtan för Sverige!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous

Quiet times

-Varmt välkommen hit- If your name is Jörgen or Örjan , then today is your day! I have had a quiet week. Probably needed it. I did nothing yesterday. Did not feel up to par. Did not sleep real soundly which did not help. I mostly rested — took a nap and to bed early. Today is pretty quiet also. No plans except the Schwan’s man comes today. Now that is exciting!! Not! Today is my grandson Chris’ birthday. He turns 21. I hope he has a great day. Yesterday was my daughter’s birthday. I was sorry I remembered. No wonder I felt sick. Certainly not a happy day for us here. I am sure not the best for her either, but she has to live with the life choices she has made. And only she can change her life. Sunday will be my granddaughter Ashley’s birthday. There were some really bad bad storms last nite. They came within a few miles of us so we could hear the thunder and see the lightning. In places there was golf ball to baseball sized hail. Some reported it hailed for at least 30 min. Hundreds and hundreds of cars have broken windows and tons of dents. Electricity was out in places. Glad we missed the fun!! The photos below are from last nite. I borrowed them from my WeatherBug. Find me at http://twitter.com/j5uliana And now it is up to us to look at the Man or woman in the mirror And change the way We treat each other. Create your own visitor map! Julie-Ann den  09-07-09       Hemlängtan för Sverige!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous

Errands

-Varmt välkommen hit- If your name is Esaias or Jessika, then today is your day! I had a slow day. The weather was pretty nice. Warm but not too humid. Nice breeze. Sat out tonite with the cats and dog. Even Willie sat for a while. I drove to Abilene for my insulin. I had eaten a late breakfast so stopped at McDonald’s for lunch. I really do not like their food but am fond of their chicken nuggets. Back in Salina I just *had* to go to Walgreen’s. Spent waaay too much on *necessities*. Then on to Smoky River Meats for some hamburger and pork chops. Best meat in town. I taped Michael Jackson’s memorial while I was gone. It was done well and very moving at times. And there was no problems which is nice. Sad how much it cost the city though when they are having such financial troubles. Does anyone know how to turn off a mind, short of being drunk or drugged?? My mind just goes on and on. Sat outside and it was so pleasant and relaxing but I can only feel panic. And where do those awful thoughts come from? Driving me crazy. Gotta dig out my meditation tapes and see if that helps. Or call my acupuncturist. Mom was on my mind tonite. Maybe that is bothering me. We used to talk on the phone every nite. And as they aged, we talked twice a day. She and Dad had done the same with her uncle who lived on a farm. When she was first in the home, we talked daily, but then she could no longer remember my phone number. I miss those calls. And that tradition of checking on an older relative stopped with me. There is no one from the next generation who cares about anyone but themselves. The next generation, there is a bit of hope. If my grandson can get his sh** together, he is very caring of others.  Kind of sad. Took no photos today. Just too lazy!!! And nothing interesting in my vicinity. Top photo from 2006. Find me at http://twitter.com/j5uliana And now it is up to us to look at the Man or woman in the mirror And change the way We treat each other. Create your own visitor map! Julie-Ann den  06-07-09       Hemlängtan för Sverige!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous

