Beautiful Weekend

We have had the most wonderful weather this spring and summer and this past weekend?  It was absolutely perfect.  Cool enough at night to sleep with windows open, cool in the morning--like 60 degrees cool, where I needed a long sleeved shirt and then up to around 75 in the afternoon.  Along with that were sunny skies and a lovely breeze.  It sure is my kind of weather!!!

I leaped out of bed this morning--the cats were pestering me to feed them.  I didn't look at my "what is today" flip-chart and scurried around--took a shower, cleaned up the kitchen, because, I wanted to be out of here by 9:30 to take my computer to the shop and stop at the post office.

It was only when I went back to get dressed that I looked at my flip-chart to learn--it was Sunday!  Sunday?  I thought yesterday was Sunday.

  I have been posting this picture under my status on Face Book, a lot lately.  I think it's just a phase I am going through, but.................I sure have been an idiot lately.

I took a selfie while I was saying, "DUH!"

By the way--those anonymous comments coming from the illegal aliens (because I certainly did not give them permission to enter my blog) don't show up in the comments form you see...but they do pop-up in my e-mail--to an annoying rate and amount.  I DO NOT want to put verification codes on here, as I hate them on other blogs because I can never see the numbers to get them right the first time.  I think I will just keep deleting them in my e-mail inbox and maybe they will go away.  

Or put up an electrified fence, surrounded by a moat filled with alligators---unless they were little kids and then, I'd have to take them all in--they are by far the cutest kids ever...and makes me sad at what they have had to go through.

Okay--so TOMORROW MORNING, WHICH IS MONDAY, I will be unplugging and taking my computer into the shop to have Windows 7 installed and my hard drive saved and the rest of it cleaned--physically dusted and electronically de-bugged or whatever they do.

You won't be hearing from me for a couple of days--ARRGH, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITHOUT MY FACE BOOK GAMES!!!!???, but I will be fine and see you back here soon.  

They told me soon--and I hope they mean it.    

Hackers, Robots and Aliens

==========================
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I feel like Arizona, Texas and California.

Middle Day

Today's high temperature was: 73 degrees

Today's humidity was: 33%

Morning showers, sunny and breezy rest of day.

Gorgeous

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

Pearl called early this morning.  "Have you paid your rent yet?"

"Nope.  I don't get my social security until the third."

"Well--don't forget it went up."

"Yep--ten dollars more from now on."

"No!  It went up twenty dollars a month."

I opened my desk drawer and found the notice from the park and......

"Oh.  I've got the notice they sent to all of us and my notice says, ten dollars more."

"What do you pay a month?"

"I paid three hundred and fifty-seven.  This month I will have to pay three hundred and sixty-seven."

"Yes--that's what I paid yesterday.  Three hundred and sixty-seven."

"What did you pay before?"

"Before...when?"

"What did you pay last month?"

"Three hundred and forty-seven."

"Well, then this month, you only have to pay three hundred and fifty seven."

"Why would I pay less than you?"

"Because your trailer is smaller."

"What difference does that make?"

"Your place takes up less ground space than mine does. Darlene has a double-wide and she has to pay three hundred and seventy-seven dollars rent.  Last month she had to pay three hundred and sixty-seven.  She has to pay more because her house takes up more....ground space."

"Well. I wrote out a check for three hundred and sixty-seven dollars....because our rent went up twenty dollars for everyone."

"I don't know, Pearl.  I think you paid too much.  Why don't you call the office in the morning and ask."

"I will, but.....I know I'm right."
<sigh>

Now I understand why, at age 78, Merle still works half-days.  He needs to get away from all that.
===================
Well now--look what I saw on Face Book.  My old pal Richard.  He's on his way to KC for a Corvette Convention.  He was on Our Time looking for a younger women.  Looks like he found her.

I so wanted to comment under this picture,

"Oh, are you traveling with your daughter?"

Actually, the more I look at him, the less I like him.  He was adorable and charming when he was 18, now, he is only charming.  Just another old guy--who still thinks he's 25 and thinks if he has a younger woman on his arm, he is still a stud.
==================
I jumped in the shower and when I went into the bedroom, to get dressed, this is what I saw.  My reactions was, "What the heck?"

