A relaxing day

Super nice warm day yesterday. Feels like summer is here. DH was getting the mowing started and I was out spraying my deer repellent stuff. DH was at the fence talking with Mr. Neighbor so I stopped to visit, too. Then Mrs came out with an empty egg carton, so I went back inside and grabbed her a carton of 2 dozen. I have so many! She said the lady that does their taxes has 17 chickens and so many eggs. Then she said "but all her chicken's butts are bare/plucked and she doesn't know why!". I said mine are doing the same exact thing! I don't know either, but now I don't feel so bad, haha. My half sister posted the question on her chicken facebook page she follows. There are too many "answers" as to why. They are bored and need to free range. ok, well, the other lady's I'm sure all free range, they live on a big bunch of acreage. Need more protein. I give them the recommended 16% layer feed and a daily handful of mealworm dried bugs, which are supposedly 50% protein. They need a dust bath. They take them all the time. They dig little holes in the dirt and sit in them (especially later afternoon/early evening) and fling dust everywhere. Mites. I add the stuff in their coop during each cleaning to keep out mites. One lady answered that she tried everything and nothing worked.

Still no shooting (knock on wood!). Interesting that the guy was so "you want a war? I can go to war! I got lots of money, blah blah" and then has completely stopped the shooting.

I slept in until a little after 8 this morning. I've been having lots of vivid dreams the last few nights. Usually I don't remember much of my dreams.

Today is chicken coop cleaning day. DH is going to work on the watering system for the whiskey barrels. He's still working on his pickup, but can't go any farther until the rest of his parts come in this week. I should probably do some house cleaning, too. LOL

A new addition

DH wasn't really going to do much yesterday, as he was pretty tired and aching from working on his truck Friday. We made plans to go to the swap meet around 5pm, after eating an early dinner. But, as is his usual, once he gets going, he starts to feel better, so he worked on his pickup some more. I even had to help by laying on a creeper underneath (it's a lifted pickup so easy to get under) and holding a piece of exhaust while he clamped it on. But, just before that he had a transmission leak somehow. Then he spent while trying to figure out how the heck he did that. I laid on the creeper, but before I could push myself under the truck he noticed the leak and went off to clean that up. So, while I'm laying there I got a big black nose in my face and lots of kisses, LOL.

We went to the big swap meet and my plan of there being a lot less people at that time of day paid off, LOL. We got to park right near the entrance. We walked over to the area, where when we had been several years ago, the log carving guy was set up and sure enough that's where he was. But, he had sold out of all but 2 carvings! We liked one of them, but it seemed pretty big, like almost 2x what we were thinking. He said it was $400, but since it was end of the day and he was packing up to leave and not have to pack it up, he'd sell it for $350. We got to chatting with him and explained how we had looked at his stuff and talked to him about 4 years ago, but weren't ready for it until we built out house. Then the next year we were busy building and didn't go to the swap meet and then next year we were moving in that weekend and didn't go to the swap meet and then last year it was canceled. He said he remembered chatting with us (probably not LOL).

So, here is the bear, holding fish we got. Our dog woke up this morning, walked out into the main living area and barked, thinking someone was at the door!

I don't know what it is about weekends that my mom has to call me several times during the day. She doesn't do that (rarely) during the weekdays. 4 calls yesterday. First was in the morning, asking if I called her. She is apparently checking her phone all the time now, for some reason, and seeing the previous call, so thinking she missed my call. Then she called a couple hours later, asking me the same thing. Then a couple hours later, she couldn't remember if she told me but apparently she has someone named Martha coming on the 8th at 8am. I told her that was the insurance health screening and I canceled that for her and to just throw that note away (she won't, of course). Then she called about 20 minutes later wondering where her checks are. I went through that again and again she says "well, how do I write my check for rent?" Again, your rent comes out of your account automatically since the first of the year.

DH spent the evening after we got home figuring out his leak. He's been watching lots of video and reading forum boards about this and it sounds like he bumped the dipstick for the transmission fluid and how they made them back in 1999 there is no o-ring or something and any little bump breaks the seal and ruins the dip stick. He must have bumped it while taking off his exhaust system. So, we had to pay another $90 and order one. 

Today I'm going to spray everything the deer like to eat. It's been a month since I last did it, plus I have all the flowers planted, they will eat. DH will probably mow the lawn. He's having to do it every 4 days now.

Ok, now I'm ticked off. I went to look at my mom's cell phone call log. Friday morning that company who does the health screenings for BCBS called her and they talked for 11 minutes. Then my mom called their number........get this 8 times over the next 2-3 hours!! What in the hell! Then I saw the email where it was scheduled late Friday afternoon and I called and cancelled it. This morning I get another email reminding about the appointment (not to mention it's scheduled at 8am, right when it's her breakfast dining time). I go to look at her call log and see all those calls. PLUS, they called her again yesterday TWICE. The first time was for 11 minutes and they called back 2 hours later for 4 minutes. What in the hell are they calling so much for. I will be calling them and Blue Cross Blue Shield first thing Tuesday morning. This is crap. And I blocked this number from calling her again.

Not necessary

Months ago I got a call, someone from my mom's medicare advantage health insurance plan wanted to schedule an in home screening. I told them no thanks. She just saw her primary care physician about 2 months earlier and I didn't feel this was necessary. Today I get an email (my email is set up with her insurance company) from this company doing in home health screenings for her health insurance company and she apparently let them schedule one for June 8 at her apartment. I called mom to ask her what she remembers about. It sounds like maybe she got something in the mail and thought she had to call, so she did, but she said she didn't really know what it is for. I told her I really don't think it's necessary. She has her annual exam with her dr. at the end of June. That should be enough assessing and care, LOL.  Plus, of course I'd need to be there for this, because she's not going to remember anything this person would ask/tell her.

I called up to ask what this is for and they said to coordinate with her insurance company and doctor to see if she's eligible for any additional services. I asked "like what?" but didn't get an answer. Just another vague response about coordinating with her doctor. Something about coordinating her medications. Well, her doctor does that, she's the one who prescribes them. I said well, I would need to be there, due to her memory issues, and that's not convenient for me, not to mention she will be going to see her doctor for her annual check up in about a month or so, so I canceled it. I don't need to have to go to 2 "doctor's" appointments for no reason.

I got all my flowers planted yesterday. I'm definitely going to do more "cheating" next year, haha. I bought one really full hanging pot of petunias for like $10. To put that many in my own pot would have cost me that much. I just took off the hanging parts and plopped it down in the basket of my little metal "bike". It was like snapping my fingers and poof! done! LOL

My boss said she just bought pre planted pots of flowers and took the whole thing out and planted it in her whiskey barrels. That's more what I will do next year. So much easier, haha. 

Dh is trying to get some emitters added to the drip lines, so that I do not have to water the flowers in the whiskey barrels. He also moved the curly stretchy little hose with wand closer to the front porch, so I  can water the hanging baskets a little easier. 

I think today we will go to the big swap meet and see if we can find like a bear carving. Hopefully an artist like that is there again. I told dh either we should go first thing in the morning or maybe in the evening (it's open dawn to dusk is the hours listed) to try to be there when maybe it's not quite so crowded. With it getting canceled last year, I'm sure lots will want to go to it this year. The ad says they have 200 vendors, which seems like more than usual.

Super nice weather now. Perfect sunny and will be about 72 today. I see next Wednesday is supposed to be 90. Summer is almost here.

Another day off

I got what I wanted to accomplish done on my day off yesterday. I left about 8am. It was a nice sunny drive into the city. A beautiful morning in the mountains. Well, I guess I didn't get one thing on my list accomplished. I wanted to pick up 2 of the nicer, stained whiskey barrel planters at the nursery center, but they were sold out of all of them now. Bummer. Then I went to Lowes garden center. I was not impressed with their petunias! I should have just left and went to Home Depot, but I picked through them and I'm sure they will start looking good once planted. I decided to just get premade hanging baskets for the first time ever. Mine never seem to fill out very well, so I'm giving these a try at $25 each. They had some really big ones, but at $80 each I passed. I completely loaded up the back of my car. Then I ran back inside to look for some spray paint dh wanted, but no luck.

I had a bit of time before I needed to be at my mom's so I stopped at Home Depot. All their annuals looked so much better. They were laid out on big flat "tables" rather than shoved in carts with shelves. I picked up a few more and also got 4 perennials to replace 4 "grassy" type plants that didn't make it over the winter. I got to my mom's at exactly 10:30 LOL.

The first thing I did was grab her phone to figure out why it's not ringing. As I'm trying to do that her "guy friend" knocked on the door, so he could introduce himself. He does exist! LOL. Seems like a very nice gentleman. He had just been at bible study. He just stayed a minute and then I figured out she had somehow just turned the ringer volume down to vibrate with the buttons on the edge of her phone. I tested calling and also tested a call to me and both worked fine. Hopefully, that fixed her constant worry of late about her phone.

I went through her mail on her desk a bit. Of course that magazine subscription (she already sent a check for) was still on her desk, not thrown away like I told her to over and over. Basically, I just have to grab any mail on her desk and put it in my purse when she's not looking. Her problem with not throwing anything away is partially due to she thinks she has to shred everything that has her address on it. And her shredder is in her bedroom. So, while I'm on the phone telling her to just throw that away, she's setting it aside, because she wants to go shred it, but of course as soon as we hang up, she's forgotten that's what she needs to do.

At 11 the attorney's office called and we did the phone consult with him. It will be an easy thing to just re do her will to make me the executor and my dd the alternate. He also said it is MUCH preferred to have the executor in the same state. He also told me that since most of her money is in her retirement account and will be directly distributed to the beneficiaries, not through the will, as long as I keep less than $50k in assets outside of her retirement account her will will not have to go through probate and be much easier and quicker (and cheaper) so that is good to know. I will make sure to do that. He also recommended an health care directive and I could not find one in her paperwork, so for an extra $100 he will do that up, too. 

I left just before noon, as it was her floor's day to eat in the dining room. On Monday they are changing to all floors eating in the dining room.

I remembered I still wanted to try to find that spray paint, so I stopped back in Home Depot and found that. I had just eaten a granola bar, but was still a bit hungry.....so I stopped at Dairy Queen for a Peanut Buster Parfait. Heaven LOL.

I got home about 1:15 and the HVAC guy had already come and gone. I'm like he's done already? DH said almost, but his cord to hook it up was too short, so he's coming back in the evening to finish, which he did. The good news - he had told dh 3 months ago it would be between $5000 and $6000, so I budgeted $6k (and figured it would probably be more). But, when we said ok, what do we owe you he said $4500. Yay!

