Public Schools, Demons or Democracy

Jesuit High in Dallas

Hockaday School for girls

Education in public schools was pretty common in Texas during the 20th century.  There were private schools for some that could afford the expense.  I remember Hockaday in Dallas, mostly upscale families.  There were some private religious schools.  My younger sister attended such a school for first and second grade, St. Peter's in McKinney.

Last weekend Gene, Ken and I were discussing Ken's support of a young man in Nicaragua.  This young man is the first in his family to finish high school.  And now to think that through Ken and other's support he will graduate from pharmaceutical college is praiseworthy.   Ken hopes to be present for the graduation ceremony for this young man.

The subject led us to discussing Gene & Ken's family education.  The maternal grandparents provided their two children with a high school education.  Gene's mom even attended clerical college attaining a 2 year degree.  That was quite the fete for a young woman especially in the 1930's.  Even with The Depression Edna helped to pay her own way to college.  She did housekeeping to pay for her room and board.

The Adcock side of the family were not as fortunate.  First of all there were 7 surviving siblings living off the income from a farm near Miller, MO.  Most of the 7 made it through the 8th grade at Sycamore school, a mile or so from the farm.  But the funds to send any of the children into town for further education were just not to be had.  After calls to other cousins to confirm that even "the girls" did not get to go to school "in town", it slowly sank in that Gene was the first of Perry and Edith's children or grandchildren to graduate from high school.

Further consideration realized the every one of the 13 Adcock grandchildren attended college for at least 2 years.  Eleven of the 13 received bachelors degrees with a few holding degrees as high as doctorates.  At least four of the grandchildren attended Catholic schools but the remainder attended public schools for their secondary education.

Southfork, Parker TX

Parker, TX, more like my Dad's time.

My family was a little different.  Daddy graduated from the 11th grade, the end of high school in the 1930's in Parker, Texas.  The school was called, "Who'd a Thought It," as the founding donor was known as a tightwad. Some of you may know that general area as the location of the fictional Southfork Ranch.  

My mom's dad would not allow her to move to town to live with an aunt to attend high school.  So Mom has 10th grade education from Chambersville, TX.  And to show Grandaddy Chandler her independence, she married my daddy.

Chambersville Elementary, my
Mom's school.

Gene's dad was released to a whole new life when he learned square root.  He spent the rest of his life encouraging his grandchildren to learn square root.  He sang its praises to all that would listen.  He was not worried about public or private, only that the children be educated.  Carl was as conservative as they come. I never once heard him slam public or private schools or the teachers.  He did frequently call local police Barney Fifes.

There have always been poor, good, better and best teachers, school board members and parents for that matter.  Our systems are only as good as we work together for them to be.  And if we old folks do not like how the young 'uns are acting, remember we taught them.

But for me, I want to praise the teachers, administrators, parents and tax paying public that still value education.  Perfect?  No, but I am pretty sure there are a lot of us that would not have even high school diplomas without our public school system.  Oh, one other thing, I have never seen a teacher with or without tenure, union or non-union get a golden parachute.  Or a Mediterranean cruise as an oil executive did when he retired.  I really like what this gentleman has to say.  http://taylormali.com/new-teacher-project/

Gene just commented that it appears I have more than nothing tonight.

Oops, I Missed Mars Day

Well, I did not really miss Mars Day, Tuesday.  I was confused thinking Mars Day was Wednesday which everyone knows is Mercury Day.  Sure we do...  Back to the subject of Tuesday, Kenneth left early hoping to be back in Nashville before dark.  Oh, my, we have become so old we need to be home before dark.

Silicone slices being placed into
diffusion furnace.

Once Kenneth left, we tackled the living room furniture.  Before moving the stuff into the dining area, we disassembled the table.  That glass top is heavy!  So glad we have the glides to keep the weight off our bodies. But still, there are just not that many moves left in these old bodies I fear.  But we did get most of the stuff out of the living room in prep of the work around the fireplace.

Steps taking a silicone slice to integrated circuit.

The most exciting part of Tuesday was the arrival of the Dell in home service technician.  She replaced everything except the screen, case and battery in my Studio 1640.  I am a happy camper with this warranty repair.  She even allowed us to gawk at her during her work.  Pretty amazing to remember that I worked in the Integrated Circuits department for TI during the early years of the technology.  Makes it easier to understand how it all works together.

Integrated circuit chip.