"Someone" had pushed the screen out.  It wasn't like that when I got up this morning, so.......

"Maggie...did you do that?"

Neither one wants to look at me.

I know it was Maggie, as she sits in that window.

She must have seen a bird she was trying to go after.

One good thing?  Neither one jumped outside.

Hope it isn't bent.

Hope I can just slide it back into place.

Oh--the A/C inspection guy left the fuse box open.  Idiot!

Close the fuse box cover

Slide screen in--not broken.

We live to fight another day!!!

I wonder--now that she knows she can do that--will she do it again?  I do have white duct tape I can always tape the outside so she can't push it out.  ANIMALS!!  Worse than kids!!
=======================
When I sit at my computer, this is the scene in front of me.  If I just look up through the top part of the windows, I don't see anything except trees and clouds--no houses, I like it that way best.

Pearl called this late afternoon.  She and Merle went shopping for their "tomb stone" as she called it.  I am glad!!!  I have been encouraging them to do this and get the stone set on their cemetery lot.  One less thing for their kids to worry about...and she and Merle can pick out exactly what they want. Not as much fun as picking out new furniture, but...............necessary.

Just Another Day

Today's high temperature was: 77 degrees

Today's humidity was 44%.

Sunny with a real nice breeze.

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

We had one heck of a storm early this morning--I guess.  You know, I am scared of storms, but when they come during the night and I am sleeping, if I wake up, I'm so groggy that I put the pillow over my head and go back to sleep--which is what I did this morning.  Then, when I woke up, I hear about the 65 mph winds we got, 15,000 in this country with no power, limbs down, some trees uprooted and building damage.

If I had got up and turned on the TV, this is what I would have seen and probably freaked.  Better to stay in bed.

It was kind of a bad day today.  

The phone rang at 9:00--it was Pearl.  "I'm up at the office.  I can't get the key to start the car.  Can you come get me?"

"Sure, Honey, I'll be right there."

She had gone up to the office to pay her rent.  When she got back in the car, the key wouldn't turn.  I got in her car to see if I could figure it out.

"What do you think you are...a mechanic?"   She sounded real grouchy.

"This happened to me once (lie) and I thought maybe I could figure it out."

"You can't get the key out of the slot!"

I pulled the key out and put it back in.  Then I wiggled the shift back and forth and stomped on the brake a couple of times and then tried to wiggle the steering wheel--which seemed kind of stuck.  So I yanked the wheel back and forth really hard and turned the key and the car started.  She had pulled in and cranked the wheels way over to the left and had locked up the steering wheel.

I hopped out and said, "There ya go."  

She was really mad at me!  "Oh, you just think you know how to do everything!" and she got in her car and drove on home--nearly hitting two mail boxes along the way.  

Whatever, I came home.

I didn't do too much today, but it seemed I was busy.

Pearl walked down around 6:30, came in, groaning about her arthritis and sat down.

"Merle fell asleep watching the news, so I decided to walk on down.  I have something to ask you."

"Sure."

"Explain this Hobby Lobby thing to me.  I don't understand it."

"Well, yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that Hobby Lobby didn't have to pay their employees health insurance for certain contraceptives."

"Hobby Lobby is just a small craft store.  What business is it what kind of contraceptives their employees want to use.  Sex is private!  They can use what ever kind of birth control they want to!"

<okay, this is not going to go well>

Simplify.  K.I.S.S.

"No...it's not about that.  All businesses had to enroll in the Obama Care insurance or they have to pay a fine."

"Yes--I know."

"Included in that insurance is contraceptives of all kinds.  IUD's, birth control pills, probably diaphragms, if women still use them AND...the morning after pill."

"What's a morning after pill?"

"That's a pill you can take if you had unprotected sex and think you might be pregnant.  If you are pregnant, it stops the egg from attaching to the uterus.  I think."

"So--what business is it of the insurance company what kind of birth control you use?  Just go and buy the kind you want!"

"It's not the insurance's business, but...Hobby Lobby is owned by a family who doesn't believe in abortion and they view an IUD or the morning after pill to be like....like a mini abortion."

"And?"

