Life's sadness

I found a dead bird behind my neighbor's house.  It really saddened me. ... even more than it would have in my old work days.  It saddened me because I spend every morning with house finches, chickadees, titmouse(s), and a male and female cardinal.  I attached a  bird feeder to my kitchen window and fill it every morning with black sunflower seeds.  It took about ten days for the birds to find it, but now they are there every morning and every evening.  The little ones hop up onto the window sill and peer into the kitchen.  They look like little nosy neighbors.  I'm not sure they've seen anything worth seeing, but they still do it.  The male Cardinal is pretty bossy and opens his beak in a threatening manner to anyone who approaches the feeder while he is eating.  Yesterday a small bird (I'm not sure what kind) was sitting in the bird feeder and sort of menacing anyone who came near.

Do squirrels kill birds?  I need to Google that.  Otherwise, it is the neighbor's cat.  I like cats (not as much as dogs), but I wish they stayed in their homes and were not out hunting.  They don't even kill the birds to eat (which I could sort of understand), but just for fun, I guess.  [This is my neighbor's cat.  He looks menacing, don't you think?]

I'm having an on-going battle with the squirrels, too.  I hope they don't kill birds, but I also wish they would stay away from my bird feeder.  I don't begrudge them the food, and would be willing to give them some, but they are too heavy for the feeder.  This afternoon, two of them were hanging around the window downstairs, making noise, and threatening to scale the walls to my bird feeder.  The cute thing is that when they come to the window to start their climb, they come face to face with me.  I am mad at them, but they are so cute, I can't stay that way.




Then I've got my gold finches.  Unbelievable, but it took all those other birds ten days to find my bird feeder.  It took these little beauties about one hour to find the gold finch food.

I don't know how they communicate with each other, but they must have a system.  Look at them.  They look like little parakeets and they are at the feeder ALL DAY.  Sometimes when they fly off, they fly so close to my head that I think I could touch them.

I hope I never find a dead gold finch....or a dead squirrel, for that matter.

Still retired and loving it.

Go to the movies this week, but hurry.  This indie film won't be around long.  Why is it that the good ones come and go in a blink, the stinkos remain?   Anyway, that's another blog.

It's so great being retired and having retired friends who love the movies like I do.  Yesterday after volunteering at Martha's Table (and by the way being interviewed by NPR!), I met Lee at the Tenley Town metro, we had a civilized lunch at 1:00 and then saw this marvelous film at the Avalon.  Talk about a great retiree day!

Still Mine is based on a true story about an elderly couple in Canada.  The wife played by Genevieve Bujold is in the mid stages of Alzheimers and the husband, James Cromwell, begins building a one level home on his property so that she can remain in the home.  He runs into problems with the building commission, but carries on.  You will sit there seeing your own family in some of the scenes...they had seven children and various ones become the emissaries for them all.  You will be amazed by James Cromwell and hope that you look so good as Bujold when you age.  There is even a sex scene that will make you smile.  I won't reveal the ending, but will just assure you that you will leave the theater a bit wistful, very thankful for a day like that, and wishing for more movies of this caliber.  GO SEE IT!!

Civil War Adventures

I'll admit it.  I'm trying to be Auntie Mame to my 15 year old nephew.  Of course, he has visited me before, but always with his parents and his sister.  But in a couple of months, he will visit me by himself.  That means that I have a few weeks to become immersed in the Civil War, identify some battlefields, and come up with a week of activities that will knock his socks off.  It's not going to be easy.

We will visit Harper's Ferry, WV for sure and besides being the location of some major historical stuff (I'm still working out what all of that "stuff" is), it is also a place for outdoor "recreation" like ziplining, white water rafting, and something called an aerial adventure tour.  This last one sounds like the most dangerous of all.  From what I can tell, you pay $79 per person to scare yourself silly by climbing rock walls, ziplining above the trees and walking across VERY small bridges and by that I mean VERY SMALL [SEE PHOTO].  As one who has trouble keeping the tree pose in my yoga class, I am not so sure that I'll garner his favor by screaming and falling into the gorge below.  The website assures me that this tour "is suitable for most guests ages seven and up of average physical ability who do not have an extreme fear of heights and weigh less than 265 pounds."  I'm not so sure.

The Harper's Ferry Ghost Tour sounds a bit more for me.  Or, maybe he will think it is cool if we bike along the C&O Canal.

Next we will visit Antietam Battleground, the site of the famous battle between the armies of General Robert E Lee and General George "Little Mac" McClellan.  The battle actually ended in a draw, but was a pivotal moment in the war and in Lincoln's ability to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.   Now don't get the idea that I'm just learning about this to impress Andrew.  I've become interested in the Civil War since my friend The Judge took me on a tour following the path of John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln.  This led me to read the book Rise To Greatness Lincoln and the Civil War in 1862.  And this then led me to the idea of a Civil War-themed trip. 

Next will be Gettysburg.  The Judge told me we could take a horseback tour of the battlefield, but unfortunately for Andrew (fortunately for me) they are not offered on the day we will be there.

Anyway, if any of you have ideas for me, please send them in the comments.  I'll update this story as the trip unfolds in October.

