4th of July

https://youtu.be/RS3iB47nQ6E

• Why do they have to screw with dates like they do to give people an extra day off? The 4th is on a Saturday and most people are already off, but doing things the way they do just costs employers more money.
• Well, the gas is pumping again. We had our lines tested and the system never came back up. It was a stupid safety feature that failed.
• Yesterday we did the bike night @ QBs Sports Bar & Grill. Rained so they cancelled the event after we were there. We stayed for dinner since others were there too, but we were disappointed that it was cancelled. We had dinner with Rick and Janet. Gilbert and Natalie were there, but they decided to eat outside while we ate inside because Nina was cold. I was glad we took the Jeep out instead of the bike. At 140 miles round trip, this will not be repeated very often.
• Talk of terrorist attacks for this holiday is all over the TV news. I’m not even going to guess what will happen, but I hope it’s nothing. Even if there is nothing happening, the shitheads win. They’ve changed our lives forever. Gone is the time we could go to an event and not see a huge armed presence. Talking with Rick last night, he said that he’s packing heavy this weekend while he’s in Colorado. Being in the Denver metro area, he and many others feel Denver is a potential target. Yep, our lives have changed since 9/11. I think we’re screwed from now on.
• Is anyone else tired of the political crap being foisted on us on TV? I am fed up with having to listen to the talking heads pushing this crap into my home. All I want to do is listen to the news in the morning before I start my day.
• Yesterday’s rain was another huge storm. The lightning show was one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. It will be sometime today that we’ll hear if it started any fires. The Commissary fire is still burning strong behind us. We can easily see the smoke from the fire from our place. Andy’s hoping to get called out for this fire, but he doubts it will happen.
• I was going to head to Michigan on the 5th, but karma has stepped in and moved my plans bag for a few weeks.

Relax . . . we’re all crazy . . . it’s not a competition!

If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll know that since this is Thursday, Erin leaves for Dilia. Since ML passed, I can’t complain about her here. Nina and I are enjoying our new freedom, it’s still a weird feeling. Tori is happy with Michael and Andy with Debra. Michael’s son, DJ, is now calling us Pake and Beppe. DJ is still having Tori yanking her hair out, testing her frequently. Right now, even with the b.s. that the business hands out, life is good.

It’s getting hard to write about something! Now I know why the press always reports bad news.

Not sure what happened, but recently the numbers for this blog were quite high. It may have been a spam attack that was foiled by my settings. It may have been bots trying to access my site to index my site to the search engines. It may have been my friends from the website that closed. Numbers are back to normal again and I have no clue.

• Nina just returned from Chicago after burying ML in the family plot in Forest Park.
• As per ML’s request it was just Nina and Christina, her lawyer. I was not even allowed to attend . . . . . thankfully.
• Nina picked out the casket and Christina said ML would have loved it. Green.
• She died in her sleep Monday morning the 22nd. She was heavily medicated to relieve her pain, so this was blessing.
• We now have the chore of disposing of her 2 storage lockers of books and other crap we moved from her condo in Chicago. Most of that stuff is books. Boxes and boxes of books.
• There was no notifications in Illinois or New Mexico. We really saw no reason since most of her friends are already gone.
• The only thing left for Nina to do is get grave markers for the crew. Did I forget to mention that Nina also brought the cremains of Armand, Shirley, Richard, and Anita for internment in the family plot? I guess I did.

*Most of our generation 50+ was HOME SCHOOLED in so many ways.*

*1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE .*
*”If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside, I just finished cleaning.”*

*2. My mother taught me RELIGION.*
*”You better pray that will come out of the carpet.”*

*3. My father taught me about TIME TRAVEL.*
*”If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!”*

*4. My father taught me LOGIC.*
*” Because I said so, that’s why.”*

*5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC .*
*”If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you’re not going to the store with me.”*

*6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.*
*”Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.”*

*7. My father taught me IRONY.*
*”Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about.”*

*8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS .*
*”Shut your mouth and eat your supper.”*

*9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.*
*”Just you look at that dirt on the back of your neck?”*

*10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.*
*”You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone.”*

*11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.*
*”This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.”*

*12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.*
*”If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times, don’t exaggerate!”*

*13. My father taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.*
*”I brought you into this world, and I can take you out…”*

*14. My mother taught me about*
*BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION .”Stop acting like your father!”*

*15. My mother taught me about ENVY.*
*”There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t
have wonderful parents like you do.”*

*16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.*
*”Just wait until we get home.”*

*17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.*
*”You are going to get it from your father when he gets home!”*

*18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.*
*”If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way.”*

*19. My mother taught me ESP.*
*”Put your sweater on; don’t you think I know when you are cold?”*

*20. My father taught me HUMOR.*
*”When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”*

*21. My mother taught me*
*HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT .”If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.”*

*22. My mother taught me GENETICS.*
*”You’re just like your father.”*

*23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.*
*”Shut that door behind you, do you think you were born in a barn?”*

*24. My mother taught me WISDOM.*
*”When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.*

*25. My father taught me about JUSTICE .*
*”One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you !”*

I just finished repairing the parking lot. The rain did quite a bit of damage. I may need to buy another load of base course to get me through the summer and fall.

Over the years I’ve put an average of 2 loads of gravel in my lot per year @ $600/load for 21 years. If you wish to know what I’ve spent on my lot, do the math yourself. It’s probably enough to have paved the stupid thing had I done that in the first place.