India, Rain and Old Friends

We are getting a little rain storm. I took this photo standing in the shelter of my front porch, looking across the street. You can see the tops of my morning glories, which are growing like crazy - big green leaves and tons of buds - but have very few blooms. I think I've had about a half dozen so far.

The frost date in Kansas is October 15, I think, so they're not going to have much time to go through their cycle from flower to seed. These are all volunteer ones that came up from when I planted two or three years ago. I planted blue ones, but Sondra tells me that they will go back to the scarlet ones that they originally were since the blue is a hybrid. That's fine with me, as long as they grow. I need to look that up online so I understand better.

Teresa and I went out to dinner and when we came out of the restaurant there was thunder and lightning. The radio said it just came up in the last 25 minutes or so. At least my lawn is turning green from the brown it was a few days ago.

We went to Lone Star tonight and I snapped a pic of their flower pot by the front door. I really like the combination of plants, especially with the tall one on top. I'm not sure what they all are, but some I recognize. I have some of the purple vines in my front bed. Anyway, it's a nice mixture. Something to remember for the future.

I am weary tonight and think I may go on upstairs soon to rest. Maybe the ER doc was right that I need a little rest. I do have to run downstairs and move some things so the Culligan water guy can get to the tank tomorrow to change it out. I didn't have them come last month because of the floors and I've noticed a bit of lime build up so I must have gotten all the goodie out of that tank. Hutchinson sits atop tons of salt mines so our water is not the greatest. You almost just have to have a water system. But, by next year our Salt Museum will be open, which will be ultra cool.

Today I spent parts of the day off and on working on setting up a wireless network at home. I'm pretty adept with computer things so could not figure out why I could not get this to work.

Finally, I called Tech support for NetGear and got India. I despise that. Hate it hate it hate it hate it. Not because I have anything against India, but because I don't like doing complex things to my computer when I'm spending 75% of my energy trying to figure out what in the heck the person is saying.

As is the norm with such tech calls, the girl could not help me but as best I can tell, my modem and the wireless router don't like each other. She told me to go buy a hub. That's all she could tell me, repeatedly.
I told her I'd just return this product and get a D-Link. That's what I should have done in the first place. But, I wanted the extra supposed juice. Well, if it doesn't work, there's not any juice - much less extra.

Anyway, so I have to deal with that and I've spent some time I can't get back because their product - that searches for the modem and sees it - isn't smart enough to just tell you then that it won't work. I'm still connected with wires tonight. But, maybe tomorrow I can deal with that.

Tonight on my way in the door from dinner I picked a couple of flowers to put on my desk. It's about the only flat surface I have at the moment. I only had time to grab three stems before the rain started. Then I couldn't find my vases, so I'm using a creamer. In a few days my desk will be so loaded down there won't be a place for even a creamer so I figured I'd better enjoy it while I can.

Andrea came today and helped paint more in the dining room. I'm going to really love it when it's done, but it seems to be taking forever - but I knew this would not be easy when I started. I'll be so glad to get it finished. I haven't felt like working on it but maybe I'll feel a little perkier tomorrow and can get something accomplished around here.

I think I'm going to love having my office at home as an office. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all the stuff that was stored in here, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it now. Necessity is the mother of invention they say.

Had two really nice chance conversations today. I ran into Rob Mackey at Office Max this morning. He's the local United Way Director and an all around good guy. Soon he will be leaving Hutchinson to work for United Way of America in Alexandria, Virginia. He will be a support person for about 900 United Way agencies around the US who make less than $1,000,000 yearly. They are getting an exceptional talent, and we are losing a magnificent man.

Rob is one of the kindest, sweetest, most gracious and generous people you would ever want to meet. We worked at the same radio station years ago and he was an amazing boss. He always gives you a big hug when he meets you, never has a bad thing to say about anyone, and is genuine - completely genuine - a trait I find in so few that I love so much. He is a man of sterling character. I will miss him and his wife very much.

On my way back, I called Teresa to ask about getting together for lunch and Randy, a former coworker, answered the phone. I had a nice chat with Randy. He and I started a book club some years ago, that was a really enriching part of my life for a long time. He, Teresa, Trish and I went to Lilith Fair one year in Dallas - that was a blast. I miss getting to talk to Randy - he used to be just one or two offices down the hall. We always found a lot to laugh about. He used to tease me that I always just "tell it like it is," and I guess he's right. Some people do think I'm opinionated. Who would have guessed?

