Sweet Memories

My neighbor, Ellen, usually asleep in the daytime, grabbed her camera to photograph this recent morning sky. Today's wonderful breezes are most welcome!

This morning I am listening to a radio host who is notorious for saying things like "I have never seen anything like this before in my life", or asking "have you ever seen this before in your life?" of his co-hosts. Of course, they have to agree with him, in order to assist him in making the point, but he is likely overstating it. This time perhaps not overstating since he was speaking of the butchering done on the street in London, in broad daylight, with folks failing to intervene. Can you say 'gun free zone'?

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Anyway, you think of things that have happened in your own life, thinking you will never, ever forget those things as long as you live. And you are determined not to forget---yet, somehow, the memory of the specifics fade. The names and faces escape. That which was so prominent in our minds and hearts has moved back further into the seldom-summoned memory storage. 

In cleaning out a dresser drawer the other day in search of something else, I came upon a packet of cards, etc., in a zip-sealed plastic bag in which a prescription had come. Date? 2005!  In this packet were old credit cards, punch cards for shops and restaurants (many which no longer exist), frequent shopper cards from the area bookstores, and calling cards. What a trip down memory lane this became!! Not so much a special attachment to the credit cards (no reason to keep them either!), but the calling cards-the business cards-had a special place in my memory. My 'old' painters, wall paper guys, tile installers, other tradesmen with whom we'd done business at one time.

I had not thought of these fellows in ages and ages, and yet they were at one time very important in my business and personal life. Many of these guys watched my boys grow up. Or stood in line for over an hour to greet us at the funeral home, walked up our sidewalk with hams or a plant for us, took the afternoon off to attend a funeral service in a crowded church for our little guy. At the time, I thought I would never forget them. Their kindess remains fresh to me, but their names and faces have faded from my memory. 

                                      

I don't think the fading is intentional or an accident---this is from God. He stores those things away from us so we move forward and do not dwell in sorrowful places. Those heavy thoughts are replaced in the front of our memories with more pleasant, more pleasing ones, and for that I am most grateful. It is also no accident to find things like this little packet of momentos which allow us to recognize just how far we've come. Thank you for that, dear Lord!

Living under a rock

When we used to play trivia at Johnny Angels Diner on Tuesday nights, my friend, Rita, would tease me for not knowing the music from the 1980's and forward answers. Sometimes the group names would ring a bell for me but I had little trivia to add to the mix. They could not depend upon me to agree or disagree on an answer for this category. Inevitably Rita would ask me, "Where were you? Under a rock?" Sometimes that would happen with TV programs as well but mostly with music. I had my categories where I scored higher, so I carried my own weight in the game, believe me!

On my Internet radio show today, the guys were going through a list of the top-rated TV programs for the year. The one fellow would read the name of a show from the list, and the 3 guys would say "yes" or "no"  if they'd seen it, or liked it. One guy does not watch network TV (regular TV, he calls it) so he had a terrible disadvantage. The ones he could say yes to involved pro football. Same here! Another of the guys, the one who gets picked on the most, knew many of the titles and could say 'yes' or 'no' to whether they were any good. He got mocked for having so much time on his hands for such lame TV viewing habits. 

The list had about 150 of the network prime time programs listed (who would think there were that many?) and I could only say, to myself, that I watched a couple of them. Several of the 'yeses' were for NFL games on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. Hey, that's nearly everyday! I only watch Packer and Jaguar games so it's not as bad as it seems. 

                     

This must be Friday night as they are eating Chinese food. Sheldon keeps them on a firm schedule. This is also then vintage game night...Before I ever watched this program, Justin would say to me, "You are sooooo Sheldon!" Perhaps, in some ways, I am!

I could also say 'yes' to one other show, but I do only watch it on reruns, which might not count on this list. One day I was asking Justin about a TV show and he said, "You'll see it in about 10 years..." Ha ha! Yes, I live in the past! Now, I do see some of these programs when I am visiting in WI, as my mom likes them. In particular is "NCIS", which was high on the list, but then again, those are mainly reruns as well. My friend, Linda, also enjoys the NCIS series. 

