Progress

 Tim's been steadily working on receptacles/sockets/powerpoints/whatever they are called where you live. He has put up a the light in the pantry. He has installed the fan/light in the bedroom. 

I put down the tile in the pantry yesterday. 

It will be grouted Monday. 

We had a wicked storm here last night, and it rained like crazy. The lightning flashed over and over, multiple times in a minute. We were at a restaurant when the skies opened. By the time we left, I stepped off the curb to get in the car, and was in water up to my ankles. (They were hiking sandals, so no harm no foul.) In any case, Tim drove home with the wipers at top speed and it was still difficult to see at times. 

I woke up a couple times in the night to hear it raining hard. 

This morning, Tim is back working on the electric. I stayed home today. Mattie gave me a big bag of tomatoes. I've got them stewing in a roaster with onion, garlic, green pepper, mushrooms and fresh basil and oregano. We will have spaghetti with homemade meatballs for supper tonight, and I'll have enough to tuck away in the freezer probably 4 or 5 meals later on. 

The sky is dark, the sun is strange, and it's obvious more weather is on the way. It's okay though. The house smells great, and the kitchen is getting some long over due attention. 

Crazy Train (and thank God I didn't buy a ticket!)

 Laundry day, cleaning day, vacuuming, bed changing, roast vegetables for supper. Tim got my car put back together and you cannot tell that it ever was in an accident. I will be glad to have my own wheels again, I guess, for all my insistence that we did not need a second car (because we had a car and two trucks). 

Tim worked on the electrical stuff again. He has not gotten the supplies to install the ceramic tile, and I think that it is because he's decided he would rather do it himself. I will take that up with him again later. 

We bought supplemental insurance today for the first time. I was a little surprised that the charge for it was nothing. They do a $50 payback, which actually covers the cost of the plan. The excess results in a smaller monthly medicare payment, which is deducted from our social security. Long story short, we get extra coverage and extra money in our retirement benefits. 

They've been doing a lot of calling to tell us about our benefits. It comes in labeled as 'potential spam'. I never answer those phone calls. I just let them go to voice mail. They invariably seemed to call while I was driving the car, and so I never quite got around to calling them back, usually because by the time we got done at the end of the day, it was too late to return the phone call.

Today, I was available and so I took the phone call. They wanted me to subscribe to their mail order prescription program. I'm not averse to that, but I spend $19 a month on my two prescriptions, and so, I wasn't sure that it would be worth it, once the shipping was processed in. Turns out both prescriptions are no cost, and the shipping is free.

Those two things alone add about $60 to our monthly income. Tim should see about the same added. That's pretty amazing to us. 

We drove up to Levi and Mattie's today. The bumper cover for my car came in a huge box filled with bubble wrap. I knew the kids would be delighted with it, and they were. It was a nice visit on the front porch watching the sun go down. The girls picked me a bunch of peonies with the lacy tops of asparagus tucked in. I also left with a bag of tomatoes. Mattie's about sick of them. She said she's canned over a hundred quarts of tomatoes. She canned apple sauce yesterday. She was canning pears today. 

Did you see that the stable genius has admitted that he lost the 2020 election "by a whisker"? why is this not headlining on every single news agency?  He's really angered some of his far right backing. (Spare a moment to shed a tear for White Supremacist Fuentes who was punished for terrorist activity and just discovered it was for no good reason...Poor dumb bastard.)  Last week's announcement that the tangerine man is voting no on Florida's 6 week abortion ban has angered some of his evangelical backing. (FYI: There is a facebook post called Evangelicals for Harris on facebook, and they have funded some pretty good advertising.) He's been playing to his base for so long and now, suddenly, he's alienating even them. His campaign seems to be unraveling quickly of late. 

It was a pleasant end to the day. We came off the hill in the dark. Tim is watching football, and I will go to bed and read a book. 

Good night, good people. 

