10 dwindling years....

ok, so....the 10th anniversary of this blog came and went on April 9.....the 1st day was a Sunday....and involved flowing dance movement of our middle child down the hall to the chant....mean mamma mean daddy......mean daddy did not get around to blogging.......i am even meaner in my dotage than i was ten years ago.....

yeah, yeah, yeah.....

ok, so.....it has been a long time since i updated this blog....so long i cannot quite remember when i last took the time......surely the fallout of time constraints versus FB games....as well as my preference for surfing web on my iphone rather than our pc or two ipads.....yes, two (hand-me-down) ipads.....my audiobooks are downloaded onto my phone and it seems cumbersome to hold tweo handheld devices when one can suffice.....which brings me to where i have been listening to audiobooks.....in my greenhouse as well as in my flower and vegetable beds whilst weeding......if the phone is turned up load enough i can actually carry it in my front pants pocket and hear well enough to multitask....but i digress from the greenhouse, which turns out to be more work than i ever imagined....i am still on the uphill side of the learning curve about watering inside the greenhouse....and have not yet figured out how to manage the hose....i really need a hose dedicated for this single purpose that is only long enough to efficiently spray the beds and one that does not require recoiling after each use......the heat problem has been sorted out, thankfully....i found the temperature to be over 100 degrees in side on several moderately warm days, and i do not consider coming home at lunch to check on my greenhouse temperature to be 'green' gardening.....our contractor has fully screened both doors, and has customized plexiglass panels that can be fastened on to each door when the temperature is expected to drop......so most days the screen allow for maximum air cirulation, and last night when the frosty temperatures were predicted, i clipped on the plexiglass.....i am stumped by the cultivation of carrots......they just seem to sit there.....carrots that i brought in from the deck last fall are still in the same stage of non-growth that they were months ago.....which is where the watering issue crops back up...couldn't be the soil, as it is premium potting soil....so is it the water?....not enough or too much?......maddening.....we are still eating lettuces brought inside from the deck....lettuces i planted are still growing on time-lapse basis that is barely visible to the naked eye while the pea pod plants are 3 feet tall and are bearing reliably.....hopefully i will have it all figured out by the second season.....speaking of seasons...the rose season will be impossibly early this year.....my trellis rose City of York has an open bloom as does Old Blush......Stanwell Perpetual will certainly bloom today.....the knockout roses are blooming but these scent-less soul-less creations hardly count.....which brings me to new roses.....I have received a replacement New Dawn in the mail....it is beside the cabin.....i am relieved that i never got around to planting Therese Bugnet or Paul Neyron because the workman have trampled the Dr Huey on the other side of the cabin door.....we have decided to spend some money on the cabin....it was either spend some money on necessary repairs or watch it rot/sag/implode.....and so we have replaced the roof, removed rotten logs, rechinked the walls, added braces to the ceiling to hold up the upstairs floor, installed new windows, poured real steps to replace the stone steps....we do not have a real plan on how we will use the space, which has been cleared of most of the junk that has been around since grandpa's time...the youngest of the workman was delighted to back up his truck and haul off numerous rusted metal parts and pieces.....could have been a few treaures, but after living here nearly thirty years, i sincerely doubt that i have overlooked an antiques roadshow valuable....i suspect that my brother-in-law can run electric out there, possibly by running it through conduit buried under the brick walk.....that only leaves sanitary issues.....will start to google composting toilets just to see how big they are and how much they cost.....we have enough stored furniture in the attic of the garage to furnish this new 'playhouse'.....and if we lack anything there is always my mother's attic....could be fun to decorate my own private getaway without having to travel too far....the wi-fi works out there, this i already know.....

well, there is is....what i have been up-to since i last blogged......well...not quite all...i did go to paris for a long weekend and failed to blog as has always been my custom.....FB makes it all too easy to post photos at wi-fi ready cafes...and mobile blogger is not user-friendly.....

sick

ok, so after weeks of regular exercise, including swims before work four days this week, i have come down with a deep, throaty cough that tastes of infection....yuch! and the cough interrupts at such random intervals that i cannot seem to find peace day or night....not the bill of health one wants within 3 weeks of a trip to paris.....i actually had a pneumonia vaccine within the past month.....only at weak moments do i suspect that the two scenarios are related...i iknow better than that about vaccines, but i digress from moaning loudly about just how awful i feel at this very moment.,...

awakenings

ok, so...dr. rick took my mother off most of her medicines on thursday....and today she has been up since 3:30 am...fully dressed and roaming her house for materials to complete long discarded projects.....she spoke this evening at supper of long-forgotten neighbors in cleveland....of her serger machine that does not seem to work...of the boxes upstairs that require sorting ....these being the very same boxes that i had intended to disperse amongst the many charities that use fabric, yarn and notions......that will teach me to procrastinate.....seems she has phoned several old friends, and dispaired at the numbers that have been disconnected since she last felt up to phoning old friends.....we shall enjoy this bolt of enthusiasm for as long as it lasts.....