Our HVAC guy also knows dh's buddy - the one that drinks, etc. DH told him he hasn't talked to him in about a year, that apparently buddy has problems with dh now. Neither said a whole bunch, but what HVAC guy said about him is exactly the same things we have said to each other. He said he complains constantly, always complaining about how little he makes after working all these years. and hvac guy said "well then get a different job!" He could go work at many other places in town making like $35/hr instead of $22. He also said he would hire him himself, but he just talks/complains too much and has no filter and not what he wants to be around daily. He mentioned he complains that his wife spends all her money and then some and he even brought up the fact that they have separate bank accounts - "that's just weird".

I'm planning to plant all my flowers today, but dang, the weather is gray and cloudy. I wanted a nice sunny day to go along with the planting. I have to say it was nice and easy to hand dh those 4 hanging baskets to hang up and not have to plant those, LOL.

I ended up only working a half day on Wednesday. Wed morning, after payroll finally got submitted (after my boss had to email an urgent email again) she said sorry I had to deal with that stress. I said, I'm just glad today wasn't my day off, or then I would have been stressed! She said just take the rest of today off. I said, well...maybe a half day ;). (I wanted to get bills paid), and she said just do it!

Another fun morning

So, it's Wednesday morning and it's still "payroll day". That payroll I was supposed to submit yesterday still is not! At 4pm or so yesterday my boss tried to call the payroll company. She was on hold just trying to get through to the right dept for at least 15 minutes. I'm not sure if she got through to someone, but she said she got cut off, so said let's just wait until morning. Our payroll person is supposed to be back today, so I sent her an email with our issue, so she'd see it first thing this morning. Still waiting to hear. This morning I sent a message on our "case ticket" and my boss just now emailed an Urgent email. She said she spent a half hour on hold to finally talk with someone, who put her on hold and then got disconnected and the person didn't call her back! (my boss wasn't going to try to call back herself, it would have just been another half hour on hold trying to get to through)

And yesterday was an issue with my side job payroll company. One of the employees was looking for a copy of his 4/30 paystub and was not seeing it online. I looked an no one's was showing. I emailed and was told they've now been uploaded.  Still not seeing them, so was told to wait about 45 minutes. 2 hours later still not seeing them. Apparently, the person I was emailing couldn't figure it out, so I finally said can you just email me a copy of his stub? I think he needs it right away for loan purposes, so I got it to him that way.

DH gets a text from Mr. Neighbor yesterday. Guess what? You guessed it. The son's dogs are coming back this weekend. Apparently son has gotten a temporary deployment for 30 days to another area, so the whole family is going and of course can't take the dogs. Dh texted back that those poor dogs just need a permanent change of address. It would just be easier on everyone at this point. They should just rehome those dogs. The son and DIL obviously have no connection with their dogs.

When I talk to my mom she is at least remembering that I am coming to see her, she just can't remember what day or time. This time, I will also call her tomorrow morning to remind her.

Ok, payroll finally resolved whatever the issue was. I think we are all still getting paid on Friday, LOL.

DH has decided to do the "upgrade" to his pickup. Spending a couple thousand on it (it is 20 years old and has never needed anything) on it is much cheaper then buying a new one. Though that still doesn't solve the issue that we will need to replace my vehicle sooner rather than later, but at least it won't need to be replaced before we go on our trip in July. We can figure out that plan a bit down the road. DH is really not wanting to ride with loud friend, so I think he's going to nix that plan. He ordered the parts and they are supposed to be here Friday, along with other parts he was able to purchase yesterday at our town auto parts store. They still didn't have a few bolts he needs, so he also ordered those online yesterday. Probably this weekend or next week, he'll be able to get started on it. Should keep him busy for awhile.

We haven't heard back from HVAC guy who said he would come out this week to do our air exchanger installation. Nor have I heard back from cabinet lady who said she should be able to get an install date figured out this week.

I just want my 5 days off.

Nothing's working right today

Two more work days. I can make it ;). Today I have to do payroll and the monthly state business tax return. Ugh to both. Lots of people taking vacation this week, with the holiday weekend.

The results from my blood draw and urine sample was uploaded to the life insurance website this morning. Everything is all good, except 2 parts are just into the warning zone: Urine Creatine and Protein/Creatine ratio. Not sure what that would mean, so will take the results in with me when I go to my annual check up in July. The only thing I found info on for the first test is this would then probably be tested with urine samples for a 24 hour period, for more accurate reading. My doctor has never even done a urine test on me. Just blood.

I have 2 hummingbird feeders. One has a little bar they can sit on while they drink. I was watching one sitting there around dinner time last night. He had his head down in drinking. Usually they dip their beak in and lift their head up and keep doing that. This one just had his head down for the longest time. I was starting to get worried about it! Apparently 2 other birds were too. One landed next to him to drink (the usual way) and another buzzed overhead. He still had his head down! Finally, the one buzzing came down and nudged it, LOL. After that he seemed to drink normally, but he sure stayed there for a long time.  

While I seem to have managed to get over most of the payroll processing bumps the past few months, this one isn't going smoothly. First it was on THEIR schedule I was to process it today, a day early, because Monday is a bank holiday. So, then when I try I get an error message telling me I'm a day too early...I email our contact person who for once emails me back right away that she fixed the problem. (but then I get an email saying she is on vacation today, so call their helpline if need help).I get it all entered and ready to "accept" and that option is grayed out with some other strange error message I've never seen. I tried logging out to see if it reset, but no luck. Waited a bit and tried again. Same problem. So, I called and was told their system is being slow and to just wait about 15 minutes or so and try again, it should work. I didn't tell her I already tried this, but I waited about 30 minutes and still not working. I'll give it to early afternoon and call again, if it's still not working.

I'm also getting super frustrated with our online banking bill pay. I keep getting classifications and emails that bills I paid have not been received by the vendors. My "system" is I enter the bills to be paid in bill pay online. I click on the corresponding bills in my accounting system to pay. I do not click on "Pay bills" in my accounting system until I have completed the process via  online banking first. When that is showing as complete, I then submit the final click in my accounting software. I am getting way too many that are showing as paid in my accounting program that are nowhere to be found in bill pay! I am going to start tracking this, and if it keeps happening I'm going to have to contact our banker. Hmmm. I just entered like 5 bills to pay and before I hit submit I screen shot it, hit submit and none of the payments are showing as pending.

Just a fun day "at the office" LOL

Do nothing day

I do not think it stopped raining for one single minute yesterday. I slept in until 8am. I think dh got up around 9. It was also dark and gray outside. At 10am I was in my bedroom heading for the shower, with no motivation. The dog was sprawled out on his back on the bed, looking very comfy, so I stopped to pet him and ended up crawling back in bed for an hour, dozing off until dh woke me up to show me something on Youtube. He didn't even realize I had gone back to bed, haha. I think I finally got in the shower at 12:30. It was just a completely lazy day, though around 3pm, when the rain had downsized to a drizzle, dh was worried the back gutters were clogged a bit, so he got out the tall ladder and a bucket to pull out the pine needs and such up there. I held the bucket while he moved the ladder from spout to spout. It really didn't take too long. He was wet because he only put on a sweatshirt. My feet were wet because my sneakers are fabric type. He took a shower and then snacked (4pm). Then I decided to take a bath to warm up. Neither of us was hungry for dinner, so we just had cereal later. The dog was also soaking wet. I dried him off best I could with a towel and made him stay in the laundry room to finish drying off, with the bottom part of the dutch door closed. He was not liking that one bit. He whined a few times and then he "arf'd" at me. He used to have no problem staying out there to dry when the other dog was with him, but he doesn't like being alone at all.

I watched a couple more episodes of Big Sky last night and finally got to the rescue part, so maybe it's not so suspenseful going forward, haha. 

For some reason my mom keeps thinking her phone is not working. I think she thinks if she calls someone and they don't answer her phone is not working. I talked to her yesterday morning and it was working. She called me in the evening saying "oh, I guess my phone is working". I said yes, it worked earlier today when I talked to you, too. She said she had just tried to call her guy friend and it didn't go through so she thought it wasn't working. I have a feeling he just didn't answer (or she pushed wrong button or dialed wrong). Worrying about her phone seems to be what's on her mind the past week. I told her I'll check it out when I come see her on Thursday. When she was here a couple weeks ago, I checked out her phone and it was fine. I also have a feeling she's starting to forget to charge it. Plus, I goofed it up last Christmas when I finally figured out how to clear out her voicemail. Because she has no idea/memory now how to access her voicemails, so if anyone is leaving them, she's not getting them. I read that basically the only way to shut that feature "off" is to just let it fill up again. I think while I am there I'll call her phone, let it go to voicemail and just let it record until it's full up. haha. Then her phone will be back to "the mailbox you are calling is full" message.

Today is the 6th of the 8 injections pup needs. I'll be so glad to be done with that and then not have to do it for another month. It's going to work out that it's the first of the month going forward, so that is easy to remember when.

When I was trying to figure out what was for dinner last night I found a container of taco soup still in the freezer I didn't know we still had. Since we ended up having cereal last night, we can have this for dinner today. Easy peasy. Plus I still have Frito scoops that need to get used up before they get stale. And it's another cold gray rainy day, so the food fits the day.

Only 3 days to work this week. I think I can make it!

No more quiet

If it's not one thing that seems to be interrupting our peacefulness of living here in the mountains, on a quiet river, it's another. Yesterday evening it was a speed boat on the river! We have never ever had a speed boat on the river, in fact, for at least 40 miles of it, it is not even allowed. Occasionally you will get the fisherman small boat who uses their small outboard motor to putt up the river, while they then float back down and fish. And not just a loud speed boat going by...no no....he decided he had to do donuts in the river in the area in front of our house and neighbors - twice! 300 miles of river and they chose right in front our our houses to do that. Our friends we used to live across the street from in town had boat like that...he never ever used it on the river. He went to a lake.  It's like every issue that finally goes away, a brand new one pops up. I would never have even guessed that a speed boat on this river would be one of them.

The lawn is growing so fast, dh can't keep up with getting rid of the grass clippings. Neighbor said the same thing. Today it is raining, so good thing he was able to get it all done yesterday. I got my mopping done while he was out doing that. I tried a new way. Doing a room or section at a time, then taking a break before I did another part. It really seemed to help with my back. I was even able to change the sheets and remake the bed, too. During my breaks I started watching a tv show dd said was good - Big Sky. It is pretty good. Suspenseful. I got my hummingbird feeders filled up with fresh nectar. It seems like every time I look out there they are drinking out of them, or if we are on the back patio they are always buzzing by. I've been trying to keep the driveway island area weeded. Once or twice a week I go through it and pull what grew, which is usually just a handful. All the flowering plants I put in their last summer/late spring, seem to be growing back. I thought they all died, LOL. Hopefully I'll get some flowers this summer.