Enjoyable Day

Last night, disappointingly, I found myself unable to sleep. I think that the more time that I spend away from people, the more anxious I feel about being around them, if it makes any sense. When I went to bed last night, I didn't think I was fretting, but I found myself wondering if I should have volunteered at all. I mean, you can't call me an expert water person. Shoot. I can't even swim! What if the people there were all experts? What if I looked silly and ineffectual? What if they were resentful of having an old fart with a bad knee along for the ride. What if...

And on and on those thoughts ran. No matter how many times I told myself, "Listen up, asshole, you won't know if you don't try. You enjoyed kayaking," and that part is true. I did. I loved it. I've been wanting to go again, but William isn't interested. Tim won't go. My sister works too long of hours. I just don't have the confidence to head off on my own. 

I spent a large part of the beginning of the night fretting and sleepless. Then...wouldn't you know it?  I woke up about 4 am, sneezing and congested. I got up and took an allergy tablet, shut the window, and waited for the symptoms to ease back. Just before 5, they did. 

So...first thing this morning, I was up, and I was not ready to be up. I was as nervous as any kid on the first day of school. 

Tim dropped me off at the meet-up place, and we all signed our waivers, and I noticed right away that everyone else seemed to have their partners. Piper asked me to partner up, which made everything much better. For the first thing, she's an expert on the river. She and her partner own a business on the river that rents out canoes and kayaks, and she knows everything there is to know about the weather, the river, the dam output...she's got it all down to a fine art. 

Once we were out on the water, the magic set in. The quiet, and the chance to observe the details of the river...frogs and fish, and whole herds of water bugs passing by us and mindboggling speed. The fact that Piper and I have people in common was a big help too, and we talked easily and comfortably. She commented that I was a 'power stroker' (a strong paddler), which she didn't expect. I told her that I was not an experienced canoer and was glad to team up with someone who could offer up tips and advice. She said cheerfully that I needed to be on the water more. I could not disagree with that. 

We pulled a lot of water chestnut. setting it in the base of the canoe between us. We gathered so much of it, that at the end of it, when we came back to shore, people were helping me uncover my feet so that I could get out. We had 25 bags all together. 

Piper was glad for the help. She lives close to where we were working, and she said that she often comes out in the evening to pull it, but a couple hours working alone was nothing compared to what we managed to do as a group. She said, "I can only work a little bit after work," and I told her that if she ever wanted someone to join her, that I'd be glad to pitch in during the evenings. She said that she'd take me up on that, and I hope that she does. It would be a good way to gain skill and confidence. 

I walked home carrying my muck boots and admiring the day. The beans I had going in the crockpot turned out very well. I also took a good nap. 

Last night, an interesting thing happened. I was cutting up beans and I happened to look out the kitchen door and a new cat was staring at me from the mudroom door. Most of the ferals will watch you closely, but when you look at them, they get nervous and look away, usually move away. But this cat just stared. 

Intrigued, I went to the door to call it. It ran. 

This morning, I saw a lost cat: 

Boy. He is an image of the 'new' cat at my house. I sent a message to the person, but they haven't gotten back to me, so I cannot say whether it IS the same cat. Perhaps they found theirs. I don't know. He came back for supper tonight, though, and it would be great if he had a home. 

Beans!

 Tim worked on receptacles today. I vacuumed plaster dust from the pantry, in preparation for laying the tile floor, which I am quite excited about. 

There really was not much for me to do today, but my sister has enough green beans and has been trying to give them away before she pulls the vines, so I picked a half bushel of green beans. 

The tender beans were cut to size. I will blanch and pop them in a ice bath in preparation for the freezer tomorrow evening. 

The too large beans were removed from their leathery pods. Toss in some onion, celery and kielbasa, and let the thing simmer on low in a crock pot for the day, and that will be supper tomorrow with some garlic bread. 

There were some tiny beans which I saved too. Those I sauteed whole in bacon grease, with a generous handful of garlic, some black pepper, and a smidge of salt. I actually found this recipe online and it sounded fast enough and easy enough. It is what I ate for supper, and lo...it was good!

