06/30/23 End of June

on the struggle bus of life lately .. so celebrating the small accomplishments

Office ...

    Table down!

    Lawn mowed -- love mowing at 6:30 am!  

    Weeds sprayed

    Flowers planted/watered/rearranged

    Haircut !!!

    

    To do:

        clean both garages -- they are bad

Home ...

    Spot mowed

    Recycling hauled to town

    Gas cans filled

    Crap out of porch for sidewalk donations

    3 loads of laundry

To do:

    more mowing -- the Massey and I will be bonding

    plant more flowers ( they are purchased )

    deep clean and repurpose the little bedroom

    get the directv gig worked out

    raise the starlink receiver (this could be fun) 

    stain/seal the deck spindles 

    trap that damn racoon -- I'm going to win this battle

   

I have an endless list for the weekend, the hot forecast might be good for the indoor stuff ... and some long overdue (to be finished not late filing) projects.  The quietness of the office lately has been good working time -- interruptions are disruptive .. I know that sounds awful .. but less jumping of the mind  .. 

 

06/27/23 Tuesday

another cloud shot -- Sunday night 

I went up and chopped up some tree branches on the field road with my trust Amazon mini battery powered chain saw.  And this appeared on the homebound cruise

I think it was 7:30 or so ... got that crossed off my to do list, the endless to do list is growing or has grown daily.

the cut back and take it cool kind of summer I had envisioned was merely a vision 

but I've got a haircut scheduled .... 

the trash made it to the curb ....

2 payrolls to go for this week ...

5 more tax returns to got this week ...

I will take back my office this week ....

I will get the weeds mowed off ...

I will get gas in all the vehicles ( might be painful ) ...

I will get Ruby 1 and Ruby 2 bathed ....

I will sew too ...

 

06/25/23

 

Saturday night clouds were pretty cool ... and eventually it rained ... I slept thru the rain, I usually sleep thru the rain

remember I pay $22K a year for this shit and I expect it to work when I attempt to log in ... this is as far as I got this morning.  Last night I was in and reviewing the first 25 of 555 M1PR's .. 

$22,000 smackeroo's and I can't get in

I am irked (understatement) .... 

no email, not contact just this blurb when I attempt to log in 

it has been a year of hit and miss software .. seriously during tax season we were regularly down .. we can't be down during tax season ... ever, we don't function with out it

highly irked off 

unfortunately, I married to this shit until I retire.

 

06/23/23 it's time

J & K .. took the back blade off the tractor and put the mower on ... 

I sat in the tractor last night and worked up some mojo to mow

didn't happen

tonight

I did manage to cover the heap of gravel in the flatbed -- it won't start, the pushed it out of the way to get at the mower .. it's crushed rock and it should stay dry(er) if and when we get rain 

inbound at the office

4:30 - i woke up and started to read my book 

5:30 -- shower and tidying of the spaces

6:15 left the farm

6:30 arrived at happy place

reset the modem/router

fixed porch camera

walked down to lake 

took pic

emptied dehumidifier

(watered plants with it)

locked up

back to office by 7:05

moved new curbies to garage

moved full curbies out

loaded sprayer with Round Up

watered plants

perused Free Press, Herald and Mpls Papers online

cleaned up email

and it's time to work 

I need a nap.

 

06/22/23 musings

Patty (at Karen's Flowers) posted this cool pix on Wastebook this morning ... my old house !  the hedge that needs to be trimmed .. the geraniums are pretty cool too 

I've been parking in the garage -- a) shade and b) keeps it clean -- the bird pooping flyway seems to cross the parking lot diagonally .. 

the end of season sale is on at Karen's -- I might need another trek over there with my red wagon ... last week it was coral/salmon geraniums, pale pink/lilac petunias ( the petite ones ) for the pots at the cabin ... we can always use more perenicals out there .. and I have a couple more pots to fill

 

06/21/23 Iced Coffee

I had a spiffy picture of iced coffee but "server rejected" the upload.  really over a picture of iced coffee.

I digress -- iced coffee is the stuff that keeps me rolling/sane/upright/awake/functioning.  A decade or so ago .. I discovered a powdered ice coffee mix .. a Kraft foods project .. yummy stuff.  Mix with milk and ice and drink.  

Corporate America -- Kraft sells their beverage operations to Maxwell House -- I'm buying my favorite packets by the case on amazon -- 8 boxes, 6 mixes per box for $15 and living the dream.  Well the dream came to a screeching halt last night .. 

