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Holy Crap! These past three weeks have been "interesting". Some wonderful things, some fun things, some difficult things and some horrible things. I have my normal quarterly checkup with my Doc next Wednesday. That should be highly entertaining. We'll see.
So, rather than my usual blog writing schedule of Sunday after Church, I'm actually doing this post on Friday. I am not responsible for not including any calamities that may occur between now and Monday.
Well, juvat, let's start with the wonderful. Obviously, Miss B's Baptism is a highlight in my recent history. In fact, spending a couple of weeks with one and/or two granddaughters, did wonders for my morale.
One or two, juvat? Yeah, they, and their parents set up a tag team rotation of grandchildren visits to keep us from thinking to much about "Things!". Worked. Both Mrs. J and I got quite a few laugh's in. Very cathartic it was.
Last week, we were over in CStat (College Station to the non-cognoscenti). MBD and The Rev are in the process of renovating their newly purchased house and needed a strong backed, weak minded Stepin Fetchet to assist them. Mrs. J's role was style and color. Mine was "Cart this over there, hang that over here." Oh, my aching back.
One cement board (about 40 lbs), with two people installing it, was easy. The second one, with just me, wasn't quite so easy.
Went through 4 masonry drill bits trying to drill through those bricks. Oh, yeah, did I mention I forgot to use thin-set? Take the panels down and start over, juvat! Moron!
Speaking of mentioning things, have I mentioned that July has been an extremely hot month down here and College Station adds to that by being generally very humid? Yes, well...Suffice it to say, staying ahead of dehydration was a "challenge".
But, the house is looking pretty good. Gonna have to revisit it after this weekend's over. Gonna need to hammer on some recalcitrant bricks to work out some stress.
Lisa's Celebration of Life is (was) Sunday. My Favorite Aunt and Uncle are flying in. Brother is also coming along with one of my Nieces and her family. Several local friends of Lisa's have said they're coming. Mrs. J managed to get some "old" photos and has printed them out. Hopefully, that'll get the story telling started.
Best I can figure, I was probably 5 in this picture, Lisa was 3 and my brother was 2. My other sister was about 6 months. Life in Montana and North Dakota in the mid-50's. At least, I had hair back then, and was a snappy dresser.
Happier Times
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| Picture was taken at "Soon to be" Mrs. J and My rehearsal dinner. As I said, Happier times. |
Well...The Wake went well, Lot's of people from various aspects of Lisa's life showed up.
Great stories were told. Lot's of laughs and a "bit" of wine was consumed.
Even got to meet Cletus and his beautiful bride.
That's all for this week, looking forward to getting through this soon.
Life is good!
Peace out, Y'all!
Ah, life goes on. The days following my dad's death were weird and surrealistic in a good and sad way. So were the days following the inlaws' deaths, for other reasons.
ReplyDeleteGood kids you have, keeping you all busy with grand kids. Very smart.
Otherwise, yeah, hot and humid. That's part of being on the same parallel as other fun spots like Libya, the Sinai Peninsula, Hell itself. Yay, what fun. And Euros keep asking why we need air conditioning. Because we want to be able to not die, that's why. (The other way around, I have never used heat in my adult life other than a space heater in the bathroom on really cold days. How about you Euros not turn your heat on, don't use your fireplaces, and just suffer all winter long?)
Ah, well, things will eventually settle down. Our wishes to yours.
Beans,
DeleteYeah, it does. Both the Wake and the Grandkids were wonderful antedotes for a depressing event. Thanks
Learned something new about WX this week. It's been pretty hazy lately, but the haze has an orangish tinge. The TV WX guy says it is sand from the Sahara being blown in. Interesting!
Thanks
juvat
Happens every year. It's one of the few ways the Amazon basin gets essential nutrients, as the Rainforest is actually a bad thing for the environment.
DeleteHow? Well, see, originally much of the Amazon was clearcut and agricultural, and grew after the downfall of the 'great' civilizations in the area. Grasses and food plants are much better at turning CO2 into O2, netwise, and are better carbon sinks, than trees. Especially triple or quadruple canopy forests. And all those forests produce a massive amount of debris which rots which creates methane...
But, yes, that orange tint... dust from Africa. It's actually a good thing, to an extent.
