so far, so good

 Well, we are all still here

    I just hope everyone  keeps their senses about what Iran did.  Restraint.  Restraint.

    Wish I could opt for restraint in my life!

    For those of you who know me, you know I am a pessimist and a worrier.

    I do like people.  Well, most people.  There are some I don't like, but I know there are people who don't like me.  Hard to believe, I know!

    We moved into this house almost 12 years ago.  Neighbors have come and gone, but they have all be great people.  

    The developers have taken a rather aggressive tact to rid themselves of the remaining empty lots.

    We have one lot next to us.  It's a really weird shape, like a  piece of pie.    It's something like 200 feet across at the front and 40 feet across at the back.

    I figured no one would ever buy it to build on because it is such a weird shape.  My neighbor mows more than half of it, and I finish the rest.  Honestly, I would rather see long grasses for birds and deer, but it is not my choice.

    Well, last week a culvert was dropped on the lot.  And surveyors came out to get an accurate reading of the lot.

    I went out and talked to them and asked if my property was in any way too close or over the property line.

    Well........yes and no.  I have dozens of plants that are not on my property.  

    Therein lies my dilemma. I can remove the plants now or I can wait until the new owners move in and explain the situation and see if they mind.

    Then I started thinking.....what if they don't like me?  What if they have kids with dirt bikes or 4 wheelers that will race around the detention pond?  What if they have teenagers that drive recklessly and play music so loud I won't be able to sleep?  What if they are Sox fans?  Or Cardinal fans?

    Or worse:   Green Bay Fans!

    What if they demand I remove the flowers immediately?

    So all those worries led me to sleepless nights, where I tossed and turned, and turned and tossed, and tossed again.  I would walk the house, worried about our next 6 years here with neighbors who proudly display Packer and Sox banners along with a Trump flag.

    What to do?

    After discussing this with Jackie, and hearing advice from Julia and Emily, we ended up buying the lot.

    I will talk to a lawyer about creating a landscaping easement between the two properties and when we sell this house, we can sell the lot too.

    Yes, I am a little crazy.  No, a lot crazy!  (Good pun, eh?)

    Speaking of lots, we took a drive out to Julia's lot today.  Some of the trees are marked for keeping and some for removal.  Once the junk gets cleared out they will stake the outline of the house and driveway.  She is getting close to breaking ground.

    By junk, I mean downed trees and branches and garbage trees.  

    Weather permitting, I think they will start. next week.  Or maybe this week.  I get confused on next and this when it comes to days and weeks.

    I'm old....and entitled to a little confusion.

    Happy July 4!

Peace and Love

imagine

 Sometimes I just don't get life at all

    Like how a group of people can hate another group of people for centuries, because of their religion, politics, or the color of their skin.

    It just baffles me that humans can hate so much, so long.

    The situation in the MidEast worries me.  I can see a lot of countries, including us, being sucked into a war that is unnecessary.  Hamas should have never sent in terrorists to kill innocent children, then run and hide in tunnels, hospitals and schools.

    Israel had a right to respond, but when does that response become revenge?  And when does it stop?

    Now Iran is getting into the act.

    Good grief, people.  We are one world.  Let's try John Lennon's idea of a world of peace.  People in all those countries, and Russia and Ukraine, should take to the streets and demand an end to the violence.  

    But that will never happen.  Imagine if it would.

    I guess I am tired.

    I had a busy day.

    Laundry, let Emily's the dogs out, power washed the front porch and back patio, over-coated  the outdoor wooden furniture with teak oil, moved stuff around in the garage.....more than I usually do in a week!

    Tomorrow I want to get the table, grill, chairs, and umbrella out to the patio and the Adirondack chairs out onto the porch.  Hopefully I will have enough space in the third garage stall to park the van and keep it safe from hail and storm damage Monday through Thursday.

    Julia will have to help me, like she did in getting it into the garage last fall, because I can't do it myself.  Even if I were 74 I couldn't!

    Oh hell.

    And the Cubs lost last night.  My flag is getting dusty.

Peace and Love

late night

I had a late night Friday 

    Emily and I went to see Pretty Woman - the Musical at the Coronado Theater in Rockford.

    The show started at 8 and ended about 10:30.  By the time I got home the Cubs had already lost and Jackie was ready to go to bed.

