committed to new document management software yesterday -- lets hope this new system has a small learning curve and grows old (er) with me ... 

it's been a somewhat productive day -- I managed to whip out 10 sets of quarterly payroll reports -- the quarter end was calendar friendly this quarter -- went to town and emptied dehumidifier and picked up lunch -- back home for projects .. tried to sew but I have too many pretties to chose from .. it was a problem .. the plan was to cut and prep for next weekend .. time will tell eh.

and this would be that ($#%&#)( cardinal who has become a bit possessive .. he's now shitting on both the truck and the jeep .. all while pecking at the mirrors or standing on the roof singing his heart out .. I pulled the screen door off the patio .. he's been hanging upside down on it and I ain't fixing bird "holes" in the screen ... argh   

one of my first blogging friends lost the battle with cancer today -- she was diagnosed with lymphoma (sp?) less than a month ago .. per her caringbridge she was able to make decisions and chose quality over quantity -- the gift of choice is a wonderful option .. it has been awhile since she quit blogging -- but  I was treated to her literary selections (reading on the deck!), wit, political savvy and distain for Donald Trump on wastebook .. distain, is the polite adjective .. 

she was also my neighbors ( who moved to town 45 years ago ) daughter in law .. the world is indeed a small place  - I worked with her niece/nephew at the greenhouse ---- a small small world .. the beauty of wastebook -- it brings all those connections back together .. 

 

more rain, lots more

we dashed out to the cabin last night to check on things after the deluge of rain in town -- 2.5" at the farm .. 1.75 at the cabin .. checked out the dock and ran the sump pump and plugged in the dehumidifier .. I am the queen of dehumidifiers this summer

if your croc is missing -- it floated up to our beach  -- it's on a dock pole 

Miss Mara's mama texted me a pic ..

2 months old already 

 

Life is a series

of still life pix

I really don't want to wait until September for peace and serenity of mind ..

tomorrow would be okay(er)

it was a full day of seminar - so I had take out Chinese from next door -- they are the nicest people ... 

Tuesday night sunset from the happy place

afternoon office still life

1.  seminar rolling on the other monitor - have pix but client docs were legible so pix was deleted

2.  always crochet during seminars .. busy hands are okay better to crochet than eat!

3.  pile of work under crochet

3.5 .. dusty rug still hanging in window ---  curtains are overrated

4.  mason dudes were working on the bay - evidently 

it's not level -- off by a " 1/2 a bubble" .. seriously that is the perfect description of my life at the moment .. 

yesterday the new "kasota" stone blocks went to the SE foundation that was crumbling ..

soon to be done -- soon .. 

 

critters

sometimes a photo tells a 1,000 words  .. the primary purpose of the pix was that damn cardinal on the roof of the golf cart .. he's been attacking windows, the ring camera and singing at the top of his lungs for 3 days .. 30+ ring videos from pecking at the camera ..

when I look at the pix -- I see a tired, dirty golf cart -- it's mom's farm wheels .. I see the truck -- washed on Sunday so somewhat clean .. I see flower pots on the sidewalk (golf cart too) I see plants on the coffee table .. I see clean windows and the green forest along the driveway .. the solar light is on .. normal everyday stuff 

I've been super tired and crabby lately ( super tired and extremely crabby)  -- but this little snapshot is a reminder to be grateful for all the little things in my life -- perhaps that damn cardinal was delivering that message .. but seriously dive bombing the windows ...  

the construction crew finished the foundation part of the project today -- tomorrow is the brick on the bay window in my office .. in which I'll be sitting and watching a seminar . argh.  

Last night I loaded up Mom and we went to the cabin for the night ( pix on iPad) it was a beautiful night at the lake -- McD's for supper .. a good book, a cold glass of tea .. I read, I gazed and I cleaned the cottonwood tree fluff off the screens ( it went fast .. ) 

here's to signs, messages and better days ahead ...

 

day three

    today, I celebrated the heat by going to the CAR WASH .. there was no one in line this morning !!!!  project #1 !   42
  

    I started the day kind of late for me ... didn't sleep well and after 2 hours of reading in bed -- 2:00 am to 4:00 am -- I moved to the recliner and slept until 7:00 -- when someone felt the need to talk to me ... so off to work ( and the car wash ) I went

    It was tax return day today -- 2 more finished .. down to 40 to go and 15 of them are waiting for K1's from limited partnerships/s corporations.  5 I haven't even heard from.  so .. I prepped docs and printed worksheets for Q2 payroll reports and roughed out a few.  the calendar and payroll schedule is good for the end of Q2 and the holiday.  

    Came home and got the last of  FC backed up  --- so on a slow day will be able to "restore/merge" it into the earth version :)  Wednesday --- I have a seminar and the system can sit there and spin thru it ...

    On to Monday ...

Still hot

    Yep, still hot.  Went to the office and attempted to CLEAN.  cleaned a lot.  Dehumidifier #2 is DOA, the little one is perking along nicely .. not hooked to a hose so emptying is happening every 12 hours ... Az delivering a new one on Monday .. it's good to be me.  