Wow.  The parts and components are so small.  A long way from the tiny transistors my mom assembled at TI in the late 50's.  And even the integrated circuits that I worked to image in the mid 60's look like horse and buggy technology compared to these components.  We have Ma Bell to thank for the amazing development.  It will be amazing to see the next 20 years developments.

CCTV headquarters in China.

Gene has China TV news station on.  That certainly gives a different look at world events.  Now they are showing a sort of pickers Chinese style.  Kinda funny how no matter the heritage, some of us humans like to hold onto the past.  He may turn to the BBC for the US next.  Nope, watching Christies Chinese auctions.  And CCTV is now showing Beyonce's comeback after the childbirth.  Guess TV is what it is and people are what they are.

As for Mercury day, I spent the day loading drivers and software.  I filled the time during the software installations by continuing to empty the bookshelves, cleaning each item as I go.  My life is pretty boring by most standards.  But it suits me just fine, even if I occasionally misplace Mars day.

Busy Saturn Day

Finally, I do believe we may be getting a chance to get a handle on the repair situations.  Even though I am probably going to repaint the entire ceiling, it still feels like some progress has been made.  Maybe it is the anxiety meds I started on this week.  Sometimes nature just needs a little help.  At any rate Gene is out of the dog house over the computer.

Today we were able to get the house clean enough for company.  And we found the bed and mattress so Ken has a place to sleep.  I did get a few of the plants moved to the pots in the yard.  Between Gene and I we had a good dinner after a busy day.

Now I am ready for a shower and bed.  Hope you all have a safe Memorial weekend.  Probably no new posts till Mars day!

Friday is Frigg's Day

You can tell I am retired by the number of useless things that I decide I want to know.  Like why is Friday named Friday?  Well, I should have known, it has a pagan root.  This most glorified day of the work week derives its name from the worship of a goddess.

Wikipedia notes the following:
"The name Friday comes from the Old English Frīġedæġ, meaning the "day of Frigg" (a Germanic goddess broadly equivalent to Venus). The same holds for Frīatag in Old High German, Freitag in Modern German and Vrijdag in Dutch."  The same source notes while many of the Romance language nations embraced the same naming convention for Friday.  "An exception is Portuguese, also a Romance language, which uses the word sexta-feira, meaning "sixth day of liturgical celebration", derived from the Latin "feria sexta" used in religious texts where it was not allowed to consecrate days to pagan gods."


The names were figured out long before my time : )  No, I really am not that old.  Again,  Wikipedia to the rescue on how all the names of the weeks as we in the US call them came to be.  The link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_days_of_the_week if you, like me have little else on your mind.

My Friday was good.  Gene had fresh coffee brewed early for us.  He brought a cup to me just as I was completing my morning knee exercises.  Mmmm.  Good stuff.  And he even had a homemade egg muffin hot off the griddle by the time I made it to the kitchen.  He really spoils me and I love it.

A call from the computer repair place resulted in a trip to pick up the unit.  Then some time on the phone with a Dell technical person in India.  That was a good experience, too.  This young man knew how to guide me through a few tests.  Thanks to the folks at the repair store, I mentioned the heat issue with my computer.  So, next week I get a new hard drive, mother board, possibly a fan and electrical connection.  All in warranty, delivered to my home with a technician to come and install.  This is a good thing.

While I was picking up the computer, Gene painted the ceiling in the office.  The "popcorn" ceilings are a challenge to paint.  The little balls were so thick it was difficult to get the paint between them.  Anyway, the ceiling is as done as we care to make it.  Some wall touch up and the closet and we will be ready to make a bed for company on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

If you care that would be Saturn's day, Sun's day and Moon's day.  So much for this Frigg's day.

Good Morning, Vietnam

The movie is on tonight.  Robin Williams is so young .... and hairy in this movie.  The story line is "loosely" based on an actual person, Adrian Cronauer, working to make life a little more bearable for the soldiers.  Cronauer was a DJ for the Armed forces Radio Service.  This DJ was not a favorite of his superiors due to irreverent behavior.

So many of my contemporaries spent time in Southeast Asia or the nearby oceans.  A young man who was one of my high school friends was shot down in North Vietnam.  He made it back to fight some more.  Several friends were in just as many grave situations as Larry.  Not a war that is held in the same reverence as WWI & II.  Like the Korean War/Conflict, not looked at as a war that required the honoring of the men and women serving.  Men and women giving their lives in defense of democracy.

It seems appropriate to take just a moment to thank all the folks that gave part of their lives to serve in the armed services.  With Memorial Day upon us, it is also most important to remember all those that did not make it back to their homes.

