Weekend Update

Trying to think of title for this post.  Once I typed it, I remembered Saturday Night Live.  Back in the day there was a segment on Saturday Night Live called Weekend Update with Jane Curtain and Chevy Chase.  Yes, back in the day on Saturday Night Live started for me in the summer of 1974.  It's been a long time since I watched Saturday Night Live.  Believe it or not, I can't stay up that late anymore.  I use to be a night owl until I hit my 50s.  Now, sleep is very precious to me.  In my 20s I survived without sleep.  Who needed sleep?  I could party all night, shower, and go to work when the sun came up.  Not every night, maybe two nights a week.  Ahh, those were the days!  In my 30s, I needed maybe four to five hours.  In my 40s, I needed at least six hours of sleep to function.  Once I hit my 50s, it was the full 8 hours I need to feel human.  When I was in my 20s, I worked with a woman who was in her late 40s (then).  She said as you get older, you require less sleep.  It never worked that way for me, how about you?


I got off track there for a bit, still with me?  John is a "let's get it all done during the weekend" kinda guy, there's always a project he wants done.  John is also a NASCAR fan and Washington Redskins fanatic (that's more than a fan).  Both NASCAR and football are usually televised on Sundays for those who don't follow one or both.  The Redskins play Monday night, NASCAR was this afternoon.  One of the features he was sure our (new) TV we got last April has was the picture-in-picture feature just for the times when they're scheduled at the same time.   He can watch both at the same time on one TV.  His world is wonderful, right?


I know when the weekend rolls around, John has a project for us to do.  Before John starts with his grand plans for my help, I let him know I had plans of my own for Saturday morning after the Walking Group.  Fairfax County, where we live, offers free shredding events for residents.  This Saturday was such an event.


I set my alarm for 6:30am on Friday night in anticipation of the Walking Group, although rain was forecast.  There was no posting on the website about meeting at the mall to walk, which they have posted before when rain or extreme heat is expected.  It was drizzling again when the alarm went off at 6:30am for the Saturday Morning Walking Group.  I shut off the alarm at and rolled over.  I got up around 8am and had my coffee and watched the weather to see if the drizzle was going to break.


I still had the shredding event to get to.  I keep old bills, pay stubs, invoices, etc in a large box.  We have a shredder.  However, since I throw everything in the box and have for years, I would probably burn up the motor of the shredder if I decided to shred everything in the box.  I decided the shred event was the best bet.  I emptied the box into a clean white kitchen size trash bag, threw the bag in the trunk of my car and headed out to the shredding event about 9:30am.  The drizzling had stopped.  I'd never been to the place where this event was being held, about five miles from my home, but I found it. 

When I pulled in, there were five cars ahead of me.   They had guys with the yellow reflective jackets wheeling those large recycle bins up to cars where they would dump the documents for shredding into the large recycle bin.

This event was well organized, I was impressed.  There were lots of employees from the shredding company there to help people who needed it.

Heading back home after making my shred deposit, I see another sign in the medium strip.  Getting closer, I see the County Fall Festival is next weekend.  I would love to go, but it means battling the crowds.  I find as I get older, I don't like crowds much.  I know John wouldn't want to go.  Years ago, we use to battle the crowds and spend too much money on junk we didn't need.  In this economy, with me not working, probably best we stay home anyway.

I arrived back home about 10am.  John wants to visit his Mom (that means I go too).  She took a nasty fall about 10 days ago at her house.  She has a multi-level deck and she missed a step going down the stairs.  She went down on her knees, stomach, hands, and hit the side of her face on a lawn chair.  She is 78 years old.  We wanted to take her to the doctor, she wouldn't go.  She said nothing was broken, she could walk, everything moved, just a bit slower.  Her legs, hands and face were badly bruised and swollen.  We asked if there was anything she needed, anything we could pick up before we headed over.  She said John's brother, Mark, had been by one day this week after work and picked up everything she wanted.  We visited for a couple of hours.


