Do I really hate the house I’ve lived in for over forty years?

I hate this house. I have hated this house for over forty years. We made the HUGE mistake of buying the house from the in-laws. Never buy a house from your in-laws. We weren’t in it a week when we discovered we had termites, thirty years worth of them. Did the in-laws pay to get rid of them? Nope, we did. Yes, I hate this house.

Our first winter in the house the furnace blew, filling the basement with smoke and leaving us without heat on the coldest week of the year. Yes, I hate this house.

The roof leaks. It has been repaired more times than I care to count. It only leaks when we finally get ALL the damage repaired from the last leak. It’s enough to make you stop repairing the damage.

Back by the back of the house, where the outside cellar door is, we have another leak. A leak that we can seem to stop. We’ve tried everything available to do so and yet, it still leaks. Yes, I hate this house.

The cement front porch has decided to decay, badly. This winter wasn’t kind. Repairing it is going to cost us a small fortune. Yes, I hate this house.

 

 

Swamp monsters and frustration

     The Curmudgeon is still having problems getting around. He usually takes the dogs out and feeds them in the morning, he’s having trouble doing that. He’s doing less and less. It is frustrating for both of us. It’s difficult for me because I do need to get some sleep sometime and mornings are when I usually get my sleep.

     There’s no help in sight. The MS Society scooted off as soon as they figured they’d done their token bit of help. Two safety bars, a seat for the bath, a lame counselor for me to talk to (because they were afraid I was crazy)  to me it felt like talking to our old prying, nosy neighbor, and then there were their empty promises of help to get the house in order so I can keep up with it. I haven’t been able to catch up with the dirt since the heart attack–that’s over two years ago.

     With two days of rain, the pups have ceased being cooperative. They don’t want to go out in the rain and mud any more than we do. I swear as revenge for making them go out in the rain, they purposely seek out the muddiest areas of the yard to traipse through. My kitchen floor my never be clean again. Little swamp monsters!

Who us?  We is innocent!

Are we heading to swamp yard 2014?

     Had a delightful day yesterday even with the rain. G and I went out to lunch at Lily Sushi and Grill http://www.lilysushigrill.com/ and then shopping at Target. We didn’t buy much, but as usual I spent more than she did.  LOL!

     I hope the two days of rain we’re in for don’t make our yard a complete swamp, because the weather for a few days after that is looking wonderful. I’d love to get out in the yard and work a bit.

     Patty thought she’d melt and it was merely a drizzle. We had to push her out the door every time. Gavin doesn’t care, his philosophy is: When you’ve got to pee you’ve got to pee.

At least it’s NOT this.

 

Volunteers?

These are not from this year. I did take some pictures today, but didn’t get them downloaded. This is where my garden is now, except it needs to be cleared of leaves and winter wind-blown crap.

The garden looks worse than this and is in dire need of mulch. We didn’t get around to mulching it last year at all. What mulch you see here is gone. All I have is tons of leaves.

Since we are planning to fill in the pond, I will be moving many plants this spring. Any volunteers, willing to help me get my pond filled in and gardens in shape, will get plenty of chances at iris and other flowers that need splitting.

Record cold! NO!!!!

I want to work in the yard. I want to build this!

I want warm weather, not record cold.

Yes, I am whining.

I have had enough cold weather.

Make. It. Stop.

50th Anniversary of the Alaskan Earthquake. 3/27/1964

I was there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6uPvzl-Hgg

Nooooooooooooooo! More snooooooow!

Thank goodness, even though it snowed all afternoon and is still snowing…this is all we got.

WHEW!!

Is it there?

We’ve looked and looked no sign of Spring, not one of these daffodils has peeped out of the ground yet. March 25th and we’re supposed to get snow. A high of 36 degrees and a low of 19. All. Week.

You all have a good one.

Is it here?

At this point, I have no idea when my tree is going to look like this again. The buds are small and tight to the branches yet. With this cold weather hitting us again, it may be a while.

March came in like a lion and looks like it will also leave like one. Seriously? Snow on Tuesday?

Here’s hoping that April arrives on gentle, warm breezes.

You all have a good one.

Sick of cooking?

I have days where I am so beyond tired of cooking that nothing sounds good. I dig through cookbook after cookbook to find something that appeals to me. Those are the days I usually order a pizza, Chinese food, or just wing it with an easy to fix and clean up afterwards meal.

One of my favorite fall back meals is beef and bean burritos. The Curmudgeon loves them, I can serve them on paper plates, and have very little clean up afterwards.

What do you do when you’re sick of cooking?

Do you have any recipes that you tend to fall back on?

Cookies anyone?

Have you ever…

Had a sneezing fit so bad you thought your head would explode?

Tripped over your own feet in public and pretended you meant to do it?

Walked into a wall?

Stepped into a hole and sprained an ankle?

Felt you had to apologize to someone for your dog’s over enthusiastic welcome?

Today was klutz day here. Can you tell?

If you had a secret room…

What would it look like? Where would it be?

The side you see here would be my secret room. If I had this room, I’d spend most of my time in there. The rest of my time I’d spend in the garden.

You all have a good one!

Spring?

     Welcome to swamp. Yes, as usual, we are now in Spring swamp mode. It drizzled all day and then by nightfall it began to pour. The dogs do not want to go out, they think they are made of sugar and they’ll melt.

     Even though we’re supposed to have a couple of days of nice weather, directly behind that is another taste of winter.  Boo.