"And, they didn't want to have to pay insurance for that kind of contraceptive.  They still will pay insurance for birth control pills and other contraceptives, but not those two."

 Well--what business is that of the Supreme Court?  The government has no right to tell us what kind of birth control we can use!"

"No...it's...they don't care....Ah--Hobby Lobby had to sue and bring it to the highest court in the land to see if they have a constitutional right NOT to pay for that kind of insurance that covers those kinds of contraceptives.."

"I still don't get it.  Hobby Lobby is just a little craft store...with four or five employees.  What's the big deal?  Why would they spend all that time and money--just think what it cost us to have the Supreme Court rule on this!"

"Hobby Lobby has a lot of stores."

"No it doesn't!  I've been in one.  They are local and only hire about four or five people."

"No...Hobby Lobby has almost six hundred stores........"

"Oh, they do not!  I don't want to talk about it anymore.  You made my head hurt."

Then she mumbled something else and I said, "What?"

"Boy--your hearing has really gone.  You need hearing aids.  I keep telling you that!"

"No--you had your face turned away and kind of mumbled and I didn't hear what you said."

"I don't mumble!  Merle tells me that all the time.  He can't hear either.  You both need hearing aids!"

Then, we talked about the cats and the weather and our gardens  and she got up to leave.  I always walk her out, to make sure she doesn't fall and makes it home all right--she doesn't realize that I watch until she gets to her house.

"Boy--you need to water your planters."

"Gosh, with all the rain we got, I thought they got enough water."

"Well--that's not enough.  You need to water them everyday!"

"Okay...I'll do it in the morning."

"You need to do it right now!"

and off she toddled.

Troubles me.  She is really getting more and more cantankerous.  She gets that clipped tone to her voice and sounds petulant.  I think the memory problems are becoming worse and she is also having cognitive issues.  Merle told me last week that sometimes he thinks she's had a mild stroke while he was at work.

 It is certainly possible that she is having T.I.A.'s--her Mother had a stroke.

I am getting so I hate it when she asks me to explain something because she starts arguing about it.  I had to bit my tongue the other day when she wanted an explanation about a Bible verse she didn't understand.  She didn't know anything about it, but argued with my explanation.  "Why do you ask me to explain these things when you already know the answer?"  but, of course, I didn't say that.  

Sigh

I never know what to title my posts.......

Today's high temperature was: 83 degrees

Today's humidity was: 51%

Sunny, breezy

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

Awake at 8:45 when Don the Lawn Mower Man showed up and was mowing under my bedroom window.  Staggered out of bed--the last two days worth of parties have tired me.

Started laundry, dusted, vacuumed bedroom--remade bed, put away clean clothes.

Paid Don the Lawn Mower Man and asked him to put me on the same schedule as Jackie and Dar--every 10-12 days.  There were 5 Mondays this month--at $20.00 a mow--well--I can't afford that!!

I don't know what happened, but suddenly it was noon and time for some food and then my Soap and then walked up to Merle and Pearl's.  Took them their photos from yesterday and we chatted for awhile.  Or, Pearl and I chatted and Merle tried to read his paper and ignore us.

Their cat, Tiger, is a big orange, fluffy cat.  He is NOT friendly, but he usually runs to greet me when I walk in and let's me give me a small pet.  Today, for some reason, he growled and hissed at me and hid under the dining room table.  When I got ready to leave and walked past the table on my way out, he jumped out and bit my ankle.  Apparently, Pearl is the only one who can touch him now.  He hisses at Merle and their daughter and grand daughter's.  I don't know what's wrong with him, but he has turned into Grumpy Cat.

As I came back onto the front porch, I noticed something.  My succulents:

 May 30, 2014

Now look like this:

Rotten rodents!!  Either squirrels or chipmunks have dug them out and--see those teeth marks on the leaves?  These succulents are not cheap and they have killed them off.  I am so angry and discouraged!!

Maggie The Cat has mats in the fur on her back.  I have brushed and brushed and brushed her and can't get them out, so today...I figured I'd cut them out and then brush her every dang day.

She was all cozy on my lap, half asleep--I was petting her on her matted area.  Then when she dozed off, I reached over and got the scissors and gently started cutting.  She reached around and bit me!

