Granny Pam

Some things are too beautiful to describe. My roses have cooperated and many will be in bloom on Saturday for the open house. Here is the first rose, M-in-L showed it to me this morning. It’s on my desktop now.

Shopping starts today. Last cleaning tomorrow. Food prep on Friday, including setting up tables & chairs. Papa will mow Thursday evening. Tents up after.

Last day of school for Grandson One. I hollered up the stairs and yelled that it was the last time I’d have to peel him out of bed for school. So happy, so sad.

Mom is home, she went yesterday. They took away a medicine that could have been the problem, They did enough tests to bankrupt the medical system, got her straightened out, and sent her home. I’m thinking this isn’t going to be a permanent fix, but if sure fixes this week. I did talk to both my brothers during this latest event, it’s the only time I do.

Papa’s mother arrived with him, so our household will include M-in-L for the rest of the week. Lots of thrift shop trips, and other things I wouldn’t do normally. Detroit had record high temps yesterday. We turned on the air, I’ll bet a lot of people did. No other way to breath.

Cut my finger on a knife in the dishwater, had to clean the carpet and some other things were stained, including a couple of Papa’s shirts which I apparently hung up while it was still bleeding. Too many errors there, oh well.

The garbage is out, and another hot day is coming.

Well, the garage is clean, if you look at the front half. That’s all we need for the food anyway. Daughter One and sons handled that yesterday while I sat with Mom at the hospital. Step-dad gets tired, worry tires everyone fast.

Papa went up north as planned. This morning he and his Mom are out at all the cemeteries. They did my Dad’s plot for me. This makes me happy, since Dad was fussy about how it looked at Memorial Day.

Mom is a little better, and they are doing every test on earth to see how to help her be more comfortable. I’d be really happy if her appetite came back and she would consider a little shopping trip. We’ll see. I just hope she is well enough to come for the open house.

Back to the cleaning…

Mom is sick, again or perhaps still. She called from the truck, my step-dad her is driving her to the hospital. She visited her doctor and they just aren’t sure which problem is bothering her. Right before the holiday, right when she and step-dad had plans to camp with his family. He’s getting tired, and it’s so sad.

I finally can’t stand it anymore and I’m going to say something political. This is the craziest wild-goose chase I’ve seen in years. Many people heard a rumor that Hoffa was buried at this farm (and many other places) 30 years ago. The same stories have been circulating for years.

Give me a break.

I found 18 recent articles in a quick search of the Detroit Free Press today. The evening news is disrupted by ‘breaking news!” oftener than not. I can tell you for sure that breaking news isn’t what it used to be. A view of a bunch of FBI agents standing around on a farm in Milford is not breaking news, it is a sign of action after 30 year.

Our dinner table conversation last night included a chance to educate grandsons One and Two on the history of the word "teamster", a view of the Teamster's union, and other conversation designed to help them understand why all the fuss. Remember, their parents were very young 30 years ago.

I’m watching our tax dollars being spent to create a media circus. Oh well, they do that in lots of places, I guess.

If you even care, here is where the fun is:


Circus

Barn is Victim

Forensic experts

Scientists Doubt

Day 5

Buried Priorities

Milford blushes in Hoffa spotlight

Pointless Endeavor

Officials sat on Hoffa farm tip

A carpet, a backhoe and two strangers

The hunt for Hoffa heats up

Lawyer: FBI knew Hoffa tip years ago

Grandson One is graduating from High School soon. Now, all you grannies know that we love ‘em all and treat them the same and on and on and on. But this is my first grandchild. He arrived new and beautiful into this confusing world very recently, less than 18 years ago.

With the exception of a few short years, he has been a constant presence in my daily life ever since. That makes almost 18 years a long time. He has grown taller than us, about 6-2 or so, and stronger than us, and has learned a lot over the years. He is well liked and even adults who meet him complement his Mom.

Tomorrow, he is taking a physical so he can join the Navy. For One, this is a good choice. He is bright but not a scholar, so college seems an unreasonable idea. Jobs for high school graduates in our area are few, far between and low paying. One parent, two grandparents and an aunt are a lot of authority figures of deal with for almost 18 years. A little space must look very welcome.

And, this choice was one for him to make, and one he has made. Perhaps this is a safe platform from which he can learn and launch. I hope so, he will always occupy a huge part of me, and I will always worry about him and pray for him.

The new kittens have grown a lot, more than doubling their weight in the past couple of weeks. They are still cute, as kittens are. We call them Catties a lot, that is what granddaughter Two came up with when she saw them, kind of a cross between kittens and cats I guess. I’m delivering them to the clinic for a bit of preventative surgery this morning. We’ll miss them tonight, but they will be back tomorrow.

Eleven days to go to the open house. I got a folder of photos together for a slide show. Daughter One will add hers, Papa is bringing some home from his office to scan. With any luck, that will be done in time. Daughter Three managed to borrow chairs from her place of employment. We will send grandsons One and Two to pick them up the night before. That is a big thing off the list. Papa started picking up his tools and other possessions and organizing his garage space. We will only be putting food in the garage, but some items need to be moved.

