SNAKE!

When my Aunt M was here I offered to put her rental car into my unused double car garage. One reason I offered to do this was to prevent us from having to play car tag as we moved in and out during the day. We were not planning on driving her car for three days and if it was out of the way, life would be easier.

Now I only park my car in the garage when the weather is bad. Otherwise I park under my carport, so I use the garage to store items left over from my mom, or salt for the pool, etc. Most of the time it is extremely neat and organized. Unfortunately, I had not looked in there since my oldest and youngest had been out of school in June. What a mess. The oldest had just unloaded all his apartment items in there willy nilly, and my youngest had been in there foraging for new items to redecorate his playroom. I was not happy.

We had to move things to make room for the car, and I needed more light since I do not have electricity running to the building. I asked my youngest to open the other garage door and when he did, there was a snake.

Now I am used to seeing snakes around here, and since they are usually rat snakes, I don't mind them, but my youngest said he did not think this one was one of our usual snakes.

His head was a little more triangular than usual, and his color was different. My youngest told me to be careful because it might strike. Unfortunately, this garage did not have anything in it to kill the snake, and it was on the move because we had startled it. The closest thing to me was a long push broom, so I pushed it out of the garage.

The snake did not take kindly to being pushed around and he coiled up to hiss and strike. He then started moving in a sidewinding type manner, definitely not like my usual snakes that usually just slither off. Now the boys are getting a little worried and I am wishing like anything I had a shovel, but I just keep brooming the snake, trying to get it far enough away from the garage so it can go somewhere else. Unfortunately, the sideways movement of the snake was making it difficult for me to get it where I wanted it to go. I took the broom and shoved the snake as hard as I could, trying to calculate its movement so it would go in the side yard but that was not to be. It ended up under my Aunt's rental car still in the driveway. The youngest ran up trying to try to figure out where the snake would go next, only to watch it climb up into the motor area of the vehicle.

Well, I said some choice words, shrugged my shoulders, and did the only thing I could do. I finished making way for the car, and moved it into the garage.

However, the question still remained. Did I tell my Aunt or not. I chose to tell her, but she informed me that the would rather not know the next time.

I figure the snake climbed out and is back inside my garage somewhere, and when the boys come back, there will be a good cleaning and straightening of the garage. Everything I have out there is in locked down bins, but they did not do that with their items.

I think I will be purchasing another shovel for the big garage.

Stan, Please Come Out to Play

I love M's husband Stan. I wish he would come over to my house with M to play, especially to enjoy the pool. However, Stan has a few issues with some of my wildlife and won't come play.

I wish I could promise him that certain creatures won't appear while he is here, but I can't.

The Squirrels are Partying Today!

How I wish my camera wasn't in Costa Rica.

As I was sitting here admiring my view this morning a squirrel jumped onto my covered porch swing, making it sway, and then laid down in the cushion for a few moments. He looked like he was was really enjoying himself.

After the ride, he scampered over and enjoyed a few nuggets out of the bird feeders. He must have sent out a secret code or something because suddenly there were four other squirrels enjoying my backyard. None of them took a ride on the swing, but they did enjoy running up and down the railing on the wheelchair ramp and taking turns at the feeder and birdbath.

I love my backyard.

Out with the Old, In with the New

My Pastor, and my boss, led his last service with us on June 14th. Our new pastor begins July 1st.

It was really hard to say goodbye to Darrell. He was my friend long before he was my boss. He and his wife stepped in and took my boys when no one else was available and we had to go back to Houston for more surgery. Darrell baptized my boys, and me. He was with us when Raymond died. He wrote a beautiful memorial service for Raymond. Darrell and I have the same political leanings, and we enjoy a lot of the same music, so we were often listening to the same things while we worked.

My new Pastor and boss is named Nancy. I have met with her a couple of times, and she seems to have some great ideas. I'm looking forward to working with her, and helping her get settled into her office.

It will also be nice to have a boss again. It has been a little difficult these past two weeks to work without anyone to bounce ideas off of, or to turn to when issues have come up that are beyond my "authority."

I wish Darrell and Nancy good luck in their new positions.

Boys Kayaking in Costa Rica

Yes, I am Okay

I have been surprised by how many people have complained about the fact that I haven't been updating this blog enough. I did not know that it mattered that much to people, but evidently it is how people keep up with me, especially since I tend not to make phone calls.

I haven't been sick or had any crisis that has prevented me from updating. I just have not been on the computer as much lately.

For the past three weeks I have been taking a machine quilting class in Rockwall at Texas Quiltworks. Judy Hall was my instructor and she also owns the store. She was great to work with. I was the only one in the class and she was very encouraging. She never said a negative thing to me, even when I thought I deserved it. I look forward to taking a class with her again.

My Aunt M was here visiting for a few days. That was fun. Her friend Patsy came over one day and we went to lunch and then to a couple of quilt shops. Then I took one day off and Aunt M and I went to three other shops. It was nice to visit with her. She is 81 and thinking about moving to the Dallas area. She lives in Tucson now.

