One Whole Week Without Internet And This Was The Best I Could Come Up With
I know. But I am in a time crunch. Again. I had to work all weekend and now all week. But still, I need to waste some time here when I should be getting my uniform and showering. We really did not have internet. My kids were going crazy. No access to the public via the smart phones. At least not without using our GB’s. No XBox! That was the real tragedy for my son. Cut off from the gaming world forever! I could not pay bills or share all my random, excess thoughts and lame pictures. But after 3 visits from AT&T, it’s finally fixed. The inside guy came and determined it was the outside guys problem. Only because construction on one of our roads messed up the wiring that occurs half a mile away from your actual house. But only an outside guy can fix that. Then another inside guy has to come back and readjust all the little wires in your “inside” equipment box (which is actually outside bolted to your house) and finally get you running again because he didn’t connect all the stuff correctly the first time he was here. Human error all around. At least I got a 20 dollar discount/credit and it works good now, so whatever.
It’s been hot and cold and raining and sunny and windy in the last week. But yesterday was warm. 70-75 degrees. Today is even better. 80+. My little temp box says 84. Figures. I am bummed because I have to leave in 30 minutes and won’t get out of work until dark now. Boo hoo I know. All the daffodils are dead. All gone. They bloomed and now they are no more. Just green stalks where they used to be. I shall leave them as they are for awhile and then cut those down too. There’s the pic above. Below is the curtain hanging by the door as I went to go take the picture of the green leaves. I thought it looked kind of interesting. That’s all you get on a Tuesday. I’ll jump back in this posting game during the week as we go. Have a very wonderful day and enjoy some of that nice warm weather and sun if you can. Later.
I Suppose I Could Have Gone With Flood Flowers As A Less Creepy Alternative
The rain is over. The water is as high as it can get in this area now, with all the rivers cresting and reaching their flood points on Saturday and Sunday. The water should start receding and retreating, back into its proper channels, to lie in wait for the next big storm to arrive, and let it loose once again from its muddy shores. Poetic huh?
Reality check. We sit high on the block so we never have a lot of standing water, but my flower bed does get full and floats the timbers onto the sidewalk and onto the driveway. I just put them back in place over and over until the rain stops. Small problem. However, I might have created a bigger problem with my car when I drove through all that stupid water the other night, although I am desperately hoping not, because now it’s making a weird sucking or blowing noise near the engine, I think, that sounds like a fan, or a motor that’s constantly spinning, or something that is trying to suck or blow air under the metal box that is covering the actual engine. It almost sounds like a hose is disconnected, and creating extra wind noise, kind of like a vacuum does when the suction isn’t right, or when you’ve sucked up something that doesn’t quite fit in the tubes and it’s blocking the path to the debris chamber. At any rate, I need to get my tired, lazy bum self, up, yet again, and haul my ass, and the money drain, over to the repair shop for a quick, “Hey, can you listen to this and tell me how much it’s going to cost to fix?” early in the morning. Staying up and posting this is not helping my anxiety or bad feelings about this newest problem with the car. And I haven’t even gotten around to telling you the last few problems that have already occurred. I’ve hinted. I’ve teased. I have pictures to illustrate. But work, and time, are conspiring against me. There’s too much of one and not enough of the other. I even took more dangerous pictures on the expressway, in the rain, to add to my current backlog of exciting and entertaining, but foolish and irresponsible, life story posts.
I’m tired. I have a headache. I just took my blood pressure pill and I should go to bed. Because I am old. To beef up this posting I am including a few more pictures from the rain. They aren’t really good, but now I can file them under “used”. I will caption them up here: 1. The sky looking like crap to the North. 2. The muddy puddle, in the back lot, of our stick inventory. 3. Some of the really wet sticks, that used to be brown, but now look red, for some reason, hiding a bunny. (That one is a bonus, like one of those puzzle pictures.) See if you can spot the rabbit! Brain games! Later.
I Call It: Green; With Branches. 24 Hour Rainfall.
