Musings from Lot 12
Musings from Lot 12
Musing on blessings.
The other morning I encountered a very good friend (lets call her Ann) and asked her how things are. She replied that her whole world was collapsing in and there was nothing she could do about it. As she is not given to hyperbole I asked her to explain.
First some background
Ann got out of a BAD marriage several years ago with two good kids and her sanity pretty well in tact. She is as resiliant as they come. After a year or so of licking her wounds and trying the dating game she met a guy, newly widowed and although he looks a little rough he is a gem. Stan was just what Ann needed, someone with a steady job and who respects her and treats her very well. They have been living together for a couple of years and plan to marry in 2007. I have known her for over ten years and have never seen her happier. Things are working out. Oh ya, she about 45 and Stan is 58.
Now the story – Tom came into the relationship with 3 children including a daughter who has addictions to alcohol and intervenous drugs. She also has an 8 YO son who has fetal alcohol syndrome and has been in and out of foster care for a good part of his life. His Mom has lately fallen off the wagon in a huge way and what low grade parenting instincts she had have pretty well evaporated. The CAS stepped in a couple of weeks ago and took the boy. This is the last time. So now Ann and Stan have to choose between taking in their grandson or see him put up for adoption and perhaps lose all contact with him. Stan’s health is not the best, he has a physically very demanding job and they both work shift work. Stan is looking forward to retiring in a couple of years. As she said they don’t know if they have the strength to deal with a child who has the problems that this young lad does. But they are going to take their grandson and as she said to me “I’m going to be a mother before I’m a bride!”
This got me to thinking how blessed I am in the child department (although neither of my sons have been children for a long time. Both are holding down good responsible jobs and both are in strong loving relationships. Both of our daughters-in-law are smart, witty, determined, beautiful and a joy to be around. We are truly so blessed. They keep us involved in their lives even though they are physically a long way away. They call, they email, they send gifts and they come to visit when they can. Depending on the topic they ask for or offer advice. It is so reassuring to have your own personal computer advisor even if he is half a continent away!
I miss having my sons close to me but I accept that this is part of life. I am so proud of them and what they have accomplished. God has truly blessed me and my family.
Have a happy weekend everyone.
Musings from Lot 12
Early this morning just after daylight I stepped out onto the back porch to survey the morning. It was quiet and just as I turned to go back inside I heard the distinctive sound of a wild turkey gobbling. About 75 were introduced to the island in two lots, the second in 2004. They have done well and the population is increasing. Our area is not prime turkey habitat but they are obviously here. By the time of day this bird was probably still in or just out of a tree it had roosted in overnight. Almost certainly on our property. A first for Lot 12!
Musings from Lot 12
This morning I am not a “mused”. Heres the story.
Friday night I had a night shift, 7pm to 7am Saturday morning. I enjoy these night shifts less and less all the time. I am not as young and resiliant as I used to be hence the recovery time is getting longer. Yesterday my relief arrived about 6.40Am and away I went but before I could head for bed I had to go to Sault MI to pick up some mail and get a tank of gas for the truck. According to the conversion tables I used the price difference is C$0.99/US gal, or C$0.26/L. Significant when the tank is almost empty and holds just over 100L! But I digress.
After arming myself with a medium TH I headed for the border and since the traffic was light crossed quickly into Bushland after an intensive 12 second grilling. Got the gas, stopped at the PO and was back at Canada Customs about 20 minutes later. As I drove home the caffeine was wearing off and fatigue was taking over. By about 8.45 I was safely tucked into bed and drifting off. I got up about 2.30 feeling a little punchy but awake. It was raining so I spent the afternoon just shlepping around the house and listening to Val. After supper we had to go to Richards Landing so off we went. Had a visit withe Vans and returned home about 9pm with fatigue looming large. I retreated to my recliner and rested for the climb upstairs. A good 7 or 8 hours of sleep and I should be recovered. At 10 pm I was horizontal. At exactly 0043 hr. (Fifteen minutes before 1am in English) the phone started to ring. We have a phone beside our bed(on Val’s side) and it is loud. When I wake up to a ringing phone I come instantly awake with my heart pounding! Ran around the bed and pushed the button to hear absolutly nothing , dead air!!! The call display said “private name, private number”. Didn’t who to be mad at. I laid in bed for a fifteen minutes or so but I was wide awake. Downstairs, let the cat outside for a few minutes and into the recliner to try and watch something. There is a lot of trash on the tv early on a Sunday morning. 20 minutes later the damned phone started to ring again. I headed to the kitchen and picked it up just as Val said hello. Same “private name, private number” as before. This time whoever it was stayed on the line for probably 20 seconds, nothing, dead air again and then they hung up. I then tried something I have not done before. I pushed *69 only to hear “this service is not available for this call”. Naturally!
