Out with the old . . .

The roses that oldest Kiddo planted near the garage many moons ago is now in bloom near the porch.

Can't believe that this old house will sooner rather than later have the new gas boiler connected for the heat and hot water. It's pretty miraculous that we no longer have the big old Stewart Warner or the 175 gallon oil tank in the basement or as Mama would say, "Dans la cave!" I do recall mushrooms growing at the bottom of the rotting wooden stairs when I was a kid. So it really was a cave! We will probably get Ricky D. to cement the old, porous red bricks behind where the oil tank was. Many of them are greatly deteriorated. I guess that's understandable for 200 year old hand made bricks but I don't like to see the red dust on the floor! That wall is made of bricks and horizontal pieces of two by fours? Just plain odd and scary looking to me. The dehumidifier we've been running for a number of years has probably helped to keep them somewhat intact.

Played MouseTrap with Kiddo this weekend and managed to win three out of eight games. It's fun if you can follow the rules! Man he likes to turn the crank to let the Rube Goldbergesque trap fall. It is quite ingenious. As I recall our kids never really played it properly either! They just liked to set the trap in motion! He's still very enthused about our solar system and asked if he could read to me. That's was very cool. He did get the most points possible for his school project. He followed all directions to the letter and was so proud of his work.

 Spent a good week before the rains came visiting brothers and younger sister. We'll be off to Carmichaels, PA for a few days of big time control line flying:  not participating but will certainly enjoy the ride and the overnights.

Quote:  Music, in the best sense, does not require novelty; nay, the older it is, and the more we are accustomed to it, the greater its effect.   ___Goethe

Hell of a chase sequence . . .

Old wall paper that was covered up by the homemade blackboard in the basement. Has to be at least 100 years old.

The rather large marmalade cat from next door sneaking across the lawn preparing  her attack on the little squirrel under the bird feeders decided to pounce. My word, what a ruckus! That squirrel took off and made a bee line to the tree near the wall and just about beat the cat who, I think managed to get some squirrel tail hairs in its claws. Would have been a great video but as usual I'm never fast enough for the goings on in the yard. Speaking of goings on, Puppies and Dante's Pop saw two does strolling across the yard near the wall past the garden. I went to check on the two Rose of Sharon bushes and I think they only nibbled a few tender shoots from one of them. Hells bells. I guess I'll invest in some spray at Agway that's supposed to keep them away from gardens and shrubbery. Hate to have to spray anything but I'm going to be ticked off if they invade my garden domain. Everything in the garden has popped as of this morning. We had a nice light rain overnight and it's still drizzling. Cousin Sandra's tomatoes are standing up nice and strong even the little Juliets which were undersized. All of the seeds have sprouted too: Market Moore cucumbers, crooked neck squash, fancy gourds, Swiss Chard, pumpkins, short puffy sun flowers and Zinnias. The hot humid weather of the past week has really helped the garden. The lawn is as lush as I've ever seen it.

Kiddo's Solar system project was well received by his third grade class mates and teacher. He was supposed to speak extemporaneously for three minutes, giving at least two facts per planet but he went on for ten minutes without realizing it! He was quite proud of himself. His Saturday morning reading to me consisted of more facts about the latest dwarf planets. We shall surely miss our Kiddo as he outgrows us. He'll be nine in August. He's a pretty even tempered character. His brother graduates from Grasso Tech on June 28 and has a full time job at Cardinal Honda. Pretty good start for an 18 year old.

Spoke with cousin Ruth Saturday and we reminisced, especially remembering old Mr. Dore's garden across Bell Avenue and his beautiful flowers. She was recalling the smells of the cobbler's shop with its leather and polish. They were preparing to go to a grandchild's graduation. Also had a neat visitor and his son yesterday right after supper time. Albert and his 14 year old son Noah stopped in for about an hour. It was déjà vu as they walked in the no longer existent path to our house from the no longer existent house of Uncle Curly and Matante Blanche. He recollected the barn that was a part of our property many years ago and that what we call the milk room was in his parlance the honey room where the Carons extracted the honey from their 15 hives that we're located on the hill behind the shed. He also remembered a wood box that would have been to the left as you walked into the kitchen. It felt so good to speak with him. He and his son live in a small town in Maine high up on a hill overlooking a lake. They have chickens, two miniature horses a cat and dog; sounds idyllic. Noah earns money scooping wild blueberries in late July and early August. Albert was visiting because he had just returned from his 66th PHS class reunion. There were 31 people who showed up at the Laurel House. That's fantastic. Most of his children live close by him in Maine and Betty lives in a new home built for her by one of their daughter's in her back yard. That's such a pretty picture. I hear from Betty at Christmas and she always sounds in good spirits. I missed seeing her a few years ago when she was staying with friends in Pomfret for a few days.  Albert said he had a picture of Ma with her motorcycle!  I asked him to try to find it and send me a copy. I knew that Ma rode with Chinny (Laurent) D. but I didn't know that she had a motorcycle.  I'm betting that she was wearing her knickers for riding and standing next to Chinny's bike for the photo op!