I could also call it: We Pay For Spring In This City. 24 hours of rainfall. Really. I drove home last night through many flooded areas. Standing water up past the bottom of my car. It’s the deepest water I have ever driven through in a car. I was scared. But if you just keep going and don’t stop you have a fighting chance. Besides I could see ahead from 2 other cars that attempted it, how deep it really was. They gave up and turned out of it. Not me. Now I know why people get stuck. I did the same damn thing, and thought the same damn thing, “Pshh. I can make it.” I luckily did. There was even a police officer sitting off to the side in a parking lot watching all of us idiots trying to go through, probably just waiting for someone to get stuck and then he could shut the intersection down. Anyway, it’s still raining, and I hear worse weather is on the way. My daughters school just called to say they’ve canceled all after-school activities due to the impending weather predicted. I think I heard tornadoes and what not. I guess we are going to find out.
Which brings me to my other working title for this piece: Hurry Up Because You Have To Go To Work. Dummy. I really do. This was going to be quick. Ever the dreamer I am. Be careful and stay on the ground today. Later
I Call It: Warm Peach Pie Draped In Cool White Cream And Hot Black Coffee On Rainy Grey Day; With Spotted Chicken.
I also call it: Break Time. And: Too Much Time. And possibly: The Longest Title I Have Ever Created, That Includes 5 Different Thoughts AND A Weather Update; What A Cheap Way To Get In Even More Words.
I feel sometimes that this site may be confused for a weather center or outdoor enthusiast blogroll of some sort. I can’t seem to stop talking about the weather and the things outside in my yard alot of the time. Really, I can’t stop talking at all, most of the time. But this site is about more than just weather and birds, and flowers, and birds. It used to be about money and cars and benches and laundry too. And it shall be again. Truthfully though, it’s really about nothing. Just one life and what I do in it, with the people I am surrounded by, every day or every week (or month/months, as it’s been) and mostly for my own amusement. I do love the sound of my own words. And maybe you do too. Anyway, the simplest things can be the most satisfying things I never say. OK. I typed myself into a soft spot there. Let’s get back to the humdrum.
I did leave after that last post because my car was ready to be picked up and I need my car. The tire place was very nice and gave me a loaner car so I could come back home instead of sitting there for 4 hours, but it was like, the garbage car. The one that they have to brush wrappers and leaves off of when they need to drive it. Like, “Joe’s” car, the guy who gets lunch for everyone and picks up extra parts and crap when they need him to. And maybe gets into accidents or runs it into things when he parks. I don’t know. When I asked about the “car” I was getting, the guy says, “Oh yeah. Frank told me that. It’s a green Contour. Hold on, let me go see if I can find it.” Like, what?? This place is not that big. I mean, where could it have been? After I saw it, and drove it, I’m guessing it was parked behind a dumpster or in a hole. I will not complain though because it sounds bad and tacky and I really was glad to have it. I guess I am spoiled now with my “nice” car. More on that later. Of course I took pictures. I am just grateful for the fix. Finally and completely. I hope.
On another note, I did do several loads of laundry and folded them and put them away. That’s right. I said several. And folded. And put away. Well, mostly put away. The clothes are in their proper rooms and near the closets and drawers they belong in. That right there is the main roadblock to my laundry doing. I can throw clothes in and out of a washer and dryer like nobody’s business. It’s the folding and putting away part that I hate. And it’s been awhile since I had any control over the disgusting piles building up every day. I do my uniforms and whatever is right below my uniforms and that is all. I had to wear shorts and a really really old tshirt to bed last night because I have no pajamas to wear. At least none that I can find in any of these piles and piles, clean or dirty. They must all be at the very very bottom of these baskets. Good Lord. Anyway…the main point here is that they are NOT sitting in a giant crumpled wrinkled heap on the couch getting layed on and kicked and shoved into the cushions or pushed onto the floor anymore. These clothes have a chance now. A real fighting chance to look clean and smooth and presentable while being worn and walked around in. It’s a rainy day, tax day miracle.
FYI, true weather update, it is raining now. I was going to post outside with the laptop but now I can’t. So I ate peach pie and drank coffee instead while thinking about all these words I just layed down for you. Oh yeah. You are welcome. Let me go switch switch another laundry load quick quick and I will be right back. Yes. I know it’s not real time. Just having fun here. Later.
Awww. 57 Degrees As The Car Drives.
