Sympathy transcends politics.

Regardless of my political leaning, I can't help feeling deep sympathy for VP Joe Biden and his family on the death of his son Beau.  No matter the cause, parents should not have to deal with the death of a child.  It simply isn't the natural order, and I can't imagine a greater grief.

another hurdle crossed

All of my grandchildren have, at one time or another, expressed some concern about my plan to sell my house and I will admit there are a lot of happy memories attached to this place.  Today I had a chance to spend several hours with my daughter's two kids and we used some of the time to sort through stuff that needs to be kept or can be sold. They thoroughly enjoyed searching for treasures, began to realize the necessity to get rid of lots and lots of things, and perked right up when I said the place where I'm thinking about renting has a pool.  So, two more converts to my cause.

A scam? What do you think?

I had a phone call yesterday on my cell phone. After several hellos back and forth because of a bad connection a young sounding man, in very broken English, informed me that the US government was going to award me $9,000. Lucky me!  Being the skeptical person I am, I laughed and hung up.  Then I looked at the caller ID and it read Washington, DC.  I thought that was kind of a cute touch.

Have I railed about mail lately?

Some time ago it was all over the news that the US Post Office was upside down financially and considering reducing the number of mail deliveries to private homes in a week. Based on the contents of my daily mail I think I'd be fine with a once a week delivery.  It is handy that I recycle things these days, as I walk back from the mailbox I can pitch nine tenths of what I've pulled out of the mailbox directly into the recycle bin. I guess the best thing to be said about the daily walk to the mail box is that I do have to get out and walk, so perhaps I should be thanking the postal service for its concern about my health.

another step in the home sale saga

Don't look up.  That's the lesson I learned when I was pondering how to clean up my furnace room to make it show well.  The furnace is ok, the jury is still out on the water heater, the softener works well. All seemed pretty good until I looked up and notice the sagging strips of insulation in the ceiling area of that little room.  So I called Momper because they remove insulation, a gentleman came out this afternoon and looked it over, agreed with me that there really is no reason to have the insulation there at all.  So now I just have to wait for his quote.  I'm aiming to have this house on the market by mid July but there is still a lot to do. It's amazing what you can accomplish if you spend enough money.  Sadly, everything I'm doing is "maintenance" (some much too deferred) that really won't add to the sale price of the home, although it may help it sell faster.  Time will tell.

Will I really miss it when it's gone?

I've selected a dealer to conduct my estate sale.  At least I've decided who I want to use.  I will contact her tomorrow.  Now I need to decide what to sell and what to keep.  Some things are pretty easy.  I will keep my bed for instance, and most of my bedroom furniture, and I won't have any problem selling some of my exercise equipment and the old piano.  However, I have a lot of stuff that has memories attached. So I think the question is will I still have the memories if I sell the stuff? For example, my husband and I traveled in the southwest several times but do I really need 17 pots and figurines? Perhaps one would do?  Pictures are good, nice and flat; they don't take up much space.  I could even copy bunches onto CDs to give to the kids if I get really organized.  Yikes! There's that pesky word 'organized' again.  I'd better get started.

How frustrating is this?

Local newscasters just can't catch a break.  Earlier today a local news station reported that "breaking news!" there was a report of a hostage situation in a bowling alley in a small town near Fort Wayne.  Police had surrounded the place, ambulances were standing by, and people were being evacuated from nearby homes. A reporter was on site waiting for information from the local police.  Now, no one hopes for bad news, and I'm happy that nothing evil happened, but the report I just heard on the 10pm news was a bit of a let down.  The police eventually entered the building and found no one there. The end. Talk about an anticlimax.  I suspect that everyone involved is feeling a little bit let down.

Feeling overwhelmed

I've mentioned before that I am beginning the process of selling my house, I've contracted for quite a bit of work to fix it up, especially the outside, and had lots of trash hauled out of the garages.  The next big step is to arrange for an estate sale.  Why should I let my kids have all the fun after I'm dead? I'm finding myself a little overwhelmed though as I wander from room to room looking at stuff and thinking what can I live without? what will my children want? what must I keep for now? and more to the point why is some of this stuff still here? Some things are pretty easy though.  There are boxes carefully stacked on shelves in the downstairs basement that I'm pretty sure haven't been opened in 30 years, not to mention an amazing collection of antique spiderwebs.  The estate sale people have assured me that just about anything will sell (including old pvc pipe and pieces of plywood) but not spider webs. So I guess I know where I'll be starting this week.  Anyone want a collection of Scientific American magazines dating from the 50's?