DH finally texted the HVAC guy to find out when he's going to install the air exchanger system dh requested 3 months ago. He said he'll be out this week to do it, but didn't give dh a day. Which probably means that's a "maybe" and he'll end up not coming this week. I'm also supposed to hear back from the cabinet lady next week on when they will install it. Not holding my breath on her either.

It's really raining hard this morning. The water is just pouring out of the gutter spouts. One pours into my bird bath and it's overflowing.

It was a busy bird day outside yesterday. A turkey kept gobbling. He sounded like maybe he was across the river, though he may have been down at the base of our high bank. Some ospreys kept circling over head for awhile. The eagles were chirping (we still don't know what nest they moved to) while the osprey were overhead. Oh, and "Tom" was back tapping on our windows at 6:30 this morning. I forgot to shut the blinds on the french doors when I went to bed. He didn't seem to do it very long though, or maybe I just fell back asleep.

One of my new tshirts I ordered was white, which I wore yesterday. I shouldn't wear white. LOL. By the end of the day I had 3 stains on it.

Maybe a loud trip

DH called our friend (who is usually refer to here as our "loud friend" haha) as he is an auto mechanic and wanted to ask him a question about putting a "tuner" (whatever that is) on his pickup. The guy is like well, you probably don't need it unless you are planning to haul something heavy...dh says that's just it, I am, to Texas in July. Friend says really? I need to go down to Texas and pick up this flatbed top of an old trailer, but I've been trying to find something to haul down there to help pay for the trip. He's totally flexible on the when of it, so it would work out for our dates. He has a nice newer comfy to ride in crew cab pickup. The only "if" he hasn't gotten approval on is borrowing the trailer he wants to use that would work to haul what he is picking up in Texas. If he can use it, this is probably what we will do. We'll cover half of the gas and expenses (or knowing dh probably just pay for all the gas, since we won't be using our truck and trailer). And with 2 of them being able to drive we can probably get down there and back a bit quicker than just dh driving him and I. He said he can stay in Texas as long as we plan to, as he has a place to stay. I guess we'll see if that plan pans out. We'll probably know more next week. He's on vacation when dh called him, so won't be home for a few days. Two days each way in a truck with loud friend....I don't know LOL...either the trip will go fast because he talks the whole time or not, haha.

Uncle called last night. He's kind of noticing mom's memory is getting worse for repeating what she just said and I said I've noticed it more lately, too. He brought up someone tried to scam him out of money and he's always worried about her. I brought up I'm starting to get worried about her having her checks, as she already almost (and probably did) send in a second check for a subscription she didn't remember paying the week before. But, she's still not ready to give them up to me, so I haven't figured out a way to get them from her. He said he will call her and mention it the next couple of times, that he's worried about scammers and he thinks she should let me hold her checks. I'll start mentioning it to her, too.

We still have not (knock on wood) heard any gunshots across from us. From the way the wife first acted and mentioned the gun shooting even before dh told her why he was there, he thinks he wasn't the first that had complained to them about it. Also, that evening someone drove by real slow out on the main road in front of our street. The speed limit is 60, so when someone slows down to like 20, we notice, LOL. DH has a feeling it was that guy and saw the 3 really nice homes here and went oh...ya...I guess I can't threaten them with my money. LOL. Whatever the reason it's been like 9 days of quiet, so that's a good thing.

I seem to be getting better and more comfortable with giving my dog the injections. I have 3 more for the 2x a week routine and then can go to monthly.

TGIF

Our new gate opener controllers have a button called "party". It's called party mode, so you can leave the gate open and not have it close automatically. I told dh we need to rename it to "people who are staying too long" mode, LOL. 

I gave the nurse lady directions the other day. I told her GPS probably won't work, as our address still doesn't seem to be on it. It's like the easiest directions. Take the exit #, turn right and then turn left on the frontage road. Stay on it 5 miles to our street on your left. She calls and says when I take the exit am I turning by the Exxon? I'm like are you in town? We are 10 miles before town LOL. She said no, she was looking on her gps and that's where it was showing she was going to go. So, I gave her the directions again. When she was here she said her gps wanted to take her all the way to town and then back our here on the old hwy. I said ya, that would have been about 20 miles extra out of your way! She took my blood, took my urine, took my blood pressure (118 over 73, I think she said) and was gone in about 20 minutes or so. She said my results will be available online in about 2 weeks and I'll get my updated quote, depending on my results, I guess. If they for some reason up it too much, I'll have to re think. The quote I got when signing up through work was $16/mo.

It sounds like the muscle car dh found for our friend's wife, in Wyoming, is the one she's going to get him. Now we can at least get some of the other details worked out. It's about 11 hours from us to where that car is. That's a full day of driving, plus the time to get it loaded, dh to talk and talk, get something to eat. So, we will probably just get a motel in that town. Then drive to within a few hours of our friends place (near Dallas), which will be another 10 or 11 hour driving day, somewhere just south of Amarillo. The party is noon on Saturday, so we can drive the rest of the way Saturday morning. She wants dh to take it to a friends a few miles from them, unload it, and then wants him to drive the car into their place. We will be the last at the party, as she wants everyone to be there to surprise him when he gets back from doing something with another friend. Then she's going to tell him she has one more gift/surprise for him and have us pull in with his muscle car. Everyone just keeps saying "he's just going to be bawling like a big baby!" LOL.  DH asked her about staying at their place or do we need a motel? Since she is inviting quite a few out of towners, she is paying for motel rooms, so that is really nice. But, after the party/surprise is over it sounds like we can stay at their house if we want. I'm sure we'll stay an extra couple days, for sure. We're also tossing around the idea of me just flying back home, while he drives back. Only because his truck is not comfortable for trips, at all. We could drop my car off at the airport here on the way out, it's only like $54 to park for a week, and then my car would be there waiting, when I flew back. Just an idea, We'll see. It's only about a $200 one way flight, but it is 1 stop and like over 5 hours. By the time we'd drive from their house to the airport, get me there early to check in, 5+ hours home, another 35 minutes drive - geez, we'd already be over 8 hours towards home, if I just rode with dh in the truck.

DH already did the sightseeing with them when he went down there by himself a few years ago, but I haven't been. Well, I have been to Dallas before, but we were there for dh's neurology testing and we literally went from the airport to hotel, got up next morning and spent all day at the neurology place, went back to the hotel and ate and slept. Went back to the dr. the next morning for results (which was a big "we don't know") and then we went to the airport and flew home. My only other trip to Texas was a business trip to Houston, which was basically the same type of deal. Fly in that  night, go to hotel. Did   1 1/2 days of training and fly back that afternoon. The only thing I got to see there was some restaurant they took us all to for dinner that night.

I don't know why Friday's at work always seem to be the day everyone sends me Purchase order and invoicing requests. They must save them up all week, LOL.

It's in the details

Remember that laundry room cabinet we have been trying to get for 6 months now? It was supposed to be installed around the end of April...finally after 2 emails and a voicemail yesterday (over the past 2 weeks) I got an email back from the cabinet lady. They do now have the cabinet, but she is trying to schedule with her guys to install and they are super busy. She should know more next week. Which likely means next month. 

Did I mention were supposed to go to Texas in mid July? Surprise 60th birthday party for dh's best friend. Sounds like a good idea, but details to work out. What to do with our dog? and chickens? dh isn't very inclined to want to drive our 11 year old car that distance. It's getting up there in miles. I just looked into renting a car from one of the car rentals outfits in our nearby city. It's showing absolutely zero cars are available? Can that really be? Maybe we should fly down. We could fly for $400 ea RT. Put the dog in boarding and ask one of the neighbors to check in in the chickens/get the eggs. DH also mentioned renting an rv to drive down, then we could take our dog with us. I told him he'd better be finding something fast then. Those book up and there aren't many for rent in our area. He'd rather do that then stay in motels. It's a 25 hour drive, so we'd have to stay in a hotel minimum 1 night, and that's if dh wanted to drive 12 hours a day (which he would). When we are down there I think we'd be staying at friends place, but haven't confirmed that yet.

The idea of a vacation and seeing our friends sound great.......the actual details, planning, and trying to figure it out not so much. Now, I don't even know for sure when it is! DH is the one who got the text from friends wife. He showed it to me. I swear it said the party was July 17. That's when I looked at my calendar to see if that would work with taking off work and needing to do any payrolls. Now, he's on the phone with someone about going down there and I heard him say August....what in the heck. Either he's losing his mind or I am! As soon as he gets off the phone I will clarify. Ya, it's July, LOL

And then to add to the details, friends wife wants to buy her hubby a muscle car for his birthday. A specific year/make/model and she wants dh to find it for her, as he knows more than she would what friend would want. Her budget is $40k. So, dh has spent the past few days looking, talking to a few people (of course all over the country). It sounds like he found the one yesterday that is in Wyoming. The guy is going to facetime dh later this morning to show him the car "in person", since dh doesn't want to drive 11 hours to look at it. So, now with it being on the way to drive to Texas and we have a car trailer, dh will also be the one to deliver it, which means we'll have to take his pick up on the drive to Texas. UGH!! It is the loudest (diesel) and not comfortable at all for a trip. The guy also offered to meet dh about 3 hours from us, where his daughter lives and then dh could store it here until July. Or the guy said he would store it until July, when we'd pick it up on our way down, which is probably what we will do.

We will probably just take our dog with us. DH doesn't want to leave him in boarding. He would be so confused. In 9 years he's rarely spent a day without dh, and if he did he still had me at home. 

That's why vacations are never very fun for me. I feel like I have to have every little detail figured out and planned. That's great for dh - he feels like he just had a great vacation, haha. Me, I feel like it sucked all the fun out of it.

Then my mom calls that she got a letter to do jury duty. I guess her guy friend got one too. He told her just to call and tell them she's 80 and has some memory problems. I offered to call for her and she jumped right on that. I just told them she's 80, living in assisted living and doesn't drive anymore, so they permanently excused her. Done.

The nurse person for the life insurance health screening is coming at 11am. She said to fast at least 4 hours, so I got up a bit before 7 and had a piece of toast and my coffee. She also said drink lots of water as she will be doing a blood draw and needs a urine sample.

My new clothes I ordered from Kohl's came UPS last night. All good except the shoes are too big/loose on me. Bummer. I have narrow feet, but usually socks make them ok, but since these are slip on and also the tops cover only about half the top of my foot they look dumb with socks. If it's too much to pay shipping to return, I guess I can make time to take into Kohl's next week. I quickly tried the jeans on, but I think I am going to really like them. Fit really good and soft and stretchy. I'll wear them today and see, but if I like them I'm going to order another color or two.

