A little off the top

 I started trimming bushes today

    We have 15 boxwoods along the front of the house.

    Jackie does not like it when they "touch" each other, so that means I have to trim.

    I had planned on doing 2, then resting, doing 2, then resting......just to give my aging body a break.

    I was starting the fifth one when a friend stopped by.  Thank heavens.

    I had not stopped to rest.  I had not followed my own script.  So a visit was lifesaver.

    I was not at work long because we made a run to Sycamore so Jackie could get her glasses adjusted.  So we do not waste a trip, I also went to Target, Menards, Ulta and Starbucks.  

    There are a couple of people outside the entrance to the shopping complex housing Ulta.  They hold signs asking for money.

    One guy waves at every car that passes, giving off a big smile. He is either deleriously happy or he's an idiot.  Either way, I take the back entrance out because I feel guilty sipping a $90 coffee near him.  Well, not 90, but a lot.

    I should not feel that way.  But I do.

    Anyway, Nadine was driving by and spotted me out working and stopped.  While here we chatted and solved some tech problems with our phones.  Rather Julia solved them.

    Tomorrow could be a rain day.  I would not mind that.

    But I would not mind getting the rest of the buses trimmed either.

    Time will tell.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

whew!!

 I was productive today

    That is unusual.

    Our morning help leaves at 11.  At a little after 10 I went out to the front porch for a 30 minute nap.

    I did not take my phone.

    Then there was a slight miscommunication.

    I woke at 11:45.

    Jackie rolled herself to the front door, opened it, and called me.  If she hadn't, I might still be asleep.

    I should have plainly said wake me when you leave.  But I didn't. Lesson learned.

    When I was a kid growing up in Chicago, we had a front porch that was partially screened in.

    There was a white iron chaise lounge, with a real comfy cushion, on the porch.

    Sometimes in the summer I would sleep out there, especially when it was hot.

    Sometimes I think about sleeping in my porch recliner at night.  It would be cool, comfy, and I could hear most of the night sounds.

    But for some reason, I am afraid to do it.

    I have visions of raccoons jumping on me, or skunks spraying me, or bats nesting in my heart.

    All of that is possible, but highly unlikely.  

    Still, it is enough of a worry to me that I would not sleep, but keep a sleepless vigil instead.

    Such is life, eh?

    Anyway, I mowed, worked in the garden, went to several stores, packaged meat for the freezer, (I bought 2 pounds of ground chuck to make into patties), played with Beth, and made supper.

    Sure, I still have sheets in the dryer.  And it was a little after 9 when I finished the dishes.

    I guess that nap helped.`

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

pa pa's day

 I had a wet Fathers Day

    I just checked my rain gauge and it had 1.3 inches in it. 

    That's a lot!

    I got a funny card from the girls.

    On the front it says:

Dad, You're strong, gentle and things would be crappy without you

    Inside it says:

You're a lot like toilet paper in that way

    I thought it was funny.

    The plan was to cook out, but the rain put a damper on that.

    So I cooked some steaks and butterfly chops in the house.  Not as good as on the grill, but the meat was fine.

    Throw in some macaroni salad, potato salad, twice baked cheesy potatoes, and some broccoli and it was a feast for a king.

    Plus Julia made key lime pie for dessert.

    Kevin, Jen, and Sam came over earlier in the day and. visited.  I got Kevin to take out the dead light in the kitchen, because I could not get it unscrewed.

    All in all it was a nice day.  

    But I am one tired poppa.

    It's hard to relax!

Peace and Love

    Especially Peace

aBout time

I thought it would be good to get my bike down 

    Thought.  That is the operative term.

    It never came off the ceiling hooks.  I need to get it down and ride because I feel it calms me and allows me to relax.

    Just do it.  Hey, that sounds like a good tag line for a shoe company.

    I mostly frittered away another day.  Yes, I did 2 loads of laundry and cleaned our bathroom, and let out Emily's dogs, but that was it.

    I spend a lot of time pondering this.

    Debut.   As in he made his stage debut. 

    Person alley, I think  of it as day butt, but that is me.  (Note the clever mis use of personally.)

    What I can't figure out is. the past tense.

    Debuted?     Or as I often say, de butted.  But it is day beud. 

    Neither correct pronunciation has the T pronounced but it is very prominent in the word.

    Then I got thinking of depot.  It's not de pot.  Again, the T is there but silent.

    The T is not silent on pot.  Or but.  Or butt.

    Put that de in front of its and it acts as a silencer.

    And I wonder why I don't get more done.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

eh

 Today was an "eh"  kind of day

    Nothing exciting.  Nothing really funny or odd.

    Just "eh."

