A forgotten letter from Mom, and a thanks to Dad

When I was looking through my shoebox of old photos for my family's years at Reeseman's Park, I came across this thank you note from my mom that made me tear up a little.  I have no memory of it, but I'm very glad I held onto it.

My mom always had the nicest stationery (and a real love for nature and hummingbirds) and the most beautiful handwriting.  In this letter, she was thanking me for my contribution to Dad's headstone, and her Mother's Day gifts.

There's no date on the note, but when she congratulated me for passing my driver's exam, I knew when this was written.  I wasn't able to get my driver's license at 16 like most kids, because I was diagnosed with epilepsy a couple years prior.  In the state of Pennsylvania, you had to be documented seizure free for a certain amount of time (2 or 3 years, I can't remember) before you could drive.

My final seizure was in Nov 1989, when I was 28 years old.  By the time I was eligible to get my license I was in my early thirties and had learned to get by in life without the need for a car.  But when Dad passed in February 2001, I told my mom at his funeral that as soon as I got back to the city I was going to sign up for driving lessons and have a car by that summer.

I kept my word and got my license (and a car) 4 months before my 40th birthday.  I was able to start driving back home on a regular basis, and got to spend a lot of weekends with Mom. 

Sad to say, but it was Dad's passing which motivated me to learn so Mom wouldn't be so alone.  Here is Dad's headstone (with his mother, my Grandma Morris directly behind his) in our family's cemetery.  My mom's headstone is now besides Dad.

Love you, Mom & Dad.

The Reesemans Years: A small look back for posterity's sake

In the spring of 1985, my oldest brother Duke was living in Washington DC and my sister Shawn & I were working and living in a small house in town, back home in Waynesburg Pa.

There were still 3 kids at home—our brother Steve, and two sisters Donda-Lin & Courtney.

One day, Mom called Shawn & me with some exciting news; they were moving out of the old farmhouse and into a brand new mobile home.  What!   

My sister Shawn on the front porch at Reeseman’s, Aug 1995

After years of scrimping and saving on Mom’s part, they bought a brand new mobile home with a room sized ‘tip-out’ giving them a double-sized living room.  

They managed to secure a corner spot on the perimeter of Reeseman’s, a large mobile home park halfway between the farmhouse and our high school in Jefferson Pa.  Dad installed a porch and shed on their lot, and Mom planted flowers everywhere.  My mom was very, very happy.  Every time I made plans for a visit, Mom would say "Doug, bring your laundry home!  We have city water now, we've got all the water you need!"  

(Growing up with a shallow well, we never seemed to have water.  I never brought my laundry to their new place, but it was funny and generous of her.)

Just months after moving there, my brother Steve graduated high school, married and moved out.  One year later in 1986, our sister Donda-Lin did the same.  Shawn moved back in with them.  

They lived there from 1985 - 1999, before Dad talked Mom into moving to a house in the country again.  But I know my mom was very happy there with her compact place and city water, and I was surprised she let it go.

I have hundreds of family photos, but only a dozen of the Reeseman years.  I wanted to share them here as they are so few and I miss those times with my family so much.  We got together at Reesemans often for holidays and family things, but shortly after they moved from there, Dad died and then Mom a couple years after that.  All of the kids went their separate ways.   

So if you'll indulge me... here's the few photos I have from those years at Reesemans.

My brother-in-law Bobby, me in the back and my pretty sister Donda-Lin at Christmas, in the 1990s.

Bobby & Donda-Lin’s baby Drew looks about a year old here, I’m guessing this is sometime in 1994.  Drew and Dad were very close.

Dad is giving Drew a piano lesson, 1995.  I just love this photo, Drew was curious & sweet as can be.

Here’s myself on the left, my brother Duke, our brother Steve with his sons Stevie and Eddie, and Dad.  This is the only photo I have of the Morris men together.

My brother Steve from behind, Dad, a 3 year old Drew and our Grandma Morris, Christmas 1996.  Where did the time go?

My (always photogenic) sister Donda-Lin enjoying our Mom's new "art" couch.  That thing was super comfy, I miss it still.

Here's my youngest sister Courtney in her acid washed jeans, outside the front door

Grandma Morris and me, my birthday, Halloween 1996.

Here's Mom & Dad's dog Frankie (who Mom insisted was our brother).  He was a sweet little guy, and after Dad & Mom's untimely passing was adopted by my sister Donda-Lin and her family, where he lived a long time.

I wasn't going to share this one, but oh well--home for Christmas, in my Superman sleep-clothes.  (Mom supplied me with that red smock for my cape.)

