Sunday Walk-About

Come with me while I take a walk-about around my wee home.  

I'm barefooted, so you might want to take off your shoes too?

As I step out onto my front porch.....

                                              This is the view from my top step

 Where the new people's house will go--facing the street--long ways

Jackie's house is blue, Dar next door(beige house)

Across from Dar, Pearl (green truck)

Tami-red car

 Jackie has some beautiful gardens--this one by our mail boxes

This one between her and Dar
Dar has no flowers--she hates gardening, but--she does have a nice sawdust pile there in the left background :-)

Back to my house

We'll take a walk around to the west

I see something way back there in my wild flower garden

 Oh my Gosh!  

It's an actual May/Mandrake apple!

It looks like a small Yellow Delicious apple,

but I think we had better not eat it!

Right to left:  Rose of Sharon-not blooming              

Forsythia, didn't bloom at all, but now, is growing like crazy!

Another Rose of Sharon bush with  one--count 'em--one bloom 

Lilac-Rose of Sharon-Lilac

 I have white and pink blossoms on this Rose of Sharon

My shed and fine crop of Zinnia's

Gidget Yappy Dog lives in that house on the left

I honestly thought this Rose of Sharon was dead.

I think parts of it are, but will wait to see

These blossoms are kind of purplish-mauve 

This poor Privet Hedge!
Our harsh winter sure did a number on it.
I may cut back the dead branches-
had thought to have them pulled out, but....

There is new growth on the bottom of each bush

Coming back around to the front

We usually don't look off to our right, because....

 There is a lot of "stuff" in Tami's yard
junk piled up by her porch and so many "things"

My poor tiny perennial garden in front is fading.

My Purple Hyacinth Bean plant

is growing nicely, but...

will I ever see a big purple pod? 

                                  

                             Back up to my front porch 

This came fluttering down from the Maple tree-
just as I stepped up on the bottom step

My Mother would have a fit and tell me, 

"Don't bring that in the house.  

It's probably covered with fleas!"

But--now that I live alone, I can put it in my Indian pottery bowl,

along with all my other collected feathers,

right next to my empty bird's nest. :-)

A nice walk-about on a gorgeous day. 

Introducing--My Other Neighbor

A continuation of last night's post.

<I never realized how difficult it is to write dialogue when one of the people curses every other word.  I will put in **** and you will have to use your imagination on the word.>

I was writing about Dar and stopped for a rest.  Went out and sat in my chair to watch part of the ballgame.  My living room windows were open to catch the nice, night air and all of a sudden.......

"Jude!  Do you know what I did?"  the loud voice of my next door neighbor Tami coming through the screen window behind my chair.  I jumped and Buddy flew off my lap and ran behind the couch.

"Hi, Tami, what's up."

"I told his ex-wife to leave us the hell alone.  You know what that stupid ***** did?  She told their daughter that Ron didn't have a bad heart attack and she wish he had and died so she could get his Social Security and I found out and I called her on the phone and I let her have it."

"Oh no.  Did.................................."

"I am not going to let that stupid ***** get away with that kind of talk.  She's the one who caused the stress that put Ron in the cardiac unit.  She's trying to kill him.  She leaves nasty messages on his phone.....she....oh Gawd--I'd like to run over her with my car.................she's just................oh man."
<all this time she is pacing outside the window and flinging her arms around>

"Do you know where she lives?"

"No.  I have no idea, but ....I bet I can look her name up on the computer and find her address.  I will go to her house and confront her and punch the **** out of her...did you hear what Dar did?"

"Ah--what?  Dar?...You mean across the street?  Ah--no."

"She got all over Rob's *** about that pile of sawdust.  She is insisting that the park take care of it.  That's her job.   That woman is nuts...totally and completely nuts!"
<and you are just like her>

"Hey--if I ever see that cardiologist you told me about....that ugly foreign guy--Chinese or something..."

"Fillipino."

"Whatever.  I'd like to slap him.  He is the stupidest, rudest doctor I have ever met....he told Ron that he only had a mild heart problem.  So I asked him, 'well then, why did they put stents in his artery/' and that dumb *** said 'Because that's what the ER doc recommended.  He didn't really need them.  We could have taken care of it with medication.' You ever hear something that ******* ridiculous?"

