No Headache. No Yucky Tummy. No Dizziness. 0.5 Ativan :-)

Lesson of the day:

It is NOT a trailer--although it trails along behind a big truck.
It is NOT a mobile home--although is can be moved and transported.
It is NOT a modular home--although it comes in two different sections.
It IS a Manufactured home, and if you call it a trailer (as I do), people that live in them are going to correct you!

Manufactured homes are made in a factory.  They are made to stricter codes than a Modular Home.  They have sturdier frames, thicker walls, more insulation and vinyl windows.  They are built better and made to withstand 110 mph winds.  Their frame is "tied-down" with chains cemented into the footings.

All that being said, "you can put a dress and lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig."  You can dress up and prettify a trailer and it is still a trailer.  :-)

I don't think my Purple Hyacinth Bean Plant

has enough time before the frost comes

to make any pods.

The flower sure is pretty though.

Aaron putting the mailboxes back up

When I met this kid, he was at my door

handing out his flyers to get any

handy-man jobs available.

He did a lot for me at a cost of

"whatever you can pay me Ma'am."

Now he is Manager of Grounds at the park

and the last time I hired him, it was

$20.00 an hour.

In place, tomorrow starts the putting up on blocks,

leveling and putting it back together.

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

Lunch with the Old School Gal Pals Today

Pretty good looking for a bunch of old broads!

Then it was out to The Farm to visit lil' sis and get some REAL food.  

I stopped to take a couple of pictures of (my) Pammie's place.  It is looking much better and she put in a real nice perennial garden this spring.

Where Was I?

It has a door.  Wouldn't it be cute, painted barn red, with white trim.  Maybe a nice white Pennsylvania Star on the end.  Well--if we lived out in the country, it would be cute.  Not here in this crowded neighborhood.

I have had the most gosh awful headache for three days now.  I have felt yucky--tummy yucky, and no energy.  Kind of grouchy.

This all was not helped by Dar, coming over with her friend, Judy L.  Walking in while I was in the bathroom.  They had been over to measure the shed because July L. wants a bigger one, as does Dar, so they were taking measurements so they could tell the office they are building ones the same size.  So there!

Judy L. is even louder than Dar and she talks fast and she knows it all and she is aggressive in her stating of things.  And she points her finger at you.

"You told Dar you thought that shed was twelve feet tall...we measured...and it's only ten."

"From the peak of the roof?"

"Yes.  It's only ten."

Oh.  Okay.  It looks taller to me from here.  Did you climb up on the roof to measure?"

"No...Dar held the measuring tape down on the ground and I pushed it until it reached the roof."

"Cool."

"You're just looking at it wrong.  It's ten by eight by ten."

"Nice size."

"Yeah....and there will be a few more that size too.  Now they can't tell me what size shed I can have.  I have proof and I am going to tell THEM, what size I AM going to build!"

Dar drops her head in a quick nod, "And I am too!"

They were going to go over to Dar's and Judy L. was going to spray a small paper-wasp nest near Dar's front door.

"Dar's got a bee hive right over her front door," says July L.

"A bee hive?" says I.

"Yes.  I"m going to spray it with wasp spray to kill them.  I have to wait until dusk when the queen comes back to the hive."

"I thought it was a hornet or wasp nest.  I had one in my shed.  It looks like grey paper?"

Dar nods her head.

"Oh no!" <here is where she puts up her finger and sort of points it at me.>  "It's honey bees!  I work with honey all day so I know about honey bees."

"I thought honey bees made a nest that sort of comes down the side of a building--kind of longish.  Not like a paper nest."

"Oh no! <again with the finger>  "You come on over and look."  <she sort of tugs at my arm>

We walk over and there is a smallish paper nest.

"Yikes!  Those are Yellow Jackets!" I said.  "Be careful--their sting is very painful."

"What are you talking about," said the lovely Judy L.  "Those are Honey Bees.  Can't you see the cells where they store the honey?  You should have worn your glasses, Lady."

<oh oh>

"I don't see any honey," I said.  "Besides, they don't look like bees, they look like Yellow Jackets."

"Oh my Lord!" she said. "Yellow Jackets are huge." and she holds up her fingers about an inch apart.  "And they are wide and fat."

<Now, I just want to slap this woman>

"That sounds like a Bumble Bee," said Dar.

<by now, my head is pounding and I feel like I'm going to throw up and I better leave or my name and face will be all over the six o'clock news for woman abuse>

"Well--Honey Bees are endangered, so you better check with an exterminator before you kill them.  You could be breaking the law."  and I turn to walk away.  "I gotta get home.  I don't feel well."