happy birthday to two granddaughters

We celebrated the birthdays of my son's two girls today.  The scheduling worked out best to have both parties together this year.  The oldest will be an official teenager in two weeks and the younger turned 11 two weeks ago.  It was a really fun time, especially for me, because while we had the party at my house everyone else brought the food and decorations and everything but the cake, which I baked yesterday.  Everything was delicious and everyone seemed to have a good time but what pleased me most was seeing all 4 grandchildren getting along.  Lately, because they are all just hitting those preteen, teen years, their has been some tension among them, but today they seemed to fall into old pairings and enjoyed being together.  Depending on how fast my house sells, this could be our last family party here.  I'm glad it was a happy one.

Creationists should love this.

On this morning's news it was announced that Isis had conquered an ancient (2000+ years old) city in Syria and I am seriously grieved about the potential loss of historic art and artifacts.  However I was startled by one comment I heard.  The announcer referred to the area as the "Cradle of Creation". Really? While I do believe God started it all, I'm not a literal creationist, and I'm pretty sure the phrase they were looking for is "Cradle of Civilization".
Another error heard yesterday (but not on TV) a young woman referred to people who could use both hands equally well as "ambidexterious".  Hmmm?

a bevy of baton twirllers

I attended my granddaughter's baton recital this evening.  This is her third year and she is really pretty good.  Not quite up to flaming baton status yet (thank goodness) but still quite good.   They actually don't get their flaming batons until their 12th year which I think is pretty smart on their teacher's part.  Each age group does two routines, one with batons and one with pompoms and it's interesting to me to see how much more relaxed they are in the pom routines.  No big surprise though - people are much less likely to drop poms than batons. I found myself thinking, as I watched the show, I could have done that when I was a child, well, except for the fact that I was woefully uncoordinated and had no sense of rhythm.  Ah well, at least I can watch.
I just remembered, I did dance with a group once.  I was one of 5 PTA moms, it was part of a fund raiser, and we were all dressed as "California Raisins" in purple trash bag costumes.  We danced to "I heard it through the Grape Vine" and, happily, there is no recorded copy of that event.

just Google it

I continue to be amazed at how much information I can find on Google. Today I wanted a general map of Fort Wayne area zip codes so I googled it and hey presto, within about 10 seconds I had a nifty map to print out; just what I needed. I would never have believed it, even 10 years ago, but more and more I find myself turning to my computer for all kinds of information.  Need a recipe? Google it. Can't spell a word? Google it. Need to find homes for sale or apartments available? Google it. And of course Google will take me right to Wikipedia. Do you remember 20 volume encyclopedias with annual updates? Of course there was a certain pleasure in browsing through an encyclopedia. So much information you didn't even know you wanted to know. I guess I'll always be a book lover at heart.

more steps toward moving

Well I can forget my dream of living in the Anthony Wayne Bank building condos.  According to my Realtor the only unit available, and the cheapest, is listed at $279,000. There was an error in the MLS, listing a unit there at $141,000.  I used to be pretty good at negotiating real estate deals but I don't think I can talk them down to $141,000.  So I am, as they say, exploring other options.  Still hoping to find something downtown.  In the meantime, this week, I have two people coming to talk to me about having an estate sale, one person coming to give me a bid on some trim painting, workers coming to pour a new slab for the AC, a few new windows on order, and my Realtor coming on Friday to discuss pricing and marketing options.  Happily, the garages are now blissfully cleaned out and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Now, if I can sell about half my possessions in an estate sale I will really be ready to downsize.  Then all I'll need to do is sell the house (picky detail).

on using seat belts

I don't understand the reluctance of manufacturers? users? service providers? of public transportation in the US to install seat belts.  Obviously airlines understand the necessity on airplanes.  Personally, in years past, seat belts have saved both my son and me from serious injury in car mishaps. When I traveled in England four years ago we took a couple of bus tours and the driver wouldn't start moving until everyone was buckled up.  It was the law.  Seat belts were on all of the buses we used on our Croatia trip. So why not here in the US?  The recent train wreck outside of Philadelphia got me wondering about this again.  This was a violent crash, killing eight people, and I'm not sure how many could have been saved with seat belts but I heard at least one commentator theorizing that at least some deaths and injuries could have been prevented if the train had been equipped with seat belts.  So why not have them available, even if you don't want to enforce their use?  OK, I'll get off my soap box now (as soon as I unfasten my seat belt).