And finally, I wanted to share this one with a funny story.  The night before Thanksgiving 1993, I came home for the holiday weekend and saw no bags of food or such on the kitchen bar.  I asked "Where's the stuff for tomorrow?" and Mom said Donda-Lin wanted to prepare the entire dinner, and would be arriving with everything.  

I said "But she's 10 months pregnant!" and Mom said she couldn't talk her out of it.  Sure enough, Donda's car pulls up outside and she comes clanging into Mom's house, giant with a baby and carrying all these pots and pans.  I said "Donda what the hell!" and she started laughing and yelled at Mom that I was going to make her water break.

Sure enough, an hour or so later--her water broke.  Shawn, Mom & Donda-Lin rushed to the hospital and Donda gave birth to her daughter Drew Thanksgiving morning.

The End

A little prayer for my ceiling--and a bigger one for Josh

The other night I was talking to my sister Shawn on the phone (an uncommon thing, we don't do a lot of phone calls) and she was giving me updates on family members like our brother Steve and my 21 year old niece Sophia, and the talk came around to my apartment--and she remarked how much she liked it over my last place, and I said yes I did too.  It's had its share of issues, but I love its character.  I've always been more comfortable here too.

After we hung up, I went in to use the bathroom and saw this nasty water stain above my shower head.  I took this photo, went on the Steiner website, posted it and requested maintenance.

I knew it was going to be a tricky thing.  Our bathrooms have drop ceilings for easy access to pipes.  The back half of our bathroom ceilings contain heat & cooling pipes for our own apartments--but the front half, where my shower head is, contain bathroom plumbing for the apartment above you.

The next day, Steiner contacted me and said James was on his way.  I like James, he's a trim black man, 60 years old, loves to talk but is very courteous and very professional.  He came with a replacement ceiling tile and all kinds of pipe repair tape, clamps, etc. and told me the leak looked like a small one, and I was lucky.  If it had been a more serious one, I'd have to wait for ED.  ED is Steiner's "master plumber", a larger than life character in high demand.

After James completed his repairs and installed a new ceiling tile, I thanked him and walked him to the elevator.  He said "If you see the SLIGHTEST indication of another leak in the next month or so, let us know right away.  But you should be good for a couple more years at least."   I said okay, went back to my apartment (had to use the bathroom) and saw this:

I ran back into the hallway shouting "WAIT!" just as the elevator doors shut.  I called Steiner and said the leak on the right side was repaired but now there was a leak on the left.  They said they'd get someone back out here as soon as possible.

The next morning Steiner contacted me and said that James said there might have been some residue in the pipe, and asked if it was worse.  I said yes, it was worse alright.

They said okay, they would be sending ED the master plumber, tomorrow.

So the next morning, Ed shows up with his helper in tow.  (Ed's a tall bald man with a ring of wild white hair on the back and sides of his head.  He's 67 but looks 77.)   I said "Hi Ed, you look different than the last time I saw you."  He said "How far back was that?"  I said it's been 3-4 years.  He said "Oh sure, I've lost 60 pounds since then.  I can't be carrying all that extra fat into my golden years!"

As Ed and his helper started dismantling the ceiling, hooking up large tools and barking back and forth, I went into my bedroom and shut the door.  My head and face were on fire.  I can talk to someone on the phone for hours--but being around people and noise sets my long covid into overdrive.  When I woke up today, I spent the morning with pretty bad shakes.

When Ed was finished, he knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to come see.  The ceiling looked great.  He apologized for the bathroom (the floor was covered with grit, dirt & plaster--the tub streaked with oil.)  I said it was not a problem.  He said "Are you alright?  You look shaky."  I said I had a neurological condition that's been slow to heal.  Then I said "I almost forgot, where's your other helper?"  (I couldn't remember his name, it's Josh.  Josh is 26 year old and a plumber's helper, anxious to learn the trade.)

Ed said "That's a sad story.  Josh got covid back in...January.  Came back to work a couple weeks later, ready to go.  A couple weeks after that, he got sick again.  His parents took him to a couple specialists.  They said he has something called long covid.  He told me he has a good day here and there, but mostly he stays indoors.  It's going on 3 months.  He doesn't see an end in sight."

I said "I am so sorry.  Do you have a couple minutes?  I want to share something with you."  Like I told Ed, at least I'm in my sixties, retired.  Josh is a young man, just starting out.   I'm not a religious man, but I'm praying for him.  

So far so good: Cooking chicken a new way and another look at my stove

This won't be a long one.  I just wanted to give an update on my recent vow to cook things like meat outside of my oven when possible.

