I have seen a lot of posts about not killing the dandelions in your yard because that is what the bees use for food in the spring before everything opens up. You know....my yard should be Bee Heaven right now. And I do not care. My mom is so proud that they have fought the battle of the dandelions and win every year. They have a beautiful yard and home. People know who they are because of it and remark to them about it when they are out and about. I will not be known for that although I have had many older women in the neighborhood stop and remark to me how nice my flower gardens look. Personally I think they probably look really nice to them because they remember what it all looked like before I bought the place. It is just a comparison.
And there I go again not giving myself credit.
There is this father and son that go past my house on bikes every Saturday morning. The father looked quite awkward on the bike the first few times but he is now looking more confident. The son has a smile on his face. I am deducing that dad always had other things to do before but now he has free time and is doing more things with his son. Son obviously is quite happy about it.
I do not begrudge the Stay at Home orders and shutowns for things like allowing nature to get cleaned up and thrive and for families to thrive. I do, however, mourn the negative impact it has had on businesses and personal economy. I think there are lawn care businesses that are hurting because more people are beginning to take care of their own lawns because they have time and it is something to do and/or they can't afford to pay someone else to do it right now. Frankly, if I had the money, I would pay someone to at least mow it for me.
I gave my dad's laptop to my cousin Tommy and he fixed it for him. I paid Tommy since this was the 3rd laptop he had worked on for me. Hopefully there will not be others. Dad is pleased that he will be able to use it again.
I hear the woman next door yapping at her husband. She is so loud. I am hoping that I will be able to get my lattice privacy wall up this week before TJ gets here. I would like to go out on the deck with him. It will not stop the noise from next door but it will lend a bit of privacy. I should be able to open up my blinds on that side of the sunroom. The Lucy won't be laying there watching them and barking every time someone makes a move.
I am washing some clothes and waiting for my outdoor work clothes to dry. I need the oversized sweatshirt to wear because it is still cool with a damp breeze. I am just enjoying sitting here in the sunroom right now while Lucy watches out the doors. The summer noises have begun...cars driving by with their windows down and music turned up, a few motorcycles. There aren't so many motorcycles yet because they use this road to go to Geneva-on-the-Lake. It is a summer 'fun' spot with games, outdoor eating places, bars, a small amusement park, zipline, and lots of bikers. I used to go there on summer nights with my friends when I was a teenager. We rode go-carts, played mini-golf, ate pizza. The amusement park sat quiet at that time and of course there was no zipline then because no one had thought of it. They have an arcade too. I was not into video games at that point. I tried playing pinball a few times. We just hung out with other teenagers. The bikers all basically stayed at one end of the strip at that time. Now they are all over. More bars have opened. The strip hosts a Biker Weekend near the end of summer and the roar off all of those gangs of bikers going past my house is enormous. Lucy and I escape to my parents' during those days. Not sure how that will play out this summer.
I am hoping they still have the boat parade this summer but I don't know. With social distancing it may not happen because there is always hoards of people that gather.
So many things are different and hard to plan out.
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Stuck in the Mud
I made a promise to myself....I was going to use this year to go DO things. Of course, the COVID business put a damper on some of it but it also took some anxiety off of me. I don't have to think up excuses to NOT do things. However, it also made me appreciate time with friends and family.
I am doing a more sensible diet change and exercise habit. The sunshine always gives me more energy and happiness anyway. I am trying not to despair over the state of my yard. The weeds around my house are many, plentiful and HUGE. I will have to pull what I can, spray what I can and wait for them to die down. This Saturday looks like it will be good for that. Dawn wants to go to this green house to look for hanging baskets and I possibly can. I don't have the time she does to work outside. She's retired now. I am still working. BUT, I will make the time to go with her.
I was finishing up working with a student yesterday afternoon when Debbie called. She said she was down at the beach (5 minutes down the road) and did I want to take a break? well...YEAH! So, I shut things down, let Lucy out to do her thing then hopped in my car.
It was windy, the waves were fast and hitting the shore like a battering ram. But it was so nice to stand there in the sun and take it in. She and I had a talk about many and various things then we drove to Bridge St because she wanted to pick up dinner to take home. She asked me many times to take a piece of pizza but I wasn't in the mood. (I know, right?) She said, You have such good will power!
I told her I have good will power IF I am seeing results. I did not want to find the LBs I lost last week. ha ha!
Today, I went out and mowed the lawn. It looks HORRIBLE! Mounds of dead grass everywhere. I wanted mulching blades on my tractor. My dad won't put them on because he and my brother insist that they are going to find me a BETTER tractor. I told them there isn't anything wrong with the one I have but they insist. UGH!
I had to push mow more than I usually do because it was extra squishy next to the storage building and the tractor got stuck. I had to push it out. So I push mowed around the building. My calves will be letting me know tomorrow how much the disliked that whole deal. I am not sure why but they ALWAYS feel like they have knots in them. No matter what I do, they get knotted up and get sore more easily than any other part of my body. Perhaps they need more stretching than they get.
