I can but I can't

Russ and I have been working on getting a house ready for Victoria and the kids to move into. Their landlord is very cooperative and generous. He has spent a large amount of time and money fixing up the house. We have been helping to speed up the project so there won't be painting and heavy cleaning to do once they have all moved in. We have spent 2 full days taping and spackling. I have also spent a day cleaning a stove and another day worth of time cleaning a refrigerator, bathtub, and some windows. I am glad I have the ability to do this work and do it well. However, I know for certain that despite my "expertise", I could never do this full-time or for a job. My hands just won't do it. I know that during the time we worked on this house we are living in, my hands got to the point where I had to take pain relievers and anti-inflamation medications. Russ often had to massage my hands in the mornings just so I could bend my swollen fingers. After just 2 days doing the work I do so well, my hands have reverted to hurting and swelling. I am truly grateful that I have not got the painfully debilitating diseases or injuries that many people have, causing a severe restriction of activities. But I can say I know how they feel when they are frustrated by an inability to do what they want to do. It's great that I know how to plaster and am really good at cleaning to the point that an oven looks new, even if it has't been cleaned in several years. But it's a bummer that it hurts too much to do it except when I really, really want to, enough to deal with the discomfort. I want to help people, especially loved ones, more than anything. I hope I can continue to find ways to do that.

I love parade!

I know- I whine a lot about living in an urban jungle dog-eat-dog, vicious inner-city. But if we go not far from the boundaries of Dayton, there are smaller suburbs with life more like I prefer. Last night Angela and her boys marched in a parade in Vandalia which is where the "Dayton" airport is. They have an annual air show which is pretty spectacular. Along with the air show they have an annual parade. Although budget cuts are pretty much doing away with high school music programs, there are local groups (church sponsored or just involved parents) who want to give their kids an alternative to gangs. Below is a photo of one of those groups. If you look carefully, in front of the woman dressed in white shirt and red pants is a pint-sized drummer. He couldn't be much more than 3 years old. He was carrying a little bass drum and pounding on it for all he was worth. If nothing else, these kids had rhythm! There weren't many of what I remember as "floats" really but there were some interesting looking vehicles.

After an hour and 10 minutes, the group of scouts I was watching for finally arrived! This parade was easily 1 1/2 hours long, pretty impressive for a small town in Ohio. The church scout group had chosen the pinewood derby as kind of their theme. Not wanting to be just a group of kids carrying their little wooden cars, Angela decided to make a pinewood derby replica big enough to ride in. Tanis is just out of this photo but he is pulling Joshua who is riding in the cardboard, duct tape, and craft paint car built on a street luge that Tanis and his dad had built.

This photo shows more of the group with Tanis pulling the little pinewood derby car.

I marched in a lot of parades when I was young. They have always given me a little thrill. Somehow, watching people walk and vehicles drive down the street just isn't the same as the line-up of high school bands spaced just right to avoid competing sounds with floats large and small interspersed. I'm really glad Angela took the time to have her boys make their little car. It's sad that parades are going the way of everything but computers and related screen-type entertainment. It's sad that so many youth are deceived into thinking they are learning to play an instrument when they just know how to turn on an electronic "toy". Our electronic technology has been a boon to our access to information but it is also providing the downfall for real social interaction and personal growth.

Attention Carol, Deedie, and Gloria

Among the things in my mother's closets that I weeded out for her were an old red sheet that had a couple of holes and some flowered fabric that had been cut from what used to be drapes. since I flew down to Arizona and didn't want to have to check luggage, I knew I wouldn't have space to take much home. I have had this old church pew on the porch for quite awhile but it needed a cover for the seat. Since I intend to leave the pew with the house, I didn't want to invest money in the seat. So I brought the old drapes and sheet home, combined them with a couple of old mattress covers I have been using as packing blankets, and made a cover for the pew. I am definitely not in favor of hoarding stuff. It piles up really badly. I prefer to keep what I think I can use, then USE IT! Otherwise, I get rid of it by giving it to Goodwill (or a similar thrift store), recycle it, or throw it away if it really isn't usable. But I know, it's the sorting that's a pain.

The nitty gritty

I am starting to get used to the stares when I'm riding with Russ in the limousine. It is an impressively looooong car. I had never had the experience of riding in a limousine before we got into this business. I would stare, as I see others doing now, at a limousine wondering what "important person" was being transported to what "important event". Keeping a limousine in such awesome condition requires lots of time and effort. It has to be washed, including scrubbing the tires so the whitewalls are white and the chrome shines, vacuumed, carpets shampooed, champagne glasses washed and polished, candy dishes replenished, seat belts rolled uniformly, ice buckets cleaned and refilled with soda and water (we have no liquor license thank goodness so that has to be supplied by those wanting it), and fresh flowers carefully placed. In addition, Russ spends hours exploring, repairing, and replacing elements of the function of the automobile as well as the custom features of lighting, karaoke, DVD and CD player/radio. Now when I see a limousine go by, I am more likely to assume that it's either a wedding, some excited young teens going to a prom, or just a group of people looking for a thrill. It's just not all that glamorous.

