All The Verdicts

Let's start with last week. I wasn't here and there was no update to the voting on the book cover. My bad and I apologize. I was sick and for all practical purposes, really didn't care if I lived or died and wasn't too sure if I was dead or alive. Here comes the story...

Friday night I and my lovely bride enjoyed the company of some friends at a local fish fry. The fish consisted of piles of all-you-can-eat deep-fried fish accompanied by two types of coleslaw (creamy and vinegar,) three types of potatoes (baked, mashed, 3 cheese hashbrowns,) several types of bread/buns and a huge assortment of desserts - I won't even attempt to describe but I would say, if you couldn't find something you liked, you're just too damned picky. All this food - I call it $10 Heaven. I ate so much fish, I didn't have room for dessert.

Got home and about 7:30pm, Heaven turned into absolute Hell. My stomach turned, there was some gurgling and I had a countdown of less than 10 seconds to make it to the facility - 3-2-1. I think I made another 2 trips before I finally attempted to call it a night. During the night it was another, at least 4, if not 5 trips and Saturday was a constant race. Fortunately we have two bathrooms so one was always available for my use. Saturday night wasn't any better. I'd awake to an urge and make a dash. Do you realize how difficult it is to dash when half-asleep? And in the dark? I thank the Lord for giving me the foresight to install an LED nightlight in the bathroom. So Sunday was a total wash. I didn't even bother getting out of bed - except to run to the facility. I'd given up on attempting to eat and was just trying to exist on beef broth. Water begets water.

By midday on Monday, I thought I was on the heal. There was no longer a dual water spigot - the original pipework theory seemed to be the plan of the day.  Tuesday morning proved that wrong with a small diarrhea run but it was short-lived. Whew!

Wednesday found me feeling pretty good which meant that our trip to French Lick, Indiana was on track. Both my wife and I had received a complimentary room, so we each booked a room and took her sister and her brother and his wife with us. We had a room, they had a room. Uh, our room had TWO fireplaces!! The place was very, VERY nice and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, only wishing it was a tad warmer and the gardens more in bloom. But, it was still a fun time.

This is mezzanine (2nd floor) looking down into part of the lobby. Our room is 4 doors down hall behind us.

This is our room w/ a nice flat screen and fireplace. Huge room!

I decided to catch a couple of Zs and she decided to take pictures. Coordinated effort!!

I told you there was 2 fireplaces - the other one was in the bathroom!

Mural in ceiling above lobby and mezzanine level - so much gold leaf!

More of the murals above the mezzanine. That chandelier is about 5 or 6 feet across, maybe more. I would say it was about 25  or more feet between the two marble columns.

We each found a piece of furniture we wanted to take home.

My wife fell in love with this table and floral arrangement. Even with four sons, I don't think this table would get moved too often once it was put in the house.

As you can see, it was a very enjoyable trip and experience and we hope to get back there again, even maybe later this summer. They do have an RV park and we may take our RV next time.

Verdict with the doctor and my health. Discussed my diabetes with an endocrinologist and he has put me back on 500mg metformin twice a day which should be gentler to my kidneys. We'll see. Has it helped my sugar? Yes!! A resounding YES! Of course, he wants me to lose weight and go on a 1500 calorie diet which is probably more than I eat now with my current diet. I see a dietitian in March and we'll see what she has to offer. I also go back to the doctor about mid-March so I won't have a lot of time to institute the 1500 calorie diet.  The scales indicate that I have lost 7 pounds since I went to the doctor - and that I would call a good thing.  Of course, the medical scales can be different than mine - although I did weigh myself when I got home from the doctor to see how far off my scales were. The results were 1 pound difference... my was more.

Now, the question, by now, on everyone's tongue is: The book cover! Which cover made the cut?

There was a lot of discussion as to which one was better and each argument had its own value. The basic concern was readability. Another was the skull and teeth.  Some thought the doors disappeared or got lost on the cover. Finally, after an immense time getting all the votes from here, my different media sites like Twitter and Facebook and some of my favorite watering holes on the internet, the final verdict was...

I offer you the winner designed by Sheri McGathy of Sheri McGathy Book Cover Design

This is the winner!!