Anyhow, Susan sounded kind of depressed yesterday. This whole staying home thing is really getting to her. She likes to get out and do things and have people to talk to and she has only had her mom and has not gotten out much. She is a big stickler for the distancing and 'rules'. Debbie, on the other hand, is a nurse and just shrugs about it. The only thing she is careful about is not getting her hands on her face.
After I got done mowing the lawn, I took Lucy outside and I sat on the porch for a bit. She laid in the grass. When we have more good days, I will take time at the end of my day to take her for walks. She will be happier and I will too. We just keep having rain. We have more thunderstorms coming in for tonight and tomorrow. yay. I should bring my tulips in.
I am doing a more sensible diet change and exercise habit. The sunshine always gives me more energy and happiness anyway. I am trying not to despair over the state of my yard. The weeds around my house are many, plentiful and HUGE. I will have to pull what I can, spray what I can and wait for them to die down. This Saturday looks like it will be good for that. Dawn wants to go to this green house to look for hanging baskets and I possibly can. I don't have the time she does to work outside. She's retired now. I am still working. BUT, I will make the time to go with her.
I was finishing up working with a student yesterday afternoon when Debbie called. She said she was down at the beach (5 minutes down the road) and did I want to take a break? well...YEAH! So, I shut things down, let Lucy out to do her thing then hopped in my car.
It was windy, the waves were fast and hitting the shore like a battering ram. But it was so nice to stand there in the sun and take it in. She and I had a talk about many and various things then we drove to Bridge St because she wanted to pick up dinner to take home. She asked me many times to take a piece of pizza but I wasn't in the mood. (I know, right?) She said, You have such good will power!
I told her I have good will power IF I am seeing results. I did not want to find the LBs I lost last week. ha ha!
Today, I went out and mowed the lawn. It looks HORRIBLE! Mounds of dead grass everywhere. I wanted mulching blades on my tractor. My dad won't put them on because he and my brother insist that they are going to find me a BETTER tractor. I told them there isn't anything wrong with the one I have but they insist. UGH!
I had to push mow more than I usually do because it was extra squishy next to the storage building and the tractor got stuck. I had to push it out. So I push mowed around the building. My calves will be letting me know tomorrow how much the disliked that whole deal. I am not sure why but they ALWAYS feel like they have knots in them. No matter what I do, they get knotted up and get sore more easily than any other part of my body. Perhaps they need more stretching than they get.
Anyhow, Susan sounded kind of depressed yesterday. This whole staying home thing is really getting to her. She likes to get out and do things and have people to talk to and she has only had her mom and has not gotten out much. She is a big stickler for the distancing and 'rules'. Debbie, on the other hand, is a nurse and just shrugs about it. The only thing she is careful about is not getting her hands on her face.
After I got done mowing the lawn, I took Lucy outside and I sat on the porch for a bit. She laid in the grass. When we have more good days, I will take time at the end of my day to take her for walks. She will be happier and I will too. We just keep having rain. We have more thunderstorms coming in for tonight and tomorrow. yay. I should bring my tulips in.
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Digging Not to China
I loaded Lucy up and went to visit with my parents and my 2 nearby siblings. It has become a regular Sunday afternoon thing. We would all show up after mom and dad got home from church. Church is now closed, of course, but we still show up between 12 and 12:30 anyway. I have discovered something...my parents are hard of hearing and become more easily confused the older they get but my brother just does not listen. I have to repeat myself to him 3 times because he only 'hears' parts at a time. He is too eager to give 'advice' so he doesn't listen to the whole thing.
I joined a local plant exchange group on FB. I was looking for some rhubarb plants and the one that started the group messaged me and told me that after seeing my post, she posted looking for rhubarb, too and someone responded to her that she could come dig up as much rhubarb as she wanted so she would dig some up for me too and all I had to do was come to her house and get it. So, I did and Saturday I was out digging up a new garden spot for plants that like the shade and moist soil (rhubarb being one of those plants). I dug up some of my extra hosta, yellow lillies and yellow irises and planted them there too. I even had some leftover rhubarb to give my sister. The garden spot was started by a large rubbermade deck box that I had removed from my porch (not good sitting on a wooden floor) and sat it up next to my garage. I asked my brother if he wanted it so my dad and I loaded it in the back of my SUV and my dad took it to him when he took my SUV home with him (dad was taking it to the mechanic early in the morning last Tuesday) to get my new front struts on...which I had also left in my brother's garage after he thought he was going to put them on for me but discovered he would be able to get to the left one. I told him I would have Dean (my brother's friend that owns a car repair garage) do it but I asked him to store the struts in his garage until I needed them because they were too heavy for me to move around.
AT ANY RATE, the grass under where the deck box had been sitting was dead so it was easy to dig it up. I also dug up more. I then took up the few large cement squares leading to my porch and laid them on the weeds and grass along the garage that I still want to get rid of to extend the garden. I then started cutting and lifting sod because I am laying a double line of square cement pavers to create a walkway to my porch from the driveway. I found a brick to measure the space between the pavers. I got 4 down...36 more to go. I did some weeding and cleaned out my storage building and I potted some more plants.
I took a dog dish full of water out for Lucy. She laid in the grass and watched the neighborhood OR followed me around the yard. It was a very nice and productive day for us both.