    Cleaning --- I think I vac'd well -- had to change the bag twice .. vac got hot and needed a break -- couldn't chisel 2 windows open to get at the sills -- otherwise shit got sucked up.  Scrubbed 1/2 of the walls in the hallway -- decided the carpet is also DOA .. it is 15 years old.  Cleaned a lot of corners -- everywhere but the file room and that will be tomorrow -- if I don't work on the numbers of life .. 

    While the vac was in operation -- I was compacting and compressing "file cabinet" drawers in our document management system -- getting ready back them up and move off the cloud to earth .. it's process, redundancy is important .. and I'm compacting more drawers as I sit here tonight .. 

     I made it to Bob's celebration of life -- and then to AK's graduation party .. it's so hot the lily pads on Oak Leaf lake are wilting.  Damn it was hot .. way to hot for this cat.  

 

excursion

i had to be in Mankato early to sign TDSRLS checks .. and Diva Jan mentioned the hanging basket sale at Hy Vee.  Score!   another fern, 2 mixed petunia baskets, a diplidema (sp?) basket and a huge bird of paradise .. someday I'll have a blooming bird of paradise .. 

she's a beaut!

said dash/roadtrip was in Ruby -- the baskets filled the truck and the BofP ... was the passenger -- the HyVee clerk found that funny ... blocked the mirror!

I stopped at TDSGC on the homebound to check out "pots" .. ended up with watering cans, more geraniums and another fern .. it's the year of the fern ..

sunset at sunset at the cabin -- my plan all week was to head out there after Rosie's funeral .. well, between the mankato dash, the funeral and the hot nasty weather  ... I watched the sunset from afar.  

I did spend another 2 hours on the lawn mower -- a short bit is left down the driveway and this round of mowing is done -- need to work on office lawn next .. need to work on the office .. it's pretty rough looking inside and out ... a couple of hours with the vac tomorrow will certainly be appropriate .. 

the big dehumidifier is probably toast .. but the A/C works :)  it's the small things in life that make things happen .. Amazon is delivering a new dehumidifier on Monday ( maybe Tuesday) .. must be a hot item locally .. no one had one

 

Heat blast

discovered this wastebook page -- it's a keeper 

these are the tame versions

the not so tame versions are sometimes spot on

I spent all of Wednesday as a RNDC commissioner -- a full day of listening, learning, reflecting, eating, touring -- watching the dreamers dreams come to fruition

we started the day at a soon-to-be mountain bike/adventure park in a quarry on the edge of Mankato -- I'm old and lazy so it looks like a really good place to hurt oneself -- but the mountain bike crowd is very excited -- back on the bus  -- 

off to Henderson, which is a little difficult to get to these days .. ( thank you MNDot (not) )  lunch at the Hummingbird Center -- followed by a walking tour of downtown -- lots of cool things in downtown Henderson -- (downhill walk -- followed by ice cream -- coffee with bits of fudgy brownie) .. back on the bus to Gaylord --

 up hill then flat --- toured their Food Pantry -- a super foodshelf that will be launching a mobile food unit shortly -- they are taking food to the people -- food shelf patrons are frequently the elderly and in rural america -- the elderly have transportation issues -- so Gaylord is taking food on the road -- lots of good things happening ... then back on the bus to

 Upper North --  I dashed to walgreens for batteries and iced coffee -- supper with the group and our quarterly commission meeting -- I rolled into the home garage at 8:30 ...

I whine about leaving the office and spending time on other things - but I learned a lot and am hooking up with people in the know 

tonight was lawn mowing night -- 2 1/2 hours later I'm just under 1/2 done with all of it .. the forecast is brutal so chunking off the mowing in sections is a good thing 

spent part of the afternoon attempting to fix dehumidifiers at the office -- one was froze up solid -- seriously froze up -- so it's thawing and I plugged in an older one -- that got hot and smelled -- so I muscled it to the garage (up the stairs and covered with cobwebs) -- moved the backroom one to the front side of the building and set up a fan too .. then proceeded to order another one on Amazon -- not sure if the frozen one will survive defrosting ... the goofy thing has been running for at a least 2 months ... I don't know --- I don't think like a dehumidifier .. anyway it was a process 

tomorrow is dash to Mankato to sign TDS checks ( early dash ) check out the cheep hanging baskets at HyVee ... back to work ( check out the frozen appliance ) .. go to Rosie's funeral and back to work .. I had hoped to have a cabin weekend - but the cool airconditioned house/office seems like a better idea -- we have plenty of indoor projects and work to finish up ... 

 

sigh, shudder, tears, fear

I throw pictures and lovely wastebook jewels up here in a "work in progress" post - to be finished later -- later was supposed to be Saturday morning .. 