No longer in production and it ain't coming back per google and google knows everything.  I've been stockpiling coffee since the price began to rise on Amazon .. the most I paid -- $25 a case .. I've got a stash .. like 14 months -- if I limit myself to two a day.  

Last night on Amazon -- $99 a case ... wth.  I need to check out ebay :)

I'm in mourning over coffee ... ((  giant sigh ))

 

06/19/23

my pictures uploaded out of order .. coming from the phone anything is possible

after the rain stopped Mom and I went to the cabin -- where the rest of the crew was already hard at work .. the power company took down a tree and most of it has been loaded up and hauled away .. the leaves we didn't get picked up last fall also got bagged and hauled away ..

a spot of mowing, weeding, cleaning -- Lee and Nick moved the dock out .. the lake is dropping .. a couple cups of coffee got drank .. I purged data from my cloud based storage .. 

and we had a pontoon ride -- the lake was calm, the bugs were not so fierce ( on the water ) it was a nice ride ...

Father's Day was another first ... my gratitude journal reminds me to count my blessings and keep sharing the life lessons I was taught  ...  yesterday was hard -- the FD posts on wastebook were a constant reminder ... but the life lessons ....

 

06/17/23 the Excitement

 

   I think this is an allium that lost most of it's petals .. it was cool looking so I took a pix.  The alliums in my backyard got ate by the pesky deer.  I'm trying to swear less .. pesky is my polite voice.

   It was another exciting night on Daisy Lane, me the lawnmower and the pesky deer.  The plan was just to mow over at Joyce's and then it expanded to the big field.  Joyce died on Xmas Eve - 2007, yes, Diva Jan I looked it up.  I digress -- 15 years later and the trailer is gone -- but we still call that "space" on the farm, Joyce's .. 

   Well, Joyce's got mowed and more -- I was literally lowering the weeds .. until it rains we will have no grass -- the mound is already burned up (the mound system that digests our "human" waste).  I'm still waking up - forgive the rambling and weirdness.   I then proceeded to give the lawnmower a bath -- she needed it.

   Last night was the Relay for Life/Cancer Walk -- it's a little too soon and too fresh for Mom to attend and she's battling the foot again.  I was going to clean up post-lawn mower and see the luminaries lit -- but bed was calling.  

   I'm fuzzy on the weekend agenda but I do have to spend part of the day on projects at the office -- the weeds there too need to be mowed - I sprayed out a couple of gallons of weed killer yesterday and need to keep at that project next .. and there is always number crunching ... there is a trek to SSP, more cleaning, my own treasures this time.

   The upcoming Juneteenth Holiday has kind of messed up scheduling .. not the holiday itself but the quickness of it -- less than 30 days post adoption by the State.  The other legislative action will make our office life a living hell.  Conformity is good but the means and methods of adoption are hell.  The changes to the Property Tax Refunds -- may mean we have to amend the 550 of them by HAND.  I don't do things by hand very well -- 

enough rambling need coffee now

06/16/23 Road Tripping

2 Divas were on the road yesterday .. Jan and I went to the Minnesota Quilters Show in St Cloud ... the quilts are always fun ... we were there as the door opened and had good quilt viewing for the first two hours .. a lot of guests -- immediately went to the vendors -- I had a budget and I have too much fabric so I was more interested in the quilts.

dang -- my back, hips and feet gave out fast ... too fast .. evidently hustling my chunky body around is hard on the joints.  -- then again, I'll blame the cement floors of the convention center.

we left the show and went to the Clemens/Musinger Gardens -- always beautiful and interesting -- they were planting flats, lots of flats of annuals and sprinklers were running everywhere .. 

The last stop in St Cloud was Crafts Direct -- no cars in the parking lot should have been an omen -- they were not busy ... and really didn't have "full" shelves -- it was the weirdest thing .. 

A brief stop in Hutchinson (quilt shop/gift shop/Caribou for late lunch) and back on the road for home .. we took Ruby -- it was a fun busy day ....

my feet / back / hips have recovered .. will give them the test of lawn mowing next ... 

 

06/13/23

yes, I sort my trail mix and well, eat weird

m/m's, skittles, jelly beans ... all get sorted

occupational hazard

we had lunch at the cabin tonight -- a little (large) tree project happened, unexpectedly .. so we drove out to check it out and had supper -- the last remaining maple in the back had some issues -- power company was tree trimming and took the entire thing down .. 

less crap falling out of it to pick up ... less leaves to rake -- and well, now we've got wood to burn -- they ground up all the leaves and branches but left the bigger hunks ... 