It’s not really raining. And it’s not really 57 anymore. The temp is inching up again. And this wasn’t even today. I know that I should NOT be taking pictures, with my phone camera, while driving, on the expressway, in the rain. But I did. I saw the car ahead and sometimes you never know when you are about to drive past something cool. Be alert! The world needs more lerts! (That’s from an old poster I used to have about a billion years ago when I was young. It really stuck with me.) Anyway…it’s a picture I took and I really have no other use for it except to show my son and then delete it. So here it is, headlining a world famous blog on a semi-cloudy-sunny-sneaking-can’t-decide-if-it-should-be-dreary-or-not day. Man, I can really stretch out a sentence. Anyway anyway…
I’m about to go into the 3-part Tire Drama, I spoke of last night, told in HD Camera Phone Picture Quality Storytelling. That is a patented technique for my new posting style, basically more pictures so there can be less words, not successful so far, that I will let you adopt as your own for a small fee if you find it works for you too. Or just works at all. But here, you are getting it for freeeeeee….(Bedtime Story Style. Look it up.) Stay with me now, because, as usual, it will be a long and round-a-bout, drawn out, possibly all day and night, tale for the ages. In fact, you may not even see the thread or the connection in the beginning and will most likely forget the original idea for the story in the first place. That’s OK though. It’s Monday. And it’s Tax Day. I have a whole money post thing that I do. Truly. Today might be the day to update that, 3 years late, feature too. (Yes. 3. THREE. Years. Late.) It’s called “Found Money.” It’s real and it’s kind of interesting and cool, I think, but I am sooooo far behind. I have kept all this loose change, for 3 years, in different containers, (to tell each year apart), in my hall closet, without even tallying it all up! My whole family knows it’s there and just leaves it alone. FOR THREE YEARS! We even add the most current change to the most current container, and never disturb the previous ones. You know how when you live with crazy people, but you don’t realize that they are crazy, because you have never known them any other way, or even known any other people, for that matter, all up close and personal, until you spend time outside your small bubble of family, and suddenly realize that your normal is other peoples abnormal, but because you are deep in the crazy too, you just go along?? You know?? Well. Then you find that you have three years of loose change sitting in a closet that everyone is very careful not to move, or knock over and spill, or mix up, every single day, when they are just trying to get a towel out to take a shower. Thank you family!
So today may be our lucky day! The madness ends. Well, this one point of madness. Maybe. It’s not like I am counting that change yet. In fact, I haven’t even ended this long-ass post, and I have gotten so far off topic, and even started 2 new ones, maybe three, (I can work alot on very little) that I can’t even remember how I was going to end this thing. Tires. Money. Weather updates. Flowers. That’s four actually. And I really can’t (don’t) want to go anywhere right now anyway until I get my car back. Oh yeah. My car. The reason I don’t have it right now. That’s it. I found the start of breadcrumb trail! Lo and behold and the laundry shall never get done! More time a-wasting over here. Maybe I will just throw a load into the washer and switch the dryer real quick and then type some more. There’s no time schedule for crazy. I mean creativity. Later.
74 Degrees. Posting From The IPad.
Sitting outside enjoying the warm. Although the temp is starting to go back down again. Still high sixties, so I can stay here for awhile yet. I thought I would try and use my son’s technology to post faster and more efficiently. And outside! This keyboard is weird and keeps hitching on me. I got the title ok and I was even able to take that pic above and put it in here, but I seem to be having trouble with color, bolding, italicising, and even punctuation and spelling. Auto correct and my lack of understanding on how to highlight a word and change its appearance is really slowing me down. Good thing I can spell real good and grammertize correctly or this would be a mess. I think I need to stick with the laptop for now. I already lost this post once accidentally tapping the wrong button and using touch screen to try and zoom or whatever. Luckily the tech support for this site is smarter than me and auto saved my original draft. So here it is. Again. You wouldn’t have wanted to miss this stellar post I am sure. Besides all my good pictures are on the computer. The IPad is nice, but it’s awkward to hold and too big for my hands to take alot of pictures. I’m trying to capture a picture of the very red cardinal that is chirping loudly in the tree in front of me but I can’t seem to spot him. And I can’t keep maneuvering this big flat thing around the backyard. I look like an idiot and my butt crack keeps hanging out when I bend over, but I can’t pull my pants up because I’m afraid I’m going to drop this toy and break it if I don’t use two hands. The problems of the new world, I tell ya. OK I am done now. My fingers are actually kind of cold and my kids are going to be home soon and I want to have a drink so I can pack in more good time fun on my extra bonus free day off before they get home if you know what I mean and I think you do I am talking to everyone with kids that never seem to leave the house for longer than a school day but since you have to work anyway it doesn’t really matter wink wink end of long run on sentence. Prob TMI but maybe most people drifted off there in the middle of that thought like I did. I did give this sad, plain, unadorned post its own category. I creatively named it, “IPad Posts.” Like it even matters, separating them from the others. You can easily spot them because they look like boring crap. I don’t know what I am doing on this thing. I will learn. And I will return. Ooooooh. Drama. Later.
