Wild kingdom at the Condo

Sometimes it's like wild kingdom outside my living room window where my desk is. Deer, heron, Mallards, rabbits, hawks, fox. I heard a crow making an awful ruckus and stepped outside to the deck to see what was going on. I looked and looked and followed the crow hopping from branch to branch by the creek. Then I saw it. Another animal, brown and black, not a bird was probably 30-40 ft up in a tree. I went back to my desk and grabbed the binoculars. I searched and searched. The crow was quiet. And then I saw it again. The largest raccoon I'd ever seen. In our 22 years here I'd never seen a raccoon, and now one was in a tree. He was probably hoping for an evening snack of a bird egg or two. That big old crow better get back on duty quick.

The deck has shed its winter coat.  Our friend Rod came over today and power washed it, the furniture and the stairs.  It was ghastly hot so he said he'd do the patio (where all the crud fell) another day and move the bush and trim the trees. As he had the chairs flipped over I noticed some of the legs had lost the little plastic disks that keep them from scraping the planks.  I'll have to look for some replacements. This set has held up well--probably got it about 20 years ago.

Greeting the neighbors at 6:30 a.m.

 On my morning walk I noticed a DIY moving truck and my neighbors loading personal belongings into their car.  So I stopped to chat.  They are moving to Florida.  I don't think this is political or financial because they bought a smaller home 4 years ago, and are just hoping for a nice retirement on the beach. Covid and the lockdown messed up their timetable, but now they are on their way.  They've lived there 13 years, and although we've chatted at parties, this was the longest conversation we've had.  I remember it used to be a 4 generation household.  His mother, their daughter and a granddaughter. Now it's just the 2 of them in 3700 sq. ft. But that's a lot of boxes, memorabilia and stuff to move. Safe travels Barry and Kathy.

  

A taste of fall

Today we enjoyed a taste of fall--about 77 degrees here in Columbus. Our noon meal we ate on the deck--grilled salmon with honey/cinnamon glaze, butternut squash, steamed cabbage, salad of orange sections and onion slices on fresh spinach leaves topped with shredded carrots. Bob got some chocolate chip cookies, but I'd already eaten 2 while baking them this morning. A perfect day. We began eating our main meal at noon about 6 months ago.

Of garage door and paint brushes, bursitis and AC

We’re in Columbus with a long to-do list.  I dug around in my files and got out my physical therapy charts for bursitis exercises from 2014. Managing all the stairs in the house is tricky—but I did find my folding  cane.

The van needs an oil change and a good cleaning of the seal around the rims because the tires are leaking. So I’ll need to make an appointment during my exercise routine.  At 5:30 a.m. I went out to buy milk and orange juice and noticed the roads were being blocked, and then Giant Eagle didn’t open until 6 a.m. so I went to Get Go and got what I needed, and while returning home (in the dark) found still more blocked streets.

When we tried to leave for church we discovered the roads were blocked because of a bicycle race and it was almost impossible to go west, but finally found an area with police directing traffic, but for probably the second time in our lives, we were late to church. I sat in the last row thinking I wouldn’t have to walk (limp) to our usual pew, but was fooled again since it was communion Sunday and I had to walk all the way to the front anyway.  I skipped kneeling—figured I’d never get back up!
Leaving for our SALT group meeting at noon (lunch and Bible study) we discovered that the garage door wouldn’t go down.  This had happened a few weeks ago and our son-in-law fixed it, but he’s at the lake.  Bob called, and he told him what to do.

Our furnace was to be repaired this week, but there were 3 messages on the answering machine that the price for the part had gone up and did we still want to do it?  Of course, you can’t reach them on the week-end. Meanwhile, we can only run the AC either full blast or off, so it’s on until it gets cold and we shut it all down.

But huge tragedy—Bob seems to have left several of his favorite watercolor brushes at the Rhein Center where he was teaching on Thursday, and didn’t notice it until we got to Columbus.  He’s had those brushes over 50 years, they are top quality and would cost a fortune to replace.  We’re hoping they didn’t get mixed into the general supply of brushes purchased at Wal-Mart for the kids’ classes.
One thing worked out.  I had 3 empty honey jars, and on our way home from SALT, we stopped buy Steve’s home, turned in the jars and got 2 jars of honey.

