potpourri

 Not a lot about anything tonight

    Still dizzy.  Still deaf.   Still tired.

    Such is life.

    A house was just built down the street from us.  According to Zillow the selling price was a bit over $400,000.

    Yikes!  That could be the most expensive home in the subdivision!!

    Julia and I went to her house today.  The forms are off the concrete walls and framing should start next week.  I have pictures, but it is late.  

    The garage floor looks about 3 feet above the ground.  We are both wondering how that will turn out.  

    On the way home we got some sweet corn, so tomorrow Jackie and I will husk and shuck the ears and I will blanch them and freeze them.  I only got 2 dozen ears.  Normally we do 6-8 dozen, but I don't want to do too much at one time.

    No deer in the yard today.  I did not go out to check tomatoes, but will tomorrow.  I hope.

    I might even fill bird feeders.  It has been over a week since I did. that.

    Julia took care of supper again tonight.......that is a big help to me.  She made rosti with chunks of bacon and lots of cheese.  And we had some corn to go with it.  Yummy!!

    I had a strange night overnight.

    One of my dreams was so weird, so detailed, so....... I don't know how to describe it.  I ended up in a store looking for my hotel because everybody abandoned me and I wanted to go back to the hotel.  But I did not remember the name, only where it was.  Sort of.

    The man in the store was very friendly but the store itself was filled with all kinds of bottles, jars, little boxes, books, magazines...... filled.

    At one point one of the jars was knocked off and when I went pick up the contents they were lady bugs. 

    I told him my hotel was by. the reflecting pool and along the interstate.  He called it a wasteland and told me what subways to take to get to it.

    But I also had a nightmare that someone was calling me.  I heard my name and when I woke up, the room was dark.  Jackie was asleep, but I could sense an uneasiness in the air.  It did give me some shivers.  

    It happened a second time, but without a voice.  It just felt like someone was watching me.

    As you can guess, sleep was a pretty spotty commodity!

    My imagination sometimes is a little too strong.

Peace and Love

stop, thief!!

 My tomato plants have not produced

    Seems there is a thief in the neighborhood.

     caught it red handed!

    Middle of the day!!

    My neighbor messaged me on FB and said there was a deer in my yard and sure enough....it was having a salad of sorts.  I was talking to my sister in law on the phone, but went outside to see.

    It was not frightened of us.  I went out, made noise, Julia went out, made noise and it kept munching my green tomatoes.  I think most of them are now gone.

    I did walk out towards it and it walked slowly to the back of the yard and hid in my native plants.  Then it came back

Nyah! Nyah!  Nyah!  ...can't see me now.  I am hiding!!

I don't think the ribs should be showing this much in summer when plenty of food is around.

    I did call the county animal control because to me the animal seemed very thin with some bald patches.  I know there has been chronic wasting syndrome reported in deer around us and I wondered if there was any agency I should contact to report it.  They did not think so and said that Mother Nature would just take its course.

    I figure coyotes will also play a part.

    I did feel sorry for it, but still did not want it to eat my veggies.

    I even hooked up the hose to spray it, but it seemed to enjoy the water.

    Oh well.

    Still dizzy.  Still can't hear.  Still frustrated. Still tired.  

    Maybe tomorrow.

Peace and Love

numbers

 It's funny how some numbers just stick to us

    I still remember my old phone number for Belle Plaine in Chicago, even though my mother moved out in 1977.  I still  remember friend John's phone number, and that has been at least 40 years.

    Back in those days we had letters for the first 2 entries.  Like my exchange was Buckingham, so my phone number start BU 1.  John's was GR for Graceland.  GR 2.  I don't know thy rhyme or reason for assigning the exchange names.

    I know my barber's, the hospital, the museum, the bank we use.....all sorts of numbers.

    But one that surprised me was the one that came up in a federal drug trial in Chicago.

    Seems one of the accused would go to Mexico to  buy burner phones for his team in New York.   He then would test them by calling a number.  He called a  Chicago number all the time.......588-2300.     

    If you are from the city, you must recognize the Empire Carpet number.  So, this big time drug dealer called Empire to check out his burner phone.

    Again, a number that is easy to remember because he dialed it so much.

    Like Hudson 3 2700, another carpet company in Chicago.  Started with a B......can't remember.

    Anyway, couple stopped by to drop something off at my house today.  I immediately called him by the wrong name.  I know his name.  I really do.  But, my foggy head sometimes isn't exact on what it wants to say or do.

    Still dizzy, still deaf, still tired.  Slept until 10 then slept from 1 to 3 and can barely keep my eyes open.

    Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

    Just for the record, Olympians are amazing.  

Peace and Love

    

ding dong

What can I say? 

    Still can't hear most sounds.

    But, I hear sounds.  Inside my head.  No, not voices telling me to do something, but noises.

    Like this morning.  I heard Swiss cow bells!  They were clanging in my right ear, the one that can't hear.  It was a peaceful sound.

    Ever since this has started I have gone t through phases of noises.

    Notice when you are watching a show set in a hospital there is always the beep beep beep of a monitor going off?

    I counted the times I heard that  my head.  Every 10- 20 seconds.  For days.  

    Yes, I could ignore it, but it would always come back.

    At another point I had a series of tones, like beep beep bong dong peep.  It was actually a nice little melody.... but not for as long as I heard it.

    I do have ringing in my ears.  That is a constant. 

    Before this started I used a noise machine and set it on the fan mode.  It sounded like an oscillating fan.  But I still hear the noise and I don't use the machine.

    Tonight I am hearing tinkling water.  That's the last thing a 76 year old wants to hear at bedtime.