Just then, Ron came out of their house and walked over to join the conversation.

Ron says, "I've been reading up on it.  He is right.  They do a lot of stent surgery now when it really isn't necessary and now...they are finding out that it really doesn't help with mild heart problems--that sometimes it makes them worse...and I would have been better off with just the medication, blood thinner...that sort of thing."

"Ron...dammit...you had a massive heart attack!"

I asked, "Ron, do you know your E-Fraction?"

"Yeah--it's 60%.  My heart wasn't damaged at all."

"Gee--that's considered to be great!  Mine is 47% and they consider that normal."

"Yeah...I know.  Wish I hadn't had it done."  and he walked back to the house.

Now, there's Tami, standing outside in the dark of night, swatting at mosquitoes, that she claims she is allergic too and I am wondering, why in the heck doesn't this mentally deranged person go home because I have had my fill of mentally deranged people for one day.................

"I ain't kidding.  I'm gonna find that woman and beat her up.  I swear to you I will."

"Tami!  Have you ever thought that perhaps all the arguing you are doing with Ron's ex-wife is causing him stress?  He hears you fighting and yelling at her over the phone.  He reads your comments to her--the two of you are having a fight on Face Book!  For Pete's sake!  You are stressing him out as much as she is!"

"Yeah...well...I have to put her in her place.  When she says things like that about him...about me...I am going to straighten her out!  I am doing it on Face Book so all her friends will see what a ******* idiot ***** she is!"
<and all your "friends" will see what an idiot you are>

"Why don't you just stay quietly out of the middle of all of it?"

"No way---that dumb *****.........."

All the time she is saying this, in a very loud voice, she is still pacing back and forth, outside my window.  Remind you of someone else?

"I think you are just making it all worse............."

"Damn!  I gotta get back inside...these damn mosquitoes..........."

and off she goes! 

Tami and Dar hate each other and...they are so much alike.  Except, Tami has a really filthy mouth and Dar...not too much. 

To give you an idea of these two--who live about 30 feet away from me:  Some of their wedding photos.  They got married last Halloween.

This photo was on the front of their

wedding invitation.

They were married in the Howell Cemetery

In front of some poor family's mausoleum

Seriously? 

================

So, I got up and went into the bathroom to wash out my ears and flush from my mind the conversation.

====================

Jackie is the only half-way sane person in our five closely clustered homes--and then ever now and then, she gets on a weird roll.

Dar--next to Jackie--is completely off track.

Pearl--isn't all that weird, she just has no common sense and, in that way, she and Merle are perfect for each other.

Tami--I was quite close to her first husband, who was a wonderful guy and calls me, "Mom", but he found out she was having an Internet affair with Khalid, who lives in Syria.  She spent a ton of money on the Rosetta Stone software, trying to learn Arabic.  She got to the point where she slept in the computer room because, during the night she had to be on the Internet talking to Khalid.  

Now--she's got this one, who seems sane enough, but does nothing.  You rarely seem him outside and when I mentioned it once, his statement was, "I'm a Vampire and we don't like the light of day.  That's why Tamara and I work nights and sleep all day."

I turned to look at him to see his smile, but...he was straight faced and apparently wasn't kidding!

=================

Now do you see why I long to move back to the country where it is quiet and peaceful with no drama and fairly normal people?

Freaky Friday

sub-title: "If I continue to live here, I am headed for 

the mental ward!"

There is nothing wrong with Merle.  After going through, every heart test, a ultra sound of his abdomen, a CAT scan, an MRI of his brain, and two different EMG's--and if you ever had one of those,  you know how painful they are, plus 10 vials of blood--there is nothing wrong with him, EXCEPT a bit off in his Thyroid!

Merle said, "You kept telling me there was nothing wrong with me.  How did you know?"

"I just did."

"They were telling me I had Parkinson's.  Pearl thought I had ALS."

"Both of those diseases affect balance.  I see you ride by on your bike everyday and you don't have a problem with your balance.  You don't slur your words, you don't tremble.  I knew at least, it wasn't any of those kinds of disease.  Besides...I just felt in my gut, that there was nothing wrong with you and....usually I am not wrong about that feeling."

Then I looked at Pearl, "See...borrowing trouble and worrying yourself sick before all the results were in."

