Memorial Day weekend journal

15 years ago

I've been as busy as a one-armed paperhanger since last Thursday! The yard is completely landscaped, bone-wise. I just got my new perennials and the annuals to fill the holes planted. The car has current tags. I have a new drivers license. The laundry is done and so is the grocery shopping. I have been to the movies once, lunch three times, and entertained at the house one evening. I also went to my sister's for the indoor picnic yesterday (we had rain, rain, rain). There is insulation in the new bathroom. There is drywall on 95% of the walls in the new bathroom. The paint for the bathroom is picked out and bought. I would have pictures of the plumbing, insulation and drywall, but I left the camera in the trunk of the car and couldn't figure that out until this morning. Shoot. Ed will very likely put in the very last pipe in tonight. And then we'll hang the last two sheets of drywall. If all goes well, we'll have it mudded sometime this week and it'll be dry for sanding this weekend. It's progressing FINALLY (he's been unmotivated and I couldn't go forward since I don't do plumbing) after a three months' hiatus. Our old plumbing (as in, not the newly installed plumbing) has been acting up and the sub came to work on it. It took two whole days and it's still not fixed. The city came and will come again. UGH! The good news is, the house is shaping up and we can move forward much faster once the lynchpin of the remodel is done. Tiling is daunting in front of us, but he seems upbeat and I assume he can handle the brunt of worrying about/installing it. In the meantime, I'll be working on prepping the fixtures, such as adding the rubber stripping to the sink bracket, painting the light fixtures, etc. We should be done soon since good weather is upon us. Looks like ribs for dinner one night and wings another. Obviously, I wasn't hungry when I went to the store, since all I could think of was what he likes :). LF starts swimming every day as of today. I can't wait to pick him up since he'll probably be walking on air. He got new swim trunks in Pigeon Forge and they're covered with sharks. I'm really enjoying my downloaded music. Ironically, everyone keeps saying, "What station is that?!", makes me smile. On the down side, I'm pretty unhappy with my officemate and many of my friends have relatives with health problems, one's father died last week, one's uncle died a couple of days ago, one's father just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer... I hurt inside and wish I could run away to the beach. For today. I'd still come home. And that's all I have to say about that.

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jazmynsmom
15 years ago
Sunday night's storm was hard on the robins nesting in our yard. I discovered a nest and two cold blue eggs spilled into my lawn on my Monday morning walk. I should have been more attentive when Izzy went on an insistent point in the bushes a couple minutes later. The robins and neighbor children were horrified when her ignored point culminating in her grabbing a baby robin who, along with two siblings and the nest itself, had been thrown to the ground by the storm. I commanded her to "drop" and "leave it" and she obeyed, but protested loudly when I shooed her into the house while the neighbor lady and I assessed the damages and their kids worked themselves into a froth.

We determined the nest was salvageable and wedged it tightly into the tree, out of reach of dogs biologically driven to find and retrieve birds and other predators. We sent the boy inside to fetch a serving spoon, and used it to scoop all three babies back into the nest. One had a minor dog-tooth scratch on its drumstick and I feared internal damage, but all three seemed alert. Several robins swarmed around us as we did this, protesting wildly. I peeked inside the nest today and was happy to see three beaks connected to three breathing bodies. More than two robins have been feeding this brood. I wonder if its not the couple who lost their eggs who are chipping in.

I am relieved that Izzy used a "soft mouth" (which she hardly ever does) and that she alerted us to the situation so we could intercede. The birds are several days from being able to fly, and none would have survived on the ground had this not happened. Still, the chirping that erupts when she comes outside now is almost intolerable.

The people across the street moved out last weekend. All the proximal neighbors were very pleased to see this. They were greeted with apple pie when they moved in and responded with frivolous and expensive litigation. They have frequent, loud, obscenity-laden arguments which can be heard from several houses away and wake neighbors sleeping with the windows closed. I wish them well, but even more so, I wish them distant.

They sold their house to A Famous Person. It will be interesting to see how this changes things.
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