    Thunder?  Yup, it's there.  

    Metal flapping in the breeze?  Ditto.

    Low drone?  Check it off.

    I slept a lot today.  I had to, because I was pretty dizzy most of the day.  My headache seems to have disappeared, but may be rebounding, I am not sure.

    I did have a good 1 hour window which allowed Jackie and me to chop up Curt's zucchini.  And folks, I do mean zucchini.  Nothing else.  We put up 5 - 2 cup bags of it.  When we make zucchini bread we use 2 cups, so we are all set to make 5 loaves.  Someday.

    Julia took care of Jackie's supper tonight and I think got her lunch while I was asleep.  To be honest, I don't remember.

    Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  I sure am getting tired of this.

    Sadly, there are people I know going through a lot worse than what I am.  Cancers, brain tumors, MS, Parkinson's....... and yet I am doing the moaning.

Peace and Love

happy anniversary

 I don't have much to say tonight

    One week ago I started feeling poorly. 

    Today was one of the worst days I have had.  I was better yesterday, but today..... not so hot.

    Dizzy, upset stomach, head ache, tired, listless.

    I feel like crap.

    Lawn was pretty long, so Julia mowed.

    Meanwhile, I sat around and did nothing... even napped a little.

     I woke up in time to watch the Cubs self destruct in the worst inning of baseball they have played this year.

    That didn't help.

    Pizza for supper.  While I don't have much of an appetite, I sure ate a lot.  

    Anyway, that's it.

Peace and Love

memories

Tonight was a night of good memories 

    But it was not what I thought it was!

    Years ago we saw the musical Margaritaville in downtown Chicago.

    Well, tonight at the Egyptian in DeKalb had Margaritaville.  I. thought it was the musical, but it wasn't.

    It was a Jimmy Buffett tribute band.

    Which was fine, but not what I expected.

    Emily and I went.  When we walked in and saw the set, I said it looked way different than what we saw in Chicago.  Then I wondered if they still had the zombies in the play.

    Now Emily was confused!

    Anyway, we had a pretty good time.

    I could hear most of the music, some of the commentary, and not a lot of crowd noise.  Luckily, I knew the words to most of the songs.

    And it was for sure an older group.  Not positive, but I think a few had never been to a Buffett show.  The beach balls and fins up seemed to be a "should we?"

    Four members of the group.  Only one sang.

    Some of the best times I have had at Jimmy's concerts.  Hanging with my friends, TC, CJ, CJ, BH, SK, CH, SK, SK and many more I can't remember.

    Going to Alpine Valley, boating on the lake, tailgating, getting home at 2 a.m., jello shots, great cheeseburgers,, rain, mud........a lot of fun times.

    Of course, Jimmy is gone.  Strange, I miss him a lot because he brought together so many people.  And created so much fun.  And good memories.

    Bubbles up, my friends.

Peace and Love

same old, same old

 Not much has changed around here

    Still can't hear, still dizzy, still tired, internet still dropping, Jackie still dropping.

    Oh, wait!  That is new!

    Either because of my unsteadiness or whatever, I missed her chair getting her out of bed this morning.  She did not fall, but she ended up on the floor.

    Julia came and we pushed Jackie so her feet were on the wall, then lifted her up and pushed the chair under her.  That's when I asked Julia how long it will take her to drive from her house to our house.

    Emily may be available some mornings, and other people, like Kevin, Curt, and Todd (3 different people) have said they would all help.  The goal is not to need anyone.

    Speaking of Curt, he dropped off some cucumbers and zucchini yesterday.  My cucumber plants have not even flowered!  He said his beans did real well while mine came out smaller than a #2 Ticonderoga.  (That is a pencil for all you technical people out there who never learned to use one or write in cursive.)

    And yesterday I had a high schooler mow the field for me.  That will be a regular occurrence.  Julia will mow the yard  this weekend but I may just have the kid do both in the future.  At least until my issues are cleared up.

    Julia kept track of interned drops today.  She recorded 19 by 4 p.m.  19 times we lost our internet connection.

    I went back on the help line and this time had alive chat with a real person!  I explained, again, the problem.  She ran some tests and said everything was fine.  I told her it was not.

    Julia came upstairs at about this time and took over the chat while I did another chore.

    When the lady said all systems look good and we should restart the modem, Julia typed (maybe in all caps) We have done that before and it does not work!

    She got transferred to a management person who arranged for another visit by a tech.

    So tomorrow a top line tech is coming out to check out our system.

    We have replaced the modem, put a new line out to the back, had techs twice run tests and nothing shows.  All I know is we keep dropping the internet.

    Tomorrow I am going to ask. them to put in a new router.  If that doesn't work, I don't know what will.  A new cable box in the back yard?

    It is just so frustrating to be in the middle of something and the connection is lost.

    Hopefully things are better tomorrow.

    But I am telling you....this ear this is getting me frustrated and depressed.  I when to the chiropractor today and he did some back adjsusting and worked on my neck and ear area, but there is not relief.

    He suggested some tree oil and coconut oil on a cotton ball and sticking it in my ear.

    For some reason, that makes me a little nervous.

    But then again, maybe it will help.  Gotta Google it.

Peace and Love

And some pictures

Me and my cup plant...which is taller than me!

Seed pods on the lead plant

This may be hard to see....but the leaves on the cup plant hold a little bit of moisture where they connect at the base.  That's why it is a cup plant.  The moisture can be used by birds and insects.

I have used my father's magnifying glass ever since he died in 1977.  I don't know how long he had it, but today I had to say good bye to it.  Seems glass breaks on cement surfaces.