A big long-term project

Behind the kitchen of this house we have renovated was the remnants of a stone-walled garden area that was overgrown with trees and weeds. Russ's original reaction to it was to simply remove it all and plant grass. I was attracted by the romantic image of an herb garden just outside the kitchen door so I wanted to "fix" it. The garden area seen in the final photo at the end of this blog post is the result of the efforts of multiple people over the 2+ years we have been here. The first thing we did, which I don't have a picture of, was to remove an extension of the stone wall that was an obstacle near the entrance to the basement. Then while Russ and I were away for a few days, Ammon and Angela risked life and limb to cut down a large, mature tree in one end of the walled space that had caused the wall to bulge and collapse. Then, last fall, Russ and I tackled what ended up being a really big job of removing the "stump". We had tried a couple of times before and had dug around it on occasion but never got far. It seemed like more than one stump intertwined with roots going on forever!

Before completely finishing clearing this end of the garden, Russ started rebuilding the end that had originally widened near the basement opening. The photo below shows the end Russ had built and shows Russ digging the foundation for a section of the wall yet to be rebuilt.

As we were relocating some of the dirt to allow for the foundation to be poured, we discovered a hole. It's hard to tell from this picture but as I shone a flashlight into the hole, I couldn't see a bottom! When I threw in a small rock, it seemed to just disappear! We didn't really want to unearth a huge hole. We didn't know how big it was or what its original purpose was and didn't have anything to fill it back in with. After some discussion and assumptions from various features of the house, we decided it was probably originally a cesspool to collect drainage before the house was connected to city water system. It became a convenient place to take care of bits of concrete that would have weighed very expensively at the dump then we blocked off the opening we had uncovered (see below) and re-buried it. It would have been nice to find a buried treasure but, alas, that is the stuff dreams and movies are made of.

So, here at last, in all its glory, is the final garden, the work of many hands over many hours- much more than anyone could imagine. I have planted what was left of the petunias I bought for the front of the house and didn't have room for along with a packet of cilantro seeds I moved here from Utah. Anyone need any cilantro? I'm going to have way more than I can use. The seeds are still good apparently. Eventually I want to put in strawberries and herbs. I'll probably have plenty of time for that. I have a feeling the "for sale" sign in the front yard is going to be there for awhile yet.

Visiting Mom

My mother took a bad fall last September (see the old post). I have been wanting to get down to Arizona to see her but was waiting to be able to go help her once she got home. However, the recovery is taking much longer than anticipated. But I did finally get down for a week to see her and Dad. She is finally getting out of bed for the first time in nearly 9 months. Her 83-year old muscles have atrophied quite a bit. She is working on recovering mobility but it's going to take awhile. This is the dining room at the nursing home. The breakfast being served was: orange juice, coffee/tea/hot chocolate, cream of wheat (Mom drank hers out of the bowl- since her hands shake quite a bit, it's easier than using a spoon), a piece of Texas toast French toast with a spoonful of cherry pie filling on top and syrup on the side, some mandarin oranges, and a sausage patty. Mom drank the juice, a carton of milk, ate the sausage patty (she has a weakness for sausage and bacon), drank the cream of wheat, and ate one little piece of the French toast because she was full. It really is a pretty good portion of food. This nursing home is a pleasant place- considering. The staff is kind and as attentive as they have time to be. It's clean and the rooms are large enough to accomodate visitors.

I couldn't help but feel sad for the residents who will probably finish out their days here. Some of them are old (a smiling man whose wheelchair is always near the door is 99) but some are just the unfortunate victims of illness or accident that leaves them needing lots of help. As always, I got philosophical and wondered how I would react if I ended up living in such a place. I try to eat right, get exercise, avoid bad health habits, wear a seat belt, and just live sensibly. However, there is always a chance I could end up with a serious disability. So how can I prepare? The patients who are smiling and pleasant are certainly easier for the staff to care for than the ones who bark, demand, and complain. So I can focus on being a nice, grateful type of person. The staff is really busy so sometimes the residents look out for each other by making sure the forgetful ones don't get lost and seeing to it that the quiet ones get help when they need it. So I can develop the habit of paying attention to the needs of others. I wish no one ever had to be helpless but it happens. I pray that I will have the inner strength to deal with it if it ever happens to me so I won't further burden people by being annoying or depressing.

Brooklyn and happy Father's Day

Recently we had the fun of having little Brooklyn here with us for a few days while her brothers went camping with their mom. She slept well, ate well, and was just all-round wonderful (I think she enjoyed the specific attention). At one point Russ was out in the driveway working on the small limousine and she, being always curious, wanted to see what he was doing. Here she is getting a look. Cute, huh? And I wanted to post a photo of Russ "opening" his Father's Day gift from the kids- a new barbecue grill. He was quite pleased. It's something we have wanted for awhile. The one we moved here from Utah (after having used it there several years) was in pretty bad shape. So, a big thank you to all who participated in this very welcomed gift!