Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Good work!

The drape guys were able to come today to return and rehang my dining room drapes. I had purchased them in 2102 according to the tag from the store. They look good. Initially they installed the valance wrong and I had to tell them to flip it over, they did and we all had a laugh about it. The valance has pleats which were not evident when they first hung it and I had to think about what the issue was before I could tell them there was an issue.

I like how the wall color pulls out the blue in the drapes and in the upholstered chair seats. Now once we lay the cleaned rug, I can start to bring in the last of the furniture and decorations to clear one "room of doom". I am sure the blue in the rug will also pop.

Then we can lay the cleaned living room rugs and I can do a thorough cleaning there. So the first floor will have some sense of order again. I will be able to rearrange the room a bit, too. I like changing things around for a different look and also a chance to declutter.

I am still waiting for DB to return to finish the guest room so I can attack the other "room of doom" and then the second floor will be returned to order. Slow going to get this project done, but it will be worth it.

It's cold again and the snow is still here. We are supposed to go from the 39 degrees presently to the 70's on the weekend which is too extreme for me. I want spring, not a hasty leap into summer. The hyacinths are peeking through the ground so spring is coming. The hill where the daffodils are, is still covered with packed snow, so it is hard to see if they are erupting.

Ran to the feed store yesterday to purchase canary seed since I cannot find it in PetSmart and ordering it online is very expensive. It is about 35 minutes from here so I got to notice all the recent housing and apartment development in an area that once was vastly farmland. I hate to see all the greenspace disappear. This store is also a nursery in the spring and summer, so I will go back then. They sell hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, gerbils, rabbits as well as canaries and parakeets. This is where I bought Bumblebee originally. They will soon bring in baby chickens for breeders and probably some misinformed parents who think they'd be fun for their children. I found some new suet I'll try in the holder for the birds and squirrels.

It's a gray day, foggy, with a steady drizzle. The rain drops are caught on the branches of the Japanese maple and they look like diamonds. It still freezes overnight so the driveway can be a real issue when it is slippery.

Debating about whether to get back into my family genealogy today or just chill.

canarycat, loved the photos from the new play.

petite1, glad to hear the eye surgery went well. Hope you can get to your escape get away soon.

carole, seems your weather is improving so you can resume golf.

Chris, seems your thumb is doing well and hope it continues.

Hope everyone has a great day and waving "hi" to everyone.

Every speaker has a mouth; An arrangement rather neat. Sometimes it's filled with wisdom. Sometimes it's filled with feet.

Robert Orben

This has been one of those weeks that seems really busy and is stressing me out, but when I objectively look at what I have accomplished (very little), I wonder just what I have been doing all day. Looking back, I cannot conceive of how I worked a full time job and parented 3 kids and still managed to get anything done.

i laughed when I read about Betrayal enjoying Les Miserables. I taught high school English for 5 years in San Antonio and it was part of the sophomore honors curriculum. When I would pass out those books (do they still pass out books in high schools these days?), the kids would take one look at the size and have major meltdowns. (Same reaction to “The Once and Future KIng “) You would think they had just been sentenced to hard labor in a rock quarry. Yet at the end of the year, when I would pass out a survey and ask the classes what they had liked the best, what was their favorite book etc, virtually every kid in every class said their favorite book was “Les Mis” and/or “The Once and Future King”.

@1946taco - my Dh ran the pedo (dental)residency at Wilford Hall for 6 years, but I bet I set foot on that base less than a dozen times. We lived out the northside of SA in what used to be relatively open country. We went back last year bc one of my nephews got married in Austin and I could not believe the changes. There are now housing developments and box stores as far as the eye can see. It’s hideous.

We are having a non-winter here in Seattle - literally no snow for the first time in several years. I don’t mind (my sister lives in MA (the Berkshires) and the 4 foot fence that surrounds her backyard is currently ‘invisible” ) but it means fire season (which at this rate is going to start any day now) is going to be bad! We have a cabin on an island about 2 hours south of-the city that is surrounded by woods. It’s very rural and many of the residents are of-the mindset that “no one is going to tell them what to do”. So when the burn bans go into effect, they simply ignore them. One “gentleman” who lives less than 1 mile from us has started a brush fire for THREE years in a row. I frown on homicidal violence but there comes a point……… Kidding. Sort of.

Hope everyone is having a good day/week.

janiehs, I enjoyed your story about the students reaction to the size of Les Miserables. It is a hefty tome and I can see why they prejudiced by size before experiencing the wealth of its contents. It is such a rich, historical adventure as he presents the background of relevant events and introduces each character. It is slow going since I only read at bedtime and there are over 1240 pages. Some nights I make a bigger dent than others.

It is another dreary, gray day with liquid sunshine which I will gladly endure over snow. Finally there is a significant melt in our yard, but I wonder if there has been any change in the 5 foot tall mounds in some parking lots. We are expected to hit the 70's over the weekend, but the weather is to be dismal until Saturday. It's in the 40's today, but not welcoming.

A neighbor had a huge tree removed and it is now day 3 and they are still doing clean-up and removal. Yesterday they were removing the gigantic trunk portions and dumping them into a truck, so it was a day of loud booms as they hit the bed of the truck. Today it is the sound of a chipper.

The tree was a tulip poplar and the height was well over 100 feet. We have them in our yard as well and in the woods behind us. We removed those that showed signs of decay, especially those that were in danger of striking the house. We have lived through 2 tree strikes with the last causing significant damage to 1/3 of the house effecting 3 levels since it was a direct strike.

The first was 15 years earlier (1999), and only did damage to the back of the house crushing patio furniture, landing on my beloved Japanese maple killing over 1/2 of it and taking out the roof over the back door. The tree was about 20 feet from the house and when it fell and when it landed it extended as far as the full length of the house to the arbor at the top of our driveway. I am not sure of the full length of that one, but one we had removed later was 140 feet high according to the tree service and required removal by a crane.

Our woods have thinned over the years, but thanks to squirrel stashes, they have new oaks which will fill in the gaps.

carole, funny how a short while ago you were turning on your heat, and now it's the AC. Nice that you have a new group to have lunch with after exercise class. Enjoy your new acquaintances.

Hope everybody has a great day and waving "hi" to everyone.

Carole - love your excuse to not to pull weeds too soon. I think I'll follow that advice. But I do need to prune the last couple of spindly roses that I forgot. Our weather is similar to yours, but most days are 84-85. At least it's still getting down to 70 at night. What happened to spring???

It is necessary to keep one's compass in one's eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute, but the eye judges.

Michelangelo