tree day

 Our new trees came today

    They showed up about 10:30 and were done in less than an hour.

    The trees look good.

    Tomorrow I will go and let the hose slow drip onto the bases.

    I also had the guys put the dirt from the holes in my yard cart.  I have some low spots in the field that rock my teeth when I mow, and hopefully I can fill those in  so my mowing ride is not as bad as it currently is.

    I took some water and a bucket of ice out to the crew.  I thought it was warm.  They seemed to appreciate it.

    I also bought a new desk chair.

    Local furniture store had a couple, I bought the one I liked best.

    I brought it in the house and Jackie looked at it and said, "Why is it crooked?"

    Sure enough....the back pad is not on straight.  I will go back tomorrow or Friday and see what can be done about that.

    But it is a nice chair.  Doesn't sink.

    And big news.....I took the old chair out to the road in case someone wants it!  I also put 2 rakes and a spade out there, hoping someone a use them.

    Getting rid of things is hard for me.  So that is a big step.

    Aside from that, the news of the day depresses me more and more.  It's like the world has gone crazy.

Petace and Love

confused

 This was a weird kind of day

    My stupid desk chair started it.

    After sitting real low, I went downstairs to take Julia's chair.  She has a new one at her new house and left her pink one behind.

    Pink.  Lavender. Whatever.

    It is not a heavy chair.

    Last night at 10:30 I decided to bring it up.

    I sometimes do not make the best choices.  At one point I pictured myself falling backward, chair on top of me, and crashing into a wall or cement floor.  

    I teetered, I swayed, I survived.

    I thought of stopping, but it is hard to stop in the middle of a staircase with a chair  wrapped around your middle.

    My trees are coming tomorrow!  I am super excited.

    Julia also has some trees, but she never got a call and so she did not put her markers out.  She doesn't think JULIE came to mark her lot, because the flags were not out.

    I was a little surprised when a guy rang our doorbell.  I opened it and it was a JULIE worker.  He said they had an emergency marking for my house, but he marked it a few days ago.

    I said I didn't call it in, but my daughter in Oregon does not think her spots were marked and she called.

    Evidently having 2 Dickows was too much for either the nursery or JULIE.

    Hopefully it is all straightened out in the morning.

    Back to my chair.

    I figured out how to raise it.  But when I sit in it, it slowly sinks.  I won't order one on line because you have to "feel" chair to know if you like it.

    That won't be until sometime next week because we have a pretty busy week ahead.

    But that's a story for another day.

Peace and Love

Eh???? What????

 I went to talk hearing aids today

    The good doctor recommended I just carry one of those ear horns, the ones that look like a ram's horn.

    "Hold it up to your bad ear and have people talk right into it."

    There were a variety of colors to choose from, so I picked the brown and orange striped one.

    I just hope people don't mistake me for a mountain goat instead of an old goat.  

    Actually, I opted for some hearing aids the good doctor has never used because they are so new.  So in effect, I am her guinea pig.  We will both be learning the technology together.

    And I have 30 days token them  to use it or try another option.

    Since I was in DeKalb, I thought I would buy a new desk chair.

    Mine seems to have broken.  When I sit in it, my chin barely reaches above the desk.  I feel like I am 6.  I tried raising it, but it does not want to go up at all.

    I drove over to Office Max, only to find out it is no longer anger there.  (Jackie said it has not been there for years....where have I been?)

    In fact, there are no office supply stores in DeKalb or Sycamore.  An area with a population of 40,000 with another 15,000 at the university and no office supply store.  

    Huh,

    I also stopped at HyVee because Monday's  are senior days and you get 10 percent off your bill.  Or 5 percent, I forget which.

    My final stop was Portillo's.  

    Today their special offer was half off cheeseburgers.  

    I went to place my order, and that's where the problem started.

    At some point I accidentally called friend John.   After I quickly hung up he called back to check I was all right, and I could not figure out the app on my phone....I just kept punching buttons.  So I do what I do, I just gave the young man at the counter my   phone and he punched in the information.  I started out as the only person in line, but now there were 3 people behind me and I could read their minds.

    Placed the order, thanked the young guy, and wondered if I was ever going to figure out the world of apps and cell phones.

    By the way, I got a double cheeseburger, which is $10,59.  But because it was cheeseburger day, mine was half  off!  

    I expected 2 small patties, but the patties were huge!  I only ate half for supper.

    The crowning point was on the way home I can not say, "Siri, call home," because that feature seems to not work in the car anymore.  Something I did at Portillo's, no doubt.

    This has happened before and it was super easy to reconnect.  

    I just don't remember how to do it.

    I need to adopt a young person to help with technology.

Peace and Love

awww, damn

Dogs are a source of great happiness, and sadness

    Emily's dog, Liam, passed away today.

    He was an Irish Wolfhound.

    He was huge and one of the friendliest dogs you could imagine.  His size was intimidating, but his nudging for pets was so darn sweet.

    Liam was a victim of divorce, if I remember correctly. 