Back home again about 2:30, the sky was darkening again, threatening rain, John had hoped to get the lawn mowed.  It was about 4pm when the sun poked out a bit.  He felt this was his opportunity.  The forecast was chance of rain through next Wednesday.  He went for it and paid for it.  John has a touch of arthritis in his legs.  When it rains or there's a chance of rain, he is in pain with his legs.  He got the lawn mowed, it never rained Saturday afternoon.  Today was miserable for him, it was overcast again with an 80% chance of rain today.  It rained this morning, nothing after that.  He sat on the couch in front of the TV most of the day telling me how bad his left leg hurts.  I hope this rain and chance of rain moves out soon, we're going on ten days of rain and drizzle, eight inches of rain so far this month.


Oh the message I left for the mortgage company to call me back...as I guessed, they never called.  I called again on Friday and got a human.  "Jade" confirmed our fax was received.  So, as far was we know, they have all the paperwork they've asked for.  What we need to know is how much money we'll need at closing next Friday.  They still don't have that number as of Friday (closing is next Friday, 9/30).  My mission this week is to call and get the answer to that question.  I have two other missions.  Inquire as to the cost of First Alert or similar system for his mother.  If she falls again, she can call for help since she lives alone.  Also, she has a ranch home with a basement.  Her laundry room is in the basement.  She is willing to have a chair glide installed for her safety instead of using the stairs.  I must inquire as to installation,  cost, etc.  I'm all ears on suggestions!

We Have Ice

It's been raining on and off all week long, expected to continue through next Tuesday - just lovely.  Does a wet fall make for more leaf color?  Tomorrow, first day of Fall.  What happened to summer?  I want summer back!!

I've been chasing down a document the settlement folks want for our September 30th (house refinance) settlement - a title insurance document.  We tore the house upside down looking for this document last weekend.  We found our original settlement paperwork from 2003 when we bought our house, it wasn't there.  It was sent after settlement, supposedly with the Deed.  We have the Deed - no title insurance document, ugh.  I contacted the settlement company we used in 2003.  The wonderful lady there was nice enough dig out our title insurance document from their storage, scan it and email it to me.  I love technology, I got it within 48 hours of request (sometimes things go right)!  John and I had another document from our current settlement company requiring our signature.  We signed and faxed all 10 (ten!) pages (both documents) to the current settlement company.  John didn't want to scan and email, he's afraid someone will steal our identity (signatures?), he's so paranoid.  Yes, I know, we can password protect the scanned document.  He was adamant, he didn't want it emailed, fine, whatever, it's signed and faxed - done.  I called to confirm the fax was received on their end (I have a fax transmission receipt too).  I got a General Voice Mailbox ("please leave a message, we'll get back to you shortly")!!!  I left a message requesting a (human) call back confirmation that our fax was received....haven't heard from them yet.  I suppose I'll spend tomorrow redialing them until I get a human.

My lunch buddy came back today.  Plopped right down in her spot in the woods, minus her Fawn.  Maybe it wasn't the same deer that was here before?  She stayed a little longer this time, about two hours.

The refrigerator repair guy was here today during the same time my lunch buddy showed up.  He thought it was pretty cool to have a deer napping in the woods behind my house.  I thought it was pretty cool too.

To refresh/review our refrigerator situation....our ice maker went out for the third time on our six year old LG refrigerator a couple of weeks ago.  This time it was actually the valve, not the ice maker.  When Mike (refrigerator repair guy) was here about two weeks ago, he brought a whole new ice maker unit and installed it to discover it was the valve, not the ice maker that malfunctioned.  He left the new ice maker installed (what a nice guy!).  The repair company called last week to schedule today's appointment stating the valve ordered had come in.  Mike was scheduled to arrive between 7am and Noon.  Mike comes from Baltimore, about two hours away.  I knew it would take him longer in today's rainy traffic.  Mike had told me when he visited previously that he meets his father-in-law, owner of the company, for breakfast every morning at 7am.  Mike wasn't going to make it here at 7am, I didn't say a word.  I slept in this morning since it was raining until 8am.  Below are pictures of our refrigerator and the ice maker.  My camera flash is automatic.  I guess my camera sensor decided the flash was needed for these pictures (sorry about the flash reflections).

