Up North

My kids had a weekend up north.  Wish I could have been there too. <sigh>

Jennifer, Karen, Cindy (Mark's companion) Pammie

My Mark and Karen's Mark (Rivard)

They practically had to hog-tie and drag my Mark up there, but he ended up having a wonderful time.  I haven't seen him looked that relaxed in a very long time. (He doesn't look like he has cancer, does he?)

Sometimes, I Get Real Tired of People

Pearl's daughter showed up.  She couldn't remember the password she had put in, so she deleted Pearl's Face Book account and registered a new one.

Heck!  I could have done that!  Thought about doing that, but then Pearl wouldn't have any "Friends".  As it is, she can't find any of her games, so yesterday, when she was down for a visit, I showed her how to search for the games she likes.  The password the daughter chose?  pearlott1.  Yeah--that's a real good one.
<sigh>

But I promised to stay out of it and out of it I am.
==================
So, Dar came over.  Her Dad is going to stay with her for three weeks, while her brother and SIL, whom Dad lives with, are on vacation.  Among the many things Dar wants me to do, while she is at work, stop over and ring the bell and go in and talk to Dad.  #2.  Try and get Dad to go for a walk with me up to the lake.  #3.  Check on him and make sure he isn't just sitting in the chair sleeping all day, while she is at work.

Oh yes, and if she calls and asks me out to supper with them, I am not to refuse--no matter what, because Dad needs stimulating conversation with someone other than family.

Don't you just love it?  I've met Dad once.  Dad is 94.  I could not care less if he wants to sit in the chair, watch TV and sleep while she's gone.  I told her, "Your Dad is not my responsibility.  If I see him outside, sure I will talk to him, but I'm not going to be bopping into your house every day to check on him."

I found out later, she stopped in to Pearl and Merle's and ask them the same thing.  Pearl said, "I've never been in your house.  I've never met your Dad.  I don't feel comfortable going over there and checking on him."

My theory?  If you offered for Dad to come live with you for three weeks, take three weeks vacation from work and take care of him yourself!
======================
Into my fall housecleaning.

Got my bedroom done, but did not empty the closet to swap out my summer to winter clothes and thus, did not get to drain and flush the water heater.

Did get the bathroom and laundry area all done and spotless.  Did this--

Did get the kitchen done.  Windows washed on the inside, kitchen curtains soaked in this

Washed, starched, ironed and back up.

John and Maisey stopped in for a porch chat.  Maisey had just returned from the beauty parlor and John brought me some of the best chicken soup I have ever had.  Nothing fancy--just like Grandma used to make.  Chicken, noodles, carrots, onion and celery.

Today is cleaning and rearranging of the living room.  The dreaded office/computer/storage room will wait until next week.

Don't forget to clean out your dryer lint trap--at the dryer and also the outside vent.  Turn your dryer on while you do the outside--it helps blow all the lint out.  Change your furnace filter and, if you live in the colder climates, push the switch on your ceiling fans UP so the fan moves the hot air down towards the floor.

Now, if those people weren't in my way, I'd have a much nicer view of the woods and and the trees.

<Sigh>

Looking forward to Saturday so I can sit in my chair, watch UofMichigan football at noon and Michigan State football in the late afternoon and crochet and knit for hours!!!

Aren't these cute?  They may look like hats, but they are bath mitts.  Large, med, small and child sized.

I am starting a hat pattern--looks complicated, but I will do it--one row at a time. :-)

GO GREEN--beat Rutgers.

Things Like This Make Me Sad

Pearl called Monday.

"Can you take me to pick up my computer?"

"Sure.  Did Marge call Heidi and get the password thingy figured out?"

"No!  Marge is being snippy right now.  I just want my computer back so I can play my games on Face Book."

"Okay.  I gotta go potty and then I will be right up."

Back home, I managed to get the computer into the house and onto Pearl's office chair so we could wheel it down the narrow hallway to her bedroom.

I sat back and let her plug all the wires in.  She had used bread bag clips to label each wire.  Of course, the ink had smeared on them and she could read none.  I told her, "Each wire has a color on it and you just plug it in to the corresponding colored hole on the back of the computer."