The boys left for Costa Rica. I hope they are having fun.

I have been working on some quilting and pillowcases. BFF has been having one crisis after another so I made her a happy gift of pillowcases made from Laurel Burch fabric. I think she liked them. I couldn't take a picture of them because the oldest took my camera with him instead of his really nice one.

I appreciate all the inquiries, but I am okay. I'll try not to worry my blog friends again.

A/C Back On

The air conditioning is fixed at the office and at home. Blessed coolness.

Just Like the Good Old Hot Days

The air conditioning is out on the living room side of our home, and in my office at work. It is really hot. It reminds me of my early childhood.

We did not have air conditioning in our home when I was young. My dad was a carpenter/contractor and always built our homes. The second home I can remember living in was a 2 story house in Dayton, Ohio and dad had put all the duct work etc. in for a/c but it was a while before we actually got one, but I don't know why.

On really, really hot nights we slept downstairs. It wasn't a basement, just a downstairs but it was always cooler. I don't remember the heat bothering dad, but mom would not be able to sleep and she would take me downstairs and push to chairs together for my bed. Then she would set up fans, and sleep on the couch. Sometimes dad would come down, and there was a foam mattress for him. I don't remember how my brother slept. After a year or so of living in the house we got air conditioning.

We are fortunate today because we have a/c in the bedrooms, but the living room side of the house is running about 87 or so with the fans. My office is pretty miserable, but I've been able to work by going into the other side of the church with the a/c when I can't take it any more.

Long Day

Last night and today was orientation for my youngest at his new school. I left orientation last night after a few minutes of greeting old acquaintances and spent quality time with my oldest. The youngest had to spend the night.

Today I got up at 6:15 a.m., showered, dressed, had breakfast, and drove the hour to get back to the orientation by 8:30 a.m. The sessions started right on time and went on all day.

We would listen for a couple of sessions, get up to walk to another building, get a snack, attend another session, go back to the other building, get up, have a meal, and then go back to the other building, etc. We finally finished up around 6:00 p.m.

We stopped on the way home to get ice cream at Beth Marie's, then went to IKEA to replace my bedroom quilting bookcase that I gave up to the boys for their playroom.

The youngest and I finally got home around 8:40 p.m. tonight. Hot, thirsty, and so tired. We looked at the pool and thought about how great it would feel on such a hot sticky night, but we were both too tired to make the effort to get in and out of it. Too tired to cool off in the pool, now that is sad, but quite a testament as to how long this day was.

My Days "A Here"

My maternal grandmother was really something, not a nice something either. She lived with us for at least five years, but I think it may have been closer to eight. I know we were still in Ohio when she moved in, and it was after my paternal grandmother had died, but that is as far as it goes in my mind.

I really could write a book about this woman, but I don't like to dwell on the hurtful things in my life, and she was one of them on many occasions. However, her antics have provided me with lots of laughs in my life too.

Her name was Fanny Mae Spoonamore Thompson, and one of her favorite sayings was "Your days a coming." (days = "day is" but she ran the day and is together) Later my mother and I would use this against each other for different circumstances.

My mother always waited up for me when I went out in the evenings. Even after I graduated from college and was still living at home (waiting for Raymond to finish up a semester behind me and we could get married), my mother would sleep on the couch each night I went out and wait for me to get home. Since triple showings at the drive-in was one of my favorite things to do with my best friend, it was often three in the morning before I would get home, so Mom had lots of "couch" nights during the warmer months of the year. After a pretty sleepless night for her she would say "Your days a coming."

Well, my days "a here" now.

My oldest did not get home until 4 a.m. this morning. He was not out partying, drinking, clubbing, or anything that would make me out of my mind with worry, he was working on a job that would put money in his pocket, and learning a new skill. What was driving me out of my mind was I did not like the area he was in. I did not know the person he was working with, and it was a pretty long drive back to our house and he falls asleep if he closes his eyes.

The oldest sent me a text at the appropriate time telling me that they still had several hours left to finish the project they were working on. I went to bed at my usual time, read until I fell asleep and was not having any trouble sleeping until about 2 a.m. I checked my phone, and there were no new texts, but the oldest wasn't home. I decided to read again, and at 2:30 went back to sleep. Up again, at 3:00, had a small anxiety attack, read, and finally went back to sleep at 3:30 but still no new texts. Oldest came in at 4:00 a.m. I checked my phone and there was a text by then. He asked if he could sleep late because he has another job this afternoon (unpaid). He also told me that if I looked closely at the text I would notice it was not from his phone as his had quit working. (We are researching new phones now because of issues we are both having with our phones.)

I am not getting enough sleep lately because of my oldest being out so much. He belongs to two groups on campus. When one of them meets he does not get home until 2 a.m. The other one he gets home between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. These groups meet late because the other members are still in their early twenties and have jobs during the day, but they are also young enough to not understand the value of sleep so they don't mind meeting until the early hours.