The cable channel programs are not included on this list or I would have been able to say "yes" more often. "The O'Reilly Factor" is the highest rated prime time news show, but not on this list because of being a cable program. This one program beats the entire prime time line-up ratings for CNN each night. 

I also 'can't miss' Fox News Sunday, and, of course, The Five, these two not being prime time programs. I also like Law & Order: Criminal Intent, as well as the original L & O, but they do not appear on the list. It seems no new episodes of those two have been made in a couple years---only the SVU series. Who knew? Everyone except me, I suppose!

Justinisms

The other morning my friend, Barb, in MN, wrote on Facebook, "As my grandson would say, "Don't talk to me, I'm crabby". She wrote this because they had gone so many days without sunshine and it was taking its toll on her good nature. I wrote back to her about how Justin told Mom and me that he was out-of-sorts one morning because "I got up on the toy-box side of the bed...." Oh, I see. If you know Justin, that was a significant change for him. He took the expression of 'getting up on the wrong side of the bed' to the nth degree, and got up on the 'toy box side'! We steered clear of him the rest of the day!

He would take expressions quite literally. One night, during the holidays, he kept getting up from bed to come out and look at us in the family room. At last I asked him why he kept getting up and he said, "I wanted to see you in your nightcaps..." My former spouse and I had mentioned having a nightcap (slush) before bed, and he thought we wore hats!

One of Mom's favorite Justinisms was when we were driving down a very busy Blanding Blvd. during rush hour. Justin made the announcement that he had to go to the bathroom. We were a long way from home, with no prospect of a toilet on our side of the road for quite a stretch. He sighed and said, "I'll just hold my legs together and pray...." which sent Mom and I into convulsions. I found a place to do a U-turn and went back to the Hardee's so he could go potty. After all that laughing, Mom and I had to go, too!

Again with the angry skies

This is the look of the angry sky yesterday, which deposited rain and showed some lightning. This one taken with my big camera.

...and then it gets angier still!!! After what happened in OK, we need to pay special attention to these type of clouds! This photo taken with my cell phone and submitted to the local radio station's Facebook page. 

Foggy headed today

Justin was here overnight last night, making great strides in reclaiming the two bedrooms. He had a giant box, a moving box, filled almost to the top with cardboard from boxes he'd broken down. I called Connie at home to see where he should put it and her instructions were for him to park it in front of the big dumpster enclosure, as that would be emptied in the a.m. Perfect! She called me earlier to have me thank Justin for being so orderly about his placement of the box. That's my boy!

Because he stayed overnight, sleeping in the room across the hall from his, I feared he would oversleep and be late for work. When I asked him what time he had to leave for work, he said, "...at the butt crack of dawn..." Show me those numbers on the clock, please. At 6:05 a.m. I scurried down the hall to announce the time to him, and he said he had a couple minutes yet before he needed to be up. I still got it!!

                                     

You will love this story---the reason he stayed in the other bedroom was so he could use the bathroom. The rushing water toilet (due for repairs Wednesday a.m.) did not bother him. BUTT (no typo), he removed the toilet seat and we put it in the dishwasher to get it clean. All together now---EWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! When he suggested this to me, I said, "That sounds like something Kim would do!" I emptied the clean dishes from the machine and we manipulated the seat, which he was soaking in the kitchen sink (again---EWWWWWWW!) into the rack for a more thorough cleaning. I had sprayed it that morning to get the cleaning process started so it wasn't too gross. But, bad enough to require dishwasher cleansing! Boys are so gross!

Since I was awake before 5:00 today, when it was close to noon, I was so very ready for a nap. My eyes were burning and needed to close. However, the housekeepers were due to arrive 'after lunch' so I wanted to be vigilant when they came to the door. Badly I wanted to put my head on my desk for a few minutes but did not. Since the single housekeeper did not arrive until 2:30, I could have had a very nice snooze and been raring to go!

My GroupOn purchase was for a two-hour cleaning and I assumed that two ladies would come, as is customary. As I write, one young lady is here and thinks it will take her all of the alotted two hours to do the floors I asked her to clean. That was the primary need I wanted addressed, vacuum the floors and wash the hard floors, so that is what she is doing. I hope she has time to tackle Justin's bathroom, but my hopes are dimming....

