It's Summer (sort of)!

The house painting is finished and the plumber came and fixed the bath tub drain and the leaky pipe in the basement!  Now here's the next thing!

Two weekend ago it was HOT with high HUMIDITY and I don't have central air!  I am a cold weather person.  You can put on additional clothing or turn the heat up to be warm.  When it's hot and humid, you can only take off so many clothes (unless you want to live your life in the closet).  So I called the HVAC people to come and give me an estimate on installing central air.  Keep in mind my home was built in 1854!  So here he came.  We walked through the house and I told him which registers were heat and which were air returns ( I actually knew that!).  He looked in all the closets and behind all the doors.  Finally he came to me and said he could cool the first floor without any problem, but if I wanted AC on the second floor, he would have to knock out walls and take over a few closets.  It seems I do not have enough duct work and air returns to accommodate AC on the second floor.  And it would cost way, way, way more than I was willing to pay.  Plus, I just got the walls up and painted and was totally NOT interested in surviving another mess.  He was very nice and told me if it were him, he would go and buy several window units.  So that's what I did.  Went to Sears (an appliance store) and bought 3 units and they work great!!!!  The first floor is always very comfortable especially the front porch so I just needed to sleep "cool"!  And now I do.

Right now we are experiencing the fish fly season.  Oh my gosh!!!!!  These fish flys hatch in the water then fly around until they run into something (like you, your house or car) then they latch on!  Once the sun hits them they die but they don't fall off your house.  So then you take the hose and spray them off!  This will last about two weeks.  They say one morning I will go outside and they will be gone.  Can't wait!

My flowers are growing!  All the ones I planted that were already started are lookin' pretty good.  The seeds I planted are coming up!!!!!!!  Praise the Lord - literally!  I have watered and fed them and I act like I know what I'm doing.  I finally had 3 unknown bushes bloom this weekend and discovered they are pink (or lavender) spirea.  Very pretty.  Also have a ton of lilies of the valley blooming and am waiting for what I believe to be tiger lilies.  I figure if I can make it through this summer then next summer, I can add to what I know is there.  Oh, also have quite a few very pretty and different colored hostas.

The schools are all closed for the summer.  Garrett works at the candy store which becomes additionally an ice cream store in the summer.  Emily works there too.  Grace goes there sometimes but most often she comes here!  I taught her to play Yahtzee and she wants to know if there is a world championship (which I am sure she would win)!  It is a great practice of math skills and she quickly figured out how to get the most points.  Her mother, Emily, told her how every Sunday afternoon when she was little, Nana (HC's mother) would sit at the dining room table and play the game with Emily, Libby and their cousin, Heather who all have families of their own now.  Too funny and what memories.

My summer visitors are about to begin.  First is HC's sister and her husband, Jenna and Stan, followed by my dear friend Barbara and her husband Rick, then Libby and the kiddos, then my sisters, then there's a bit of a break until September and October which are full of more great friends.  Let the games begin!

There's still available days so come on up!  The lake is beautiful, the water's getting warmer (TR was swimming yesterday), as I write, seagulls are swooping in and out of the trees in the front yard, the beds have brand new mattresses and the AC window units are installed!  What more could you want...and I'll cook!

xxoo      

Two Years

Two years ago on this morning I was counting the hours until HC Baker and I would leave on a much needed vacation.  We would head to our cottage in northern Michigan in the afternoon and enjoy a week of relaxation and grandkids!  When that day ended my life would be changed forever.

I was speaking with a new friend the other day and he had been involved in a serious automobile accident also, and we both agreed we could recount every second.  And I still can to this day.  It replays in my mind in slow motion like a movie.  I can even see the colors of this life-changing experience.  So often I can't remember the events of yesterday but I can tell you the song that was playing on the car radio.

And now here I am.  In the past two years I have retired, sold three houses, moved 600 miles away from my home for plenty of years, made a new home in a house that's over 150 years old, survived its' remodel, made new wonderful friends, miss old wonderful friends, grown closer to my son, grown closer to my Michigan grandchildren, miss my Louisville grandchildren, and the list continues goes on.

Did I make a mistake?  Have I made the right decisions?  If HC Baker is watching, what does he think?  And if he is able to affect my life, why isn't he making it easier?  And then I think maybe my life is supposed to be this way.  I can only accept that it is.

I continue to be blessed by the thoughts and prayers of so many.  I'm looking forward to visits this summer and fall from friends and family.  (So far, no one has braved the winter for a visit!)

This day will be filled with memories, but I'm just not sure which ones.  HC Baker can still be found on the bookshelf in the den and I've already had a conversation with him this morning.  I still feel sad and angry sometimes but I also still know he's so happy to be where he is.  And as beautiful as today is, he's probably already caught plenty of fish!  (I wonder if there's a limit?)

