40 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-9-17”

  3. We lost almost all of our dogwood here because of some sort of blight. Before they realized it, the dead ones where chipped up and used for mulch, which led to more getting it.
    Ricky, Georgia = Peach.

    Dogwood = North Carolina
    http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/north-carolina/state-flower/dogwood

    So according to my above link the State Flower for Georgia is the Cherokee Rose which looks very similar to Janice’s photo.

    Anyway, the photo has Spring Green and blossoms so it makes me happy.

    Liked by 4 people

  7. Beautiful blooms.

    We’ve really warmed up this week, it’s suddenly summer ! It feels good after all the rain we’ve had.

    I’m working from home this morning, hoping the plumber comes on the early side — the foundation guy comes at 12:30 p.m. so after that I’m hoping to be able to scoot into the office for the rest of the day (unless my editor tells me to just go ahead and finish the day out here; that would be sweet, maybe I’d be able to get the dogs to the park before it gets dark that way).

    Our time changes this weekend, we “spring forward.” I’ll have to try to remember that since the ceiling workers will be here and it’ll be crazy and loud and messy around here. It’s not going to be a restful weekend.

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  9. Plumber texted that he is on his way — that’s good news is it sounds like I’m his first stop. Last time he was supposed to come in the morning & got hung up somewhere, never made it to me until around 4 p.m.

    Liked by 2 people

  10. We have a dogwood planted. It will be dormant for a long, long time yet.

    DJ, just remember it will all be worth it and keep reminding yourself!

    Liked by 3 people

  13. Strange sitting here and hearing the camera going all the way into the main water line in the house, kind of creepy. The dogs don’t like the sound of it much either.

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  14. It looks like pear blossoms, as the The Real said, but the blossoms appear quite similar to dogwood, as do cherries. We had a pear tree for years, but somehow, the male half of the tree – it was grafted – died and so although the remaining female half bloomed, the blossoms never developed into proper fruit. The tree was cut down last year to make way for the beehive enclosure, but I have a few photos of the blossoms.
    Dogwood makes me think of my parents backyard and the road on which they live.
    Speaking of my parents, things are continuing on in much the same way. The couple is increasingly frail, and I doubt they will be able to live on their own. They really need to go into a nursing home, but the wait list is months, even years. The couple’s children and friends are helping to prepare their home for sale, but that won’t get them into a place any quicker.
    This is making my parents preparations to sell their own home more difficult. The family agreed at Christmas that my parents would sell their home, and use the money to help second sibling and spouse get a home. There has been movement towards that goal, but the house, since my parents have lived there for nearly 38 years, needs to be cleaned out and a few renovations to increase the sale value a little. It is very sound structurally – my father designed it and he and my mother built it, along with some hired help from framer, bricklayers, etc, and it has a good quality roof and windows. It is just a little worse for wear when it comes to the inner décor – my parents finished the rooms as they were able to afford it, and some rooms were never fully finished.

    In a way, I think it might be a good thing that the sale of their home is delayed a little. It has been very painful for all of us to accept the idea that it will be sold – not because we in any way begrudge second sibling a place to live, that part we are in agreement upon – but because every last one of us siblings were brought home from the hospital to that house and we spent our entire childhood and adolescence there. The memories run deep. Second sibling and spouse hope to do market gardening, so they want some more property, but some part of me wishes that they would live in my parents’ place, as the place has land enough for a couple of large gardens, and then branch out to some of the surrounding farmland which occasionally lies fallow because there is no one to work it. The land where my parents place was, around a hundred years ago, used for a market garden and there is no real reason why much of it couldn’t be used for that purpose again. However, that is for second sibling and spouse to decide. They are reluctant to do it, because they realize the difficulties of taking over one’s parents’ home and all the adjustments necessary. In addition, the seasonal job that second sibling-in-law has is too far away – but, I always think, he could probably find a closer job (the younger generation who wants to farm often needs to work a second job to make ends meet). Well, I cannot arrange their lives for them, and the Lord’s plans always work out better than any I could think up.

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  15. Well, not good news from the plumber(s) — they’ll be back Monday, said it’s one of the worst main lines (clay pipe filled with mud, couldn’t get the camera to go beyond a certain point) they’ve seen. And that’s what apparently has caused a dip and cracks in my driveway in the past couple years.

    Real estate pal says he’s “not surprised,” he has been concerned that an underground pipe may have been what was causing the driveway to progressively dip over time.