Mike called at 11:05am, he was at another appointment about 30 minutes away in Ashburn, Virginia, he expected to be at my place by 11:30 or 11:45am.  Mike knocked on my door at 12:02pm.  He had to pull the refrigerator out, away from the wall.  I warned him, I don't clean back there often.  He said he'd seen worse.  I felt relieved, even if he was lying.  I'd asked Mike if I could have the old valve to show John.  Apparently, the valve has to be returned to the manufacturer.  Mike let me take a picture.

The best news....WE HAVE ICE!!!  I bought a small five pound bag at the grocery store yesterday just in case Mike didn't show up today.  Oh well, I have ice in the garage freezer next time we lose power.  For now, life is good in my world, hope it is in yours too!

It's Done

Saturday is my Walking Group day.  I diligently set my alarm for 6:30am.  I only hit the snooze once.  Every alarm clock I've owned has a nine minute snooze - why nine minutes?  I was vertical and heading for the coffee pot by 6:45.  Although it was still dark outside, sunrise was soon, it was getting lighter outside already.  I pulled back the curtains, to my my shock, it's drizzling outside!  Rain wasn't in the forecast as of last night's weather report.  It was suppose to be overcast, no rain, drizzle, whatever.  The rain was suppose to be off the Virginia Beach coast, we're 3.5 hours Northwest of Virginia Beach!  Needless to say, I didn't go walking with the group this morning.


John's agenda for the day was the trimming the hedges.  He was up about an hour later and saw the rain.  "Now what?" he says.  I checked the forecast previously, "there's a chance of showers for most of the day continuing through Noon tomorrow" I told him.  He was not happy.  His plan for Sunday was the couch and football like every other football fan in America, right?  He changed the channel to The Weather Channel to see if the radar gave any clues.  He saw a break coming on The Weather Channel radar.  John figures it will be about another hour or so until it stops drizzling.  He wanted to mow the grass too.  "It will be too wet to mow" I said.  "We'll see" was his response.  It was a light drizzle kind of rain, not exactly raining by the definition of the word, and it was on and off, nothing soaking wet, certainly no downpours.


Okay, John is the weekend Project Director.  Inside project - clean the ceiling fans.  He wanted them all vacuumed/cleaned.  He grabbed the vacuum cleaner and off he went.  I was going to offer to do them one day this coming week when he is at work.  When I saw him hauling the vacuum cleaner past me, I kept quiet, thinking "if he wants to clean the ceiling fans, have at it buddy".  We have six ceiling fans.  By the time he made it to the kitchen where I was, it the last ceiling fan.  John checked the radar again, the drizzle stopped it is lighting up, little by little.


"It was really cold last night" John says and I agreed.  We got down to the upper 40s, for us in Northern Virginia in mid-September, that's cold.  "I think we're going to want to use the fireplace soon" he says.  We have a gas fireplace with remote in the living room.  I rarely sit in the living room.  John is planted on our Lazy-boy reclining sofa in front of the 72 inch TV at least every Sunday during football season.  If NASCAR is scheduled on Saturdays, then he's there both days.  When both football and NASCAR are on Sundays, he has the picture-in-picture feature he uses to watch both at the same time - ain't life grand?  I know who is going to benefit from the fireplace being on, who is he kidding?  "It needs to be cleaned and the pilot light needs to be lit" John informs me.  Off he goes again with his flashlight and the vacuum cleaner.  Where is this energy coming from?  "Do you need some help?" I offered, since I'm usually handing tools for the projects.  "Nope, I'll let you know if I need you" he said.  I went back to my computer game and watching the news.  About a half hour later, he goes past me dragging the vacuum cleaner to it's resting place.  "Are you finished?" I asked.  "Yep, and I think the rain has stopped" he responded.  That was my cue to get my rear in gear, I could tell by his gaze at me.