Friday I took my touch screen laptops to my cousin Tommy. Today, after I left mom and dad's, I went and picked up my newer touch screen. He had to reload my OS but it is now working just great! He said the charging port inside the other one is cracked and he will have to see if he can find another one for it. I told him not to sweat that one. However, I did drop off my dad's laptop with him. Dad said he decided to take the Chromebook back after all. He said he realized he didn't need to spend that money for something he really didn't need. But I could tell he was disappointed in his laptop. I talked him in to letting me take it to Tommy and letting him work on it. Tommy messaged me tonight and told me he had already cleared out a ton of junk that was on dad's computer and added some RAM so that it would load things a bit easier. He is still working on getting it going faster so that dad can use it again. Maybe dad will be happy with his computer again. He spent too much money on it for it to be a paper weight.
I got a bird bath. It was so cheap I couldn't pass it up. The problem is it is a heavy cement thing. I am going to paint it first then I have a clear coat/sealer for cement spray to put on it after that paint dries THEN I will put it out front. I have SO much to do this year. I have to paint and secure the railing on my front steps, replace a ceramic light in my sunroom with a fan/light, replace a vent fan in the main bathroom, and put in the new flooring in my bedroom. I also need to put a couple more coats of porch paint on my porch.
Debbie said that if she buys her mom's house it needs some fixing up. She said she may call on me for help with that. I told her I can paint, wire in new fixtures and outlets, even help with some drywall and replace a garbage disposal however, if it is major building or plumbing I am no help. LOL Oh...lawn mowing, she is on her own also.
Okay...24 more days of school. 2 IEPs to write this week. It is good for me that it is raining all week so I won't feel tempted to go outside and dig.
I joined a local plant exchange group on FB. I was looking for some rhubarb plants and the one that started the group messaged me and told me that after seeing my post, she posted looking for rhubarb, too and someone responded to her that she could come dig up as much rhubarb as she wanted so she would dig some up for me too and all I had to do was come to her house and get it. So, I did and Saturday I was out digging up a new garden spot for plants that like the shade and moist soil (rhubarb being one of those plants). I dug up some of my extra hosta, yellow lillies and yellow irises and planted them there too. I even had some leftover rhubarb to give my sister. The garden spot was started by a large rubbermade deck box that I had removed from my porch (not good sitting on a wooden floor) and sat it up next to my garage. I asked my brother if he wanted it so my dad and I loaded it in the back of my SUV and my dad took it to him when he took my SUV home with him (dad was taking it to the mechanic early in the morning last Tuesday) to get my new front struts on...which I had also left in my brother's garage after he thought he was going to put them on for me but discovered he would be able to get to the left one. I told him I would have Dean (my brother's friend that owns a car repair garage) do it but I asked him to store the struts in his garage until I needed them because they were too heavy for me to move around.
AT ANY RATE, the grass under where the deck box had been sitting was dead so it was easy to dig it up. I also dug up more. I then took up the few large cement squares leading to my porch and laid them on the weeds and grass along the garage that I still want to get rid of to extend the garden. I then started cutting and lifting sod because I am laying a double line of square cement pavers to create a walkway to my porch from the driveway. I found a brick to measure the space between the pavers. I got 4 down...36 more to go. I did some weeding and cleaned out my storage building and I potted some more plants.
I took a dog dish full of water out for Lucy. She laid in the grass and watched the neighborhood OR followed me around the yard. It was a very nice and productive day for us both.
Friday I took my touch screen laptops to my cousin Tommy. Today, after I left mom and dad's, I went and picked up my newer touch screen. He had to reload my OS but it is now working just great! He said the charging port inside the other one is cracked and he will have to see if he can find another one for it. I told him not to sweat that one. However, I did drop off my dad's laptop with him. Dad said he decided to take the Chromebook back after all. He said he realized he didn't need to spend that money for something he really didn't need. But I could tell he was disappointed in his laptop. I talked him in to letting me take it to Tommy and letting him work on it. Tommy messaged me tonight and told me he had already cleared out a ton of junk that was on dad's computer and added some RAM so that it would load things a bit easier. He is still working on getting it going faster so that dad can use it again. Maybe dad will be happy with his computer again. He spent too much money on it for it to be a paper weight.
I got a bird bath. It was so cheap I couldn't pass it up. The problem is it is a heavy cement thing. I am going to paint it first then I have a clear coat/sealer for cement spray to put on it after that paint dries THEN I will put it out front. I have SO much to do this year. I have to paint and secure the railing on my front steps, replace a ceramic light in my sunroom with a fan/light, replace a vent fan in the main bathroom, and put in the new flooring in my bedroom. I also need to put a couple more coats of porch paint on my porch.
Debbie said that if she buys her mom's house it needs some fixing up. She said she may call on me for help with that. I told her I can paint, wire in new fixtures and outlets, even help with some drywall and replace a garbage disposal however, if it is major building or plumbing I am no help. LOL Oh...lawn mowing, she is on her own also.
Okay...24 more days of school. 2 IEPs to write this week. It is good for me that it is raining all week so I won't feel tempted to go outside and dig.
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