unprecedented

ok, so....i got up early three days this week to swim before work......this change in schedule was forced by the inconvenience of swimming after work, given that swim lesson season has begun, my time frame coincides with aqua zumba, and the general chaos/noise level in the pool got in the way of my good time.....and so i gave before work a try....i have had to share lanes on occassion, but the peace and quiet that reigns in the early pool hours is just what i was looking for in an exercise routine. today i will try out my new heart rate monitor....to qualify as a workout for my insurance incentive scheme there must be verification....my monitor will upload into the program's website.....just like my pedometer uploads and records steps as wrkouts......you might ask if any or all of this effort has paid off in pounds lost....the answer would be no.....but i am sleeping better and i feel as though the slightly firmer muscles will be able to handle Paris with less fatigue.....in fact, plotting paris is the general theme of each lap swimm session.....the exact routes for each day's circuit amongst the sites.....but swimming is not the only unprecedented event of the week.....i signed up to be a paid subscriber to the NYT......after it became clear that they really were not going to let me read entire articles after the first 20 of each month without chipping in.....at $3.50 a week i shou;d have subscribed ages ago......so...this morning i am going to read my way through the newer articles on the NYT website, then change and go the wellness center to swim laps.....if i can get in the water before 9:30 i can avoid the zumba crowd at 10:15.....

lap swimming....

ok, so i am up 30 minutes early so i can manage all of my morning chores before going to swim laps on the way to work....a sign of the end-times?

the sunday i stayed home from church.....

ok, so....the clock in the corner of this screen says 9:48 am......a time that i am rarely at home on a sunday.....when the weather is especially bad the church will call of services altogether as a way of keeping us all safe from the perils of ice and snow.....on this morning i am isolating my cold from my church family, mostly because i likely caught the cold from someone who went on out into the world feeling wretched rather than keeping their contagion away from society.....frankly, i should have stayed home yesterday, but i thought that a warm swim followed by refreshing errands would make me feel better......yea, right.......i feel worse today, what with the sneezing, the watery eyes, the stuffed up pressure in my sinus cavities that makes my jaws ache....and so i have treated myself to a rather hot whirlpool bath with hot compresses on my face, and several cups of Earl Grey, and I am thinking of going back to bed.....

come thou long-awaited green house

ok, so...the long-awaited greenhouse is nearly done.....i say nearly, because now that i am working in it, i see the need to make improvements originally down-played by the builders....like an exhaust window with a temperature-gauged hinge.....yes, one can open up the doors when the temperature gets too high inside.....but i cannot do this from work.....i can see myself driving home at lunch on unseasonably warm days to open those doors....driving to and from work to check on a greenhouse is hardly sustainable food production....aside from the temperature issue...there is the lack of any opening big enough for an extension cord.....in the event we are sub-zero for a few days i might want to warm things up a tad.......heavy sigh....i am perusing the seed catalogs for varieties that winter-over well in hopes they will do as well in the greenhouse.....i have found an unused packet of rouge d'hiver lettuce that looks to be winterhardy...will plant these the next time i am home during daylight.....

cultural differences

ok, so it has been months since my last blog....but as this space is resrved for the preservation of my (more important) thoughts and circumstances as i age, i feel the need to put down the events of the past few days. For starters, my eldest's girlfriend has flown back to Florida to spend the holidays with her family. He plans to drive there sometime next week to meet her family and to vacation in a warm climate. The drive will take him within the geographical vicinity of the birth mother to the youngest of our children. Naturally, the opportunity to accompany the eldest was put to the youngest, and that is where the chaos began. The birth mother has hounded the youngest for 'details' of the visit. Seems there are numerous complications to a potential visit: the birth mother's spouse works three jobs, they have taken in a border with a baby who must keep her job as a condition of probation, the restraining orders against close neighbors.....you get the picture. The travel dates have been shared, but even the dates has not been enough to quell the constant stream of texts asking for more information. Should Junior take off on the expected date of arrival? Should they find a sitter for the baby? It occured to me last night, when I lay sleepless after another unfortunate interchange with the child in question about the known trip details as i knew them: there is a cultural disconnect at play here. in our family context, we get up 'early' on a travel day and drive....with stops for food and comfort when needed, armed with printed travel directions that include expected mileage and timing. when this couple have (has?) visited us, they left whenever the spouse got off work, even if it was late at night, and drove through the night....even if it meant arriving while we were still asleep.......they have been known to sleep in their car in front of our house and wait until they saw lights come on. when they were told the arrival date, they appear to have figured that this child could arrive any time after midnight on that date, rather than 14 hours after a reasonable morning starting time.....the child in question, despite her increasing agitation over the 'lack of details' has yet to google the particulars on her own...she has both addresses, and could find out for herself just how long of a trip she has in front of her.....and could possibly come to the realization that there are many factors that will confound an estimated time of arrival- sheer distance, wrecks,construction, disorientation......as for me, i will continue to pray that the eldest and the youngest can complete a journey of that length without un-mediated theatrics.....and that the visit itself will be void of drama and danger....amen, amen and amen

