May flowers, and more construction activity:

5/4/08:
May has been a crazy month so far. At first I did not even know it was here, next thing I knew it was the 4th of the month and I had done a couple of May entries on my April page– now that's crazy! Interestingly enough, after all that finagling, I am finally at the begining of my May page and I have a picture taken the 1st of May to start it off. I could not have done it better if I had planned it!

The picture to the left was taken on Thursday May 1st. Our bamboo hardwood flooring had arrived and was conveniently stacked in boxes in the one open area left in the original part of the house, where we put up our folding dining table each evening. Thursday evening and Friday morning we used the boxes in lieu of our table. In the picture you can see the cut and fitted wood on the steps up to the addition. When we got home Friday evening we found 2 strips of blue tape across the doorway to the addition, holding between them a mysterious message. Ah! The flooring had been begun to be laid up in the addition, plus the stairs had been completed and glued– thus the pictures to the right. All the pictures link to a larger one looking up into the addition.

We have been busy this weekend, going to the dump, going to the stove store, going to Lowe's, and with nicer weather finally today we worked on our weedy lawn. The neighbors on our one lane street called an impromptu BBQ gathering, so we made time to join them and chat. In preparing to go to Michigan on Wednesday I realized our extra phone charger, which I would need with me, was in our storage unit down the street. Luckily I had labeled the box the charger was in and found it rather quickly. Jay is staying home while I am gone and by the time I am back early next week the construction may be done and we will be on our own, with peace and quiet, to finish. Sounds good. Ciao.

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.— Socrates (470 BCE–399 BCE)

5/5/08:
Oh my, life has been hectic lately. My current position at work has been incredibly busy and crisis-driven, we continue to camp out in our home, tommorrow I fly to Michigan to be there over Mother's Day weekend, and today I interviewed for 2 different jobs (1 in my current agency and 1 in another agency). Whew! The good news is my sister-in-law is coming home from a short hospital stay tomorrow and is on the mend.

Other good news is that construction is winding down here. I know you can see from the picture to the right that our bamboo wood flooring has gotten in, can you tell from the picture to the left what other item has been installed? Click on either picture and you will see the answer. Jay will be holding down the fort here the next 6 days while I am gone, as odds and ends get completed. Thank you Jay, I will miss you. More later, ciao.

One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love.— Sophocles

5/18/08:
Yikes, I still itch. The rash on my stomach and neck has calmed down a little, not quite so red. However the rash is more intense than ever from my calves on down to the soles of my feet. I hope this means it is on its way out of my body. I need to go into work tomorrow, not sure how that will go as I seem to get easily tired and yucky feeling with this rash.

More things got done on the house while I was gone: the old water heater got pulled out, the gas meter got put in, and maybe other stuff got done but we can't remember. Since I got home the electricians finished up details like installing the ceiling fan correctly and putting an outlet in the bathroom, the stove company came and started the stove, and the roofer put the vent covers for our two new exhaust fans in. We are almost complete as far as the work strangers are doing in the house, while Jay and I have projects galore to finish.

It was nice to be home for Mother's Day– click on the picture of the mom and little girl for an ad from the same time period. The last couple of weeks have been hectic, a feeling exacerbated by tooth pain and rashes. We are looking forward to the return of routine days. More later, ciao.

A journalist visiting the home of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr was surprised to see a horseshoe nailed to the wall. "Can it be that you, of all people, believe a horseshoe will bring you good luck?" he asked. "Of course not," Bohr replied, "but I understand it brings you luck whether you believe it or not." — Living Biographies of Great Scientists by Henry & Dana Lee Thomas

5/20/08:
The RASH, day 5. Do you like the feel of a million mosquitoes stinging you all at once? Me neither. I called my doctor yesterday to complain about this feature of my allergic rash. He is a nice man so he was sympathetic and gave me another prescription antihistamine to try. This one does work a little better on the stinging part of this itchy rash, for about 4 of the 6 hours between doses. If you click on the not-so-clear picture I took of my own neck you will see how my calves and feet looked this morning, less red than the last couple of days.

Surprisingly, the stinging and itching of this rash interfere with my sleep, and when I do anything around the house I don't feel good. What's the fun of being home from work if you are sick? According to the internet this rash lasts from 3 to 14 days, so either I am done with it or I have up to 9 more days to go. I do perceive a slight, hopefully not imagined, improvement today so perhaps I will have less than 9 more days of acute symptoms at any rate.

They worked some more on the siding today, will finish tomorrow. The plumber came today to replace all of our old galvanized plumbing but discovered it is more complex than originally thought, requiring removal of part of our bedroom wall. I think we are going to wait a while before tackling that as we have had about enough of wall removal for this year already. Hope you all are doing well, more later.

I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.— Ludwig Wittgenstein

5/21/08:
I still feel like crap. My rash is less intense, although it seems to fade and then come back repeatedly so this is not a firm statement. I continue to sleep poorly due to itching and discomfort, but did take two naps today. I have an appointment tomorrow morning with my doctor so I can whine at him some more.

The picture to the left was taken yesterday by Jay when the stove came on briefly. Click on it– it links to a larger picture of the front of the addition showing the shingle-type siding they put in the peak today. The picture to the right is of the roof vents installed Friday, which links to a larger picture of the space between the addition and the garage.

This last picture to the left is of the nice siding in the peak of the back of the addition and links to the best picture here, a larger picture of the back of our house, showing the original part, the addition and a teeny bit of the garage. There are still some odds and ends of siding to be completed, including a couple of pieces they had to order to complete the peak at the front of the garage. More still later...

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.— Franklin P. Jones

5/22/08:
Our house addition/remodel is looking more and more done, while some finishing touches still await completion. Today they sided the area of our old electrical box and another odd patch repair, they hauled off to the dump our old water heater and various scraps, then laid some edging bricks down and dumped a bunch of gravel in our drive area, compacting it. It does look better. In the picture to the left you can see a patch of ground between our old flower bed with our apple trees in it and the new edgers for what is now our drive and parking. The new dirt area will be filled with plants, when we get all our other projects done. Click on it to see a bigger photo of the front.

The Honey Bucket remains the main feature of our front yard, soon it will be gone and things will be more normal, or at least routine. Today I went back to the doctor and he was still impressed with the strength of my allergic reaction. Naturopaths are not keen on prescribing medications like prednisone, but since I had taken first prize in the category "worst allergic rash ever seen" I won a five day prescription of the stuff. I feel better already. My rash is much better, and the awful itching pin-pricks are reduced. With the help of some Benedryl I am hoping to sleep longer tonight than I have in a week. If you click on the Honey Bucket you will go to an interesting video of young men jumping into their pants. Enjoy!

The trouble with leaving your feet on the ground is you never get to take your pants off.— Ringo Starr

5/25/08:
Have you ever noticed how easily we get used to a convenience item? I spent about 45 years of my life without a cell phone, and 51 years without a bluetooth headset. Now I have no landline phone and sorely miss my bluetooth headset that has been missing since my return from Michigan. I like using it on the rare occassions I talk at length on my cell phone when driving and I especially like using it when I talk to my mom every Sunday because it allows me to piddle around and take care of things while talking. On first blush this sounds like I am not paying attention to the conversation but what I think is happening is I act more like I would if the person I'm talking to were present, maybe sitting at the dining table while I rinse some dishes or put on some supper. Anyhow, I have not been able to find my device and my lovely husband Jay found a bargain replacement for me today. If you click on the headset picture it will take you to Ben's Bargains, a favorite website of Jay's that lists, of course, bargains. I got a much better headset at Office Depot that cost me $5 after a $35 rebate. Cool beans. This bargain goes on until the end of the month, depending on supplies. The recommended headset is the silver one, the H550, as the rest of the colors are H500s and not quite as good, I've been told.

My last entry was on Thursday, since then I have taken Prednisone and my allergic rash has improved immensely. I took only half the dose today and took Benedryl only once, so things are improving in the itchy/stinging category. The weather here has been lovely, in the 70s with a little breeze, quite pleasant. Jay has done a tremendous amount of work on the yard, trying to get it back into shape after a few months of relative neglect and ripping up by construction guys. I have been struggling to paint, sand, paint, sand and paint the trim work in the addition. Today was the first day I could work an hour without then having to rest an hour. I don't think I am even half done though. We also are going to go ahead with the plumbing replacement work, so we need to get the computer desks out of the bedroom and up to the living room (hopefully next to a painted window) so we have room to pull the bed back away from the wall so Jay can cut an access hole in it. Our mess is not over, and there is lots more for us to do– you will hear about it as time goes on.

Jay and I have spent Memorial Day weekend busy with our home projects, hope you have had a good weekend too as our country remembers its veterans. We are and have been since our inception a country made up of peoples from all over the world, despite how some of us like to think about our make up. Diversity has made our nation strong, given us untold talents and allowed us to think creatively to solve problems by bringing to the table lots of ways of looking at things. As we honor veterans this weekend, it is fitting to think about those veterans and current enlisted troops fighting for our country who are not citizens. According to the White House, "More than 33,000 non-citizens currently serve in our military, putting their lives on the line to defend liberties and freedoms they have yet to secure for themselves." I've mentioned this before, hope I am not being too redundant but I do find it interesting and an interesting contrast to anti-immigrant sentiments tossed about the last couple of years. Have a nice weekend.

Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well.— Elias Schwartz