It's so easy... to be unbelievable...

 I don't know how other people manage inside their own brains, but mine apparently had orders to travel every segue that can be taken via music. Or a movie line. Or a sitcom quip.

For instance, this morning I mused to myself, not even out loud, about "it's so much easier to not have to deal with Bosley in the morning."

Bos is at the family farm, thanks to the kindness of my father-in-law, who watched him during our family get together and the following Christmas in July party. We haven't reclaimed him yet, hence the "it's so easy..."

Which is precisely where my brain pivoted. I've had a running chorus of "It's So Easy" in my head all morning. Not the Linda Ronstadt one. Not humming about falling in love. The Guns N' Roses version, which according to a quick search is about how the band's popularity was skyrocketing yet they had no money and were living off the excess of others. At any rate, I'm quite sure I was mostly unaware of the lyrics despite the hook of the tune.

I've also been ignorant of actual lyrics to other songs. I have at least one close friend who is in that boat with me, blissfully singing along at the top of our lungs, only to discover that we are singing wildly incorrect words. My favorite example is one we absolutely knew but had apparently completely forgotten: substituting "finally" for Journey's "Faithfully" much to our merriment! In case you can't quite get there, it would be, "I'm foreveeeer yoooooours...finally." Maybe we should have made a remix.

Now you'll never hear it the other way again. You're welcome.

Another song I'd been called out for mangling was when I substituted "how was I" for OMC's "How Bizarre." I know. That didn't make any sense to me either, but perhaps enough people were in the boat with me to make the band a one-hit wonder. Also catchy, never knew the lyrics, whatever. Man, I miss the days and bands who would print the lyrics on the insides of their paper labels of the cassette tape or CD! I devoured those!

In terms of long-distance anything, Dada and I look at each other and crack up, repeating Coach Calhoun's line to Danny Zuko in "Grease" about stamina and "long-distance running.. cross-country running," complete with arm movements.

Or when anything is, frankly, unbelievable, then how can you NOT go with Liam Dunn's line to Madeline Kahn in "What's Up, Doc?" 

Have a terrific week, however you like your lyrics!

And I take no credit whatsoever for the video- just borrowed it from YouTube. Go rent the movie. It is a HOOT!

Blathering on

 Sometimes I really do forget I have a blog. Other times it's just a busy life season. Once in awhile it's both!

In the month of May, I've had about half a dozen physical therapy appointments and an OT check in on top of wrapping up the school year. Thing Three performed in both a band concert and the Memorial Day parade. I've had two follow up appointments from last year's docs, some dry needling, made a trip to my hometown for a weekend, snuggled babies at church, wrapped up one preschool class with a zoo field trip and an evening spring program, and this week is Thing Three's last week of school while I try to fit in all the online training I need to have done before the end of June. There was also a visit to a retirement home with the preK crowd in addition to my school fighting off yet another wave of germs. Yeesh. No wonder I'm tired!

Arm/shoulder-wise, things are... meh. I'm wearing my compression glove and sleeve daily, I'm doing my PT exercises more often than not, I'm still seeing more swelling than I'd like, but this may just be my new normal. I don't know how we're to know if the vein stayed open since the venogram without imaging, but none has been ordered yet and the follow up appointment isn't until the middle of next month. I'm wearing the reductor kit at night while I sleep, pumping in my cool Darth Vader vest and sleeve* daily and now have a mushroom-shaped pad? pocket? pouch? thing that I wear with the stalk end tucked inside a compression bra and the shroomy end sticking into my armpit. The thinking is that it will help bust up some scar tissue and increase range of motion by loosening all that up. Jury is still out. I've worn it to bed twice. I think I'll try alternating that with the reductor kit since when I do the kit then my hand is swollen in the morning but if I do nothing then this tightness isn't going to be helped even passively... I don't know. I now better understand being over something even while in the midst of going through something!

* Funny story- I was also issued a pair of shorts that attach to the pump because it's easier to order them and get it all at once than to add pieces later. I figured I'd never need the shorts, but whatever. Then I spent an afternoon vigorously yanking out honeysuckle bushes, including one extra hard yank which landed me on my "butt-ducks" as our kids used to say. I'd already been only a foot off the ground because I was using my legs in a squat instead of my back, but I still sat there laughing at myself for a minute. The next day, my butt-ducks and rear thighs were so tight and whiny that I thought, "hey! I can use the shorts!" So for two days that's what I did and, boy, if you've never had your butt-ducks rhythmically squeezed and released, it's really something. I don't know what, but it's something! I can just hear my Grammy and Gramps laughing at me!