Two years...hardly seems possible.

  

Medicare and other great stuff!!!!!!!

Well, I'm now 65 years old!  And once again I must say this growing old stuff is not for sissies!  I have spent the past 3 weeks trying to figure out the medicare thing.  OK, Part A is free (right!!!), Part B cost $100 and is automatically deducted from your social security, Part C is the supplement you must buy yourself and it costs a bunch.  So now they deduct taxes and medical from my social security and I'm nearly at the point that I owe the feds every month.  I know none of you want to hear this but you work all your life and then you get a piddlin' amount of money every month from the govt that is supposed to supplement your retirement income.  Actually the amount left to "supplement" barely covers groceries.  I told someone the other day that I have stopped reading and watching any national news because it scares the livin' daylights out of me.  I got a call the other day from medicare welcoming me to the program and wanting to know if I had any questions.  I told the woman I did and asked her my first question - how much will be deducted from my monthly social security check for this insurance?  Her answer - she didn't have that information.  Now between you and me, why would you call and ask to answer any questions if you didn't have the information to provide the answers?  I, very politely I might add, asked her what kind of information she had.  She replied she didn't like my tone of voice and I replied (not politely) "Well hang on Prissy because my tone of voice is getting ready to sound a lot worse than you ever thought!  And she hung up on me.  I immediately called back the number she had called me on only to hear a recorded message telling me the "call could not be completed.  Please check the number and try again."  I did and received the same recorded message.  Now I'm angry.  Don't my tax dollars pay the salary of Miss I don't like your tone of voice?  Well, I finally was able to talk to someone who did answer my questions and now I feel much more well-informed...don't I?

The exterior painting is a work in progress.  It's been raining a lot and cold so they paint one day and then can't for several.  Hopefully, it will be done next week.  It does look fabulous and I'm excited to get it done.

With all the rain, the basement has sprung a leak.  Water is coming in from somewhere so today I had a gutter person come for a view.  Up here they don't do gutters because in the winter the snow and ice freeze and rip the gutters away from the house.  However, today's gutter man said he could put gutters in 2 areas of the roof edge and redirect the rain water to stop the basement leak.  Of course that comes at a price!!!!!  So anyway, they will be here within the next two weeks to add those gutters.

The next exciting thing that happened was the upstairs tub drain.  The little thing that lifts the drain plug up and down ceased to work.  So I went to my trusty, dusty Lowe's.  I love those people.  I think most everyone in the store knows me.  I bought two things and came home to fix the problem.  I read the directions (I now know what a cotter pin is!!!), removed the old drain open/closer thing, measured the length and replaced the stopper thing.  Hooray!!!!!!  The water still wouldn't drain.  So apparently what I have is a plugged drain!!!!!!  Back to the store I went in search of drain opener stuff.  Got some, used it, no help.  So now I need a plumber!  At a price of course.

This was the last week of school for Garrett and Gracie.  They finished yesterday and Emily had today to complete work and submit grades.  Yesterday I went to Gracie's school for her awards ceremony.  She won every award they gave!  The people sitting around me started to say before the principal announced the name...it will probably be that little Lindgren girl!  I was so very proud of her.  At the same time it was a very sentimental experience for me.  I have been to each elementary school my grandchildren attended and this appears to be the last (at least until TR Baker just might decide to marry again and add to my grandchildren numbers!!!).  I found myself seeing a child that reminded me of each of my grandchildren, and it was fun to watch them.  Garrett also had an awards ceremony and Emily was able to attend that one.  He won quite a few awards too.  One of them was the Algebra award and I know that made his mother quite happy!  Next year all three of them will go to the same campus for school.  Take a deep breath!

Today was my 65th birthday and never did I think I would be spending it without HC Baker.  I know I had a 64th birthday without him, but today was just different.  In another 10 days he will be dead 2 years, and I'm not sure what I'm thinking about that either.  More about that on another day.  Today I spent all day with Gracie.  Garrett was working at the candy store with Brett and Emily was at school.  Gracie and I started with manicures, followed by lunch with TR Baker, then a bit of shopping, then back home where Gracie tried on every pair of my shoes looking for the perfect heels for tonight's birthday dinner!  Her mother was thrilled when she showed up at home wobbling in high heels.  I've always told my grandchildren what happens with Jo stays with Jo.  Once they're home, I loose all authority!

I am blessed by each of you.  I received so many birthday greetings from you today and loved each one.  My life is full of wonderful people who help me get through every day.  Some days I just need a little more help than others!  After two years of being without HC Baker, I'm supposed to be close to my new normal.  I need someone to define that for me.  Life sure is interesting, isn't it?

My birthday is over for 2012.  Best wishes to you and goodnight!