So I got the brush and started trying to brush them out and she jumped down and starting running around the living room.  I'd catch her and pet her and then brush her and then she'd run some more--it was quite a sight.

I finally wore out from bending over trying to brush her.  Meanwhile, Buddy was everywhere we were, trying to get me to brush him.  When I sat down, he jumped up on my lap and I brushed him for the next half hour.

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

I am quite done with the Our Time dating site and any other dating site.  It has been interesting to see what is "out there" and I truly feel sorry for women who are looking for a man because......there sure isn't much to choose from!  For instance:

This one says his daughter is helping him because 

he isn't very "computer swavy".

I think she also needs to dress him a bit better

and take another photo for his profile.

Yes--he is looking for marriage. 

Well--lookie here!

Another biker! 

One thing I have noticed--not just on the dating sites, but out in public--all I see are old geezers with beards!  Grey, scraggly beards!  What's up with that?

60th Wedding Anniversary Party

Queen Anne's Lace/Wild Carrot and roses in a green Ball jar.

Would be beautiful for a country style wedding

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

I was in my nightgown until noon!  Then, I took a shower and put it back on, while I dried.  Got dressed, filled up the bird feeders, ran a Prilosec up to Pearl who had bad heart burn and sat down to watch the baseball game.

I got so sleepy and closed my eyes at 3:00 and woke with a start at 4:25, BECAUSE I HAD TO BE AT MERLE AND PEARL'S 60TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY!!!!! YIKES!!

Made it!

Her youngest daughter, Margie, had reserved one entire side of the local Bob Evans restaurant--40 people came.  Pearl wanted me to sit right next to her.

Kind of an odd different family.  No one had a camera and no one wanted to have pictures taken, so I got bossy just so I could get one of them  and one of them and their kids.

Their eldest is Vic (given the name of Victor so he would be victorious)--he looks just like Merle, but he doesn't talk--or smile!  I greeted him when he arrived and when I left and he only mumbled something I could not make out.

Their eldest daughter, Cathy, (named for Catherine the Great) is a very religious woman.  Two weeks ago, she got mad at her husband and cut off most of her waist-length hair.  She thought it would make him stop drinking.  Ah-hh--NO.

Their youngest daughter (between them) Margie, (named for Princess Margaret) is the one I adore!  She reminds me so much of my Pammie.  Happy and smiling all the time and very, very fun.

I did manage to get Pearl to let me take a picture of the roses that Merle gave her.  Well, actually, Margie got a card and the roses, took her Dad out to the car, gave them to him and he brought them back in for Pearl.  She wasn't fooled for a minute and turned to me and said, "He didn't get me these, Margie did.  He has never bought me a flower in our lives!"  Which, when I remember how many flowers Fred brought home to me, made me sort of sad.

  

Considering that no one wanted pictures, but I knew that later Pearl would say, "I wish we had pictures of our party,"  I just kept clicking away, without my flash and no one had a clue.  HAH!  Then I put some together and printed them out and will take them all up to her tomorrow.

I accidentally hit my water glass with my knife and someone thought I was "clinking for a kiss" and they all started clinking and we did get a tiny little peck kiss out of them.  I didn't get a picture of that, but.....

They were sharing a milk shake and I did get a couple of photos of that--Pearl put whipped cream on Merle's nose. LOL

I wonder how anyone can live with the same person for 60 years and not get so tired of them and their ways--you know exactly how they are going to react to everything.  No surprises--maybe that's a good thing?  I could barely live with MYSELF for that long without getting bored.  

I guess you just start out, go through all the fights and problems and then, finally settle down and you get to be like brother and sister, or something--friends?  I don't really know what makes a long term marriage.  Is it just habit?  Neither one wants to rock the boat so...you just settle?  Better to be together, even though you can hardly stand each other, than to be all alone?

Merle and Pearl barely say a word to each other.  Most of the time, when they are together, they ignore each other.  He snaps at her on occasion...she gets so mad at him.  I guess that's what these long anniversaries are all about.  A celebration for putting up with each other for life?  