I have little news to report on progress made in the basement since the death of the sump pump. We are looking at tile flooring because we know it's only a matter of time before the new sump pump also croaks and we have zero desire to rip out carpet and padding yet again. For the tile we have a first and second choice, we think. We have not taken measurements yet. We also have paint swatches since we were never wild about the color down there in the first place and it's been... well... this fall will be our 12th year here, I think, so we figured we might as well paint before we do the floor.

None of that was on the Bingo card for 2026. In fact, I have paint swatches taped up in the foyer because that's the room I'd painted most recently and it has held up the least well. When I showed Dada my colors, he sniggered and said it was exactly what was already on the walls and that at least I was consistent. I'd be offended except for the fact that he's right; they are almost identical. *sigh*

Thing Two made it home safely from his welding training this semester and has become a bump on a chair at the tall table. His basement bunker is out of the picture, so even though he's still not getting fresh air or sunshine, he's at least visible. Until he turns sideways, anyway, and then he disappears. He's so skinny! Miracles happen every day, and the proof is that my 20 year old Honda, Pepe the Pilot, survived the entire excursion of getting him to and from class daily through winter in Cleveland, involving both extremely rutted back roads and freeways of crazy drivers. Thank you for all the diligent prayers- they worked!

Thing One is working two jobs and having the typical summertime computer issues of something deciding to quit working and never mind that it has 8 years of art on it. Pshaw. Why should it boot up and do its job? This is in addition to whatever maintenance issues the jobs themselves run into. I believe the quote I heard was, "why is it whenever something happens we always have to tear out a wall??" Apparently when someone puts a coffee pot under a leak and then never checks it again... well, let's just say that we have all been introduced to our friend Gravity and that it doesn't bode well. Otherwise, having fun with the housemates and living the dream.

And we still have Boooooosley, who turned 9 on Cinco de Mayo, is no smarter than when we brought him home at 4 months old, and will probably live forever. Loudly. Ridiculous.

I hope all of you experience a GENTLE transition from spring to summer- goodness knows we all have whiplash here from Ohio being wishy-washy at best about what season it thinks it is- and that the end of the school year brings a routine in which you can breathe, and I don't just mean allergy relief. Take good care of you and revive your spirits. 

Oot and aboots

Tell me it's hot and dry without telling me it's hot and dry. Cue the toad in Bosley's outdoor water dish the last two mornings. He keeps looking at me like, "what?" Completely unconcerned with the loud, ferocious beast I'm tying out there with him. 

These were all taken this morning in the mist. We found a huge spider and I kept maneuvering around to get the best shot. Personally, I like the above one where he's on the right, looking roughly the same size as half a wren...

Thing Three spotted the deer crossing the road, fortunately sans traffic at the moment, and he whistled at them to get their attention. So kind of them to pose!

 

Timber

 And once again I managed to load the photos exactly backwards. I'm going to blame chemo brain for the rest of my life! *sigh* Okay, audience participation time. Scroll down to the bottom and work your way back up here. =)

Thing Three is now taller than me so that gives some scale as to how big that root section is. We keep hoping Bosley will enter the underneath section and that the tree will magically stand up again, but no such luck... yet.

However, our basement stayed dry (thank you, sump pump) and our roof seems intact. Definitely blessed to add intact house and cars despite trees crashing down and figuring out logistics to deal with that mess. Thank you to those of you who've reached out to check on us. We're all good! Please pray hard for and help others who were not so fortunate. It seems like the more I read the news, the more I wonder how insurance companies still want to be in business at all between the fires and floods! Stay safe out there, people. We aren't even halfway through April! 

Darn near full ditches and the arrested fall of the pine tree.

Dada's 30th birthday present also toppled over and that is one heavy sucker so it gives me a very good idea of how hard the wind was blowing. It has been righted but not yet used, so here's hoping it still works. If not, you know what Dada will be getting for his 50th birthday...

Along with the buckets of rain, we got the wind. Miraculously, our party lights survived and didn't get smashed to the ground by falling branches. Nor did our playhouse get squished when a big pine tree decided enough was enough and toppled over, taking my clothesline with it, only to be sort of arrested by a locust tree...