Pearl says, "Well, if I say it is the worse thing I can think of....then it usually turns out not to be that thing."
<okay>

So, she has gone around the neighberhood telling everyone, "Merle is sick," convincing her children that Dad was going to be bedridden and then die from some awful disease.  Probably that fear of hers, rubbing off on Merle and.........................?

Pearl said, "Well, he does have something wrong with his spine!"

"Scoliosis?"  I asked.

"Yes!"

Merle said, "How do you know that?"

"Because, almost anyone our age or older has that problem.  I have it.  Probably Pearl has it.  It comes from age--heavy lifting--work.  They found it on the MRI--right?"

"Yep.  I'm going to the pain clinic for Cortisone shots in my back."

"The same one Pearl and I went to?"

Pearl says, "Yes, but we didn't get Cortisone."

"Sure we did.  We got Depo-Medrol.  It is a form of Cortisone and Prednisone--a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory."

"Well, it sure didn't help us!"

"No...it didn't."

Merle said, "So---I'm suppose to go through all that and it won't help?"

Pearl said, "Maybe it WILL help you."

I said, "Maybe."

I have to tell you--the way Pearl acted, it was like she was almost disappointed that there is nothing wrong with him.  Like she wanted something to pin his tiredness on.  Like she just can't deal with the fact that he can't get up on the roof and make repairs--or he can't push mow their lawn all at one time without getting tired or his back hurting.  Or perhaps she will have to vacuum and make the bed?

She probably will be down tomorrow to ream me out.
==============================

When I left their house, I looked over and noticed that Dar's new car has a long, vertical dent in the trunk.  Just then she came out--she was on her way over, so we came back to my house.

If you thought, what I posted about her on Wednesday was nuts--you should have seen her today.  

She was puffing on a cigarette.

"Where's your e-cig?"  I asked

"It's Judy L's fault.  She asked me last night if I wanted a cigarette and I said 'yes" and she gave me a pack of Marlboro's"

"Marlboro's?  Those are the worse kind to smoke.  You keep it up and you'll be back to a pack a day!"

"Well, I needed a cigarette--a real cigarette."

"No you don't!  The only thing you are addicted to is the nicotine!  Your e-cig has plenty of nicotine in it.  You needed the formaldyhyde, the carbon monoxide, the arsenic and all that REAL stuff?"

"YES!"

"Okay. What happened to your car?"

"Someone backed into me, while I was at work."

"Oh.  I'm sorry."

"Well--that's what I wanted to talk to you about.  That's a lie.  When I got home from work last night, I backed into the drive and I hit the corner of the house."

"Oh.  My.  Gosh!"

"I wanted to ask you what I should do."

"You mean...get it fixed... or...I don't understand."

"Should I lie to the insurance adjuster or tell the truth?"

"Oh...well...I'm not going to give my opinion on that.  YOU do whatever YOU want to."

"Well, if I tell the truth, I am going to have to pay my deductible."

"How much is it?"

"I have no idea."

"It's on your insurance policy---under the collision coverage."

"I don't understand any of that."
<good grief.  Why don't I just shoot her?>

"Get your policy and I will show you."

"I have no idea where it is.   My brother's told me just to lie about it."

"Okay."

"I need an honest answer.  What would you do?"

"I'd tell the truth."

"Oh--dammit--I knew you'd say that!"

 I gave a deep sigh, "Okay--when the adjuster comes out to look at your car, he is going to know that no vehicle ran into you.  You have a vertical dent--like you ran into a pole or a sharp corner.  Any vehicle would leave a horizontal dent--cross wise not length wise.  Then, if you lie, and he realizes it, he will accuse you of fraud and you might lose your insurance."

"Well--I was at work so I don't know what ran into me."

<it may be time for a lesson>
"What religion are you?"

"Baptist."

"Baptist?  Hm--mm, pretty strict rules of conduct in their discipline.  This is what you do, call your pastor and ask him what you should do."

"But---I CAN'T do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because he will tell me not to lie!"

"So...hm-mm...you are very willing to lie to the insurance man, but not your pastor?"

"I see your point."

"If you can reconcile all of that, and justify the lie, without telling your pastor...God is gonna know anyway."

"Hm-mm."