Open sesame

DH spent all day and then some yesterday getting the gate opener installed and working. It was a nice cool day at 60 degrees, so at least he wasn't out doing it in 80 degrees. Lots of wiring to feed through pvc, etc. We are trying the solar panel for now and it seemed to work great. He ordered several remote controls and they even work all the way from the front door, so we may not even end up switching to electricity. His original plan was to wire it to the entry way (this was all preplanned and conduit underground set up to run the wiring) so if someone pulled up to come in, we could open the gate from the front door. This gate opener cost just under $2000. I told dh if we had purchased it from a company that installed it for us it would have likely been double that cost. He said he had asked the guy who came last fall to put in our shed garage door what it would cost through them and he said about $4000.

The nurse or whatever she is did call and schedule the in home exam for my additional life insurance through work. She's coming tomorrow at 11am and said to fast at least 4 hours. So, I guess I'll have a little something to eat or drink before 7am. I can't go all night and then until 11am. She said the visit won't take more than a half an hour.

I'm as bad as my mom! Here I was wondering why she never leaves me a voicemail anymore if I can't answer her call. I get a call while I'm working from a # I don't recognize so I let it go to voicemail, but no voicemail left. Then I get an email. It was my dr.'s office trying to fill out the life insurance forms and had a question and she said my voicemail was full......OOOPS!! LOL. Wonder how long it's been like that. Geez Louise! It's fixed now, haha. All deleted. You'd think an iphone would be smart enough to say "hey...dummy...your voicemail is full!"

Our weather temperature high for today? 48 LOL. It was 81 2 days ago. We can't decide if we need heat or a/c. LOL.

Not much else going on. I've been watching The Voice. I didn't watch the last couple of seasons, but always enjoyed it previously. I don't recall that when it got to live voting that they still kept an even number from each team, in the previous seasons, but maybe they did. Now, the final has 1 contestant from each team, plus a wild card.  I definitely think there were others that were on the same team who were better, but basically they were competing up to that point against their other team members, rather than the audience just voting on who was best overall, regardless of what team they were on. This is probably my last season to watch that show.

My dd took the cutest video last night of their dogs. Her hubby holding out a cup with treats in it. Her one dog reaches his nose in and gently takes out one treat. Her other dog shoves his whole nose in the cup and tries to eat all the treats at once. I must have watched it 10 times and laughed every time.

Tuesday this and that

My mom's senior living place sent out an email that starting 5/31 they will be back to full dining and activities, no mask required if you've been vaccinated (95% have), but guests still need to wear one. She moved in just a year ago and has never lived there under "normal" rules. Full dining means they are expected to go to the dining room for each meal and if they want a meal in their room they have to pay $5 fee. They've only been dining by floor the past months, so I'm sure it will seem busy and crowded in that dining room come May 31st! I'm sure it will be good for her, too. More people to meet and chat with 3 x a day.

The welder guy dropped off the bracket he made for dh for the automatic gate opener, so today dh is going to work on getting that all working. Weather will be 61 today, a 20 degree drop from last few days. Hopefully we will just be able to push a button soon, to open that gate, haha.

We have not heard any more gun shots from across the hill, but yesterday both dh and Mr. Neighbor were mowing for a couple hours during the time he usually shoots, so if he did, no one was going to hear it. 

With my work's annual benefit renewal period I signed up for additional life insurance. I received an email from our payroll company I needed to fill out an online health questionnaire, which I promptly did a week or so ago. Yesterday I get a call from Quest Diagnostics asking if I've been contacted yet about doing a health screening? No..just the online questionnaire. Apparently someone "local" was supposed to call me to set up a time to come to my house to do blood pressure, blood draw, etc. She said the lady is in the town south of the city "so pretty close to you". I just chuckled to myself, remember what I went through getting a notary "way out here", so most likely that is why this lady has not bothered to call. She's an hour away. She gave me her phone number and asked me to call her to schedule the time. I called and left the lady a voicemail, but no reply yet. The insurance is supposed to start on 6/1.

One of my clothing items I ordered from Kohl's arrived. The zip up hooded sweatshirt. Very thin material, but it is cute. Kind of a gray lavender and goes with my nice tennis shoes I already have, that are a pale lavender. It looks like the rest of the order is coming later this week.

I made pizza for dinner last night and we ate a bit later, because dh had been busy with the welder guy when he stopped by. We also knew UPS guy was coming at some point during the evening and the live map showed he was getting closer. DH says put a slice of that pizza in foil and I'll give it to him when he gets here. Well, of course, it was a different guy (rarely is). We knew because our regular guy always texts dh he's 5 min out, so dh knows to meet him at the gate. No text and he pulls up to the gate and keeps tooting his horn, LOL. Ya, we're coming! geez. LOL. DH took the pizza out there anyway but the guy turned it down, saying he doesn't eat pork. oh well. now there's 2 slices left for lunch today, haha.

Buds and blooms

My mom had a hard weekend with her memory it seems. Sunday morning she calls me about 9:45 and we chatted (the ususal) and she said did you try to call me this morning? I was in the shower and thought I missed your call and I said no, I hadn't tried to call today yet. She talked about maybe checking into going to her senior living place Sunday "sermon" that she thought was something they watched on tv, but she wasn't sure what time. I asked her if she looked on her schedule/calendar they give out as I'm sure it's listed there. And then she said, well, it probably is, but I don't know which room it's in. I told her each activity also has initials for which room, like DR is dining room, or she can just ask at the desk.

Then about an hour later dh and I decided to run into town to the auto parts store and grocery store. She tried to call on the way there. I let it go to voicemail as typically her Sunday calls (even if we already talked) are her wanting to figure out her banking (I'm guessing she used to do her paperwork/checkbook stuff on Sundays?) and I won't be able to help her until I'm back home and even if I answer and tell her that she won't remember. Then she calls 4 min later, as we are in the auto parts store. Again I just let it go to voicemail. I will be back home in like 20 minutes! We stop at the grocery store and I run in for a few things. As I'm paying my phone rings again. OMG! I answer it and say hi, can I call you back in about 15 minutes? I'm at the store. "oh sure, I'll wait for you to call me back". 5 minutes later she calls again. OMG.

I get home and call her right back and it goes to her voicemail twice. OMG! LOL. A minute later she calls me back and I'm like what's up? is something wrong? "No, everything's fine. I wasn't sure if you tried to call me or not". Well, we talked this morning for awhile.....ugh! If I can't answer my phone it would be so great if she could just leave a voicemail as to what she wanted to ask me, so when I call her back 5 or 10 min later I know what she called about, because she doesn't remember why she called me or even that she did, most time. She used to leave me a short voicemail if she called, but hasn't done that in quite awhile.

Super nice 80 degree weather the past few days and today will be. Friday it's supposed to snow, haha. I'm looking forward to next week, only working 3 days and then only working 4 days the next week. We took a nice little walk around the property last evening. Finally we are seeing a couple of tiny leaf buds on the 2 maple trees we put in the back yard last fall. The lilac bush, that we though dh killed last summer) has lots of green leaf shoots growing. Two other bushes that we planted at the back corner of the house (that the deer stripped of all the leaves) are doing great and apparently in spring have tiny pretty pink flowers. 

And early last summer I planted a dahlia, a peony, and some kind of lily our in our driveway island. They were looked good when I planted them, bloomed a bit and then all 3 of them seemed to die. I was bummed. They looked like dead twigs sticking out of the ground, but I didn't pull them out. Now at all 3 plants there is great new growth coming out of the ground, in between the dead branches. So, I cut off the dead parts now. Beats me, LOL. The iris bulbs Mrs Neighbor gave us last fall are all sprouting, so dh is happy. We have a few grassy type plants that did not make it. All the day lilies made it through the winter but only about half of the grassy type plants. Not sure why one made it and another in same area didn't. I need to replace about 3 or 4 of them. Add to my list when I go flower shopping next week.

I finally made an appointment next week so we can get my mom's will changed for the executor to be me and not my step brother. From what I read, it's best to have the executor in the same state as where the will will be probated. I looked up estate attorneys in the city and there's one in this little office neighborhood right behind where she lives. The 2 attorneys apparently operate mostly in another state, so we'll just be doing a phone meeting. I scheduled it for next Thursday, when I have the day off and will be in the city to get all my flowers and a visit to my mom, so we can get this taken care of. I already have her current will copied in pdf format, so I'm sure it will just be a matter of sending that copy. Them changing the executor and then we'll probably have to go to that office near her place to pick up/get notarized/witnessed.  I know I should have done this sooner, but with Covid and then suddenly it was winter and I don't like to make appointments in the city unless I have to in winter driving months. Plus, I'm a procrastinator, LOL. Plus, whenever I look at her will, it still pisses me off that her old boyfriend butted his nose into it all! I really really do not think mom's 77 year old brother needs to inherit 30% of her money! Honestly, I'd rather see that % go to my step siblings then him! It was their dad who basically earned/invested well for him and my mom. More than likely, by the time he inherits it, it will all end up going to the state because it will mess up the medicaid he will be on, when he can't live on his own anymore. Oh well. I know I could get her to change it, but that's because at this point anyone could probably get her to change it!

On repeat

It was such a nice warm day yesterday. We were out doing stuff in the yard in the morning, the neighbors were out doing their stuff. I was out by the gate when the other neighbor drove by and said hello out her truck window. I also dusted and vacuumed inside and did a load of laundry. Dinner was spaghetti. We spent a little time taking break, sitting on the back patio, watching the river go by.

No shooting again yesterday. Mr. Neighbor joked with dh that the shooter told him he's starting at 11am or something like that. DH joked back well, when he threatened me with all his money, I just told him my neighbor, who also doesn't like the shooting, is a Hershey heir! That's the rumor that has been going around town for years about our neighbors, haha. People actually believe it, too. Several have said that to us and we're like no...Mrs is not, LOL. 

I called my mom just after lunch and chatted a bit (we typically chat about the same things, of course). A couple hours later I see I missed a call from her 10 minutes earlier. I hate when I miss her call, as even if I call her back 10 minutes later, she has of course forgotten why she called me. She went to her desk to see if there was something on her desk to remind her why she called. I could hear her start to look through her mail papers. Oh...I do have this subscription I just wrote a check out and need to renew. Me: Oh no, you actually already sent them a check in the last week or so (I saw the check clear her bank), so that's already been paid. Just throw that notice out. Oh, ok, I'll do that as soon as we hang up. No, just throw it out right now. Then there's a pause and she says "I have this subscription renewal for such and such...." I repeated what I said about her already sending a check a week or two ago. Just throw it away now. "I'll write paid on it and then shred it." Then she did her usual "I just don't do this enough anymore is why I think I'm having trouble with it". Pause..I have this subscription renewal here...

