Let's get at it, 2024

[cineater]

Not pregnant.  My daughter gave me a Mother's Day card she made herself.  Picture of a toilet, "sorry we got you sick".  And a gift of two passes to take Odin to open play at the gym.  Hold on, isn't this the same gym where he caught the stomach flu?     Today he was wearing one the new outfits I got him when I got him so dirty I had to buy him new clothes and give him a bath before I could take him home.  I'm not sure if this one is going to come clean after today.  They made me give him a bath and soak the clothes.  The child loves me though. 

[cineater]

My sister came down with the stomach flu.  I feel so bad.  I thought I was over that when I went there on Saturday.  Now mom is going to get it.

$2,000 to replace my two cracked motor mounts at the dealer.  That sounds way overpriced.  I'm going to run it in to my local garage and see what they price it out at.

[cineater]

First time I'm not spending time with my daughter on her birthday and watching her open her gifts.  I had her all day yesterday for birthday shopping.  Her husband had something special planned for them today.  Kind of weird but kind of not.  For the 10 years I was married my husband totally blew my birthday off three times.  What I want for my daughter is someone to care as much for her as I do when I'm gone.  Look out for her and to treat her special once in a while.  He's stepping up to the plate and I need to move aside and let him do it.  I did leave her gifts to open for today.  Nobody goes without gifts to open on their birthday around me. 

So instead, in the rain, I cleaned out the garage.  I had to hose off some of this stuff anyway.     Surprisingly, I didn't throw that much stuff out, maybe because I gave the trash can it's yearly bath.  Most of what left went out in the yard or in piles waiting to go into bleach water and be returned to the greenhouse.  And the car is full of stuff to go back to the garden or recycling.  Should I open the doors and show off for the neighbors?   

[cineater]

On top of the $2,000 to fix the car, the dealer has discovered a coolant leak for another $1000 and an oil leak for $2000.     Stopped by the garage I to get their estimate.  He agrees the coolant leak has to get fixed but I can live with a car that leaks oil.  He'll let me know tomorrow what they will charge.  When did car repairs get so expensive?  I'm good at identifying the issue and pretty sure I could have replaced some of these parts back in the day when they gave you room to work on an engine.  You practically have to take the engine apart to get at things these days.

Damn it, mom got the stomach flu.

[cineater]

The garage got the price down to $400 from $1000.  But now one of the tires flashed low.  With all the roofing going on there will be nails all over the place, probably picked up one.  Quit fucking with my car!  Anyway, got the coolant repair scheduled.  The oil leak I'll live with and I'll take care of the motor mounts in a few months.

Mom's better.  She doesn't blame me either and nobody else at the party got the flu so maybe my sister did pick it up somewhere else.  

I did get two doctor letters saying I passed my lung cancer screening.  The second one was kind of a weird letter.  It said I had a small nodule but that was VERY NORMAL, yes in caps.  Okay then why mention what's normal?  And why is a second doctor sending me a letter saying normal?  Glad you guys agree but was there some reason two doctors got called in on it?  Is it capitalized because doctor number two is yelling at doctor number one that he's an idiot for not knowing that?    Anyway, passed all my annual exams and I'm fine.  U'll probably drop dead tomorrow.   

[cineater]

I get free money, the universe conspires to take it back and then some.  All the weird car problems and now my two year old AC is not cooling.  Got $10,000 for the hail damage.  It's a long way to go but I'm on my way.   

[cineater]

Small leak in the elbow joint.  Craig filled the AC up and will someday come back and replace the elbow.  I had the best sleep last night though.  The house windows were open and ceiling fans on brought in that night air.  Just the right kind for sleeping.  The birds woke me up at 5 but it was easy to roll over and go back to sleep.  I think I'll try that on those nights when I just can't fall asleep, go outside and breath in that night air.