And our daughter just called and said the 20” stove we had sitting on the porch at Lakeside has been sold.  I had a sign tacked to the telephone pole, a man saw the stove, knocked on the door and asked jokingly if this was the Thompson cottage (people we bought from in 1988).  Frank Thompson was a well known figure in Lakeside and taught generations of children how to swim—including the buyer. He’s going to move it in his golf cart.

Spring cleaning before it's summer

It's hard to grow flowers when you're gone so much, but we're attempting again.  Most of our neighbors have such lovely blooms.

And then I finally finished cleaning the green crud off the deck.  It's made of Trex, but the green mold on the north side of the house loves it just as much as it did our wood deck which we replaced a few years ago.

Monday Memories--we remodeled the bathrooms in Spring 2013

  
It seems like yesterday we were going downstairs to the basement to shower while the upstairs bathrooms were being remodeled. The previous owner took part of a closet to add a shower to the half bath off the family room so her son could move in.  We use it primarily to store out-of-season coats, but it did come in handy four years ago when we were without a working shower.

Greeting the new neighbors

There are only 30 units in our condo complex, and some units have residents/owners who have been there a long time and others (at least one unit) have had 4 owners since we moved here in 2002. We know the complex was designed by Urban Calabretta, the firm my husband worked for, although he had no input on this project.  The builder had the unit next door to us, and according to his former wife (now deceased), it was the nicest of all the units.  It is now owned by their son who probably lived here himself as a teen-ager. When we moved here, there were still a few original owners. 

Today on our morning walk we stopped at the unit with the 4th owner in 16 years to greet the newest owners.  I didn't ask their ages, but I'm guessing maybe 10 years younger than us.  The husband mentioned that he'd been in that unit when it was new--1976--for a July 4 event with one of his OSU professors. It is my understanding that all units were completed by 1977.  At any one time, about five of the units are owned by members of our church--it's about 5 minutes away.  We could have a committee meeting or Bible study. This is a gorgeous time of the year with many flowering trees. I also think about five are owned by people who knew each other in their former neighborhoods when they had children in the school system.

Some former owners have moved out of town, some have gone to retirement homes, some to nursing homes, and at least two have moved up the road to high-rise condos across from the shopping center. A few have died while living here.  About 5 or 6 units are owned by single women, either divorced or widowed. It's just a guess, but I think 7-8 unit owners have dogs, and they congregate on our street to chat and pet each others dogs.  One gal is a dog sitter, but some also care  for the dogs of their children (we do, but she can't go outside), so it can get lively. The newest owners have two white fluffy poodle types.

It's so pretty today, I've already walked outside twice--the wind is blowing the beautiful blooms and it looks like snow.

Friday family photo--a dusting of snow

It looked like a Christmas card outside today (I still have my wreath at the door) with a dusting of snow that clung to everything.  This is the view out our living room window, although taken from our neighbor's deck.  The small bushes at the lower right are ours; the deck rail is hers.

Our new living room couch—Friday Family Photo

Monday we went shopping for a couch—stopped at 3 stores, and finally purchased one at Kittles we had seen last week. When they told us the delivery charge we decided to take it with us—we were sure it would fit in my van because we’d moved one of our couches to the lake house during the summer (which is why we needed a new couch). So for 2 days the couch was in the garage in the van.  Wednesday our son and another man came and moved our living room couch to the family room, and brought in the new couch.

This is the couch in the van.

This is the couch in the living room. This couch is larger (taller) so we may have to get a larger painting.

This is the couch with a brown sheet from a twin set.  The stretch elastic bottom sheet works really well over the back cushions.  And they have already paid for themselves.  Last night our cat throw up her supper on the sheets, so I’ve already washed them.  Usually she throws up on the white carpet.  They were very inexpensive (100% polyester) and are an exact color match.

I’m now looking for pillows that will have both blue (chair) and brown.

Our new deck

It should be nice enough this evening to eat on our new deck. Our old one was nearing 40 years old, wasn't up to code, and had some rot and insects. We used Pro Deck and are very pleased with the company and product. It is a composite material and will not need to be stained.

Very nice crew who worked hard and cleaned up the mess.

Finished product, missing some trim pieces that they’ll come back for.

Our anniversary flowers that were at the church service last Sunday.

The back yard with trees and creek; the unit in photo is just a bit west of ours.