Interesting. Did not know that. Thanks
Deletejuvat
Would love to see some sources for that. (My need to read is constant ...)
DeleteSarge,
DeleteNot sure how trustworthy NASA (or any Gummint Agency) is these days, but this site (https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-satellite-reveals-how-much-saharan-dust-feeds-amazon-s-plants) has an interesting explanation.
juvat
👍
DeleteThe interesting thing about a lot of Amazonian old growth trees is that they are around... 700 or so years old. Almost like, you know, before they appeared everywhere the Amazon basin wasn't full of old growth trees.
DeleteYou see some of the same in the Pacific Northwest and in New England. A lot of the old growth trees that the Europeans found grew after there was a die-off of the local agricultural peoples around the 1300s.
Yah grandkids can certainly bring out the giggles and laughs, nice counterbalance to the somberness and sorrow of the passing of a close one. Found it helpful to write down what materials are needed and the plan of action when starting a project around la casa.
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteYeah, I normally carry a small notebook in my back pocket. I call it my "Actual Brain" as opposed to the one in my cranial cavity. If I remember to write it down, my "Actual Brain" doesn't forget whereas....
Thanks
juvat
Uh - hate to tell you but if I look at the picture of the fireplace correctly you have made the same mistake I have made in past. The rough side of the cement board should face outward to help "draw" the tile adhesive and tile onto the board. it will work as is but you make experience some sliding of the tile as you mount it. This is a learn by doing activity and you would think the manufacturer of the board would be a "front toward enemy" mark somewhere LOL
ReplyDeleteAnon, Well....Crap! but...I do have to take it down anyway to put the thin set on it. Live and learn, but thanks for saving me an additional additional take down and put back up.
Deletejuvat
Sometimes the children conspire to assist us in ways that are immensely helpful. I believe this makes up for all the times they were "less helpful".
ReplyDeleteYou were indeed a snappy dresser.
Best of hopes that the service went well and everyone has a sense of peace.
THBB,
DeleteI think they're actually storing up the helpful moments in order to pay in the future for those other times. However, for the most part, those less helpful moments are Mom and Dad's issue. Grandparents (I've been told) get to hand the kids back to them when things get dicey. We'll see.
The Celebration went quite well and was very effective at reducing BP and other stressful things.
Thanks
juvat
Juvat, the Celebration of Life for your Sister was definitely well done. The hospitality shown to us by Mrs. J, your Daughter/Son/Daughter in Law/Brother/Uncle and Aunt, and your good self were outstanding. Thoroughly enjoyed meeting "Miss B" who was very alert and inquisitive of all the goings on.
ReplyDeleteAgain, many thanks and apologies for me screwing up the start time in my mental notes (hand written notes left around the house) by us arriving 1/2 hour early and interrupting prep. time.
Side note on the weather. On our way home from your place noticed there had been a small shower a few miles from your house on hwy. 16. Plus, with the few clouds that were around the area earlier in the day, at 6pm we were sitting on the porch watching the deer/turkeys at the deer feeder and noticed the temperature was a pleasant 92 degrees....we haven't seen that low of a daytime temp. in appx. 3 weeks+.
Cletus
Cletus,
DeleteGlad you made it, and no worries on the start time. It actually was a pretty good signal that we needed to light the Afterburners and get the Mach up on prepping. We really had a good time with good people whom were proud to call friends.
As to rain, we got a few drops, nothing significant other than to paint some circles in the dust. Ah well, maybe next time.
Thanks
juvat
Grandkids are a huge help in making it through difficult times. Glad things went well, sorry for the circumstances but life is like that.
ReplyDeletePrayers for you and yours.
Sarge,
DeleteYeah they do and yes life is like that.
Thanks
juvat
That is a SMILE, in photo three!
ReplyDeleteStB,
DeleteYeah, her grasp of expressions and awareness in general is very apparent and growing by leaps and bounds. It's been a tough year for her, and it's good to see the improvements. Still got a way to go on the supplemental O2, but making progress. So...Thank you Lord!
juvat
Well done on all counts (well, other than the thinset)! And a nice turnout for the celebration of life!
ReplyDeleteOld NFO,
DeleteThanks, yeah, it did go well. Lot's of good tales spread. It really did a lot for Mrs. J and I in getting past things. .
juvat