Oh well, I will never know and honestly...that's quite all right with me.  I'd rather be alone than have some MAN tell me what to do, how to do it, when to do it and get mad if I don't do it his way.

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

Whenever we go to Bob Evan's to eat, Merle and I order a side of biscuits.  Pearl and Margie tease  him on how he eats a biscuit.  He first, cuts them in half, then slathers one half with butter.  Then he puts the tiniest bit of honey on the edge and only bites that part.  (He doesn't put honey on the whole half.)  He then puts on a tiny bit more of honey and eats only that part--on and on until the biscuit is gone.  

He stated in his dry way, "Keeps the honey from making a sticky mess."  So, tonight, I surreptitiously got a pix of him eating his biscuit.  I can't wait until they all see this photo!

I am a bit worried about Merle.  He has had terrible back pain for the last 6 months.  Has gone to the Chiropractor and the doctor.  Now, they finally want to run tests--CAT scan--MRI.  The family and Pearl aren't worried because they have no clue that it is anything but arthritis.  Knowing (way too much) about medical things, I can worry about Pancreatic/Lung/Kidney/Liver cancer.  Only I can worry--I am not saying a word about my worries to anyone else!

I've had a nice full weekend.  Filled with people that I enjoy and love and who love me...and none of them are related to me.  Just like at Drew's grad party yesterday--he was so glad I was there.

They don't HAVE to be nice to me.  That's kind of nice!  

Heirlooms-Harangues-Hoorahs

Today's high temperature was: 87

Today's humidity was: 61%

Hard rain from 3:30 to 5:00

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

Who said heirlooms were only "things" passed down through generations?

I have heirloom flower plants!

The parent plant of this Peony, was planted on The Farm by my Great Grand Mother-Sophia- in 1910.
My sister still has the original, my daughter Pam has one and I have one.

My Mother got a clump of these from her Mother, in 1950.  Lemon Lily--because of the color and they smell like Lemons.  My Mother brought over a small clump of these, in 1959, and planted them at my new home.  I now have them in my garden here, my sister has them in hers.  One summer day in 1976, a lady, driving by, stopped at my house (when I lived on the farm) and asked if she could have a piece.  I dug up a nice clump for her.  I have no idea who she was or where these lilies are now growing.

I call this plant my Mama Iris.  My Mother ordered the peach colored hybrid corm from Breck's and planted it in the fall of 1968.  Two years later, the fall after she died, I dug a corm from this plant and put it in my garden down at the farm where I lived.  The children from this plant now are growing in my garden, Karen's garden, Jen's garden, Pam's garden and my sisters.

Whenever I moved, I needed to take a part of something from my "home" and plant it.  I also have 3 rocks from The Farm, the farm where I was born and the farm where Pammie now lives.  I need something from my "roots" to anchor me to my new home.

The children from these flowers were planted and still live (I think), in Clio (1988), Mt. Morris (1989), Otisville (1990), Lennon (1991), Saginaw (1992-2003), and here.  They also have been planted by my girls and sister in: Binghamton, New York (Susan), Whitmore Lake (Karen), Hartland (Jen) and Pam's farm and my son Mark, still has the original Iris, as he lives on the farm where my Mother planted it.  He loves that he still has something from his Grandma.

I have also given pieces of them to others and have no idea where they are.

I look at these and think, "We are born, live and die, but these plants, if cared for, just keep on forever!"
=========================

This morning, I walked up to Pearl's.  We were standing outside looking at her garden--she threw me a hint that we didn't have it all weeded.  I reached over, in back, to pull up a wild carrot weed.

"Oh!  Don't pull that out!  That's Queen Anne's Lace."

"It's Wild Carrot.  It's a weed and will spread like crazy."

"It is NOT a weed!  It's called Queen Anne's Lace."

"One in the same.  Wild carrot...Queen Anne's Lace.  Same plant."

She turned to look at me, put her hands on her hips.  "Is this going to be our plant argument for THIS summer?"

I put my finger up and said, "Nope.  Don't argue with me on this one...I know this for sure."

"I took a class from a Master Gardener and I ought to know what I'm talking about!"

"Yeah."

"What do you mean.. yeah?"

"No argument!  I will go home and Google it and bring you back the results."

