I just realized that my last several posts were all crammed into one paragraph when viewed, despite inserting line breaks.  Yay new blogger (dys)functionality.

I am posting to acknowledge the grace I have been receiving this summer, unbeknownst to me until today. Remember that I am the person that still thanks God for my usable garage when I am coming home in rain or snow. I am also grateful for AC, which I had in Jtown too, but still... to quote Dogma there is "no pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater... than central air."

 

Cut to the chase, right? Well the HVAC company that comes to service my system in the fall and spring is woefully behind due to COVID, hence they just came today for their 'spring' AC service. Turned out I needed a new capacitor, well, I would -- very -- very soon. He even said he was surprised with the readings that the fan is actually starting up. I think he was being sincere. I saw the readings when he connected the old and new capacitors up.

 

If that thing continuing to run with our crazy hot summer and not giving me even a glimmer of trouble isn't grace I don't know what is. I'm $120 poorer, but, very grateful that I won't have a service call, I was still covered by the service plan even though it was technically expired, and I have been spared from a couple of sweltering nights with a near 3-yr old in the hotest bedroom in the house.

I don't make lasagna very often, I find stuffed shells way more convenient and favorable. But, tonight I used up the two half boxes of lasagna noodles that were here -- along with a ton of fresh veggies (zucchini from my favorite egg's mom), all of the onions from our pot out back (which didn't grow very big and were starting to turn to mush), and wads of fresh swiss chard, parsley, basil, and chives. Avery helped me put it together - we're really enjoying having her toddler tower. It turned out ok. I never manage to avoid all of the excess moisture when trying to integrate veggies into something like this. I was hoping that would help the lower lasagna noodles (they were no boil) to soften and cook fully (not quite).

The strawberries are starting to get color as are many of the smaller tomatoes and one roma. We've had a handful of sweet 100s over the past week, usually one or two a day - that's one for Avery and maybe one for me.

I ate my first cherry tomato from the tomato plant last night. It was a little bit bitter, but I'm hoping they'll be sweeter as we go. They had better be - I have quite a few tomato plants and there's going to be a ton of tomatoes here soon.

The unfair thing is that my basil has been trying to flower for weeks now and I don't have the tomatoes to go with it. the moz is sitting patiently in the fridge waiting.

Strawberries and watermelons are starting to form. Some lettuce is up higher than others. The bugs have eaten most of the kale -- thank goodness.

I am slowly getting some routine medical and personal care checked off while things are open. At last I got my mammo scheduled (why on earth they kept this closed as long as they did I will never understand). The only place left to schedule for me is the dermatologist for a routine skin check. Avery already has her dentist appointment rescheduled for August and I need to get her in for her 3 year visit, we'll see if things remain open for those.

Last week I got myself scheduled for a long overdue massage as my shoulder and right arm were starting to be a factor again. The one massage place I have used here just moved into the same building as my chiro! As such, I called and luckily got an appointment to get adjusted right before the massage time. The best part? I still had a gift certificate I purchased last year in a package for the massage and a "free adjustment" card for my birthday.

I also stopped to grab a few more paint cards. It is way too difficult to select the one to paint 90% of the interior. But I did email one of the local businesses that gave me an estimate to get on their schedule, so I guess I have a few weeks to make a final selection.

I got a really great view of the pileated woodpecker yesterday (with my binoculars).  He is so loud!

I'm officially angry when I think "new normal".  Before I just didn't like it.  Regardless, I still refuse to accept the way things are at present to be the way they will remain indefinitely.

This morning we got up and got ready.  We were already at Starbucks (which, by the way was closed this past weekend for a deep clean because someone wasn't feeling well) *rolls eyes*, when I got a text message saying daycare was closed today and tomorrow.  The reason?  Someone's (not sure if it is student or teacher) family member MAY HAVE come into contact with someone with covid.  They're waiting for a test result.  If it comes back positive does that mean I don't have daycare for 2 weeks?  Regardless of how it comes back is this going to happen again in 2 weeks?

This just isn't viable long term.  People have to work.  People have to have child care.  Do I want my child at risk, no, so what do we do?

Since June 1 there are only 16 new confirmed cases in this county (out of 206,865 people) and one of ya'll just HAD to be around one of those people.  *gah!*

I think we're all going to get exposed at some point.  Yes, I have fear of what that exposure means (will one of us get very ill from it or even die?) so I'm not exactly eager for it to happen (I'm not throwing a chicken pox party), but it's coming for us, so in that way I want to just get it over with.  I so wish the sick we had back in February could have been attributed to it so I could say we were past it.