I would pray that we will all have safe travels this weekend.  That we will respect the freedom that democracy gives to us.  Let us not use the freedom of speech to spread hate, contempt and disrespect of a fellow human.  But for tonight I will just say, Good Night, Irene.  

Progress

Pilgrims Progress is not something I have ever read.  We hear a lot about the need for progress in our nation, our world, our schools.  It is kinda hard to measure progress on such grand terms for this country gal.  And now some factions of political agendas are called progressives.  Hump, whatever that means.

While we were not terribly energetic today, but there was progress made on the list.  The office has its first coat of paint.  Brushed on to save paint.  I am certain in the light of early morning sun there will be lots of touchup to be done.  If not, then the remainder of the paint will go in the closet.  Then new paint on the ceiling.  May as well freshen up the entire room.

Tomorrow we take the computer in for the "rest of the story".  We were told it would take another 4 or 5 days for the Dell folks to make it.  Slowly progress in restoring the files and computer.  I will probably not be on line much till this computer is back on line for me.  It is easier to use this one than the other.  Listen to my belly aching over not getting my choice of our computers.  Good grief.  There are people, children, with nothing.  How can I even begin to complain.  I am such a spoiled resident of the United States.

Speaking of the United States, wonder why we have dropped that part of our country's name.  Really we in the US are only a part of America.  North, South and Central America could all just shorten to America.  When we pray, "God bless America", I wonder if God takes that as a prayer for all of the Americas or just  the US part of it.  Sometimes thoughts like that keep me awake in the wee hours of a day with little or no progress on my understanding.  Probably never gonna solve that mystery.

Anyway, while painting today I was able to climb the ladder easily. This is after mowing the yard yesterday.  Six months ago I would have been unable to walk without lots of pain after walking to buy groceries.  I sat in the floor and got up off the floor (all be it not very gracefully but still no cow hoist was needed).  The floor sitting was the first time since the new knee.  I could move the new knee and bend pretty good again with no pain.  Now that is real, measurable progress!

Chaos

Over the last few weeks it has been a cascade of minor challenges.  But after about 5 detours from what appeared originally to be a simple replacement of carpeting, I've realized that nothing can be simple or easy.  Deep breathing is required frequently these days.

The water damage turned out to be a little more than just water.  It turned into slight termite damage.  Eeks.... That turned into holes drilled around the perimeter of our house.  We need to wait 1 to 2 weeks before pulling out the damaged wood.

I do not deal well with chaos in my life.  I function best with lists, plans and schedules.  Nothing is currently fitting into my preferred, orderly status.  "(Wo)man plans, God laughs" is a Yiddish proverb.  God is ROFLOL these days.

Right now the stuff from the office/bedroom is all in the guest bedroom.  In addition, pictures and a couple of tables from the living room are crammed into the same room.  I had stripped most of the accessories from the tables and mantle in the living room a week ago.  They are on the sewing desk in the dining area.  The furniture that is still in the living room is covered with sheets.  The bookshelves are already so full of dust!  I will need to take everything out before the remainder of the destruction and rebuild begin.  I just do not need the books getting dirtier.

On the positive side of the chaos our bedroom is relatively untouched by the madness.  And I was being able to mow and edge the lawn today.  No knee pain tonight.  Yippee!  Gene has the office borders and woodwork taped for painting.  And we mixed the paints today and came up with color that works.  I do believe we will get the room painted tomorrow.  Did I hear someone chuckle?

As for my computer, today I discovered the webcam is not working.  This is after staying up till 2 AM restoring files the professional did not do though the bill states otherwise.  We will be taking the Studio computer back, get the new hard drive removed and old one replaced.  Then call Dell.  I do not want to have to continue to deal with not having things work on this computer.  I am still pretty grumpy about the entire situation so let's just leave it at that.

Lord, I have heard the report about you.Lord, I fear your work. In the course of the years, renew it. In the course of the years, reveal it. In all this chaos, remember to be merciful.Habakkuk 3:1-3

Not A Lot Tonight

We spent the day running errands.  Started the day having breakfast with a Litton buddy at the HyVee cafe.  How fun to visit with long time friends.  Just visit mostly about nothing in particular.  World problems were discussed, none were resolved.  Guess we could have been Congress ; )

It took most all day to get all the items on the list of to dos completed.  Doctor's visit for Gene, pick up prescription for me, pick up laptop, grocery shopping, Habitat Restore drop off, pick up geraniums, day old bread store stop, hardware store stop and a card for the latest grad.  With all that out of the way, we have the stage set to begin the room prep for the fireplace wall repair.