Just then, Merle walks up.  

"I have a Honey Bee hive," says Dar.  "Judy L. is going to spray them and kill them because I am very allergic to bee stings."

Merle walks up on the porch, looks up at the nest.  "Those are Yellow Jackets.  Spray the nest with that foam stuff and it should take care of 'em."

I just walk away and come back home.

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

Tuesday morning, I woke up with the head ache, dizzy and pukey feeling.  The cats were out of dry food, so I knew I had to go to the store <groan>

I checked my wallet--I had three dollars.  I checked my bank account--I had forty dollars.  Then I remembered.  Melissa had sent me a gift card to the Rich People's store.  

I jumped in the car and headed into Brighton.  My head felt so "skeejawed" it was kind of hard to drive,  When I got to the store, I felt so weak I didn't know if I could get the stuff I needed.  I took a deep breath and proceeded to get: the small cake for one that I like.  A jug of milk, bag of cat food, and two of their wonderful deli salads that I like.

On the way home, I noticed that gas at the Meijer gas station was $3.33.  Not a bad price.  My tank was half full so I decided to top it off.  At the pump, I put in my MPerks number--a discount store card thingie, that adds up certain points for things you buy.  The price changed to $3.13.  Fifteen bucks to fill up the tank and enough in my checking account for that.

Got home, watched my Soap and did a load of laundry, changed the furnace filter, took my vacuum hose and got down deep inside the dryer vent to clean out the lint, then threw the clothes in the dryer and while it was running, went outside to use my loooooong brush to get up in the vent and pull out the lint from that end..if you do this while the dryer is running, it helps blow out all the lint.  Hauled a couple of things out to the shed and came back in.

I discovered that the cable was out.  This has never happened before.  Because I have my TV/Internet and phone bundled, none of them would work.  Plus a thunderstorm was brewing so I couldn't use my computer to look at my weather map and I couldn't watch the Weather Station.  That unsettled me a bit.  I just had to do like I used too--watch the clouds.  The storm came in, downpours--lots of rain, very little thunder, but gusty winds.

Pearl walked down after the storm.  "I was worried about you.  I tried to call you but your phone just rang and rang."

"Isn't your cable out?"

"Yes.  TV and computer."

"That's why my phone doesn't work.  It is tied in with the cable service."

"What about your cell phone."

"I don't have a cell phone."

"You mean that number I call is your home phone?:

"Yes."

"Oh.  Well Merle called Comcast and they said we'd have service back by seven tonight."

"Oh.  Good."

"What if you had to call 911? "

"I couldn't.  Not if the cable service was out."

"What if you had too."

"I guess I'd have to walk up to your house so you could call."

"What if you fell and you couldn't get up?"

"I guess I'd have to lay here until it started working again."

"Oh."

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

Last night there was more screaming and yelling from the Bat Cave next door.  The slamming of the front door, car doors and peeling out of the drive and down the street.  The Lady Vampire is now working days and apparently it is not sitting well with her environment?

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

Part of Privet Hedge removed

in order to get house on to

lot, I suppose?

  Just a month ago, Maggie would not let me brush her.  After I made the bench for the cats, she loves it.  She comes into the computer room every morning, around 10:00, starts meowing and when I stand up, she runs ahead of me, into the bedroom, up on the bench for her brushing.  Here is a video I made this morning.  I don't know if it will work--Blogspot seems not to like videos posted.

Okay--it works kind of.  2.30 minutes of video in a few seconds and no sound.  <sigh> It is cute in real time!

Hub-Bubs, Tranquility, Little League Baseball

Note to Balisha--I could not get on your blog tonight.  I could get on it, but it said the page was missing.

Simply Balisha

Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify. Henry Thoreau

Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist.

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


Loud pounding woke me up this morning.  I staggered out to see what was going on.  Staggered is not just a funny word I used--I actually staggered.  Sometimes, when I first wake up, I think I had a stroke during the night!!!  I am never quite awake and alert for several minutes.

Anyway--as I looked out my front windows, I could see that they were putting up the new neighbor's storage shed.  For some reason, it bothers me that people work on Sundays--mowing their lawns, or sawing boards or whatever--couldn't you all do these chores on Saturday and be quiet on Sundays?

 Looks like they are building a wooden floor 

for the shed

 I went out into the kitchen, fed the cats and warmed up my milk for my cocoa.  Came back in and---wait just a dang minute!!!