"You claim to be such a good Christian.  Put your words into actions...or not.  Your choice."
<tee hee>

Then she went off on some sort of..........I don't know...........

"I have to go into prayer about this now."  and she raised her arms and hands way up in the air and started mumbling and then wiped her face.  Then she got up and started pacing the living room--smoking like a fiend.  Then she turned to me:

"You know I heard about this church--a Baptist church over by Howell and I'm going to start going.  That church up the road is NOT a Christian church!"

"You told me last winter you LOVED that church."

"Do you know what--I have been in prayer about this too...Judy L. gave me a DVD to watch and it was so disgusting I couldn't watch it.  I wonder what kind of Christian SHE is.  She says she's a Christian, but a Christian wouldn't watch that kind of movie."

"Didn't you and July L. go to see 'Tammy" last month?  I heard it was pretty nasty, but you said that you and she sat and laughed until you cried."

"Well--it was only rated R...not triple X."

"I don't think Christian's go to see R rated movies...do they?"

"Well, when I got home, I read a whole chapter in the Bible to make up for it."

"Oh."

"What do you think about that guy in Detroit who shot that girl through his screen door?"

"I don't know.  If someone was knocking on my door at three in the morning...I would have been scared.  He had a break-in just a couple of weeks before that.........."

"I need to be in prayer about that sawdust pile too.  I need to ask God to clean that up somehow--someone...I..."

"Excuse me...I have to go to the bathroom."

She lights another cigarette and off I go.

Yes--I needed to use the bathroom, but I had to get away from the madness for a minute.  I sat down and and said, "Dear God...this woman is nuts!"

When I came back out, "You know what happened today?  A nice looking gentleman thought I was sixty years old!"

"At work?"

"No!  I was working a garage sale with my friend today--I told you that, right?"

"No."

"Oh--she has lovely antiques and furniture..I got two end tables and a coffee table and a six-panel wooden screen."

"Where are you going to use the screen.  In your living room?"

"No.  I don't have room really--I don't know, but I had to have it."
<now, where did I put that gun?>

"Maybe you should have saved your money to pay to repair your dent."

"OHMYGOD!!  I know now!  I loved that car so much that God put the sin of pride on me and made me back into the house last night.  Just to show me not to love inanimate objects!  That's it!"

"God....made you back into your house?"

"Yes--don't you see?"

"Not really."
<no gun, do I have a baseball bat I could use>

"Do you know that Connie and those damn grand kids, ruined my furniture.  I paid over two thousand dollars for my end tables and coffee table, and they marked them up........"

"So, that's why you got the ones from the garage sale today?"

"Yes.  They aren't as nice as mine, but they are nice and it she gave them to me for only three hundred dollars!  Only a hundred dollars for the screen!"

"Wow!"

She picks up her phone, "I gotta call my Daddy and see what he thinks I should do."

"About the tables....I don't...ah...the car?"

"The car...but I know what he will tell me to do.  He'll say to lie about it."

"Probably."

"If I tell the truth...won't my insurance go up?"

"I don't really know."

"I know what I will do.  I will find that insurance policy and...if I lay my hands on it and pray...God will send me the money to pay for the repair on the car."

"Or--you could just wait...save up the money and get it fixed later."

"No--I hate driving around with a dent in my beautiful car."

"I think I hear pride talking again............."

"No--this is different."
<perhaps I have poison--just a bit, to put in her coffee?>

"Boy," she says.  "I am really up on the roof tonight aren't I?"

"Ah...yes."

"I gotta go home.  Thanks for helping me."  and she ran out the door.

I found four cigarette butts in the ashtray--that she dug through my desk drawer to find.  That woman is hooked again!

So, I washed the ashtray and put it away and sat down and...even now...my head is swimming.
=================
My other neighbor Tami--a younger version of Dar, just came up to the open screen window by my chair and started talking.  Scared me half outta my chair.    I can't quite get a handle on what she was ranting about and it is way too late to post about it--maybe tomorrow, if I can get my brain back to normal?
==================

Where do these people come from?  I have never, NEVER in my life met anyone like them!

Throw UP Thursday!

TBT: On this very date in 1984

Family Reunion at The Farm

Moi-45, Jennifer-12, Mark-26

Mark & Karen Rivard-23, Pammie-two days shy of 25

A few months before the birth of my first grandchild.