Hope you like the different layout for the blog.  I noticed swapping the location of the text with the info made it easier to fit on the smaller screens.  If  you have any suggestions on things you think would make it a better sight, you are welcome to leave a comment.

While there was a lot going on today, us two senior citizens are ready for a quiet evening.  Ready for not a lot tonight. 

They All Showed Up!

After several missteps and misunderstandings of times with service persons, they all showed up to work today. Thankfully they did not show up at the same time.  As a matter of fact there was enough time between departure that we had some time to relax a bit before the next arrival.  Four different service persons today:  yard, plumber, carpet and a new one, a carpenter.



Our yard work was eased considerably by Jake,  Juan and their strong, young bodies.  Three hours after their arrival they had removed 3 unwanted bushes including the root systems, transplanted a crepe myrtle, cleaned up all the piles of trimmings from yesterday, trimmed additional shrubs in the front, spread several wheelbarrow loads of wood mulch, removed the dead garter snake to scare a fellow employee and cleaned walkways of weeds and debris.  Great job, guys!

Anyone concerned about the snake, I discovered it yesterday.  It was dead when I found it.   It was stretched over rocks by my pond.  It is probably the same garter snake I have seen sunning itself on rocks in the back yard several times over the last few years. Dr. Gene Adcock Doolittle looked it over, declared it was really old and probably died of natural causes.  And, yes, I still jumped and said an undesirable word when I uncovered the snake yesterday.

The plumber arrived.  He, too, was young, healthy and almost running.  He declared the 19 year old water heater was just fine.  Then I mentioned the fact that the hall bathtub did not get enough hot water to fill the tub.  So the plumber checked the tub faucet and sure enough there was a problem.  So he repaired the whatever it was and suggested turning the faucet on weekly.  Seems as though the whatever dries out if not used.  So make sure you run you water in unused bathtubs regularly!

After the plumber left, I was working on the mantle wall repair project.  After digging at the foam insulation enough it appeared the mantle was being held up by the foam.  Gene and I simply lifted off the mantel and laid it on the floor.  That is when we found the rotten boards.  For those of you that did not know, we fought a leak in our fireplace wall for almost 16 years.  A repair to the top of the chimney and a cricket built to divert water solved the problem. Not till we began the repair to the hole in the sheet rock used to help in finding the source of the water did we know about the rot.

I had a really long nose and sad face when Aaron from The Carpet Shoppe rang the doorbell.  He was here to look over the area where the carpet, tile and laminate would intersect.  After the discussion regarding the laminate, etc. we turned to the newly discovered problem.  Aaron gave a name for us to call and that is why and how the fourth service person came to our home.

Donnie arrived in less than an hour from the original phone call.  He was working in the area, had a few minutes and was able to work us in.  Now we will have a few days delay for the install of new wood to support new sheet-rock above the fireplace.  I get to texture and paint the new stuff.  Once all that is completed, then the tile, laminate and carpet can be installed.  Last the mantel will be reinstalled.  I am figuring this is all just karma because I complained that the other 3 service persons had been no shows!

Honeysuckle and Dreams

One of my favorite memories of childhood were the flowers of spring and early summer.  The Farnsworth house in Chambersville had lilac bushes, the old fashioned rose bushes that bloomed on and off all summer, day lilies, self seeding larkspur, four o' clocks and honeysuckle vines trailing over some sort of low growing tree.  I loved to pick a few lilacs and some honeysuckle to put behind my ears.  What a wonderful aroma would encircle my head.  And then I could suck out some of the sweet nectar of the honeysuckle just to make the experience complete.

There is a curve in Hwy. 39 south of Aurora named Honeysuckle corner.  When Gene was a kid the sides of the hill along this curve were covered with honeysuckle.  Even in the 80's honeysuckle covered the area.  When in bloom, you could smell the honeysuckle as you approached and rounded the curve.  Road improvements eliminated most of the honeysuckle.  So gone is the sweet, sweet sensation and what remains is the memory.

Of course honeysuckle can become invasive and an irritation.  I did not care about these potential problems when I planted honeysuckle to scale a lattice placed on our fence near our bedroom.  That was in the spring of 1995.  This special honeysuckle was to bloom multiple times each year, unlike the "wild" variety.  There was honeysuckle of the old fashioned variety planted to disguise the first compost pile we made here at 3871.  Neither variety produced blooms in the profusion of the old plant at the Farnsworth house.  The compost pile was moved a few years ago.  The old fashioned honeysuckle became part of the composted material.

