Marilyn and Gloria - and anyone else - the house where I grew up had a front porch and we did not have a sidewalk at first but later the city put one down.  It was not unusual for people to just walk for the heck of it and we could find out about the people when they walked by.  I love to see plans for houses that have big front porches, but the ranch style I had later had no front porch, nor did it have a deck at the back.  I now have a deck at the back and I like to sit out there in the afternoon before the sun reaches the deck.  A front porch here would do no good because everyone drives in or out of out complex. While I wish I lived in a house again, I will not move from here; too much work for an old lady!!!

Hmm - it's 2 pm and I guess I can go after the mail.  If I wait, Tom might bring it in as he is expected home soon.

It's windy at Grand Haven, lots of whitecaps.

Mary Ann

Candy has been doing a lot of sleeping.  She is miserable from the pain.  She is waiting for the rerral Dr. to call her..

joan - I'm so sorry to see that Candy is still sick with the bladder infection.  Maybe she could go to an ER, or a walk-in clinic?  Please keep us posted on how she is in the morning. 

Marilyne, will do.

Joan, Cindy's infection sounds really nasty. Bladder intfections are sometimes hard to clear up. I had one once that I didn't know I had. Went an entire summer feeling tired (or lethargic) before I developed any pain. It took way over six months of switching antibiotics until we one that cleared it up. The doctor put me on a maintenance dose of sulfur antibiotic for quite a while until it cleared completely. I think the sulfur did the trick. Good thing I didn't inherit my Mom's allergy to the drug.

I think I am suffering from a case of wishful thinking, right now, regarding the yard. I can no longer handle heavy bags of mulch and soil, yet I am thinking of getting some bags of top soil to fill a depression in the front yard. I'd hire a yard/landscape service but I have replacement windows doors to get done this year. They should have been done last year, but a garage window broke, so I replaced both. They were both in bad shape to begin with. It seems every time I think of spending money on some improvement I want, something else expensive crops up that needs immediate attention.

Hi Everyone.  We are expecting another very nice day as was yesterday with a high in the upper 70's.  I plan on going to coffee this morning and then taking the rest of the day to rest. 

Yesterday Scott joined Pat and I as we made the trip to Costco.  We got there right after they opened and there were still two riding carts available so both Pat and I could use one.  I have annotated on my grocery list, that I keep on my Google App called Keep, the location of the food items on the shelves and coolers for the things we generally buy.  This makes grocery shopping much quicker and I know what aisle to go to for the items I want.  When we got home Scott unloaded the car.  Last evening after a good dinner at the Church we picked up the Walmart grocery order and he also helped unload it as he and Elizabeth came out to spend a couple of hours with us.  Needless to say we are going to eat well for quite awhile and should only need to get some eggs and a fresh produce for quite awhile.  Jennifer is down with a cold and didn't come out. 

deAngel, I see others with the rollator that appears to be light weight but Pat needs a heavy duty one and they are not light weight. It sounds like Taffy was trying to sing you a morning wake up song. Before the days of air conditioning and living out on the farm I remember summer nights where my dad would sleep out on the front porch of our home.  There were several steps up to it and I remember there were no hand rails.  People stay in their houses where it is cool in the summer and thus the visiting with people passing by is pretty much a lost art, at least where we have lived. 

Marilyne, All of the houses in our small development have either a nice front porch under roof or at least a covered entryway.  I like having the porch but really seldom sit out there even though we have wrought iron chairs and table there. We also have a covered patio and table in the back but also seldom go out there as it seems it is either too hot or too cold to use them and the easy chair seems to be calling my name.  I believe there is an old saying that "what goes around comes around" and I guess that applies to houses as well. It is a shame that people's personal lives, example Patrick Reed, need to be played out on the public stage as if any of it were our business.  I guess that goes with having some since of fame.   

Mary Ann, the afternoon sun makes our back yard patio unusable in the afternoons even though there is a ceiling fan out there. 

Joan, so sorry to read that Candy is suffering so. 

MarsGal, I find it frustrating that just when we thinks we have a few extra dollars for some projects something else breaks or needs to be done we hadn't anticipated.  The replacement of windows and doors have to be a pretty big project. 

MarsGal, I agree with you that we can't handle the heavier things for our yards as we get older.  I like a hap-hazzard look with native plants.  My neighbor has been working in my yard for a couple of years and she likes a more organized approach.  She has won because I can't do any of the work.  It looks nice, but I want it to look more natural.  I do see some of my little blue flowers showing up and my snowdrops have popped up so I haven't lost them. 