I'm still a 4:30 am riser .. Saturday morning was not good --- 

frightening, unbelievable, chaotic .. there simply are no words when it was unfolding on live TV and as the day went on it only got worse 

and now it's 25 miles away .. people are screwed up these days -- I get it -- we're pulled in a 1,000 directions and fed info that may or may not be true -- some of us can't filter out the background chaos and chatter and make wise decisions .. our minds are overloaded and we lose the ability to think rationally .. 

and we're encouraged by forces to be irrational -- when we're overloaded that encouragement leads to bad behavior -- or the nut jobs get nuttier .. 

we need to be kind, respectful, truthful and civil .. we need to get back to the basics of the golden rule .. I don't know if it is possible but yesterday should be a wake up call for all of us ... we need to take care of ourselves !!

those 3 worst days ... 

1.  the day I signed mndot road agreements and 15 minutes later someone died on said detour

2.  Saturday morning

3.  will never be articulated -- those that know, know -- 

 

all in a day

       I started my day with a payroll project
       Headed to Mkto for a very short TDS meeting
       Back to St Peter - for a presentation on document mgmt software
            a mere $25 per client nice stuff but I'm not sure it works for us
        Finally work time -- and the paint crew is playing and singing with the radio -- and singing is not in their skill set .. argh . need them to be done -- soon 

       Got home at 5:30 and promptly got on the lawnmower -- the front, north, backyard and big field are mowed .. by 8:00 there was water in the wind.  Crap was flying thru the air the last 45 minutes .. I could sure tell when the front blew thru .. 

        I volunteered at produce distribution yesterday -- I'm old, large, and out of shape to be standing on uneven asphalt for 3 hours bagging smelly onions in 5 lb bags -- they come in 50 lb bags and we broke them down.  My red face and dragging tush left early for a shower and non fragrant clothes.  We had a light turnout of patrons -- it is so hard to plan.

        I'm tired and cranky -- turned down a trip to Germany ( exchange for one of the county committees -- I just can't swing a week away on short notice) .. even long notice -- a week away would be utter chaos when I returned.  

        Today's drama -- client received a Mn notice of balance due .. they mailed in the balance due on their return with their Q1 estimated tax payments -- didn't want to "waste a second check" .. well -- things get screwed up under that method.  ARGH  ... 2 months of crap like that makes me ugly.

 

    

    

it's only $$$

 

    So today, I spent $ 50,000 ... in 15 minutes ....

  1    renewed my tax software for 2025 filing season
  2    paid the building contractor
  3    paid my estimated fed/mn tax payment 

    It was kind of a day that stinks.  Board meeting this morning was disjointed ( I was disjointed ) .. came back to chaos at the office -- this building project has been disruptive .. disruptive in a good way but I don't work well with a zillion things happening in the background.  I'm old.  I'm stodgy.  I like things my way.  

     The paint colors look good -- I did a fine job of matching the existing color.  Tomorrow, if it is not raining the trim color arrives -- that will tell the story.  

    The software is a necessary evil that irks me (I'm trying to swear less) -- pisses me off -- I've used the same software from day one ( 1990 ish ) and frankly, they have a great product once they get their shit together and get it to us.  Customer service is almost non existent -- it's been rough .. I get more info from the internet and wastebook groups than tech/service support.  It's all part of the crazy world I live in.  

the crazies continue ...

not sure where the time goes anymore -- work, work, dentist, mow, mow, clean, dentist, work and every once in a while play .. my last dentist appointment until August was this morning -- 2 more fillings -- or replace one, remove one fix cavity underneath and replace 

no novacaine ( can't spell it ) for #1 ... evidently, I'm braver than I thought .. 

1. broken tooth - replace crown
2.  my tooth hurts - schedule extraction
3.  exam
4. extraction
5.  check hole in jaw
6. 2 fillings
7. 2 more fillings

I've been there a LOT.  the extraction hole is doing well -- I finally can eat ( carefully ) no pudding or jello today!   

Nick and Mara -- Saturday afternoon at the lake -- she was enjoying the ceiling fan -- Nick and Dylan were solving the problems of the world ---

this week is full of county gigs, client gigs, food shelf produce distribution -- county gigs, payroll -- drama ... and after seeing the forecast -- rain .. wth -- no time to mow if it's raining all the time .... 

last week, thursday and friday I spent 6 1/2 hours on the lawnmower -- I had supper while mowing -- ever eat a pudding cup and mow at the same time -- it isn't a pretty sight .. grass got cut and I had food ... the white chocolate instant pudding is the bomb.

 

northern lights

the aurora app on my phone notified me I'd have a 45% chance of seeing the northern lights .. I walked outside -- this isn't the northern lights 

I should have paid more attention in biology -- the science part of forecasting the northern lights is waaaaayyyy over my brain -- too much rain, fog and smoke last night ...

someday I'll see them again 

after the rain and before the sunset - next rain shower -- a rainbow ( double one) appeared .. these quirks of nature -- are signs -- signs that are everywhere - need to enjoy these little moments . 

it's raining pretty well this morning -- the office is supposed to get power washed today -- at least the "trim"  -- Wednesday and Thursday is paint days -- priming before the real deal -- need to finalize color.

got the plants bought yesterday $170 later I have 3 flats of geraniums and a few fancy annuals -- still haven't planted my zinnias -- tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow