Saturday, February 25, 2017

Good News Bad News

Shed is coming along pretty good! The main section is roofed, and some of the walls are up too!! 


                                                                       Not perfect but it's getting done!

My budget is the hold up and we keep finding other ways to spend our time...it's hard to finally be retired and yet working every day...
We even have a skylight! Those old panels were left over from when I tore down the old greenhouse attachment about 3 yrs ago, for long time readers. 



    
 We have started putting up some siding, but I didn't get any shots of that yet.



Today we tried to go down to Bear Island to see 2 reported rare birds! The Eurasian Wigeon and the Great Kiskadee! I was so glad that Mom and Sis (and Jim) agreed to go with me...sunny, no wind,  high of 80, perfect spring day! We packed up a picnic lunch and planned to spend the day there it's about a 2 1/2 hr drive south of us. Perfect day trip. 


                                                                    Re using what I can

...the van has been making a squeak for a couple weeks, I ignored it... and Bam, today it decided to force me to pay attention....
So we had been speeding down the interstate and 20 miles north of Bear Island I hear a funny sound, then lost the ability to steer without great effort, so I pulled over and right there was a Ford dealership! Limped in and the shop foreman came out took a look and told me my water pump had seized up, the bearing in it was shot! So that's what was squeaking...and when the pump seized the drive belt came off all the various spools and that is why the steering got hard to do.

              1962 Ford Fairlane with 21,619 original miles on display in the lobby of Walterboro Ford

Okay, so they were able to make the repair but not in time for us to go on and look for the birds...so we went back home.  Disappointed, and deeper in debt.  An entire day spent impatiently waiting...
                                                               Jimmy was the most patient of us all.

I guess you thought that was the bad news?

My sister keeps insisting I leave now for my spring trip, she can handle Mom  alone.  We got home late for us, I hate driving at night, it was 9 pm, Sis put Mom to bed about 10 and then she followed.  I got a call at 4:45 am Mom had attempted to get out of bed without help and fell AGAIN! So I ran over and we got her up she has a huge bruise on her broken arm and a bad skin tear about 3 inches long, an egg on head, and we just don't know what the heck we're going to do.  
We put a baby monitor in her room all she has to do is in a normal voice ask for help to get up, and the thing works great...but she still refuses to believe she needs help to stand and walk! 
It's called denial. We all do it to a certain extent right?
My sister is not as strong as I am she is 5 yrs older...she could not get mom up without my help so how can I go away knowing this could and probably will happen again? I may try need to convince her to go stay at our other sister's house with mom while I'm away and shorten my plans. I know she will not like doing that my other sis lives in a highly urban area...and she would have to walk the dogs but she would have help my sis and brother in law.... It takes a Village!

I just don't know what else to do.  We are so determined to not put Mom in a nursing home!! Meanwhile our own clocks are ticking away...she does fine as long as she waits for help. I got a wheel chair (named Garcia) for her because even though she is getting stronger, she is so unbalanced and without the ability to use the left arm yet to hold onto a walker she falls over! I got it at a used store, and on the back is written Garcia 8551 

AND now the good news!

I dumped Verizon! Finally!! Couldn't take it anymore...my data was gone in half a month without me posting one single photo!! How can this be when I used to upload dozens of photos? I called AT&T and they installed Uverse and it  works great, and even though there is a data allowance its one TRIG! My Verizon plan had me at 5G's , 1Trig is 1,024 Gs! Basically that is like unlimited for me. So far I'm happy with it, I do have to pay an early terminate fee...even with that I' m still saving $450 this yr by dumping Verizon. and next yr I'll save almost $600! The speed of the DSL, is faster then the Jetpack was!

a little more bad news....

So that means I'm hit with a big repair bill, and the phone terminations fees all in one month! OUCH!! 
And even though this is a long rambling post I am adding a little story...it's a story within a story, within a story! 



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Story Time: The Pear Tree & the Go Go Boots!

Remember when go-go boots were the craze? Unless you are a baby boomer you may not remember.  Back in those day we were all crazy about the Beatles, and each one of us had our favorite Beatle. Mine was George, the quiet mysterious one. So in elementary school I had a small group of friends.  There was Louise, Karen, Ellen and me. Louise was crazy about Paul, Ellen was silly for John, and Karen liked Ringo.  

Being in this tight group was fun when it was time to be on the playground we had each other to hang out with.  We took turns at the swings during our lunch time and recess and discussed the new songs the Beatles had released and articles and photos in Teen Magazine that Louise always seemed to have a copy of.  I was way out classed by these three girls but most of the time that didn't bother me.  

Christmas time came and the idea that we all would ask for a pair of go-go boots. We would show our solidarity by wearing our go-go boots every day to school.  I knew this was going to be a problem for me.  We all agreed, but I knew I would not be getting any.  I wore hand me downs exclusively! No one in my family had a pair of go-go boots to hand down!

SO after the Christmas holiday and the New Year was over we went back to school and my three friends had on their white go-go boots.  They had the nice real leather ones and they looked totally cool.  I lied and said mine were too tight and had to be returned.  Of course I did not get any go-go boots, I can't recall but I doubt I got anything for Christmas, as that was normally the way it was.  But I kept whining about these boots to my Mom and she finally got a pair, but they were not high end like the ones my friends had.  These were made of some sort of inferior pleather.  The sole was so thin my feet hurt when I wore them.  But every day I trudged off to school in my go-go boots.  I hated them...but I was too ashamed to tell Mom she had wasted her hard earned money on the cheap boots.  My friends were happy I had made good on our pact, and even though they didn't look anything like their prime examples, they said nothing hurtful. 