the way

ok, so....we went back to lexington this evening to see the way.....i called ahead to make certain that the projector was working and that we would not have to see the other film playing at the kentucky by default....like last sunday when we saw the ides of march because the projector for the way was broken.....ah well.....all this after an afternoon at the wildlife refuge and a substantial hike.....for the record..the way is about the pilgrimage to santiago de compestello....800 km of walking across southern france and northern spain to see the site fo the burial of st. james.....i envision myself on such an extended hike....and said as much to my treasured spouse on the way home.....whereupon he expressed concern that AT MY CURRENT WEIGHT i could not possibly entertain such a journey....he went so far as to express surprise that i managed to hike the refuge trails AT MY CURRENT WEIGHT......he went on to express concern that i lack the fitness required for my upcoming trip to paris......for the record, i weigh almost to the pound what i weighed on my last 2 trips to paris and my last trip to london...and somehow managed to drag myself to the sights AT MY CURRENT WEIGHT.....for the record i walk 4 lunches a week on a church-sponsored indoor walking track....as well as several extra 30 minutes in the evening on the treadmill...seems i need to be doing more..step it up a bit.......like the time slots when i am playing scrabble.....seems seeing me at the computer rather than on the treadmill this morning is what set off this day's diatribe.....heavy sigh.....no clue how i will manage to drag myself up to bed AT MY CURRENT WEIGHT

grey, short-sleeved t-shirt

ok, so in my dreams i was wearing a grey short-sleeved t-shirt....with writing on it.....possibly writing above and below a crest of some sort....i was with my daughter's birth mother....at a county fair style aisle of rides and games and greasy food stalls....the scenario grows less likely as the descriptives pile on....i do not wear grey short-sleeved t-shirts, nor would i go to a county fair midway with or without the birth mother....i can recall announcing that i needed to change into a longsleeve shirt, because the grey shirt was dirty and because the sun was going down....and all the sudden i was riding in a car with my spouse....no sign fo the birth mother or the carnival rides...wearing jeans and a longsleeve t-shirt from DBF......go figure...

rocks and boxwoods.....

ok, so....i have spent the past few weeks systematically digging out and transplanting 20+ year boxwoods ahead of the construction timeline for the greenhouse....without the row of boxwoods there is space for a 7 foot by 10 foot grrenhouse below the deck that will catch maximum winter and early spring sun and be reasonably shaded during the hotter months.....the entrance will be under the back deck....and will require a detour from the brick walk that connects the cabin-side yard with the garage-side yard...the detour necessitated the removal of decades of vine-growth that covered the rocks that i removed from the paths when i laid bricks.....and so i spent this weekend ripping out vines, moving rocks to two separate terracing projects, and laying the rocks into their new locations...for the record, moving rocks, even by wheelbarrow, uphill, is hard work....and just when i thought i was done with moving rocks, i noticed that there are more rocks by the cabin displaced when the workman poured real steps at the cabin door.....i say 'the cabin' though i really mean 'miss lulu's'...because that is what we have always called the cabin once owned by miss lulu bates.....no clue where i will move those rocks.....hopefully a good nights rest will inspire me...

a soggy tale of woe....

ok, so...at the last minute this morning, as i was rushing about trying to select the appropriate outfit for making soup and sandwiches for the shut-ins with my church family, i decided that my shirt really needed to be ironed....and when i stepped onto the basement floor....the rug squished.....squish is never the sound one wants to hear...water was flowing out of the water heater....and i immediately reached for the yellow turn-off valve....we have been-there-done-that with the water heater before.....the plumber has been and gone and we have a brand-new water heater.....my children and their signifcant others are downstairs working the towels/shop vac/fans to dry out the carpet in the only downstairs bedroom.....thankfully the water never touched the numerous books.....i am also thankful that this leak happened while we were home rather than away....as the water damage could have been significant

sadness....

ok, so....i was met at the door when i stopped by the methodist church last evening after work to pick up my mom from her regular phone-answering slot.....they had told her several weeks ago that they were putting her on the 'sub' list and that they had found someone else more reliable to answer the phone in that time slot....my mother had missed the week my brother came, and the next week because we forgot to take her....and the church used this opportunity to ease her out of answering the phone....'you know that your mother is going downhill, don't you....?'......that is not exactly how they said it but that is the gist of it....it was like being told that your child was no longer welcome to come over and play after some minor infraction.....the afternoon at the phones was one of the few outings my mother had, and i am saddened that the church could not figure out a way to make it work despite her memory issues.