"I don't care what the Internet says. This is Queen Anne's Lace."

"I never said it wasn't.  It is also Wild Carrot--they are both the same.  Dig it up and you will find a carrot underground.  I had to dig these dang things out of the fence rows for my Dad.  I hate them!"

"We used to put them in little jars of colored water and the blossom would take on that color."

"Yes--we did too.  Wild carrot."

She took a swing at my arm and almost fell over.  I steadied her and said, "Hold on Honey Bunny...just calm down."

We both had a good laugh.  She said, "Well, you go look on your Internet, but...I'll bet you a dollar, I'm right."

"Get your money ready," I said as I strolled on home

Queen Anne's Lace

Wild Carrot

.

Queen Anne’s lace earned its common name from a legend that tells of Queen Anne of England (1665-1714) pricking her finger and a drop of blood landed on white lace she was sewing. Belonging to the carrot family, Queen Anne’s lace is a biennial that is also known as wild carrot.

So--I printed this out, walked it back up to her house, handed it to her to read and held out my hand (waiting for my dollar).  She read it and handed it to Merle to read.  He looked at the pictures and said, "Oh, Wild Carrot."

"Pearl is a townie--she calls it Queen Anne's Lace.  I am a farm kid.  I call it Wild Carrot."

"I don't care," she said.  "I like it and I am going to let it grow!"

"Fine.  Cut it and put it in your bouquets.  It is a pretty WEED!"

<stubborn Swede and stubborn German>

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

This afternoon, I traveled around the lake to a Grad Party for another of Maddie's friends--another French Horn player.

Maddie and Drew last Halloween

 This is Drew when he was little.

Adorable?

 This is Drew's home

7,500+ square feet

 

 This is Drew now.  It had started to rain really hard

and we were a bit damp.

The pool outside the bottom level.

Beyond the pool is a lower lawn level with the party tent and beyond that is a sweeping lawn down to the lake.

I love this spouting turtle.

I wish I could have taken more photos of this magnificent place!  It poured for almost two hours.  Although the food was simple; Taco salad, and other Mexican foods, there was also a huge watermelon boat with fresh fruit, a double tiered cake and a Sundae Bar--it was all catered.  

The house is enormous--but, as I have noticed with a lot of the McMansions, there are a lot of rooms, but they are all smallish.  The dining room also contained a Steinway Grand Piano.  The lower level, where we all stayed, protected from the rain, had a TV on the end wall.  That dang thing was as long as the wall was wide and 8 feet in height.  

I guess you would call it a Home Theatre?

I sat and got acquainted with Drew's Mom's side of the family--the DeOrio's.  They are Italian and they are loud and brash and I had a blast chatting with them for a couple of hours.

On of the tables in this room was a lamp made from an old reel type movie projector.  I asked Drew about it and he said his Dad had made it and he had thought he and his Dad could make my French Horn into a lamp for me. 

Just then, Matt walked in (you remember, Matt took Maddie to Prom)

and came to hug me and he and Drew and I talked about the French Horn lamp I want.  A few weeks ago, Matt had offered to make it for me and Drew was going to help me.  I told them I had found an artist that works with metal sculpturing and that he was going to do it for me.  I really wanted to let these kids off the hook.  They have a busy summer and are planning for college in a few months.   

For a while, when I first got there, I just sat and looked around at this house and the others in the neighborhood.  These families of Maddie's friends are very wealthy.  These kids haven't a clue how fortunate they are to live in this kind of environment.  They take it all as quite normal--as they've lived like this all their lives.  

They are privileged and yet, they are all so very nice, polite, compassionate, intelligent, talented and very down to earth.   When I got ready to leave, it was still raining a bit and Drew helped me up the stairs to the main floor, got an umbrella out of the entryway closet and walked me to my car.  

I have never been in so many mansions in my life, as this last month, going to Grad parties.  My ancestor's were millionaires, but we never had houses like these people live in.  Our wealth was in the many acres of land my family owned.  I'm glad I got to rub elbows with these people, but...just think......

that TV they own, or that Steinway Grand--just think how long that young mother, I met at the food bank, could live on what just one of those items cost.