Fruitless Effort.....

Fenway is smashing our couch cushions. Since we moved to our new apartment he's decided that when we leave him alone he will wait for us in comfortable places.....no matter what that does to our furniture. Keep in mind that our little guy is very "spoiled" and when we get ready to leave he goes to his bed to wait for a cookie. Then, after we close the door, he goes on a "treasure hunt" to find three additional small treats scattered about.

I'm not sure what he does the whole time we are gone, but we know where he rests because he can't hide the evidence. We've tried to solve the problem by blocking his chosen spaces with a throw pillow or a book, but it doesn't seem to do much good.

When we come back the blockade has been moved and he's made himself comfy.

We re-plump the cushions and hope that the furniture will last or that he might, just might, decide on a new spot. Somehow I doubt that and our efforts seem to just be a waste of time. Sigh.

Selections....

At this point everyone who reads my little blog knows we have a very silly Boston terrier named Fenway. He is now over twelve years old and we call him our "Frostie Bostie" because of his grey little face. I know it won't be too many more years before he breaks our hearts....but for now he makes us smile and laugh every day and certainly gets us out to walk the neighborhood.

He seems to have a morning routine. First a quick walk, then back in for immediate breakfast and then he wipes his face under the couch cushions and then he cleans his teeth. Ten minutes or so of serious chewing on one of his plastic "bones". We're just feeling guilty that he doesn't have many to choose from.

We watch him as he sniffs each one....then the chosen tooth brush goes between his paws and he zones out, eyes half closed, while happily chomping town on the one he decided was just right. He chews on the right side of his mouth....then the left so all his teeth get some attention. Today was little-green-chewy.

He's a creature of habit....but he does like having choices!

Noticing.....

A few days ago Dave and I drove a few miles north to visit with a quilting friend and her husband. They have a Roadtrek too so we had fun comparing notes and sharing favorite trips. As we were standing in her front yard she pointed to her neighbor's maple tree. There was a blue plastic bag hanging off the side. She indicated that they had just tapped the tree and the day before the bag filled with a gallon of sap!

I don't know the process for making maple syrup and frankly, for some unknown reason, always associated it with the New England states. I'd never seen a blue bag anywhere in our area so it was a "stand out" moment.

Driving the same route a few days later I noticed two more trees with bags filling with pre-syrup.

I wonder if the people living in these very nice homes have school-age children who are enthused about making their own syrup for breakfast pancakes and waffles. 

It was just a fun new thing to watch for and maybe another signal of spring in the Midwest. Sandhill cranes and maple syrup gathering.....robins are moving lower on the list.

Elevator Music....

I am still trying to catch up with the needed paperwork to provide my new address in Milwaukee to different organizations. I've made progress on most fronts but today I decided to tackle social security. My Medicare Summary Notice for January was sent to Port Washington and forwarded to us at the new apartment. It was in the huge pile of mail Dave picked up at the post office the day after we got home on March 4th. (You know that month-long-pile full of advertisements/catalogues etc that you simply toss in recycling and wonder how to get off the mailing list.)

Well, I called the 800 number provided on the envelope from social security and answered about a dozen questions to the "man" on the other end.....including spelling my first and last names, giving my birthdate, where I was born (state then city) and on and on. I thought I was making progress until I had to spell my mom's maiden name. It was Lamberg. The first time I slowly spelled it the voice on the other end said, "Let me get that straight....you spelled Flamberg." I said, "No." He said, "I'm sorry let's try that again." So I slowly re-spelled her name and he repeated "Lamber"....again I said, "No."  At that point the recording voice said, "I'm sorry, let me get someone to help you."

The elevator music started and every so often "he" would come back on the phone saying he was sorry but they were experiencing many phone calls and were answering them in the order they came in. He reminded me to have my social security number and any recent mailing from the office handy so they could serve me better. Then we would disappear and I was back to elevator music. My phone was on speaker so I was able to get a few mundane things done during the 45 minutes I waited.

He came on to say, "I regret that you are waiting for so long." And the music started.