It was about 11:15am, the drizzle had stopped and it was beginning to lighten up - I wouldn't call it sunny, but it was brighter than overcast gray.  I knew that it meant we were on for the hedge trimming.  I changed into some lightweight sweatpants, cotton type, not fleece, and I put on a sweatshirt.  It was cold by our average temperature, almost Noon and not even 60 degrees yet.

John says "I have to remember to keep the cord out of the way" he grinned at me.  Last year, he swung the electric trimmer around and cut the extension cord.  I think anyone with an electric trimmer has done that at least once, right?  It's a standing joke between us each time the electric trimmer appears.


His job, trim the hedges.  My job, rake and bag.  I have to move very slowly, I have a bad back.  A herniated disc just above the tailbone, below the lower back.  I've been under chiropractic care for about 20 years.  I HAVE TO be very careful.  If you've ever thrown your back out, you know what I'm talking about.  If you've never thrown your back out, imagine what it is like not to walk vertical but bent at the waist (you look "up" to see where you are going, it is the sitting position - walking).  That's how it is for me, until I get to the Chiropractor and get on the three visits a week with heat and electrodes until I can eventually walk upright again in about two weeks. I HAVE TO be careful and go slow.  I immediately remember when the pain starts in my back - slow down I say to myself.  I was starting to sweat.  Inside I go to change from the sweatshirt into a t-shirt, much better.


Like a madman, John is off with the trimmer...what is it with men and their tools?  He started with the hedges by the front door.  Nice, even, full, don't they look great now?

I let him move over toward the front of the house with the trimmer and I raked and bagged the front entryway s-l-o-w-l-y.  Again, a huge improvement.  They should have been done in the spring, but that's another story for another time.

The hostas will be cut back when the leaves fall, about mid-November usually, another back breaking Saturday chore.  I continue on to rake the front as John heads to the other side of the house with the trimmer.  He's moving at twice the speed I am.  Fine with me, just means I'll get his help when he's finished trimming.  I have to admit, there certainly is a difference when it is done, don't you think?  (note, no clippings anywhere on the lawn :)

I continue raking and bagging.  Imagine doing 25 squats walking about ten steps and doing another 25 squats.  That's what I did this afternoon with the raking and bagging FOR 4.5 HOURS!  Here's the bagging result, ten bags of hedge trimmings, IT'S DONE, at least until Spring.  John headed for the shed and pulled out the lawnmower.  It took him another 45 minutes to do the front and back yards, he used the bagger on the back of the mower because the grass was wet.  "IT'S DONE" he said exhausted and relieved, his final project completed.  He added another bag of lawn clippings to this after I took this picture.  These go to the curb for pickup on Tuesday.  I started dinner, a pork loin roast with brown rice and green beans (I forgot to take a picture, honestly, almost too sore to cook).

Late Friday afternoon, a Doe and her Fawn were cutting through the woods in our backyard.  I guess they needed a place to get out of the sun and feed for awhile.  Look closely, can you see them?

After feeding on the trees, the Doe decided it was naptime.  She and her Fawn went down for a nap, they stayed for about an hour.  It's difficult to spot them in this picture because of the trees.  They're lying down behind the closest tree, I hope you can see them.

I'm so sore, I can barely move.  My back hurts, my legs hurt, everything hurts.  If I had gone walking this morning with the group (if they went), I probably wouldn't be this sore.  It would have been my warm up for today's hedge raking and bagging.  I've got the Advil ready to take just before bed tonight.  Hopefully, I will be mobile and upright tomorrow.

I'll See You Later My Friend

I lost a good friend, Jim, to Cancer last Saturday.  Jim was 57 years old.  

His wife, Jean, and I are both in the same field of work, Human Resources.  Jean and I worked our way up from the trenches with no formal training, helping employees and learning as we went along, we often compared notes.  When Jean and Jim weren't together, they were talking about each other.  Jim was a patriot, a Washington Redskins football fan with season tickets, a fanatic reader - always had a book in hand, a loving husband to Jean and and a dedicated father to son, JD.  