66 Degrees. And Flashback.
I don’t want to be repetitive and post another picture of my daffodils, so… So spring. So cliche. So here is a winter snow pic that my daughter took. I was just scrolling through all the shots she took at the height of our winter and this one is good. I hate to wait until it snows again. So enjoy the memory and the good fortune we share, to live in an area that changes seasons so dramatically and abruptly. FYI, the L/C belongs to me. (Low census.) Hopefully they don’t call and ruin my day off now. Gotta go and lose these kids for the afternoon. The BF is breathing down my neck to get out of the this house. Now. Later!
View From The Front Door
It’s creeping up out there! 61 degrees and rising! Sunny. Sunday. I may be off of work. Can’t call until after 12:30 to be sure. It’s always nice to have 2 days in row. But we take what we can get. Soak up it up people. Spring in our big city only lasts one day at a time. And usually in hours. Winter/Summer. Transition phase in progress! Later.
I Call It: Sitting On Patio With Coffee, Before Work, First Of The Year. Subtitle: Spring In Repose.
It’s Monday. It’s 67 degrees. It’s very windy. (Like, very windy. So much so, that I layed the basketball hoop-thing down because it was creaking and swaying quite loudly while I was sipping my coffee.) Also, one of my tree trunk branches seem to be rubbing in the high wind and making that “limb-falling” sound I have grown to know and dread every time I hear it outside of a Forest Preserve or designated woody area allocated to our world for walking and enjoying nature in its most natural of habitats, the places where all the trees can gather and hang together and lean and fall on each other, or the leafy ground, as they wish. NOT my backyard. Please! Can I get one fresh, new spring day without any tree droppings? Can I get an Amen? Hallelujah people. I am willing all the “high-air” objects to stay there today. Amen.
That’s a picture of the sky facing forward from my chair. Obviously you can’t see the fast clouds moving, but they are. And those are my daffodils. Right on time. In case I never said it before, except that I say it EVERY year, daffodils are my favorite flower. The most faithful of flowers. Hope and trust and loyalty. If a person could be a flower, I guess I would be a daffodil. We share the same qualities if you go by the “meanings of things”. Plus, they are so pretty. Or just shy of pretty…huh? Huh? See what I did there? And they sometimes smell good. Just like me. Yes, I said sometimes.
I have to go. Shower and work. The BF gets to be off because he got a flat tire. Lucky! But if you are reading this (when you really should be outside, though…come on people, it is gorgeous! Go out, then come back in and finish this) and you want to comment or send me your favorite flower with a meaning or just a quick word, I would love to hear it! Something to look at later tonight when I get home. And if you are really fancy and high-tech, you can send a pic. That would be cool! Alright, have a good one out there today. Stay on the ground and don’t let this wind carry you away! Later!
Day Quote
Kind of a cheat today. I wrote this down and really have no other reason to use it. And why can’t TV people be just as relevant as literature people? That’s right. They can! I live my life surrounded by randomness and false hope. But I will take inspiration where ever it comes from. P.S. It is beautiful out today. Almost 60 degrees again. These are my deepest thoughts: I truly have started to like my job, and I am getting wayyyy better at it, and I know we need money, but, if low census must be given…please let it be me. Although by typing this out loud I just jinxed myself. Better hit the showers. Enjoy the day! And the quote. That was, after all the point here. (Again, if you read back to my beginnings, you’ll see that I just typed the quote with little to no comment. Ha. Those were the days.) Later.
Ooops. Almost forgot to give photo credit to my daughter. That is one of her pics from Kentucky. She has many more that I mean to include here. She’s really got an eye for this. Creativity running in the family. Later later.
Words are the first step on the road to deeds.
—Liz Lemon
just shy of pretty 