The plumber is coming Wed. morning and in the meanwhile, the water detector is in place and three doors are between that bathroom and me. My downstairs neighbors are in Italy and would not be available to rush back in case of an emergency. The works inside this toilet, installed by the same plumber just over a year ago, might simply need an adjustment, and I pray it is an easy fix.

Tattered nerves

I am incredibly thankful to have the water detectors Justin gave me for Mother's Day, and have, in fact, pressed one into service in his former bathroom. It seems that periodically I hear water running in his toilet, though nothing in the bowl nor in the tank appears to be moving. Oh, now what??? The works were replaced just over a year ago around the same time we had the leaks from the broken water softener pipes on the 5th floor (the first time it happened!) so it's not worn out yet. I wouldn't think they wear so quickly, right? I wonder how long this has been going on....

                                              

Thankfully Justin will be here tonight, right after work, to finish cleaning out his rooms so I won't be too hesitant to attend my church meeting. My tummy is in a knot from this, as is expected under circumstances such as this for me. Besides that, now my dryer is making a strange noise as it attempts to dry my clothes. Perhaps a coin or something is caught in the drum thing but I cannot see it nor make it stop. 

We have a building committee meeting tonight and it wouldn't be life or death if I did not go, but since I take the notes for it, should be sure to go. Also, I might be a distraction to Justin who needs to be entirely focused on his project of emptying the room. Oh my! When I expressed to him that I would not be here to "help him", Justin said, "That's okay...." I am sure it is! By the way, the dryer has now stopped making the racket so whatever it was scraping has worked itself free! (Just dug everything out of the dryer and found a quarter...mine!)

The same weekend as the big storm, I noticed a problem with my light switch in the kitchen. One is next to the fridge and one by the door, a three-way switch. I sometimes have to wiggle the switch to get the light to turn on. Oh, great! In order for an electrician to access the electrical box, he has to move the fridge out. Problem? There is a water hose connected to the ice maker, which I do not use for fear of a problem. Yikes! As I told Mike Kelley yesterday at church, "I don't really need a light in the kitchen....." We shall see what I do about that.

Closer to the pole is the alligator, and further out by the sandbar are the manatees

On Facebook the other day I noted that our resident alligator has become a regular visitor to the basin, keeping company, or not, with the manatees. They sort of keep themselves apart, which is probably a good idea. I looked out a bit ago and saw the gator had moved to the area usually occupied by the manatees and they have moved off to the center of the basin. By agreement, I am sure.

In other water news, I don't think I ever mentioned the damage experienced on this property during the huge storms the early part of May. My place and those above me were not the only problem areas, as others in the building experienced intrusion. The force of the wind-driven rain caused the problems to become evident in several other units in my building. This does not please me but does bring to light future problems we might have during the official hurricane season.

In the building next door, the condo garage and storage cubbies were flooded. There is a four inch curb the water had to breech to the storage area, and it did so that Saturday night. Over at the hotel, guests on the first floor had to evacuate as a waterfall of rain water gushed down the driveway to the hotel, over the edge of the flower bed and into the rooms. Karrie reported as much as 10" inches of water in the rooms at one time. 

The guests were NOT happy to have this happen, but hey, what can be done? Karrie was lamenting to me a couple Fridays ago about the tangling with the insurance company. The night security man told me that some people were VERY upset about having to move out, being relocated to an area hotel (above water level!). Harry told me that one lady was terribly upset, calling him "everything but white!", an expression I never heard before, but made me laugh. I feel badly for everyone involved, in particular those who have to try to put things back to right again. 

Karrie has to find invoices for the purchase of the carpet, bedding, and other items used to furnish the rooms. No wonder her staff is pulling out their hair, trying to scare up the receipts. I think the insurance company is a bit nit-picky as they will likely only reimburse the pro-rated amount anyway. I would like to ask her how it's going but hate to open that can of worms. What a storm system that was!!

Angry skies today

We had some very angry skies here for a while today. They did not produce rain on this side of the river, as far as I know, but the thunder was sufficient to rattle the lanterns which over my head. It moved down the river, chased by blue skies..