The floor I thought they were building has 

now turned into walls and....

they are too tall and too wide!!

Just then, my phone rang.  It was Jackie.

"Do you see what's going on?"

"Yes.  Is that their storage shed or a second home!"

"I think it's their shed and it is way too big.  In the Park rules it gives the dimensions that are allowed for our sheds and that is waaaay over the size."

"I thought so.  Fred wanted to put in a larger shed for us and when he asked the park, they said 'all the sheds have to be eight by eight and no taller than ten feet'."

"I ran into the same problem.  I wanted a bigger shed too and they wouldn't let me."

"Well--I guess it pays to be the manager's parents?"

"You noticed they put asphalt on the service drive to stop all the dust, didn't you?"

"Yup.  At least that is one perk we can enjoy."

"I don't know how long that house is, they are putting in, but by the looks of the footings, the one end is going to be about ten feet from my bedroom!  This whole thing really bothers me!"

"I know, Jackie.  The shed alone has already taken away my view of the woods---where I see the deer and all."

So we hung up, but I was still stewing.  So...I drove up to the office and got a set of Park Rules out of the box they have hung on the outside of the building.  When I got home, I read about sheds.  I had a copy of the rules dated, January 2010.  There have been new rules, although none given to us, and since January 2014, there is no rule on dimensions of sheds!  

So, I called Jackie and told  her and she was still mad.

It even has a loft.  I could live in that place!!

I've told you that the Manager's Mom HATES fireworks and loud noises.  I hope they move in before the end of summer and she can get her fill of the fire bombs the people in the houses behind her, set off.  Maybe she will tell Sonny Boy and we might get another perk--no more loud noises!  

So than, tranquility reigned.  I walked down to Pearl's and we chatted and Merle wondered also about the size of the shed, and I told them of the new rules.  He had also requested to build a larger shed and was turned down.  Wouldn't it be interesting if all the neighbor's decided they wanted bigger sheds and the office was bombarded with requests?

Merle also noted that there is no building permit anywhere on the building, which is a County Law--even to build a deck on our homes.

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

So, I came home and watched the Little League Baseball World Series.  I love watching these games.  Takes me back to the days when I was at the ball field four nights a week as official score keeper.

I am reading this book--it is really quite interesting.

  

All's Quiet in the Bat Cave

I appears that Mr. & Mrs. Vampire have made up and are back to snuggling under each other's wing.

I heard "machine" noises this morning and looked out.  They are putting asphalt on the gravel service drive!!  YAY!!  We who live close to the service drive watched, all summer long, as dust rolls in from the west, when the trucks go up and down--each and every day!  We have written letters of complaint, but to no avail.

Now--that the parent's of the park Manager are moving on to the lot beside the service drive--well.  So I get new neighbors that will take away my view,, and with a yappy dog, but the paved service drive will cut down on the battle of the dust.  There has to be a tiny win in there for me somewhere.

Service Drive, there on the left.

================
I went into the attorney's office this morning and "we" read through 50 pages of stuff to file with the Bankruptcy Court.  Then, I signed half of them.  He will file next week and probably we will go to court a month from now.  I have to drive clear up to Flint and try and remember where the Federal Court Building is.  I'm not afraid of getting lost, but I am not going to enjoy that loooong drive.  Much longer than I am used too.  Flint is not in our County, but is the Federal Bankruptcy Court for 5 counties near by.

I did get some tears in my eyes, which unsettled the young attorney.  He patted my hand, which made me feel worse.  I just feel filled with shame.  I was brought up to pay my bills!  I made the credit card companies an agreement that I would pay them back.  I know that a $3K debt is no skin off their nose and they can take all unpaid debts off their income taxes, but...it still doesn't feel right.

What else doesn't feel right--even without having to pay credit cards, I still will only have $50.00 left at the end of the month.  Now you know--in a few months, with prices going up and up, that will go away and I am going to be short once again.  I don't know what I will do then, but.................................it will all be fine.
========================
Pearl walked down WITH HER WALKER this evening.  Finally!  I keep telling her to use it, but she is embarrassed.  She did say she could walk farther and faster and it didn't hurt her back.  YAY.

She went into a long conversation about how she is cutting back, in preparation of Merle to quit work.

"I am going to order my prescriptions mailed to me."

"Oh."

"Yes...that way I won't have to drive up to Wal-Mart to pick them up this winter.  I hate driving in the winter!"