Although we didn't stay in touch on a daily basis, we stayed in touch through phone calls and emails and saw each other at least during the the Christmas holidays and birthday parties.  I miss you, and I'll see you later my dear friend, rest in peace.

I've been depressed a bit this week since hearing of the passing of my friend.  As I mentioned, I attended a funeral six months ago of another good friend, John, who was a Navy Seal.  John was 50 years old.  John passed to Cancer also.  Why am I attending friends funerals every six months?  I'm worried, I'm scared.


Earlier in the week, some things I took note of with the camera.  I have to document the trash folks when they almost get it right.  Here, they got our recycling can back on the curb.  This time they didn't leave it as a dodge ball target in the street. 

We've had a beautiful week of weather, a bit humid for me, but at least its been sunny after the week of rain we had previously.  I'm counting my blessings.  Today, it was cold 46 degrees (beyond chilly) when I woke up and the house felt cooler, which I do like.  We've got a weekend of yard work planned, John informed me - hedge trimming specifically.  The cooler weather is suppose to continue through the weekend.  I also have to pull out the tomato plants and winterize the garden.  I have a few weekends yet to cut back the plants for the winter.  I usually take care of that stuff when the leaves start falling.  Our leaves for the most part are still green and on the trees, fine by me.  Although, maybe the cooler weather will be changing the leaves, we'll see.


Heading out the door to my car this week, I noticed a mushroom poking up through the brickwork of the front garden and the sidewalk.  First time I've seen one around here this large.

I yanked it out and threw it away after taking this picture.  If you are local, enjoy the cooler weather like I am.  If not, I hope the weather is great where you are, and you are tackling life as it comes.

Honey Do

I am very fortunate that John is talented in the areas of fixing things, improving things, and building things.  I am not so fortunate when there's a project he wants to tackle.  You see, I am his assistant.  Today's project is installing new sensor lights on our garage.  Sensor lights allow lights to come on when tripped by a sensor.  One set will light the side of the garage (nearest the woods - I'm sure the deer love them), the other set will light the driveway.  John upgraded the ones we had because one of the two sets of sensor lights had a socket that didn't work.  He replaced the bulb and the light still didn't work.  It's been out about two weeks.  He went off to Lowe's and bought the newest, best, most expensive upgrade the LED, which is suppose to save us $50 annually on our electric bill according to the advertisement on their box.  I didn't get the price, I was told they are "expensive".  John has a small area built into our garage he keeps his tools.  It is packed, top to bottom.

We started out about 11am.  John had taken down the old lights.  According to John, he had hoped that it would be a matter of just replacing the old with the new.  Nothing goes that easy right?  He had to install a new base, which required measuring, moving, drilling, and screwing.  About 12:30pm, this is what had been accomplished.

Keep in mind we had another humid day here (75% humidity) and it was in the mid 80s.  John was on the ladder, my job was to hand him the drill, screws, hammer, etc.  About 4:05, after some sawing into the soffit to make sure the bracket and base fit, we were finished.  All that was left was the test to make sure they worked.  Taadaa!

I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, the test is the most important part, right?  Here's what they look like off.

The flooding reflected in my pictures in yesterday's blog has subsided.  Here's the ditch behind my house that receded.  For easy reference, I'm reposting the flooded picture underneath the current picture taken today.

Here's the ditch that runs behind our house that is normally dry.  It has receded also.  When it rains, the water runs off into the nearby brook about 100 yards from our house.

Amazing isn't it?  Walking by our shed, I spotted this spider hanging near the front doors of the shed (where our lawn mower is kept).  I warned John to be careful when he opens it next time.  Some spider bites can be terribly painful.

The agenda tomorrow is lawn mowing for John and bathroom cleaning for me.  Oh, my Saturday Walking Group was canceled because the Park Authority said the parks had flooded and are currently not in a safe condition.  Only three of us were signed up this week anyway.  Tomorrow's weather is suppose to remain sunny, I hope to get a walk in.  Enjoy your Sunday.