[cineater]

It all happens at once.  This whole week was pretty much open but now it's packed.  A bunch of little shit but where I thought I was open, those little things I was looking forward to, are being rushed, complicated or cancelled.  I pulled the trigger on the car repairs.  They couldn't finish it today so no pinball for me tonight.  I can probably catch a ride to the garden tomorrow but I won't be able to pick up the other plants I wanted to get in.  And I have to watch the grandbaby for a few hours so I probably won't be able to run by the nursery down there on my way to a visitation and then dinner with mom.  That's if I get my car back by early afternoon.

Thursday was my morning to sleep in but now the shingles are coming.  They don't get installed until next Tuesday, yea to that though!

Friday, I volunteered to help at another garden but an hour later, the SIL needs me right before that so he can run and get a pain shot.

I guess it's okay.  Nobody is checking to see if I'm exactly on time.  Maybe if I stop fulfilling my obligations and commitments, I will stop making so many of them.   

[cineater]

$685 and I have to deal with a small oil leak as opposed to over $5,000 at the car dealer.

Somedays it all just clicks right on times.  I was on point all day getting a shitload accomplished, driving all over town once I got the car back.  Not to say I wasn't a little jumpy hitting my time frames but it all worked out.

[cineater]

Woohoo!  Packs of shingles all across the roof line.  One guy came by and put all the supplies on the driveway and a truck came by with a hoist and put it all on the roof.  Beats those days of hauling it all up the ladder.  Little more interesting to watch then watching paint dry. 

Still following up on the siding.

It will all come together.  In the meantime, we have a holiday weekend ahead of us.

[cineater]

New Mad Max movie.  It got poor reviews but something to look forward to as a TV movie.   

We have another tornado watch.  Should be the last one for a while.  Southern Illinois will get the worst of it.  Been a wild spring.

[cineater]

Memorial Day, thanks for your service, never forgotten.

My mother gave me one of those reusable totes with veteran stuff on it for my SIL.  She's turning him into a glorified bag lady!   

[cineater]

When the guy dropped off the dumpster yesterday, he said the roofers would start at 7, maybe 6:40.  They were here at 5:40.    Can't blame them it's hot on those roofs.  A Mexican crew, of course, they get all the grunt work.  Four guys in a two seater van.  They're on it.  My cat has already checked out the van.

Sorry, they shoved 3 guys in the back of the van sitting on tarps with rest of the equipment.  Barely speak english, just like the guys digging the optic wires.  You have to wonder if they are being taken advantage of.  When I worked with the Cambodian refugees, they were victimized by everybody including other refugees who could speak english.  They feared the government so we didn't know what was happening as everything was said through interpreters.  They'd smile at you all the time but behind those smiles you knew they were scared.

[cineater]

Almost 10 and they are still here cleaning up and they have to come back tomorrow to finish.  The neighbor is pissed there is roofing material all over the place.  He made the owner come out who told him it was a construction site and would be all clean before they leave.  Then added $2000 to his bill to replace some decking Mike knew had to be done, would cost him out of pocket because it wasn't connected to the hail storm.  Mike tried to get me all upset by pointing out they put sheets of wood on my grass and it was killing it.  Er, that's shit grass and it's not going to kill it in this short of time.  You know he's still pissed they don't have his car done.     We do this again, he's picking the fucking contractor.

On a good note, playing 3 people who are better at me in pinball and I took 3 second places and one third.  Did not get my ass kick there.    Bitched at at little bit.   

[cineater]

Roofs are done.  The neighbor is happy with the work and complaining about the small pieces left behind.     I left early this morning and went and gardened all day.  It was all over by the time I got home.

[Muerto]

When the guy dropped off the dumpster yesterday, he said the roofers would start at 7, maybe 6:40.  They were here at 5:40.    Can't blame them it's hot on those roofs.  A Mexican crew, of course, they get all the grunt work.  Four guys in a two seater van.  They're on it.  My cat has already checked out the van.

