Flowers, fish and THE furnace

Yesterday Ron put the marigolds in the front. I don't know if we had the frost they were predicting last night but it looks like they held up. The rose is already flowering a bit. Ron also has the sunflowers in the front. Right now they are protected by the green flower pots. If you click on the picture you can get a closer view.

Ron went fishing again today. They've finally been catching fish even with the cool weather. They are in a tournament and Ron hopes to catch some bigger fish then he has. It ends the last day of May.

We got Mom's yard pretty much cleaned up on Sunday. It looks much better. I couldn't believe it, Wednesday when I talked to her in the morning she said her furnace was blowing cold air again. We went right over and the pilot light was out again. Ron relit it and so far today it's still working <knock on wood>. Good thing warmer weather is coming.

Flowers and vegetables

We went to the garden store today. Last fall, Ron dug up the old climbing rose bush. Today, we got a new one called Crimson Sky. It is supposed to be a prolific bloomer. He planted it after we got home and put the trellis back up. We also bought flowers for the front and back porch. Plus tomatoes and cucumbers which he planted as well. We bought a watermelon plant. I think we might have grown watermelon before but we couldn't remember. We still need to get some marigolds for the front. Also, in the fall we'll have to get new mums. We've only got one that's coming up so far. I think last winter they bit the dust.

I had a couple of gift certificates that I needed to use up so that came in handy today. One I lost a $3 service charge on because I didn't use it for six months. I thought they weren't allowed to do that anymore but I guess they are.

Random things

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful weekend. Ron's going fishing in the morning.

Monday is Mom's 81st birthday. We will be going over there on Sunday to clean up her yard. With all the rainy weather, no one's been able to clean up her leaves from the fall yet. So, Ron, A, my brother and I will be cleaning up her yard for her birthday. We also bought her new phones. I think the amplifier on her phone she has isn't working. They also light up in case she doesn't hear it. One plugs into the phone jack and one is a portable phone and just needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet. We can put the portable one right where she sits. Sometimes it takes her 7 to 10 rings before she gets to the phone. I think if someone other than us calls they probably hang up thinking no one is home.

Wednesday was my night out with my Dinner Friends. This is a group of women most of whom I met from PTA when Aaron was in elementary school. We started with a few women going out occasionally for lunch when the kids were in school. Then as everyone's kids moved to junior high, and some of the women started working, we changed to going to dinner. There's 10 of us that go out every month and we celebrate someone's birthday. We went to a Japanese Restaurant. Normally, I'm not thrilled with Japanese food but this was pretty good. The guy cooked on the hibachi right in front of us. It was a lot of fun. He took the spatula and lifted the food up and you had to catch the food in your mouth. If you caught it, he squirted saki in your mouth LOL. It was pretty funny.

Finally

Ron went fishing last night with his buddy; finally he caught something. He cleaned it this morning. Hopefully, with the warmer weather that's supposed to be coming there will be many more.

Brown water, etc.......

So, I cleaned the main bathroom and just got done cleaning the toilet in the 1/2 bathroom when I go back in to clean the rest and I notice the water in the toilet is brown. Weird!! I go into the main bathroom and sure enough that water is brown in there when it wasn't when I cleaned it. Fill up a glass of water from the kitchen sink, brown again! I was kind of freaking, I drank water will my pills this morning. Ugh!! Called my neighbor behind, she has no brown water. Called the city and before I could get the whole sentence out about the water, she tells me people have been calling. She said it happened about 40 minutes ago which made me feel better that I didn't drink toxic water ;-) . They are trying to figure out what's happening. Don't flush or use water for an hour, then turn stationary tub on until it runs clear. Luckily, the problem has corrected itself. When Ron came home from going to the store, he said there's a water main break on 130th. I wonder if this had something to do with our water.

Ron hasn't had too much luck fishing so far. He went on Thursday and caught nothing again. With all this cold and wet weather, I guess the fish must not be biting much.

Mom loves Meals on Wheels. Every day she waits and calls to tell me what she's having. I think this is going to be great for her.

Random Stuff

Mom started her Meals on Wheels yesterday. I think she liked it. She said they gave her a menu for the whole month. When I go there I will have to look at it. We took Mr. Chicken to her house on Mother's Day so she should have enough stuff to eat this week. On Thursday when we go, hopefully we'll get to putting her clothes back in her drawers.

Ron was able to go fishing on Saturday but they didn't catch anything. That really doesn't bother Ron much, he just enjoys being out on the lake.

It's supposed to be a beautiful day today. I'm hoping to open the house up before it rains tomorrow and gets cooler again. Talk to you all later.

Moms

Happy Mother's Day. Hope you have a great one!!

Back home again

Mom went back home today. On Wednesday, when the furnace guy called to have us meet him at mom's, we decided Ron would just go to make sure the furnace worked. We thought in case it didn't we didn't want to bring mom, the dog and all her stuff back. It was a good thing too. Turns out the guy didn't get the right part so he had to reorder it again. Thursday morning we had to take mom for her blood test and the guy never ended up calling until about 3. Ron had already gone to her house to wait for him. Luckily, he got the right part this time. We decided instead of trying to get through rush hour traffic to take her home, we'd wait until this morning. That's it, until the next time.

Back again

Not because of health. Her furnace is broken. When we went over there Sunday, it was freezing in her house and the vent was blowing cold air. Ron checked and the pilot light was out. He relit it and it started working. Monday when I called Mom the usual time, she said it was real cold in her house again. We went over and the pilot light was lit and out of the vent was a little bit of warm air. At first, we were going to leave but then I turned it up real high. The thermostat would only go up to 70 and then it would cut off. Then the furnace wouldn't come on at all. Ron suspected it might be a broken thermostat so he bought one and installed it. No go, it still wouldn't turn on. I called the people that installed the furnace for her and they were supposed to be there between 3-5 or she said they might come after work. When it got to be 5:20 and no one came, I called and left a message. By 7:00, I told Ron just to go home and I would stay the night in case the guy came. Finally, this morning at 9:30, the girl called and said the guy would be over in about 5 minutes which naturally was 20 minutes or so. Turns out, he had to order something so we just brought mom over here. It was pretty cold last night without any heat. The guy says normally it takes 3-5 days for the part but they are having it over nighted from Columbus. The guy's supposed to call some time late morning and will give us an hour to get back to her house. I don't have much hope that this will get done tomorrow but we'll see.

Ron's retirement so far - not good. He ended up missing out on going fishing yesterday.

Kentucky Derby

Anyone watch? Poor Eight Belles. I used to watch the coverage all day of the horses, so I could pick who I thought the winner would be. I didn't this year. I know I would have fallen in love with Eight Belles since she was a filly (I'm all about girl power). After coming in second, Eight Belles collapsed with broken ankles and had to be put down. A couple of years ago when Barbero got hurt I wasn't as interested in the Triple Crown. After deciding at the last minute to watch the race, I think I finally had my fill of horse racing.

Retirement

Today is Ron's official first day of retirement. Yesterday, Ron didn't have to go into work at the regular time so he left here about 8:00. He only had to stay a little while. He said goodbye to everyone, pulled the van around to the back to get all his tool boxes and tools. Then he had to go turn in his badge and locker keys. He was home by 10:30. He has a lot of organizing to do. He brought 5 tool boxes home. There is a ton of stuff in them. I guess after 43 years you accumulate a lot of stuff. On Tuesday, another guy that was retiring and some guys they worked with plus a couple of retirees went to the bar for a little celebration. Last night, he went with his friend fishing. So starts retirement for him.

Last night, I went with my Dinner Friends for our monthly dinner.

I guess this is a new chapter in our lives.