I sat in my chair for another half hour or so and then headed back upstairs. By this time the cat had taken over my side of the bed so I had to put up with her grumbling as I tried to slide under the covers. I read for a while and finally turned out the light around 3AM. By 7.30 I was awake again with that same punchy feeling that 2 cups of good coffe have not so far erased.
I am glad that the calls were nothing because with two elderly, very ill Moms such a call could be very serious but at the same time I do not appreciate having my sleep interrupted – hence my lack of a “muse” ment.
Musings from Lot 12
Wednesday morning dawned sunny and warm, the 3rd day in a row of this. After checking email and the headlines while having a tasty breakfast I decided that it was time to force myself to start walking again. I don’t enjoy walking alone or walking the same route all the time. But since Val was till safely tucked up in bed and her RA precludes long walks I don’t have much choice. The option of tomorrow has already been used to death and brought to my curent state of health and since there is no cure for diabetes or obesity except to get off my arse and do something and it is a lovely sunny warm morning I got dressed and dragged myself out. I also do not enjoy walking up and down hills (Good Friday cemented that into my brain for all time) so I drove to the back of the lot and walked from there down to the big lake where I turned around and walked back to the truck. About 2 km in 25 minutes or so. Not a pavement scorching pace but a pleasant walk and I am trying to convnce myself that I got some cardio benefit. Along the way though, that was the really great part. The birds are back and doing their springtime thing with a passion (pun intended). Robins, flickers, cranes and assorted little dickie birds that I can not identify but which flit and warble and posture in search of that perfect mate. I couldn’t see them but could hear a snipe winnowing – climbing high into the sky and then spiralling steeply towards the ground as the wind through the wing feathers makes a distinctive sound that can be heard from long distances and says “look at me, good genes here.” Along the road there is a field of perhaps 10 ha. that has gone fallow and is growing a fine crop of willow. This species of willow has bright red bark but because it is spring and there is new growth starting the red has a layer of green in it that I am not sure a camera could capture but which is very striking. Pussy willows are out and it won’t be long until the poplar and birch buds begin to swell and produce another crop of green leaves. After getting back to the truck I drove towards the house and decided to swing through my neighbours place to see if any of their daffodils which have gone wild were blooming and sure enough the first few clumps are in blossom. I harvested a nice bunch and brought them into the house just as Val came downstairs.
All this to say that I truly love the place where we live. Its not perfect but it is peaceful and private and comfortable. We are nowhere near our sons and their wives and I miss being close to them. I could list lots of other things to complain about but when I go for a walk like this morning then I know why I love this place. Lot 12 is our little piece of paradise.
Musings from Lot 12
Wednesday morning dawned sunny and warm, the 3rd day in a row of this. After checking email and the headlines while having a tasty breakfast I decided that it was time to force myself to start walking again. I don’t enjoy walking alone or walking the same route all the time. But since Val was till safely tucked up in bed and her RA precludes long walks I don’t have much choice. The option of tomorrow has already been used to death and brought to my curent state of health and since there is no cure for diabetes or obesity except to get off my arse and do something and it is a lovely sunny warm morning I got dressed and dragged myself out. I also do not enjoy walking up and down hills (Good Friday cemented that into my brain for all time) so I drove to the back of the lot and walked from there down to the big lake where I turned around and walked back to the truck. About 2 km in 25 minutes or so. Not a pavement scorching pace but a pleasant walk and I am trying to convnce myself that I got some cardio benefit. Along the way though, that was the really great part. The birds are back and doing their springtime thing with a passion (pun intended). Robins, flickers, cranes and assorted little dickie birds that I can not identify but which flit and warble and posture in search of that perfect mate. I couldn’t see them but could hear a snipe winnowing – climbing high into the sky and then spiralling steeply towards the ground as the wind through the wing feathers makes a distinctive sound that can be heard from long distances and says “look at me, good genes here.” Along the road there is a field of perhaps 10 ha. that has gone fallow and is growing a fine crop of willow. This species of willow has bright red bark but because it is spring and there is new growth starting the red has a layer of green in it that I am not sure a camera could capture but which is very striking. Pussy willows are out and it won’t be long until the poplar and birch buds begin to swell and produce another crop of green leaves. After getting back to the truck I drove towards the house and decided to swing through my neighbours place to see if any of their daffodils which have gone wild were blooming and sure enough the first few clumps are in blossom. I harvested a nice bunch and brought them into the house just as Val came downstairs.