=================

On my way over to Jen's house, I stopped in Brighton and dropped off all my forms, paperwork, credit report, debt counseling certification, CHECK, at the attorney's office.  He will pick it up tomorrow, get all the paperwork filled out and I will meet with him next week to sign and file for bankruptcy.

I picked-up Pammie and the kids and off to the Putt-Putt course we went.  It was a beautiful day.  Sunny, not too hot--77degrees.  Well--I was fine through the first 11 holes, we were having a ball and Andrew wasn't too snippy to Elise--I don't know these two hate each other, but they do.

Pammie and Evan were on the hole behind us for the first nine, then I had them come up and play along with us.  I bent over on the 12th hole mat to put down my ball and...little white dots in front of my eyes, dizzy, and pain in the skull bones behind my ears.  I thought I was going to throw-up.  I recognized the symptoms.  Heat stroke.

I teetered a bit and Andrew said, "Mimi, are you all right?"  Then Pam looked at me and said, "Mom, your face is all red, except you are white around your mouth and eyes."

So I turned the crowd over to Pam--THANK GOD she was with me--and headed back to the office.  Every time I came to a utility pole, I'd stand in its shade for a few minutes.  I think, it might have been the longest walk I have taken in the last two years!

Into the ladies room--stuck my head under the cold water tap and just stood bent over like that for a minute.  I knew I was dehydrated too.  

I do not sweat, so the heat builds up inside me until I am near collapse.  It didn't used to bother me so much, but the last couple of years, especially if I am doing anything outside in the sun, I get sick.

I had my first attack when I was fifteen.  Helping my Dad fill the silo--I was up near the top, tramping down the silage and trying to keep it level.  It was near 120 degrees in there.  I managed to get down that long outside ladder on the side of the silo and headed toward the house.  I could barely hear my Dad, yelling at me to "get back up there" and throwing stones at me.  When I got to the house, my Mother opened up the back door and I fainted, flat on my face.

The next thing I knew, I was laying in the hammock, outside under the shade of the Maple tree and my Grandma was putting cool compresses on my face, the back of my neck and body.  I guess I was out for almost an hour.

I was sick in bed for three days.  Kind of out of it.  They finally got the doc out there and he said I had suffered a heat stroke and to keep me out of the sun and I wasn't to go back up into the top of the hot silo ever again.

Ever since then--I cannot take the outside heat.  Gladly today, there was very little humidity or I would have gone down a lot earlier.

Pam and the kids finally came in, about a half hour later and we headed back to the house.  I was still dizzy, but didn't let on.  We figured up our scores and Elise and I beat Andrew and Alex--even giving me 6 shots on the holes I didn't play.  

There was a comment,"Girls rule--Boys drool" from Elise and me.

The kids all thanked me for taking them and I think they had a good time--I know little Evan did.  When we got back to the house, all of a sudden, he started talking to me!  He has been shy because he hardly knows me, but, all of a sudden, he was calling me Mimi and yakking away and wanted me to go upstairs and see his room, which I did.

Today made me realize one thing though--I am officially old!!!  I can't do that sort of thing with them anymore.  BUT--at least, when they move, they will have one more memory of their Michigan Mimi!  and that is what today was all about!

Pammie said, "Evan, say cheese."

and he would, then when she clicked

the camera, he'd look up.

So I have no picture of his darling face.

Andrew 12, Elise 10, Alex 7 

Evan-2 and Pammie, two days shy of 55

Just Another Weird Wednesday!

So, the new neighbors are having a cement slab under their storage shed, but.....not under their house?  Weird.

I sat here watching and soooooo wanted to go over and put a nice big hand print right in the center of the wet cement, but.............they kept coming back and "floating" it again and again, to make sure it was smooth while it set up.  RATZ!!

My sister said, "What would even make you think of doing such a thing?"

She doesn't know me very well,  you see.  BECAUSE--we always did that.  When Daddy poured the cement slab for the new back room, I got to put my hand print in there and my initials--1949.   When we put in a sidewalk at our new little home in 1959--Gary and I both put our hand print on it.  When we moved to my Grandma's farm and had to put in a cement back porch, Gary and I put our hand prints, plus Mark, Pam, Karen did theirs and baby Jennifer's small baby foot print-1972.  They are all still there, where Pammie lives.  I love to look at them whenever I stop by.

