What do you think?

Tonight was Tim's final birthday hurrah. The man loves Journey. We have seen them twice and enjoyed both shows. I mean what's not to love. Familiar songs, songs that we know all the words to, songs from our youth. 

Of course, that was many moons ago. Steve Perry doesn't play with the group. In fact, only one original band member is still with the group that tours under the Journey name, which has always made me wonder at what point does a band actually become its own tribute band? But, as I said, we enjoyed both concerts. The new lead singer does a good job.

Compare this to the original Journey with Steve Perry. (Enjoy the 80s)

Well tonight we went to the Titusville Ironworks to see what is billed as the number one Journey tribute band, E5c4p3. We enjoyed the show. It was interesting to talk to another couple who have been to see the band 4 times. The woman said that the band actually has followers who follow them from venue to venue. She says after awhile they begin to recognize each other. Like I said. Interesting. 

Anyways, for comparison: the lead singer was very good. So the question begs an answer: which provides the more authentic experience? The 'actual' Journey with its one original band member, everyone else replaced or a tribute band with a good lead singer and a studied, polished band? 

I dunno. 

This made me think of Mr Shife right away

Quiet day

Today is Tim's birthday. It was a quiet day. We went to the gym. I work out for one hour. He works out for 30 minutes. He ducked out to buy his birthdsy present. He wanted a retractable air hose for his big air compressor in his garage, and then swung back to pick me up.

On the way home we stopped at the grocery store for strawberries and heavy whipping cream. He wanted strawberry shortcake for his birthday. Easy enough. His supper of choice was a simple one too. He loves mashed potatoes and hamburger gravy. He does love mashed potatoes. 

It is hard to believe we are both turning 69. 60 was a shock, and now a mere eyeblink later, we are looking at 70.  Just seems so strange. 70 is old! We aren't old!

An acquaintance posted a video of John Fettermen singing 47's praises on this Iran debacle. Another acquaintance responded with a reference to cults. They are two 80 yesr old white headed, bearded gentleman, both veterans. Both men of strong convictions. The poster blasted back with he 'was not raised to bash people on social media'. 

I smiled to that. Social media didn't exist 'til both of them were full grown men. My fingers itched a little because he unfriended me years back after I let him have it for calling Hillary Clinton a c*nt. He sent me a friend request years later, claiming I had unfriended him.

I scrolled on and left the two of them going at it.

We spent a quiet night not watching the news. 

Saturday

It is Saturday.

We protested. Gorgeous day, windy, which made the signs a bit of a challenge. 

Two of our tenants were there. I thought it was interesting that they simply stood on the corner making eye contact and waving with broad smiles. What was interesting is that when two women in their 70s are waving directly at people, no matter what their political leanings were, after some hesitation, generally, there was a small tentative wave back, one that used all their fingers.

We haven't had counter protesters lately. We have a small handful of people who cross over to stand with them, talking in a friendly way while waving their signs. The counter protesters kept trying to back away, but the friendly protesters followed them, smiling, talking, and waving their signs. Eventually, they left. They never have returned.

We made new signs.

 There is a big hulking young man who stands quietly in the back in solidarity. Somebody handed a sign to him and he came up front to stand with us. He seemed pleased to be there too. 

There was a lot of honking. I love the elderly people who quietly wave and smile at us. One fellow told us he was proud of us. Yeah. We get a few fingers and some shouts of 'go home!' Or 'Trump, Trump!' But that part of things seems to almost be dying down. 

We always hear him long before he gets to us. Today, air horn man was about ten minutes early. He came into town blaring his horns. A ripple went through our group. 'Here he comes! Here he comes!' Indeed he was, following a tanker truck. This time was different though. He caught the red light. We had a chance to demonstrate our thanks. We cheered and waved. In return he blared his horns. He tooted the old 'shave and a haircut' and around the corner, another horn answered with the obligatory 'two bits!' We all laughed.

A good day. 

We grabbed a burger and ran into people I used to work with, and had a good visit. 

We stopped off at a thrift store to make a donation from all that stuff that was mysteriously stuffed into the spare bedroom while I was gone. (Grrrrr!) I ran into a girl I went to school with. More jawjacking. I also got two beautiful blouses and a snuggly sweater for a quarter apiece. 

We stopped to check out Albert's garage sale on the way home. I could not believe my eyes to see a folding Rubbermaid two step ladder. Just that very morning I h Asaaddecided I needed something to reach the top shelves in the bathroom and the kitchen. $7.50 brought that home. $5.00 more brought a window fan home too.