She was holding the last wire and looking at it.  "Oh.  I know," she said.  "This one goes into a USB port."  and she plugged it in.

She did a great job and the computer fired up quickly.  She liked that.

She then clicked on the Face Book icon and her login came up.  There was her e-mail address.  YAY.  The little box for her password was empty.

"What do I do now?"

"Type in your Face Book password."

"I don't know it."

"Well...let me think.  When I set you up for Face Book, we used "tiger09" as your password.  The same one you have on your on-line banking account."

She typed in "tiger09". 

 Incorrect password.

"Now what?" she said.

"I don't know.  That's the only password I know of you having."

"Marge changed it, I think.  I guess I'll have to get her to come over here and figure it out."

"Guess so.  She's the only one that knows it.  When she gets here, I want you to write down the password...on Face Book, on your bank, on your g-mail--which is your e-mail account now."

"Okay."

"I suggest you use a simple one that you will never forget.  Use the same one on all your accounts that call for a password."

"Like what?"

"Oh...like your name and birth date.  pearleo3136."

"Oh..yeah...that's a good one.I'd never forget that"

"We hope not!"
===========================
It is now Wednesday evening.  Marge has yet to show up.  So Pearl has her nice, cleaned up, fast running computer, but no way to use it.

Breaks my heart!!!

May The Circle Be Unbroken

There is an engraving inside this wedding band.  It is scarcely visible.  The letters read:  R.U.W. to H.M.C  Oct.6, 1915

It has been 100 years since my grandfather Roy Ulmer Walts, placed this ring on my grandma Helene Mary’s left ring finger.  She never took it off.

On October 21, 1966, the day she died in Hurley Hospital in Flint, MI, it must have fallen off her finger, because the funeral director wanted to know if she had a wedding ring and if we wanted it placed on her finger.  We had no clue it had been lost.

I drove to Flint and the hospital to ask if the ring had been found and placed in lost and found.  The nice lady checked for me, but whispered, “If it fell off in her bed clothes, whoever found it, probably kept it.”

Two weeks later, just on a whim and because it bothered me so that grandma had  been buried without her wedding ring, I stopped into Hurley and checked again.  This time, the same nice lady said, “I’m going to check further.”

Fifteen minutes later she was back.  “Can you describe the ring?”  

“Yes—just a plain, thick, gold band, but wait….there is an engraving inside with R.U.W and H. M.C.”  I had just remembered my grandma telling me of that engraving so many years ago.  A God whisper for sure.

The lady handed me a small brown paper envelope and inside—grandma’s ring!  “It was found in the laundry room and put in the office.  We didn’t know who it belonged too.”  I hugged her, thanked her and we both wept.

I drove home, so happy and took it to my Daddy.  He opened the little envelope and said, “I can’t believe someone turned it in!  Well, it’s too late to bury it with Ma now…why don’t you just keep it.”

I put it on the middle finger of my right hand and have worn it every day since---49 years.  

When I die, it will go to my oldest grand daughter, Helene Mary Rivard, who was named after my grandma.

Trying To Do The Side-Step

Jan--no I'm not writing a book about my neighbor's.  Just posting about them on here exhausts me!
============================

Pearl's daughter gave her a lap-top over two years ago, when Pearl's old PC died.  She showed Pearl how to do everything, but...it had Windows 8 on it and it was a bit confusing, PLUS, the desktop had different icons on it than Pearl's old computer so she didn't like it.  Never could understand it enough to use it and she wanted to give it back.  

Pearl's daughter would not take it back and said, "You either learn to use it or go without a computer."

Unbeknownst to me.  So, when Pearl got to wanting another PC, I suggested she go along with me when I ordered mine and see if she wanted to look at them and perhaps get one.  Which, she did.  Meanwhile, the Lap-top has lain on top of the entertainment center for the last two years.  Gathering dust as neither Mom or daughter will give in.

So--for this reason, Pearl's daughter has been a bit miffed at me since Pearl got her new PC.  I recently found out from Pearl, because she knew not what she said, that a couple of times, the daughter has changed things on the PC and when Pearl tried to log in and her PC wouldn't, her daughter told her, "Call Judy.  She can fix it."