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  16. Sounds like a good plan to me, roscuro 🙂 Always nice when houses can be kept by families through generations — although several years after my mom died I wound up selling the home our family had moved into when I was about 10 years old. I couldn’t adjust to the idea of living there myself (it also was a distance from work, church and where I essentially had lived for most of my life after leaving home).

    And while I was certainly emotionally attached to it (and cried over selling it, but it also just made me terribly sad whenever I had to go over there for something), it seemed like the most reasonable thing to do at the time. I’d rented it out for several years but being a “landlord” didn’t suit me well and selling it was the only way I was able to have a downpayment to buy something for myself in the area where I was living (and wanted to stay).

    As for your parents’ house guests, that sounds like quite a dilemma.

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  17. For some twisted reason DJ’s post immediately after Kim’s struck me funny. “You have to have two dogwood trees to cross-pollinate” followed by “I have 3 plumbers here.”

    Liked by 4 people

  18. The tree is one of those ornamental pears used only for flowers. It produces no fruit (or insects enjoying rotten fallen fruit which is a plus. This tree is my neighbor’s tree planted near the birthday tree. They are a lovely couple in their early Easter bonnets.

    I took Karen for her appointment this a.m. So thankful that worked out. I had a chance to take a good photo for her Facebook profile. It was a pretty day to be out driving. Her pacemaker is helping her to be able to do a bit more.

    Liked by 2 people

  19. Thoughts some of you might be interested in this…..

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/boomers-are-losing-dollar11000-a-year-to-their-millennial-children/ar-AAnGjdf?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=U452DHP#page=3

    “As a parent, it’s your job to support your children on the path to adulthood. But plenty of parents continue to support their children financially once they’re adults with kids of their own.

    That’s the finding of a new 2,000-person survey by TD Ameritrade. On average, millennial parents ages 19 to 37 said they received $11,011 in financial support and unpaid labor from their boomer parents, ages 50 to 70. Without that help, many millennials couldn’t support their current lifestyles, the survey found.”
    —————–

    “Boomers Are Providing Child Care and Household Help”

    “Boomers Are Helping Kids Pay the Bills”

    “Boomers Are Helping Kids Pay for Entertainment”

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Linda,

    3 plumbers seems like a lot for only 2 trees…… 🙃

    That’s like having 3 arborists in for a couple of leaky pipes. It just seems like overkill.

    Liked by 2 people

  23. I was late to the conversation but from what I could see, it seemed rather random, so I thought I would join in.

    Eight to ten inches of new wet snow over night, so the power lines were down in a couple of places between here and town. But we are back to civilization again. Though I am not sure anybody really noticed other than me joining you folk. People worked on chores, breakfast, and schoolwork just the same.

    Husband has taken the three youngest to dinner at the Senior Center. Time to plant the tomatoes!

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  24. Foundation guy just arrived and is about to crawl under the house.

    Plumbers were on the roof earlier.

    And real estate pal, in one of his less helpful comments, weighed in on the plumber estimate by telling me it was too high. Everything is too high for him, though — when he lived next door and was flipping houses in the hot market, he had a whole crew of low-cost workers at his beck and call. So he is shocked, shocked at the prices some of the regular guys charge. “I hate to see people taken advantage of,” he says in an email sent a few minutes ago.

    Yeah, well, thanks, but too late, I signed off and they’re coming early Monday to do whatever they need to do.

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  25. Regarding the discussion on Amazon Prime, I just received an email that they now do delivery of meals from local restaurants. Interesting. I think that may just be offered in metropolitan areas. Has anyone else heard of that feature?

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  27. To be clear, my second sibling and her family are not just getting my parents’ money to do with as they please. Part of the agreement is that they will provide a home and care for my parents for the rest of their lives. Having seen what happened with the couple now staying with my parents, the value of knowing my parents will always be living with one of their children is enormous. It is interesting, because after one of the family friends met second sibling’s future spouse, the friend said to my mother, “He is the one who will take care of you.” It is true that he is probably the best suited to caring for my parents of all my siblings-in-law. Eldest sibling-in-law is more secure financially, but my parents can’t just up and move to the U.S. as senior citizens; while youngest sibling-in-law expects to do much the same thing with his own parents. I, too, will always be offered a place to stay with second sibling, though all my siblings in-laws have indicated the same thing. In receiving money to purchase a house, it isn’t as if second sibling and sibling-in-law haven’t made an effort to do things for themselves. They have. Both are good with numbers, are careful budgeters, and have done well on a very low income. They both have jobs in which their employers hold them in high esteem, though my sibling is currently on maternal leave. Yet, even working two jobs isn’t enough to buy a house. Houses, never mind adequate land for gardening, are at a premium in this part of the province, as the urban sprawl from the Toronto area keeps eating into the rural areas; and, as I’ve mentioned before, Southern Ontario contains some of the best farmland in Canada, so locating elsewhere isn’t really a good option. One thing we have observed is when immigrant families come to Canada, the whole extended family will go together to get a house, in which they all live, until it is paid for, and then, they will all pitch in to purchase a second house and so on. So, perhaps that is the new economic model for home ownership.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. mumsee, most likely.

