It is Official

Happy Summer Solstice all.

Even though it has been cool up here in the north – I’ll take 75 degrees any day of the week over 85 degrees – today is the official 1st day of summer.

Raise your glass and toast to summer’s official arrival.

Cheers everyone.

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is just a strange day for me. I have no Father’s Day to really celebrate since I haven’t seen my biological father in over 15 years and my step-dad passed away some time ago.

In any event I am cutting up veggies for salad, making cheese cake to take over to my father-in-law’s for the annual Father’s Day Cook out.

The husband grills the steaks, his sister brings the sides, I make the salad and goodies. This is how I spend my Father’s Day.

Sometimes in life, events happens and the only way to resolve issues is with distance. I, to this day love my dad. I love when my father and I would watch “B” rated horror flicks, eat bad food and stay up till the wee early hours of the mornings on the weekends. This is when things were very good between us. These are the memories I hold on to while pushing the memories of drinking and betrayal to the farthest corners of my mind.

Dad’s where ever you may be “Happy Father’s Day”.

Over Worked Battery Speaks

Oh Battery God’s why do you forsake me?

I snapped the last photo with the camera when the camera flashes this message:

“Battery Exhausted!”

What – are kidding me? I have a post in need of pictures. The pictures are prisoners in this camera because the is battery exhausted. Well there have been plenty of days when I am exhausted and I keep going.

How could the camera keep me hanging like this?

I know for a fact that there are no more batteries in the house because I put the last one in this camera. I would be the person who used the last one and did not replace the much needed battery supply. I have been in many stores of late and yet purchasing batteries was the furthest thought from my mind.

I have been coveting flowers and the perfect trellis.

The post will have to wait until I go to the store and buy more battery’s for the camera. Damn!

From Zero to Sixty

If you ask the husband and I will concur with him – people I have been in a funk. I have had zero motivation to do anything that needs to be done. The reason for this funk is that living in a negative environment day after day will take its toll on you. Humans need positive stimuli, positive rewards, intelligent conversation from time to time. Hell, I’ll take anything at this point, I am that desperate. Living in this city is like a constant battle to keep ones head from just exploding.

So what has changed in the last couple weeks?

Well, a get together with some out of towners. It is interesting to see peoples first reactions to this city. What is even more amusing is their reaction when they become intimate with it. What is not so obvious at first becomes just painful. Like a cut that turns into a nasty staph infection. It is not what is at the surface but what lies beneath.

You drive, walk, visually see that something just isn’t right but you can’t put your finger on it until you start talking to the folks that actually live here day after day. All kinds of people, from every walk of life and then it just leads you down a path of more questions, followed by a WTF.

Validation, it is a beautiful thing my friends.

In the last two weeks the husband and I have been working on the yard. When you have neighbors that haven’t fully grasped the concept that if you allow weeds to flower then seed you will have more weeds, your neighbor will have weeds and this cycle just repeats itself over and over. They have never lived in a house with a yard – they come from the concrete jungle of the city – so we hope by example they will learn to join in the battle of getting rid of the weeds.

It has not been all weed pulling, the re-landscaping of 16 feet of our driveway side property was my Sunday project. The mess had to go, so I called B up and told him what I had and asked if he wanted it. I like to give my plants away and see them find new homes. So they are now residing as landscaping for a late 1800’s, early 1900’s commercial property. That just makes me feel good.

The “Ghetto Lawn” will have its date with a Bobcat in fall. All the landscapers I know are booked solid. Fall I feel will be a better time due to cooler temperatures. We have too many unfinished projects that will require the warmer weather to complete, so I think and hope that I have snapped out this funk and have taken measures to bring some balance back into my life.

That Green Stuff is NOT a Driveway

Observation in a 1/4 mile travel. There were 5 cars and one boat parked on front lawns.

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. This is ghetto, this is a huge eye sore and no these people were not contractors, there was no huge party going on.

This is just plain simple lazy ass people who have no clue what appearance it brings to a neighborhood. Ghetto!

Now I also look at this as the city could have been making some money by issuing some tickets because it is actually against the law to park you vehicle on the front lawn. I guess my city must not be interested in revenue these days.