one more sign that I might be, gasp, a senior citizen

I watched two colorized episodes of "I Love Lucy" this evening, and, while these weren't two of her most famous shows, I found myself laughing out loud.  Lucille Ball was an excellent comedic actor, no question about that, but I found myself comparing the dialogue and story line to current sit-coms. What I realized was that neither of the episodes I watched contained sexual innuendos, explicit naming of body parts, crass comments or any of the rude, crude dialogue that seems to pass for comedy in so many shows these days.  Somehow, for me, being asked to titter at crude jokes isn't nearly as satisfying as being able to laugh out loud at silly situations and really witty conversations.
Face it, I guess I'm hopelessly old fashioned.

The great "clean out"

Well, now I've done it.  I'm getting serious about selling this house and downsizing.  I realized that a first step must be be to clean out 33 years of accumulated stuff (stuff sounds a little nicer than trash) from the garages.  Realizing that, if I tried to do it myself, I would be working at it for the next 10 years, I hired a local company to do it.  Two men came this morning and loaded an incredible amount of trash onto to their truck and trailer and hauled it off.  I was pretty sure things would go sliding off all over the road but they strapped it all down and nothing fell off while I could still see them.

They will be back Monday for another load and that should do it.  I was amazed at how much they got done today and really appreciated the fact that they cleaned and swept as they went.  The other thing I appreciated was that whenever they found something that they thought was of value they set it aside for me, knowing that I'm also planning to have an estate sale.

I feel like I've really taken a giant first step here. I'm on my way.

Could it be my fault?

I'm really enjoying driving my zippy new car but it seems like every time I've been out driving lately I end up behind someone who is just poking along.  It's happened so often lately that I finally thought to check my speedometer today.  Ooops!

drink more coffee

Another study is out touting the health benefits of coffee.  If you drink 3-4 cups of coffee a day it can "reduce your risk of death from all causes".  That seems like a pretty sweeping promise to me.  Once again I would like to point out that our chance of death, from some cause or other, is 100 percent.  Also I find it hard to imagine how drinking coffee can reduce my risk of falling off a cliff or dying in an a plane crash.  The reporter hastened to add that they were talking about 3 to 4 8 oz cups of black coffee, not giant lattes or cappuchinos.  Well where's the fun in that?

Scotland calling

About four years ago my cruise buddies and I took a cruise around the British Isles with multiple stops in each country. I enjoyed it all but came away thinking that I would really like to go back and spend more time in Scotland.  No specific reason.  I just liked the friendly feel of the place.  Plus, I can't help but appreciate a country that makes the purple thistle a dominant part of their flower gardens instead of wasting hours rooting it out as I do.  I think they have the right idea.  I'm also pretty sure it's their national flower, but not positive.
Now I may have a chance to go back again.  Our Presbyterian church is putting together a trip to Scotland in July of 2016.  It will be a bus tour including lots of scenery, cathedrals, ruins and castles - all things I love to visit - with an emphasis on our Presbyterian/Reformed history.
Sounds good to me, now all I need to do is find 24 more eager travelers because they won't take the trip unless we have at least 25 people committed to the trip by the end of this July.  I only have 2, sometimes 3 cruise buddies and none of them are Presbyterians so it may be a hard sell.  Perhaps I should remind them of the excellent Guiness we enjoyed last time.

An answer to the question "How do you like retirement?"

I had a vision of retirement before I actually retired, that involved long leisurely days when I had plenty of time to get things done and relax with a good book or whatever.  I think I assumed that retirement days would be similar to the lazy days of summer vacation that I remember as a child. You know, the kind of days and weeks that seemed to go on forever. It's not happening.  I was looking at my calendar today and realized that so far, in the month of May, I haven't had one single day that I could just stay at home all day, and I won't have until the 16th.
Obviously, I need to get my retirement more organized, but that just doesn't seem right somehow.  Who knew that relaxing in retirement could be such hard work?