This morning about 7:45 I went into the backyard to do an hour or two of work.  I spent probably 6 to 7 hours in the backyard trimming, shaping and transplanting various plants.  I have 3 huge piles of removed vegetation to be carried away.  The trimmings from the knot garden plants are not even raked together.  And there is still more stuff needing to be trimmed.  Yikes!  Will I ever get this yard back in shape?!?  I will not allow myself to become overwhelmed with the vision.

Today the reblooming (that never did rebloom and had almost no blooms this year) honeysuckle was the object of an electric trimmer.  When the vines became too thick for the trimmer, lopping shears and pruning shears were used to tear down the honeysuckle.  The metal lattice prevented a complete removal of all the stems.  I will need a couple of other tools to get the lattice down to complete the job.  There may be a few sprigs of honeysuckle left to soften the edges of the "hog panel" arch along that area or maybe not.


 
I guess that just as you cannot ever really go home, memories of childhood cannot be recreated.  Maybe the sweet smell was not as sweet as in my memory.  Maybe the blooms were not as prolific as I remember.  So as with the many dreams and hopes in my life that I have let go, one more was let go today, the dream of the smell of honeysuckle wafting into my bedroom window.  The honeysuckle dream gave way to the joys of my reality:  my good husband, son, grandsons, sisters, mom, mother in law, extended family, friends and a terrific new knee!

Mother's Day

Saturday afternoon when I returned home, I had a beautiful bouquet from my son and grandchildren in Texas.  A text early in the morning from my baby boy (who is close to 39 years old) warmed my heart.  His presence at the hospital was so good.  He is such a witty, thoughtful and interesting man.  There is no better gift for Mother's Day.

No Shows

This morning we awoke to a quite Saturday morning.  Our plans were simple.  I was joining a couple of friends for lunch.  We would be celebrating a birthday for one of the girls, if you can call a woman in her 60's a girl.  And then maybe a little shopping.  Gene would stay home, mow the yard and await the plumber to check out the hot water heater.

After wrapping the gift and dressing for a fun day, I left around 11:25.  Picked up Devon then on to Kathy's.  The meal at TGI Friday's was tasty.  The visit with friends was great.  We decided to visit a couple of the local gift shops, The Thicket and The Nest.  We drooled over the lovely things at The Thicket.  It was crammed with so many unusual items we could hardly take it all in.  I found a secret sister gift.  Devon found the perfect gift for one of her grand daughters new "big girl" bedroom.

On to The Nest a couple of doors down.  The aroma of fresh flowers greeted us at the front door.  The shop ladies were very busy building and delivering Mother's Day bouquets.  Pretty sure I may have located a couple more secret sis gifts for this next year.  We managed to leave the store with our pocket books still in tact, no purchases. It was 4 o'clock and time to head home.  Dropped Kathy and then Devon off at their respective homes.  Well, there was some visiting in the car so it was almost 5:45 before I arrived home.

On the way home I wished I had the grocery list as I  knew the cupboards were somewhat bare at 3871. And Gene had not enjoyed the fare at Friday's earlier so I knew he would be in need of nourishment.  This was still on my mind as I rounded the corner of our street.  The lawn was not mowed so I always have a small panic and hope Gene is okay.  (His going into coronary and thoracic arrest while I stood over him 5 year ago has left me slightly gun shy about this stuff.)

Upon entering the garage I notice the light is on in the utility closet giving rise to hopes that the plumber had shown up.  Gene was in his recliner and had moved the enormous, heavy desk out of the office.  As for the plumber, no phone call and another day of no show by service industry persons.

Bummed

Really bummed that the yard crew was a no show today.  And no "sorry we cannot make it" call.  I managed to get more stuff moved out of the rooms on which we are working.  But I was so looking forward to some help with the yard.  Guess I will have to get it done myself since the group is not showing up for work.  The plants have to be trimmed within the next week as they are already overgrown.  I have a frown face right now.

But not as much of a frown face as earlier today.  I brought the shop vac in to do the vacuuming of the debris from the tile and underlay removal.  The hose moved a different way than I intended and picked up ash from the fireplace.  Suddenly I realized there was no bag on the vac and I had a room filled with ash.  Big time frown at myself.  I have been cleaning my ash all afternoon and evening.  And there is till fallout from that goof.