Proud of my honest and hard-working countrymen who do everything possible to achieve a better standard of living, even with hard jobs, I know that irregular migration is a very complex issue today from different perspectives, but many are committed to leaving their homes to achieve the famous "American dream", some succeed and others suffer the consequences. I'm glad they have completed the adjustments to your roof.

In this area of ​​the Gulf of Mexico (south of Veracruz) we are experiencing one of the worst heat waves, there is still time to fix the leaks in the roofs  , the rainy season usually begins in mid-May but this year it seems there will not be even light drizzles  .

[cineater]

When the guy dropped off the dumpster yesterday, he said the roofers would start at 7, maybe 6:40.  They were here at 5:40.    Can't blame them it's hot on those roofs.  A Mexican crew, of course, they get all the grunt work.  Four guys in a two seater van.  They're on it.  My cat has already checked out the van.

Proud of my honest and hard-working countrymen who do everything possible to achieve a better standard of living, even with hard jobs, I know that irregular migration is a very complex issue today from different perspectives, but many are committed to leaving their homes to achieve the famous "American dream", some succeed and others suffer the consequences. I'm glad they have completed the adjustments to your roof.

In this area of ​​the Gulf of Mexico (south of Veracruz) we are experiencing one of the worst heat waves, there is still time to fix the leaks in the roofs  , the rainy season usually begins in mid-May but this year it seems there will not be even light drizzles  .

I'm not sure if it's politically correct to say but I always hope the Mexican guys come to do the labor jobs.  They work their asses off and the job is always good.  I text the company this morning to say besure to tell the crew the neighbor is very happy with their work.  I called them grumpy old men but my friend says bitchy white guys. 

[cineater]

My eyes still feel like I've been swimming in the pool with my eyes open.  Guess I better go back to the eye doctor next week.  And get that roofing nail out of my tire.  I've been putting off both.

My daughter is on vacation next week.  She worked a 12 hour day to get caught up and still brought home work to do.  No way to enjoy a vacation.  I use to not take them because it would take me six weeks to get caught back up if I did.  I watched the baby today and cleaned her house, did the laundry.  Taking a day here and there works better when you're in one of those jobs.  Leaving the country so they can't get to you for two weeks is a real vacation.  Too far away for you to do anything about it and nothing to trigger you.

[cineater]

Who knew the SIL knew how to plug a tire.  I'm taking it over there tomorrow.  Solves one problem.

The grandbaby took 5 steps to me.  Would have been more but the dog wanted attention.  Can't wait for him to walk.

[cineater]

Imagery is returning.  I use a lot of imagery when I'm storytelling.  Writing is a great adventure for me.  Knew I was due for one and it's happening. 

I got a clue yesterday when I was feeling lines from a song, Terrapin Station, "inspiration, move me brightly", "statements just seem vain at last" and my sig, "but the train's put it's brakes on and the whistle is screaming, terrapin".  Thank god, writers' block is such a bitch and kind of lonely.

But back to imagery.  I see it with my second eye.  It's not a hallucination; it's not that real.  But I do see parts of the scene and can feel some of it.  My second eye is more like a daydream but I didn't start it or control where it's going.  Today, driving along, I was just thinking how all the things I had going on have been completed.  Some people see that as juggling balls in the air.  I see it as ropes hanging in the air to be tied down.  Some you can just grab, others you really have to latch onto and struggle to get to the ground.  Todays were as easy to pull on as if they had been attached to a balloon, gather them up and make a pretty balloon bouquet and let them go.  How easy was that?  Unlike those ones I really have to struggle with and now my forearms feel the strain of that thought.  Might have gripped the steering wheel a little too hard when I saw that.   

No story in mind but it will come.  My novel characters might come for me.  They left me as a caretaker in a graveyard and cut out.  The birds have been presenting themselves.  They are great as a short story or important cameo appearance.  And I've got a grandbaby now.  My daughter always use to ask me to tell her my stories rather than read her a book.  Must have been good at it as they never put her to sleep.