The Rise and Fall

Yes.....the temps have been rising every day for the past week.  And I'm anticipating the Fall.

I can't take this hot, humid weather any more.  A few weeks ago, we had a week-long spell of 90's.  Then it broke and we had day time temps in the low to mid 70's; nights were in the mid 40's, sometimes as low as upper 30's.  Now this is my kind of weather.  I was in heaven!!  Thought for sure it was the end of summer.

Yeah.  Not quite.  So this hellish weather pattern is supposed to last until Monday, Labor Day.

We had a severe storm rip through here Monday night.  Tree limbs and leaves all over the place.  It even caused 2 medium sized trees to fall on the power lines at the top of our road.  The power went out.  Called the electric company and reported it.  No fans; no A/C.  And it's 80 degrees in the house.  We did have a good gust of wind and the temp dropped about 8 degrees.  That lasted for 1 1/2 hours.  Then it climbed again.  We played BlackJack by lantern light till nearly 11:00pm, and went to bed.

We knew the power company would not send a crew out during the heavy rain, thunder and lightening.

But at 1:00am......BH woke me to say the lights were on.  Hallelujah!!!  Our power company is Awesome!!  Truly, they are a great bunch of guys.  And get this.....we don't live in a populated suburban area.  As a matter of fact, there are only 4 houses on our road......and the 4 of us were the only ones affected by the outage. (Our town has a population of 402).  (Yes.....402).

Anywho, big doins' this weekend.  Another Yard Sale.  This one is only craft supplies.  I'm attempting to get rid of all my supplies accumulated over 20 years.  Don't do it anymore.  Now it's just spinning, knitting and eventually....get back to quilting.

So the sale will be Friday through Sunday.  It's all organized, categorized and most of it is boxed up for "bulk" sales.  I sure hope we have as good a sale as we did for our "Moving Sale" in May.

After the holiday, it'll be back to keeping the house in tact.  The dining room still needs to be scrubbed, ceiling and walls painted, curtains and shades washed.  It's the last room to be done.  Maybe then I can get back to things I really love doing.

Granddaughter called from Basic Training camp Monday night.  I was thrilled!!!  She said they were given an hour to make their phone calls.  That's an hour for the whole company.  I'm assuming someone either gave them phones or they were using pay phones, because they were not allowed to bring their cell phones to bootcamp.

Anyway, by the time it was her turn, she told me she had just 2 minutes to talk.  Everything is going well, she said.  They just had rifle training and she scored 31 out of 40.  She received the "Sharp Shooters" medal.  What a kid!!!   She said the only bad thing was that some of the girls get into fights - physical fights - every night.  And apparently, the Sargeants haven't stepped in to stop it yet.

Nothing on the house yet.  No lookers.  We did have a new furnace put in 3 weeks ago.  Can't wait to see how it works!!!  Told BH it's going to be great getting up in the morning in the dead of winter and not be able to see our breath!!  Or guess what the actual temp is in the house because the thermometer is at it's lowest reading....40 degrees.  Yeah....this is going to be great!  Won't have to use the wood stove so much (this is still a bit of a battle discussion between him and me).

So, we keep trucking along.  Fall will be here soon.  My very favorite season.  And then we'll be getting ready to hunker down for winter.....with our new propane furnace!  This might be a winter I really enjoy!

Moving Along Nicely..........

So.....we finally got the "For Sale" sign up for the house.  Contracts signed; all is a "go".  We're only a month behind our intended schedule.  Not bad for us.

Everything looks great inside!  The realtor was very impressed; she said the house looks beautiful, very nicely decorated.  This made me feel ecstatic.....because I've been busting my arse for 3 months.

Just a couple of glitches.....because we heat only with wood, the realtor said no bank will give anyone a mortgage without an alternative heat source.  Unless the house is listed as "seasonal".  Well, we talked and talked about it.....and decided we would have a new furnace put in.  The guy is supposed to be here next week to start the work.  Says he'll have it done by the end of the week.  Only......"you might have to repaint the area where the old furnace was".....was his caveat.  Sonofabitch!!  The last thing I want to do is pick up a paint brush again!!

Oh.....and then there's the septic......yes, a new septic is needed.  But the good news is.....it doesn't have to be done until the house is sold.  And it can be a bargaining chip with the buyer.  Lower selling price if they pay or we both pay half.  Something like that.  All we have to do is get an installer out to inspect and give an estimate.  We called our local installer.  He'll look at it this weekend.

A little set back 2 weeks ago.  BH was not feeling well; hadn't been, really, for over a month.  But that weekend, he was sweating like a pig and not just because of the high temps and humidity, had no appetite and extremely tired.  Friday night I noticed a large oval rash on his back between the shoulder blades.  Gotta keep an eye on that.  Don't know if it's something, or because he was laying in the recliner.  And he had a fever, almost 103 degrees.  He kept taking Tylenol; Saturday the same deal.  Another fever in the evening.  Sunday, before he could sit, I asked to see his back.  Yeah....the rash is getting worse.  Then he says: "I have one on my hip, too".  Oh yeah.....the size of a basketball, fire engine red.  We're going to the ER.

A quick 5 minute blood test and he has a tick-borne disease.  They don't know which one until the entire blood work comes back in about a week.  So they start him on the antibiotic for 3 weeks.

Since last week, he's been doing much better.  Appetite is a little better, but the tiredness is still with him.

We went down to son's house last Sunday to spend the night so we could take granddaughter to the Armory to see her off for Basic Training in the National Guard.  She left for South Carolina Monday morning.  I pray every day she'll make out just fine.  She is one tough cookie, but never been away from home and family like that before.  She won't be back till April.  She'll be sent directly to Tech School immediately after Basic.   I'm going to miss her terribly.  And while she's in Basic, no cell phones or computers allowed!!  Yikes.

                             Our "G.I. Jane"  We are soooo proud of her!!

Funny story..... so we're heading home Monday morning with single son (so he can work on his car and get it out of here).  We stop for coffee; "hand me my purse, please".  BH says "it's not here; I gave it to you at Ryan's"  Panic......looking, looking.....every one out of the car....look, look.  Nope.  Not here.  I must have left it at Ryan's when we stopped to go pee.  Sonofabitch!!  Well, someone will have to meet us half way this weekend so I can get it.

In the meantime......I'm driving with no license.....BH's pills are in my purse......can't use my debit card at the store because......can't write a check....because......can't look up anyone's phone number or address....because......can't use the cell phone to call in case of emergency.....because......you get the picture.   And I think BH's mind is slipping!!!!  I really have to get hold of myself!

Ah, but today....son's future father in law will meet us an hour from home and deliver my purse.  I'll be a legal, bankable, call-returning, card-sending old lady.....with BH back on his medication.   Geeezzzzzz.

So now we're just muddling through.  Still have odds and ends to do around here.  This weekend I want to get our conversion van cleaned up so we can put an ad in the paper to sell it.  And then I need to get started on organizing all the craft supplies for another yard sale, probably Labor Day weekend. 

Now it's just mowing the grass every other day, weedwacking and keeping the house clean, neat and tidy.  If you have a man in the house, you know this is never .... never .... as easy as it sounds!  Already I'm wringing my hands and swearing under my breath.  But that story's for another day.

Well it's time to get at it.   Hope you all have a very beautiful and peaceful weekend.   August already.  Yikes.