Quote:  Look not mournfully to the past -- it comes not back again; wisely improve the present -- it is thine; go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear, and with a manly heart.   ___Longfellow

Memorial Day , May 30, 2013

My lonely poppy.  It always blooms on May 30 and doesn't last very long.

Summer has arrived in its humid iteration . . .

Jack in the Pulpit

Accompanied Puppies and Dante's Pop to the flying field this morning and sweated my way up and down the hill and dale for about 45 minutes. Phew, that was hard work. Have no plans for today so I may sit on the porch glider and catch up on my reading and also play with the keyboard. I've decided to follow the Yamaha lesson plans just for shits and giggles. It's really fun.  Kiddo called last night to tell me about the solar system project he and his Mom have completed for school. He was so excited by what he has learned that I had to get him more books about each planet. It's amazing to see him and hear him light up when he's telling me what he knows. They watched the Triangle Sunset Sunday evening: Venus, Jupiter and Mercury in the western sky. I imagine that when I pick him up from school tomorrow he'll want to stay home and go in their new pool for an hour or so. That'll be fine. He loves the water and it's supposed to be in the 90's, worse than today.

Forgot to mention that I spoke with Jeanie D. the very kind lady who gave Pa the crazy Misty dog who liked to lick the butter that was left on the table! She's looking good and after having both knees replaced is getting around very well. She is a volunteer at St. James in Danielson. One of the pleasures of age is recalling the good, gently worn, beautiful episodes having put asunder the bad and the ugly.  Reminded friends, through Facebook, that the only way to dust is to open the doors and windows and let Nature do her job. Our Mother (Ma) was the best teacher. We've learned to live well.

Quote: The instruction received at the mother's knee, and the paternal lessons, together with the pious and sweet souvenirs of the fireside, are never effaced entirely from the soul.    ___Lamenais

Amazing . . .

No caption needed.  Smells so good.

Former sister-in-law, numéro deux, invited me to go see the Connecticut Sun play the opening game of their WNBA season against Coach Laimbeer and the New York Liberty. What a lot of fun! Not sure I've ever enjoyed a sporting event as much as I did last night. The Sun won but they really had to work hard in the second half to pull it out. Did lots of yelling and clapping. Felt good.

Early breakfast, late Mass this morning before heading out to the cemeteries where I placed some beautiful flowers on our plots. It is so windy that many of the pots at the cemeteries were already knocked over. I'll check on them tomorrow and bring some water too. Puppies and Dante's Pop  brought me to Oneco to visit Gram's grave but we couldn't find Old Grandma Rose's. So we left and journeyed through the dirt roads and woods to West Greenwich, RI and Plain Meeting House Cemetery. We were amazed at how beautiful this historic old cemetery looked. It seems that one man has taken on the task of  putting together the old broken monuments and those that some thugs had pushed over. He has also cleared every grave marker and stone. He found graves that had long been forgotten, whose stones were buried under mounds of soil and weeds. What an impressive job. Great Grampa Rose and Grampa are  at peace there with three young nineteenth century children. On our way home we came upon a lady in the middle of the road trying to save four ducklings that someone had just run over. It was an awful sight. The mother duck was on the side of the road quacking furiously. Poor thing. Don't understand much about human beings any more. I used to be an optimist. I'm not a pessimist yet but on my way to being an agnostic when it comes to mankind, if that is possible.

