Good morning all.  Rain every day but maybe a break long enough tomorrow morn to walk the pups.

They are restless all day without a long walk in the morning.  Forecast rain until next Saturday.  I'm

hoping Friday will be a sunny day, optimistic. 

I did get our spare mower deck welded with the wire feed welder down at the farm.  It's a mess but it's

done.  I don't weld that often and don't have the experience many have.  Learned how to use the wire

feed welder somewhat.  Power level and wire feed rate.  Experienced welders don't like working on mower

decks because they're thin metal and even worse when they're old.  My original deck has holes eaten in it

most of the way across except where I welded last year with my stick welder.  Hard to believe it held together

this long.  When it goes it will be an unrepairable mess. 

Work on the farm was rough on my body this time.  Got cramps in my hands and legs on the way back and

after I got home.  Put pain lotion on before bed and slept without cramps.  I've woke up with cramps in both

legs before so know it's no fun.  Was almost 4 weeks between visits to the farm but my sister is back from

wintering south so she's there every week right now.  She doesn't do machines or hard work but does the

routine stuff.  Took a break here yesterday, just did couple small tasks.

Hope Susan has a safe and happy trip to see her granddaughter at Kent State.  Hope everyone else is having

good days.

Ernie

Brandy with her Christmas gift years ago.

Good morning to everyone,

Rain here so Finn’s walk will be delayed for a while.

Ernie ~ sounds like you have been a “working fool” over the last few days!  Do you take a multi vitamin or extra calcium?  I take two extra calcium chews every day.  If I miss a few days, the leg cramps tend to come back at night.  Just a suggestion.

We very much enjoyed our trip to Kent State.  We had a very lengthy wait at the Belltower restaurant (upwards of three hours) but the food and conversation was good.  A tour of Sara’s apartment.   Four girls each with their own bedroom and bath, a kitchen (complete with granite and stainless steel), a living area and small patio.  Hard to believe….that it’s college (more like a grown up apartment).  We visited a few shops in the heart of the city and left around 5:00 pm for the hour drive home.  Mild weather, not sunny but acceptable.

Enjoy the rest of the day everyone.  

Susan

Our visit to Kent State University to see Sara (end of her sophomore year) and Bronwen (to be in kindergarten this August). They are the blessings in my life!    Susan

Yes, Susan, hard to believe the current day dorms are really in college. I drove up with my niece when she went back last September, and I was surprised how nice it was. I guess part of the reason college costs keep increasing. 

Feel better Ernie. Hopefully the cramps are gone by now.

I went to a fire with RC in Breezy Point yesterday. Breezy Point is a 3,500-house cooperative on 500 acres. It's on the beach in the borough of Queens, but it's like entering a different country.  There are locked gates all around so you can't drive in. Private security and a volunteer fire department. They didn't want our help. Maybe if we offered to help build a wall, they'd accept that. 4,000 residents year-round. Another 10,000 in the summer. I imagine lots of storms. 

Enjoy the day. I'll try to walk before the rain comes back.

Paul

Good morning all.  Finally able to walk the pups this morn, we did get a few drops of rain but hardly any.

Hope we don't miss any more mornings for a while.   Look like a cat cut up your granddaughters jeans,

Susan.    Great kids!

Yeah, the cramps were mostly bad on my hands during the trip home, had to keep pulling my thumb away

from my fingers.  Then started getting leg cramps when I got home but put the pain lotion on and went away,

before bed.  I usually get cramps if I use muscles different than usual, like standing on a ladder.

I've seen the college dorms here at the university but never been in the building and all of us go to college from

home.   In the Army saw the guys had one room and a shared bathroom, I lived off post. 

I only take vitamin D because it came up low on my blood tests years ago, still stays average so need them.  Take

iron because that came up low in the blood test for hemoglobin.  Get all these tests in the diabetes tests.

Only doing small tasks here these rainy days.  3 weeks since ordered a Kenwood cable, has to ship from Japan.  They

told me couple more weeks this morning. 

Supposed to be dry next week, dryer than normal.

Ernie

Hi Paul,

Rather sad that they would not accept help from the Red Cross.  Not sure I understand.  Sounds like a bit of a posh community.   I know little of New York except that my daughter’s best friend lived on Long Island.  The cost of living was very high.  He is an attorney and they moved their family back to Ohio and live quite comfortably.   

Cold and damp here.  So tired of this wet Spring that we have had.  Our flowering trees in the front of the condo are about to burst forth.  I’ll have to send pictures when they do so.

Susan

Hi Ernie,

That is really not a lot of vitamins…. I take a B12, D3, chewable calcium, and a one a day multi vitamin all per Primary Care Physician. 

I fought like crazy when I started with the Cleveland Clinic to NOT take a pill for high blood pressure.  I finally resorted to the fact that I needed to do so.  I won’t get started on health care for seniors here but I feel it is quite grim.

Carry on.  Rainy all day. Cold too.  Not much improvement all week.  We will travel to Bexley to visit Jim’s daughter.  No one available to house or dog sit.  So Finn will have to be boarded for one night.

Yes, ripped jeans are very much in vogue.  I can’t imagine what you pay for them but I see mostly teens and young adults wearing them.  I hope that she appreciates what her parents are doing for her.  Apparently will have a semester abroad this coming school year.  Oh my!

Susan

Hi Susan,

I think the rationale is their family lived nearby and they didn't need it. I just found it odd how hard it was to get in, since I had never been there.

It is not posh at all. Many of the houses are beach bungalows. None are particularly nice. Lots of police and firemen live there. Some only live there during the summer. You could not buy a place there unless you have relatives or very good friends who already live there. Most of the families have probably been there since early 1900s. So that type of place. 

Looks like the geese near me have left for Canada. 

Happy May,

Paul

Hi Paul,

An interesting review of the community you visited.  

I am wondering if perhaps this community came about with people of a similar faith.  We have a few small communities dotted along the shore of Lake Erie.   Jim and I visited Lakeside Chautauqua for an overnight.  A community that began 150 years ago dedicated to nurturing mind, body and spirit.  Small simple homes are there, along with the LakeSide Hotel where we stayed.  

Yet, another day of rain.  We have Canadian Geese that stay here year round… We have a pond in our community and they gather there.  I have a pair of mallards that visit my bird feeder every day and night.  I should own stock in a birdseed company.

Susan

Hi Ernie,

Yes, another rainy day in Georgia…oops, I mean Avon Lake, Ohio.  Rained almost all day yesterday (off and on) between the sun.  Today, overall rain.  

My health care insurance is now open to a local  University Hospital Fitness Center for free.  I have used their warm water pool many years ago as part of my rehab therapy.  It will be an interesting adventure as you have to call and sign up for a class the night before.  Unfortunately my first attempt resulted in no spot available.  I’ll keep trying.

Guess we are taking Jim’s new acquisition to a detail shop for some inside work.  I think it is a Nissan Z….but I’m not very knowledgeable about the car.  It is stick shift and I will probably never drive it!

A trip to his daughter’s home in Columbus this week.  I hope the weather improves for all of us because this is getting to be old…….

Susan