A bit of sabotage to make me look the dummy.
<I quite frequently look the dummy.  I don't need someone setting me up>

This morning, Pearl's daughter called me.  "The lady from the computer store called Mom and got her all confused.  She needs to retrieve Mom's password and she can't seem to do it."

"Oh."

"If she was worth anything, she ought to know how to retrieve a password. How long have you been doing business with them?  They don't sound very knowledge to me!"
<ah yes, my fault again>

"I don't know what all is involved in retrieving a password, so I can't tell you what the problem might be."

Three seconds after Marge hung up, Pearl called.

"That Heidi over there can't seem to put a simple icon on my desk-top!"

"Which icon?"

"She is trying to put an e-mail icon on my  desktop so all I have to do is click it and it will go straight to my e-mail account."

"Your g-mail account.  Right?"

"NO!  My E-MAIL account!  Clean out your ears!"

"What problem is she having?"

"She needs my password."

"Oh. oh.  You don't remember, right?"

"That's right, so I told her to just put a new password on that account and I will worry about it later."

"Okay."

"But, she says, she can't change my password because she doesn't know the answers to security."

"Security answers?"

"Yes.  Security stuff that she doesn't know the answers.  How dumb can she be?"

"I'll give her a call and call you back."
================
So I did.  Heidi cannot access Pearl's g-mail account to make a shortcut icon unless she has Pearl's g-mail password.  Pearl can't seem to come up with a password.  Heidi tried to set up a new password, but she needs to know the answer to Pearl's security question.  Like, "your mother's maiden name," or "your favorite pet".  

"I will have her daughter call you.  She set up the account, I can only assume she will know the answer to the security answer."
<and you know what happens when you assume>

I called Pearl back and explained as best I could.

"Well, why didn't Heidi ask me?  I know my mother's maiden name."

"No--it might not be that one.  (deep breath) When you set up a new account--like we did for your on-line banking? Remember.  There are four or five security questions to choose from.  You have to pick one.  We don't know which one Marge picked to answer."

"Well, I'll have Marge call her when she gets out of work."

"Good idea."

"This is getting ridiculous!"

"Yes it is!"
<and I wasn't referring to Heidi>
========================
I managed to get my bedroom cleaned up for fall/winter, curtains and bedding washed, mirror cleaned, dusted, vacuumed, but I did not get my closet emptied out to swap my clothes and thus, did not get my hot water heater drained and flushed!

New filter in the air cleaner and the furnace.  Two loads of laundry done.

Dar walked in.

"Hi.  Guess what?  I bought a Smart phone.  Man, it is sumpthin."

"I've heard they are."

"I thought maybe you could help me program it?"

"Ah--I don't know anything about cell phones.  You better have your brother do it for you."

"Oh.  The guy said it was easy-peasy.  Just like a computer and you know computers."
<no, no, no!>

"Not that much.  You better have your brother do it for you."

Then she switched gears and told me she has to have a tooth extracted tomorrow and by the time she got done talking about it, she was near hysteria.  She stood up and started pacing.

"I can't stand the shots!  I get so nervous...I get nauseous."

"Which oral surgeon are you going to?"

"I'm not.  My regular dentist is going to do it."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"Well...when I had my last two teeth pulled, I went to an oral surgeon and she put me out.  I didn't get any shots."

"Oh.  I can't tolerate gas!"

"No.  It's not gas.  It's the same sedative they use.... in your arm....the same stuff they use when you have your colonoscopy.  It's great!"

She sat down.

"Oh.  I wonder why he didn't give me that choice?"

"Well, the regular dentist is not allowed to use a sedative like that.  It has to be an oral surgeon."

"No, I mean, why didn't he ask me if I wanted an oral surgeon to do it?"

"Probably because HE wants the money?"

"Well, when I get home, I'm going to work in my garden the rest of the afternoon.  I gotta get those Hosta's dug up."

"Ah...I don't think that is a very good idea.  You probably shouldn't be bending over or exerting your heart after you have dental surgery."

"Oh, I used to get a tooth pulled and go back to work!"

"Used to?  When was that?"

"Oh...I don't know.  When I was in my forties."

"Okay...so that was thirty years ago and you weren't on a blood thinner with a heart problem!"
=======================

This is how Jackie's son cuts back her perennials.  With the weed whip--right down to the ground.