"Oh...I've never seen Grand River closed...or even icy.  Even last winter.  They keep it real clear."

"Yes...but Merle usually drives in the winter, because I don't like it."

"Can't Merle drive this winter?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you ordering your medicine via mail.  What if you forget to order and run out of pills?  What if the mail lady can't get through and you need your pills?"

"I....don't know."

"I'm just fooling with ya.  It's a good thing to do probably---I don't because I am afraid of all the things I just mentioned to you.  I sometimes forget to order and glad I can just run up to Wal-Mart and get them the same day."

"Well...I'm going to win that PCH contest on August twenty-eight.  Then none of us will have any money worries.  Five Thousand a week for life!!!"

"I thought you quit them."

"I am going to---if I don't win this one."

"Are you still buying stuff from them?"

"Sure.  You gotta to have a better chance to win."

"Not...................."

"Yeah--I know.  You tell me that buying something won't increase my chances, but I don't believe you!"

"Okay...but you gotta quit buying that junk...to cut back on your spending, you know."

"Oh, that reminds me.  I ordered a dress and a pant suit.  They came and I threw them in the dryer to get the wrinkles out....and they came out wrinkled even worse!"

"A dress?  You ordered a dress?  Do you ever wear a dress?"

"No, but you just never know."

Then, I told her about the Express Ready Set Go she gave me and she said, "Just take it up to the Salvation Army store."

"But...it doesn't work."

"Well, they'll never know.  You can get a tax deduction for it."

"I don't have enough deductions to use."

"You don't?"

"Nope.  You have to have a certain amount.  With the Standard Deduction being so nice and high for me, I never have any deductions over that to count.  Besides...I don't make any taxable income so I don't have to file."

"Oh."

So, after she left, I just threw the dumb non-working miracle machine in the garbage pail!

I think tomorrow I will check the boxes in my shed and see what I've got in there that I can sell on e-bay.  I gotta figure out a way to get a little cash-stash here---just in case!

We Can't Predict What Lies Ahead

but, meteorologists like to try.

and today's weather prediction is--a high of 65!

Last week, Merle, Pearl and their daughter Margie cleaned out the storage unit.  Margie took most of the stuff up to her unit and is going to sell it through the Face Book garage sales we have around here.  I told Margie, "You just wait.  The minute you sell your Mom's canning supplies, she is going to see a bushel of tomatoes at the Farmer's Market and want to can them."

I noticed Monday, on Face Book that Margie had the canning supplies listed for sale.  All for $25.00.  They sold within minutes.  

Pearl was here this morning.

"I did a lot of running around yesterday.  Turned in the lock and key to the storage unit place--now we don't have that fifty-five dollars a month.  I went and got my Mammogram.  Then I went grocery shopping with Merle.  I'm hurting so bad!"

"I saw on Face Book that Margie is selling some of the stuff."

"Did you see that?  She sold all my canning stuff....twenty-five dollars!  My canner, the tongs, the little magnet thing that picks up the lids out of the hot water....and....eight boxes of jars and lids...only twenty-five dollars!  If I had known that was all she was going to ask, I'd kept them myself!"

"Well, you don't really need all that stuff."

"I was telling Merle last night that I wish I had them back.  I want to go to the Farmer's Market Saturday.  I'd like to can a dozen quarts of tomatoes and some Bread and Butter pickles.  Now I can't--she sold everything!"

"Pearl...you can't stand on your feet long enough to do that.  Where would you store all those quart jars?"

"I used to can thirty quarts of tomatoes and dill pickles and meat sauce and......"

"Yes...so did I.  'Used to' is the operative word here.  We can't do it anymore and we don't need to do it anymore.  Take the twenty-five dollars and go buy cans of tomatoes and some Bread and Butter pickles."

She got up and walked back out on my porch and came back in carrying a box and presented it to me.

<no---please, I don't want this>

Remember when I told you a couple of years ago, she ordered this off the infomercial on TV.  She got one and another one free--of course the shipping and handling on the free one was as such as the cost of the paid one.

"I brought this for you.  I thought, being just one person, you could cook a lot of your meals in it and not have to heat up the stove.  It's brand new.  Never been used."

"Well--thanks."

"Look through those recipes.  You can make a lot of stuff.  Omelets, mini pizzas, little cinnamon rolls.  When  you make the Cinni-Minis, make some for me, okay?"

We chatted a bit and then she trotted home.