Sorry the screen got in the way, but look way out towards the far trees on the horizon. Those are all fields up to the trees, and you can see all that shining water. There's not supposed to be a lake there! We've had geese and ducks wading in fields all week.

These woods out back edge our property line and you can see the low, pond-ish area in there. Last year we dug out some small trenches to help get the water to drain from the perpetual puddle in the woods to the drainage ditch. We had just cleaned out those trenches the weekend before all this rain hit, so it was immensely gratifying to see them running full!

The kids generally call this right side The Leak because on the other side of the treeline is our neighbors' pond and the whole area is low enough that we get water laying there forever as well as the lobster-looking crayfish and their mud towers. However, it's not usually that deep OR anywhere near that bad on the left side of the driveway...

We had tons of rain during those storms that were dumping water all over the central US. Welcome to mud season, for sure. Some of these photos were taken from upstairs windows to get better vantage points. I don't remember seeing water pretty much from the fire pit to the garden before...

A true comedy of errors

 This post will require you to use your imagination to get the full effect of hilarity. I'm not giving you any photos because I didn't get any, so you'll just have to combine my words with your very own brain. Ready?

Our ridiculous dogs love the ends of cucumbers as well as apple slices and various other people foods. I'd set aside my baby cucumber ends from a salad for Liam to add to their dinner of dry kibble earlier this week. 

Honey guards her food and doesn't understand that by eating it, where it is then INSIDE her where Bos can't get it, everyone could continue living our lives in peace. Instead, she'll growl at him and hunch as menacingly as she can, poor old thing. Because of this, and because Bos it a total hog who eats everything and anything including rat poison, crayons and puzzle pieces, we have a baby gate slid across the entrance to our "library" which is the fireplace room and our dining room and where we feed Bosley. He's too dumb to realize he could just push it over, and she can't push it down because it rests against the railings on either side. So he'll stand on the step and stare at her, she will growl and bark at him, we yell at both of them... good times.

Anyway, the gate was up because Liam had already separated them and had given her her dinner. I asked him as he was foisting himself over the baby gate with Bosley's full dog dish in one hand, if he could please hand me, in the kitchen, the broom and dustpan which are in the corner of the library just beside the baby gate and step. He grabs it with one super long arm, but in the attempt to flip it towards me, I hear "oh NOoooooo" as he managed to clip just the edge of Bos's dish, which then rained kibble and cucumber ends all over half of the library. 

Bosley thought it was manna from heaven and was dashing around trying to Hoover up everything in a single slurp, I'm bent over the railing and laughing so hard I can't even take the broom from Liam, and he's bent over the gate and the railing laughing too hard to hand it to me. 

We are still finding pieces of kibble days later which we then toss to Bos who thinks he's getting treats. I don't think he even tastes it as he inhales it. 

I guess the moral of the story is don't try to go over the baby gate in your robe whilst holding a full dish of dog food while ALSO reaching for something else to maneuver.

However, if I'm being honest, the TRUE moral of the story is that even though everyone says, "get a rescue dog; it'll be fun..." yeah, hard pass on that... #NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished

Only a few more days of January. We can make it...

 Hey! Have you blown away? My mother says they've been experiencing our leftover wind. Sorry about that. It was a little crazy here for a few days. Sadly, Bosley is too fat to blow away... darn.

We are all hanging in there. I had funny things to say that I thought of in bed last night when I was supposed to be sleeping, but I forgot them. We're back in the swing of classes now that school is happening regularly. I'm done with an entire month of chemo appointments. Trying to stay healthy. Going to test out my immune system by spending some time with preschoolers this week. Enjoying that we've had actual sunshine for a few days! Amazing how just that will elevate my mood, even if it's still cold. 

Thing Three finished up his pep band requirements for the season. He seems to be enjoying phys ed this semester and is still lamenting having physical science. I don't think any of our kids have liked that class.

Thing Two also hasn't blown away as he plods around his college campus, so it must be all that hair holding him down. Or maybe he just faces the wind sideways and it slices right past him. 

Thing One, awaiting more art commissions, has been cheerfully taking me to chemo and giggling through the doodles and sketches that happen there. I love watching the glee and the passion. It makes my heart happy.

Dada's been really busy with work this week, but not traveling and we're all thankful for that. They've moved back to the office three days a week so there's been finagling of who is getting or taking Thing Two to class and all of that. For the most part it is working out. If someone would get his driver's license, things would smooth out even more, but there's this saying about leading a horse to water but not being able to make it drink... yep, that fits. 