24 Hours

It's been a wild and crazy 24 hours here.  I woke up yesterday to more rain.  After four days, it begins to get depressing.  I turned on the TV to see reporters showing stupid people who think they can drive through a flood and got stuck.  These are especially stupid people who own SUVs and think they can go anywhere.  The are also very prevalent in snow storms too.  You will spot them immediately stuck in an embankment on the side of a road.  They got there doing 40-50mph thinking they could go anywhere in 4-wheel drive.  You know them, you've seen them, I hope you aren't them.  It poured from the heavens as you can see.  It's been raining so long, our lawn is sprouting mushrooms!!!!

Here's the view I had most of yesterday.  I just watched the rain gauge fill up on our back deck.

John got home from work and mentioned how awful traffic was, this was about 3:30 in the afternoon.  After awhile, John noticed the neighbor walking around in the woods with an umbrella.  We quickly saw why, the woods were flooding!  That was a first for us.  This is what the woods behind our house looked like just beyond our shed (usually where the deer hide).

I zoomed in to get a better view, amazing.

There is about a six inch deep and a foot wide ditch that runs behind our property.  When it rains, the ditch fills up and the water streams into the brook about 100 yards down our street.  Here's what it looked like yesterday.

The second picture shows how fast the water was moving.  It was unbelievable.  Without these pictures, I doubt anyone would have believed me.  Worst flooding I've seen living in this house.

The rain finally slowed and eventually stopped after 5pm, just in time for rush hour.  There must have been accidents on the main road.  Our street is normally a cut-through.  Speed "humps" were installed two years ago to slow down traffic.  The speed limit is normally 25mph, you won't catch anyone doing less than 40mph.  They still fly over the speed humps.  Between the rain, the accidents, and the our street traffic back up, the folks sitting in traffic on our street were honking their horns.  Do people actually think that helps speed things up?  We live in a residential neighborhood!

Today, woke up, got my coffee, turned on the news and pulled back the curtains facing the deck, yep....still raining.  We're rolling into day number five of Tropical Storm Lee remnants and it's wearing on me.  Except for my excursion or should I say adventure on Wednesday to the to drugstore and grocery store, I've been stuck inside all week.  Yes, got my chores done.  Got some studying done online with my new class, applied to several jobs, bored out of my mind, feel like a trapped animal.

According to the news, if we are to believe the weather folks, the rain is suppose to stop mid-day and the sun is suppose to shine.....I bet there's a little green leprechaun standing at the end of the rainbow with a pot of gold too, right?  Here's what 2pm looked like.

Yep, blue sky and sunshine.  All's right with the world again.  About once every six months, I wash the shower curtain liner in the washing machine with bleach, today was that day.  I got all the laundry done too.  Obviously, I couldn't throw the shower liner in the dryer.  I had intended on hanging it in the garage to dry.  Now, with this change in weather, I took it outside and hung it over the patio chairs to dry.  It was very humid this afternoon.  I checked the rain gauge and emptied it, another inch had fallen since yesterday.  All tolled 11 inches in five days, unbelievable....glad it wasn't snow!  Other towns around the beltway had more rain than we did, up to fourteen inches of rain reported.

I was about to close the curtains to the back deck this evening when I spotted something.  The perfect end to five miserable days.  The moon was poking out and it looks to be a full one.  This explains all the craziness.

Oh What A Day

Yesterday, not a day that I wish to relive.  It has been raining since Sunday here in the Washington, DC area.  It is the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee that came up from the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana and Alabama.  Today makes the fourth straight day of rain, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

As I usually try to do on Wednesdays, I was ready for grocery shopping at Shoppers Food Warehouse.  Armed with list in hand, I set out to also stop by CVS (drug store) and possibly Giant Food if I didn't get everything needed at SFW.  As usual, I got a later start than I wanted.  I have to stop goofing off  in the morning playing on the computer, drinking coffee and watching the news.  I stopped at CVS first to pick up a card for John's birthday and some other items.  Leaving CVS and heading onto Shoppers Food Warehouse, the rain seems to be getting worse.  It may be a little hard to see, there were puddles (flooding) on the road everywhere.