    I thought the show was pretty good, considering making a play out of the movie had to bet a big challenge.  It was a little sexy, because Vivian was a prostitute.  Hard to put her in a nun's habit with that job.

    The Coronado season is over and the next season has not been announced.  In a way it's nice, because the theater is close.  But the shows are only 1 night, so if you are busy that night you are out of luck.

    I am a little excited because the Paramount in Aurora is building a new theater and Million Dollar Quartet will be there sometime this summer.  I saw that in Chicago and it was a great show.  I can't wait to see it again. That show is about one magical night in Sun Records studio where Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Elvis and oh my gosh I am tired and forgot the fourth guy did a session together.  The show has great music and great talent when I saw it.  Carl Perkins.  He was the fourth guy.

    I guess I could edit all that stuff out...but I won't

    Anyway.......I digress.

    I always focus on one character in a non starring role and tonight the hotel bellhop seemed to be my favorite......not counting the blond in the red bikini outfit.  He was very funny in a non vocal way and he could really move on stage. he received a huge ovation  on the curtain call.

    That's my day.

    Thanks, Emily, for taking the old man out for the night!

Peace and Love

    

Oh, really?

 Garage door guy came today

    I may need a go fund me account.

    He rigged it so it is closed.  I am only supposed to open it in case of emergency, so my van will be in the driveway at night.

    Julia suggested moving all the shit from the third bay to the middle and parking there.  That would be a good idea but most of that stuff is for outside.  If I move it, it might as well be to outside and where I want it..

    Garage guy also pointed out I knocked 3 studs off the concrete footing...about an inch and a half.  This was not something he could fix, so another crew has to come out to do that.  But first, a salesman has to come out to write up an estimate.

    Cha Ching!  Cha Ching!!

    I then told him how it happened.  That I had backed my golf car up from the front of the garage, and could not get my foot off the go pedal.

    "Golf cart?  he asked, with raised eyebrows.  "Damn, that's impressive."

    Impressive?  Maybe.  But also pretty damn stupid.

    So all day today I was in a "I'm pretty damn stupid" mood and nothing seems to be taking me out of it. Not the ribs, or cream puff, or the 2 glasses of wine.

    Jackie was getting ready for bed and dropped her nightgown o the floor.  I picked it up, gave it to her, and took about 10 steps.  She dropped it again and started crying.  "I'm sorry I keep dropping it," she wailed.

    I said, "Well, it's not like you took the garage door out with a golf cart.  You dropped a nightgown."

    At least she laughed.    

    Which seems to be the universal response when I show someone a picture.  They laugh.  

    However, I am still trying to find the humor.  

    Especially when it is pouring rain and I am parking in the driveway.

    And Jackie was a little concerned that I posted all that yesterday.  She said anyone could come into the garage and break into the house.

    Of course, it was 4 a.m. when she said I should delete the post.  I said no.  She asked why.  I said, "Because it's 4 a.m.!

    However I did put a chair under the door handle....just in case.

Peace and Love

Good news, bad news

Bad news is I fell in the shower last night 

    God news is it was only a dream.  But I woke up with a start!  I even checked myself to see if I had broken anything, which I hadn't because it was only a dream.

    But holy crap, it seemed real at the time.

      More good news.  I was not hurt in an accident this afternoon.

    Bad news.....my garage door was.

        No, alcohol was not involved.

        I was carefully and slowly backing my gold cart out of the garage when I lost control.

        I hit the railing taking out the 2 x 4 that braced it to the ground.   Instead of taking my foot off the go pedal, I pushed down.  Hard.  The cart vaulted backward, aiming directly toward Julia's car.  I still kept my foot pressed all the way down on the go pedal. 

    I flew backwards across the garage...going at least 80 miles an hour. 

      I  barely missed Julia's car, then, not content with a near miss, I rammed the side of the garage door.

    Whey didn't I stop after hitting the railing?  Good question.  I wish I knew.

    Why didn't I stop as I backed toward Julia's car?  Again, good question.

    I did stop with a sudden jerk when I hit the garage door, however.

    I am not sure at what point my hand got hurt, but it is minor.

    I had Julia come up to check out her car and she looked at it all and laughed.  Then we showed pictures to Jackie and she laughed.  I called the garage door people and that person laughed.  Sheri was passing by and stopped, and she laughed.  By now I was laughing too, but I had some tears also.

