magtimmag

Okay, summer's great and all, but we just experienced a week of high temps and even higher humidity. Like heat indexes of over a hundred.

Last evening a cold front came through and this morning we awoke to beautiful sunshine and clear skies with a brisk northerly breeze.  Thank you Canada for sharing your air.  Those of us with broken air conditioners really appreciate it.

The new furnace & air conditioner will be installed in a couple of days which guarantees that we won't have another day over 85 for the rest of the summer.

So what about the rest of the summer you say?  How come no talk of plans and trips and gala comings and goings.
Well, we're victims of the economy too.  Our own economy.  A new furnace and air conditioner will set you back quite a bit.  Combined with the uncertainty of Tim's job we're all walking that same tight rope of cash.

We'll be enjoying what friend Mollie fondly refers to as a "suck" cation.  Stay-cation is all well and good, but going to Ireland sure beats "exploring the diversity of the area around you".   Not that we don't appreciate what we have here in our section of the midwest, it's just hard to enjoy yourself with doom and gloom hanging over your head.

But we're going to be upbeat, aren't we?

Wednesday we enjoyed our dinner at the herb farm and I actually have photos to post.
It's just that I have to get back outside and finish the yard project we started yesterday.  Then there's the stuff to move in the basement so the old furnace can be removed and the new one installed.  What fun that will be.

Oh, and the tree trimmers finished grinding out the stump of the tree we had cut down earlier this summer, that means their large bill will be finding it's way to us shortly too.  Add that to  the two car repairs we had done last week  and you can see why  I'm finding it a little difficult to be a ray of sunshine right now.

Yes, everything else is going along fine, and of course Tim and I have each other which is great because at least we can commiserate together.

The Fourth of July is fast approaching and you all know it's my fa-vo-rite holiday.  Our plans are still up in the air, but whatever we do I know we'll have fun and I hope you all do too.

Hi.
One of the things I love most about summer is the long days, with tons of sunlight. Can't beat it, in my book. Starting yesterday, I have the 'pleasure' of opening up & unlocking the company building. It is on the west bank of the Rock River. Literally... There's an old railroad bridge that is just north of the property, and goes across the river, causing ripples & swells with the pilings. This morning, the pink sunrise over the river, with the day dawning made me stop to take it all in and appreciate it... 'til I realized that I had forgotten to punch in... Oops! That put the day back on track, but for a moment, it was livin' easy & fish jumpin'... Gershwin was right...

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I learned a long time ago not to ask what else can go wrong because that just seems to open the door for more bad fortune to walk in.
Someone around me must of asked it though, because we've had a whole bag of "what else?" this year.

Now it's the air conditioner and the furnace.  Yes the air conditioner was 23 years old, so you ask, what did you expect?
Well it would of been nice if it wasn't the hottest spell in 5 years.  Ninety five degrees today.  Just when we were in a run of below average temps for the year.  It's truly bizarre.

So yesterday I called 5 different companies to give us quotes.  Two of them showed up.  One we're waiting on the quote.   ......and waiting.  Another was nice enough to come today.  It's kind of a toss up, these are all quality companies and because of this hot spell everyone's more than busy all of a sudden.
I think we'll be living with the window unit we ran out and bought Sunday for about another week.

Trying not to complain.  What's another five thousand dollars to pay off?  What does life have against us all of a sudden anyway?

I'm working through it, still glad we both have jobs, it'll take a while, but at least we will be able to pay it off.

Sister Mary visited this past weekend, and except for the 7 inches of rain, and the air conditioner dying it wasn't a bad visit.

Hi!
Saturday afternoon/evening, our friends Jan & Mike facilitated a cook out/campout/jam @ a local state park. Good times.

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Hi,
Now Mrs. Duck is comfortable enough to stop by on her own. Mr. Duck must have stayed home with the little ones.

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We are on a bike ride, on a lovely day. We are headed out to the state park, then to Panera's for a sandwich. We are about 5 miles out, & we pass under and along an electrical grid. It hums, crackles, pops & almost makes your hair stand on end.
Maggie,as usual, is flying by us. We are at the park, waiting for Bill to do a 4.6 mile lap around the park. I'm not up to that yet, so next time... We'll leave here, ride to lunch, then back to M&B's house to pack up. Things to do @ home this afternoon. See you there!

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Hi

Maggie was going through recipes today and found some recipe cards from the farm we toured last year in Ireland. Rathbaun Farms, over two hundred years old, and still in operation by the family.  It's a tiny farm by our standards, but it was one of the most interesting, authentic sites on our visit.

Rathbaun Farm

Seems there is always projects to do.  Of course there's projects to do.  That's the nature of the universe, constant flux.
This week I tackled one that's been on the back burner for a long time.  I painted a bedroom.  Doesn't sound like much, but like any job, if you do it right it can be a gigantic pain.

I know it takes an effort just to get through the day and balance all the things you have to do with the want to do's.
This was on the don't want to do list because honestly it wasn't a pressing matter.  It didn't look bad, it just hadn't been done in, oh, say 20 years.

As is typical with me I called husband Tim on Monday during our work day and said,"I'm going to paint the back bedroom tomorrow, so could you help me move stuff?"  And husband Tim, being the kind soul he is said " sure".  I was just going to do it myself and then realized that specific bedroom is the epicenter of our home's tech universe.
Plenty of cords going everywhere and things not to be unplugged.  I needed Tim's input before I jumped into this.

So the day dawned, and I proceeded.  Things went pretty well, and I didn't make as big a mess as I could have, so I consider it a success.  It's been quite a while since I did a project like this.  I hate to keep blaming things on getting old, but boy, was I pooped at the end of the day!
Painting is only part of the job.  Once everything's pulled out it's a great chance to clean and tidy and do all that other stuff.  So even though I painted on Tuesday I continued my cleaning during the week and we're still putting things back into place.  How do we collect so much stuff?

I know some places the weather is a boring topic, but here where I live it's always interesting.  Either really bad or glorious.  We've had a cooler than normal start to the summer but as in all things you have to look at the positive side of it.
The lack of heat has made it easier for me to do projects like paint a room, or do more yard work. Once it gets hot and humid I have a distinct lack of motivation for heavy duty projects.  Sure I still work out, but that's a tolerable period of sweating and then a refreshing shower.

I'm enjoying a wonderful rain this morning.  I'm sure I wouldn't feel this way if I'd scheduled a yard sale or had a wedding planned, but for me right now it's very nice to sit and listen to the raindrops.   Besides, it's not going to rain all day.
Speaking of motivating, I  can't sit and be idle for too long.  Sister Mary is coming for a visit so that means plenty of cleaning this week.  And I have to go to the grocery store, and I have to put some things on Ebay.   Ebay's been going slowly, it's on a downward slide, but it's still the only way you can get some stuff out of the house with a decent return.
Plenty of work to do it right, but then, what isn't?  Wait, didin't I already say that?
Is this a theme?  Everything is work?  Seems like it sometimes.  Most times it seems like it.

We have had some better news this week, a big unexpected expenditure that was looming for us has been taken care of. {we think}
Tim's at work right now.  Yes!  They have enough to do to work overtime!  That right there is enough to make us feel better.   For months we've been wondering (like the rest of the country) whether we'll have jobs in a month or so, but there was an up turn in orders this week at Tim's company, and for what ever reason they are busy.  Hurray!

So I best get on to my chores and hopefully have some fun along the way.