Pollen

Our home is covered in inches of yellow pollen. Ricks allergies have been horrible. 

My front door is normally black but it's now yellow.

This morning after all allergy meds taken Rick set out to power wash the one side of our home. He put on a mask and headed outside. 

Over this winter it went from a yellow/beige siding to having a lot of black. But thankfully only the side facing The Ugly Naked Guy. 

Rick was all set. Then I heard "Son of a bitch"

He came inside to tell me it died. He fiddled with it for awhile.

So off to Lowes, where we just paid off the credit card to use it again. Damn.

I can't do a lot of this stuff, but I did what I could. 

Our car is yellow so that got washed too to return to its original color. 

When we were at Lowes we witnessed all the cars covered in pollen in the parking lot. We are still not used to this type of pollen.

Then we saw online where cities were ranked with the worst pollen and allergies.  Yes, you guessed it, Raleigh NC, is listed as number 1 in the lower 48 with the worst pollen and allergies. Well lucky us. 🤧

While most was power washed off the deck, furniture, grill etc. It will be all yellow in less than 24 hrs. But we got the first layer off anyway.

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Yes, I began the above post yesterday. Everything is awash in yellow again here on Monday morning.

On Rick's drive to the gym he saw what he thought was a plume of smoke. He said it was huge and he thought it was a fire when the car in front of him slowed down. The wind came through, it was a wall of pollen. Wow.

The car in front of him pulled into the gym too so they began talking about this event. Rick said he's never seen anything like it and the man in the car said the same.

My thought is I've never seen that, and I don't wish to.

But until then, we are wheezing and sneezin' and praying for rain to wash some of this away.

Got Pollen?

Drinking

We received an invitation to the Aldie Peddler for a Saturday afternoon winery event. The Aldie Peddler sells some great wines and some foods from local artisans. We would get these homemade pickles that my husband just loved!  

The owner of this store is named Wally. We all called him the mayor of Aldie. He was such a fun, lovable man. He was even on the cover of the Middleburg Magazine as the local celebrity that he has become. 

All done in good humor.

I know I should remove myself from their mailing list, since I no longer live in VA, but it brings me joy. 

Yes, it does make me sad because we miss "home" so much, but it also makes me smile to get these invites. That weekend, a certain brand/winery salesperson will highlight those wines by pouring and answering questions. Every time we've gone, the salesperson talks and then pours wine for all, and that's that. No pressure sales. Wally opens more bottles of various brand and varietal. Just fun! 

It is just a party of sorts.if you go monthly or more you get to know everyone so it is honestly like a daytime party. Lots of laughter. The owner, Wally is a hoot!

Wally stands court at his bar and serves us free wine and food, and weaves a great story. No one leaves without buying a lot of wine and food. We have met people there who became life long friends. It was always a fun afternoon each time these were held. 

When we were there last, we bought wine. Wally gave us hugs and told us to come back and visit. I heard from a friend who went there recently that he asked about us. (God we so miss our community up there.)

Then we received an envelope in the mail from Tito's Vodka.

We got a key ring and an invite to an event they were having. 

But we don't live in Texas.

They "missed" us it read. 

That, to me, is funny.

Rick hasn't been drinking much since the stroke. 

I haven't been drinking since this whole back thing reared its ugly head.  

So the card said they missed us.

How do they know when we buy Vodka?  I told Rick he would be missed at the liquor store. I never thought Titos would miss him. It's not like their sales figures went down due to Rick not drinking as much. It's not like he drank daily. It's not like a bottle was gone in a week, either. So we found this funny. 

It was a week of receiving items telling us to drink more. So...

Rick said we have to get our acts together and start drinking more. 😀

My Weekend Roundup

Over the weekend, I wanted to show Rick this family I see on Instagram.

I find the posts funny, smart, and clever. I wanted to share this with Rick.

I saw they had a YouTube channel, so I went to YouTube instead of holding my phone for Rick. (YouTube is on channel 371 on Dish.) 

I put this on the screen, and I hit the wrong tile.

This man came up singing on our TV.

Rick said, "Who is this?"

"I don't know, but I like his voice."

"Yeah, turn it up"

So we went down that rabbit hole.

They are a band from Australia. (Who apparently do not own an iron, or he pulled this shirt out of the laundry basket)

Finding new music is difficult. Not a fan of most music today. I do not understand, and I never will understand, why women think they need to do aerobics while singing or wearing their underwear while singing. Why? 

