1/3 of the year already gone... WOW
The Print Manager position came with a
substantial raise and a full 40-hour week. My drive is 10 miles/15 minutes. I
do not have to get up in the middle of the night anymore to be at work. Even the
days I open I do not have to wake before 6am! My employee discount is 30%. And, my GM is is kick-ass and we get along fabulously. So, still loving Office Depot.
In other news, my mother-in-law passed
the morning of the Mango’s inauguration. L brought some stuff back with her
then. We made a trip up to see her Dad
3.9-12 and picked up a few more of her Mom’s belongings. Well, her dad passed the end of March, not quite 10 weeks after her Mom. So Land her brother had to pack up the apartment. All of this to say our garage is (again)
full of things we must sort through.
As far as life here….we are tucked in,
basically not doing a whole hell of a lot. We participated in the April 5
"Hands Off!" protests, which marked the largest day of public
demonstration against Trump during his second term. Then another on April 19th to protest against the "hostile government takeover" overseen by the
Trump administration. We also protested over the Jones Park Bridge
yesterday, May 4th. Lots of fun, and we meet the coolest people. We have curtailed our spending except for groceries and gas, and the occasional meal out. More time dining at home,
enjoying our hot tub in the backyard, and even taking turns cooking. OH! And we
have 2 baby birds nesting in one of the aloe vera plants in the greenhouse. We
removed the walls and left the roof for the season, and there they were!
Explains the wrens that kept flying in and out and in and out all the time. Still
at 5 cats. Feeding Eliza full-time now, thanks to asshole neighbor.
Speaking of that idiot, the candidates
for mayor and alderpersons were out & about, door to door stuff, meeting
local residents. One inquired with several other neighbors about the condition
of our neighbor’s house/property. That ended up with him being cited as
unsafe. He blames us, of course. Was told to clean up or the city will, and they
will put a lien on the property for the cost to do so.
Also, I spent some time catching up on my
grandson’s scrapbook. Pictures were waiting from April of LAST YEAR, so I
thought I'd better do something about it. Seems like I catch up on one project, but another then falls behind. Too much I want to do, not enough time.
Travel plans included a trip to NC after
Easter for an in-person class with a group I participate in. We meet twice a
year, but one is by Zoom. This year, the wife decided to drive me there in the
new (to us) RV and hang out and do nothing but relax for the 48 hours I am
otherwise occupied. We will meet friends for dinner Thursday evening, and lunch
with more friends on Sunday before trekking back to the Coast.
I did get outside to clean out my rock
garden. Some of it required a small electric handsaw, sadly. It got away from
me in 2023 after my health event, and I just never got it set back to rights.
It is an 8x8 ft square filled with white marble chunks. I set an old stump in the
center with a pelican and a birdbath of ivy. There is a wisteria on the
northwest corner of it and it was pretty and cooperative, when I was present.
When I quit training the wisteria over the piping (X form, corner to corner
from posts) it got seriously out of hand. That was why the handsaw. And some
oak trees had taken root, as well as a few things I did not recognize. I also
have wild berry bramble.
Took me 2 whole days to remove the X form
for the wisteria and pull as many of the weeds and trees as I could. Cut
wisteria back. Left the berries. I will pull those after we raid the crop of
fruit. Got it so I can at least get into the square and start doing some
clearing out of the leafy debris and such. Besides the white marble, I have
shells and rocks and figurines and slag glass and and and and. You get the
idea. I used to have a bench where I could sit beside it under the wisteria and
just chill. Bench has since gone to the rubbish bin (It was plastic, limited
lifespan). I would like to get it back to that condition. I even have a metal
bench by front porch, I can move to the backyard.
That is about all the news for now from
here. Stay safe and sane. Hugs!
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