All this to say that I truly love the place where we live. Its not perfect but it is peaceful and private and comfortable. We are nowhere near our sons and their wives and I miss being close to them. I could list lots of other things to complain about but when I go for a walk like this morning then I know why I love this place. Lot 12 is our little piece of paradise.
Musings from Lot 12
I have been working last night and tonight. We have a TV that we can watch when things are slow. Last night the two people I was working with, Inga and Natalie announced that 8pm we were going to watch American Idol. I had never seen this show and only had a vague idea what it was about. I thought that it was some kind of a talent show but I discovered that I was wrong. In true 21st Century American fashion this show is about celebrating loosers. I have always thought that if you watch a talent show then you try to pick a winner. Not this time. The trick is not to win, it is not to lose. You don’t have to be the best merely not the worst. Not only did I get to watch the one hour show last night, tonight I had to watch them take 30 minutes to announce the loser! I know that this is supposed to be a musing but this is in fact a flat out rant. This to me is a stupid and cruel show as are so many of the “reality” shows that are about exposing people’s basest nature and most nasty traits. This kind of TV I really don’t like.
Musings from Lot 12
I was just reading that our new PM has decided to make the vote on childcare a confidence vote. With any luck at all he will pull a Joe Clark and get his arse booted out of office. As much as I don’t like the idea of another federal election tout de suite Harper is too scary to leave in place for very long. I see no evidence that he understands how a minority government works. He and his bunch of puppets are going merrily along as if they had every member in the house on the government side. It will be interesting to see if the opposition parties have the strength of their convictions. Stay tuned.
Musings from Lot 12
Sometimes things happen, things you wish wouldn’t but they do. This afternoon we were downstairs and Val was taking a few pictures when I heard a bang and then a harsh word or two. Our dependable Fuji digital camera had hit the floor and was no more! We will start looking for a new one in the next day or so.
Monday morning and I rec’d a couple of encouraging emails about launching my blog so I thought I’ll just go and post something profound or witty or perhaps just wordy. Wait a minute how do I even log on? Set up was incredibly fast and easy last night, instructions were somewhat lacking and I was tired.
I fumbled around for a few minutes and hit on the log in button and there I was but……. what was the username and password I selected. Damned good question. At my age writing down important things like the 734th password I have is getting to be more important all the time. Son1 constantly lectures on security matters and not letting nasty viruses or people have access to the ‘puter so I have taken him seriously and have 734 different passwords, each more complicated and obscure than the one before. Fortunately I appear not to be the first person with a blog who has run into these problems so there is a fairly complete help section with one very simple solution. Give us your email and we will email you the correct information. Now which email address did I use last night. Got that sorted out as you can see after resetting the p’word (and this time writing it on a post-it note which I stuck on the desk door beside the monitor) here I am back in the game.
It has been a most pleasant Easter Sunday. The church service this morning was well attended. The sun shone and it was quite warm this afternoon. We went over to RL for supper with the Vans. My scalloped potatoes were popular and the rest of the supper was delicious also.
After supper Wayne and I were out in the yard and could hear a grouse drumming.
On the way home we saw a pair of geese out for an evening stroll and had a not too close encounter with a deer between the village and home. On the way over we saw the first dead skunk of the season, a sure sign that winter has gone north for another year. There is almost no ice left between Bruce Mines and the village, another good sign.