monthly post; springtime...

Didn't really want to just stop posting, but work has been busy and didn't leave me much time to ponder my thoughts and write them down.  I seem to have replaced Blogger with Facebook lately.  If you wanted to find out what's been going on with my life,...it seems to be there.

So, here we go...
Last month, when my dad was in the hospital and my #2 sister (Terry) was holding vigil at his bedside, I was just leaving a doctor appointment*...
*(quick side note: I was referred by a friend to see her thyroid doctor to discuss some issues I've been having and when I met her doctor for the first time, he was irate that I would not have taken my current doctor's word, since, as he put it "this is her bread and butter"...as if she could not be wrong and that I should not even look for a second opinion.  I was beyond frustrated because his belittling continued for the rest of the appointment without regard to what I had experienced or had to say.  Have we not been told to seek a second opinion?  Have we not been told that our health is solely up to us?).
...and started heading over to Henry Ford Hospital (formerly St. Joseph's).  While driving, my clutch gave out.  I made it to the hospital but didn't want to drive the MINI any further unless it was to the MINI doctor. 

Chad (the MINI doctor) had Miss MINI for quite some time because she had the bad timing to decide to have issues the week before the Dragon and he wasn't going to be able to even really look at her until the beginning of May.  

There were several things wrong with her other than the clutch and the bill came to well over $1700.  

We've put a lot of money into our cars...way more than what I had ever put into my Neon when I had her.  I may need to reconsider my mode of transportation...even though MINIs are so much fun and oh so cute.  

A week passed and the "Check Engine" light came on!  Yesterday while we were doing yard work and we had our cars out of the garage, Jerome noticed that I've got a crack in my windshield!  Plus his car probably needs a new head gasket because it's leaking a bit...no A/C, just fixed his windshield and Henderson Glass forgot to put a little plastic piece back onto the car, so we'll have to go back and see what they can do about that, his brakes are squealing and on his way home from work on Friday, with 10 bags of mulch & topsoil, he gets a flat!  CARS!  We'll be paying Chad a visit today after work and Munk's tomorrow..

I've been wanting to post about the Rental house, which we refer to as 251.  We drove by at the beginning of May to see how it was looking...we knew we had our work cut out for us because of the sewer issue we had last fall and we had been wanting to stain the deck since last summer.  

The weather was not very cooperative this spring and we really needed to get the staining done before the cottonwoods started shedding.  So, we drove by and it was sort of shocking how badly the place (imo) looked...we had been commenting on the drive over about how many dandelions were along the side of the road and talking about how they really are a pretty color and the negative connotation to them because they are weeds; broad leaf at that.  And why things are considered weeds until someone calls them a plant, etc., etc...and then we drove up to 251 and Jerome looked at me and said "you must LOVE dandelions" because they were EVERYWHERE in the front yard.  251 was looking like the worst house on the block which was disconcerting because when I bought it in 1996, it was the worst looking house on the block...and over the years that I lived there - I got rave reviews from the neighbors as to how I was improving it.  Back to square one... 

It wasn't just the yellow flowers that were taking over the front lawn, it was the ground cover (ground elder) that was taking over the side yard and as I came to find out killed the ground phlox and was in the process of killing my rhododendron.  Plus, of course the ground was uneven since fall because of the sewer tap-in.  The next door neighbor was already working on his property because this spring, they tapped in to the sewer as well and things had been pretty much torn up on their side too.  We needed to get to work.  
We spent several days hauling topsoil and seeding.  We power washed and stained the deck just in time - really, the leaf casings from the cottonwood were just starting to fall.  If we had waited one more day, we would have had to wait until the summer to stain.  We applied Turf Builder with dandelion killer.  We sprayed Roundup on all the weeds we found in the driveway and sidewalks.  The most time consuming thing we did was to pull up all the ground cover from the side yard ~ saving the rhodie and we planted a tree that I've been growing at our house for the last few years.  The whole time thinking that we could be doing this at our house.

Since we'll be on that side of town this evening, we need to go and check things out.  Some tiles on the front patio had popped off, so Jerome fixed them and we'll have to pick up the tools we left behind.

We did the MS Walk this year again.  This time my mother's cousin and her daughter joined us.  The weather was not the most ideal, but the rain held off for the entire walk and it went by quickly.  We have so far this year collected $749.66, which is the smallest amount we've collected in our 9 years of doing the walk.  I have a theory about this ~ I work in a considerably smaller place than I've worked in the past and my ability to network is stifled, but then again, $750 is nothing to sneeze at!
We were given the privilege to host my niece's HS Graduation party at our house for our side of the family.  It was, as far as weather is concerned, I think the worst day of spring thus far.  Amazing! Cold, Blustery, Rainy, Crappy day!  So, instead of a nice relaxing party on the party deck, we were all snuggled inside the house as though it were the middle of winter.  One really nice thing is that my brother Ray was able to make it to the party.  He's been living in California for a couple of months now and was able to catch a plane for the event.  It was nice seeing him and I'm sure he was happy to celebrate his youngest daughter's accomplishment.  She not only graduated, but with honors; Summa Cum Laude.  We're not sure where she gets her brains!

We survived the "Rapture"...not without some nervous thoughts of what if it's real...?

My niece Sam, who is visiting from Washington state came along with me on my Senior Citizen's Monday.  I think she enjoyed the time and spending time with her is really nice.  She is easy to talk to, funny and fun.  We ended our day with one of grandma's short cuts with which she did very well...she later told me that she learned some patience this day.
We round off the month with one Confirmation (my nephew Jacob), one more HS graduation, with whom she is the Valedictorian! (my cousin Jill) and lastly a birthday party (my niece Jordan who turned 12).

Comments

Jan Marie said…
You've been busy.

My yard had a period of dandy fever, too. It looked like hell and there wasn't even that many. The few that were there all decided to grow 10 inches high over night and then immediately go to seed. I usually use Weed Be Gone with a hose sprayer and have had great luck with it. But I think the condition were just right on those few days. Since then I haven't had even one yellow bloom pop up but then again they might have drown with all the rain.

Cars.....can't live with them and can't live without them. Stone chips seem to be more prevalent than in the past. I'm not sure if it is caused by dirty roads, inferior glass, tire tread patterns that fling rocks, or a combination of the three. I once got a stone chip in I75 coming back from Birmingham when my vehicle only had 3,500 miles on it. By the time I had 100k miles I must have had 30 stone chips and 2 cracks. I replaced the windshield and drove another 170K miles without getting another stone chip. I was hit plenty of times with stones but none chipped the glass. Hence my theory of inferior glass.
baby sister said…
I have thought about acupuncture...

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