Catching Up

Well, it's been several months, winter has past, spring has almost left us, and summer is a short 3 weeks away. Though it feels more like fall today. It's raining and cold, but the robins are loving the worms that are showing up in the garden. We have a nest that was home to two baby robins; they seem to be all grown up now, or at least they're out of the nest, but follow mama around the yard, anxiously awaiting the next bite.

Did you notice I said "garden"? I did! Ken and I actually have a garden started this year, first time in about 5 years. So far we have onions, lettuce, spinach and four kinds of tomatoes. We still have a couple varieties of peppers, eggplant, zucchini and butternut squash to plant. The "lasagna" garden experiment was only marginally successful. The cardboard didn't break down the way we thought it would. The stuff that did seems to have made good compost.

The driver's evaluation scheduled for the end of January went well, in my opinion. I didn't cause any accidents at least, or bang up the instructor's van. The simulated part of the eval was a bit tough; he kept saying, "Step on that brake as fast as you can. As fast as you can." But the actual drive was OK, and he said I did about as well as could be expected given my Parkinson's. Ken was disappointed. He wanted my license revoked.

He, in the meantime, has been working to get his license reinstated, which I will admit would make my life easier. He has taken the remedial course, now just has to take the driver's exam.

In March, I had my stimulator batteries replaced. This is set #3 I've had now. This set was put in about a year before I thought they would. Ken also had surgery to remove his cataracts. He says it's amazing, now he can see again.

I'm sure there's more to be written to catch up four months of inactivity, but I'm getting tired. So I'll say, "till next time..."

Really, Really Far Behind

This is so embarrassing, to be this far behind. I read back to my first post on this blog and saw that the creativity bug hits me now and then. Seems it's been a while since it bit. Trying to catch up on everything would be nearly pointless. So I'll try to touch on the highlights and let the rest go by the wayside.

October: Ken's oldest daughter had a baby girl, Aria Sophia. She's now 7 months old. Lee & Kristen celebrated their 5th anniversary.

November: Lee's family invited us to celebrate his 30th birthday with them at Le Chatelain in Worthington. This year it will be Kristen's.

Decmber: I spent Christmas with Lee and Kristen in their new home in Hilliard, OH. Beautiful.

January: All the cabinets in the kitchen came down in preparation for remodeling. They are still stacked on the floor.

April: After a very long snowy winter, it seems like spring is finally here.

May: Ken has asked if I will be his advocate in his attempts to get Social Security disability and VA disability benefits. 'Bout time. :-)

Four years ago, I was struggling with the arrival of spring.

Happy Spring! 3/21/10

The birds are singing, the flowers are poking through the ground, Ken’s got his new tiller ready to dig up the garden – must be spring! Though you wouldn’t know it by the temperature! The last day of winter was over 60 degrees; the first two days of spring have been lucky to reach 40.
Friday I went to see my DBS programmer. There ought to be something she could do to help the freezing and the shakes. We decided to lengthen the range of electrical impulses, from a “black bean” to more of a “butternut squash.” Now I like squash quite a bit, but I’m not sure I like the DBS results. Seems to me I spent most of yesterday in an “off” state, and while today has been better, it’s still not where I’d like to be.
I’d like to be working on my quilt block for the Parkinson’s Quilt Project, but my fingers don’t want to be coordinated. I’d like to be outside helping Ken put the new composter together, but it’s too chilly. I’d like to play computer games, but nearly all of them require finger coordination. So I’ll just sit here and be grumpy.
Hoping next time is better, till then …

Already, I'm falling behind

Well it is officially autumn now. Time to dig out the sweaters, the rakes, the Halloween decorations. A friend of a friend on Facebook insists it isn't really fall until it's cold enough for her to wear socks. I'm still walking around in flip-flops myself.

With fall comes Election Day. Being an odd year, there probably aren't any national issues to decide. Ohio isn't voting for governor, but Cleveland is voting for mayor. Also on the ballot is the Metroparks levy, Issue 80. Ken and I sat at the Metroparks table last Sat at the Ingenuity Fest, encouraging voters to pass the levy. (And, yes, I wore socks! It was cold!)

Looking back on my original blog, it seems like I was falling behind then too. But the seasons were nicely reversed. Thinking about spring then...

Spring is Coming! 3/9/10

After what, for some, has been a brutal winter, it looks like spring is trying to get here. Yay! Here in Cleveland, we’re on a roll with the sunshine – six days in a row! Though I haven’t seen a robin yet (where are they? I always see one before the end of Feb.), the flowers are bravely sending up shoots out of the snow. And Daylight Savings Time starts on Sunday, another herald of nicer weather.

One of my Facebook friends is excited about the pending arrival of spring – the local ice cream shop opened for business. Of course, this is the same friend who dreamed last night that we were hit with one last snow storm; this one dumped six feet (that’s 72 inches!) of snow on us poor unsuspecting souls! He said he’s glad that not all dreams come true. Amen!
My thermometer sits in the sun at this time of day. Too bad; otherwise I could convince myself that it’s 60 degrees outside, instead of the actual 46. I’ll take 46 though; it means the snow is melting. Maybe the drifts will be gone before July after all!
Happy end-of-winter!