I think we went through this 4-5 times! She wasn't even remembering what we just talked about 20 seconds prior. I said yes, that's the one we've been talking about and finally said just throw it in your can under your desk, please! I'm sure she didn't and I'm quite sure she'll send them another check for $19.95. She mentioned she can't find her check register...I said I still have it and I'm making sure it's updated. She always tries to excuse her forgetting by saying she just needs to start doing this stuff more. I finally said, well, I took your register because you were 2 months behind on writing in the transactions, so the register wasn't up to date and accurate for you anyway. Ugh. And every time she wants to get online with her bank account (which isn't too often anymore thank goodness) she never knows where her user id and password is, so always has to call. Then she never remembers that she has to click on the account name to actually see all the transactions. And then when she does she thinks the balance at the bottom of the list of transactions is her balance and I say no, the top transaction and balance is the most recent. She doesn't really even see the dates, I don't think. Pretty much as soon as she sees all the transactions listed on the screen her mind just can't process it all.

I find this a bit interesting about her credit card. Prior to opening this bank local, she had her recurring transactions going to the card. Once in awhile she charged something from a store. This was the card that every month was getting hacked and having to be replaced. Once I opened her local account, I set up her transactions to come out of her checking account, so now the credit card is hardly ever used and we have had no fraud on it (knock on wood). I'm sure I just jinxed myself saying that. Makes you wonder if one of those businesses for her recurring charges were being hacked and getting card #'s to use.

I didn't make banana bread yesterday, but will today. DH needs some black automotive type spray paint and was going to run into town tomorrow to the auto parts store, but I just looked up and they are actually open today. I need milk and a few things, so maybe we'll run into town today.

Saturday stuff

So...there was no shooting yesterday. Not holding our breath, that's for sure.

No sleeping in here this Saturday morning. For some reason dh had pulled up the french door window blinds last night and so our bird friend was busy before 7am attacking his reflection. So, I got up, saw that they were up and pulled them down in the windows and he stopped.

I made another cup of hummingbird nectar and it's cooling down so I can put some more out. Now that I see they are back and drinking it all fairly quick I should get out my 2nd one and fill that up, too. I also have some old bananas and will make some banana bread today, too.

I have been needing a paper shredder for quite some time and finally just ordered one this morning. I don't need it a bunch, but certainly need it at times. Plus, I have a stack of checks from my side job I need to shred. A long time ago, my side job boss sent me the kind that feeder into an old style feeder printer, so we couldn't use them. DH just doesn't burn often enough and then when he does I forget and he also doesn't like me adding paper stuff because it just floats off tiny charred pieces in the air. I'm sure if I start going through my drawers and a box of papers I have I can probably get rid of a good portion of it.

DH also wants me to paint the brackets for the gate opener with some black paint he has. He's still waiting on one piece that our welder guy made up and now has at the powder coaters. That will probably be ready for him to pick up this week and then finally we can get our gate working. Last weekend dh installed the solar panel piece on top of the fence, next to the gate.

It's a blue sky sunshine day and supposed to get up in the high 70's. I think I'll have dh get the patio chairs and umbrella out now. We were kind of waiting for the weather to at least get warmer where we'd actually use them. The fertilizer dh used on the grass did it's job. It's all emerald green beautiful now.

I started reading a book dd just finished (I already had it in my queue when she told me she was reading it). It's The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Really good so far. DD has never been much of a reader, like I am. But a few weeks ago she picked up a book at the store and read it. Then she got this book I am now reading and quickly read that. She's like look at me! I'm reading! LOL. Then yesterday her dh stopped at the store for some things on his way home and picked up a book he thought maybe she'd enjoy. 

Time to get started on chores for the day.

Shooter

While the gun shooter (I call him another not so nice name) from across us seemed to lessen his days somewhat about a week it's back in full force, pretty much daily again. I'm sure it was just a coincidence that the down time was shortly after dh talked to the deputy about it. I'm pretty sure if he had actually talked to the guy he would have let dh know he followed up on it. Wednesday dh put in 2 calls to 2 of our 3 county council members. He wasn't sure which one was for our area. He did talk for a bit to one lady, but I think it's the other guy who is for our specific area. He left him a message.

When he was trying to figure out who this shooter guy is, dh looked up the property records on our state's website, which gives name of who owns, etc. The guy's son and wife in CA owns it. It also shows what he is being taxed on....basically he's being taxed on land and a building that isn't considered a dwelling, yet he and his wife lives there. There are also pics and videos from the construction company that built this "live in shop" type home for them back in 2018. It's actually quite a nice one. Our county is shorthanded a state assessor, blah blah, but they had no problem getting to our house to assess the full value, but of course don't want to drive up a mile long steep dirt road, with a closed gate and no trespassing signs, and see what's what up there. So we get to pay $6,000 a year in property taxes, while he gets to skate by on like than $2000/yr (on 160 acres!) and gets to annoy the whole valley area below him with his constant shooting. While the council tells the citizens/taxpayers they want/need more our our money. How about you first go get what you are owed from the people you should be assessing and collecting from?

A common question is "have you tried talking to him?" DH even asked that of the dispatcher at the sheriff's office who lives on the property next to this guy! Thinking maybe she knows what kind of person he is and if he would be approachable. She and her husband have not tried to talk to him, though she said they find it very annoying, too, as her husband is also home all day. But, the main issue is dh (and no one else either) is going to go past a shut gate with no trespassing signs to drive up to his house and confront him! That's a job for the county officials/employees/sheriff.

So, dh gets back from getting his driver's license renewed yesterday morning and gets out of the car to open our gate and 2 loud shots. Here we go again, another day of it. He asked if there were more before that and I said I didn't know as I was in the shower. But right after that were 2 more 5 minutes later. Again, this will go on for 2-3 hours. DH wrote out a note to the guy and drove over to leave it at his gate, where his mailbox also is. Basically, just said we are a few neighbors who are concerned about the constant shooting and the disturbance it is causing and would like to discuss it with you and left his name and ph#. At least then he can tell the powers that be that he made an attempt to contact the guy. Not that dh is expecting any kind of change from the guy. He's obviously one of "those" that "I moved here so I can do what I want and no one can tell me what I can and can't do". 

okie dokie, - well the guy is totally an ass and exactly the sentence I just wrote, just as we knew he would be. His gate was open, so dh drove up there. Knew the guy was there, because you know...he had just been shooting! He pulled up and just tooted his horn to let them know he was there. The guy (he's in his late 70's) wouldn't even come out of the house(shop). Finally, his wife came out. Ya, what you do you want? DH told her who he was, that he saw the no trespassing signs and their gate was open, so he drove on up, but if they want him to leave, he will. She knew why he was there before he even said it was about the shooting. The next words out of her mouth were "we don't shoot every day". She said her husband isn't home. DH said that himself and a few others in this area are concerned about the constant noise from the shooting and not telling him he can't shoot, but wondering if he's willing to see where we are all coming from down below him listening to it. She said so what's acceptable? one day a week, 3 days a week? DH says I'm not telling you what and when, I'm just here to see if you are open to discussing the noise and see if maybe it can be mitigated some. Then finally, the guy came out of the house, just a total ass, of course. Told dh he can do whatever the hell he wants. DH was very calm and respectful and just said, yes, we all understand that and respect your rights, but we are also hoping you'll try to see where we are coming from. Then the guy turned and pointed at his shop/house and told dh if he wants to go to war, he has more than enough money, so just go get an attorney or call the sheriff. DH told him he doesn't care how much money he has, just hoping he'd be a good neighbor and maybe look into the ways there are to mitigate the sound. He says like what? DH said there's a gun range, 5 minutes down the road, with the sound barriers, you could use. Nope, I got 160 acres I can do what I want on it. You can use a suppressor (which would totally fix the problem). Nope, I can't afford those, they cost too much money (says the guy who just bragged he has lots of money). You can build noise reduction "cover with sides" and shoot a different direction or maybe move this shooting table (on his front patio) to the back side of your house and that would probably absorb most of the noise. Nope. DH says I'm sure you wear hearing protection. Well, of course. Well, we don't get to, while you are shooting, nor do we know when and how often it's coming. Then he told dh to get off his property and dh said sure, no problem and calmly got back in his car and putted down the hill.

Which of course, we knew this was going to be the mentality/personality of this guy. If he was any type of decent community member/neighbor he wouldn't be doing it in the first place. DH loves his guns as much as the next guy, but he's not out shooting them every day, being a nuisance to others. You also have to understand that while this guy has 160 acres, it's ALL steep hillside up on a mountain side, so all of it is basically the same distance from us. It's not like one corner of his 160 acres is way farther than another corner, like on flat land. That hillside is literally just over a half a mile from us. 3200 feet. He also made the comment that they had 35 acres in Colorado that they sold and moved here "but they didn't care if I shot there". sure they didn't.....

The guy could also hop on his quad or side by side or whatever he most likely has, continue on the dirt road that runs through his property, for seriously like 3 minutes and drive up over the ridge just above his house. He'd be on the other side, where there is NO ONE for miles and miles. The sound would carry that way and bother no one, except the wildlife, of course. But, no, he wants/deserves the convenience of doing it of his deck.

So, that's where that stands, which of course is exactly what was expected from this guy. More than likely now the guy will just ramp up what he has been doing. I told dh that could backfire on him. Obviously there are at least a few people, besides us, who are annoyed by his shooting, but just not willing to be the complainers, but if he amps it up, it just might be what makes them decide to also start complaining about it and looking for a solution.

Like dh says, hopefully he's not expecting all the neighbors he could give a crap less about to help him out during the next big forest fire.......(it was 2017 when that whole area around where he lives in was ablaze and had to be evacuated). These were pics I took in summer of 2017, looking straight across from us over where this guy now lives.

With a little bit of noise mitigation (info dh got from this big gun guy in our state) this guy could still shoot all he wants and we'd all barely hear it. DH did get a call back from the council member for our area. He also said the guy can do what he wants. So, dh told him well then I guess I'll be going to the county assessor to have my property taxes reduced. I now live next to 3 "gun ranges" and a cell tower in my view that all weren't there when I built my home. (one gun range is legit, but built after we did, the other "gun ranges" are this guy across from us and the one always shooting down river from us.  DH told him if the county can't to anything about it then we shouldn't have to pay the taxes we are paying on "prime" river property. Councilman did agree that the guy living in the neighborhood down river and shooting is totally breaking the law, as all those houses are too close to each other to be shooting and he will talk to the sheriff about it. Which of course means nothing as the sheriff has already been told about it, more than once.

Any bets on how much we'll be listening to today? I totally get that people should be able to do whatever they want on their own property. But, we also share the air space and he shouldn't be able to just do whatever he wants in regards to that.