Do you have such little faith in your singing ability that you wish to distract them by being sexual? Or crazy weird?  I remember when Linda Rhonstadt sang in her bare feet and everyone went bat shit crazy.  Today they have on a thong at most and twerk their silicone induced butt in our faces. 

I love Pink, but I'd never go see her. I do not like Cirque de Soileil, so I don't wish to have to endure that just to listen to her sing. So I will just listen to her in other ways.

I get being flamboyant on stage. But even Steven Tyler stopped at scarfs on his mic stand.

Sure, Angus wore a schoolboy uniform, but he didn't need to be in his underwear. 

God, I sound old, don't I?

Can you see Meatloaf in a thong like Lizzo?  NO. I wish these women would stop it. Sing, write, and hone your craft. No underwear or less, and for heaven's sake, no autotune. Sing!

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Rick and I watched a great piece of local travel ideas and places around the state. We have people coming with kids and we don't know what to do for them. In VA/DC it was easy. Here, there is nothing to do. Period. 

So we tuned into this show to get some ideas of where we could take 6/7 year olds and their parents. 

We watched kids at a water park. (too bad it was 4 hrs away) 

That made Rick and I begin to discuss our trip to the water park back when we were youngsters. I am going to guess we were around 35 at the oldest. It was a very humid hot day, and we lived on the 2nd floor and had no air conditioning. We couldn't fathom sitting on the beach so we headed to the water park instead.

As you can imagine, everyone is there with their kids. Oh, but not us.

At one point, we decided to go down the double slide one more time before we sat and took a break. 

The inner tube was for 2 people to go down together. (Like an 8.)

The young man who was probably all of 16 handed us the tube for the millionth time and said, "Don't you guys have kids with you?" 

Of course, we laughed and said, "Nope, just two grown-ups enjoying the water park."

He looked at us with such pity, which made us laugh.

Now, as we go down this tunnel with the twists and turns, you splash down into a nice pool area.

No matter how many times I went down this slide, either in the front of the inner tube or if I were in the back, I got fully drenched. My butt hit the bottom and then up I'd come.

We sat in lawn chairs at the end of this slide and watched the kids come down while we had a cocktail. (Shh, they didn't know it was in our cups.) We would laugh at the little ones and just enjoy our day. Then we saw this woman. She had two small boys with her. She had gone down this slide with each boy at this point. She was decked out in jewelry, and her gold was sparkling off the water and sun. She came down the slide and NEVER got wet. Her hair and makeup stayed perfect. No eyeliner was running down her face. C'mon, who wears makeup to swim and go to the water park? Well, apparently only this perfectly coiffured and bejeweled woman.

It became a quest for me to try this. I suggested that if Rick was first, since he is heavier, that might allow me not to go to the bottom and then come up like a drowned rat. I wanted to try to keep my hair dry. (It was already drenched, but it was now a quest.) Rick and I went back up and tried it every which way and I just always had my butt hit the bottom and I would be drenched. We found this funny. I realized I was just not that girl. I can't go in the water and come out looking like I never went in the water. 

Oh well it was a damn fun day.

Then I saw this, and it reminded me of that day.

This puts it in perspective, and it's so very me. 

This made me laugh out loud.  It's about my luck these days. 

Here is the man I found by accident and now I'm in love with him. Rick and I went to the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival every year when we lived in Virginia. This was the kind of music. That was a great festival and an even better location. It was on the beach. Sadly, 2022 was the last year of this festival. 

Tracking Device

I've had a bit of a setback. No biggie, I am just away from the computer this week. That means I'm back in 'the' chair and using my phone. 

I am setting out each morning to walk my driveway. I have a very long driveway.  I walk to the mailbox, fetch the mail and walk back. 

At the grocery store, I can hold onto the cart. This is a bit more difficult. 

Yes, I have my cane but I am trying to walk without it. But it's with me should I feel unstable. And then of course Rick is watching me the whole time because he is nervous nelly.  I get it, I'd do the same for him. 

But I do not hide, I don't care if he sees me watching him.

He will think he is hiding but he is not.

I see him peering out of the window. I see him behind the garbage bin. 

He makes me laugh. I tell him, "I see you", and he says, "See what?" 

Speaking of seeing and hearing me.  He may see me but he hears nothing.

His hearing is for another day.

Today it's about him seeing nothing. He'd see boobs if they were a mile away! Something in front of his face he doesn't see it.

How can he open the fridge and stare into the abyss and say, "no it's not in there."

Did he move anything? Oh hell no. 

Unless what he is looking for does the movie dance, "let's go out to the lobby...."  He expects the object he is looking for to dance up to the front to say, "Oh Ricky, I'm right here"  38 years people. 38 years. He has male blindness. Yes, as he tells me I can look under the shelves because I am short and see things I can't reach. But he can reach and move things for heaven's sake. 

Yesterday I had just gotten my butt onto the stool at the island. He was standing in front of the fridge and asked if there was anything I needed before he sat down to eat. I asked for the pico di gallo I made. He opened the doors to the fridge and just stood there. 

Then he proclaimed, "Don't have any."

"yes, we do. It's in a Tupperware container with a blue lid."

"Nope, not in there"

I sat there in amazement. He didn't move anything; he just proclaimed that it wasn't there. 

He sat down and I got up. 

He said loudly, as if I was deaf, "There is none left Margaret"  

"Okay" is all I say.

I opened the door. I saw the Tupperware container and grabbed it. 

In his defense it was next to the eggs so maybe the bright white light bouncing off the eggs made him blind.

He asked, "Where the hell was it?"  I point.

He says, "damn it! again!" 

"Yep, that's how I feel Rick"

We both laughed. I have to, I'm too pretty for prison.

We spent a good portion of the day looking for his keys and wallet.

I asked if he looked in the sweatpants he wore to the gym. 

He said, "Of course, I looked there, but they were not there."

I went through his pants and a hoodie in the laundry basket. Not there.

We tore apart everything, sofa cushions, under furniture.

His wallet was in the sweatpants he wore to the gym he swears to me.

Hmm...imagine that.

I went back into the bedroom and since he wasn't in there I looked in his sweatpants. If he had been in there I wouldn't dare because he would flip out and say, "I already looked there why do you do that?"  

I'd say, "Because it never hurts to have another set of eyes"  

He makes pff, hmpf sounds. So I thought I'd do it quickly before he came back into the bedroom. Guess what I found?

I brought the wallet out to the kitchen where he was about to go through the garbage. He asked where I found it. When I said in your sweatpants he just began shaking his head and walked away yelling back, "Thank you"

Now to his keys.  He has been known since the stroke to leave them in the back door from the garage to the house. Oh so safe.

There is a bowl to drop your keys as you walk in from the garage. Mine are there, his are not. He put this bowl there for this very thing and yet he never puts his keys there. 

A bit frustrated with him now, I went to the garage as he was yelling, "I've already looked all around the workshop they aren't there"

I saw the light inside our car on. Hmm? What is that about?

I went to the drivers side. The seat belt was stuck in the door leaving the door open just a tiny bit and the light was on. When I went to close the door I saw the keys in the ignition. I grabbed them.

(Oh and yes, our battery was dead from this)

Now since I am unable to drive at this time, this was on him for a change. 

Yee-haw.

I went into the house and dangled his keys.  He asked where I found them.

I told him. He said, "Shit, this is all stroke cognitive stuff I swear. I'm Cantelope boy and I can't find anything lately"

"Okay you can tell yourself that is the reason,  but you've always been like this, it's just a bit more now"

He laughs.

He thought he lost his phone. When I tried to call it we did not hear the ring.

The goofball had turned off the sound. It was in his pocket and not on vibrate. 

I swear he keeps me around just to be his tracking device.

Fire

We had a beautiful day Thursday. I could sit out on the porch with Rick to enjoy our morning addiction of coffee. 

I can't sit there for long but it was so nice while it lasted. We saw all the dog walkers and one man walking with a fire extinguisher. He wasn't walking fast so we assumed he was not headed to a fire. Oh the things we came up with for why he was carrying this item. A fire? As a weight? He's just nuts? He is using it as a weapon to hit the man sleeping with his wife?

That reminded Rick of all the 'fire' items at my various apartments. We had a good chuckle about my ole dad.

My first apartment at age 19. I was working and going to school. My cousin Frankie and his good friend Tony helped me move. My dad showed up to oversee and bring the boys a couple of beers.

When we were done I got the warnings. He gave me mace to put on my key ring. He talked about fires in my 2nd floor apartment. I also received a large first aid kit. And you know every young girls wants this!

My 2nd apartment Dad bought me a small fire extinguishers. He made certain I knew how to use it before he left.

My next apartment on the 2nd floor he gave me a fire ladder to escape the fire out the window.

Yes, these were my housewarming gifts from my father. 

By the time it got to my fire ladder, which I kept under my bedroom window, Rick found this all so funny. "Your dad is definitely afraid of a fire isn't he?"

Oh how we laughed. 

Rick said, "you know it's really kind of sweet"

"I suppose it is, I say. As an older person now I see that it's sweet AND funny."

As a 20 yr old I would have preferred a houseplant but that's my dad. I'm the oldest of 5 girls, he worried a lot. Being the oldest I got the brunt of it, but even as he mellowed through the years he was always funny like this.

So maybe that man was a Dad and he was delivering a fire extinguisher to his daughter in her first home.

You never know...

Or he's nuts

No Driving...Yet.

My social life is in full swing. Doctor visits galore.

Saturday I awoke to feeling great! I was walking straighter, I was able to put weight on my left foot and I walked with out a cane. All very big deals to me. Especially putting weight on my left leg and foot. Not for long mind you, fear of falling is real as is the pain.  

I did so much on Saturday that I was hurtin' on Sunday. Was it from over use? Was it from lack of moving over the months and my muscles were sore? All of the above?

I've turned a corner but not fast enough for Impatient Peg.

I saw my surgeon's PA on Tuesday. I love her more than the surgeon. She repeated that I had two areas of my spine worked on plus the dreaded calcium build up that was large. That, she reminded me, was a much longer healing time. 

I left there able to walk upright and still in pain, but nothing like two weeks ago. So we celebrated by buying 2 cups of way too expensive coffees on the way home.

My God how my life has changed. Coffee, not wine, nor gin, but coffee. To quote my friend, "who the hell are you and what did you do with my friend Peggy?"

The PA told us that I should not be lifting laundry etc. Rick heard all that I could and shouldn't do. When she said no loading of the dishwasher, Rick said, try and stop her. Well, I can still rearrange right? She laughed and Rick made a disgust sound. 

Okay mister peanut gallery, just sit there and look pretty. He told her 'lies' about things I've been doing. I'm not bringing him anymore!

I was told I could drive if I felt I could. Ehhh. Of course not while on oxy she says. Gee, she's no fun. Rick said there is no way she's driving. Good grief it can't be worse than stroke boys driving. He has become a very bad driver since the stroke. Making matters worse is that the brake on the passenger side doesn't work so well, 

I think in a couple weeks I'll be able to drive. But she kaboshed me power washing damn it. I love spring time power washing!

I'd do the whole neighborhood if they'd let me. It's an illness🫠

My friend Ro stopped by Friday. She giifted me the most soft blanket, slippers, a cocktail book and flower seeds, which I already planted into a pot. 

I made her monkey bread with Rick's help. Hopefully she enjoyed it.  It was so nice to have a visitor since I've been house bound. 

We had some laughs and it was so nice. 

Having only 2 friends here is better than nothing but this is when I miss people.

Then I go outside amongst people and think, I miss this?

Former Neighbors

Several years ago I wrote about this great kid in my neighborhood.

This young man was named Luke. A cute as a button tow head little boy. I met him when out with my dog Izzy. He was in his pj's and asked if he could pet my dog.

Fast forward to him in high school. He now had his own dog. As Izzy got older and preferred sitting on the stoop over more walks I sat with her and saw all the neighbors walking theirs.

If you're a dog owner you know that you know all of these people by their dogs name and may not ever remember theirs. As Rick and I talked we'd say things like, "It's Sugar's mom, etc"

As Izzy and I sat there on the stoop one day Luke came by who now had his own dog. We'd chat baseball once he saw my NYY T-shirt. because he played ball in high school. He was a Nats fan so we would go back and forth all in fun.

I talked to him weekly many days a week. Just loved how respectful and interested he was. We talked about his school, all kinds of things other than baseball, but a lot of baseball. 

When he got into college on a scholarship or partial scholarship for baseball at the school he wanted to attend, to say he was stooked is an understatement. 

Izzy and I were just getting up from the stoop when I heard someone running down the block. He was waving to me. He got to my house and told me he'd be playing for XYZ school. I was so excited for him. I asked if I could give him a hug and he said, heck yeah! So we did just that. I can't even tell you how thrilled I was for him.

The scholarship, the school he wanted, all of it.

Rick and I always told his parents what great kids they had, because both of their children were smart, polite,kind etc. We didn't see a lot of that. 

We moved here when he went into college. Rick is on Facebook so he keeps up with his parents. He was playing ball and kicking butt.

This week his parents sent us a video of him pitching a game. This kid is smoking 'em. In the 90s. His pitches were great! I wish he was on my team. I do admit, I said to Rick that I wonder if kids should be throwing this hard at this age. You want longevity. But then we were back to being thrilled for him.

Honestly I feel like a parent I'm so proud. When he was 9 and telling me he was going to be a major league pitcher I told him you will be if you want it. He would smile and say, "Miss Peggy I really want it." 

I told him to just call me Peggy instead of Mrs last name" But he said, "no, I can't, how about Miss Peggy?" So I agreed. 

(And no not southerners, Yankees) 

When he was a teen and was trash talking my team I asked, "If you were to get the opportunity to play or are drafted into the NYY club, would you say no since you hate them?"

He told me with a sly smile, he'd have to think on it.

A few weeks later he brought it up. He said, "I thought about your question and if I'm honest I wouldn't turn it down."

I smiled and told him I just wanted you to think about it. He called me a stinker. 

When we left we said our goodbyes to he and his family. We told him we'd see him on the diamond!

I hope I live to see him, no matter the team he plays for.⚾️

Rear Window

Back in the day there was a movie with Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. 

He was in a wheelchair and looks out his windows because it's basically all he could do.

Then he believes he sees a murder. 

This came to me this morning as I was in my chair watching things go by outside my window.

I saw a pizza box and other assorted garbage go by. Where was all this garbage and litter coming from? I heard a big boom that startled the hell out of me. How is Rick sleeping through this? 

Just as I had that thought Rick woke up and said,"What the hell is going on I hear the siding flapping. 

He immediately got a jacket and went outside in the rain. He picked up some garbage but only that which was close to the house. When he turn around he saw some of the siding on the porch hanging so he fixed it. He came back inside and said, "I'm not going to the gym today" 

How lucky this is a gym day I said. We laughed. Any excuse will do he says. Ooh I get it.

Then a big boom in the back of the house. It was on the porch.  What the hell was that? Rick went to inspect the porch/patio. More siding issues. But the big boom was one of the bricks we have holding down the grill cover.  Only one fell, there were 3.  Rick then got a bungee cord and wrapped it around the cover.  He moved a few things around to secure them better and or put them back in their original place. 

We knew we were going to get winds so last night he thought he had secured everything. 

But, these Yankees aren't use to this. We can shovel snow. We can't do anything in a tornado.

I don't think we have to worry about a tornado in our 'burb but it's close. Too close for me!

From my chair, it's sideways rain and my pear tree with all its beautiful blooms about to burst are flapping in the wind.

It's dark outside and they want us to go to the lowest level in our home. We live in a one story. No one has basements here so I don't have a lower level. We are watching the map on tv and I'm certain we are fine. All new and interesting though if it weren't dangerous.

So there you have it, a view from my chair/window.

Birthday Cake

My husband is in the kitchen right now making me a chocolate cake from scratch. Scratch!

I'm not allowed in the kitchen. Ok by me.

Then he asked me about the two containers of sugar in the pantry. I asked, "May I come in?"

I showed him that one was stevia and one was regular and how I put the word on the top of the container. Yes, I rolled my eyes silently. Lol

Then I saw the brownie pan on the island. I asked, "are you making my cake in this?"

"Yep"

Oh dear do I tell him and make him pissy or do I let him find out the hard way? So...

"Babe if your recipe calls for 2 8 inch or 9 inch round pans but you don't want it to be a layer cake then you have to use the 9x13 pan."

I turned my cane around and got out of the kitchen as fast as I could while he mumbled things under his breath.  I said, "I hear you"

"No you don't, you can't hear anything ever"

Ah, ok he's right.

"Nice try", he yells at me.

I commenced to my ugly chair and will await cake.

What I Have Observed From 'The' Chair

As you all know being stuck in this stupid chair has given me way too much time for tv.

There are many many commercials where the background music is Boomer music. 

*Van Halen's Panama is for a truck commercial.

*My fave is Thunderstruck by AC/DC for Starbucks

*Then a commercial that made me smile, Steppenwolf's Born To Be Wild for WeatherTech. I want to go on a trip with these broads. When the one won at Bingo and she flashes the men I was howling.

BUT, the biggest earworm is the VW Van commercial.🎶Are ya having any fun?🎵

The name of the song is a Life Half Full. My God that one sticks in my head. I'm sure you've all heard it by now.

Which brings me to The Voice.

I watch this show and both Rick and I noticed the big majority of the music these kids sing to audition is music from my time before they were born. I found that interesting. 

Then as we do nightly, we watched Jeopardy. The category was Billboard or some such music reference like that. 

Mony, Mony was the answer, we both yelled, who is Tommy James (& Sondelles) But, we were wrong. It was Billy Idol.

That made us both laugh. Yes, Billy Idol did remake it in the 80s or 90s. We said we won that by a technicality and laughed at ourselves.

So that's the music from my chair. Then I put on my earphones and just close my eyes to my Pandora.😉