So finally my grandmothers prophesy came true. My days "a here" when it comes to worrying about my child being out most of the night. I don't like it, and there is not much I can do about it now, but there is an out coming up.

My oldest will be able to start living in his new apartment June 20th, and even though he wants to stay here this summer, we have decided that on meeting nights he can just sleep in his apartment on campus. That way I don't have to worry about him falling asleep on the road, or getting hit by a drunk driver, which means a lot more sleep for me.

I know that Mom and Fanny Mae are up there laughing. I guess it is time to start using the saying on my boys.

I wonder what next "a here" is going to get me.

Chair Fund Update

As you can see, the "Chair Fund" is gathering more dust than coins.

As my youngest said, it is hard to save for something when the old one is still in use. Easy for him to say, he isn't the one that gets stuck by a wire every day.

He is right though. It is very hard to get enthusiastic about a new chair.

Of course, plumbing issues, a new pool heater, and spending money for the boys' trip to Costa Rica are getting in the way too.

The fund will probably do better once I get the youngest off to school in the fall.

Great Day, Lousy Evening

I had a great day today.

I went to work excited about my plans for the day.

I went to lunch with my friend Marie. "Hi, Marie!" Her birthday is coming up, but she is also getting ready to go to Colorado to see her daughter for an unknown amount of time, so I took her out today. We went to Taste of Home in Wylie for a tasty meal, and then did a little browsing at Blue Ribbon Quilt Shoppe. Once back at work I showed her my quilts.

Marie is a great sounding board for me. I really appreciate the fact that she is there for me and that she understands how tough my situation at work can be at times. She is a scrapbooker and from what I have seen a very good one. She has a very good eye.

After Marie left I worked for about another 90 minutes, and then I came home expecting to get quite a bit done on setting up my quilting area now that the tortoise table is out of the living room. (YEAH!!!) However, for whatever reason after just a little bit of work my hips started really bothering me and I was down for the night.

I really thought the weather change was over and I was through with the pain for the week. Guess not.

I'm going to try to watch a movie and hand quilt, but I may be off to bed instead.

It is very discouraging to have such a great day only to have the evening turn lousy, but I am not going to let the pain take away the joy I am carrying over from my time with my friend.

Itchy, Itchy, Itchy

I have bites all over my legs and shoulders from those nasty little mosquitoes that like to hang around my garden.

My youngest has used up almost all my spray on Benadryl. I hope I can sleep.

I Gave Myself A Great Gift

When Raymond first got sick several doctors told us it was his back and that the best thing he could do was exercise in a pool, so we put in a pool. Not a small play pool, but a pool that is 40x22 feet. Of course, it was not his back, and he never got to use the pool very much after it was in. He was able to swim some after his amputation, he even made himself a special bench so he could get in etc, but he was getting chemo almost constantly and had a port or line that kept him from swimming a great deal of the time.

Anyone that has a pool knows that it requires a lot of maintenance. Raymond was never able to actually work on the pool once he got sick, so all the work has fallen on me or the boys. We have had several problems over the years and I have had them all fixed, but it seemed that every time I found a great pool maintenance man, he would quit the business or move. I have never had a cleaning/chemical service.

Since this is probably the last summer that the boys will be here without jobs, etc., I decided that I did not want to do anything with the pool but go out there and jump in whenever I wanted. So I started checking around and I found a pool service on a local online forum. I called the man and he came out immediately. He is a wonderful man who has been in the business for over 20 years, but has just recently moved to Texas.

He has been out and cleaned my pool to where it is spotless. He found a few issues with my equipment and I called a man he recommended to look at the problems (how nice that I did not have to find someone myself). I found out my 11 year old gas heater was actually dangerous due to some internal problems, so I will have a new heater installed Saturday.

I am so excited about the pool this summer. All we will need to do before we swim is empty the skimmers and look for wildlife. YEAH! The boys are happy because they won't have to spend so much time working on the pool each week.

This was a huge decision for me because it added to my financial burden, but I cannot begin to express how excited I am about the summer now.

What Wonderful Technology

A storm woke me up in the middle of the night last night and I when I went back to sleep I had a horrific nightmare, so I decided to stay awake and read. The only thing handy was my Kindle2, but the only thing on there right now that I wanted to read was a sample I had downloaded last week.

I pulled the sample up and read it, and really enjoyed the story, even though I am pretty sure I read it out of the library a couple of years ago. When I finished the sample, I still was not sleepy, and I was back to nothing handy I wanted to read. I laid there for a few minutes and decided that if I got up to look for something I wanted to read I would probably 1) wake myself up so much I would never get back to sleep; 2) risk waking up the oldest and not get back to sleep. I was getting extremely frustrated.

Then I thought, what am I so frustrated about. I turned my K2 back on, went to the end of the sample I had just completed and clicked the button and before I could get my pillows adjusted the full book was there for me to read. I read until about 6:30 a.m., then I slept until my alarm went off at 7:25 a.m. What wonderful technology.