Overall, we are doing okay. I'll knock wood and say a little prayer that it stays that way! Stay warm and enjoy that sunshine!

Has spring sprung?

I know officially Spring has begun according to the calendar. I know unofficially the migratory birds are showing up and the earliest flowers are putting on a show. Above, a few days ago, we had a bunch of red winged blackbirds carrying on in our neighbors' tree. I wondered what they were making such a racket about and then saw one of our local red tailed hawks swooping around. 

Below, one of the male bluebirds (I've seen two pairs- wahoo!) was eyeing me curiously from outside while I was on the treadmill inside. That has to be confusing. "I see that she's moving, but she's clearly not any good at this because she isn't getting anywhere! Must be because she doesn't have wings." 

We had a few warm days last week and the dogs were thrilled to be outside in the sun and not the wet for a few hours at a time. It makes me happy to see Honey feeling secure enough to snooze in the fresh air. She is such a big scaredy-chicken, poor old thing. Still has a young heart, even if her back end can't keep up with her front's exuberance. Especially going up stairs. 

Below, three of those four clumps are squirrel nests, but the big green one on the left is actually .... da da da DA.... the nest of the red tailed hawks! I knew they were local, but I had no idea they were here! So exciting! They're pretty much just outside our front door and straight up. Yay for new neighbors! Maybe they will eat Bosley. Kidding. 

I think.

We've also had some really pretty skies lately. I love it when sunrises and sunsets are colorful instead of just... dark. Being someone who despises Daylight Savings Time, I'm trying to embrace the opportunity for seeing more sunrises. Forget about the fact that it had already BEEN light outside at the bus stop for over a month and now it's dark again. *sigh* This photo below was taken this morning, and Thing Two remarked that he thought the photo shows off the fun clouds even more than it looked in person.

 

Another flower post

Sorry, not sorry, for another flower post. Is there anything more glorious than morning glories? They make me so happy! Every morning when I put the dogs out I channel PaPa and coo, "gooooooood morning, morning glories!" Bosley looks at me like I'm talking to him, stupid, stinky, non-glorious pest that he is. Can you tell he's in the doghouse in more ways than one? *sigh*

Back to beautiful things!

 

For poetry fans

 

Damon had a poetry assignment for english class to write five poems, any style. After far more griping that one would possibly expect and perhaps more parental involvement that was strictly necessary, he ended up with the following. and got an "A". not that i'm keeping track. my favorite is the last one. apologies for the fuzziness of the photo.

Close call for the Bosley Fool

There we were yesterday, coats on, ready to leave for church, when I noticed the baby gate leading to the basement had been slid aside and not replaced. I call, "Bos!" Nothing. I do a quick scan of the first floor, no Bos. I holler, "BOS!" A shamefaced Bosley trots up the basement steps. 

"Bos was in the basement; I sure hope he didn't eat any of the rat poison."

Dada goes down to investigate, and wouldn't you know it, the Idiot Bos ate not one, not two, but three of the small blocks of rat poison that were spread in the various corners of the basement! 

Thankfully, our amazing vet has been friends with Dada for decades (and attended college together back in the day). She is wonderful and we love her whole family. So I text her and she suggests giving him hydrogen peroxide and having him run around. The idea is that will induce vomiting.

Since he eats anything that isn't nailed down (obviously), he drinks it with no problem and we proceed to run around in the yard with him. 

No dice. Indestructodog wags his tail and doesn't give up the goods. Off we head to the vet! Of course he cried the entire 20 minute trip. Woo woo wooooooooo. "Yes, I bet you feel icky. I'm sorry, Bos." Wow wooooo wooooo wow woooo. "Well, next time stay out of the basement. You know you're not allowed down there." Wooooowwwwwooooooo. "Big dummy."

Mercy apparently isn't one of my spiritual gifts, haha.

Once we're there and he still hasn't vomited, she gives him eyedrops that induce vomiting. I'll spare you the actual visual imagine, but imagine intact breakfast kibble and mostly intact green squares of rat poison in lots of foamy bubbles. 

It's the most subdued I've ever seen him in the five and a half years we've had him. That garbage can was empty when we arrived. I'd love to think he learned his lesson, but I highly doubt it. I tell him regularly to not eat anything we don't give him, ("that includes bunny poop, Bosley. LEAVE IT.") but he doesn't listen. Post-it notes, crayons, erasers, napkins swiped right off the table, tissues, you name it. These dogs are ruining dogs for us! Anyway, she eventually gave him some anti-vomiting meds and some vitamin K that he needs to take for a month because the rat poison is an anticoagulant so we need to keep replenishing the vitamin K in his bloodstream. He wouldn't look at us. He faced away from us and sat, tail tucked under, and slightly swaying. Poor guy. Between the epic vomiting and the exercise in the cold beforehand, he had to be tired out.

Oooooooooof. *bubbles*

He's much more himself today and went his usual bananas when the mail carrier rang the doorbell, so I think he'll be fine. Let's hope we all learned a lesson!

 

I’m ready for my close up

Most of these are unedited, pulled straight from my phone. Sorry for the lack of polish or professionalism. This is real life, folks, no filters. 

Damon, who is back to sleeping like a nomad now that school is out, on the morning of his birthday:

Bosley being cute.

Damon said the blisters on his nose looked like eyes, so here's a face with a tongue sticking out.

Apparently you're never too old to play with a box. I believe it was accompanied by "hat on" which is something Damon used to say that cracked my parents up every time. They (and we) still use it regularly.

Nameless out front Snek in the phlox. He truly is tiny so don't be alarmed, but I did zoom in to catch his face. My previous attempt had him hiding behind a leaf.

Moth in my lupine. I was so glad I got this picture and a few others because that night we had a downpour strong enough to knock over some of my tomato cages. I put the dogs out in the morning and this lupine, the tallest, was prostrate on the ground!

Daddeeeeeeee, my rose bush came back. He's still tiny and I don't think he's getting enough sun to thrive. We may have to rethink where to keep him.

Any chance to play with my phone...

My bad, someone not ready for their close up, haha!

 

Yet another dump o’random

This is Precious, Pap's dog. This is not her bed, it's Bosley's. He barely fits into it and she is larger than him, so it's especially funny to see her curled up like a rolypoly in it. She doesn't seem to mind and he knows better than to complain. 

Damon, waiting his turn at the eye doctor's office. It used to be a play area but thanks to Covid there are no toys or games in there anymore. So he just bounced around and flopped until they called him. Such a nut. Look how big those not-quite-12-year-old feet are. Sheesh. 

I especially love the light green of this tree against all the darker green surrounding it. I'm normally not a yellow-green fan, never have been, but this little tree makes it look glorious in the morning light or right after a rain. 

\

Found a new recipe that Dada and I enjoyed which the kids wouldn't touch- chicken breasts with tasty cherry tomatoes, baked garlic and chickpeas. It was easy and reheated pretty well too, wins in my book.

Bos loves being outside in the sunshine. He doesn't care how hot it is. If he finds a sunny spot, he stretches out and turns into a sun dog. I think he must be related to me. Of course there's the added benefit of chasing any squirrels stupid enough to come into his reach, and we have an amazing  number of stupid squirrels. I don't know if he knows what he'd do with one if he did actually catch one...

Speaking of dumb, we had a mourning dove I named Heather make a nest in the gutter outside the boys' bedroom. The father, Herbert, would come check on her. I think that's him on the edge and you may be able to see the top of Heather's head in the gutter if you click on the picture. The screen makes it hard to see. Sure enough, they had a chick that the boys couldn't agree on a name for. Damon voted Hershey and Liam wanted Hogarth, I think? Hrothgar? Hmmm... at any rate, Heather was smart enough to build her nest on the far side of the downspout, but she did look pretty silly sitting there in the rain with a waterfall coming down on her head at times. Good thing the baby didn't get washed down the drain!

And the robins also had a little one, who is out of the nest and was perched all alone, beak agape, in the middle of our front landscaping. I'd sit on the porch swing, hear rustlerustlerustle and a robin would hop up into the landscaping from lower down in the yard, wrestle through the bushes, feed the baby and take off again. I suppose that's one way to try to be stealthy and not draw attention to the sitting duck...?

Goofing off with the firstborn

Marvin the Martian goofing off on my oven controls

The firstborn and I went to see the senior art studio downtown and discovered there was also elementary art in a separate venue down the street. I'm ashamed to say I didn't get the artist's name in this photo to give proper credit, but we both giggled over the adorably smiling bug. Such cuteness! Well done, artists.