My car got inspected today (it was technically due in May, but they granted us an extension).  While I needed to get the car inspection done this month they hadn't opened their waiting room or started providing their shuttle service yet.  Since I forced  my Favorite Egg out of bed super early (for him) this morning to drive me there and to bring me back later I took him to one of his favorite spots - Bob Evans.  It was pretty weird to dine out somewhere (not takeout) after how many months.

In other news I spur of the moment decided to order a Dyson Pet vacuum.  I say spur of the moment, but honestly I have needed a vacuum for years now, even after buying the Miele that I currently use on the main floor (since I am not a fan of it).  The lesser vacuum that is upstairs smells like it is a risk of fire when it is running and has more spots taped up on the cord than is reasonable.  The Miele will likely go upstairs and the junk one will tend to the basement.

On Sunday morning I was inspired and we headed to Mingo Park for some family time.  We had a picnic, walked a few miles, threw rocks into the creek, checked out the bugs and tiny fish, and visited the spots where I had maternity photos taken.  It was a good day.

Here I am midway through the first week of Avery's return to daycare and I'm fighting off sadness. The days feel longer than they were with her here.  I miss her.  I want a sweet little hug.

Today we can add wild turkey to the list of birds out back!  I know turkeys are pretty common occurrences in PA, but I never spotted them in Jtown.  Here I encountered a rafter wandering the streets when I was house hunting and I periodically encounter a female crossing the one street I drive down to go to the grocery store.  gobble gobble.

Today feels like the last day of a vacation.  That's ridiculous of course since my life will slow down a little bit moving forward.  No more scrounging for hours on the weekend and getting a straight 8 starting on Monday.  It's going to be insanely hard to drop that little nugget off simply because I'll miss her, but there is also some fear mingled in there.

It rained here off and on today, so we only got a short window outside in the evening.  This morning I decided to leave the house, with the kiddo in tow.  I'm not trying to be haphazard, but I needed to take her somewhere else and get my feet wet before I take her on Monday.  We went into Target and Big Lots, which were pretty slow, thank goodness.  Kiddo didn't fight me too much on wearing her mask either.  Good news - I scored some of my brand of TP!  After three months of Amazon not being able to ship it when it was supposed to come I am below my standards for comfort in backup rolls.

Did I really not mention my bird house on here in the past few weeks?  If so, sorry for the duplication.

I had Carolina Chickadees in the bird house out back.  My first indication was seeing the parents come and go - at first I thought they were building the nest, but they had snuck in there and already had babies by the time I noticed them.  I watched them coming and going very methodically with little green inchworm looking things in their mouths.  Each time they would land on the fence and look around a bit before going into the house.

I had noticed earlier this week that I wasn't spotting them coming and going, so I stepped closer and didn't hear babies, but I didn't want to disrupt the house just yet.  Yesterday I saw a bluebird (!) checking out the box.  He popped his head in a few times.  This told me it was definitely time to clean up after the previous tenant and get it ready to rent back out.  So last night I popped it open and cleaned out the mossy built nesting inside.

Our robin nest under the deck has three babies that are getting big.  The mom isn't too thrilled with us hanging out under the deck most every nice day, but she's getting used to us enough that she is still coming and going in our presence.

Being outside has me really noticing the birds and critters - which I have always loved, but never indulged in watching much.  I know I have binoculars somewhere, where are they?!  I did pull out my camera and all this does is make me wish I had a better lens with more zoom again.

This also makes me want to hunt through birding sites to try and find one that helps you figure out what you're seeing and track what you've spotted.  We have lots of cardinals and blue jays, there are finches with red on them (house finch?) and yellow birds.  I want to get to know them more!

Finally a day that is 100% off work.  I was caught up earlier last week so I took Saturday off too.  Sure I had to get 5 hours in yesterday (Sunday) but the light is at the end of the tunnel.  We are slated for daycare to open back up next week, well I should say slated to attend when daycare opens next week.  I can always change course if I see evidence that makes me nervous, but we're almost to that point and that alone gives me some strength.

On the other hand, I really like seeing Avery so many more hours of each and every day.  It's not going to be easy to take her and drop her off - not that it ever was.

Also, being friends with some of the teachers on FB I see that one had to go to the ER w/ a family member and another drove to NY to sight see.  I mean, I know I can't control their lives and for each bullet like that making me nervous there are prb 10 more that I don't hear about.

There seems to be a lot of people going away still.  I wish I had the confidence and the knowledge of where to go that I could drive and stay somewhere for a week - somewhere that I can put my toes in sand.