Riding the school bus was part of our routine.  Back in those days life was much different.  The high school kids drove the buses, our driver was a teen aged girl about 16 yrs old!  Each and every day we drove by this field and not too far into the field grew a mature old fashioned pear tree.  It was a yearly tradition for bus number 12 to pull over when the pears were ready to pick.  We all got off the bus and took as many as could carry! Back in those day there were no backpacks for school we carried a satchel, hardly any room for a dozen pears...so we would ball them up in our jackets, or our skirt tails.  This tree was not far from where we lived and sometimes we would walk up there and get pears on the weekends when the tree was heavy with fruit.   

So we got off the bus that day and it had rained the previous day.   The field was muddy!  RED clay! So I clomped out there to get pears wearing my white pleather go-go boots! I sunk up to my ankles in the mud. It made that weird sucking sound each time I pulled my foot up to take a step...while red goo squished up the sides and over the instep of my hateful boots. 

Back at the bus the boots were a red icky mess! I dragged my feet on the roadside grass to try and clean the mud off while trying to hold my skirt tail of pears low enough not to show my underwear! (Girls were not allowed to wear pants to our school in those days) 

At home I wiped the boots down with newspaper but the mud had dyed my white boots  a crappy pink color and the newspaper ink bled onto them too!! Ruined! I hid the boots under my bed that night so Mom wouldn't see.  I wore them to school the next day and everyone laughed at my pink mud smeared boots. I endured the teasing all day.  

When I got home  I tossed the boots to the back of our shared closet and there they lay till somewhere along the line someone tossed 'em out.  A lesson in many things was learned by me.   


PEACE
Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Simple

I've been building a fire in the fireplace each night since I'm back in my house.  It's nice to sit in the evenings and just watch the fire flicker.  My evening thrill.  My daytime thrill is the nice days with Spring coming on strong...I know you guys want to know how Mom is, and she is doing good! She is getting stronger each day, and we have hopes she will be able to move around much better when her arm can be "weight bearing" and she can manage using her rolling walker again. 


The shed project continues, now the wall framing is done and it's time to raise the rafters! This is where it gets harder having to be up on the ladder to work...keep knocking myself in the head Duh!




              Just 2 more rafters for the main part of the shed and it's time to replace the tin!
                                                 Bought 10) 2 x 4 x 8  $36.00  

And though it will be a while before anything starts to break the ground, we planted a winter garden, couple kinds of lettuce, some kale, Swiss chard,  mustard greens, parsley, and cilantro! And I'll add a bed of potato and onions as well. 

My weekend plans:
It's Friday night and one of my favorite TV shows, Grimm,  comes on and I can get it over my antenna!  And later I hope to see something cosmic happen as I step outside to check the night sky!
Saturday is my son's 36th birthday..and if Rosie is gonna be on SNL I will stay up for that!
Sunday the Walking Dead starts again and I'll be watching that over with mom and sis, as my antenna does not get that!  I'll bring the popcorn.

Not much happening in my small world at this time. I'm keeping my eye on the political arena, and I'm beyond words at how things are going...its such a sad time in the life of a liberal (and most Americans).  I am happy to see more people voicing their opinions, protesting, and calling a lie--> a lie! I've been so shocked by this Jason Chaffetz and his attacks on the environment, and now the EPA, UTAH what the hell are you thinking????  Y'all are lucky you're not on  my Facebook list, that's where my political ranting happens! I have only 32 friends and half of them are suddenly quiet I suppose they voted for him...I had a Twitter account I never used and haven't signed into for a couple years...I decided to check it...OMG I had almost 500 twitter friends??? I did not authorize any of them only a couple folks, like less than 10 were actually my friends! I could not find a way to mass delete those "fake" friends most of who wrote in Japanese, Chinese, or Korean...so I deleted the whole thing! If you have a social account you are not keeping an eye on better go check it out! There was all sorts of porn and other crap on "MY" twitter! Jeez!

It is comforting to have a simple life...small things are the highlight right now...hope you have some small things going on in yours too! 

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 Story Time: The Hand Shake 1973

How many famous people have you met?  I've met a few but one that impressed me happened at Belmont Park! I was working as a groom at the time, and had a filly running in a claiming race, and it was her maiden race.  How that works is this, the horse can be claimed, or purchased during the race for an amount set by the owner of the horse! In the paddock where the jockey gets on the horse is also a bit of  a "hobnob social" for the owners, trainer, and visitors.  My job as a groom was to walk the horse around in the paddock and when the jockey is weighted he brings his saddle over and the trainer normally gets the saddle from the jockey and they put it on the horse, the groom makes sure the horse is held quiet, and does not kick or bite anyone!  Then once the horse is saddled, the groom gives the jockey a leg up and then you walk around a few turns while he tightens up the girth and knots up the reins and takes out any braids you have placed in the mane where he may need to grab! Then you exit the paddock and the jockey is either on his own or if he has a lead pony the lead pony and rider will escort your filly to the track where they warm up by galloping to the starting gate. 

I did not know the owner of this filly, the barn I worked for trained horses owned by various people, rich folks ya know.  In the paddock the owner, who hoped she could get rid of this filly and the money it was costing her, came over to say goodbye to her filly.

So she came up with my boss, the trainer. They didn't acknowledge me, I was just the "help"...but her guest came directly up to speak to me! So I smiled and he extended his hand and greeted me with a big smile, "Hello, Andy Williams," I replied "Hi, I'm Sondra it's nice to meet you." That's when I realized it was the Andy Williams and it struck me how short he was!

After the race I had to go down and get my horse, she ran good but didn't place, I was met by the new owner and his groom had a halter to put on my filly, so the filly got claimed.  I walked back to the barn by myself carrying her bridle, halter, and shank humming Moon River!
PEACE
Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.