    There is a wide range in price for labor, to be sure. I usually give an extra tip (sometimes pretty generous) if I know someone’s charging way less than what a Roto-Rooter or Executive Roofers would charge.

    Anyway, guess real estate pal is strategizing, says I can actually cancel this job in 3 days if I want (which is true).

    Foundation guy was all doom and gloom, of course. Estimate will be sent to me by email in a few days, but I suspect it will be out of my league. 😦 And in that case, real estate pal may be a big help …

    Bathroom is still cute though.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. The other thing I’d say, though, about real estate pal and all his workers back in the day — they had a steady flow of work with him for probably a few years steady, they no doubt learned a lot, and, hopefully, then were able to go on and parlay those acquired skills and experience into higher paying jobs down the line.

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  30. which they are now trying to do for you….

    I have no problem with people charging less, and I also try to be generous, but I expect them to be working, not hanging around taking my money.

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  35. This is how I replied to AJ’s link above over on the news thread:

    People making sacrifices for their family?! What a horrible idea!

    Seriously though, as Michelle & Cheryl have pointed out, our economy really is tougher for the millennials than it was for us boomers. It used to be you could afford a small apartment only making minimum wage, but now that would not be possible (at least not here in Connecticut). I think Cheryl pointed out that many positions that used to pay above minimum wage now only pay minimum wage. And then there is that college debt that has sky-rocketed at the same time we’ve told kids that college is a necessity.

    As you all know, Hubby & I fall into that category of parents helping grown children. Yes, we have made, & are making, sacrifices, but we believe it is worth it – for Nightingale’s sake & even more for Little Guy’s sake.

    We are proud of Nightingale. She has worked hard to become a working LPN, & will be taking classes again in the fall to work towards an RN degree, & hopefully one day earn a master’s degree. Her job is supposed to be just part-time, but that has worked out to be about 2/3 or more of what full-time hours would be. Some nurses refuse to work on the rehab unit because that is more work, & more hectic, but she forged ahead to train on that unit, even though she was nervous about it, & now often is assigned to rehab. (Today she has been in charge of both rehab units for half her day, which means she is once again quite late getting home.)

    She also has a budget, & is putting away money for retirement & Little Guy’s college savings, among other things. I realize that maybe not many millennials are thinking that far ahead, but hopefully some are. And yes, we recognize that she wouldn’t be able to do much of that if she had to pay rent & pay the going rate for child care. (She does pay half the electricity bill, & puts in “sweat equity” by doing much of the yard work & snow shoveling.)

    Liked by 1 person

  36. So relieved to hear that there was a scheduling mistake, & Nightingale will not be working tomorrow after all. Today was the seventh day in a row, & the last three days (with today & yesterday being “half days” of school for Little Guy), she has been on first shift, but got out an hour or more later each day (two & a half hours later on one day). Not only is she tired, but I’m tired from the babysitting.

    If she had worked tomorrow as we thought she was scheduled for (second shift), it would have been the third time within a week of working second shift one day & first shift the next. When she does that, she gets only about five hours of sleep in between shifts. She can do that now & then, but three times in a week is a bit much.

    The reason she was late today was that someone decided they were over-staffed, & sent home a couple or so people, including a CNA. So Nightingale was in charge of both rehab wings (either one of which would keep her hopping), & she had to help the CNA when a two-person situation came up.

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  40. Our coyote sightings are ramping up again, there was this today from the city where our newspaper is located:

    My neighbor just told me, near (XX St.) and 234th, that he was sitting in his backyard around 3:00 reading the newspaper today and a coyote jumped his fence (over 6 feet high with shrubs) into his backyard. He made some noise and the coyote easily jumped his fence into the front yard and out on 234th St. I reported it for him with TPD/Animal Control.

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