    The golf cart?  Holy crap, not a scratch on it.  But there is some drywall.

    I am guessing a minimum $2500 in damages by the time it all gets put back together.  If I am lucky.

    All I can do is shake my head and try to laugh about it myself.  It is so stupid.  A golf cart.  I can't even drive a golf cart!!!

     We listened to the Cubs on TV last night.

    It remained me of the days I was a kid on Belle Plaine.  If the Cubs were on the West Coast I would go to bed, turn thy radio on, and listen o the game.  Was it Vince Lloyd?  Lloyd Petit?  I can almost hear their voices years later.

    The radio was a white Philco with a round golden dial right in the center.  AM only, you would turn the needle to about where the station was and eventually I would get WGN.  We were in the house in 1959, but I don't know when we actually moved into it.  Carl would know, but that is another question I will not find an answer to.

    At some point my mom or dad would come in and turn off the radio.  I don't think I ever heard who it was.

    Nowadays we set a timer.  I fell asleep before the end of the game last night , but woke up during the postgame show, then the timer went and the TV fell silent.

    I don't think I will sleep as well tonight.

Peace and Love

memories

 9 years ago, this was one of the hardest days of my life

    I should say our lives.

    This was the day an EF 4 tornado ripped through Emily's subdivision, destroying several houses and damage others to the point of demolition.

    It was a warm day.  Ripe for thunderstorms.

    A tornado was reported in the Ashton area needed north east, putting us in t he path.

    I took Jackie to our basement then looked out the back window to see trees flying through the park.

    After it passed, I went out in front and watched it move north east.

    I told Jackie to wait in the basement while I went to check on Emily's house.

    I could not go down Skare Road because of downed trees and power lines.  I had to go around the long way.

    When I got there, John (now Johanna) was standing in the driveway, just looking around, stunned and lost.

    Everywhere I looked I saw broken homes.  Standing in her driveway, I almost threw up.

    I went home to get leashes for the dogs we found while he went to Walmart to tell her.

    She wondered what was up when a friend texted her and said, "Oh Em, I am so sorry."

    To me it was a miracle no one in our area was injured.  The tornado hit Fairdale and killed 2 people, but it could have been a lot worse.

    Honestly, I still tear up thinking about what we could have lost hat day.  The house was rebuilt, and life went on.

    Thankfully.

    The response from the community was amazing.  Hundreds of people came to help clean up, and provide food and water.  And comfort.

    9 years ago today.  Seems like a lifetime.

Peace and Love

eclipse, not apocalypse

 Sometimes people are either stupid or joking

    I read a post from a congress person that said the eclipse and earthquakes were God's warning to us that we are sinners.

    Really?  That's when I thought: how freakin crazy are people to elect this woman?  OMG, she seems to have no concept of Earth and its many faults.  (Pun intended.  Earthquakes happen along faults.  Funny, huh?)

    Ah well.

    We all watched the eclipse today.  I really wish I was in an area with a total blackout.  That would have been neat.  I think I heard we were at 98 percent, but the lighting did not seem to be much different than before it started.

    And I am not sure about the temperature because we were chilled by the wind.

    Anyway, it was cool to see.  Several of the neighbors were out watching also.  And we all had glasses.

    I heard them call Carbondale the eclipse crossroads, because the 2017 eclipse also was total for those folks.

    I might  miss the next one too....I think it is 2049.

    I stopped at Cypress House for the special of the day, a Dark Side of the Moon.  It was a   dark chocolate cold brew and vanilla syrup.  That was pretty darn tasty!  I hope they still have them during the week.

    I also mowed today.  I don't ever remember mowing in early April, but the grass was long in spots.  It also looks like crap in spots.  Not dog crap, just crap.  I may buy some fertilizer to put on it.

    And I have to trim.  

    As I was mowing I thought of all the things I need to do outside, and now I will make a list.  It's not that I don't like doing the chores, but sometimes my hands hurt too much to work.  Damn Arther itis!

    Finally, I watched Perdue get smoked by U Conn.  There were 13 second left and I guess the station lost its feed, because the screen went black.  I wanted to see the net get cut down, but I turned off the set.

    Such is life.

Peace and Love

Before the eclipse started

At 2:07.....peak time.  Does not look much darker.

Jackie's magnolia still has some blooms....but they are fading.