With a little luck, hopefully it will be ready for a release date in early March. My beta readers are giving me some vital and critical feedback and I'm getting the editing done. Hopefully this will be a very clean book on Amazon and I won't be seeing their ugly "flag" denoting errors within.

By the way, is anyone else getting excited?  Spring is on the way!!  In about two weeks I will be starting some of my seeds.  I may even be getting the first of my chickens to raise. We want about a half dozen hens for eggs and those we want to get early. Then I will get the other twenty-five we want to raise for butchering and Sunday dinners.  Spring is on the way!  Summer is coming!!

Until next I ramble on...

What A Week

My buddy is retired and he is continually complaining to me about how bored he is.  How can that be since I now find my life even more hectic than when I worked.

This week is a perfect example...

Monday: Holiday celebrating Labor Day.  It should be a day of relaxing, enjoying the last of the sun fun and even getting a picnic in.  NOPE.  For me, it was my #1 son and family visiting and telling us about the cars they been looking at for their daughter since she wants a little bigger one with the baby coming.  So far, pretty normal.  He takes us to a dealership where they have a car that has piqued our curiosity — since my granddaughter doesn't want it and my son thinks it is a great car.

WOW!  It's a 2014 Ford Escape - hold on - brand new!!  Only 175 miles on it.  Seems it came in late last year, got shuffled to the back of the lot and only when somebody questioned the "mistype" on the inventory sheet did they discover it.  That's right.  The 2016s are already on the display floor and they have a brand new 2014 to sell.  They were practically giving it away.  My wife liked what she saw.

Step back a moment.  Remember me mentioning dealing on a new RV?  Yeah, that's never moved another step forward.  I'd sent 3 emails to the salesman stating I was interested and I received 3 emails stating that that particular email address didn't exist.  Hmm?  I went to the website. Yup, I had the correct domain name.  I had the salesman's business card.  I decided that if a person can't give me the right info, maybe I should step back.  Plus, he didn't want to take my old RV in as a trade.  No deal at that point on my behalf.  Yes, in my magnanimous heart, I gave up my RV for my wife's car.

Tuesday: The dealership opens at 9am, I arrive 9:30am — don't want to look too anxious.  A salesman comes out and putters around and finally ambles over to help us.  I tell him I'm interested in the 2014 for sale BUT before we go any further, can they apply the Ford family discount since my #4 son works for Ford.  He gave me a strange look and ushered into his office so he can find out.  The next thing, I'm out test-driving the vehicle.  My wife gets behind the wheel.  She is in love.  We get back, Nick (the salesman) is working out the figures and we decide to "go for it" and see what happens.  Just then, a couple I've seen wandering around the lot amble over and start checking it out.  A few minutes later, Nick comes in, the deal is done and we are buying a car.  He picks up the keys, aims it at the auto and VOILA!  The car is locked just as another couple amble towards it.  Another guy shows up at the door, Nick gives him the keys and a mere 2 hours later, we are walking out and my wife is driving the new car home.  Of course, we have to get something to eat and get the insurance company notified.  A quick visit to her brother after supper and the day is about over.

Wednesday: My grandson calls and asks if it is okay for them to start moving things into our house. So, it is official.  My grandson and his family will be living with us for a few months to help them out. Uh, that means we have to get the guest room cleaned out for them.  I guess I should mention that the big walk-in closet has been a playroom for our #4 son's two oldest daughters (6 and 5) plus a bedroom for whoever wanted to stay over.  We got to get it all moved over to the smaller bedroom which was our office and most recently, my wife's mother's room until she went to the nursing home.  So stuff had to be moved out of the office so the guest room could be moved.  We're talking total chaos and my wife and I have discovered, there has never been a need to do everything in a rush — there was always the next day to get things done.  They want to move furniture by Saturday.  HUH?  So we got hopping on that.

Thursday: The day is mostly spent on moving stuff either to our bedroom or from the guest room to the office (new guest room) or to the basement.  Whew!  The first boxes start to arrive.  The room is basically empty, just a few items remain to be addressed.  We decided we needed a break and since we wanted to go camping but with all the work to be done, we didn't go.  A little spin out to the campground to see how busy it is.  Very surprised by the number of campers.  Of course, we stopped and visited some friends and they joined us on the trip to the campground.