The rain started to slow to a drizzle when I was making my way into Shoppers Food Warehouse (SFW) in my dampening condition.  I had my umbrella and removed my raincoat and left it in the car.  I found previously walking around CVS in my raincoat the humidity made me sweat too much.  The downpours come in waves from a drizzle to a pounding.

One request John had for his birthday yesterday was Mint Chocolate Chip Klondike Ice Cream Bars.  Of course, SFW didn't have them.  I did escape SFW with a bill less than I normally spend, although I didn't buy Diet Cokes for John this week, he still had plenty.  I also didn't buy beer for him.  He has a sinus infection and is taking prescribed antibiotics, which cannot be taken with alcohol.  He isn't drinking for the next two weeks until he finishes his antibiotics medication.  I knew I was in for a trip to Giant Food (another closer grocery store and more expensive than SFW).  I didn't think it was possible, it seemed to be raining harder again.  Notice the puddles in the parking lot.

Heading onto Giant, I snapped this picture quickly as I was driving (just holding onto the camera).  As you can see, there was little traffic on my side of the road.  I seemed to be the only nut out in this crappy weather.

I got to Giant and picked up just a couple of items including the Mint Chocolate Chip Klondike Bars for John and headed home.  It is still pouring rain like crazy when I pulled in the driveway.  I backed my car in the driveway to unload the groceries into the garage.  My plan is to carry the groceries into the kitchen from the garage to keep the groceries from getting too soaked.  I get all the groceries laid out in their bags on the garage floor and reach for my house keys - they're gone from my key ring!!!  My heart dropped and started beating at twice the normal rate as I stared at my key ring.  I went back and searched my trunk and inside my car, no keys.  What to do?  I thought it best to call John first.  Hopefully, he could come home and let me in the house to get the groceries unpacked.  Thankfully, with refrigerators in our garage, I was able to save the perishables until John arrived about 20 minutes after I reached him.  He was obviously none too pleased to leave work early to come home and rescue me.  I thought he would be happy to leave work early on his birthday - NOT!

I felt like I was listening to my father.  I got the "you have to be more careful" speech about losing my keys.  This was the first time it happened in our 19 years together!  John told me I must drive my route today again and look for my keys.  In the meantime, he was going to Lowe's to buy new locks for our doors (a bit extreme I thought).  I just needed another set of keys made.  John's thought was someone saw me drop my keys and followed me home - we could be robbed!  Really, really???  Certainly worst case scenario thinking, never in a million years in my opinion.  They were a set of keys on a ring, that's it, no identifier, not like they had our address or phone number on them!


I asked how I would get back into the house when I returned if I hadn't found my keys.  John said he would be home before I got back.  I got the remainder of the groceries put away and headed out to retrace my tracks.

I drove to CVS, nothing.  I drove the parking lot twice to be sure.  I passed Giant before SFW, so I swung into the parking lot, it was very crowded.  I drove their parking lot twice near where I parked looking for my keys, nothing.  Onto SFW, the rain was letting up a bit, the parking lot was crowded here as well.   I guess since the rain had stopped, everyone was coming out to get their errands done.  I drove the parking lot once, didn't see them, on my second pass I saw something shiny on the ground, my heart was pounding - YEAH!!  My keys, there they were on the ground, I was so relieved!!!  Had it not been pouring, I probably would have heard them drop off my key ring.

I called John on his cell, it had been about 15 minutes since I left the house, he was still there.  His cell phone rang and rang, it went to voice mail.  I left a message that I had found my keys and was headed home.

Pulling in the driveway, John's pickup truck was still missing.  I hope he checked his phone and didn't buy the new door locks at Lowe's.  About five minutes later, he pulled in carrying two bags of door locks informing me he had spent $300.  I informed him of the message I left on his cell phone that I found my keys.  He figured he didn't get a signal in Lowe's, which is why he didn't hear his phone ring and it went to voice mail.


