This and That

 It's been quite a while since I posted anything, but frankly, there just isn't much to post these days. We are keeping busy at our house working on our various projects which this year include remodeling Jim's bathroom (for about the third time). We built our home back in 1973 and on the main level had one very large bathroom. After the kids left we divided it into two quite small bathrooms, one off the master bedroom (mine) and one in the hall (Jim's). There was also a chimney taking up a chunk in the corner of Jim's and this year when we had the house roofed, the chimney was taken out so that freed up a considerable amount of space. One thing led to another, we discovered we didn't have enough ceramic tile left for the floor from the previous remodel so broke out the old and laid new after patching the hole in the floor and ceiling where the chimney had been. We decided to move the toilet and the vanity around as long as there was more room. Jim builds our vanities but we purchased a quartz countertop with undercounter sink from Menards and discovered that one of the 2 x 4s behind the wall it was going on was terribly bowed You cannot put a straight quartz countertop against a crooked wall! We are still dealing with it and we are both sick of the whole process to tell the truth.

We take care of several urns at the cemetery and this year it wasn't the deer but the Japanese Beetles which have pretty much taken care of the flowers. Deer don't like marigolds but the beetles do! Annoying, to say the least.

We have gotten rain so the grass has greened back up and looks much better than it did. The surrounding farms have some beautiful crops this year. Earlier it was extremely dry but the corn grew, and now we can see ears forming. I really don't understand how that happened as it was so very dry but it did. Jim has just three colonies of bees these days but he says they have lots of honey so he is happy. Just the right amount of bees to take care of for him and he can walk out and see what they are doing. It won't be long and he will be extracting which is a much slower process than it was back in the day when he had big commercial type equipment. Now he just has a little extractor which he has to spin the handle by hand and only holds two frames. It does get done, just takes a while. Our Amish neighbors are starting to have quite a few crops in their roadside stand but no tomatoes or sweet corn yet but I'm sure it won't be long.

I haven't heard anything good or bad from any Magnolia people so that old saying no news is good news must hold true. We are looking forward to returning to Trails End this upcoming season as are Chet & Irma. We like the park a lot and it is a good fit for us, and of course, there are lots of Magnolia people there. It has become an Encore Park but as far as we are concerned, that most likely will be okay. Lots of things are getting fixed which had been neglected for a while.

I will close with a picture of one of our Baltimore Orioles. We have quite a few but nothing like last year.