Friday: More stuff gets moved in and the first box of my TV order arrives.  The wall mount.  Sometime in the next 3 days, the 60 inch and 32 inch LED televisions will arrive. My wife needs a little help with the baby shower cake she is decorating.  Seems it is bigger than any board she has, so I have to find her a sheet of spare wood for the "owl" cake.  This is for my great grandson.  My granddaughter likes owls.  It just fit in the back of the Escape.  Whew!

Saturday: My #4 son and family arrive to visit for the weekend and go to the shower.  Yup!  I now have 6 adults and 5 children, ages 6 to just over a month old staying at my home.  Chaos?  Just a little but that's our family.  Oh wait, #1 son, his wife and daughter come over and #2 son, his wife and his daughter visit.  The only ones missing are #2's eldest son and my #3 son, his wife and 2 daughters. The grandson staying with us is #2's second son.  While the ladies are gone to the shower, the boys move the furniture in and then bring over a truckload of wood for a campfire.  I take the 2 granddaughters (6 and 5) over to a park for them to play and be out of the way.  We also go to the store and I get the makings for tacos.  Silly me —I thought 3 lbs of good ground beef would be enough.  Wrong!  We went through it quickly.  Next time, I use 4 lbs or if more family show, even more meat.  Fortunately, the garden was willing to offer up fresh tomatoes for the event. LOL. That night a great fire.

Sunday: Ignored the alarm and my wife - didn't get up until 11am so I missed church.  Guess it was too much excitement for me the day before. LOL.  Usual chaos as #4 and family got ready to head home and everyone else headed out, too.  You can only park 4 cars abreast in my driveway — and with my 2 cars, my grandson's 2 vehicles (car and truck), my #2 son coming on his motorcycle, his wife and daughter in their SUV, my #1 son in his truck and their daughter in her car and my #4 son in his SUV... it begins to look more like a car lot than a driveway.  Guess I should mention, my RV is up along the house, too, so when somebody decides to leave, it can get to be a tad interesting as to who has to move a vehicle. LOL.

But that's my week, and somehow, during that time, I was able to almost finish the edits on a client's book, get a chapter and a half of a new book written and watch a little television, too.

Until next I ramble on...

Time To Mulch

My yard is a cool yard... not flat like most but has some interesting quirks.  Let me explain.

When we bought our property back in 2005, there was a trailer of dubious quality.  The floors by the bedroom windows were rotted through so you couldn't get near any of the outside walls.  As one walked the hallway to the rear bedroom, if you did it properly, you could get a nice sway going. Okay, maybe not the best thing. (More on that later.) The fireplace seemed to work. (More on that later.) The kitchen was fantastic — large, open and extremely inviting. It also had an attached metal awning which extended 12 feet out from the trailer and was about 16 feet long and covered a cement patio.  So fantastic to sit under in the heat of the day and enjoy the cool, refreshing breezes.

BUT, the place, in reality was a dump.  Let me explain the "sway" that the trailer had.  The ground dipped and the 70 foot trailer extended out over this hill.  The previous owner created a "basement" of sorts with plywood.  Uh, would you believe at that the very rear of the trailer, it was not quite 12 feet from the ground to the bottom of the trailer?  Now for the sway.  The support was one single stack of cement blocks approximately 4 feet from the end — we're talking about 9 or 10 feet of cement blocks, each 8 inches X 8 inches X 16 inches. They were loose, not cemented together. The only other "support" was the simple 2-by-4 structure running the perimeter of the back to enclose the "basement" area.  The realtor even had the nerve to say "This will make excellent dry storage." as a marketing ploy.  Yes, the whole structure swayed as the trailer swayed.  To this day, I'm still amazed that the trailer didn't fall.

Remember I mentioned the fireplace?  We burned some wood in the fireplace a couple of nights.  We didn't spend too many cold nights in the trailer since they wanted us to get rid of the structure before we had our new home put on in the basic same area.  Anyway, when we told the trailer down, which didn't take too much work to accomplish, we attempted to save what we could: most of the appliances, some cabinets and counter tops, sinks and the huge garden tub.  We wanted to save the fireplace.  OMG!  Imagine our shock when we started to tear into the walls and discovered scorched insulation and charred wood.  We were very lucky.  The trailer could have burned at any moment with us sleeping — and it would have went up like "poof!"  We wouldn't have stood a chance of escape.