Tom picked up the groceries this morning and the frozen foods were not in the group.  He called about it and they said they'd deliver those - which they did!  So far we've been very happy with our Fast Lane pickup.  And this was frosting on the cake.  Tom is now trying to fit the frozen goods into the freezer.  Good luck!

When I got up at 8:30 this morning, our temperature was 45 degrees and supposed to go up to 60 degrees.  Tomorrow will be in the high 50s then Saturday it is supposed to go back into the 40s.  Fickle weather!  I saw where we might be touched by Xanto, the most recent winter storm.  I'm ready for Spring to come before it is time for Summer.

Joan, I hope Candy hears from her referral doctor soon. 

Mary Ann

I hope that Candy hears from the Dr. soon also.  The request was put in for an exploratory exam to be done.  They want to see what is going on before they give meds.

Tom just told me he had looked at a cam of the Soo Locks (between MI and Ontario Canada) and they were having a blizzard.  Here we have 61 degrees.  We're about 250 miles apart!

Mary Ann

Larry, I have four windows I need or want to replace and four doors, but I am only going to get the two windows and a one kitchen door replaced this year. I might include the front door and stormdoor, but it depends on how much the other things cost. The door to the enclosed porch should be replaced, but it isn't a priority. There are two windows in the "media" room, one of which needs replaced, the other looks out onto the enclosed porch and will eventually be closed off. The walls here are plaster, so I may have the space converted into built-in shelves rather than deal with trusting someone to do a good, seamless, job of the hole. The basement door will be a special project eventually, depending if I can afford, in the future, a small deck off the back porch.

Wouldn't you know, it started raining on the way up to the Home Depot this morning. I was going to see if I could get a few bags of soil for the yard. Well, I am not into wandering around in the rain and trying to handle wet bags of soil. Also, I forgot about putting anything down in the back of the car to protect the carpet. I really shouldn't drag my feet about hiring a lawn service to to the lawn work. It is way too much for me anymore, except for about a half an hour at a time. Well, at least I stopped at the PetSmart, so the trip was not a complete waste.

joan - I'll join you in your concern about Candy.  She needs some attention from a good doctor, so she can get over this painful infection.  As you know, if bladder infections are left untreated, they can turn into kidney infections.  I hope she sees someone today, and starts with the right antibiotic. 

Mary Ann - I smiled when I read that there was a blizzard going on in MI, near Ontario, but it's 61 degrees only 250 miles south in GR!  Sounds like Spring, for sure!  
I love the poetic idea of Spring, and what it is supposed to be like, but the actual reality is a whole different matter!

MarsGal, the joys of home ownership!  I don't have anything that should be replaced, but there still is much to be done.  Tom's excuse is that he'll ask Annie to do it only Annie doesn't come that often and she works seven days a week for a control freak.

Marilyn, I've been trying to find a Soo cam but every one I've tried so far says the cams have problems so I can't view them.  Tom is supposed to send me a site, but who knows, that may be bad too.  In two days our temps are to go down into the 40s.  As I've said many times. no wonder people get sick with the changes of weather.

Mary Ann

Mary Ann, had that Cam for years and lost it .  Would Tom mind sharing it it?

Joan, I will when he remembers to send it to me.  I had one for years and one day I got the message that the site was unsecure and that's the message I got for four sites today.  I can't believe that four sites of the same place would be unsecure.

Mary Ann

Joan, Tom did send me the link and I sent it to you by e-mail.  He also included two sites at Duluth which if you already have them, you can delete.

Mary Ann

Mary Ann, got two of the same msgs from you but links will not open.  Want to try again?

Joan, I am sorry to read about your daughter.  One thing you are near her now, so a lest you know what is going on. prays her way.

Larry, I have a very small front porch, enough for one chair.  When my husband was sick, walkers which we have a lot of in the park, plus folks walking there dogs. do wave or stop and chat.  Now I set out there, in the summer, it does have and overhang

MaryAnn, I have a couple of planters , I put on the deck, so I will have keith plant a few begonias

lindancer, thanks.  Hopefully she will hear from the Dr soon.

Joan, I'm working on it.

Do you have the Duluth sites? 