When we put in a "fake" fireplace in Grandma's house, my Mother suggested I put a sign on the wall board before they put in the fireplace.  It read, "This fireplace was installed on April, 10th, 1967," and we all signed our names.  Twenty years later, when Pam and her husband tour it out to put up a whole wall entertainment center, she found the sign, remembered the day and has the sign in her memory box.

When I lived in Saginaw, and redecorated Ernie's bathroom (2001), when he took the medicine cabinet out of the wall, someone else's initials were in there.  So, I made a little sign and pasted it to the wallboard.  "This bathroom was redone by Judy Miller in 2001."

To me, it's like an old form of what the prehistoric people painted on the walls of their caves.  It proves I was here.  

I told my sister, "For archaeological purposes."

A million years from now, when the people that live on another planet, come to earth and dig through the remains of our buildings--they will wonder what our primitive hand prints mean.  Why we did it.  Is it a clue to our life style.  They will say, "What strange names these people used."

Anyway, I didn't put my hand print in the neighbor's cement slab--I think they should have, though.

======================

Off to the dentist to get my toothies cleaned and checked.  Everything is great---EXCEPT--part of tooth #19 is breaking away.  Tooth #19 is just to the right of tooth #18, which I had crowned five months ago.  Tooth #19 needs a crown too.  I would love to get it crowned--would love to have all my double molars crowned, but.....at $850+ per tooth--it's not happening.  The dentist said it wasn't critical, but I should get it done in December or January.  I know it needs it--that tooth has been sensitive and hurting for over a year.
========================
Tomorrow Pam and I are taking the kids to play a game of Putt-Putt.  If they move, at least they will have one more memory of having fun with Mimi.
===================
What a weird happening.  I was sitting watching Wheel of Fortune and in walked Pearl.  

"Merle is sitting in his chair...sleeping.  That makes me so mad, I decided I'd come down here and chat with a live person."

"C'mon in.  Oh, I love your new hair cut!"

"My hair is falling out and I'm tired of messing with it, so I told Tracy to just cut it off."

"Well--it looks very nice.  Makes you look younger than when you had it in a long Bob."

All of a sudden, I hear Dar calling out, "Judy, are you home?"

Pearl whispers, "I am staying right here!"

"Please do," I said.

Dar came in, sat down on the couch and said, "You seem depressed, so I had to come over and check on you."

"No.  I'm feeling fine, I might have been................"

"Oh, I gotta tell you girls!"

Pearl's head snapped back and she turned to look at Dar.

"I am going to be working thirty hours over time all next week.  So, if you see me not able to get out of my car, come over and help me into the house."

Pearl:  "Do you get paid for the over time?"

Dar: "Yes!  I will make about ninety dollars more next week."

Me:  "Wow--that's great."

Pearl:  "I think you will get more than ninety dollars for over time, if you make........."

Dar:  "Oh, I gotta tell you.  I'm worried.  None of you know where the extra key to my house is.  I have a motion light and there is a metal box on top of the fixture and an extra key to my house is in it."

Me:  "And we need to know t his...why?"

Dar:  'Because, if you don't see me outside, you come and check.  Just unlock my house and walk in."

Pearl:  "Can I call first?"

Me:  "Yeah--I'm not going in your house alone and find you dead on the floor....just like..........."

Dar:  "I have great news!  I'm getting a raise!"

Pearl:  "Well, that's just............."

Dar:  "I need you to go into prayer."

Me:  "Because of your raise?  Or...hm-mm..."

Dar puts her hand up to stop me, "No for my daughter-in-law."

Pearl:  "What's wrong?"

Dar:  "They think......" just then her phone makes a noise

Dar: "Now..what does that mean?"

Me: "What?"

"Dar:  "My inbox is full and I have to clean it out or it goes to my Face Book and I don't know how....now how do I do this............?"

Pearl gives me the look that says, "this woman is NUTS!"

So Dar's interruptions and crazy talk went on for the next forty-five minutes!  She finally left.

Pearl says, "That woman is wound tighter than an eight-day clock!"

Me:  "That's just about to have it's spring, sprung."