Clothes and diet

The gun guy across from us hasn't been doing it as often, though yesterday he was out in full force, like every few minutes for a couple of hours. Our Mr. Neighbor bought a new gun he wanted to try out so he went over to the actual gun range to try it out. He said he forgot to bring ear protection and his ears were still ringing. Like dh said, I'm sure the asshat over on the hill shooting all the time (big stuff) wears ear protection, so it probably sounds louder to us across the hill than to him!

DH is up and ready this morning to go into town to renew his drivers license. Our little office is apparently only open one day a week LOL. Probably helped a bit, to get him up earlier, that our new bird friend was busy tapping on a window, haha. We did pull down the blinds built in the french door windows, which helped quite a bit. I think I'm going to have to tape something temporary to the other big windows until he decides he's ready to move on. DD had a robin build a nest up on top of a ladder they left leaning against their house. They hatched and the last one flew off yesterday.

I really need some new jeans and a few new tshirts. I hate shopping. So, yesterday I went on Kohl's online and decided to buy some stuff that totaled at least $75 so I'd get the free shipping. Why do I always search and search and then my cart is $1 short? LOL. Then I remembered to put in a coupon code so I was even more under $75. Added another shirt and $1.45 short. Good grief. Finally, I just decided to add some slip on sneakers to the cart. I have a whole new outfit now, for a little over $100. Jeans, 3 tops, a zip up hooded sweatshirt, socks and shoes. I am hoping I like the jeans. Those are the hardest for me to find, always. These are supposed to be a more soft stretchy jean so I'm hoping they fit nice and are also comfortable.

I haven't been on a scale in forever. We left our scale out in the shop bathroom and I rarely ever go out there. I decided to to check. Ugh. About 7 more than I hoped it was and even then that's pushing it. Time to cut out the desserts and snacks! I really don't eat a lot as far as meals go, so it's obviously the snacks, cookies and ice cream, ha! Breakfast I have a cup of coffee with 2 tsp sugar and a little creamer. About an hour later I have a glass of instant breakfast with milk, which isn't a lot of calories. Lunch isn't much as I'm not much of a lunch eater. Typically, a piece of toast or english muffin. Sometimes a small serving of leftovers instead, if I have some. Dinner is a normal meal, but I don't eat huge portions. Like if we have pizza, I have 2 slices. Plus, we've been trying to have a couple of "lighter" dinners a week. Like just a sandwich or even cereal. Maybe it's helped and I would have been even more unhappy with the scale a few weeks ago, LOL. 

With the vet visit, the medications (pills and shots) I forgot it was time to give pup his flea and tick application. Realized it by having bites on my leg. LOL. Fleas and mosquitos love me. Needless to say, I gave him his flea and tick stuff this morning.

Mid week ramblings

We have this area of land between the road that is in front our of homes and the main road. Just a natural buffer area that is natural grasses (and weeds, of course) and a few small trees. The grasses can grow up quite tall, 2-3 feet. Last year dh mowed down the area in front of us and a little bit farther down (in front of next vacant lot). Mrs. Neighbor on the other side told her dh she really liked how that looked and wanted her Mr to mow theirs. But, their area is a bit more bumpy, rocky, and hilly and Mr. doesn't have something that can mow that rough of terrain. DH has a really old lawn mower he uses for that kind of stuff, so yesterday he mowed the area in front of their property. He sure didn't have to do that, but I'm sure they will appreciate it.

Our other neighbor came to fetch her wayward escaped dog. I see she got a new haircut, a short bob style, rather than her long hair. Looks super cute on her. Probably easier for being a mom of 2 young ones.

Then Mr. Neighbor texted dh that he was on his way home with a brand new riding lawn mower, which he's pretty excited about. I don't even want to know what a brand new one costs. We bought ours used off of Craigslist (both times haha). Dh and I were just saying to each other the other day now that they added more lawn, that sure is a lot to have to mow with a walk behind. The nice lawn they added on the other side of the fence between us sure looks nice. It kind of blends the 2 yards together (even though there is the field fence between us). Mr. Neighbor didn't get to bring his new lawn tractor home, it wouldn't fit in the back of his truck, so it will have to be delivered.

The annoying robin is back this morning, still trying to get in our house. Flit flit flit, against the windows. LOL. He's already woke dh up this morning. I have named him Tom......

And other sad news last night. Our friends (they are in their 70's) who just lost their son to cancer are both fighting Covid now. She is doing better than her husband right now. We are praying for them both. Their family has been through enough without this added on.

Tuesday

I managed to give the dog the injection. Whew! It wasn't as bad to do as I thought. The giving it actually turned out pretty easy, it was trying to fill the syringe with exactly 2cc's and make sure no bubbles, etc that seemed harder to me. I'm sure it will get easier. Pup just sat there and didn't flinch, he was a good boy.

My uncle called last night because he had tried to call my mom a couple times the past 2 days and went to her voicemail.I said well, Sunday her phone died, she didn't bring her charger to my place, and I'm not sure what time she got it charged. Not sure about yesterday. After I hung up I gave her a call and she answered. She was watching a tv show with her "guy friend", so I told her uncle has tried calling, so give him a call when she's not busy, LOL.

Even trying to rest up for a couple days after doing some extra activity/work around the place, dh just isn't feeling well. I think he's kind of a catch22, too. He's a Mountain Dew addict. When he's tired and in pain he drinks more. Where he was drinking 3 (sometimes 2) per day. Now he's drinking 4 or 5. All that sugar is not good, obviously. I know last time he went to the dr. (which has now been a few years ago) he was borderline on blood sugar levels he should be at. Drinking those high sugar/high calorie sodas every day also adds to his weight, which makes him feel crappy and so on. But, he knows all this, yet is one of those who doesn't want to listen, doesn't want to go to the doctor, or if I can actually get him to go, doesn't want to listen to their advice. So, it is what it is. 

I don't drink soda hardly ever. I never buy it for me, so the only time I might have it is at a restaurant or fast food and if I do order something to drink, it's usually an ice tea or lemonade. After not drinking any for so long, most soda tastes too sweet and sugary to me. Now, not to say I don't have sugar! I totally have a sweet tooth and can and will eat anything chocolate, cake, cookies and donuts, LOL. But, at least those aren't typically consumed on a daily basis.

There is this bird trying to get in the house this morning LOL. He's on the back patio and keeps trying to get through the window glass, haha. He's persistent. Not a type I've seen before. Kind of looks like a robin, but bigger and his breast is more yellow then red. I'll have to look him up in my bird book.

My hair seems to be getting curlier all the time...and more frizzy looking. I did manage to do a pretty good job cutting some layers into it a week or so ago. Getting better with practice and the layers helped it lay better. I also got some leave in conditioner last weekend that seems to help, too. At least softens the frizz and makes the curls better. DH took a picture of me and my mom. Even though I tend to shy away from pictures the older I get, I knew I would want a picture with my mom. It was a good hair day, LOL, plus I put on makeup for a change, haha, and the picture actually turned out pretty good. I even cropped it and used it in my work email picture. I've never had one, it's always just shown my initials, but I realized I always like seeing everyone else's, especially the new people I haven't met yet, I can put a face with the name. Not everyone has a picture, but a lot do. I spent most of my 30's and 40's where everyone thought I was way younger than I was. Now I don't feel like that, haha. Maybe because I gave up trying to dye my hair and went natural white. Not to mention age just catches up with us all, does it not?! I remember when I was about 36 and doing a job interview with the dr's office I would work at. He was a pediatrician, so something came up that I had 2 school aged kids and his eyes got big and he said "what? did you have them when you were 12?!" I said no, actually I didn't even have the first one until I was 27, LOL.

My boss said her hubby was over in our area last weekend, on a fishing trip. I told her next time he comes over, come with him, have him drop her off at my house and she can spend the weekend sitting on my back patio, LOL. She said she would love that :)

It's payroll processing day. Finally a pretty quick and easy one. No one on leave, not to many vacation days to figure out and compare to the calendar. We did have one terminated so I had to adjust his salary to only pay him for one week. It actually all went quick and easy. Now just waiting for boss to review the report. I sent my side job contact my regular email reminding her I'll need their sick and vacation info. (she's not the owner/wife I usually deal with and am friends with). She was so sweet to ask how my dog is doing, as when we emailed last payroll I had to do their payroll a day early because of his surgery, so I had told her about it.

I just put in to take the 2 days off before Memorial weekend, so that will make for a nice long weekend and I can make the trip into the city garden center Thursday morning and hopefully avoid the weekend crowds.

 

Back to work Monday

Hope all you mom's had a nice mother's day or got to enjoy your mom yesterday. I went and picked my mom up Saturday. I had told her the day before I'd pick her up at 11am. She called like 3 times the next half hour or so because she kept forgetting (and forgetting she wrote it down) what time. Then on my way to get her she calls and I say I'm on my way and she's like oh...were were doing something..is that today? She totally forgot :(

I gave her some extra time to get ready and went and got my groceries picked up first. I had just done a smaller order, since I just got some a week ago. We got back to my house and had some lunch. Dinner I made meatloaf. In the evening I turned on the movie Hidden Figures, thinking she would like that one. About 5 or 10 minutes into it she picks up her crossword book and says she's just going to do that. Then I explained to her what the movie was about and she did watch it and seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, though towards the end every time there was a commercial she kept asking is it over?

Sunday morning a bit later, dh made blueberry muffins and I made scrambled eggs, sausage, OJ and put some mixed fruit in a bowl. When she stays overnight now she always seems ready to get back the next morning, even if I tell her we'll wait until after lunch, she'll end up bringing her stuff down, thinking we are leaving soon,  and saying she is ready any time, so we left about 11 to take her back. Like I told dd, at this point one night here or 3 nights, it's all about the same in her mind now.

We facetimed with dd. She sent me nice gifts of a TJ Maxx gift card and some "personalized" egg cartons, LOL. They are blank cardboard egg cartons and 2 stamps I can stamp that the eggs come from em/my chickens. Cute! I gave my mom a big bag of Ghirardelli chocolates.

After I dropped mom off I went to the garden center dh and I had gone to last week. It was a zoo! And I realized they charged me for the wrong ones last week, that were higher priced. Luckily I had my receipt and explained to the girl what happened and she credited me the difference towards the 2 I bought today. I looked for some creeping phlox but didn't find any, so went to Lowes, which was even more of a zoo. I found some there and got 9 pots of it, along with a few more bags of potting soil. Too many people. The line to pay in the garden center was like practically to the back of the garden area. I've decided that when I go back in a couple weeks for all my annuals I'm taking a day off work and doing it on a weekday morning. The crowd size should be pretty minimal then, I hope.