I'm trying to work on a couple of tax returns but the tree is messing up the satellite signal -- trees need to be cut down in my backyard too -- I think it is safe to assume emerald ash borer has arrived on Daisy Lane -- hard to tell, sometimes the ash are just messy trees, especially the female trees .. 

it is life ...

 

06/12/23 Monday Mania

another favorite from wastebook ...

monday mania has been out of control -- I've been on the phone most of the day ... well all of the day -- it's 5:45 and I'm still at the office .. wth

it was quite the weekend on Daisy Lane .. funeral, graduation, lake time, purge time .. neighbor and family friend Sue lost her battle with alzheimer's at 67, -- yes, 67.  cousin Matt's graduation party -- supper at the cabin and well, yesterday was epic 

1.  laundry

2.  graduation party

3.  purge of the basement workroom

4.  zillion trips up and down the stairs

5.  trips to the dumpster ( *2)

6.  trash loaded in my truck 

7.  freebies loaded in my truck

8.  vac'ing of zillions of dead ladybugs

mom went to Rachal's bridal shower with Jean

purging with out supervision from this point forward 

yes, I typed that.

9.  lawn mowing 

10. sweep garage

11. SxS tour of the farm 

12. put the equipment away

13. kwik trip for supper!  milk and donut 

             ( food for the weary)

14. shower and bed .. which felt pretty darn good

dad's basement workroom needs to have 4 pieces of weird/odd furniture hauled out, some weird shelving off the wall and it will be done -- he had some of his hunting, fishing, camping and "house" tools in there --- the sleeping bag from the sixties -- trash .. ditto the oil stained blaze orange hunting clothes .. I saved and will wash/donate the better stuff .. but some of it .. ugh.  the house tools were condensed into useable totes ... 

hats, thousands of freeking hats -- smelly, somewhat moldy hats .. I saved the important ones and tossed the rest ...

and the plus side -- no mouse poop ... that's always a good thing .. the floor in there is pretty rough -- gunpowder and gun oil drippings stain, the walls need to be scrubbed next.

I brought coolers, storage tubs and weird things ( light fixtures, wicker baskets, lamp timers) and put them in front of the office with a free sign ... by 1:30 they were all gone .. 

project bathroom remodel is almost done -- the new shower is usable .. finish work needs to be done and a new floor -- when the floor installer is measuring I'm having him measure both bedrooms too ... the carpets are tired .. I've always wanted hardwoods -- and the new laminate hardwoods are nice ...  progress -- progress -- progress ... 

coming to monday mania is almost restful ....

this week is kind of busy at the office

Thursday is appliance recycling -- I've conned / politely asked cousin David to haul it to Nicollet for me .. I'm going to the Minn Quilt Show instead ... 

i'm going to need a couple of naps before I get to the show ... 

carry on ...

 

06/09/23 TGIF

yep, one step at a time ...

Credit to "Life's a Dance" on wastebook ... she always has a meaningful message ... 

It's a beautiful day in the Valley -- I've been knocking out projects right and left ... it feels good, I hope to finish a couple more, pack up the homework and head for the farm ... where ... drumrolllllllllll  I spy the carpenter and the plumbers trucks on the camera -- bathroom demolition day !!!  

edit:  demolition leads to clean up ... imagine the dust and shards from breaking up a 50 year old blue cast iron bathtub ... I'm on my second vacuum cleaner bag ... in the basement alone -- mom did upstairs before I got home.  that shit was everywhere between the upstairs and downstairs (directly below) bathrooms

There are a couple ( well, zillions ) projects on the bucket list ... and bathroom re-fresh leads the pack -- next week is a new dishwasher and exhaust fan over the stove -- we are diligently Pintresting ideas for kitchen cabinet make overs .. some of them are a bit more dramatic than others .... 

The weekend is filled with more projects ( basement purge - lots of up and down the stairs ), a funeral and a graduation -- hoping for some lake time too ... next week is another funeral, client meetings and county gits and the MINNESOTA QUILTERS ANNUAL SHOW ... Jan and I are going ..... I think Thursday ..  Saint Cloud, Quilts, Gardens and Crafts Direct ... it will be an epic day ...