Snow on tax day, April 15 in Columbus, Ohio

Our next door neighbor’s deck.

Walhalla Ravine, Columbus

Monday Memories—We move to the condo

One of the advantages of having an artist/husband is the wonderful homemade cards. This is the 12th anniversary of living here—January 20. I think he was at the closing and I was in the ER. So the details are a bit fuzzy, but he remembers. We have loved it here--beautiful site and wonderful neighbors, and people to mow the lawn and remove the snow.

          

Thursday Thirteen Christmas season 2013

Christmas  these days seems to begin around Halloween when Christmas themed merchandise appears in the stores, although for some retailers it’s even earlier and you see craft and decorating items stocked in strategic places.  This year Thanksgiving was the latest it could be and so the festivities and shopping had one less week. Our holiday season was saddened by the death of brother in law John Sterling, whom we had visited in October in California. He died the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  For us, Christmas more or less began at Thanksgiving when we began to discuss how we would do the holidays.  Usually our daughter has Thanksgiving dinner, but her father-in-law who lives in  Cleveland and who has been ill, was unable to travel, so they needed to be free “just in case,” so we had dinner here, and decided that I would host the family on Christmas Eve, and then we’d all go to our daughter’s for Christmas Day. I fixed a huge turkey, and we’ve had leftovers off and on since.  So beginning with Thanksgiving, we all went to church together at the Lytham Road campus of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church at 10 a.m. where we had worshipped when the children were growing up (began attending in 1974 and joined on Palm Sunday 1976).  Pastor TJ Anderson, our new senior pastor, gave the sermon. At this service we bring sacks of groceries to be distributed by the Lutheran Food Pantry. Our location of UALC has a traditional style worship with hymns and organ; Mill Run has contemporary style worship with praise songs and communion.

1.  On Wednesday, December 4, we attended with our neighbors Tom and Joyce the annual Conestoga (friends of the Ohio Historical Society) Holiday Party at The Boat House at Confluence Park. It was a lovely venue with views of the river and the downtown skyline lit up for Christmas.  Conestoga has 203 individual members and we learn about Ohio history, travel around the state together visiting historical places, and have fund raisers.  All the money supports the Ohio Historical Society. Our current endowment is about $66,000.

2. Mid-week day time Advent services are held on Thursday at the Lytham Rd. location, and we served communion on December 5.  Wednesday evening services are held at our Mill Run Campus. Usually serve at all these Thursday services, but this year we had conflicts on the other two dates. These services are followed by lunch in the fellowship hall.  Generally, it’s an older crowd, and follows the Thursday morning Bible study.

3.  On December 7, the combined choirs of Lytham and Mill Run presented a wonderful Christmas Concert on Saturday evening, “Glory, Peace, Joy” with conductors Brian Carlton and Michael Martin, with an orchestra. Members of our pastoral staff gave the readings from Isaiah, Colossians, Luke, and Matthew. I sat with the other women of our SALT group—our husbands were at home watching the OSU-Michigan football game, and they missed a beautiful concert.

4. On Sunday December 8, we attended our own service (8:15) and the 9:30 Celebration Service at Lytham, so we could participate in the installation of Pastor Thomas J. Anderson. Pastor David Wendel, assistant to the NALC Bishop performed the installation, with Pastors Brodie Taphorn and Buff Delcamp participating. Pastor TJ follows Pastor Paul Ulring who ended his service with the church in September. Pastor TJ said, “My primary mission is to kick you out of the nest.”

5. We were thrilled to have our friends Martti and Riitta Tulamo of Helsinki, Finland with us December 11-13.  We did some touring of the OSU campus where Riitta was a student at the veterinary college in 1978-80.  We spent a lot of time together in those days, so our children remember them well, and we had a dinner here on Friday night before taking them to the Brens where they would enjoy a few days, then going to the Rigolli home in Worthington before returning to Finland. We attended Advent services on Thursday and then stayed for a very nice lunch of lasagna and salad.

6. On Saturday December 14 our church’s Mission ministry had a pot luck at the home of the Camerons to meet with our missionaries Dave and Pam Mann who teach in Haiti and are home during the month of December.  It was so good to see them, and hear about what is happening at the school and clinic.