I got back home at 2pm. We had thought we were going to put these 2 half whiskey barrels on each side of the front door. I was explaining to dh about the price mix up and that she had charged us for the more expensive dark brown ones. He said he didn't remember seeing them. As he's setting one on the patio, I said, I think here at the front door those dark brown ones would look much nicer and he thought they would too, so he put the 2 I just bought in another spot and next trip I will pick up 2 of the nicer ones. I went down on the back rockery "landing" area where he put the 3 barrels we bought last week, and planted in the phlox on the front sides of each, so eventually they will drape over. Plus, they will grow back every year, so that's a plus.

Well, I have to give my pup the first of the shots today (well, the vet gave him the first one, to show me how). I'm nervous! He mentioned something about try to get the air out of the needle (he mumbles and he was so fast) but it's not that big of deal he said, I guess as it's just going into his back neck muscle area. I'll probably try to find a youtube video on how to do it, haha. From the supply the vet gave me, after I give the remaining 2 shots per week for the month, then I will have enough for 3 more monthly shots, so I won't need a refill for awhile. It was $220 for the 20cc's of the medicine, so when I get to monthly that works out to $22 a month. He said that is a bit cheaper than doing the Ostifen pills and this medication is supposed to actually improve the joints, not just for pain (Ostifen) and usually no side effects, while the pills can have side effects.

Dh seems to be feeling worse lately. Just not being able to work through the pain as well. I'm sure it hasn't helped that he has put most of the weight back on that he lost during the building of the house (me too ha!). And he spent a good deal of the winter months not being active at all, so now trying to get active again on a more daily basis, to do the yard work, etc, is a challenge.

Vet visit

We drove up to the vet for our 2pm appointment. When I called to make the appointment for the stitches removal I also specifically said I also need to follow up on the arthritis medication he got put on, as the vet recommended switching to the monthly shot. I wanted to make sure I had an appointment that included the vet and not just his technician pulling out stitches. First she pulls out the stitches and it's all healed nicely. He was such good, still boy, while she took them out. Then she was like ok, you are good to go! No...I need to discuss his arthritis medication plan and we also haven't heard the results of his tumor biopsy. She sends me back out to the waiting room. Why I have no idea, as if we are switching to the shots, like vet seemed to be leaning toward last visit, he's going to have to show me how to do it. Vet comes out and brings me back in the room. Shows me very quickly (eek) how to give him the shot. 2cc's 2x a week the first month and then monthly after that and gives me a supply of it. It seems pretty easy. Just stab it into the muscle area in the back of his neck, haha. He also said he might not even need it monthly after that. He had a dog who could go 4-6 months in between shots, so he just said to see how it does. He said apparently they never got the results so he went in back and called the lab. By the time I was leaving and paid, he hadn't heard back. He did call later and said it was malignant, but he's pretty sure he got it all, as he also removed the skin around it. Keep an eye on it and if we start to feel a lump again, bring him in. I'm sure that's really the best we can do with it. It is really nice that he's got more energy and his legs feel so much better now.

On the way back through that town (his vet office is just outside of town) we stopped at a gift shop type of place just to look around. Picked up a cute set of bear bathroom accessories for the upstairs bathroom. They also sold guns (cuz...well, it's Montana LOL) and there was this gun that was a super good price, according to dh. But, he decided no, he didn't want to spend money on that. We need to start putting money aside for a new vehicle.

Also yesterday my mom apparently decided to try to access her retirement money account and of course can't ever remember how to log in so she locked it out. I reset it. thankfully was just able to use the same password. I told her lets just wait until you are here tomorrow and you can look at it on my computer. 15 minutes later she's trying to do it again. I'm sure I'll have to reset it again. 

I use a small local bank in our city for my checking. I like how they will call to check on large transactions, like the one I just made for over $10k to my new mortgage. I told her yes, I made that payment and thank you for checking! 

I'm picking my mom up at 11 today, along with some groceries and swing by the feed store curbside pick up for chicken food and bedding.

I haven't exactly figured out what my brunch for tomorrow will be. Probably scrambled eggs, french toast, some fruit, and juice.

Day off

Speaking of boyfriends....my mom told me on the phone yesterday that her guy friend called it off (again?).  Will she remember he did today? Sorry, but ya just gotta laugh, a bit, haha.

This afternoon we take our dog in to have his stitches out and hopefully find out the results of his biopsy. And decide if he will start taking a once a month shot for his arthritis or keep on the daily pills. It was either a 9am appointment or after 2pm. It takes dh awhile to get moving in the mornings (especially if he did work around the house the day before and he mowed yesterday) so I chose the afternoon appointment. I didn't really want to have to be ready and out of the house by 7:50 either.

The new computer monitor I got dh to replace the dead one arrived. Nice and good sized and bright. And it came with a cable that was the right one, so I still have a bunch of various cables. Now the new one makes his 2nd monitor look small and low light, haha. Maybe that's what I'll get him for his birthday or Father's Day coming up - a matching monitor.

DH got the sprinkler system turned back on and all worked great. Good thing as it was 85 degrees yesterday. Back to 61 today. The hummingbirds are back! I put one feeder out for now, until they start drinking it faster, as more show up.

My plan is to go pick up my mom tomorrow and have her spend the night and take her back Sunday. I just haven't figured out yet what time, so I need to do that this morning before I call her about it. I mentioned it last Sunday, but I'm sure she doesn't remember.  I think when I take her back Sunday I will stop at the garden center and get 2 more whiskey/wine barrel planters.

I took today off, so I'm enjoying a peaceful morning, so far. Drinking my coffee, reading online and getting this post finished. I also need to figure out a Mother's Day gift for my mom. I figured out she doesn't need crossword puzzle books - she has been getting them from her senior living place, so that is good. I'll probably just get her some chocolates.

I was able to make my first (and extra) mortgage payment online with my first lender as the transfer to the new one got delayed a few days. Now I see it's been transferred, so I set up my online account with that one and will start making payments there on 6/1. 

We had a company zoom meeting yesterday morning. Still trying to get the office back open with all the rules and ambitiousness. I could tell our one owner is a bit frustrated with it all (he's more outspoken of the two). Their lawyers are telling them they need to go by the state OSHA rules/guidelines, but those haven't caught up to what the CDC is ok'ing now, so that is frustrating. As it stands now those who are fully vaccinated can sit at their desk or in their office with no mask. If they get up to walk around they must wear a mask, or if someone comes to their desk or office, they must put a mask on. Those not vaccinated have to wear a mask all the time. All visitors to our office must wear a mask. Owner threw out some situations to clarify. Like he said he had a client with him the day before in one of the small conference rooms. The guy said he'd been vaccinated and our owner has, so could they just remove the masks? The president and my boss aren't quite sure either, but decided they must keep the masks on. Then they told him if you are in your office by yourself, you don't need a mask, but if there are more than one of you, mask up. I could see owner leave his desk (he was at the office) with his dog, come back and sit down, with his dog at his side again and both he and his dog had a mask on, LOL. They have decided that returning to the office to work is optional, though they of course encourage it.

He had Covid last year, so he said in all honestly he had no intention/desire to also get the vaccine, but decided to just do it, as a leader of his company. But, I could tell he's frustrated that he's had it and he's had the vaccine and still has to wear a mask....He had college age kids and said even in his house there are different opinions. His youngest is going to college in Fall and got a letter saying he needs to be vaccinated or be tested 2x a week. He decided to get the vaccine. His other son, already in a different university, got a similar letter and could fill out a form for religious or other objections. He sent in the form and his dad said what did you put on it? LOL. Son told him I wrote show me in the Constitution of the United States of America where it says I have to get chemicals inserted into my body that haven't been fully tested out. 

The wife of DH's best friend, who lives in Texas, texted him the other day that she is planning a surprise party for his 60th birthday and really wants us to come and surprise him, mid July, so we will probably do that. DH told her in text back - you know he's going to cry...she said said LOL, oh for sure he will. He's a big biker crybaby LOL.

Ghost of boyfriends past part 3 and what if.....

Last one, I promise! Gotta at least finish what I started, so I can get off the memory lane trip :)

The next weekend after that Labor Day weekend of 1982, was my dad's annual work softball tournament weekend. He had been doing this for years and it was always kind of a fun weekend to go watch him play. It was just a casual, fun event. They were only teams for that weekend, not a league thing. Even though my dad was like 51 years old by then, he was very athletic and a good ball player and a good team leader type. He also kept active and was a super good racquet ball player. Anyhow, I remember my dad saying he had recruited this young guy, named T, from work, to play on his team this year (most of the guys were like 30's and 40's). He wanted to win, haha.  It was a big company, so lots of teams from each division or department, from all over the western side of the state. I remember meeting this young guy in between the games. I think he had come over where I was sitting with my dad to talk with my dad. Very tall and good looking and very outgoing and said hello to me. I also don't remember thinking much about him at all, really. He was like 21 and I was 18, LOL. I wasn't expecting someone like him to be interested in me, so I didn't even give him another thought, other than to think oh, he's really good looking, when I first saw him playing. Plus, I think I was still hoping Labor Day weekend boy would call!

Until the next Friday late afternoon and there is a knock on our door and I open it to find T is standing there! All 6'3" of his good looks...Holy Moly!  Ummmm...hi?! LOL. (Translation: what in the world are you doing standing here at my door?!) My dad apparently had invited him to go play 9 holes of golf with him and my mom, but they weren't home from work yet. So, I let him in to wait for them, of course. We chatted while we waited. Dang, this guy is so good looking and so easy to talk to (he was the type who was just comfortable in his own skin). Did I play golf? Nope. LOL. My parents got home and they left to go play golf (my parents belonged to a private golf club). A couple hours later they came back and I guess had invited him to have dinner with us. Well, this boring Friday night just got more interesting! He then stayed after dinner and he and I watched tv in our den and started getting to know each other. He was so easy to talk to. and did I mention good looking? It was probably just a fluke that I was at home that Friday night and not out with friends. I'm also pretty sure if any had called me while they were gone playing golf I would have decided to stay home, haha. He asked me out on a date for Sunday, to go to the state fair. We kissed for the first time before he left. We had lots of spark (more like full blown fireworks) between us, that's for sure. 

After our date on Sunday, (that ended up lasting all day Sunday to late evening) we were pretty much head over heels for each other. He turned 21 a couple weeks later. He had a good full time job and had his own place he rented and lived by himself. He didn't live very close, it was about a 35 minute drive, but I drove that drive a LOT. LOL. I even sold my Camaro and bought a car with good gas mileage, a Datsun B210, haha. His job also had him out driving around to the various offices of the company, so it was often he'd swing by my house many afternoons, basically his lunch break. I was going to community college full time in the mornings and working evenings and Saturday, still. If we weren't together we were talking on the phone every day, for hours. My parents weren't old fashioned at all (my step sis was living with her boyfriend), so most weekends I stayed at his place. My job was halfway in between my house and his, so that was convenient. I'd go up to his place Friday afternoon, stay the night, go to work my half day Saturday, and then usually go back to his place until Sunday.

