Daily Log

Another Memorial Day has come and gone. I always remember when we lived at McRae Lake, mother would come over and we'd make barbecue. Memorial days and other holidays come and go too quickly now. Mother is gone and some of the holidays aren't the same anymore.

But on this one, Michael and his family came over. Had hamburgers and watermelon with a trip to the new water park in between. Neat place, the water park. I usually don't like baring my body to strangers but didn't feel too self conscious when I saw the bodies on some of the other guys. Altogether a nice and fun day.

Guess I kind of fell off the blogging wagon after our trip. So here's a recap of the last few days.

Got a potential wedding photo job coming up in July. Had a meeting yesterday with the prospective bride. I think it went well but you never know. Since she's Hispanic it was even better when she discovered Ellie is also Hispanic.

Spent a large part of today repairing the sprinkler system. Valve on zone 1 stuck open and that zone would not shut off...even with the power to the controller pulled. Good thing that didn't happen while were gone. Our water bill would have been in the hundreds of dollars. Second valve I've replaced but I guess after 18 years it's a wonder more haven't been replaced.

Getting back to the Barrington trip. I'm wondering if I'll do it again. It took me days to recover from the drive. My legs were very sore and my back ached for a long time. Maybe by next year I'll change my mind.

Had a good time in Barrington with Rebecca and her family. Not sure if I'll drive it again, though. Four days of driving really tires me out.

We leave tomorrow morning for Barrington. Hope the wx is OK. Don't want to drive in the rain. Supposed to get rain here today but I doubt that will happen. Front moved through last night, little cooler today.

Got a call from Michael yesterday afternoon saying he had to go to the doctor with his back problem. Asked us to come over and keep the boys while Patricia drove him to the doctor's office. Kept boys in the afternoon, took them to dinner at Sonic for a gourmet feast...outside in the wind.

Michael's back problems are getting worse by the day. I'm not sure how he will cope with this situation because he needs surgery and isn't in a position to get it. His insurance has a 5000 dollar deductible and I doubt that he has money to pay it. His doctor prescribed an MRI but he is going to wait until June because he's changing insurance companies.

Early to choir this morning for "Servant, Well Done". Mpt sire ow well we did, though. Lunch at Carrabba's. Laid around the rest of the day.

Walked in Oyster Creek park this morning after breakfast.  It's really getting hot around here even though we're barely in the month of May.  Wondering what June, July and August will look like.

Shot some pictures in the park.  Most interesting was this Jaguar MK2.  Nto sure when it was made because these Jags were manufactured from 1959 to 1960.  Really clean and nice looking car.

Another irrigation project today.  Bought a timer for the water and used some of the 1/2" piping for a temporary hookup from the outside faucet to a string of small spray heads (one in each pot) so I could keep the pot plants watered while we're in Chicago next week and part of the following week.  Only takes 3 minutes to get enough water into each pot.  My only concern is if the piping breaks for any reason all that water will wind up in the yard.  But you can't worry about everything.

Meant to post this a few days ago. Saw this momma Redbird building her nest over a period of about a week. Then the nest seemed abandoned but a day or so later there was one egg. Then another day went by and there were two eggs. Now she's sitting on the nest so, barring any marauding neighborhood cats, we should have chicks pretty soon.

Spent most of yesterday installing drip irrigation in two flower beds. Not sure how one of them is working, though. The idea was to keep water off the patio concrete but I found it flooded worse than when I was using sprinklers. Have to investigate why.