So...it was a people-y sort of day, but a good one.

My blister is doing great. I soak my foot in the evening...

...and put a blister pad on it. Those things are miracle. 

That was Saturday.

Today kinda sucked.

 We went to the gym this morning and I did my 3 miles. I also did this:

It is the biggest blister I have ever given myself. Tim said, "why didn't you stop?" Short answer: I felt the blister on my big toe. I did not realize the rest of it until I took my shoe and sock off.

(I was walking, but you get the idea.)

So I am gimping around. I soaked my foot in hot water with Epsom salts. I put a blister dressing on it. It is pretty painful though.

Today was another one of those storm days. We were under tornado watch for a time, with those eerie strange skies.

Since I was confined to house, I tried to use my time wisely. We pay the water and sewage bills on our rentals. As the property owners, if the tenant defaults on the bill, we are responsible. We decided early on that it is easier to pay those bills monthly ourselves than inheriting a delinquent account, especially since it reflects negatively on our credit. 

A $12.99 charge has been added to this account. The original phone call happened in November. Here we were 5 months later still trying to get it resolved. When I called about it 6 weeks ago, I was told that there was no record of the initial call. I went all through it again. Ultimately, I was told that I would be credited for that amount. Yet two bills later, that billing was still there. It was showing as past due, highlighted in red, all caps warning with exclamation points.

The first phone call was very frustrating. A man just kept telling me that he had the transcripts of that conversation. Except what he was telling me was said wasn't what was said. I insisted I did not owe the $12.99. He insisted I did. When he said "is there anything else I can help you with?" I kept my rude remarks to myself and simply said to note my account that the charge was being disputed and I would not pay it.

Meanwhile, Tim was rooting through the old records. He found the information that proved our side of the conversation. So, taking a deep breath, I called back. Once again, I began the whole story. She interrupted me to say that I was calling the wrong customer service, that I needed to be speaking to another department. 

Sensing a brush off, I pointed out that I had already called this number and the previous person claimed to be reading the transcript of the conversation. She flatly said he wasn't. He had no access to them. 

!!!!

I called the number she gave me, braced for round three. Imagine my surprise to be told that my account was current, that the $12.99 had been refunded. I was told not to pay it, that it would eventually drop from the billing. 

!!!!!!!

The rest of the day was spent being very angry at my husband. While I was away, the man brought a bunch of stuff from the old house and stuffed it into the spare bedroom. It required going through. I pointed out that we had an agreement that we were not bringing a bunch of shit to the new house and stuffing it in the attic. We would sort it at the old house and make the decisions about what came and what didn't come here. The new house is just too small for all that clutter. Once the sorting was done, we could move the necessary things into the attic, sorted and organized. 

He listed to my frustration and got a stubborn tilt to his jaw. "You were not here!" he shouted

"Then wait until I AM!!!!" I yelled right back.

So I spent the evening going through that stuff , pulling everything out of the bedroom one box at a time. Old tax paperwork was organized by year. 3 years no longer needed and tossed. I kept showing stuff to Tim. He kept saying, "That's nothing, throw it away," which only irked me more, because there was no need to stuff all that shit into the spare bedroom. It literally proved my point.

I am pretty sure Tim and I have an understanding now. 

Back

 I am back from my little trip. It was a wonderful little getaway. There was a picnic in the park. A dance competition, followed by a dad grilled meal on the back patio. Dad and Mom got a date night. The girls and I used 'little eyes' to see the teeny tiniest wild flowers that are all around us. We planted terrariums in little 5 inch tall jars I brought with me. I introduced them to the Ramona series my kids watched on PBS when they were younger. When the oldest was at school on Monday and my son was at work, we were able to give mom a morning off. The youngest and I spent the morning playing. It is a wonder to watch her. She played independently for the entire morning. All that was required from me was to 'neeeeeeigh' at the appropriate times when she needed her 'oonyhorn' to speak.

So it was an ordinary stretch of time filled with quiet joys, an it could not have been more perfect.

Tuesday saw me headed home. I started out just as soon as the oldest was on the bus. Mama needed to drop the youngest off at preschool. I needed to get my hiney home asap. I needed to be at the lawyer's office to sign important papers. So it was the 5 hour trip. The car was unloaded. We hopped back in and headed to Warren.  It just made for a loooong day. 

While I was gone, Tim bought a car. Wednesday morning, we got up and headed out to pick that up. It is pretty, black metallic paint, so it sparkles. It is a hybrid, completely new technology to us. Tim drove it while I worked out the computer system. It has Sirius Satellite radio. Not sure how long that goody will last. It is quite the fanciest car we have ever owned. He is pleased with himself.