We went on like this through the first of the next year. I was in heaven. The only "yellow" light in the relationship that I was ignoring was I never met any of his friends. Ever. I kind of just shrugged it off as he probably had migrated away from his high school friends by then, just as I was starting to do. He no longer lived in the city he went to school in, so I just figured it was that he didn't really have many close friends and none where he now lived/worked. Besides, he was spending all his free time with me. I did have him meet my friends a couple of times, but mostly he and I just spent our time together. He did introduce me to his parents (who knew my parents, as his dad also worked at the same company) and I went to a family gathering on New Years Day with him (we had spent New Years eve with my parents), so figured that was a good sign. He had told me he loved me and I was head over heels in love with him. Life was good. This was the guy for me.

Then sometime January or February he totally cooled things off. Said he wanted to slow it down, even though he had really been the one who went all out before. (hey, at least he didn't ghost me!). He still called me literally every single day. We never seemed to run out of anything to talk about, ever.  Probably at least once a week he'd stop by during the afternoons, while he was doing his work driving, but he didn't ask me to come to his house anymore and we didn't go out anywhere, other than like 2 more times. I was very heartbroken, but was holding on to what relationship we still had for dear life, I think.  My one best friend got married and I was a bridesmaid and he was my date. We did go out to a concert (Journey) that March. I had mentioned in one of our calls they were my one of my favorites and he said if he got tickets, would I like to go. But, we met at a park n ride to go to the concert. The next month my parents were in Hawaii at their condo for like 5 weeks. My step sister (she was 5 years older than me) and I decided to go spend a week with them. I do remember calling him one time from there. I mean, that was literally the longest we had gone without talking to each other in 9 months.

The next month or two was still more of the same. He just seemed happy with the way it was now. We weren't a couple really anymore, but he called daily (or I called him) and he still stopped by often. I had met a boy in one of my college classes who asked me out, so I said yes, trying to move on and get over T. I think we went to dinner and a movie and then came back to my house to watch tv. Oh, but I was still way too much in love with T to allow myself to go out with this nice boy again. I was still just too hung up on him, and I told this boy sorry. I was literally making myself sick. Basically I had turned into a girl for when it was convenient for him. I knew in my heart I couldn't keep going on this way. Finally, sometime that June, when he stopped by, I told him unless we were going to be an actual couple 100% I couldn't see him or talk to him anymore. It was just too hard for me. There were some tears, I think on both our parts, but he left, knowing he wasn't going to see me or talk to me anymore. I was crushed, hoping maybe the ultimatum would make him realize he was wrong. He said he couldn't imagine not talking to me every day, but I held my ground. I felt like I had just cut off my arm. My mom also worked for the same company and a couple of times he saw her (she worked in the company credit union) he asked her how I was doing (I was not doing good). She told me finally the 2nd time she told him if he wanted to know he'd have to call me himself. When she told me that I think I had hoped maybe he would call and tell me he made a mistake, but he didn't. I did see him one more time a couple months later, at the annual softball tournament. It must have been held earlier that year, then the previous Sept, as I don't think I had met my husband yet and we met at the end of August. At the softball tournament and we did talk for a few minutes in the parking lot. Or maybe I had just started dating dh, I'm not sure.

Oh, I almost forgot - sometime also that late spring early summer, trying to get over T, I went out with boyfriend #1 again. I know! what in the world was I thinking?! Third times a charm?! One of my friends had run into him at the mall she worked at. By now I'm 19 and he's 21. He asked her about me. Asked her if she thought I might be interested in talking to him. She passed the info on to me. I guess I must have called him then, because I don't know how he would have known to call me, since my friend didn't know to tell him it would be ok. We went out on one date. It just didn't feel right. He had matured, but he didn't make me laugh (and he had always made me laugh). I think I just thought oh no, I'm not going through this again with him and I didn't call him back. I think he had kind of left it up to me to contact him if I wanted to pursue it. Plus, I was still 100% hung up on T. I think at that point every guy was a comparison to T.

By July I was doing somewhat better. I knew I had to get over him. I think I went on a couple dates with a couple different guys. One was an old friend from high school I ran into at a party and he asked me out (again with the one date, no laughs, LOL). By then me and one of my best friends had rented an apartment together. Her parents had decided to move about an hour away and she had a job and was going to community college too, so she didn't want to move away with them. So we shared an apartment, so she could stay. I think we moved in first of July, maybe a little before that. I was busy with working part time, going to school, and enjoying the freedom of living on my own for the first time. (even though I was only a few miles from my parents, LOL). My bestie roommate still had the same boyfriend since sophomore year of high school, so most of her spare time was spent with him. (he was always kind of an arrogant prick, haha. Even though they dated like 5 or 6 years, she didn't end up with him).

One day in late August, the sister of my other best friend (the sister that boyfriend #2 dated for a couple weeks) called to invite me to a party she was having that night. Oh, I don't know. It's the same old people/guys, I don't think I'll come. It'll just be same 'ol same 'ol. Oh c'mon, just come for awhile. Ok, I decided to go. There were quite a few people there, and my best friend was there with her now husband . Well, her husband had invited a guy he worked with to this party. I heard this awesome laugh, so I looked to see who it was. Nobody I knew. I loved his laugh and he was chatting with my best friend and another of her friends (the lifelong family friend who also went out with my 2nd boyfriend LOL). I walked up to say hello to them. They were chatting about the soap opera All My Children, of all things. He was catching them up on what was happening in the show! I'm like I love that show! He worked a few blocks from his mom's house and would go to her house for lunch and she had it on the tv, so he'd watch it with her. He got us all caught up! haha. We talked off and on during the party, all of us a little drunk on beer, of course. He seemed to be gravitating towards me most of the night. He was pretty cute, with a cute grin. Long shoulder length very curly hair (all gone now! haha!) The next day was his (and my friends husband) company picnic and dh invited me to go with him, so I said sure. We all went together and had a fun day at a lake. I was comfortable because I was already with my best friend and her husband, who I had known for years and dh was easy to talk to. I found out later that friends husband had actually invited dh to this party to set him up with my friends long time family friend (the girl who had dated my 2nd boyfriend, briefly) and then if they hit it off for him to ask her to the picnic....but apparently he took one look at me and that was the end of that plan, haha!

And apparently we met a couple months before we really met, that he totally remembers and I do not. Well, I remember, but not at all that it was him. My best friends hubby had met dh through his work and started becoming friends. A small group were going to the drive in theater, in separate cars. My best friend asked me if I wanted to go along with them (I mean she and her husband were married now, they didn't need to make out at the drive in anymore LOL), so I said sure. I was totally a 3rd wheel that night, haha. When I got to their apartment to ride with them, there was another couple there I didn't know, also going along in their own car. I'm sure we got quickly introduced. We weren't at the apartment too long, and of course they were in their own car at the drive in so I paid zero attention to them. I didn't even know them. Well, apparently it was dh and his girlfriend at the time! He said he definitely remembered me from meeting at the apartment and remember seeing me sitting in my friends car, during the movie. I'm like well yes, I was there that night, but I don't remember it was you! haha.

Like I said I can't remember the timing of seeing my ex, T,  at that softball tournament, in the parking lot, for a few minutes. It was either just before I met dh or within a week or so, after. After that company picnic dh called mid week and asked me to go out the next weekend. We hit it off together really fast, along with the fact that I was actually finally ready to move on from T. I do remember, wondering what if T calls me again? I think I was wondering since we had just seen each other at that tournament and maybe he was having second thoughts. Even though we didn't talk too long, he had come across as like he felt bad for what happened. Over the next few weeks dh and I got closer and closer and I remember wondering what I would now do if T did want to see me again? I really liked dh a lot, but T...well he was T. Then I had a dream where I was standing on a river and T was on the other side and I didn't go over there, so I took it as a sign, haha. He never contacted me anyway and I only had one contact with him that next year. His mom passed away and I called him to tell him how sorry I was and also sent him a card. I think by then dh and I had gotten engaged, because I remember him telling me he heard I got engaged (probably from my step sister, who also worked at the same company, or maybe my mom).

While it wasn't that head over heels love with dh that I had with T, it was definitely a nice and comfortable love. I always felt like I knew exactly where I stood with dh and also, for the first time with a boyfriend, felt like I came first. It was just a solid feeling, not the high emotions I had felt with T. He had his own group of friends (he lived in a different town nearby) and added me right in with them, no problem, as well as with his family. DH and I only dated about 5 months and he asked me to marry him. He had to get a little drunk to get the courage....so I turned him down and told him to ask me when he wasn't drunk! Which of course he did, like the very next day or something, LOL. We had a year long engagement and got married almost exactly a year from getting engaged, just a week before my 21st birthday. Why we all thought back then we needed to get married so young, I don't know. Our friend couple, who basically introduced us (at her sisters party) were both in our wedding.  If I had to do it all over again, would I get married so soon, so young? Probably not.

A couple of good books (fiction) I read recently were about what if's on if different path's had been taken which in writing this out, makes me wonder about that, too. What if....what if I had tried to keep on going with T a little bit longer, what if that Labor Day weekend boy had called me back and we had dated even for a little while or even one more date...would it have changed everything else down the road? who I met, when, who I then dated? I'm sure it would have. If we had gone out that next weekend, it's highly unlikely I would have gone to the tournament, but it's also likely my dad still would have invited T to go play golf, so who knows (but it's also very likely T got himself invited to play golf, LOL)... What if I had stayed with my first decision to not go to that party, where I met dh? Would we have ever met then? It was only because friends sister gave that extra push to get me to come, that I did end up going. And only because I didn't already happen to have other plans that night.

I do know a little tiny bit about boyfriends #1 and T's life. I know quite a bit (now) about #2 because he married my best friend a few years ago :)  So, she married (2nd marriage) the guy who dated her best friend, her sister, and her other best friend, LOL. But all 3 guys got married and all 3 got divorced. Boyfriend #1 seems to have had the longest marriage, at 25 years and 3 kids. Facebook, haha. And red head kids, just like he was. Boyfriend #2 married someone who everyone said was bad news, it didn't last too long. He raised their son by himself. T didn't marry until he was 30 and divorced 9 years later. He married someone older than him. I think he has a son from that marriage.

While dh and I have sure had our hard times over the years, he still makes me laugh and I still like hearing his laugh. I do miss his 1980's rock n roll hair, though. LOL.