Tomorrow will be a different sort of day. I am meeting up with a group of people at the local river outfitter. We will be taken down river and dropped off to work on a section of river to pull water chestnut, and invasive that clogs a river and makes kayaking and canoeing difficult. That's this week's adventure. Also a foraging opportunity. I will probably bring home a couple dozen of them, because we do like stirfry in this house. 

So. That is the plan for tomorrow. It gives Tim a chance to continue on with the electrical stuff, which is pretty much a one man job. The wires are run, but he's putting in the receptacles, hanging ceiling lights and fans. 

By the end of the week, I'm hopeful to have the pantry floor done. It will be the first completed floor. 

Labor Day Weekend.

 Sunday afternoon, we celebrated Labor day with my brother-in-law's family. My newlywed nephew was up with his new wife from Virginia. They were married over the summer down there, a wedding kept purposely small, and so I was really happy to be able to give them a wedding present. 

He has a hereditary disorder that caused him to lose his eyesight over the course of a few years, and life has been hard for him. He met a lovely woman, a widow with two beautiful daughters, and it makes me happy to see him happy again after years of struggling. 

He's even regained his sense of humor. He said, "She wanted to tan a little for the wedding and so I went with her to the tanning place, and the woman said 'Have you ever had issues tanning before? I always ask when I see freckles.'

Tommy said in mock total disbelief, "Wait!!!! She's got FRECKLES? I don't know. That might be a deal breaker right there..."

I said, "Boy, it's easy to see why she fell for you." 

Tommy's son, Lincoln had a birthday coming up, so we celebrated that too. He is turning 13, like William.

The party is a giant pot luck. Everybody brings something to share. Our contribution was a crockpot full of Italian sausage with peppers and onions and tomatoes. There were buns and mozzarella cheese. There was bbq pork and meatball subs and all manner of salads and trays of corn on the cob.  Nobody went hungry, that's for sure. 

The main event though, is the bonfire in the evening. This year's was huge. William was mesmerized. He likes nothing more than a good fire. 

Tim noticed that a nearby dead tree had ignited. 

Two nephews and a 32 foot ladder and a chainsaw took care of that in short order. The branch came crashing down and people just added it to the bonfire. 

It was a fun way to spend an afternoon. 

One exciting moment: William has long despaired about being short. I've told him right along that he will sprout. Both of his parents are giants, so that's a fairly safe bet. We haven't seen a lot of William this summer, but at the party, I noticed that he looked a lot taller. Yep. He's had a growth spurt over the summer. If he grows another inch or two, he will be taller than me. I think that he was quite anxious to return to school for that one reason alone. 

Today, we worked on a different house: our current house. We had a picture window to fix. The police took estimates of the damages, but realistically, I don't see how we'll ever get the money back. I mean, these are kids. You cannot get blood from a turnip. Probably 20 years back, we had a batch of boys smash mailboxes. They, too,  were ordered to make restitution. We received two payments of $1.25. 

So. We're not holding our breath on getting any money at all. 

The estimate from the glass repair place was an eye watering $450, but compared to the price of a new picture window, well...it sure was the lesser of two evils. 

Then, Tim happened to see an ad. A guy was remodeling the house, and he had torn out a vinyl picture window. It was a very nice window, double paned, vinyl cased. It was the same size as our broken window. He drove up to look at it. It was in perfect shape, so he bought it for $125, a considerable savings. 

That's what we did today, which was fine. I'm still not feeling really energetic. The window was extremely heavy, but we got it in. Tim said, "I think this glass is a lot thicker than the old window." I said, "Hopefully it is thick enough that if some stinker throws a rock at it, it will bounce it right back to them." 

We went down to the new build to collect the tools for the job, and to feed the kittens. No sign of mama today either. It makes me wonder if mother cats go off to have their kittens away from the others. I don't know. But the kittens are much more sociable without Gaza around. Possum, especially. He comes when I call him. He won't be petted yet, but he's very interested in people. 

In any case, it is the first day of September and it feels like fall. It is cool and overcast. Tonight there are frost warnings.

Nothing New Under the Sun

 We got a base for the sink, but after placing it, have decided that it won't work. We will either adapt it, or take it to an Amish craftsman to make some changes. I think we could manage the thing ourselves, but Tim wants it done by an expert. 

