Summer Is Here!

Today's high temperature was:  86 degrees

Today's humidity was: 68%

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I have had to close up the house and run the A/C for the last two days, and will for the next week and I do not like it one bit!!!  I love the nice cool summer we had.  

So--I had a weird day.  It started early.  I have been working on how to get my friend's book on to amazon so she can sell it.  I was going to call her at 11:00 and we were going to go through it together and "get 'er done".

But, first, I had a goofy idea to send her a video of a tour of my house.  So I went outside and held the camera up on my forehead and started walking.  Into the house, pointing out certain things in certain rooms.  I was way in the back bedroom and I heard Dar calling my name.  Now, I was narrating the video, so I just ignored her.  I heard her open the door and come into the living room, still calling my name.  I ignored her, but started walking toward the front room.  She must have heard me narrating, because she backed out of the door and stood on the porch.

When I finished up, I opened the door and let her in.  I wanted to send the video to my friend before the phone call, so I was a bit anxious to get Dar outta here.

"I have to work today.  I have to leave at one."

<it was no 10:45>

"Okay.  I have to make a phone call in fifteen minutes.  Come on in for a few minutes."

To tell you the truth, I do not even recall, now, what she was talking about.  At eleven fifteen, I asked her to leave.

Than, I called Chrissy, my friend, and WOW, was it ever good to hear her voice.  We laughed and giggled, just like we always do.  We tried to figure it all out a bit--than I told her, I'd have to call her back at two--one her time.

I watched out the front windows, for a while.  Watching the progress across the street.

This is the manager's Mom and HER father.
He is 94 and lives two streets over.  Another reason she wanted to move in here.

My Purple Hyacinth Bean Plant is finally getting some pods!  YAY.

I called Chrissy at two, but it got so complicated that I just got her information and I think I can go in, use her e-mail and password and get her cookbook up and ready.

We did have some good laughs as she explained the snake/scorpion/centipede situation in her new Texas home--well, garage actually. I worry about her living with those kind of critters. 

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

Tonight I called Pam.  She had been mowing all day and I told her I had taken pictures and would e-mail them to her.  Jen's kids are starting school here, the day after Labor Day, so at least they aren't moving.  I don't know if Eric is going to go to New Jersey and start (trying) to work with his Dad.  All I wanted to know is that the kids will be here and that means Pammie will have a job.

I have to give you the dialogue of part of our conversation.

"A Coyote took down one the deer last week and the dead thing was laying out on the far edge of the lawn and stinking awful!"

"Wait.  Did you say Coyote?"

"Yeah."

"You have Coyote's out there?"

"Yeah.  They killed the deer and as I was mowing two weeks ago, out there, you know, where the pasture is...that I now mow, I was gagging and trying to plug my nose.  I finally got the shovel and carried the carcass out and threw it in the ditch down there.  I went out to mow last Friday and the damn Coyotes had dragged it back onto the pasture!"

"Oh my Gosh!"

"So...I got the shovel and moved it back to the ditch.  It was mostly all pieces by now.  The skull had a nice rack on it.  So, I leaned that up against the tree and thought that in a month or so, the bugs will clean it up and I will have a nice skull with horns to put up on the steps by the deck.  Sun bleached white and all..kind of like you see in those old west movies?"

"Okay."

"Well--I got out to mow today and the Coyotes had dragged the pieces back on the lawn, but now it was just bones.  But--get this Momma, I can't find the skull and horns anywhere!  All that work for nothing!"

"Do you ever hear the Coyotes?"

"Yeah--always in the middle of the night.  I hear them calling and yipping.  You know how pitch black it is out here at night.  I lay in bed and wonder, 'Hello--is there anyone out there.  Am I the only one left in the world.'  It kind of scares me."

"Next thing ya know, you'll look up and see a black bear looking in your window!"

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

We laughed and giggled about that scenario for awhile and then Pam said, 

"I can't wait for those kids to get back in school!  They are bored and they pick on and fight with each other.  Drive me nuts!  It'll be nice, with just me and the baby here most of the day."

"Will you have to drive them to school and pick them up?"

"Elise and Alex.  They go to school right next to each other.  Not Andrew.  He is riding the bus."

"Will you have to drive him to the end of the Cul-de- sac or will the bus come up to the house."

"HE'S WALKING!  He has to get up an hour earlier than the other kids."

"What about in the winter."

'HE'S WALKING!'  It's time he sucked it up and quit acting like a spoiled, bratty thirteen year old!"

"He's only twelve...and that's the way twelve and thirteen year olds act."

"and Elise--she acts so snotty and sassy!  Gawd--I can't wait for them to be outta the house."

So--right about here is where I started laughing so hard I could hardly speak.

"Pammie.................do you..............do you .......remember when you were that age and one day...........I said to you.......'I hope you have kids just like you'.  Remember that?"

"Yeah."

"Well................................you didn't have any kids, but......................but it appears................that you have a niece and nephews just like you!"

I am laughing so hard I am about to strangle!

"It's hard!  You tell them to do something and they either don't listen or they just don't do it and then when you tell them again, they get real uppity."

"Yeah.  I remember."

"They get disrespectful and I'd just like to slap them!"

"Yeah.  I remember."

"Elise got mad the other day, walked away from me when I was trying to tell her something, slammed the door and went outside."

"Yeah.  I remember."

"It's just so frustrating trying to deal with these pre-teens.  They make me so angry!"

"Yeah.  I remember."

Then...silence for a moment.

"Mark and I were just as bad or worse, weren't we?"

"Yeah.  It's a phase.  By the time they are ready to graduate,  you will hate to see them go."

"If I live that long!"

"Yeah.  I remember."

Then we laughed and hooted some more.

The circle of life.    

The worse the kids are, the more the parents of the kids will appreciate THEIR parents?

Tickles me to pieces!!!

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.

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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?

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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!