Filling in the Blanks ~~

Nothing like a downer post but this one, I’m sorry to say, is just that.  I know it’s been since Valentine’s Day or thereabouts since I last posted anything, but I tell ya, when it rains, it pours.  You remember the water main getting dug up?  Well, a 2nd time around on that one and so I was without water for a couple of days.  I wouldn’t have been so bad if there had been some warning but there wasn’t.  No water is a real pain.

The next happening was the entire heating and cooling system to the house.  The 28 yr old system gave up the ghost just as we went right back into freezing weather.  I had no heat for almost a week and the system was actually seeping carbon monoxide into the house. Mom’s Bob lent me a space heater, but the house had gotten down to 37 degrees and the darn heater almost burned out and had to be shut off.  There was no way I was going to leave for a hotel and have Sam & Lucy by themselves in that cold, so I wore 2 pairs of flannel pjs, 2 pairs of socks, 2 robes, and wrapped blankets and the comforter around all of us – and my teeth were still chattering.  All during all of this, I have been feeling not well at all and have had no time to make any appts for myself to see a doctor.  I imagine I’ll be hauled into the emergency room eventually.

No sooner had the system been replaced for a gazillion bucks (but worth it), than Lee had to go back to the hospital after only being out for a week.  This morning she called me and said that she will not be going home, that as of today she is under hospice care at the hospital and has anywhere from 3 days to a week left on this earth.  I completely lost it, dissolved into tears on the spot and kept thinking I must be dreaming and would wake up.  It was no dream, it was real.  My best friend of 25 yrs is dying and there’s nothing I can do about it.  This will be friend #5 within a year that has passed away and I don’t mean  acquaintances, but good, good friends.  I really can’t say I’m feeling “up” about anything at the moment and I don’t even feel like blogging.  This is why you haven’t seen me around in so long.  I miss you, I just can’t quite get a grip right now.  You might say I’m on a retreat from the world for the moment and that I need to catch my breath for whatever is next in store. God, saints preserve me, please.  It’s all been a bit too much.

I’ll be back when I”m back, but know for certain that every single one of you cross my mind every single day, and that’s the truth. There is something very important and heartfelt about our blog-families, but you know what I mean.  I love you.

xoxoxo

A Ham By Any Other Name ~~

…is still a ham, a ham radio operator, that is.

Someone I didn’t even know did a “reply all” email in response to one I’d received from an old friend of mine.  Because of that, I received the response, too.  Now, his response was very serious and had to do with the Egyptian govt conflict that has been going on for 17 days.  But that wasn’t what caught me.  No, it was the signature.  The first part showed that he was a professor of English, but the second part showed that he was also a ham radio operator and gave his airwave call letters. That’s what got my mind running down the garden path, and to explain this, I’ll just paste my response and there won’t be any question as to why “a ham by any other name is still a ham”.

                                              

_________________

Howard, I was one of the recipients of your “reply all” email . I am writing only to thank you for the nudge into a great, great memory.  When I saw the call letters ky6la, my old self went roaring back to my childhood spent in my dad's "radio room".  If he were living today, he would be 100 yrs old.  Like you, he built his ham radios and actually anything else that was or could be, wired in any way.  We said goodbye to many pine trees in the yard after they were struck by lightening due to all the conglomerations of wires from tree to tree.  It wasn't too funny back then, but today I am getting a really good belly laugh with the memories.  He was W4CRG, and the best part was listening to him say, "This is W4CRG, W4- Charlie, Roger, "Joe-ige". Ha.  He was a good 'ol Richmond, Va., boy, born and raised. Where the "Joe-ige" came from is anybody's guess.

I'd sit in that room for hours and every once in a while be allowed to speak into the microphone. I tried very, very hard to learn Morse code but got nowhere. I could "say" my name with dits and dahs (still can), but could never tap it out. Ah well.  But, I digressed for a second there -- back to the Joe-ige.  The best response I ever heard came about like this:

Dad : "This is W4CRG, W4- Charlie, Roger, Joe-ige"

Someone-somewhere's response:  "What??" 

Dad:  “This is W4CRG, W4- Charlie, Roger, Joe-ige”

The someone's response: "What's Joe-ige?"

Never being one to mince words, Dad yelled into the mic: "What the hell’s the matter with you? JOE-IGE!  g-e-o-r-g-e, JOE-IGE!"