We had three doors that would have needed to be rekeyed - the back door, garage door and front door if I had not found my keys.  The back door and garage door have the same lock, the front door is different.  Here's our garage door lock, a usual lock in my opinion - the same lock is on our back door.

Here is our front door lock.

I told John if he left me the receipt, I would return the locks to Lowe's for him today.  After all, since I found my keys, there was no reason to replace the locks.  I just don't understand men...I think John was looking for a reason to justify the expenditure.  True, we are having a little trouble with our locks, it is something we lived with, certainly no reason to replace them.  They worked fine.  We just had to make sure they lock all the way (to a click sound) when locking them, no big deal.  Well, we are keeping the new door locks, and our locks replaced.  John had his Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Bar before bedtime.  All's right with the world again.

There must be some madness to this, I am not questioning it.  I lost my keys, I found my keys, no one found my keys to rob us!  Now, if this rain would just stop, all would be right with the world.  I just took this picture from my porch of street.  You get the idea, it's still pouring!  Not checking the rain gauge until it stops.  Hope you are safe and dry.  I'm staying home today, doing a little laundry and staying out of trouble!

Rain Rain Go Away

The appraiser finally showed up (late) on Monday (yesterday) for our house refinancing.  She had left a message she would arrive between Noon and 1pm.  She called at 1pm, she was on her way, arriving at 1:20.  She had her camera and a laser distance measure.  She walked each room taking pictures and using her measure with her.  I found this odd since we gave her the house floor plan and the land plot.  Maybe she'll discover later the measurements were on the papers we gave her.  She finished at 1:40, thanked us and left.  She was here 20 minutes, the appraisal cost $400...pretty good money, wonder if they need help.  I suppose we'll hear back from the credit union in a couple of days.

We're still waiting to hear from the refrigerator/ice maker repair guy.  He said it would be about a week for the valve for the ice maker to come in - tomorrow is a week.  Tomorrow is also John's birthday.  Grocery store and CVS tomorrow too.  It is suppose to rain through Friday.  It started raining yesterday afternoon.  Before that, I went out in the yard to take a picture of the the hostas the deer ate.  It's the end of the season, so I really don't mind, the leaves were about dead anyway.  Although, THIS DOES look strange.

Here's another one they got to.  Hostas are like candy to deer, they love it.

So far, they haven't discovered the front of the house.  Those remain untouched by the deer.

The tomatoes have all been picked and are just about finished up.  I've got  three tomatoes left on the kitchen counter, ready to eat.  As I said before, they were well worth the trouble.  Waiting for cooler, dryer days maybe the end of this month or beginning of October to get the garden cleared out of tomato plant remnants.

Shortly after I took these pictures, about 4pm, the rains came.  It's been raining ever since.  All day today it rained.  The highlight (if I call it that) was the deer that visited.  I had a Mama and her two babies.  I could only get a picture of the Mama through the screened door.  The babies were about ten feet away.  I was able to catch them through the glass without the screen.

I apologize for the blur, I don't have auto focus on my cell phone camera.  I wonder how old they are?  They still have spots on their coats.

After about 10 minutes in the yard, Mama began to lead the little ones into the woods.  The little ones were slow to follow, Mama is waiting.

Slowly, the second one makes his way into the woods to follow Mama after another nibble from my baby tiger lily.

I got caught taking pictures.  It was shortly after this picture this one scampered off to find Mama and sibling already in the woods.

Like I said, it rained most of the day.  This will give you an idea how hard it was raining.  I could hear the rain on our roof last night.  I took this from our front porch.  Look closely, you can see the rain coming down on the driveway and street, even against the tree backdrop.

We're under a Flash Flood Watch until Noon tomorrow.  Given that it's suppose to rain all day tomorrow too, I'm sure that will be extended.  As of about 4pm this afternoon, our rain gauge measured almost 2.5 inches of rain.  I emptied it, let's see what it measures next time.

Stay warm and dry.  I can't wait for Mr. Sunshine to come back!