This blog, of course, is a testament to my opinions. Mark told me once that the thing he loved about my blog was the juxtaposition of things. He mentioned one entry about a tea party with a photo of Jocelyn and me and I'm talking about how wonderful it is. The next entry was titled, "Things that Piss me Off."

Well, it's about time for me to get off the computer. We're getting enough lightning I should shut everything down for the night.

Just one quick little reminder... four months from now, Santa will be making his rounds. (There's a reason my nickname is "Miss Christmas!")

Life Goes On

Thanks to everyone who commented and emailed to ask about my health. It's probably going to amount to nothing in the long run, which is great. People's medical problems are really rather dull, so I'll not bore you with mine.

Yesterday I was under strict orders to take it easy, which I found far more stressful than accomplishing something. But, today I had permission to get back into life, although I was not to work. So, I did get some errands done and saw some friends.

I had Diana wrap up a little something she had in her store that Sondra mentioned that she loved - a little polar bear statue/door stop. I wanted to get Sondra something for being so kind and taking me in all last week.

We had Creative Sisterhood at Diana's store last night since I could not get out enough chairs or do anything else to prepare for it at my house. While I was there I asked her about the door stop. This morning I called and told her I'd be in to pick it up and asked her to wrap it for me. She went far above and beyond the call to make it pretty.

When I took it over to Sondra she was just thrilled and very surprised. I was so glad I did it. I got to make two friends happy - Diana made a sale and Sondra got something she liked.

Sondra was busy grooming a dog. She runs House of Canine, and grooms and boards dogs. If I had a dog, that's where I would take it. She really loves dogs and helps with the Lucky Dog program and other rescue operations. She has a whole area of her house for the shop and she treats the dogs she boards as if they are her own. She gives them tons of extra care and love. I think at some places, dogs are put in a crate and pretty much left. Sondra plays with them and lets them run in the yard and cuddles them and talks to them and pets them.

It was good to see her. I got used to being there every night. I've missed her the last couple of nights.

I had lunch today at Tiffany House, a wonderful place downtown. It's in the back of an antique store and it's marvelous. Unfortunately, Doug - the owner - has grown tired of trying to break even on it and he is shutting it down the first of next month. I'm going to miss it so much. This is the place where we've had our teas, but I've also just been a regular customer since they opened 10 years ago.

I was pretty disgusted today to see a line backed all the way up of people I've never seen in there before. It's closing so now they want to go. If they had patronized the place all along, it wouldn't be closing. I don't know what they're thinking. You have to patronize the local businesses if you want them to stay around. I like Applebees and Chilis and all those other chain places too, but it's the local places that add true character to your town. We're losing an amazing place. I am so sad to see it happen. So very sad.

Diana's store is on the same block, so I ate lunch and then went down to get the package for Sondra. Little Miss Lily was asleep but woke up before I left. Her Aunt Sarah was happy for the timing because she wanted to see her before she had to go back to work.

Today Lily explored my purse at length, taking things out and examining them. When you've only been seeing the world for six months, so many things are bright and fresh. It's good to see life that way, I think.

My big accomplishment on the house today was that Terry came over tonight and helped me move the desk back to my office. It was a very tight fit down the hallway. Another inch and it wouldn't have fit. But, it's in here now. Now fully set up and functioning with all the computer stuff and everything on it, but it's in the room and that's a huge accomplishment. Huge.

This morning I finished setting up the bed. I almost hated to put it on the floors as the bedroom and the sun porch off of it both have solid boards in them - they run the full length of the rooms. Bart, the floor guy, tells me that's unusual.

But, I did want to sleep in my bed, so I had to cover up part of the floor. Andrea helped me get it set up the other day - it's a two person minimum job to set up an antique bed. But I hadn't gotten the comforter and everything all on it until this morning.

I'm sort of wanting the walls to be a different color now. They're a buttery white and I've been pretty happy with them but it would be nice to have a richer color in there I think. But, I have enough projects going at the moment. I don't need to start another one. I think I should try to get all my furniture back in my house and everything fully functional before I do any more "decorative" things like painting a room that's perfectly OK.