One Big Mama

I'm excited about Mama Jo.  I've been intrigued with the idea of the deep tunnel that is being built under Fort Wayne to carry away runoff and sewage water to keep it out of the rivers.  Today the name of the monster drill that will create this tunnel was announced. Her name is Mama Jo (first two letters of the three rivers that will be impacted - Maumee, St. Mary's and St. Joe).  I think it's a very clever name. Mama Jo, which is being installed in pieces, will be as long as one and a half football fields.  The tunnel will be 200 feet down and five miles long and I think they said 20 feet in diameter (but I'm not sure about that) and will run under part of the city.  They expect it to be finished by 2023, and when finished, will drain off 90 percent of the sewage that now gets into the rivers.  This whole process seems fascinating to me.  They said something about an open house in September which is good because I want to learn more about this.  Go, Mama Jo!

Napping or meditating?

I have a friend who claims she never takes a nap in the daytime.  She does admit though to meditating for up to 20 minutes at a time.  I've tried this but I must not be doing it right because my meditations always seem to turn into naps. Perhaps I shouldn't be sprawled on the couch when I meditate but I like to be comfortable.  Napping is a time honored tradition in my family.  When I was a child (even into my teens) my mother always had us take a nap after lunch when we were at home, during summer vacations.  Actually, she had us each go to our own room for a half hour of quiet time.  We could read or whatever.  The idea being that if my brother and I were quiet for a while, our much younger brother would take a nap. I treasured these times away from pesky brothers and able to read to my heart's content.  It wasn't until many years later, when I was a mother with young children of my own, that I realized that my mother had something beyond our health and wellfare in mind when she insisted on naps.  I'm pretty sure she spent that time 'meditating.'

Movie Time

Friends and I went to a movie today and they let me choose the movie.  I chose "Skyscraper" because the on-line description sounded interesting.  It was way beyond interesting.  Intense, gripping, frightening are words that come to mind.  Imagine the first Bruce Willis "Die Hard" movie on steroids and you hava a hint of what this movie was about.  It was amazing.  I highly recommend it.  

Lessons Learned

Lesson 1:  A full size box spring will not fit in the back of even a large SUV.  We learned this today when my son and daughter-in-law moved the standard size bed I was giving them.
Lesson 2:  You can secure a box spring to the luggage rack on top of your SUV if you have enough rope.  Lucky for us the manager of the apartment complex where I live had some she could loan us.  
Lesson 3:  My cell phone can be put on 'speaker phone'.  I had never needed this feature before and didn't know I had it (my cell phone being of the not quite so smart variety). I was to follow my son to his house to make sure the box spring stayed secure on top of his car.  The reasoning being that if it flew off and landed on my car I wouldn't sue him.  Happily it stayed put all the way to their house and we were able to converse all the way which was very handy.
Lesson 4:  Before we started out on our cross city slow drive I tried to find the button in my car to turn on the flashers so I could indicate to cars behind us that we were moving slowly.  I couldn't find such a control anywhere. I even tried the car manual - which was no help at all.  so I followed along without flashers and it was ok because I was able to signal turns for both of us.  Later in the day, I had to take another drive, on a completely unrelated matter and happened to glance down at the center display on my dashboard, below the radio controls was a big red one-inch square button clearly marked with a little emergency symbol. And, surprise, surprise, when I pushed the button my flashers came on. I hope I never need this knowledge again but it's good to know I can flash someone when I want to. Wait    .... that didn't sound right. 

Road Trip

I think it's time for a road trip.  For the last two evenings, the local news has been celebrating the fact that "Nick's," a restaurant in Huntington, will be representing Indiana in a national TV show called "Flavor Nation."  They will be the Indiana reps because of their outstanding pork tenderloin sandwich.  Evidently they are the inventors of the pork tenderloin sandwich.  I have eaten variations of this sandwich at several restaurants around the state (it is one of my favorite casual sandwiches) bur I have never, as far as I can remember, eaten at "Nick's."  So, I think I need to remedy this oversight.  Anyone up for a roadtrip??

too hard or too soft?

I personally prefer a firm mattress, so earlier this week, when I went shopping for a new bed for my guest bedroom I decided on a firm mattress.  I bought the mattress at Mattress Warehouse and was very pleased to discover that they provided free delivery and set up and would even haul away my old mattress.  I had checked at a different furniture store recently and was told that they charged a $100 delivery fee, no matter what you bought.  No surprise that I opted for free delivery.  But what I really like, although I hope not to have to take advantage of it, is the fact that if I'm not happy with the mattress they will swap it for an equivalent model.  The salesman specifically mentioned that if the mattress is too firm I could exchange it for the softer version of the same model.  My first guest to try out the new mattress will be visiting this weekend and another couple will be here at the end of the month.  I'll be interested to get their reactions.  And no, I didn't deliberately get the firm version so guests won't over stay their welcome.  How could you think such a thing?

Say it isn't so.

Tomorrow, students will be going back to school in Dekalb County and at the end of this week, Fort Wayne city swimming pools will be closing for the season. Two of my grandchildren have been in band camp for two weeks already.  Now none of these situations affects me directly.  I haven't been active in a classroom for nine years and I haven't been a full-time teacher since 1971. And yet, I find myself feeling that little tingle of excitement that means things are going to start happening. I just need to fight the urge to go out and buy paper, pencils, a brand new box of crayons (at least 48 colors) and a lovely new pair of shoes.