When my sister and BIL came and cut down my dying Rose of Sharon bush out back, it was lovely of them.  It was also 10 days before the yard waste people come to pick up.  I had my bags of garden clippings too.  We were expecting rain, so I loaded the bags in my wheel barrow and put them in my shed.  This afternoon, I remembered to get them out in preparation for tomorrow's pick-up.  YAY--at least I remembered.  Will be glad to see this mess gone!

As per the yard waste people's Law:  All branches cut into 4 feet lengths and tied with twine and a twine handle to pick them up.  

We are such Conservative, do it by the book people. 

Cast of Characters

None of my neighbor's have learning disabilities or a lower than average IQ.  They just have no common sense.  But then, I have a few people in my family with very high IQ's and they have no common sense either.  

Pearl came down today and she said that she is now convinced that Merle has Parkinson's.   So they are going to make a doctor's appointment and see.  He was at the Neurologist this spring.  That specialist did the CAT scan on his brain, looking to see if Merle had a stroke or TIA.  Another specialist did two MRI's, from Merle's head to his feet.  

Wouldn't they have found signs of Parkinson's?

Pearl said, "I hope they find out that he has it.  At least then we'd know.  I am so sick of everyone talking about him."

Pearl and Merle

I can't figure them out.  It's like they grew to about 15-16 and then their brains quit growing.  Neither one of them as a lick of common sense.  Things I think of as ordinary and all people know about, they don't have a clue.

They were very worried about Merle's blood test and the other tests.  The doctor calls them a week or 10 days later with the results.  All that time, they are stressed out.  When I told them that our hospital has the blood test results the afternoon of the day they are taken, Pearl practically called me a liar.

"The doctor calls us the minute he sees the results!"

"Well, if you get worried, you could call the doctor a couple days after the tests and ask about the results."

"Why?  He doesn't get the results for at least a week."

So--I thought I could help and offered to set them up with a patient portal account with our hospital.  I have one and with just a click, you can see ALL the tests you have had done and the results--within hours after the tests are done.

"No!  What if the doctors found out we were doing that.  They'd be mad at us and think we were snooping!"

Ten years ago, they bought a piece of undeveloped property, in Howell, on a nice stream with lots of trees.  Lovely.  Merle built a small little barn and then they bought a large motor home to park on the property and live in.  Did they check the zoning laws?  Of course not!  So three years later the township tells them they have to move the motor home, that the property is within the city limits and is not zoned "recreational", they can't live there.

So, what did they do?  They tried to sell the property--for all of three months and then let it go back to the bank.

They moved here and let the motor home go back to the bank, because they could not sell it for what they owed on it.

They declared bankruptcy and STILL had to pay part of the loans they had, because they did not check on the stipulations of the bankruptcy.  "We didn't understand all that legal stuff, so we just signed the papers."  "Did you ask your attorney to explain it all to you?"  "No--we wouldn't have understood it anyway."

Pearl bought a new pair of glasses last month = $250.00.  She has macro-degeneration disease and need good glasses.  She wore them for two days until her daughter told her she looked like an owl.  She hasn't worn them since.  Is back to wearing her old glasses that she can see through.  Did she take them back?  "No.  Wal-Mart wouldn't take them back," she said.  "Sure they would!  They have a guarantee on glasses for a month.  If you don't like them, take them back."  "Then I'd have to buy all new glasses."  "NO!  They have a guarantee--that's what it's for!"

Pearl wants an e-mail service so she can order things on-line and check the confirmation and ship dates.  She has a deal with the mail lady.  If Pearl has packages and the mail lady sees Merle's truck in the drive, the mail lady is NOT to drop off the packages!

The stuff she orders is usually cheap junk and it either doesn't work, or doesn't fit and instead of sending it back; on garbage day, she waits for Merle to go to work and hides the stuff in the trash can for pick-up.

I was up there last week.  Pearl had bought a large mirror.  Merle was trying to use a glass cutter to cut out triangles.  There were cracks in the mirror and shards of glass all over the dining room floor.

"Ah--I don't think one of those glass cutters will work on mirrors--only glass like window glass," I said.

