We're landscaped!

When we had the 30+ year old cedar  trim replaced with HardiPlank a few months ago, I had most of the 30+ year old shrubs removed.  I had been wanting to do that for years.  They were so huge and needed pruning several times a year to keep them in check, ideally.  Well, we just aren't into yard work much...so, pruning once a year was much more our speed.  Having people there to work on installing new windows and new trim was all the excuse I needed to get rid of those giant bushes.

As soon as the old shrubs were removed I called a local landscaping service to get the process started.  R.L., who owns the business, is extremely busy and it's sometimes hard to get a call back from him.  Luckily, I was chatting with my friend Judy on Facebook and she mentioned that her son Jeff was going to work for R.L.  I mentioned my lack of success at getting in touch with R.L. to do my landscaping job.  She said that area (public relations) was something that Jeff hoped to be able to improve for R.L.  Less than a week after he started with R.L., Jeff came out here to discuss what I had in mind.

Wayne and I had decided that a sprinkler system for the flowerbeds and the foundation was going to be in the plan.  I told Jeff I wanted it to be easy; I like color; I don't like to work.  Within another week we had a plan, but that was at the end of May and I was going to be gone for much of June, so we decided to wait until the end of June to get started.

By the time the end of June rolled around, we started getting lots of rain.  I have no idea how much, but I think it was in the neighborhood of 7 or 8 inches over a couple of weeks.  But now it's complete!  They installed the sprinkler system around the whole house.  We only landscaped about 3/4 of the area around the house.  The remainder is more  large shrubs, but they're okay for now...not as hard to prune as the others were.

Unfortunately, I was away from the house when R.L. came to install the control panel, so I didn't get a lesson in usage.  It looks like it's set to run, but I don't know how to check the programming.  It's probably set to run early in the morning...before I get up.  I also need to talk to Jeff and get instructions on what the water requirements are for the new plantings.

I have mowed since it was complete.  It's kind of tricky to get close to the stacked rock border without knocking things around.  I was thinking this morning that I probably need to get the weedeater to get the closest grass.  Hmmm...this is starting to sound like work.  Plus, now the rest of the yard need sprucing up.  I'll get over that, though, and wait until Wayne can let Rudy come over here to help.  Help?  One of things I like to say (that says a lot about my yardwork philosophy) is, "It's such a pretty day...I almost feel like hiring someone to come work in my yard."

I now have Knock out roses, dwarf Agapanthas, Japanese blueberry shrubs, a Vitex tree, 2 Redbud trees, Foxtail ferns, some kind of grass, Cleyera and Ixora.  I have no idea what those last two are.  Guess I'll have to look it up.

The crew also edged and trimmed some of the trees to really make it look nice.  I'm a happy camper!!!

At the back door: Agapanthas, Knock Out Roses, some kind of grass

Still at the back: some kind of grass, Agapanthas.  Under the kitchen windows: Knock Out Roses.  Way up there is the Cleyera and you can barely see the Vitex peeking around the side of the garage.

Looking toward the front door: Agapanthas, a Redbud tree, Knock Out Roses

Flanking the front windows: Japanese blueberry, Agapanthas, Ixora (in front of the windows)

You can see the pretty color of the Ixora and how nice the stacked rock border looks

Busy, busy, busy...

Although you can't really tell what I've done...(I don't have much to show for it)...I have been quite busy.

I've had decisions to make:

• I need a new car
• I need a new computer
• I need new living room furniture

So, I started with the car.  I had already looked at the GMC Terrain at a local dealership.  Well, let me back up.  I hadn't actually seen a Terrain in person.  But, I had looked on the internet and was interested.  It's a smaller SUV than the GMC Yukon I've been driving since about 2001.  I am ready to go a bit smaller.  The problem was the dealership didn't have one and didn't know when they would have one.  I told what bells and whistles I wanted on it and thought that I might like silver.  (Wayne's silver Toyota Tundra is really pretty...and everyone has a white car...I'd never be able to find mine!)  They had located a couple of them at other dealerships, but I didn't want them to get it down here before I at least saw one in person and drove it.  This was in June, just before the girlfriends trip to Concan.  All the way to Concan and back (about 6 total hours on I-10), I looked for Terrains.  Never saw one.  NEVER!  But, I did see lots of silver SUV's and I decided I really didn't want silver.  Terrains aren't available in many colors, so that was going to be a problem.  The white is "appliance white"...not a pearly white.  Anyway...long story short....the dealership finally got one in that I could look at (but not drive) and I decided that the cargo space in the Terrain was just too small.  It looked like it was about half the cargo space of the Yukon.  The seats were really nice, though...two-toned.  I liked the way it looked; didn't get to drive it though; cargo space seemed inadequate for me.  Scratch the Terrain.