So that is the recap of life in my corner of the world. 

Outside of my bubble, Orban lost the election in Hungary after a 16 year dictatorship. Jd Vance even went there to campaign for him. Why? Well...there's this:

New Hungarian PM says Orban government was using taxpayer money to fund US pro-Trump activist group CPAC | LBC https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/new-hungarian-pm-says-orban-government-was-using-taxpayer-money-to-fund-us-pro-t-5HjdXp8_2/

I am sure that this is a coincidence though.

Trump's messianic visions have taken front stage. He's blasting the pope at this point. Posting AI of him as Jesus. Him with Jesus. MAGA is talking about blasphemy. Such a shock, isn't it? They were completely okay with his blasphemy until he began to mock their God. 

Let's just stop right there.

Going, going, gone

 I am heading out tomorrow morning to my son's house for the weekend, me and Flat Stanley. He went to Drake's Well, if you're curious. He has a nice story with pictures and brochures. 

My youngest granddaughter called this afternoon to tell me that she helped her mama get my room ready. She did the dusting all by herself and it was perfect. She also wanted me to know that she could hardly wait. I told her I could hardly wait either. We talked about what fun we would have. 

I won't be protesting on Saturday, although Tim will. I have a dance competition to attend. I probably won't be online much either, but I will catch you on the flipside, with plans to come back either Monday or Tuesday, depending on whether a plot I am plotting works out.

I told my sister that i had made a chicken pot pie for supper last night. The left overs will make a meal for Tim. I made two quiches today and for good measure made a meatloaf, which he can have with mashed potatoes and gravy one night and use for sandwiches. For good measure, I bought him 5 frozen dinners.

 My sister laughed. 'You know he will head for DQ' at the same time I said, 'he will probably just go to Dairy Queen.' 

SNAP!

Have a a good weekend everyone and remember this helpful tip of the day.

I haven't listened to the news at all. But boy, they are playing some great music on the classic rock station. Neil Young, U2, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith.

They did not play this though.

It is an old one. You might even call it a classic. 

Protest

 Saturday was the protest, as usual, and it was a beautiful day for it. 78°, sunny and a warm wind blowing. It was spring. 

Tim carried the signs and I carried a little folding table and a plate of 'oatmeal resistance' cookies to share. (Come to the dark side! We have cookies!) 

We are getting a lot more support from passersby. Lots of car horns. I also noticed that there are many people who don't toot, but as they sit at the light, they smile, doing the thumbs up, and if you are only waving one digit, that is the digit to wave!

One elderly couple had two large dogs in the back seat. They were sitting at the red light and the dogs stuck their heads out the window to say 'hey! How's it going!' Terry's dog, Carlos yapped back 'Pretty good! Join us, why doncha?' The poor owner looked embarrassed as she tried to stifle her two who were joyously barking their big barks, as Carlos happily yapped back. It made us all laugh, inside and outside of that car.

It used to be that business trucks didn't wave, but we are seeing more participation there, too, which is cool. They have big horns. 

'Airhorn guy' comes through blasting his horns enthusiastically. You can pretty much set your watch by him, and we always wondered. Turns out that he drives by multiple protests to show his support. We are part of his route. When gas is $4.39 a gallon, that's commitment to, isn't it?

Of course, there is the flipside. A woman walked over to scream about abortion. Sally answered, 'if you don't believe in them, don't have one.' The woman shrieked that she hoped if Sally had grandchildren, they were aborted.  A ripple of shocked murmuring followed. Ain't no hate stronger than Christian love, is there?

When it was cold, people often drove by. You could tell they were  not fans, but you could not hear them. Now you can because the windows are down. 

'How much are you getting paid?' (Answer: nothing...I hate this for free!)

'Why aren't you working??!!' (Same reason you aren't!)

One woman shouted,'if it weren't for trump, you would not even be here!!!' The guy next to me looked puzzled. 'What does that even mean?' he asked. 'Dunno,' I answered, 'but she's right. If it wasn't for him, we all wouldn't be standing here.' He let loose a laugh and passed the comment down the line.

I talked to the organizer. "We need a busker!"

Wonder what Jesse Welles is up to Saturday?

 Gas went up 20 more cents today. It was $3.19 on March 1st. It is $4.39 as of April 5th.

It is cold and spitting snow. (If someone has a protest for that, we'll show up for it.)