 

06/07/23

I dashed out to the happy place to check out my poison ivy killing project last night ( and retrieve the salami in the fridge ).. it was really quiet out there ... light breeze and very little lake traffic -- and the poison ivy -- not wilting fast enough for me .. tough stuff to kill

it's 4;30 am .. i wake up i get up.  laundry is perking and i'm trying to decide if i should finish my book or work on a project or two ..  

yesterday was a productive day on 3rd street -- worked hard to clear the projects off my desk -- mowed 1/2 the lawn and since there is currently thunder and lightening -- that was probably a good move --

project bathroom remodel has begun -- the new shower stall and fixtures are in the garage -- the window is out - tomorrow the bathtub leaves the premises -- 

 

 

06/06/23 it continutes

     the struggles continue -- another slew of IRS/Mn Rev notices .. the damn things never end -- adds to the never ending project pile.

     the smog/smoke and steamy weather is not good for the soul either .. 

     last nights project -- furniture gifting -- the bed/dresser 1 and dresser 2 left Daisy Lane for a new home and V is thrilled for a new bed -- as I walked past the room last night -- it was another reminder ... I've struggled with reminders lately .. a lot

    it is day 1 of Project Bathroom remodel -- window/bath tub is coming out and a walk in shower is arriving .. next week is Project Kitchen -- new dishwasher/range hood are arriving -- still trying to decide on whether to paint the kitchen cabinets or refinish or a combination of both .. it is hard to paint oak.  

   meanwhile I hope I'm getting shit done.  I told a client yesterday  -- "just leave me alone to work :)" .. hopefully they saw the humor in my ranting ..

   it goes on 

sunrise from the inbound Monday, June 5th -- 5:45am... 

06/04/23 Struggling

(picture to remind me to savor the hot weather)

  I've been struggling internally lately and while perusing instagram I stumbled upon a poster?, instagramer? a local woman with breast cancer -- journaling her daily life thru treatment, the physical challenges, the emotional challenges -- all the feels.  

  I need to keep reminding myself that my challenges are merely challenges - nothing that cannot be overcome -- lately things seem to be piling up and well, getting weird.  I did manage to ship off one major project on Friday, my peer review docs were submitted to the reviewer yesterday, hope he likes my password - shitshow.  

 Tomorrow starts a new week -- a new day, a fresh page so to speak.  Bathroom remodel starts at the farm .. and the kitchen additions arrive the following week .. we hope to be re-roofed before winter too.  Endless projects and responsibilities -- endless and constant questions.  

 Mom and I spent most of the day at the cabin -- picked up lunch (kwik trip pizza and fancy donuts on the way) .. I managed to hit some of the poison ivy with Round Up -- because it kills that shit fast .. home and prepped for the carpenter tomorrow.

 

06/03/23

sealing the deck ... a skill I need to work at ... I need another coat on the upper deck .. I went to light ... and I need to "brush" the spindles ( oh joy )

and today's still life

remember when we used to got shopping?  well, I went to Joanne Fabrics this afternoon/evening - I really didn't need more yarn or fabric or the other goods I purchased .. but it was good to look.  I was the only person in the store, literally ... I then went back to Menards to check out the hosta and perenials .. scored some tiny hosta (mouse ears and fire/ice), 2 tomato plants, 2 gerbera daisies and a coreposis ?

my day started with deck sealing, then back to the lawn mower (done), home for a shower, lunch w/Mom at the Great Wall, a spot of work at the office, gas station (Dad's truck was beeping for fuel)  home for a nap, Mankato shopping, and a spot of home work -- now I'm wasting time before bed. 

my right heel is painful, I think I re-injured it last week and again this morning.  stepped in a hole while power washing and this morning while mowing -- going over the hill might not have been my best move -- but the grass got mowed .. should be good for another week ..

 

06/01/23

 

it was a crowded desk

left to right

McD iced tea from lunch (unsweetened)

iced coffee (2:00 coffee break)

screaming goat from Jessica

McD iced tea from Wednesday morning breakfast

just water in the watermelon glass (plastic glass from the $ store)

I'm photo challenging myself in June -- a still life from daily life -- 

a picture is a thousand words

is she disorganized?   yes

is she thirsty? perhaps?

and the screaming goat --- every desk should have one

on the flip side -- road trip to Gaylord this morning -- didn't get pulled over for speeding ( and I was ) so that is a positive outcome ... 

grateful it is Thursday 

stressed to miss work on Monday ... 

stressed to sit thru a CPE gig when I have things to do ..