Carpet in the house looks nice now. Kitchen is much cleaner. Bathroom here I come! The foundation isn’t painted yet, the wind was too high again yesterday. It’s starting out frosty again this morning, oh well.

The company were Papa works is being acquired by a management group backed by investors. This will be ownership change number 4 in the 28 years he’s worked there. It’s hard to tell what will happen, but the past couple of years have been rough, perhaps this will improve things a bit. Papa just wants to do his job until he reaches retirement age, he isn’t interested in a roller coaster ride.

My Dad used to survey the weather each morning and assign a color. Blue and gray were common selections. Actually today is a beautiful day, if chilly. The sun is out and the rain is gone, at least for a while. I’m blue because nothing that I need to have done is done, (and I’m once again writing for a blog that no one reads). I need to get a hold of my self!

The chairs are progressing but won’t be done for the party, oh well. Daughters One and Three cooperated and filled all the patio pots with flowers over the weekend while Papa and I sat in lawn chairs, watched a little music and visited with old friends. When we got home Sunday I worked on my lawn chair project while Papa mowed.

When I finally got to my e-mail, in came the frost warning from my-cast.com. I knew it would, I still have an earache from the cold wind over the weekend.

So, Daughter One has grandsons One and Two bring all the newly planted pots into the garage. It was full before that maneuver. Papa and I covered all the tomato and pepper plants in the garden. It’s still muddy enough out there that we sunk almost ankle deep. And frost it did come, it froze quite hard. The plants in the garage are safe, I haven’t checked the garden yet, too muddy.

Papa mowed the lawn yesterday, it looks great. It should, he put new blades on both mowers, and did everything himself, including trimming. He hasn’t been to happy with the job the hired help does—that’s me—but it looks great now. I did try to help, but my string trimmer, small and lady-like has died. I can’t handle the big gas one, and if I could, I couldn’t start it.

On the bright side, the sun is shining, the world is round, three loads of wash are done, 4 and 5 are in the washer and dryer, the kitchen/dining room carpet is half cleaned, the storm windows are down from the dining room window and in the basement, and there is no wind. I will be painting the foundation by noon.

Someone has been using my computer again. There are 6 residents of this house and 5 computers. All have access to the internet through the network. Grandsons One and Two are forced to share a computer (oh no), but the usual reason for someone using mine is that it is in the dining room. This is bad news for all; I get real annoyed about it. I am no longer signed in on my homepage and have to provide a user name *AND* password.

The open house is 15 days away, so wisely, instead of making a list of what’s left to do I am wasting time posting on a Blog no one reads. Next week is my last “work week”. I know when we come home from “up North” after Memorial Day we will have a hitchhiker in our van. Papa’s Mother will return with us.

The only other attendees for the open house from our former home will drive down the day of, and leave the day of or the day after. Grandma needs to be here ahead of time, and cannot ride with any of them. After all, she’s the only one in the family that can make potato salad that any of us will eat (including me).

I’m in charge of the tables and chairs and the good news is I should finish in this lifetime. Daughter Three brought home 5 tables from work yesterday. Three works in a hardware store, which found itself with a stock of plastic patio tables with white tops and cream colored legs. I’m now the proud owner of 5 round plastic tables, which were on markdown and were purchased with an employee discount. We’ll be sitting on the grass, but we’ll have tables to put our food on.

Oh yes, the chairs. I’d been wanting some of those old metal lawn chairs like we sat in when I was a child, just a few years ago. Papa and I purchased 2 of those gems during a road trip through Ohio several years ago. You may know the story, the metal was solid, etc, etc, etc.

This project has been filed in the garage for several years. I started this week and was dismayed to find that it’s FRIDAY already and I haven’t even removed all the old paint.

So, you know what is on today's list. Wish me luck--better still come over and help.

Rain, rain, rain. I’ve had a rain gauge for several years, but I can’t remember to bring them inside in the winter and they freeze and break. Daughter Three gifted me with a new one for Mother’s day. It hasn’t stopped raining since, and it rained almost every day in May before the gift. There have been 7/8 twice since I put the darn thing out Tuesday. So… that’s 14/8, 1-6/8, 1-3/4. Thanks for letting me complete the math, never my best subject.

The garden is a mud hole. Not sure if the tomatoes will survive, and also not sure if anything else will come up. We should have planted rice. The forecast is for light rain through tomorrow noon.

The new kitties are running all over. Our cat Fred died a while back, quite a shock as he was pretty young. So, we had lost 2 cats in less than a couple of years. Daughter One went to an adopt a pet event and came home with 2 kittens, both female, both cute. They don’t look like any other cats we’ve had, that’s a big plus around here. We are cat people for sure, and these are cute. They are named, but we don’t all agree on the names. They have grown a pound each since arrival, about 2 weeks ago.

Nice in April, crappy in May. So much rain we have webs between our toes. Oldest grandson is graduating, trying to get the yard in reasonable shape for an open house. Losing the battle.

Today I painted some lawn chairs, stripped and sanded others, painted a table, did a bunch of wash. Suddenly it was suppertime and nothing was cooked. That is the story of my life. Better luck tomorrow.