naming a car

Who knew naming my new car would be such a challenge?  People in my family seem to like to name cars.  My grandchildren named my last car Belle and that seemed like a good name so it stuck.  My daughter has a 2013 dark green Fiat which she calls Ivy.  Suggested names for my new blue Fiat have included Iris, Blue Belle, Bleu, Happiness (as in Blue Bird of...) Cobalt, Bob, Bruce, Indigo, Berry, Delphinium and many more.  A friend who visited this weekend kept referring to it as Clyde, and while it does feel like a masculine car, I will not call my car Clyde. A girl in a TV commercial calls her car Brad, but that car ends up getting totaled so that's no good.   I shall continue to ponder this less than compelling problem, and welcome any suggestions. Perhaps I should offer a prize for the winner.

lunching at a factory

Well, I'm not sure if 'factory' is exactly the right word, but a friend and I had lunch at "Sweetwater Sound" today.  He had heard that anyone can come in and eat in their cafeteria so we gave it a try. We arrived at about 12:45 pm and it wasn't very busy at all.  The food was good, with a variety of choices, but what made it a really enjoyable experience was all the helpful, friendly people.  Anytime we had a question someone was right there to answer it.  I've attended entertainment events at "Sweetwater" before and been impressed with the entire facility.  Now, even more so.  I think it must be an excellent place to work.

sitting on bleachers

Yet another proof that I'm not as young as I once was (as if I need more proof).  Yesterday afternoon I spent 2+ hours sitting on an aluminum bleacher seat to watch one granddaughter participate in a track meet.  This evening the same granddaughter participated in her school's arts evening.  She plays chimes and did a wonderful job.  But enjoying her performance along with three bands, three orchestras and a choir, found me sitting on a wooden bleacher seat for 1 1/2 hours. Ouch and ouch! And that's only one granddaughter.  As the grands approach their teen years I expect to have many more of these seating experiences.  I think it's time to invest in a cushion, preferably with a back rest.

Less than perfect timing

I met with a man yesterday who is going to pour a concrete slab for me to replace the dangerously sloping slab now under my air conditioner. What was a minor tilt last year seems to have settled another several inches over this past winter. I'm really concerned that, if I don't replace the current slab, my AC will vibrate itself across the yard when I run it. So, not knowing for sure when they will pour the slab, I called my HVAC company right away to make arrangements for them to disconnect and move the AC unit.  Here's where the bad timing comes in - after I scheduled the disconnect for tomorrow and discovered that the concrete guys can't do the work until next week, I heard on the news that the temperature this weekend may rise into the mid-80s.  I wouldn't be too concerned about that except I have an out of town guest staying this weekend.  I guess we'll just have to stay cool the old fashioned way, with open windows and fans. She'll be so excited.

I really wanted to vote.

I make it a point to vote in primaries and local and national elections and seldom miss an opportunity to vote.  However, my desire to be a conscientious citizen was thwarted this year.  There were no contested positions in my township/district.  Watching the results announced this evening, I can see that I would have had lots of choices if I lived within the city limits.  I guess I'll have to bide my time until next year's primary.  That should be an interesting one.

For the last time??

Yesterday, for the fourth time in as many years, I entertained seven people at my house with a rather elaborate sit-down dinner as a fund raiser for the First Presbyterian Theater.  Each of them paid $50 for this privilege.  I couldn't have done it without my friend Alice who is an artist with appetizers and my daughter who baked an amazing chocolate/chocolate chip bundt cake for dessert. It continues to amaze me that anyone would pay to eat dinner at my house and I really marvel at the fact that five of these people have come back every year.
Every year, as the last guest drives away, I mutter to myself "never again" because it takes a lot of planning and good old work.  Peeling potatoes is not high on my list of favorite activities.  And this year the "never again" promise may come true.  By next year, if all goes well, I will have downsized, and, if I'm very clever, will make sure my next place has a small dining area.  One more motivation to get my house sold.

old dog, new tricks

I've been learning to drive my new car today.  Now I have been driving for 50+ years so I do know the basics.  Lights, turn signals, windshield wipers, all work pretty much the same.  It has automatic transmission so no big challenge there.  But blue tooth?  With my daughter's help I can now answer my cell phone hands free through my car radio.  I think one of my favorite new features is going to be the turning light.  As you turn a corner, with the lights on, a light shines out at an angle to light the corner.  I think this will be a big help to me and help to off set one of the challenges I face in night driving. Time will tell.  But so far I think this little Fiat is a keeper.