no news is good news....

ok, so...the local paper covered the board meeting and printed the summary a week ago. The piece was inaccurate in many ways....including a ridiculous statement that made it sound as if the ehalth department had no obligation to notify the community in emergency situations. The article also incuded a noye about the board vopting to give me a 5% raise. yikes! i have worried for the past week that there would be outrage about both the inaccurate notification statement, as well as about voting a raise in tough economic times. Happily, this week's paper had no letters about either of my issues....and i am very pleased to have dodged this bullet.....

the dream with my dad as a young man...

ok, so....i am still thinking about a dream i had several nights ago...in the dream i am in my grandmother's farmhouse in rural ohio....the house had 2 screened-in porches...the one off the barnyard was the one used both to enter the house as well as for leisurely sitting.....the house was single story on the left -side....where the kitchen and dining room/laundry room/pantry were located....and two-storied on the right side....with a large living area, bedroom, the second screened-in porch downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. There was an attic off the stairs that was essentially on top of the kitchen and dining room. In my dream, my gtrandmother was dressed like Jackie Kennedy, in a lavender linen sheath with large covered button accents, and her hair was bobbed...sadly...no pillbox hat....for the record, my grandmother never wore a dress like...she was a shirtdress kind of woman....but i digress.....so in the dream i am with my brother in the larger of the two upstairs bedrooms....there were far more beds in the room in my dream than there were in my childhood....and my dad is standing at the top of the stairs....a youthful version of my dad.....and i ask him why my grandparents had never converted the attic into another bedroom....and he answered...'you would have to ask me that!'.....this was a typical reponse to a question to which he did not know the answer....the dream went on....but this scene is one that i have pondered many times since waking up.....

recovery

ok, so....the race for the arts was last sunday evening....this event is an all-hands-on-deck situation for the c-dubs and their extended circle.....i help with the registration table, and then cut the bananas to be offered alongside the grapes that i have previously washed and sectioned. I also share water duties with the altertnative water site at the finish line....this year's race was marred by injury.....not of the racers, but of my spouse.....he cycles the course to make sure that traffic is stopped at intersections.....some where near the corner of st mildred's court and main his left hand managed to compress the brake enough that he was hurled over the handlebars and onto the street.....runners veered off-course to assist....seems he did not get up immediately.....the ems was called to help a 40-year old who wrecked his bike on the course....but by the time they came he had gotten back on his bike to finish the taks at hand...his doctor checked him out after the award ceremony....he advised him to avoid the temptation to go to the ER, as the cost to diagnose bruised/cracked ribs will not be worth the expense given that there is not much that can be done about them... .fast-forward to saturday.....he still cannot get out of bed without help....the torn abdominal muscles still spasm on occassion....his bruised ribs are still tender.....his scrapes are still red and mean-looking..he finally sought 'official' medical attention on thursday....mostly over concern for the spasms....and the shortness of breath....yikes! let us hope that he has turned a corner and is on the road to recovery...

free at last?

ok, so.....i unsubscribed today from the voluminous FB updates posted from our daughter's birth mother.....the threshold that triggered this action was two-fold....first.....she reached the age of 18 (consent) and she is now free to make as much or as little contact with her birth mother as she chooses......secondly, the woman has been updating her status at 30 minute increments of late....while my child was underage I felt responsible for monitoring the birth mother's mental status....the better to cushion the blow for whatever negative interactions she had with our child....but now.....i am allowing myself to detach myself from the ongoing drama....and allowing our child to deal with these tempests on her own terms.....

remorse...

ok, so....in especially lousy day at work followed by a fitful sleep....i disclosed what i failed to see was a confidence....and all-hell has broken loose....between me and the person who told me, but not between me and the person from whom the secret was being held.....go figure...

wasted day

ok, so.....i was up all night and gave in to temptation to call in sick, given that even the smell of brewing coffee added to my nausea...when i cannot sit in the computer chair to play my word games then it really is time to go back to bed. I finally dragged myself downstairs the second time around 10:30 am and decided that it was best to go right back up and strip the bed, gather anything i had worn or touch and run a load of laundry as a public health precaution....since nobody else seemed to be sick, then this illness was more likely to be a virus rather than food poisoning....ah well....i lazed about watching netflix on the ipad while playing word games on my iphone.....progressing from strawberry frozen fruit bars to potato soup to pasta by the end of the day....mostly it was a day wasted.....i could not imagine dragging myself out to the garden, nor sitting up to sort through closets or drawers....i suppose that is the purpose of a true 'sick' day...to be so sick that not only should one not attempt the trip to work, but one cannot do housework while off at home....