 I just started to use my webcam to take a picture of my frown face.  There is no webcam on this laptop.  Mine is still at the repair shop waiting for me to go pick it up.  Instead, I stayed home awaiting the yard crew. Oh well, for now I will just put on my big girl undies and move away from the bum feeling.  The hot water repairman is supposed to show up tomorrow.  It is Gene's turn to stay home to await service persons.  Will update you on that "promise".  Hope it goes better than the yard promise of today....   Grrrrrr.

The guys had a somewhat more successful adventure searching ancestral graves.  They located about half of the graves.  Not bad when one cemetery had about 1,000 grave sites to search.  There were a couple of cemeteries they could not locate. Figure Gene and I will at some point be out looking for them over the next few months.

Pretty sure a nice lunch with the girlfriends tomorrow will chase away any remaining bummed feelings.  I may even take a minute to check on the laptop.  73's and 88's for now. 

Roots

Tomorrow will be a day for roots of all sorts.  After loosing our name on the list to be worked, the group from Ozark Outdoors will be here tomorrow afternoon to clean & trim the yard.  That is if it does not rain....  Things are sort of over grown out in the back yard.  I get to "direct" a group of guys as they get the vegetation to a point that maybe I can manage the remainder of the summer.

I really over did the planting in our back yard.  It is more of a jungle of vegetation than a restful retreat.  What with the mole damage to walkways and a rock patio, I am feeling disgusted with it all.  So how to turn this into something I can maintain is a challenge.  We have discussed removing a couple of trees. That will increase the sun.  More sun probably would mean more work weeding.  The weeding is not necessarily the issue.  I do think that mulch, 6 inches, please, would make everything look more polished.  Oh, well, some day I will get it figured out maybe.

We have 12 days to get the painting and repairs to the wall done.  As slow as we are that may not be enough time!  At least we will not be having quality inspections by anyone except ourselves.  And at this point our standards are only as good as the last glasses prescription.

What other roots could there be?  Family roots.  Cousin Trecil Don is coming in tomorrow morning.  He and Gene are going on a tombstone adventure to graveyards in Lawrence and Dade County.  Adcock roots run deep in that area.  The hills surrounding the old homestead were called Adcock hills by the old timers.  The Adcocks lived on those hill from 1873 till Willis and Trecil passed on August 1, 1988.  Roots.

Just An Average Wednesday

The Fling on Saturday went reall good.  The singers were sounding great and helped fill in the lag time for the food being served.  The food was tasty and plated very attractively.  The main show, Carolyn Miller from Sedalia, MO, was very inspiring to all attendees.  This web site http://www.visitsedaliamo.com/Find-Sedalia/detail.cfm/ItemID/200/Nostalgia-Vintage-Apparel will give you additional information.  She comes highly recommended for your next event.  It is a real trip down memory lane.  I had totally forgotten my little black box purse!  With the music, the room setting, good food, good friends visiting with each other, and the program on person noted it was a spiritual experience for her.

As usual Gene was my best help all day Friday and Saturday.  The 5 ladies on the committee were the easiest to work with ever.  They are the reason for the success of the event.  All that and answered prayer!

Speaking of Gene, he received two shots last week during the doctor visit, one in the knee and one in the hip. Dr. Seagrave recommends full knee replacement when Gene is ready to schedule.  Seems as though it is bone on bone.  Poor guy has been pampering me when he was in such pain.  Praying his surgery goes as good as mine has done.

After resting all day on Sunday, Monday was a day to start moving toward the next project.  Yes, time to paint one room, repair the hole in the wall above the fire place, then installation of new floor coverings in those two rooms.  So, Monday, I tore out the ceramic tile along the north end of the living room.  I pulled up the backer board and Gene carried it out today.

The Spring Fling was not quite over as there was still the 5 or 6 hundred yards of net and illusion to be stored.  I spent Tuesday wrapping the 136 net flowers and streamers and stacking in a box.  That took care of about 475 yards of illusion tulle.  Today the remainder of the netting was straightened, double folded and wrapped around cardboard.  Volume reduced to about 3 cubic feet from 3 cubic yards.

Earlier this morning all the accessories around the fireplace and tabletops were stored.  They will not come out until painting, repairs and floor covering project is complete.  Phone calls from family and friends, visit from next door neighbor then left overs for supper rounded out our day.  Thank goodness for just an average Wednesday.