Only when I am outraged

Breast Cancer Survivors Foundation - sounded like a really good cause when they called me.  Somehow, though, when I got the letter and the "pledge" to send 35 dollars by August 1, I just wondered.  So, I did what I should have done to begin with and looked up their ratings.  94% of the money these folks receive goes to "administrative" costs...meaning marketing.  How much money are these people collecting that could be going to an organization that will actually use it for the purpose it was given?  I know it won't do any good, but I mailed my pledge back to them (sans money) with BIG letters saying to take me off their list and SHAME ON YOU!

My 83 year old mom and 92 year old dad, living on social security, are bombarded with requests for money all of the time.  Dad especially takes it hard that he has so little to give.  Damn it.  I tell him that he should consider the percentage of his income that he gives to the church and compare THAT to the percentage that others with money give.  Preying on the elderly.  How low can this society go?

Those of you who are not yet retired...make sure you have caller ID on your phone before the big day.  When I am here I get a minimum of 2-3 calls per hour that say "UNAVAILABLE" as the ID.  Why should these people be ashamed to show their names?  Don't answer them.

I know this is not the most interesting post I've done, but I am just so pissed.

Not yet one year from retirement and I am already becoming a curmudgeon.

My retirement project

The "garden" before I started

Besides trying to lure song birds to my backyard, I've been creating a masterpiece in my yard.  Where once there was only a ditch and "grass" - I say that with quotation marks because as you can see from the picture, it wasn't that great- I now have a wonderland.  I'm not sure how long all of this will last, but over the years I suppose I'll learn what plants REALLY mean they need sun and which ones can sort of lumber along with just a little bit of sun.

I started by extending the stones that our community's landscapers had installed (See first picture) into a dry river.  I foolishly thought I could just use the stones that were there!  Fifteen 50 pound bags of marble chips and pebble stones hand carried by me and Friend (thank god for those Body Pump Classes) later, and I had the beginnings of a garden with a dry river.

Then 10 hours of cutting out roots as big as a tree limb --- my husband and a friend had cleared out the soil on the right.  It was a real nightmare and would have stopped me in my tracks but we had gone too far to stop.

Next was hauling in soil, mulch (50 bags of it), amenities, and plants until we had the beginnings of a wonderful garden.



We aren't finished because as I am learning if a plant wants full sun, you'd better give it to her.  And we don't have full sun.  So, this is the beginning of a journey to see what lives, flourishes, and gives us a wonderland in the future.  I think it was well worth it.

2013

2013

While I was doing this, hubby was completely re-designing our patio.  What was once a falling down wooden fence is now a beautiful brick wall complete with flower boxes.  It is still a work in progress because of the heat, but I think the 90% solution already looks terrific.

And of course, Chapi had to get into the picture.

So I think you can understand why this blog has suffered.  I will be updating the photos of the garden and patio as they change.

The right equipment

Yes, the right equipment is crucial for any job you're going to do.

This makes me question what I am doing right now.  Could it be the equipment?   

I've become enamored of song birds since a house finch built a nest in my flowers on the front door.  Since I had the thrill of watching the eggs turn into nestlings and then fledglings and finally SAW two of the babies hopping around my driveway, I've been besotted.  So I bought a book on luring song birds to your yard.  Since reading the book, I now have three bird houses, a bird feeder at my kitchen window and just hung up a suet feeder in our front tree.  I've set out strawberries and hung up half a banana on a post....all tips from the book.  NOTHING.  NOT A NIBBLE (if you don't count the squirrel who was hanging from it by one paw and feeding with the other).  

Now I am digging a shallow hole in the garden, which I will fill with concrete to make a natural bird bath (also from the book).  But I am losing hope.  Maybe I don't have the right equipment or maybe I am just impatient.  

I'm holding out hope for hummingbirds. 

Jersey Girl - Notice how I slipped in Bucky and Satchel to this conversation?

A Warning

  I'm warning all of you thinking about retirement.  It is not what you think it will be.  By my reckoning, it has been over a month since I've taken the time to post to this blog.  I wouldn't have done it this morning, but this article about a cat running for office in Mexico caught my eye.  (1) Because he looks like my feline friend, Quentin, who I am sure could do a better job than our current Congressional representatives and (2) because Morris copied Obama's famous campaign poster.  Pretty smart for a cat (oops, I don't mean to offend you cats.)

Retirement is not what you think.  It's not all lying around "eating bonbons." That was my mother's favorite expression when her work as mother of six and homemaker was not appreciated.  She wasn't lying around eating bonbons.  Neither is this retiree.  Since my last post in May my life has involved the following:

1. Seventeen day visit by my nephew and his girl including a road trip to the beaches of North Carolina.
2. Fifteen day visit by my mother in law from Bolivia who speaks no English and I speak no Spanish (Yes, I know I was going to learn as soon as I retired....)
3. Ten day road trip through western North Carolina and Virginia including a 32 mile bike ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail.  I should have blogged about the trip while it was on-going.  Now it just seems so "yesterday."
4. Completion of 5,000 square foot garden out of a side yard that contained a drainage ditch and what passed for grass.  This feat will be a future blog.  Just waiting to take the final pictures.
5. Completion of a brick patio that involved hand-carrying over three thousand bricks.  Also a future blog.
6. Two contracting jobs that are footing the bill for numbers 1 through 5 above.
7. Lots of laughs with my favorite characters, Bucky and Satchel.

This would never fool Quentin.

 I admit it, I don't get this one, but just seeing Satchel's excited face cheers me up.

It wasn't me....Look at his face.  Satchel is always so accommodating.

I know just how Bucky feels...sometimes you are just so hungry...bonbons start looking good.