7.  On Sunday December 15 members of Conestoga were invited to a buffet and program at the Ohio Historical Society.  We went with our neighbors the Rieslings. The theme for this fall/winter has been the 50s—and there is a Lustron on display, so it was decorated with the much more simple décor of the 1950, including an aluminum tree and plastic poinsettias.

8.. Party with Faith of our Fathers study group Monday Dec. 16 and my  first training session with the Pregnancy Decision Health Center on Wednesday Dec. 18 where I hope to continue volunteering.  This is a Christian ministry that saves lives—of babies, but also mothers who may be in great distress with a pregnancy

9. Party for condo association hosted by the Thompson and Rieslings on Sunday Dec. 22.  The Thompsons had their twin 18 month old granddaughters with them, which really enhanced the environment. Joan and Joyce put out a beautiful spread of of wonderful food, and I think I gained back all the weight (6 lbs) I’ve struggled to lose during the fall.

10. We had a get together after exercise class at instructor Christine’s home on Monday December 23, and will have a 2 week hiatus.

11. We hosted our family for Christmas Eve for dinner—ham, roasted squash, potato salad, mixed fruit, cookies. Then together we attended the  UALC  9 p.m. service.  On  Christmas Day, we opened gifts at home after a leisurely morning, then attended church at 10 a.m. where we served Communion, and then went to our daughter and son-in-law’s for a lovely Christmas dinner and more gifts. Such lovely thoughtful gifts, and my daughter spiffed up my wardrobe, something I always look forward to.

12.  Friends of ours are hosting events in their homes in the next week, on Saturday December 28  the Sloughs, and on Monday evening December 30, the Zimmers.

13.  We will attend the New Year’s Eve Jazz Concert and Worship with Communion at our Mill Run church on Tuesday December 31 beginning at 5:30 for music and 6:00 for worship.

Monday memories—bathrooms

We are stripping the walls, moving furniture, and emptying bathroom cabinets that will soon be removed.  The contractor is to start on Tuesday.  Two 1970s era bathrooms are being upgraded (I’ve got a bad case of sticker shock). Who knew we had 6 different boxes of band-aids, and never could find one when needed? And to think my father was a senior in high school before he knew people had bathrooms inside their homes.             

                                

The story he told me, which may be embellished a little because he was a great story teller, was he knew there were bathrooms in public buildings like schools.  He attended Polo High School and was in the senior play.  Because his parents lived on a farm and there was a night rehearsal and then the performance, he stayed overnight with a fellow cast member and realized that people living in town had toilets inside the house, just like at school!  He was a year ahead of his age group, since in rural schools they weren’t real picky about that, so I’m guessing he was about 16 or 17 when this was taken.

When I was in first grade and my father returned from service in the Marines after the end of WWII, his old route with Standard Oil had been taken over by someone else, so he was doing a long drive to a different area.  So he bought a home in Forreston, about 15 miles from our home in Mt. Morris.  It was an old farm house on the last street at the south end, and it had no indoor toilet.  And there was a pump on the counter of the kitchen.  Really, I don’t know what my mother must have thought, but she learned carpentry and plumbing and we soon had a bathroom.  Nothing fazed that woman. Of course, being six years old, I thought it was a great adventure.  Now, not so much!

The new carpet is installed—Friday Family Photo

Not seriously different than the old carpet, except in my office which was very dark forest green and the stairs to the lower level which were sisal, it really looks different.

Now for today's project--painting the garage

Instead of buying off the shelf storage units for the garage, we had some new shelves and a tall closet built to hang out with the former kitchen cabinets. The bottom two shelves are stationery, the others can be moved. The cabinets won't be painted on the inside, so they are already jammed. I think we could have purchased gold plated cheaper, but oh well, the price you pay for living with an architect. We also have beautiful new hardware that doesn't match the hinges. Hate that. Here's Paul Miller and a few scenes from today's project--which will probably last 3 days. The last photo is stuff that needs to go either to a shredder, a technology dump, or back on the shelves. I wonder what people do who have a clutter problem? We're actually rather tidy people.

Paul is doing a lot of careful prep work--that's the key to a good paint job whether interior or exterior. Clean, sand, fill holes, etc.

Our new sidewalk

A home is not an investment. It is a money pit only slightly more practical than a boat. And you do have to live somewhere. Here's one of our recent adventures with our money pit which we bought in 2001--completed last week. We have a different one going on today. . .