A week or so later the dealership called to have me look at (and drive) a GMC Acadia (a car I had admired the looks of for quite a while), and a Buick Enclave, (another car I think looks good.)  I drove them both and liked both of them.  I think they are both crossover SUVs...the Enclave looks smaller, I think, but actually, according to the dimensions, is an iota larger than the Acadia.  I narrowed it down to the Enclave, decided on a color and finally picked the interior color I thought looked best.  Although, why I thought the interior color was important is a mystery to me, since I didn't remember that the interior of my Yukon was tan until I looked.  I thought it was gray.  The dealership has located a couple that meet my specifications and is working to get one transferred here.  The hold-up right now is that the vehicles have not yet arrived at the other dealerships.  Maybe next week. 

So, that's taken care of...soon, you might see me in a diamond white, the purty pearly white color, Enclave with tan and cocoa seats.  Fancy, schmancy!

That leaves the computer and furniture.  Oh...oh...one thing I forgot to mention was I finally got my landscaping done around the house...and it's beautiful!  I'll end this post and maybe get some pictures of the landscaping in the next post.

That doesn't really sound like I've been busy, does it?  Trust me...it's hard work for me to finally decide to spend money. 

Self-waterboarding

I needed to mow and I needed to do it this morning.  I cranked up the mower about 10:30 and got started cutting grass that hasn't been cut for quite a while...a couple of weeks, at least. It rained all last week and the grass responded predictably, happily growing several inches.

I set the blade at 4", thinking that I wouldn't wait two weeks to mow again.  That way it won't have grown so much and I can move the blade lower, to 3 1/2".  It took a little over an hour to finish, but it didn't take that long to decide I'm not mowing again anytime soon. Geez! It wasn't that it was that hot...well, it was...but, the humidity was what got me. The combination of the humidity and my sunglasses slipping down my nose made me think of waterboarding. As in feeling like you're drowning even though you're not. Self-waterboarding is pretty easy to accomplish here in this part of the country at this time of year. I don't recommend it though.

California Sojourn

Susan, Andy, David, Judy, Chris

Andy, Chris and I went out to visit our California relatives a couple of weeks ago. We had such a nice time out there. The flights were all smooth rides and on time. The flight attendants for the two long legs (Houston to Vegas and, on the way home, Phoenix to Houston) were very entertaining. No dignity, but lots of smart remarks about the "crazy pilot", etc. On one flight, a man danced all the way down the aisle with one of the flight attendants. Another flight attendant brought a baby from somewhere else in the plane to visit with the baby who was sitting across from us. All babies were good, by the way. At least I didn't hear any crying.

A male flight attendant who was deadheading got hold of the speaker system and messed with us by continually announcing that "for those of you have been asking, you can see it out the left (or right, or later...our left, his right) side of the plane." Of course we all wondered what "it" was. We didn't find out he was messing with us for a little while.But, enough about our flights, for heaven's sake. Let's talk about the relatives!

Judy met us at the Ontario Airport. I had texted her a picture of what I was wearing so she would recognize me. That's a running joke between us. Everytime she has picked me up at the airport, I've had to be within 10 feet of her before she recognizes me. And we've seen each other every other year or so for quite a while. Maybe it's my "renaturalized" hair.

The weather out there was absolutely wonderful! No humidity...temperature felt like it was in the 70's except at night when it got down into the 50's, I think. It was just beautiful! Judy reported that the day after we left it was in the 90's and supposed to stay there for a while, but I'm pretty sure it feels a lot better there than it does in this hot, humid area.

We got out there on Sunday evening and headed right to Judy & David's house in Upland, where we had a light supper and visit before David took Andy to the motel. Judy and David have two guest bedrooms, so that's where Chris and I stayed. My room, the Princess Room (as named by one of their granddaughters) was as lovely as ever. Very welcoming and comfortable. I hope I can manage a bit of that when Judy and David come here this fall.

Monday was Memorial Day and they usually have a barbecue, so about mid-afternoon, other relatives started appearing. We had already picked up Andy, and Aunt Ludene and her 1991 car (which Andy was going to use for the time we were in California.) Thank you, Ludene, for letting us use your car. It would have been impossible to squeeze us all into one of the other cars.

Standing: Judy, Chris, Jeff, Andy

Seated: Ludene, Janis, Susan

In addition to Ludene, others who came to the barbecue were Judy's sister Gail and her daughters, Sydney and Kristal and Kristal's husband Paul and their two-week old baby daughter, Bronte. Also, Paul's parents who were visiting from Kansas. Another 1st cousin, Janis and her husband Jeff were so good to drop by for awhile. They were on their way to Las Vegas for business.

