Now rain is the forecast -Wednesday, April 29

Nothing is so boring as checking the blog-O-sphere only to find old and mouldy posts. Thank you, Amanda, for your butter brightener. And Tracy for your cuddle-bug reflection. And Keith for your "Eh!" or was that "Eh?"...

The sun has gone (thank God - from the school teachers...kids are slowing down like the little reptilians they really are) behind the clouds; the rain has pushed the snowy dandelions way up above the grass's last cutting; and, the temperature has become a tad bit more bearable.

BREAKING NEWS -- Announcement: Joey is coming to WV in June - over the weekend of the 5th-7th. Make an appointment with the circus master to get your ring-side seat on Saturday. We are keeping his where-a-bouts secret until all the tickets have been snapped up. No free viewing or chance encounters... he is a COLUMBIA man, ya know. Ivy league and we are proud of it.

Another Day Older-April 8-Home in the middle of the week

Hello Gentle Readers.
The day is sunny, but cool. We've discovered the electrical problem, and therefore, the solution.

First, Jeff stopped by as he saw two nut cases trying to change a lightbulb in the driveway with a ladder, etc...

Next, Supersleuthing determined the light bulb was not the problem; however, the outlet concreted into the ground near the holly tree was filed with wet-snuff like material and made a buzzing noise when the breaker was turned on. Jeff pried the old outlet from the steel box it lives in, and replaced it. All's well. Light light; garge door opener flashes; water heater heats; softner softens; etc.

Finally, 25 smollens. Cheap at any price.

Monday - rainy and all that jazz

April 6, dear readers, should be a spring day. However, it is a bleak and cold and rainy turn-to-snow-by-midnight grey and overcast-windy 24 hours. You may have guessed, my spirits mirror the foul and unfriendly weather.
Let me catch you up. [never end a sentence with a preposition (I'll use it as an adverb...up as in lift YOUR spirits by laughing)]

Upon entering the basement of the manor house tonight (almost 7pm after gathering the RX and retrieving the trashcans and mail, etc.), I noticed that the rec room light would not answer to the switch on the wall.

After further investigation, all the wall sockets work fine, even my hair dryer... the basement TV and the Mac, all fine.

Upstairs, the water in the bathrooms is darn cold and not warming up as is the plan with the electric hot water heater... I check the breaker box: 26 is flipped. I flip it back and it shuts off immediately.
There are several things hooked up to that breaker besides the overhead light in the rec room: five gallon hot water tank, h20 softener, garage door opener, various 4 fluorescent garage lights, the chair lift batter backup, the lights down the driveway (2), the extension cord with the lightbulb that keeps the outside faucet from freezing in winter...

I'm guessing that the lightbulb in the driveway has somehow gotten water in it and shorted out the system. I will not attempt to fix it in the rain-snow-yuck that we are going to have this week. Maybe after Easter... I did not get an electrician's license when I did not get the nurse's certificate, so I must call for a professional-fix-it-man to trouble shoot this deal. I wish I knew more about how to fix stuff. I didn't get the carpenter's certificate either, but I'm one hell of a shopper, given half a chance.

Linda fixed the roast with potatoes, carrots and onions. That was a truly delicious meal.

Kim got the job with the college working weekends Sat. Sun. and Monday as a security guard, for now. She will continue to help us for a little bit, maybe a week or so.

Brenda did not call today. I'll call her tomorrow to see how she's feeling.

My break does not equal all the surrounding counties who have the entire week after Easter off. I will take 3 days, otherwise there will be no one at home with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Stan. That will make my schedule Good Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday and the entire 7 days afterward...

Maybe by then, my glasses will be here and I can see to do stuff, like clean and read. Then again, maybe not. Are you laughing yet or still?...

Horses

There were horses on the loose. There were horses in our yard in the rain. there remains horse poop in our yard to explain... You had to be there. (Here)

Pay It Forward

Well, Gentle Readers - I believe.

Today was a warm, mildly windy and occasionally sunny Saturday in C-burg. The other two of my three lives were being cared for by Brenda and our new lady, Donna. I had planned to go to lunch with Leah last weekend, but something came up. So today, we got the action moving toward Bob Evans around nooonish (after I got the checks cashed for the girls, shopped Kroger's and talked to Barbara on the phone about Ed's plight in Alaska - w/ the erupting volcano, etc., ya know...)

Long story short: we dined, we chatted; we went shopping for tablecloths, Fiesta ware, cheap blankets, whatever. Around 3pm, We went back to Bob's to get her car.

While we were getting ready to trade back into her car, a nice-looking, middle-aged couple of strangers came up to the car and the man ask: Are you folks local? "Yes" Maybe you can help us, he said. We are driving back from North Carolina, where we took our son (to join his unit going back to Iraq - for the 4th time.) I lost my wallet in Virginia and we have no money to get (gas to get) home. I called the state police, and they sent the safety patrol. The patrol could only give us 2 gallons of gas. We are from Erie, Pennsylvania, and that won't take us home. That's my car [back there]a Ford Fiesta.

I don't know if it was the Ford Fiesta (small gas tank) or the plight of the couple, but I said: Can you get your car over to the Go-Mart? "Yes" Then, sure, I'll buy you a tank of gas.

And Leah and I drove our cars to Go Mart where the couple filled up (9 gallons or so). We chatted about cars and tires and her health (she's diabetic)...They ask for my name (she said she's send us the money), but I didn't tell her. I just said "Pay it forward." And that felt really good. I could do it; someone needed help and I could help. She told me their first names. And they drove off - back to Erie where it will probably snow tomorrow.

Leah and I went over to "the Valley" and unloaded groceries, talked to the care givers and the cared for, drank tea and ate cookies. Then she called Mindy for dinner information and decided to stop on the way home for takeout (for her and Jay.)
*****************
Leah just called. She had a story to tell me, over her baked potato.
She did stop at Wendy's.
She did get in to a long line of patrons at the drive thru.
She did see the manager come out (with two bags of food) and head for her car.
She tried to give him her credit card, but he said: It's been paid for, by the driver in the vehicle ahead of you. You are free to go...

Random Act of Kindness or Pay It Forward. I don't think it really matters. I feel really good about today.

Linda, one of our caregivers, says there are really angels "out there." And, sometimes, I think those angels are closer than "out there."

And Now You Know The Rest of the Story. (Thank you, Paul Harvey...somewhere up in heaven, I think.)

Friday - The First Day of Spring - Vernal Equinox 2009

Hello y'all,
It was a beautiful First Day of Spring, March 20, 2009, a.k.a. Skip Day for the teacher. Unfortunately, it was also skip day for Brenda, who hurts from Gall Bladder and back problems, so Linda came to rescue us - and forgo the mandatory lawn care she does for the Masonic Lodge in Shinnston on Fridays. (Isn't that a humongous sentence?!)

I made my appointment at 8am only to be turned away - I am now considered a "new" patient and will not be seen on Fridays.

I did get Hardee's sausage biscuit and gravy for the family, but did not get to shop or grade papers or get my hair cut. Nor did I get to the funeral home pay respects to friend's family. I blame that on Dr. Murray, who surreptitiously dropped those dilating eye drops into my eyes at 2:30 then sent me to look at new glasses... and forgot to give me sunshades to drive home in....

T'will soon be March 17, Erin G' braugh...

It's transition time from night to morning... winter to spring... youthful feeling to old age? doesn't seem quite right... perhaps perspective is in need of adjustment?

I'll look to my photo collection for inspiration because I'm short on words tonight.