    The couple had him for 8 years, but divorced and neither could find a home for him.  He went to Emily's as a foster..... and never left.

    That was 2 years ago, but it seems like a much longer time.

    Liam was approaching 10, which is old for a dog of his size.  I t think when she got him she knew he would not be in her life for a long time.

    But it is still hard when the time comes to let go.

    That's all I got.

Peace and Love

ding, dong

 Our doorbells are finally working

    We got them for Christmas so Jackie could "answer" the door when I am not home.

    A son of a friend came over today and spent a couple of hours working through the directions and getting them up and going.   A big shout out to Caleb for  all the work he put into it.

    Now I have to figure out how to connect Jackie's phone to the system.  (Hell, Julia or Emily have to figure out how to connect the phone.  Might as well be honest.)

    There was a Hispanic festival in downtown Rochelle this evening.

    Jackie and I were both in the mood for some Mexican food, so after I went to the store I stopped at the festival.

    That might have been a mistake.

    I don't hear well.  My hearing aids amplify sound, they don't filter out the unwanted noise.

    So when I tried to order while people were talking and a Mexican folk dance group was performing to music, the pretty young thing taking my order had to ask me several times what I wanted because I could not hear her.

    During a break in the music, I placed my order.

    But the music started up again, a woman turned to me and asked me a question and I said, "Sure."

    She might have said, "There are several flies in our beef, do you still want it?

    Or, "Sorry, w only have shredded horse left."

    Or, "You look like a nice guy, but are you a freakin idiot?"

    I said sure, not knowing what I was agreeing to.

    The food was good. That's all that matters, right?

    Neighborhood kids enjoyed a hayride this evening.  A tractor pulled a rack filled with hay bales and little kids around the neighborhood. They looked like they were all having a good time.  I should have gotten on!

    That's all for my mundane life.

    Hope you have a safe weekend.

Peace and Love

hot, hot, and hot

 Our forecast for the next week is calling for heat

    I don't like that!

    Give me a day with the temps in the mid 70s and low humidity and I will be as happy as a monarch on milkweed.

    When. I was younger, the heat didn't bother me at all.  We would play baseball and it would be 124 outside and we would not even sweat.  We'd play all day, in the heat, and never complain.

    And we did not have the luxury of air conditioning.  I would have to get some ice cubes and stick them down my shirt for any cooling benefit.

    Now I can't even walk out to the mailbox without griping.

    Warm streaks are not uncommon  in the fall. But this summer seemed to be hot enough that we don't need more hot days.

    I don't think this is an Indian Summer.  Those usually happen in October or November and if I remember correctly from my  youth, usually after a freeze or frost.  So this hot spell coming up is not a real Indian Summer.  I don't think.

    Made a quick trip to Julia's house to take a dead ground squirrel out of one of her window wells. Yes, he was dead, not napping.

    She said  it  ran under the cover as she was walking around the house yesterday.  Today it was dead.  I just wonder if it was one of the ones we fished out of the well last week.

    In Casablanca Rick says a line that goes something like:  "Yesterday they were just 2 German couriers. Today they are the honored dead."

    Today the ground squirrel is among the honored dead who have sacrificed their lives in window wells.

    And life goes on.

Peace and Love

    

Mr. Clean?

 I had to catch up the past 2 days

    Usually, not always, I do a  pretty good job at keeping up with laundry.

    Towels on Wednesday and Saturday, sheets on Monday, the rest as needed.

    Well, I was surprised to see I had 3 loads to do in 1day!

    I wasn't paying attention until I noticed my underwear supply was running low.

    And Jackie was getting short on jeans.

    So I  did a load of jeans and discovered something about myself.

    Personal grooming isn't high on my list, evidently.

    Jackie wears jeans for 1 or 2 days. In my load of jeans she had 8 pairs.  I had 2.  

    I must not be putting on clean jeans often enough!  Sigh.

    I cleaned our bathroom today.  We do have a cleaning lady every other week, so I clean it on the week she is not here.

    I picked up my cleaning bucket and there was liquid on the bottom.  I picked up my spray bottle of cleaner and it was leaking profusely from 2 spots on the bottom.

    How does that happen?  It had not been touched in 2 weeks!  How can it leak?

    Because I never throw stuff out, I did have an empty spray bottle of the same cleaner into which  I transferred  the leaker.

    We have a Nest thermostat.  When it got cold, Jackie told me to set it on the heat/cool option, so when it hits a certain temperature the AC or heat will come on.

    I have had trouble sleeping the last three nights. Last night I put the AC back on, the house got cool, and I slept like a baby.  I think it was just too warm in the bedroom.

    Since Jackie has allergies we can't open the windows at night.  I could sleep in our spare bedroom, and open the windows, but there is no guarantee I would hear her if she called in the middle of the night.  The AC helps.

    I think it would have gone on today anyway, and for sure this weekend.  Are we really going to hit 90 on Sunday?  Yikes.

    There.  More information about me you will never have to wonder about again.

Peace and Love