Mary Ann

No, never had them.  Just the soo locks

The Duluth site is interesting too and if I can get the Soo (named after Sault Ste Marie) to work, I can also get them to work.  I'll work on it in the morning.

Mary Ann

Mary Ann, thanks.  All came thru .  Thank you.

Hi Everyone.  It is another clear and beautiful sunny day.  We are headed to the low 80's this afternoon.  Our main activity for today is to go to a meeting at 10:30 to fill out the paperwork and select the spot in the new columbarium that our Church is building.  This has been in the works for sometime and they are just now taking the orders.  I did pick up my friend and we went to coffee yesterday.  On the way to pick him up I stopped at Walmart to pick up prescriptions for Pat and then on the way back to take my friend home I made a quick stop at Aldi's to complete the grocery shopping. 

Our new baseball park down by the river opened on Tuesday and with a high school baseball game and then a college baseball game between Clemson and the Univeristy of Georgia team.  Last night the Augusta Greenjackets, a farm club of the Giants, had their first game in their new park.  Our Church parking lot and the Baptist Church parking lot across the street are both being used with a shuttle bus running from the ballpark to a spot close to the Church parking lots.  Apparently the traffic situation went well from all reports. 

Mary Ann, we have had the problem with Walmart on line grocery buying of them not getting all of our frozen items together when we picked up the order.  However, they did not offer to bring them out and we made another trip to pick them up.  I relate to the problem of getting all the frozen goods into the freezer.  I was going to have a little ice cream last evening with dinner but it was in the back of several other things and wasn't worth the effort to unload a shelf of the freezer to get to it.  I really don't understand the need to name every winter storm.  After all we have winter storms every winter and usually a lot of them. 

MarsGal, that is quite a bit of windows and doors replacements.  We had to replace some window panes in the house we did live in as the seals had broken.  Here we something or someone break one of the panes in our front window and to replace the whole window panel was much less than I paid to have the glass replaced in the other windows as also had to pay labor.  That rain gave you a good excuse to not deal with the wet bags of soil.  I have used a lawn service for probably 15 years and never regretted it at all.  Here the service is included in our Home Owner's monthly fees. 

Marilyne, even a short period of spring weather is appreciated here as it get hot and humid early in the season. 

deAngel, glad you can enjoy your front porch.  We have a few people that walk their dogs in our neighborhood.  We do have walks on each side of the street and a connection to a 6 mile walkway called the Greenway, which I where they take their dogs.  I have never been down to the Greenway at the end of our street as it is a steep slope.  However, I have seen it where it ends at the river downtown.   

It is a bit cooler than yesterday at this time, but still, the sun is shining - now.  We have a winter storm warning for the weekend and the warning includes possible freezing rain.  If that is true, I imagine Dot will not want to drive to church Sunday.

Larry, I have often thought if they numbered the winter storms - 2018-25 etc and for another season add an 'a' to 2018, it would make it perfectly clear which storm was which and they wouldn't have to wrack their brains trying to come up with names, some of which are "made up" names, anyway.

I don't know what is on my agenda for today but I'll find something.  I see a couple of piles that I can and should tackle.

Joan, I'm glad the links turned out OK.  I should have taken Tom's name off the e-mail, but I didn't want to do anything to change the links - like make it impossible to work!!!

Mary Ann

Good morning to all !

Mary Ann,  I have had the Duluth webcam site for quite a while now.  I see there is still some snow on the ground there.  I try to  watch the ship schedule in the summertime to see if I can catch a ship going in or coming out,   I wish I could get out there to see it in person. 

I have a friend, whose son lives in Minneapolis, and he has told me that if I come out, he will be sure to see that I get up to see the canal at Duluth.  But, don't think that is in the cards, now.  It looks like such an interesting area and some nice sight-seeing places. 

I looked at Grand Haven yesterday and it was quite calm.  Haven't checked it this morning, yet.   I have several other webcams that I check most everyday.  One is all around the harbor area of Baltimore.  They are having a big light show in the city for the next week, so I am anxious to see what the webcams show when it gets dark.  Plus, I have several of some  beaches along the coast of Maryland and Delaware.  They haven't started to get busy yet,.   But, summertime they are really crowded. 

Hope everyone will have a nice week end.

Joy

Good morning to everyone.   My outdoor thermometer said 39 degrees, when I got up at about 6:30.  Now already up to 45, and supposed to go into the high 60's today. 