While I was at the basketball game last night Puppies and Dante's Pop had visitors. A young couple from RI stopped by to pick up the rest of the rhubarb. They stayed and chatted; I'm sorry I missed them. Mary is a wonderful photographer full of curiosity, fun and interesting takes on how to live. She is a character in the best sense of the word.

Quote:   Science has sometimes been said to be opposed to faith, and inconsistent with it.  --But all science, in fact, rests on a basis of faith, for it assumes the permanence and uniformity of natural laws ---a thing which can never be demonstrated.     _____Tryon Edwards

New wedding ring . . .

Dogwood looking down from decoy Bluebird house.

 

Poor old ring finger is arthritic enough that I had Grader's in Norwich saw off my very thin, worn wedding ban yesterday. The tool Mr. Grader used is neat. It seems to work like a manual can opener; he turned a little handle and the tiny saw blade cut through the ring. He needed to use pliers to separate the ends so the ring could be moved over the swollen knuckle. It didn't break but he couldn't guarantee that, if they fixed it and re-sized the ring, it would last. He suggested I'd be better off with a new one. It would have cost $125 to have the old fixed and the new one cost $225. I love the new ring, a size eight, plain gold band a little thicker than my old one. If my knuckle swells even more Grader's will re-size it for free. I will get some money for the old one but not too much: fourteen carat gold, 0.8g. Might not be worth the gas money to return to Graders to pick up the check! I do like gold. I wish I could indulge myself and buy at least one 24 carat gold coin! I would just put it on the desk and admire it. That's not going to happen until our ship comes in. So it'll be a while.

After getting the new wedding band younger brother and wifey treated me to coffee and conversation at their home:  all flowers and gardens looking fine! Stopped at Hart's in Canterbury to pick up the cemetery pots. I've got some beauties. Last night's rain made them look bedraggled so I've set them under the garage overhang as it is going to rain all day. While dragging them to the garage I noticed that we now have more than one bat living up above my mood swing. Yay! I'm impressed. Still won't take pictures of them because the flash is too bright. They are hanging under the board Puppies and Dante's Pop put up and this time they're all the way to the top so I can't see them with out flash. But their neat little excretions let me know that they are alive and living the good life ! I wonder if a big chemical company would like to buy the guano to help me pay for the new ring?

Quote:  Good nature, like a bee, collects honey from every herb.  Ill nature, like the spider, sucks poison from the sweetest flower. . .   _____H. W. Beecher

Contracts going out tomorrow . . .

They smell good.
 

Yay! Think we're finally under control with the oil to gas conversion. We found a little bitty ad in the classifieds with a phone number. Puppies and Dante's Pop called Mike Izbicki and the day after the call he came and gave an estimate of $7,800 for full installation plus taking out the oil tank and old furnace. He will buy the oil that is left in the tank. We received the contract today. It's obvious that he's not a newbie. He will deliver the Triangle Tube Excellence  High Efficiency Boiler after he receives half of the bill. When Yankee Gas brings the gas and meter to our house he will come back and do the work. We are sending both contracts out tomorrow with the half payment, bien sur. I'm excited. We'll actually have something pretty new and hopefully less costly than the poor oil boiler which has given yeoman service for  nigh 60 years!  I imagine, knowing me, that I'll be complaining when Yankee Gas doesn't get the meter set up soon, soon, soon!

Found out I really like Sirius XM now that I've fooled around with it and found Classic Radio, Book Radio and NASCAR besides Bluegrass and Canadian music (not very good.) The Garmin has learned how I like to go to East Granby! I think the latest downloads have really improved it a lot. Grampa had no trouble following its directions to Fairfield, NJ and back. Of course we're also getting better at knowing which roads we don't want to take!

 R and I were trying to remember a song from Oklahoma today and she finally started to sing it after we finished eating our ice cream at Granville Farm. "With you, it's all or nothing. All for you and nothing for me!" I had my iPad with me so I put Pandora on, typed in Oklahoma, connected it to the Hyundai radio and we were golden! It wasn't only songs from Oklahoma but we listened and sang along to some good "stuff!"

Expecting possible thunderstorms tonight. 72 degrees, humid and overcast. We haven't gotten the rain we were promised, at least not here in Moosup. Hope we get some rain but will gladly do without the thunder and lightning!

Quote:  One hour's sleep before midnight, is worth two after.   ____Fielding