He says, "Oh.  Pearl wanted to paint on it."

I looked at Pearl, "Sure it will work.  He just doesn't know how...or doesn't want to, to spite me!"

They bought a subscription to Net Flix, which they deemed would be cheaper than going to the movies once a month.  Of course, Merle couldn't figure out how to connect it and with good reason, they didn't have anything to "run" it through.  So, they had to buy a Blu Ray player.  Still didn't work.  The Comcast guy came out with a cost of $85.00, because they claimed it was their cable's fault.  Nope.  So then, they had to buy a little WIFI receiver of some kind, I don't know what that cost.  Still wouldn't work.  So--they called Comcast to come out again--another $85.00.  It now works, if they can figure out how to use the remote.  

Merle stored their humidifier UNDER their trailer spring of 2014.  When they needed it in January 2015, he went to get it and wondered why it wouldn't work.  Residue water in it had frozen and broke the dang thing.  

Pearl wanted a fireplace.  They wanted me to research on line and find a company around here that sold gas log fireplace inserts.  I did and found three with customer ratings.  I advised them NOT to buy from the last place as the customer complaints were many fold. 

"It will save us money on our gas bill," she reasoned, when Merle bulked at the idea. 

So--they bought from the worse place, because they were cheaper.  They had fire box, flue and gas log insert put in.  It never has worked right.  They had a minor gas leak--the company they bought from wouldn't stand by the repair.  When they turn on the log, the fireplace draws all the warm air from their living room up, out the flue.  Their electric and gas bills have gone way up.  Plus, the residue from the gas log, puts out a sticky film that covers all their windows and walls, and probably their lungs.

Pearl was having trouble with a prescription once, so I asked her what was the name of the drug.  "Oh, I don't know.  It's a pink pill.  What comes in a pink pill?"

"Oh...cyanide, arsenic...all number of things," I said.

"Oh.  Are those bad for me to take?"

Remember me telling you when she asked me up to supper and she had put a frozen roast in the crock-pot and thought it would be done, on low, in two hours time?

She cooks chili like this.  Take cover off the crock pot.  Add a pound of frozen ground beef and all other ingredients.  She doesn't bother to thaw or brown the ground beef.  Cook on low for 3 hours.

She has burned up two microwaves just in the last 18 months.

She has a lap top, that she doesn't use.  Reason?  Her desk top on it doesn't look like her desk top on her PC, so she doesn't understand it.  She got a smart phone.  You can only imagine.

She knows not one solitary thing about her computer except how to turn it on.  She doesn't want to know.  She doesn't have the slightest interest.  All she wants it to do is, when she turns it on, it better come up to Face Book as her home page or she's lost.  Plus, I did tell you about the time two years ago when she was totally and completely convinced that her computer hated her and it KNEW when she sat down in front of it, that it was HER and would stop working on purpose.

She now is convinced that our doctor hates her.  Reason?  "The last two times I have been there, I have seen his assistant.  He doesn't even come in the room."

"When you made your appointment, did you request to see him?"

"No...but he should know I want to see him."

"Well, he doesn't make the appointment so he doesn't even know you are coming in, until he sees his patient list for the day."

"Well, he doesn't do a thing for me anyway."

"Like?"

"I can barely walk because of my arthritis.  My blood sugar is still higher than it should be.  Plus, I have neuropathy in my feet."

"Didn't he give you a prescription for Celebrex and Tramadol for the inflammation and pain?"

"I don't know.  I take a blue pill in the morning and a white one two hours later."

"Have you lost weight, like he told you?  Are you walking more, like he told you?"

"No.  I can't lose weight and it's too hard for me to walk because my knees and legs hurt."

"I guess you're right then.  He can't do anything for you.  Maybe you need to find a new doctor."
========================
Do you want more instances?  No?  I don't blame you!

Sometimes I just want to stand up, look at them and scream, "ARGGH!"

Like I have said before, I moved into this park when I was 64 years old.  Never before, in my entire life, have I EVER met people like my neighbors!  Be it Merle & Pearl, Darlene, Jackie, Tami or John.  They are the weirdest people!  

They say and do things, all the time, that just make me wonder.  Who ties their shoelaces for them?