Thankful Sunday--October 9, 2016

The dogwood trees are always the first to change. If you look closely,
you can see a few yellow and red leaves on the maple tree.

I am thankful for fall weather.

Today it really feels like fall. There is a chill in the air and a wind that is blowing the leaves that are just beginning to change. To me there is nothing better than the change of seasons. The transition from one to the other always gives me a change of perspective and a reset that is needed each time it rolls around. So for the change of seasons and the feel of fall in the air, I am thankful.

House update

We're still working fast and furious here trying to get to the point where we can live and own only one house. In fact, I've started this post several different times, only to be interrupted by some kind of house issue. This morning it was figuring out when the tile shop is open so we could do some shopping after work.

We took a drive around the neighborhood one day
 and found these roosting vultures. 

Since we're looking for tile, you might have guessed that the contractor has begun work in the new house. The master bath has been gutted and is being rebuilt. Which means, lots of decisions to be made. I don't know how there can be so many choices for things and yet none of them seem to work for what we need/want. But nevertheless, we are finding things.

We have also decided to pull up all of the carpet that is there and replace it with hardwoods to match the family room and dining room where they already are. The carpet just didn't clean up like we had hoped. So we can't move in anything upstairs until all of that work is done.

However, we have done some moving into the basement. Meaning Theo has moved in. The basement has some finished space and some unfinished space that will make a great workshop for him, so we invited him to join us. He is out of his apartment and settling in. Sort of. The construction is causing enough dust and chaos, that he can't do much yet.

Back at this house we continue to purge things and pack a few. However, there is a long way to go before this house is ready to put on the market. We just don't seem to have any blocks of time where we can work on things here. And as the year moves on and we move into the time when the housing market it dead, I get more and more antsy.

So I'm still kind of going crazy and I feel like there is no rest for the weary. However, I know these are good problems to have and I am grateful that I'm dealing with them and not some other issues that have needed attention in the past.

Thankful Sunday--October 2, 2016

I am thankful for my father-in-law and family fun.

Yesterday my father-in-law, Leo, had his annual pig roast. About 60 people enjoyed a good time in spite of the rain that continued until the afternoon. His kids all came together to make it happen and it's turned into a special family event each fall. For family and fun, I am thankful.

BTW, Leo is a very clever man who loves tinkering. I will have to post more about him later, but in the above picture is a small example of his work.

This was the fire station (manned by Theo) to keep hot coals for the pig roasting (done by Ward).
Many things you see in this picture were made by Leo using parts from old hot water heaters, dryers, cement molds from trash can lids, cinder blocks, etc. Of special note is the bottle chandelier hanging from the tree in the very top of the picture. You just see a hint of it here. This is made from old bottles, LED lights from "throw-away" things from the Dollar store, plastic tops from coffee cans, and an old flashlight as the power source. I'll have to get a better picture sometime.

A Second Look--September 28, 2016

Or should I say a First Look. Last night, we were at the new house and I took a few pictures before it got dark. Apparently, the former owner loved fruit trees. According to his wife, he had all kinds planted. However, some of them must be gone because I haven't seen any peach or plum trees she said they had.  Among the several that are still there, major branches have been split off but they still seem to be thriving. When we actually get moved in, we're going to start learning how to care for them. One thing I do know is that serious pruning is needed.

Here are a few things I saw this week 

during a First Look.

There are two pear trees and one of them started blooming again last week. From what I read, this can happen when there has been bad weather during the summer that puts the tree into dormancy. When the weather gets better and it starts growing again, the tree thinks it's spring and it's coming out of its winter sleep. This is a new one for me. 

There are a couple of crabapple trees. This fruit is big enough to make crabapple jelly if one were so inclined.

However, the crabapples on the other tree are too small (marble size) to do much with except throw at each other--which Miss Landers did during her first visit to see the new house. We grew up with a crabapple tree in our yard and she was feeling nostalgic. Good thing she doesn't have very good aim.

What has me the most excited is that there are two full-size apple trees. I've eaten a few of these and they are pretty tart. I think that's because most of the ones I've tried are not quite ripe. However, they are dropping like crazy, so I'm trying to get a few before the insects totally devour them. Anyone want to take a guess of what kind they are because we have no idea. The other tree is a golden delicious, I think. The apples are totally gone from it.

The picture is a little blurry, but you get an idea of what kind of damage is on some of the trees.

Ornamental plum tree. I said the plum trees were gone, but that's not exactly what I meant. I meant the plum trees that produce plums you can eat are gone.

A view of a couple of the trees from the house. BTW, the corner bed in the back is full of poison ivy. We're gonna have to find some one to take care of that before we start to work in it. 

It's just stuff.

The way people think is very complex, but I usually think of it in this way for myself. I have my logical mind where I can logically think things through, understand situations and their implications, and make good decisions. Then there's my emotional mind where I react instead of act, I'm upset but not sure why (look out when I'm in one of those moods), and I ruminate over things. And unfortunately, my emotional mind is usually playing catch up with my logical mind. My logical mind keeps talking, but it takes a while for my emotional mind to listen.

And that's what's been going on during the last month or so. As you know, after years of idle talk about what Ward and I wanted to do in the future, the future jumped out and tripped us. All at once we were in the midst of buying and selling a house. And I mean, it was only four days from our first talk with a real estate agent until we had a contract. And our heads haven't stopped spinning since then.

Well, a week ago an important piece of the puzzle fell into place--meaning that we actually closed on the new house. After signing the papers, we went to claim our newly purchased house. But instead of being excited, I felt scared and sad when we went inside. I definitely wasn't happy. All I could think of was, "What had we done?"

I cried. I lost sleep. I yelled at Ward. It was not a pretty picture. I tried to convince myself that it was only a house and Ward and I would be happy wherever we were. I tried to remember how much I liked the house when we first saw it. But once again, my logical mind was way ahead of my emotional mind.

And then one day, my muddled thoughts became clearer. It was not the house that was the problem, it was the emotions that it triggered involving my own parents. You see, we bought the house from a 94 year-old woman who had reached the point where she could no longer live alone in a big house and had to move. Just like my mother did 8 months ago. This woman's husband died three years ago, just when my father died. For me, the emotions that came with aging parents were represented in that house. After I figured this out, I started to feel a little better. Because the house was really just a thing, it was not the people in it. Like most everything else, it was just stuff. In fact, I walked around saying, "It's just stuff," all the time.

And then a couple of days ago, an interesting thing happened. Aunt Martha and I were at the new house cleaning floors and I found something in the back corner of one of the closets. It was a little fishing sinker--just like the ones my father used to make. And it made me smile. I'm not sure if I believe in signs, but I took it as one. I thought it was my father's way of telling me that we had done the right thing. That this was the house for us and we were going to be happy there. And we will. :)