    There was a car show at the museum.  Board members posed for pictures wearing our Celebrate 250 shirts.  

    Last month the car show had 40 or 50 cars if not more.  Today there were maybe 20.  It was just very low key.

    Maybe it was the threat of rain.  Who knows.

    An insurance company had a booth for a while.  They were giving out Rand McNally Road Atlases.  I got one, although I have no idea why.

    I guess it will be fun to look up various places.

    Map reading is a lost art.

    When I taught, some of the social studies lessons involved map reading, including using scale to estimate distances.  I bet that is a lost talent now.  All you have to do is say the location into a phone and you get directions, mileage and estimated time of travel.

    A couple of weeks ago I read about a 70 year old woman who was following her GPS and ended up turning onto the tracks of a light rail system.  She drove to the next station where they had to bring in special equipment to lift the car off the rails.

    I am just amazed that people can be that stupid.  

    That being said, the Reflecting Pool in Washington DC also seems to fit into the stupid category.     

    At least the Cubs won a squeaker.  

    And yes, I am feeling the eh tonight.

    Hopefully tomorrow will be a brighter day.

Peace and Love

    Especially Peace

diggin it

 I have a new project in my head

    I know it is June, but I just recently opened the bird feeder I got for Christmas.

    It takes video of the birds at the feeder.

    The feed gets sent to my phone, and then I can move it to my computer.

    But I have to mount the feeder on something.

    So I am thinking of getting a 6 ft. tall 4 x 4 of treated wood.  Then I will dig a 2 ft. deep hole and put the post in the hole, backfilling it with dirt.

    Then I will mount the bird feeder and the solar panel on the post.

    That sounds like a great plan until I realized how deep 2 feet is and how hard it will be for me to dig it.

    But that is my plan.  For now. 

    Once I start digging I may change my mind.  I may dig the hole before I buy the post.

    Jackie sits at the nook table for breakfast.  She needed to use the restroom today, and as soon as I got her in the restroom I went back to the kitchen and watched a deer dance through our yard.  Jackie missed seeing it by lesst than 3 minutes.

    I have not seem many deer this year.  I am happy, because that means the garden will have a chance to actually grow.

    If only I can figure out what is wrong with my strawberries.

    I also have to figure out how to connect hoses to the hydrants on the house so that they don't spray water.  I have replaced washers,  taken the hose off and reconnected it and still the damn things leak.

    And finally, my most frustrating issue.  The Rochelle paper used to be 3 times a week, then it went to 2 times, now it is once.  I love to do the crossword puzzle..... but for the third time the same puzzle has appeared!  Three times!!!!

    The first clue across is sealed with a kiss and the second clue is large sandwich........as much as I hate doing it, I am not renewing my subscription.

    It is no longer a newspaper....it is just a paper.

    Back to my crossword book.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

whew

 We missed the bulk of bad weather today

    It was windy.

    I was ready to get in the shower when Jackie started yelling for me.  I went to the nook table and said, "What?" in a highly aggravated manner because I only had on a facecloth.

    She yelled, "The grill!"

    I looked out and the grill had moved from the wall to the top of the steps.

    I quickly put on sweatpants and a shirt and went to fetch the grill, which actually had one wheel off the patio!

    Luckily no damage was done.  But that had to be a strong wind.

    We only got a little over half an inch of rain, which was a surprise.  From the forecasts and warning I thought we would be building an arc in the garage.

    The bigger, and yet unresolved, issue is temperature.

    Jackie was cold.  The house was at 67.  She asked me to raise the temperature.

    I raised it to 72.  Still cold.  I put it to 73.  Still cold.

    That's when I checked the vents and found no air was coming out of them!  No fan was running, no heat, nothing.

    I went downstairs and hit the reset and the furnace turned on for about 15 seconds and then shut down.

    HVAC people will be out tomorrow to have a look.

    On the brighter side, I found the blades for the Ninja chopper.  I have put the unit together on the pantry shelf.  A memory came flooding back to me.  I broke Julia's Ninja just about the time she moved out.  So I bought 2 of them, one for her and one for us.  But I kept the motor part of the old one, which made me think we actually had 2.  But we didn't.

    I went through the pantry and am embarrassed by things I found.

    Years ago our church hosted chili cook offs.  I made white chicken chili one year, using a package of white chicken chili seasoning.

    I found a package on the shelf. It had a best use by 2016 date on it.

    10 years!  I have had that for 10 years!

    I also threw numerous goods out that were 3 and 4 years past the best use by dates.

    It angers me that I bought stuff and never used it.

    But I was not comfortable trying it now.  Better safe than sick.

        Peace and Love

                Especially Peace