Randomness

Its 11:46 am

     Looking outside at a cool cloudy day here in SE Michigan. Its a been a rough week for me here....very saddened by the loss of a real warrior in Amy Rauch Neilson. Of course this also brings home to me that our own fight is hardly over as well. Just because a cancer patient gets told they are in remission,does it mean the struggle is over.....not for 5 long years does one get to say that. It takes that long until doctors can call you cancer free. Until then,you are going to get checked,you are going to have labs and you are living knowing that your cancer could come back. Doesn't mean you cower in fear,it just means you are aware of what could happen...
   Tomorrow is another reminder for us as Lori is going to get her port flushed. The good news about this is if she stays cancer free for a year after her last chemo treatment,she'll have outpatient surgery to have it removed.
We are really looking forward to that,I can assure you! The U of M hospital set us up with a flushing schedule across the way for us so we now know when we can go..
  So am getting our gutters cleaned this Saturday,so happy we are getting this done and for a good price. Two companies came out to give us estimates,one was 200.00 and the other was for 120.00,needless to say,you know which way we went. I wasn't here for the 2nd estimate so I don't my wife told them the upper gutters have been cleaned in 5 years! Guess they'll find out on Saturday!
  Speaking of yard work....trying a new tactic in growing some grass in several bald spots that we have tried over and over to fill. Laid down some topsoil,then some seed and after that...straw that our neighbor gave us. Hopefully this will allow the new grass to take hold and finally fill in. If it works,then I'll do the same to a thin strip that has popped up in the front yard. Keeping my fingers crossed. After that,I attacked the backyard and met a old nemesis,the braodleaf weed. Damn those things are awful...and unless you have a heavy duty set of electrical gloves,you can't pull them by hand because the leaves are needle sharp! But since I do have a pair (bought for 5 bucks at an estate sale a few years back),I am able to pull about 80% of them out by the root. Which is a good thing otherwise they will spread like....like.....weeds!
I can't express how good it feels to be able to actually get some badly needed repairs done around here. After the gutter gets dealt with,then we'll get the sprinklers fixed and start to plant some new flowers in the front yard and lay down some fresh mulch in the back porch area. And as soon as it warms up enough,we're painting the back porch as well. Last summer we couldn't do these things because of Lori's illness but this year.....
   Awesome....Craig Bierko just sent me a message saying he is posting a new "Your Daily Boo"!

 
The above video is from last month but I as told Craig,I see a lot of myself and Derek when I watch Boo and Craig. We may not be able to go outside and romp but we have our own comedy routines we entertain ourselves with.  You can't help but see the bond these two have and these "Your Daily Boo" clips are evidence of that!
   And speaking of beloved pets,our hearts are with our friend Derik in Texas whose Japanese bobtail kitty,Martha,crossed the Rainbow Bridge after 17 years. Derik recently rescued a litter of feral kittens and did his utmost to save them but so far 3 kittens have passed away. And losing Martha,well he really needs some warm thoughts and prayers sent his way. So my friend,we are thinking of you in this sad time and mourn along with you at your losses. Martha was blessed to have had such a great friend in you!
 Have to share this story with you....every Wednesday is trash day here. You put out your cans,recycle bin and trash clippings and sometime during the day,it gets picked up. Now I have been here in my den and have watched the crew empty the cans. They empty,toss the cans back on the yard and run. The recycle crew will set the bin upside down so if its windy,it won't blow away.
  Well last week,I came home after work and went to get my cans on the lawn just like normal. But to my surprise,one of my cans is crushed...as in "run over"crushed. I knew it was the trash crew because the can was lying side by side with the good one and they had the decency to put the wheels in the can itself.
 Its late in the day so I know I'm not going to reach anyone at the trash company so I leave a message explaining what has happened and can someone please call me. We paid 20 dollars for these cans and we had to buy them per the city. So you can see why I was concerned.
  The next day,no one calls....so at 11 am,I do. I get an extremely rude woman who seeks to dismiss what has happened to my can and says "Well sir,if you didn't see the trash crew do it,they didn't". That set it off and I said "Well,I see them toss my cans every single week and I don't say anything because I respect the timetable they are on and don't complain about it. But I tell you what....since YOU don't have any authority to set this right,I'll be glad to call the city and see where I should go to lodge a formal complaint".
 She sensed she had crossed the line and tried to backpedal,saying she was going to have a manager call me and "see if there is anything we can do and you don't need to call city hall." After hearing that,you know damn well where my next call was too and so I did. I lodged a complaint against the woman for her rudeness,we pay taxes for our trash getting picked up,not to listen to a rude trashy woman who won't help.
  90 minutes later,I get a call from Andy,the supervisor,who was professional as all get out. Not only did he come to the house,he offered to replace our can but he also thought he could salvage our crushed one. He took it back to the yard,fixed it (except for a small crack) and STILL offered to replace it. I said that his repair was enough and couldn't thank him enough for his courtesy. He apologized for the woman's rudeness and said she had gotten 3 complaints within a 2 weeks for her actions. Sounded like she would be looking for a new job soon enough. But we got our can and now today,we'll see how well they handle the cans. I just think when they pulled away,they accidently hit it and ran it over. I knew they were sorry by the fact they put the wheels back in the can and as I said,laid it side by side on my lawn. If the cans had been in the street,I wouldn't have known who had hit it.
I know this may read as silly but when you are trying to cope with money issues as we are,a 20 dollar trash can becomes worth fighting for.
  Well,that is I have for today.....thanks for reading!