Oh, during the demolition we discovered the skeletal remains of a raccoon in one of the walls.

Now about that yard. With the new house coming in, a basement was dug and a lot of dirt got re-situated.  Then, when they put in the septic system, a new mound of dirt (call it a small hill) was created to cover the drainage area.  The basement stuck out of the ground for about 75% of the home so I had several truckloads of dirt brought in to create a walled terrace.  Here's a secret: You heard the phrase "dirt cheap" — well, dirt ain't cheap... especially when you build an 8 foot retaining wall.

So I have an area where my house is on one level, the driveway flows up to it and from the driveway the ground flows downward to a small area.  Across the front of the house, and in front of the retaining wall, it also slopes away.  Then where it all comes together, that's where the septic system creates another hill.  To the immediate side of the house, behind the 8 foot retaining wall and septic hill, the land is basically flat and is a walkout from the basement.  Behind the house, the basement is 60% out of the ground and that is the north wall so I've got some solid insulation in the basement on the north wall so help keep it sort of warmish.  In other words, during the winter, it don't freeze but it is a tad chilly.

So what does all this mean?  Lawn mowing is a bitch. Yes, the yard has character but it is an awkward act to mow.  Therefore, to help me (when I have to mow) and my son (who does most of the mowing anyway) — I bought a lot of mulch in the last couple of days.  I'm going to put mulch around the swing set so we don't have to mow that area.  I'm going to mulch my hillside flower bed so everyone will know what is grass and what is flowers (and weeds since I have so much trouble keeping them controlled) and I plan to mulch an area out closer to the road which has some "ripples" and gets a lot of stones pushed into it by my neighbor who plows his driveway snow into my front yard. It also has some small trees and a lilac bush which are miserable to mow around.  I'll mulch that area so no mowing.  Yay!!

I decided, while I was at it, I'd mulch behind and on the side of the garden which now is kept under control by the weed-whacker. Yes, my garden is in the front yard, up by the house.  We live in the country and when I had the garden in the backyard, the critters raided it before we had a chance to harvest.   Also, I have two raised flower beds that will be mulched so I don't have to weed them anymore.

As you read this on Monday morning, I will be killing the grass and weeds in those areas in preparation of putting down newspapers to be covered by mulch.  The newspapers will be a minimum of 10 sheets thick.  I don't want anything coming up through cuz I really don't want to have to use harsh chemicals like RoundUp to kill them.  Somebody suggested yard fabric.  It does nothing for the ground and if a mower catches it... what a mess.  At least, as the paper rots, it will improve the soil.  I did that with my raised garden in the front yard when I put it in two years ago and it is working quite well today.

Hopefully, the mulch will make my yard even more attractive AND much easier for me to deal with.

It's an old picture, but it shows some of the land's unique features. This is when the house was first built and we'd just finished building the wall.  The camera angle is from the septic mound. The swing set is now located approximately where the dirt and grass meet closest to you. My raised garden is located in front of the three windows (the kitchen) to the right of the front porch. I can come out the side door and collect my garden goodies and be back in the kitchen in seconds — we're talking fresh!

Maybe I'll update this with a better (aka more current) picture, but probably not. lol.

Okay, I updated. As you can see, the little tree at the corner of the porch has grown some. In front of the kitchen windows is the garden with pole beans standing in the back. The rest of the garden is now tomatoes, carrots, beets, garlic, onions, and peppers. The "corn field" has been pulled which completely covered the window to the left.  You can see the swingset and that horrible cluster of growth in front of the long retaining wall is what results in 3 weeks of camping and not weeding. My daylilies are in there — somewhere but are finished blooming.  I'll dig them then root out the weeds, plant the lilies and mulch.  That weed patch to the right (below the raised deck) is my rock garden, but again, the weeds took over while I was gone. Those Canadian thistles really enjoy growing in my soil where nothing else seems to want to grow.  Can't mulch a rock garden but will be putting more "small" stones in to fill it out.

Until next I ramble on...