Bronte Dene, 2 week old daughter of Kristal and Paul Damm

Gail, with her youngest grandchild, Bronte Dene

Andy, Ludene, Judy, Gail, Bronte, Kristal

Gail, Bronte, Kristal and Paul with the baby blanket knitted by Judy

After enjoying drinks and appetizers, David fired up the grill and cooked up some flank steaks and salmon which we all enjoyed with the side dishes. We did a pretty good job of finishing up the meal and the cakes that Judy had made. I forgot to mention that Judy and I walked across the road to the greenbelt where she snagged a few lemons for lemonade from one of the numerous lemon trees there. The area used to be a lemon grove, I believe.

Judy, snagging a few lemons

Janis and Jeff

Okay, I'm getting tired of writing and I'm sure you're getting tired of reading. We shopped, they went up Mount Baldy; we shopped, they sat on a bench kind of in front of Macy's...with their backs to everything; we toured El Prado, the golf course where David and Judy play and where David works part-time. We ate spaghetti at Vince's (something we always do when we go out there...good spaghetti, good garlic bread.) Maybe one of these days we'll go to the ocean. Haven't done that in 50 years or so.

Judy and David at Vince's

Gail and her daughter Sydney at Vince's

Aunt Ludene and Susan at Vince's

And that's about it. It was terrific to see everyone and catch up a bit. The weather couldn't have been nicer. Everything was wonderful! Thanks, Judy and David for your excellent hospitality!!!

(Barely) Moving Sidewalk

So we (Andy, Chris and I) were at the Vegas airport, changing planes to continue on to Ontario. We had plenty of time, but it looked to be quite a hike. The first of about four moving sidewalks was not moving. Dagnabbit! Andy had a carry-on and a garment bag, Chris had a small carry-on, and I had a carry-on containing most of my clothes...or maybe Chris and I traded bags. We pushed on toward the next moving sidewalk which was, happily, operating. We stood to the right side and let it do all the work. Then we got on the third one and the fourth one.

They weren't moving fast, that's for sure. As a matter of fact, we noticed a group of people who had decided to skip the ride and just hoof it. They were walking faster than we were moving. And that was when I saw that one of the group, an elderly man, was actually limping along using a cane.

And we were eating his dust!

Gotta Get It!

I don't know why I titled my last post "Wireless Dilemma." There's no dilemma. I am having such a great time on this laptop of Carolyn's with her Verizon Wireless USB Modem. I have uploaded, and downloaded,huge (for me, in one sitting) amounts of data tonight. I noticed I had maximum bars when the laptop was against the attic door. Maybe because that's where the Dishnet cables are hooked up before they go off to the rest of the house. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Could go either way.

There's no telling how long doing the same thing would have taken on my decrepit old desktop. So, I can't wait to get me a new computer machine and modem. Boy, I will be something for sure! I'm even typing pretty good on the laptop now. So, once I get used to the placement of the function keys, etc., I ought to really fly!

Naturally, I wish someone like Jedd was doing it for me. It was so painless that way. I'm not going to have a good time doing it myself.

Wireless Dilemma

I brought Carolyn's laptop home with me today because I wanted to try out her Verizon Wireless modem at my house to see what kind of connection speed it gets here. I have had so much trouble with my connection through the local electric co-op. I have had to check email via my iphone most days out of the last few weeks and it was almost impossible to get connected or stay connected long enough to handle paperless bill paying.

As luck would have it, I get the most bars (almost the maximum) when I'm sitting in my recliner upstairs. Good news and bad news. When I'm watching television and want to mess around on the internet or type posts, the recliner isn't a bad place to be. My feet are up and I can type in comfort...except for getting used to the laptop keyboard. It's getting a little better, although I just had to back up to correct the extra letters I put in "getting." I suppose I should get with it and at least get a laptop for this type of thing. I don't like the "mouse" touch pad thingy...but I guess that, too, would get more comfortable with more practice. Plus, I could take a laptop with me (if I wanted to) when I'm away from home for more than a few days.

For real bookwork though, I need to be at the desk in my "office", near the files and printer and all that officey paraphernalia. Let's pause here while I try to figure out how to spell that word without having to get up out of the recliner. I know I didn't spell it right, and I didn't even really try because I knew the program would underline it in red and suggest the correct spelling. Well, I just did spell check and apparently that's the way you spell it...who knew? Paraphernalia was the word I was talking about, by the way. It still looks weird to me.

Anyhooo, I need a decent connection at my desk, too and I guess I could accept two bars. It's still bound to be faster than my current wireless. I'm testing the upload speed at the moment by uploading a video I shot while I was in California last week. We were taking a tour of a golf course. It's about 20 MB and would take quite a while to upload and process using my current wireless connection. I've got the timer going and expect the upload to complete in a much shorter time. ***music from Final Jeopardy answer period playing in my head.*** According to the screen here....it's done! In 7 minutes and 34 seconds. Ooooh...Verizon...here I come!!!

You can watch the video if you want...but, other than Andy, Chris, Judy, David & I...I suspect it won't leave you wanting more.