This was our sidewalk--some sort of stone or slate with a variety of crumbling mortar. We repaired it in 2005, but it continued to crumble, shed, and disintegrate.

So here it is all chopped up, but oh, look at that, underneath part of it was the original concrete sidewalk, still in perfect condition, except for a few nicks and bumps from the ear splitting jackhammer. Oh well, too late, we'd already started. After he'd already started, he knocked on the door and said, do you really need this first step--I could just slope it a little (because obviously the new walk was going to be higher than the old, and the step up wouldn't be standard height. So we OK'd that, and now we're all set for wheelchairs.

This is the new concrete walk, installed over the old concrete walk, which we didn't know was still there. It has color, a pressed stone pattern, and joint cracks added. We also discovered upon removing the old slate, that there was a good size planting area next to the garage. We went around and looked at our neighbors, and they did indeed have that. But it just makes it harder to get in and out of the car, so we didn't reinstall that. Now, because it is the new sidewalk is so high, we'll have to have some new landscaping. But, you can't take it with you . . . so we're helping the local economy.

10 Tips For Downsizers With Too Much Stuff from Forbes Magazine

I did a little downsizing this week. Very little. It's tough to part with stuff! In putting away the laundry, I counted my husband's pj's--12--and eliminated 3. Found some lacy lingerie I'd never worn that went into the giveaway box, and some of my own pajamas that had moved from Champaign to Columbus in 1967--still looked good, but a bit smallish, so that went into the trash. Then I found a box with my mother's tablecloths. Wrong size, wrong colors, wrong era--I'll never use them--but they went back in the box. Too many memories. The entire New Testament on cassette tape went to the library sale along with dups from my magazine collection. I seem to have lost my little Walkman cassette player.

This Forbes article is mainly about selling; that's a hassle too, isn't it? In fact, it's against our condo rules to have a garage or yard sale, and I think for a tag sale you have to go off the grounds. Even carting off donations isn't easy--each place has its own rules and own drop off sites. I usually just take it to the church bins (if clothing) and let the sorters deal with it.

10 Tips For Downsizers With Too Much Stuff - Ashlea Ebeling - The Best Revenge - Forbes

But I did make headway on my magazine (first issue) collection, which if stacked would go floor to ceiling. We painted the upstairs hall and shelves earlier in the spring, and they all had to be moved. About 2/3 went into a wooden box, formerly the children's toy box from the late 1960s, then a box for old architectural drawings, then a box for old VHS tapes, and now the home of magazines tied up with ribbons by subject matter--life style, travel, minorities, animals, technology, wealth acquisition, women, families, children, cooking, and so forth.

This is what the hall shelving used to look like with my magazines leaning and lurching.

I had to wait about 2-3 weeks for the paint to really set before I could move anything back, but the new trim color really brightened the hall.

These colorful boxes only hold some of the magazines, most of which are now in the family room in the former toy/drawing/vhs box/coffee table. The color doesn't look very good because I took it with my cell phone which doesn't have a flash.

They could wait no longer

Yesterday a very wet, soggy landscape designer came to the door and introduced himself (I didn't recognize him) as the one we'd hired to cut, trim and replant our patio "garden." Rain or not, they had to do it. So here it is, with my new cheapy cell phone photo option I just learned to use today.

Looks like some azeala plants, a boxwood or two, the old dying evergreens were taken out, the stone wall rebuilt, some weeds pulled and mulch applied.

Record rainfall this April

Or not.  According to the Dispatch, Columbus will need about an inch more rain in the coming week to break the record, 7.08 inches, which was set when Grover Cleveland was beginning his second term in the White House in 1893. But it's the wettest since we've lived in our condo (bought in 2001), because we've discovered a spring under the street in front of our house which never bothered us before.  Even on dry days, we drive on wet pavement.

Our condo complex is surrounded on 3 sides (if an oval has a side) by a creek.  We've just had hardwood floors installed on our lower level -- so I hope this isn't the first year since 1977 that the creek rises to meet the houses.  Flooding urban creeks often happen because thing clog up the drains further down stream--like furniture, lawn clippings, logs, etc.  I've seen it happen even in areas that aren't near open water.

It was a lot of work, and very expensive.  Rain, rain, go away.