Hazy, Hot and Humid Musings

What else could I call this - it is going to 96 today or higher. We are about to enter another stretch of 90 degree days, started yesterday and expected to last through next Thursday. Right now it is 81 degrees outside and 74 inside (smile)...the central air just came on...

Everytime I hear it come on I think of the electric bill...sigh, Oh! the price we pay for comfort. At least I have a very good impression that the central air conditioner is in good shape. DJ was up from Florida a week ago and he checked it out (installs heating & cooling - primarily cooling for a living). The contacts were still like new, the coils looked good, the filters were fine (furnace - I use 3M Filtrete Ultra Allergen - they do a very good job and it cuts down on the dust etc), and he installed a cleanout plug for the drain pipe. All I need to do is pour a cup of bleach in the plug and that will help to keep the drain plug free of debris, mold and mildew. I need to do that too, now that I have the plug. The air conditioner was installed in 1998.

While he was here he also, replaced my kitchen faucet, fixed the kitchen sink so it doesn't leak and re-chaulked the tub/shower. It is so good to not have to use vise grip pliers and turn water on or off from under the sink..*smile* Why you ask? or maybe you don't care, but I will tell you anyway...it was a sort of Thank You for all the times I've mowed, shoveled or come to the rescue of his mother Alba. I look upon it as neighbors helping neighbors and this was just his way of saying how much he appreciated it. He also did similar stuff for another neighbor and of course his mother. In between he did manage to get to all the places he wanted to re-visit etc, so that was good as at first all he was doing was work and didn't seem like much of a vacation.

I see the last time I wrote in here it was March...mental note to post more often than every three months. LOL Let's see a lot has been going on...

- Teaching the parents how to use Quicken for their finances as well as solving computer problems they may have (once a week classes, usually stay for dinner and the whole process takes about 6 hours)

- Working on Finances both my own and Thelma's...bill paying, juggling, and now devealing into the murky world of Living Trusts, Health Care proxies and the like - Estate Planning actually. Had our second meeting with the Lawyers Office last Tuesday...took me weeks to gather all the information we needed and that was double the work as I had to do it for myself and Thelma. Now to research and fill in the holes and ... do the hard part figure out beneficaries, and who gets what. Initially it sounds good, simple ideas, easy to do, but when you start, it isn't as easy as it sounds. Probably why I've put it off for so long. Right now there is no will, no health care proxy, nothing, nada, zilch. In all other areas I'm a stickler for detail and documnetation, in this I've avoided it until now.

- Then there was Thelma's Tenant house (old ones left - repairs/sprucing up was done/new ones interviewed and new tenants moved in). I tried to avoid being involved in that, but in the end...I printed up the lease and other forms, and walked with the prospective tenants through the house on the final walk through before they moved in. Travis should have but he had an emergency/last minute teleconference call with Singapore.

- Took my truck in for routine maintenance and repair ($557.27). They did the usual oil change and rotated the tires, and also changed the differential fliuds in both axles and cleaned the fuel injectors and replace various filters as well recharged the air conditioning system. The truck was purchased new in 1997 and has only 52,000 miles on it. So I figure it was money well spent and I seem to do it at least once a year, spend a lot the rest of the time it is just oil changes etc. Though now...I probably should have the brakes checked as there is a vibration when I stop or slow down from high speeds. I'll go to Greeley's for that rather than take it back to the dealer where I bought it. Of course everytime you wonder if you really need all this done or not - what I should/need to do is take the truck to a diagnostic center and have someone check it out - tell me what it needs or doesn't need...impartial inspector rather than someone at the dealership. AAA has something like that, but I need to call and set it up. Costs about $89 and last about 1 1/2 hours.

- Of course continued to work on my garden...everything is growing...harvesting lettuce and peas...spread the pine mulch/chips I got from the men who took down Elanie's pine tree - the smaller branches were run through a chipper etc. and they dumped it all in my driveway - took me 5 days to move it all and psread it around my yard and gardens. These were the same men who took down the willow tree that had fallen on Alba's garage (riddle with ants). They also took down two trees on my side of the fence as well ($525), and so now there is a lot more sunlight in the back yard especially in the late afternoom etc. The trees were close (within 5 - 10 feet) of the house and though not diseased I figured it was best to get them removed...one was a maple, the other an ash and both were about 25 - 35 feet high. That was another project that occurred during the past three months.

I have 14 tomatoe plants and I don't like tomatoes. This year seems like everyone kept giving me the plants and I couldn't just let them die. Oh well the ladies next door will be making sauce...that I will eat...I just don't like tomatoes raw. I also have zucchini, beans (four varieties - green pole, green bush, yellow bush and italian flat beans), cucumbers, lettuce (red & green), parsnips, radishes and green peppers.

Hmmm I was going to upload a picture of the garden...but it probably was too big. Something I will have to check out later.

Seems that my weeks are spent running here and there...much too much and I don't have time to spend on the computer, my stories or my genealogy (there is a reunion coming up too!!!...arghhhh!!!). I have a drawer full of photos I need to scan and tabulate and print. I wish there was a way to print off my Family Tree easily...the All-in-One measures about 20 ft by 13 ft and printing that all on legal size paper then taping them all together doesn't enthused me. I did that once when it was 13 ft by 8 ft and doubt if I will ever again.

Well I'm about done for now...time for more coffee...and it is now 84 degrees outside...