Here we are at the end of another month. I can't believe tomorrow is July 1st. In exactly 28 days I will be 60 years old. There is something about this birthday that has me a bit unsettled. I don't mind the idea of being 60 per say but I'm not thrilled about the fact that my new roof has a life expectancy of 30 years but I don't! I expect that from now on every time I have to purchase a major appliance I'll be wondering whether it will out live me. My high school class of 1967 is having a birthday bash in August for all of us alumni that are turning 60 this year. I haven't decided whether I want to attend as I don't know if I'm in the mood for celebrating or not. I guess I have 28 more days to get used to the idea and realize that having another birthday still beats the alternative.

Today is the retirement party for one of my co-workers. He is about 53 years old and already retiring. I an envious in some ways but also know that I'm not quite ready to retire myself. My plan is to work another 6 years but I realize that plans can change. Right now I can't imagine not working but there are times when I wish I could travel while I'm still physically able to go and enjoy myself. Of course traveling is more fun when you have someone to go with and since I'm on my own I don't know if I'd enjoy going anywhere alone. But then I've never tried so I guess I shouldn't rule it out either. I do have a list of places I'd like to visit. There is Astoria Oregon, the Grand Canyon, Canada, an Alaskan cruise and maybe Hawaii. Maybe I'd better go ahead and retire and purchase some luggage.

From the cat's perspective

E.T. Phone Home!


You lied!


N000000000000000000000000


You call this water warm?

Father of the Year

A man boarded a plane with 6 kids.
After they got settled in their seats a woman sitting across the aisle from him leaned over to him and asked, "Are all of those kids yours?"
He replied, "No. I work for a condom company. These are customer complaints."

Wish I could think so quickly

And the Heat Goes On......and the Heat Goes On..... Another day of brain boiling heat ahead. I'm going to my daughter's this afternoon to swim. Hopefully the water won't be so hot we get boiled to death.

I just finished cleaning out the inside of my car. It seems it rained just enough last night to get the humidity up and get my car seat wet. Obviously I wasn't expected rain. I had left the window down a little just to keep the inside of the car from getting so hot. I forgot about it last night.

I need to go take a shower, Jamie is coming by and we are going out to lunch. I have a few things to get done before I go back to work tomorrow.

My vacation is coming to an end. I wish I could say that I did something outrageously fun and exciting on my week off but it is not the case. I just tried to keep the lawn watered and the flowers from expiring in the heat. It has just been too hot to do anything. I am in the process of getting the roof replaced on the house. The insurance adjuster is coming tomorrow so we will see what they are willing to kick in to the replacement cost. I had foundation piers put in a few years ago and they are in need of adjustment. I don't have a confirmed date for when that will be done yet. I had hoped to have a lot of this stuff done on my week off but obviously that didn't happen.

My television viewing has been reduced to one tv in the living room now. I can't seem to get any channels on any of the other tv's since the digital conversion took place. I even have an HD television in the other room but still only get 2 channels. It's not a real big deal but I sure hate the fact that you pretty much have to subscribe to some kind of cable service to get any channels.

My friend Ron is in Durham, NC visiting his daughter and her family. He hasn't seen them in 4 years so I'm sure he is having a ball. I didn't realize how many things he helps me with around here like changing all the light bulbs I can't reach. It's nice to have a tall person around. ha

I am off to get a haircut and run a few errands before the heat gets too bad.

Happy Father's Day

I hope father's everywhere had a great Father's Day. I sure miss my father and wish I could have spent another father's day with him. My father died 17 years ago only a week before Father's Day. I remember how hard that Father's Day was. My daughters have never had a relationship with their dad as he left when they were 5 years old and they have only seen him twice since then. The last time they saw him was 20 years ago. I think about that every Father's Day and feel bad that they were not lucky enough to have a relationship like the one I had with my dad. Fortunately the girls were close to their grandfather. The girls don't talk about it but I know it as impacted their lives and especially their relationships with the oppositive sex. Julie tends to guard herself emotionally and resists allowing herslef to be vulnerable. Jamie doesn't stand up for herself and doesn't seem to demand the kind of respect she deserves. I wonder at times if this is because of feelings of rejection they have from their dad. The relationship a girl has with her father has a huge influence on the women they will become.

When the girls were younger they would celebrate Father's Day by giving me what they called Dad gifts. I got tools, #1 Dad t-shirt, stuff like that. It was their way of recognizing me as both mom and dad. Now that they are grown they often talk about the children in their classes who are going through divorce and are torn between their parents. This is when the girls say that they are glad now that they didn't see their dad. They didn't experience the going back and forth between parents. I still think a child is better off having two parents that care about them. But a lot depends on whether the parents can be respectful of one another for their children's sake. Children shouldn't be caught in the middle. It's not fair.

I started this blog only as another form of journaling. I never imagined anyone other than myself reading it and if someone accidentally come upon it I imagined they might read and then move on to more interesting things. I still think I just write to ramble about my day or what I'm thinking at the moment. I have always journaled but as arthritis and hand surgeries have made it harder to write the old fashioned way I turned to typing an online journal. It has helped me work through sad times and allowed me an avenue to vent frustrations. Knowing that others may read it at times makes me feel I need to be a more interesting person but then I realize that defeats the initial intent. I never think about being anonymous because I'm not good at keeping secrets anyway.

I started my vacation today. I have checked one thing off my to do list and patched the missing mortar in the brick work. It was a pretty easy job. I got that done this morning before it got too hot. I need to move on to the next project but I haven't figured out what that is yet. I've been considering painting the brick on my house. Everything I've read kind of discourages that idea but I think it would be fun to have a completely new look. I was thinking of a grey brick with white trim and a charcoal grey roof, black shutters and a red door. I'd like to put in a grey slate walkway to the porch. I'd add lots of red flowers in the landscaping. Does anyone have any experience with painting brick?