Mary Ann & Larry - I didn't know that every single Winter storm is given a name, in your areas?  I thought it was just the hurricanes that were given names.  Storms here are so few and far between, that there is never a need to differentiate them by name!  The Pineapple Express, is the only name I can think of that is given to every tropical storm that originates in the area of Hawaii. it's always warm, and usually drops a lot of rain. 

Larry - Is your house located in a community of homes for seniors, like the one that JoanFL lived in in Florida?   The area you mentioned called the Greenway, sounds like it would be a pleasant walk for those with dogs, or just to get out and about.  We are within easy walking distance of downtown in one direction, and mountainous, creek trails and a lake, in the other direction.  When I was younger, I did a lot of walking with kids and dogs, but those days are gone forever.

joan - I hope that Candy is feeling better this morning, and will see her doctor before the weekend arrives.  Around here, the doctors all vanish over the weekends and don't even take phone calls . . .  so if you have a problem, you are instructed to go directly to the ER, or to a walk-in clinic.   

Marilyne, we have a walk in right across the parking lot.  If she gets to the point of need, am sure she will go there.  Medicine has changed so much since the Insurance Companies got involved.

We have an Urgent Care about four miles from here.  By car, it doesn't take long.  It is in  a large building associated with our main hospital and houses all or most of the doctors in this end of town.  There are other complexes in other parts of town.  They do close at 8 am so it is then necessary to go to a hospital ER.

Marilyn, if you happen to watch the Weather Channel during a storm season you will hear the names they give to the various storms.  I think more than just the Weather Channel uses the names and the names may originate with the National Weather Service.  Xanto is the name of the storm that may be upon us.  The storms often start in your part of the country and come across the country taking various routes.  Watching the Weather Channel is interesting during the storms (and other disasters that may appear) but if everything is quiet, the WC is boring and I find something else to watch, like watching paint dry or grass grow!  We can walk in our condo complex but it's only about a mile and a half walk, but we do walk up and down inclines, so it isn't all easy.  I used to do it, listening to my walkman, but I can't walk that far any more.

Joy, I'll bet the Baltimore Harbor cams are interesting.  One year I was on a conducted tour that included some of the Chesapeake Bay.  I think we were on the bay at night because I don't recall much of it.  While waiting for my friends to arrive, I did go to Fort Mc Henry and walked around there.  I'd love to take more tours, even at my age, but they include too much walking.  I have great memories of tours I have taken in the past and I have pictures and disks where I can refresh my memories.  So, all is not lost!

Grand Haven is calm right now.  Earlier I saw five people at the water's edge and it almost looked as if one or two were walking in the water.  Too cold!

Mary Ann

Mary Ann,    Would you like me to send you a link to the Baltimore Harbor web cam?   It covers a good bit of the harbor and city area.   You can see both the football and the baseball stadiums.  outside of the Aquarium and the Science Center,  Federal Hill and the promenade at Harbor Place.   I am anxious to see how it is going to look Saturday night when the Light Show begins.  It is supposed to be there all next week.  They are expecting mobs of tourist.

I don't recall hearing about any boat tours that would be overnight on the Chesapeake Bay.  But, of course at one time, there might have been.  I know you can take a boat tour around the Annapolis area.  And, there are boat tours that offer lunches and dinners that leave from Harbor Place just for several hours.  Years ago, I remember my mother telling a story about when she and 2 of her nieces took the boat from Baltimore to Norfolk, and it was an overnight trip.  That was before she was even married and from what I remember,  they had such a good time.  I don't remember how they got back home, tho.  I don't think it was by boat.  She was about the same age as these 2 nieces and from what I remember,  it was quite an experience for  3 single girls.

Grand Haven looked pretty calm a little while ago when I looked at it.

Joy

Joy, yes, I'd like a link to the Baltimore Harbor.  I like water scenes.  The time I mentioned was when I was on a tour that started in Baltimore and we were in the DC area, Luray Caverns, Monticello, Natural Bridge and more.  My trip to Fort Mc Henry was on my own while I waited for two others to arrive.  This was back in 1953 and I was 29 years old.  Long time ago.  My camera was a Mercury and took half-frame slides.

I'm watching golf from Hilton Head SC now. 

The view at Grand Haven is different.  I wonder how long they'll keep it that way.  It is of the tall lighthouse and isn't too interesting, but in the summer it would be OK.

Mary Ann