Yesterday was a strange day. I poly'ed trim boards while Tim drove the tractor to my nephew's machine shop for a repair. 

I felt strange and light headed. It just felt as if I was moving underwater. 

I worked and felt like crying and I really had no idea why but by lunchtime, things were not better, and I was starting to feel nauseous. 

So. It was not a productive day. 

Tim has one of his trucks pulled out of the garage, and so it gives a wide open bay. I walked down to feed the cats. I do not feed them until they actually come to the dish, trying to force the 'taming' process. I sat down and called and called. Finally they came. First Possum. Then Tiger. Then Sigh (who has blue eyes) and finally Mini, the biggest cat who looks so like mama that I have trouble telling them apart. But sure enough, there was no heart shaped patch of fur, so it was the kitten. 

They scampered around nervously, but they did eat while I sat back and watched and didn't seem too troubled by my presence. 

We came home early in the afternoon, and I lay down and slept, The nap did me good, I think. I felt much better after I woke up. 

It was a quiet night, and we went to bed early. I was awakened by screaming. The neighbors were going at it hammer and tongs. I couldn't hear him, but I could hear her. I could see him, sitting on the bed. It looked like he was folding clothes and packing. She was shouting "GO! Just GO!" (among other things). Their bedroom window is perhaps 20 feet from our bedroom window, and I felt like a peeping tom.

Tim went to the computer. I went back to bed and turned on my reading light and finished my book. "The Same as It Ever Was". It was a book that I identified with quite a lot. I can't say that I liked it, but it was real, and I understood it, from all the angles. There is nothing new under the sun. 

Six hostages found in Gaza, dead. 

There is nothing new under the sun. 

Biden vows that Hamas will pay. I like Harris' take: Israel has the right to defend itself, but how it does so matters. She advocates for two states. It would solve the problem wouldn't it? 

I read that fully one half of Ukraine has been destroyed at this point. 

There is nothing new under the sun.

August is gone. September is here. The seasons change. The sun has seen all this before as well. 

No Two Kids are the Same

 My 6 year old granddaughter is a very sweet and kind girl. She's polite. She's funny and friendly and smart as a whip. What she is NOT is a fighter. 

We all met at the McDonald's which was part way between where we live and they live to do the great tomato exchange. The idea was to give the girls a chance to run their energy off between the 1 1/2 hour drive there, and the 1 1/2 drive back. 

It has a great climbing cage that goes all the way to the ceiling and it has a piano slide. When the girls were turned loose in it, they had a great time, but there were two boys there as well. The oldest boy and my oldest granddaughter were about the same age. The youngest boy was a year older than my youngest granddaughter. 

Now the boys were much more boisterous than our two girls. They ran at the girls screaming "MONSTERS! MONSTERS!!!" and making grabbing motions in their faces. They crowded close to them while they were climbing, not exactly pushing, but just being physically in the way. 

It wasn't that their grandparents weren't telling them to stop it. They were. 

It wasn't that the boys weren't listening. They were. 

However, ever so slowly, it would begin again. They would begin to crowd and make clawing motions in the 6 year old's face, and she'd get weepy and run for her mama. 

The grandparents would scold the little boys and tell them to back off...but...then ever so slowly, once again...

At one point,  Miss Six was teaching Miss Two how to climb, and the two boys pushed in past and began making roaring noises and clawing motions at the girls' faces. My daughter in law and I opened our mouthes to say something when the two year old took matters into her own capable hands. She got right back into the boys' faces and let loose a scream that could make ears bleed. I mean, I have heard screaming children before, but really, this little gal has a set of lungs on her like you have never heard in your life. 

The other grandma was up in a second, fearing that the boys had hurt someone, and the boys got another stern talking to. Their grandfather threatened to take them home. Shit got real. 

I looked at my daughter in law and said, "Those two girls are as different as night and day, aren't they? That little gal is fearless!"

My daughter in law said, "Her father believes that she's going to be that girl that goes to school with a brick in her purse."