Boring days

-Varmt välkommen hit- If your name is Esaias or Jessika, then today is your day! Yesterday I met John for lunch at Jalisco’s. It was pretty crowded. Then I unlocked the studio for him. I swear, he works more than the ‘real’ docents do! The air was so nice and cool last evening I sat outside with the cats. So fun to watch them play and run. Today all I did was have an acupuncture treatment. I have really felt well. No idea why. I would think with all the stress of harvest my back would be hurting but it is not. And the family issues and game playing that goes on usually bothers me but no more. Other than that a boring day. Willie has all the harvest machinery home and is cleaning it all up. Jo is never far away while he works. It was not really hot today but muggy. The heat returns soon. I even saw one day might get up to 106F or 41C this week. With the extreme heat we have had, the roads are buckling. The heat causes spots in our roads to sort of bubble up and explode. Leaves blacktop sticking up and then a large hole. Usually this does not happen until late July or August. And bugs. God awful bugs. Ticks have been rampant this year. We have put stuff on Jo to kill them but they survive. I never get a tick on my and this year have found 4-5 crawling on me. I just hate them!! And now the grasshoppers are starting. We never had them until about 3 years ago. They get just thick. And eat everything in sight. I truly hate summer. Just sayin’. Three kittens have commandeered my lawn chair. They slept in it all afternoon today!! Very cute! Jo like to play with the kittens. She never hurts them but wants them to run so she can chase. They are never far from the porch so it is a short run. I got photos of a couple of kittens with their ears laid back and hissing. Jo would gently just nudge them with her paw hoping for action. Find me at http://twitter.com/j5uliana There is always more. Peace now. Freedom now. Equality now. Justice forever. Create your own visitor map! Julie-Ann den  06-07-09       Hemlängtan för Sverige!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous

Work & 4th of July

-Varmt välkommen hit- If your name is Ulla or Ulrika, then today is your day! Holiday or not, I had to work at the Red Barn this afternoon. Had 1 tour. I actually got quite a bit done after that. Then. Willie called. He was in Salina and our truck had quit – radiator belt had burned up. He needed our nephew’s mobile number. Gave it to him but no answer so I decided to close up the studio and head out to get him. My stress just went through the roof. I have been having panic attacks this week. Just as I was leaving, Willie called again. Nephew called. I could finish work. Tonite we were invited to our niece’s parents home for a bbq. My heart was not in going. I took a short nap that did not help my feeling panicky. But we went. And was I glad!!! The food was really good. I had a long conversation with someone I do not know well. She works at the county jail. Fascinating. After we ate there were fireworks for all the little kids. How fun to see! The farm we were at sits on a hill. The view was breath-taking. And we could see all the fireworks in Lindsborg. The city had none this year but private fireworks were plentiful and a joy to see. I felt quite relaxed. I thought our days of family celebrations and little kids were long gone since our grandkids grown and most family is long gone. Glad I am wrong. And nice that they ínclude us in their family. We are lucky to have the nicest nieces and nephews ever. Our weather was pretty nice today. Never hit 90F. Tonite sitting outside it actually felt cold. It was 73F when we left but it felt like 60F. I am still chilled here at home. It was mostly cloudy most of the day then became partly sunny later. Nothing on the radar tonite. Find me at http://twitter.com/j5uliana There is always more. Peace now. Freedom now. Equality now. Justice forever. Create your own visitor map! Julie-Ann den  29-06-09       Hemlängtan för Sverige!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous

Warmer and rain

-Varmt välkommen hit- If your name is Aurora-, then today is your day! I had Swedish group this morning. It was my show today!! I brought the lunch, made coffee, and was supposed to have the program. My program got cancelled. One of the members had a guest who actually *wanted* to give a program!!! And a good one at that! I will save mine for later. We missed last week and I ate to ask someone when it is 2 weeks until our next meeting. They might forget and I will forget to call to remind them. Just easier for me to bring. I brought brownies, cream puffs, and eclairs. The puffs and eclairs are in the freezer area of Dillon’s. They are tiny. And too good for words. This afternoon I kept busy. Did some laundry, and dealt with dishes in the sink. I had to make soap for my laundry out of my soap nuts. Then I helped Willie move more equipment around. It all is where is should be now. I went outside this evening with my camera and the cats. We walked around the yard. I found cool things to photograph. The cats all followed me and played and chased —– always around my legs and/or where I wanted to photograph. But we had fun. Huge rain cloud was in the NW. Now it has spawned a tornado to the north of us. The stuck us in a thunderstorm warning but no idea why. Nothing going on here, but that can change fast. I hear a bit of rumbling. And I hear raindrops. Now a tornado warning for NW Salina County, my county. Sirens going in Salina. I am in the southern part of the country. Not too worried. They should move away from us.  We have rain now There was strong winds way to the west and with golf ball size hail. They can keep that. Find me at http://twitter.com/j5uliana There is always more. Peace now. Freedom now. Equality now. Justice forever. Create your own visitor map! Julie-Ann den  29-06-09       Hemlängtan för Sverige!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous

Happy 4th of July 2009

-Varmt välkommen hit- The Story of Independence Day And America’s Birthday Independence Day is the national holiday of the United States of America commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the time of the signing the US consisted of 13 colonies under the rule of England’s King George III. There was growing unrest in the colonies concerning the taxes that had to be paid to England. This was commonly referred to as “Taxation without Representation” as the colonists did not have any representation in the English Parliament and had no say in what went on. As the unrest grew in the colonies, King George sent extra troops to help control any rebellion. In 1774 the 13 colonies sent delegates to Philadelphia Pennsylvania to form the First Continental Congress. The delegates were unhappy with England, but were not yet ready to declare war. In April 1775 as the King’s troops advanced on Concord Massachusetts Paul Revere would sound the alarm that “The British are coming, the British are coming” as he rode his horse through the late night streets. The battle of Concord and its “shot heard round the world” would mark the unofficial beginning of the colonies war for Independence. The following May the colonies again sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress. For almost a year the congress tried to work out its differences with England, again without formally declaring war. By June 1776 their efforts had become hopeless and a committee was formed to compose a formal declaration of independence. Headed by Thomas Jefferson, the committee included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman. Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the first draft which was presented to the congress on June 28. After various changes a vote was taken late in the afternoon of July 4th. Of the 13 colonies, 9 voted in favor of the Declaration, 2 – Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted No, Delaware undecided and New York abstained. To make it official John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence. It is said that John Hancock signed his name “with a great flourish” so “King George can read that without spectacles!.” The following day copies of the Declaration were distributed. The first newspaper to print the Declaration was the Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 6, 1776. On July 8th the Declaration had its first public reading in Philadelphia’s Independence Square. Twice that day the Declaration was read to cheering crowds and pealing church bells. Even the bell in Independence Hall was rung. The “Province Bell” would later be renamed “Liberty Bell” after its inscription - Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof And although the signing of the Declaration was not completed until August, the 4th of July has been accepted as the official anniversary of United States independence. The first Independence Day celebration took place the following year – July 4 1777. By the early 1800s the traditions of parades, picnics, and fireworks were established as the way to celebrate America’s birthday. And although fireworks have been banned in most places because of their danger, most towns and cities usually have big firework displays for all to see and enjoy. If your name is —, then today is your day! Find me at http://twitter.com/j5uliana There is always more. Peace now. Freedom now. Equality now. Justice forever. Create your own visitor map! Julie-Ann den  29-06-09       Hemlängtan för Sverige!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous

Monas Dare – The Sky

This little “Game”, “Competition” or whatever I shall call it – it is not a contest! I came up with this idea (Maybe some will think it is corny… Silly or whatever, but then they do not have to join so there! Lol) I just thought this could be a fun way to get to know each other, get our inspiration going and use our cameras or painting programs! I call this game “I dare you!” and every Friday I will dare you to show me something! (Nothing nude or nasty!!) Obviously it has to be your own photos, or graphics! I changed one thing, it doesn’t have to be a NEW photo, you can pick any photo or graphics you have! This Friday I will make it an easy one, I dare you to show me a photo of the sky. Leave the link HERE in my comments so I can come and see! My entry is several photos. Too hard to pick just one!! First is a wall cloud that did in fact spawn a tornado. This was at our farm. Had 3 tornadoes that nite, one of which almost destroyed Chapman KS. I cannot put into words the awesome power this cloud had. It was perfectly still out but you could see and feel the power. It did not move fast at all but sat the and broiled and grew. It had my respect. Next one is the midnight sun in Sweden in 2006. I love it!! Midnattsol! This was taken in Hälsingland. Had taken my cousin Patrik to a beautiful forest lake to do some fly fishing. On the way homen to Järvsö we saw the sun and my cousin Gottfrid had to stop the car for me to get just the perfect shot. Then the sunset near Salina KS that was taken through my car window. The colours were awesome. And the last is thunderstorm clouds looking very angry. I love the different colours in the clouds. Create your own visitor map!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous

Bad nite, good day

-Varmt välkommen hit- If your name is Rosa or Rosita, then today is your day! I had a very very bad nite. We had our seed wheat in the yard and a field. It cannot or should not get wet. About 4am we awoke to thunder. Made a mad dash to the field in the car. Willie drove our wheat truck to someplace dry. I could barely see to drive. Then we drove the other one there. By now roads are getting muddy. I was sooo stressed. Getting awoke without warning, driving like a maniac, Willie really stressed. Got home and I was shaking inside. Could not get back to sleep. I would doze and then awaken, shaking again. I did sleep extra late but it did not help. Tonite I am fine. I managed to make it to Salina this afternoon. I am bringing food to club tomorrow and had to shop. And now that I can print, I needed a program to make cards with. I am in business again. On the way there and then home, I saw a female turkey near the road. Cool! Late this afternoon my blood sugar dipped. I felt pretty bad. I ate and lay down for a bit. Did not want supper and did not fix much. The weather was just to die for tonite. I sat out in the sun getting some Vit. D. The kittens were all playing. The air was cool. Just perfect. Rain forecast maybe later, tomorrow nite, Saturday. We are about 7 inches behind this year so we could use some rain. We had half an inch last nite. Yesterday was such a fun day on FaceBook. One of my friends there found several others we went to school with. I emailed a friend was the past back and forth all afternoon. And another new contact caught me up on her brothers. I was friends with 3 of them. She and one of her brothers always had their lockers near me. And I knew her parents. What nice memories! The top photo is one of our morning doves. They nest in our pine tree every year. Find me at http://twitter.com/j5uliana There is always more. Peace now. Freedom now. Equality now. Justice forever. Create your own visitor map! Julie-Ann den  29-06-09       Hemlängtan för Sverige!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous

Quiet day…

-Varmt välkommen hit- If your name is Aron or Mirjam, then today is your day! I had very quiet day. I slept in this morning. This afternoon I went through a stack of mail and a large stack of magazines. Then I dared to tackle the kitchen. Quite a wreck after trying to work and cook for harvest. We will have clean dishes for dinner. Harvest may be over but Willie’s mood is black. Many many of our wheat tickets are messed up. Since we own little of our own land (thanks Dad!!) and have landlords, the tickets must have the correct names on them. He has worked all day on trying to straighten them out and been in town twice. It is a mess. And dumb me, I today decided to work on getting my laptop to print wirelessly. Well, all was well until at one point I had to actually connect the printer to my laptop. Which meant I had to physically be in the office. Wow. Did someone’s short get in knots. I vacated it as soon as possible. Ugly. Jo is getting back to normal. The last 2 nites of harvest she would start bothering Willie around 2am just wanting attention. Then he would lock her out of the bedroom. Yesterday and today she has gotten to ride with him and even went to town twice today. And when she was in the house today, she actually laid in the living room instead of sulking back to the bedroom. I think she was really depressed. A guy I went to school with contacted me on FaceBook a month or two again. We chat pretty regular. Today he found some others who were in school with us and suggested to them to connect to me. I really figured they would not but to my surprise they did. One of them has sent me 4-5 messages this afternoon. What fun to catch up. He was a year older and our parents were best of friends for many years. NONE of my class mates are in touch with me. Just recently one connected to me on FaceBook but all the others never spoke again once we graduated. Just went separate ways. I know some do come back but I never see them and I refuse to go to my class reunions. Maybe if I had stayed close to some of them I would be interested. Probably would rather go to the class ahead of me. It was cooler today and much less humidity. This morning felt wonderful!! Sure it won’t last but nice for now. Want very cool and rain. Would be heaven. Find me at http://twitter.com/j5uliana There is always more. Peace now. Freedom now. Equality now. Justice forever. Create your own visitor map! Julie-Ann den  29-06-09       Hemlängtan för Sverige!

Posted via email from Juliana’s Posterous