I do not want this thing!!!  I will never use it!!  I have no place to store it!  <well, I do, but I don't want it>

I opened up the box and pulled it out and there it was---no pans that fit inside, no special spatula.  No nothing--just the unit.

Now what?
=============================
Jean left a comment yesterday about my sea shell lamp.  I thought I'd give you the story behind it.

On one of our golf junkets to Myrtle Beach, SC., when we all walked into the motel lobby, my sister-in-law turned and said, "Judy, look at the lamps over there by the couch.  You would love one of those."

I looked and moved in closer to inspect them and yes...I would love one of those.  Ginger Jar shape, clear and...filled with beautiful sea shells!!!!

As the week progressed, in between golfing, the ladies loved to go shopping at the different stores in the area.  I usually stayed back at the motel and spent that time walking the ocean's edge--looking for and collecting shells.  One day, they were going to some sort of outlet, so I went along.  A huge store--we walked and walked and walked.

I was in the area where the furniture was and lo and behold--you guessed it.  They had the very same sea shell lamps for sale.  

One hundred and seventy-five dollars and for another twenty-five, they would pack it and ship it to your home!

Now--this was in 1978.  Two hundred dollars just wasn't spent on a lamp.  Oh---he could spend a thousand dollars on a whole new set of golf clubs, a hundred dollars on shoes and all that, but.....I knew there was no way I could get him to spend two hundred dollars on a lamp.

That night, as we sat around a big round table for supper, one of the girls told my husband about the lamp.  How I was "lusting" over it and that he should buy it for me.

All the guys just laughed, as did he.  "You women, always finding someway to spend our money!" one guy said.

The next day, I went back to that outlet and did buy a smaller, bedside table sea shell lamp, it only cost twenty-five dollars.  I didn't have to pay to have it shipped home, I just packed it in the back of the Motor Home we all had ridden down in.

Fast forward to 1992.  I was divorced (twice) and living with my friend Ernie in Saginaw.  Ernie had noticed the smaller lamp, as I had it sitting on my bedside table and I told him the story of the other lamp.

One Monday night, near dark, I had just hauled the garbage and the recycle out to the curb, when Ernie came busting down the street.

"Quick.  Get in the truck."

I hopped it and he turned and went back up the street he had just come down, up to the corner, did a U-turn and stopped the truck.  The headlights shining on a pile set out for the garbage men and there was--THE LAMP!

Now, this was before the day when people drive by and if they see something of ours sitting out for garbage pick-up and they want it, they stop and pick it up.

Ernie said, "Do you want it?"

"I wonder if it's broken."

So, he stealthily got out of the truck, ran up, grabbed the lamp and brought it back and off we went, back home.

We took it in the house.  The shade was ripped and torn--discard that.  The glass was not cracked or broken.  It had a three-way socket, but the cord was cut in two pieces.

"No problem!"  which was one of Ernie's favorite phrases.

He re-wired the lamp, I got a new shade for it and polished it up and voila'.

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

This late afternoon, I was outside, filling up the bird feeders when I glanced to my left and saw something.  A different plant growing next to one of my Hosta's.  Then, it dawned on me what it was.  Last Christmas I bought an Amaryllis, on sale.  The dang thing never even put up a leaf, let alone blossom.  In March, I dug a hole and stuck it in the garden.  Well--lookie here--it is sending up leaves.  Weird.

As I was coming back inside, I heard screaming and yelling from Tami's house.  My first thought was that Ron had another heart attack and dropped over dead.  I walked a bit faster, but when I got to the front steps, the screaming and yelling was now outside.  Tami wasn't screaming ABOUT Ron, Tami was screaming AT Ron.  I sort of slithered up the steps and into the house and peeked out my window.

She was standing on the front porch in some sort of huge rage--screaming, swearing--"I don't deserve this f****** s***. "

Then she picked up her big plastic garbage pail and hurled it up against the open front door.  Still screaming and yelling obscenities, she stormed off the porch, threw something in the back seat of her car, slammed the door, went around and got in, slammed that door and backed out of the drive.

Then, all of a sudden, she drove back in again, slam, slam the door, up on the porch, picked up the garbage pail and threw it out onto the lawn, still screaming and yelling obscenities at him.  Then back to the car.  Got in slam, slam again, backed out and peeled--I mean peeled rubber off her tires as she sped away.

I heard not one word from him--which is not unusual, he is very quiet, but Tami was, typical Tami.

I guess the self professed "star crossed soul mate vampires" aren't quite as happy as they put on?  Of course, it was daylight and that does disturb vampires, so.............................