Well, I was old enough to get it and I swear my mother was still laughing a week later.

So Howard, without you even knowing it, you made my day :D

Jenny

                                                  

Only info, no need to reply...

Just a note to keep everyone up to date. If I'm not around for the next week or 2, it's because tax season is upon me. Much to do. Unfortunately it keeps me from blogging or visiting. Will be back soon, take care :)

Look Out, She’s Going to Blow!

I am blowing a gasket. REALLY blowing a gasket here. It takes a lot to make me blow but today is the day.  If I don't write about it, I'm afraid I'm going to make a call that I'll be sorry for later.  So....here's the story:

December, 2009 -- that's right 2009, I made a loan to a person that I'd known for years. They were in financial trouble like many in the country and he said that he'd repay the entire amount 2 weeks later with his tax refund. Now I should have realized that if he had a refund coming, he wouldn't have it in hand that fast. Still I made him the loan. Gee, I’m such an angel.

January, 2010, and no mention of the payment; February, no mention. In March, I asked him where my money was. He said he didn't have it. I said what about that tax refund and he said....oh, get this....the check was late and he's still waiting for it (In March? Remember this excuse for later).  I asked why he didn't even bother to mention that he might be late in repayment and he said he was "too embarrassed".  Soooo, he says give him another month.  The next month came and went, and the next and so on. In September, I asked for my money and this time he said he hasn't been working and so doesn't have it.  I reminded him of an email he sent in July patting himself on the back for the new job he got.  Ha. More excuses. He said he had "other" bills to pay. What am I? Chopped liver? OH, and there's more. Right after I made that loan to him, I also loaned him one of my cars, yes, my car, because the poor thing had his repossessed. THEN, I gave him and his wife the most gorgeous handmade complete dining room under the sun, table, chairs, huge china cabinet, console, mirrors, dishes, decorator items, you name it. Let's just say it took a truck to load it all up for them.

Then October rolled around and I got a ticket in the mail. What? A ticket? And from another state!  Ah ha! There is a photo enclosed because it's one of those traffic cameras. There he is, pretty as a picture, in MY car and speeding. Now the ticket was in MY name and I wasn't even there.  I got in touch with every law enforcement there was and the courts, too.  I got  notarized statements galore showing I hadn't even been in possession of my own car since Jan. 2010. I gave HIS name, address, phone, email, everything but his birth mother to the officials. Then I called him and let loose. He knew I meant business and swore he'd go to those officials and fess up and pay the ticket and have it on his name instead of mine.  Do you think he did it? Need I even answer that? So now I am doubly fuming. Here's what he did do:  he sent ME a money order for the amount of the ticket. Whoopdedoo. Then a month later he says he 'forgot' to go by the officials and straighten it all out.  I am fit to be tied.

          GUILTY!!

In December, I had him come over on some pretext or another when in reality I had a promissory note waiting for him and a set date and amount for him to pay each month. Signed, sealed and delivered, or so I thought.  We are now a year and 2 months later and I have received ONE payment covering 2 months.  The most recent fiasco was the date due of Dec' 15th.  No payment. I email. He says that he hasn’t had any pay check because….yes, refer to the beginning of this insanity…of the snow and the holidays! That all the companies were behind in making out checks, but he makes a counter-offer and says he can pay Dec and Jan.'s payments on Jan. 26th, 2011.  On the 26th I get an email saying he's walking out to his mailbox to drop it in for the mailman to pick up. Are you kidding me.  I emailed immediately and told him that he needs to drop that into MY mailbox instead.  We are now 1 week and 2 days after that and no payment has arrived. Am I surprised? Not in the least.  I have sent an email saying that I know he lied and that that is what he has continuously done for over a year. I said that 'should' the payment show up tomorrow by some miracle, I will see the post mark and that will show beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has once again lied. You see, this man is a minister. Yes, a minister;  and he signs all of his emails, Minister "so and so". My last words to him were that I couldn't believe he had the nerve to sign anything with that title, that it was an affront to the position.

I will be so glad when ("if") this loan is finished. He will never be welcome in my home again and better not even think of contacting me for anything. That old saying about loaning money to friends is RIGHT. Do not do it.  Either GIFT the money or walk away FAST.
Ok, end of my rant.  I feel better.  Thanks for listening.