Pearl:  "Boinggggggggg."

"Hm-mm."

"I thought she came over to check up on your."

"Nope--that was just a pretense and then, when she saw you were here, she decided to entertain us."

"I don't know her that well....you've told me, but I never realized.  She really has mental issues."

"Ya think?"

Then Pearl and I spent another hour having a nice, two-way conversation.  She is very worried about Merle and figures he is dying.  He gets the results of his last tests on Friday.

"Let's not bury him until we get those test results," I said.

"I've been with him for over sixty years.  I have never seen him this weak, this tired."

"That's because you've never seen him at age seventy-eight."

"Sixty years.  I never thought I'd see him like this."

"You never thought he'd get old?"

"No. What would I do without him?"

"I think that is a question every person who has been married since they were teenagers asks themselves."

"But---what would I do?"

"I guess you'd do what every other widow has had to do.  You get through one day at a time."

She is coming into the realization that he is going to die--someday.  Although all his tests so far have shown nothing.  His heart is perfect, as are his lungs, all his internal organs, his brain.  Because it is the first time she has seen him start to become old and a bit frail, although he works everyday and rides his bike every evening, she is in shock.  She is into the "what ifs" stage.

So, I have one friend who is nuttier than a fruit cake, right now.  And I have my best friend who is worrying herself, based on nothing, into an almost continual state of diarrhea!

I can't be saying, "Not my circus", because both of them are going to need me to be calm and sane!!!  No matter what is going on in my life--I am right here, in this place, for a reason.
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BTW, Dar makes $8.50 an hour.  Thirty hours overtime is way more than ninety dollars.  

Smile, Though Your Heart Is Breaking.......................

There's not much of a chance of my family members finding my blog via a comment I made on anothers' post.  None of my family, except my sister, read any blogs.  My sister reads a blog that I don't...and even if she did find my blog, I wouldn't care.  She's safe.

I was more worried about a distant cousin, or a smarter than average grandchild searching for it.  Like if Jen asked Andrew to find it for her--just to check up on what I'm posting.  Well--that isn't going to happen now--I am quite certain. 
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I had a nice, unexpected treat today, when I stopped at the gas station.

This station is on the way to Howell--about 2 miles away.   I stop in there quite often, sometimes just to grab a Diet Pepsi on the way up to The Farm.

They have a new manager, I think he said he was 60.  We have briefly chatted before--he seems quite cultured and has just moved here from the Ann Arbor area, where he said he enjoyed going to the symphony, or to see live theatre in Detroit.  He appears very nice.

Today when I walked in, someone started singing, "the most beautiful girl in the world........", I turned to look and there he was, sitting off to the side, at a desk doing book work.  

The clerk at the counter said, "He's got a crush on you."

I must have blushed because the clerk said, "I do too."

"Well--isn't that just the nicest thing I have heard all day!  All week, rather.  Heck, that is the nicest thing I have heard in years!"

Then the manager walked over, behind the counter and said, "Well, it's true.  You have the most beautiful smile and you are always smiling.  Every time you come in here, no matter how long you have to wait, you just keep smiling.  It makes our day!!"

The clerk said, "Yeah.  I wish you'd only buy a gallon of gas at a time so you'd have to stop in more often."

So I paid my money, gas was "only" $3.33 today, said, "thanks guys" and walked, with a much lighter step, out to my car.
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I think I have an affliction about smiling however.  When I worked, so many times, people would pass by my desk and say,"You got a secret?"

Once, I was in a little restaurant, enjoying a milk shake, people watching, and a guy came over and tried to hit on me.  I guess he thought I was smiling at him?

At my Dad's funeral, as we were lined up, getting ready to walk into the sanctuary at the church, the funeral director said, "Judy, quit smiling."

The kid at the Subway calls me "Sunshine."

I stopped at Wal-Mart today to do a bit of shopping and I noticed many people smiled at me as I passed them in the aisle.  I realized that I had a half-smile on my face--just walking around the store.

As I sit here, in front of my computer, typing away, I notice that I am smiling.

Personally?  I think it is more a nervous habit than a "knowing" thing I am doing.  Because, most of the time, I'm not all that happy.

Or--I could just be a simpleton with a smile plastered on my face.  I just hope I don't start drooling or twitching!!