I gave up.....will try again maybe tomorrow.

My First Sign.....

Spring....some people in Wisconsin watch for a robin, or that first flower bud poking up (maybe through a layer of leftover snow). I saw my first indication of spring as I drove west from our apartment to do some errands in Thiensville and Grafton. It was a nice day, not too cold and a beautiful blue sky. I was moving along one of our area two-lane roads and they flew right overhead...a pair of sandhill cranes.

We usually have twosomes all over the area....and Dave and I always enjoy spotting them, then watching week by week until suddenly they have one or two hatchlings learning how to be sandhills.

I think daylight savings time starts this weekend....but that doesn't matter. Spring starting for me on Highland Road heading east toward Grafton to get my hair cut.

Thinking of Five Letters......

A few months ago a lot of my Facebook friends (and others) began to mention that they were playing "Wordle". I had no idea what this was and didn't pay much attention. I know lots of people really enjoyed playing "Words With Friends" but I was a complete failure at that one, and gave up after a few weeks.

When we were gone in February I decided to try Wordle so I googled it....I wanted to be sure to get the NY Times version.

And now I am hooked. I wait for the one new word every day and have fun trying to guess correctly. The game reminds me of Wheel of Fortune on TV or even Scrabble. And I can play it by myself and only post the results if I want to. :-)

So even after I finish the mind-stretch in the morning I find myself thinking of other five letter words during the day.....

clock

train

quilt

roams

quiet

strain

etc....etc....etc

Hmmmm.....maybe tomorrow I will start with one of those!

Two Small Things.....

While we were in Alabama we spent part of one day walking a boardwalk through the wetlands in Daphne....just north of our rental. Along the way we passed two men talking.....one had a bike with a sleeping bag rolled up and attached along with other camping equipment. I thought to myself "This is a serious biker!" 

About an hour later we came off the boardwalks and got our picnic lunch out of the RV. I found a picnic table overlooking Mobile Bay and realized that Mr. Biker was sitting at the table next to us. As I sat down I made some innocuous comment like "Wow...it looks like you are a serious bike traveler!" He smiled, put his apple down and said, "Well I am homeless." I was not sure how to respond and said something dumb like "I'm sorry.....I'm glad you are having nice weather!" Agggghhhh!!!!  As Dave and I ate our sandwiches and Fenway sniffed around the table I kept glancing at him. We don't carry a lot of cash when we travel now that we use charge and debit cards, but I picked up my tote and found $15.00 in my wallet. I walked over to the man and said "Here....I'd like to give this to you." He protested over and over that it wasn't necessary and I didn't have to do that. My response was something like "Everyone has a story and right now yours sounds more difficult than mine....and it will make me feel good." So he took it thanking me over and over and over again.

We finished our lunch and headed for the rental.....passing his as he biked out of the park.

Two weeks later we were packing the RV to head back to Milwaukee. I'd been cooking most of our dinners and planned pretty well....but we did have some "left overs". During our stay in Fairhope we talked to the elderly gentleman, Richard, who lived in the apartment next to us....he had a dog named Hazzy that he loved very much and some kinds of physical limitations that made it hard for him to get around. He had a special recumbent bicycle that he used, Hazzy tied to the side, to travel. He was very pleasant but did not seem to have any family or connections in the community.

As we packed up I gathered the food that I knew would not fit in the RV and that we would not use on the way home. I'm talking about one-half of a box of Bisquick, two zip lock bags of frozen soup and one of a pasta dinner, the remainder of a jar of spaghetti sauce, two carrots and a stalk of celery and one can of dog food. I knocked on Richard's door to ask if I could give him the food....that I hated to just throw it out. I can't begin to tell you how grateful he was.....he kept saying that this would "be enough for a whole week!" for him.

I can't stop thinking about both of these men. I don't know their stories, other than Richard was in the service. But such small "contributions" on our part......making a difference and reinforcing the fact that Dave and I are just so damn fortunate. 

$15 and some frozen soup......two small things.....