For example, when I had squash soup and a BLT sandwich on Tuesday, I cooked the bacon in a skillet on top of my stove for the first time in years.  It's simpler in the oven, but this way I can contain the splatter.

What you see here is my Dash Air Fryer; it's pretty basic, doesn't have any digital settings or displays, just a couple old school knobs.  In that bowl are two bone-in chicken thighs.

The night before, I put these thighs in a Ziploc bag with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, some dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt & pepper.  Let them marinate in my fridge overnight.

I set the dial to 375F and cooked the chicken for 12 minutes on one side, then flipped them over and cooked another 15 minutes.

I used a meat thermometer which said the bigger thigh was 170F.  They looked done to me, but...

I still felt a little nervous.  I'm not a great cook and have only cooked thighs one way, in the oven at 400F for an hour (half the time covered with foil, the other half uncovered).  So I slid these back in the air fryer for another 5 minutes.  

Here they are, plated up with some mashed potatoes and green beans.

I have to say, the chicken was delicious.  The skin was crispy perfect and the meat was juicy and tender.  I can't believe I've owned this fryer for 2-3 years and it's my first time cooking raw meat in there.

As long as we're here, I wanted to show what my oven looks like after several days of regular use.  I baked some breadsticks in there the other day, warmed up a couple slices of dinner ham too.  This past weekend I roasted some fingerling potatoes and a pan of broccoli.  Gave the oven a quick wipe down Sunday night and it's still looking shiny and new.

I've been craving a juicy meatloaf, but I think I'll hold off on that awhile longer. 😏

Are my blogging days over? I'm about to find out

This morning I got out of bed, shivered at the surprise cold in the air, came out to the living room and checked my phone--it was 31F outside.  Wow, it's almost May!  

Well, that's southwestern Pa for you.  The weather will trip you up everytime.

But it's also Monday, and my scheduled laundry day, so I knew I had to get my shower early and get my stuff down to the laundry room at 8am.  These past couple weeks, I didn't get down there until 9:30 am and both times got a knock on my door from Janice up the hall at 9:  "Hey Doug, are you done with your laundry time?"  

Janice--that room is mine from 8am to noon so back off!  Geez!

Anyway, I thought that before I got crackin' I'd send an email to my friend Pen (who lives near me), just to say good morning and how about this weather.  I open my email, put "Chilly Monday" in the subject line and that infernal Copilot pops up and says "Would you like us to compose a draft for you?"

That damn Copilot, I keep going into settings and deactivating it and it keeps returning.  Normally I say something like "Drop dead" or "Get lost" but I am in kind of a hurry, so I say "Sure."

It comes up with this:

It says "I hope your morning is off to a good start despite the chilly air!  There's certainly a crispness outside today that makes a warm cup of coffee or tea even more inviting.  Wishing you a cozy and productive start to your week--stay warm out there!   Best, Doug

Now I was all prepared to roll my eyes and snort when this popped up, but I've known Pen since grade school (we grew up on neighboring farms) and she's a sweet person but kind of a square too.  So I have a feeling she's really going to like this message.  I went ahead and hit 'Send'.

But here's the thing:  Pen may be a sweet square, but she's a smart cookie too.  She graduated our class at the top of our class.  She was elected Most Intelligent by her fellow students.  So she may see thru this cyber-fluff, write back and say "Don't send me an AI generated message again."

If she does, I'll consider my foray into AI assisted writing as a failure and resume my neurotic, half mental blogs.

If she falls for this AI message and responds with something pleasant like "Good morning Doug!  So nice to get a normal good morning from you"  then I'll begin using AI to compose my future blogs.

Stay tuned!  I'll post her reply if & when I get one. 😏

9:52 am - A response from Pen

I hope you have a great day as well. Yes, chilly today and perhaps a good day to make some chili. Ever hear of adding a bit of coffee to chili? I didn't until yesterday. It sounds strange, but I might try doing it if I decide to make some. Probably the last time I make any chili until fall/winter - just not my go to when we get warm weather. Take care.

Okay, it would appear that Pen did not see thru my AI ruse--she's not a suspicious person like myself and just assumes you're normal until told otherwise.  But I've decided that I can't hand over the blogging reins to that infernal AI, so it looks like you're stuck with me!   Have a great day everybody. 😉

It's an old subject, but you have to look for hope where you can get it

This is a YouTube short, only 2-3 minutes long.  Shortly after I was diagnosed with long covid in March 2024, I began following this guy on YouTube, also wrestling with long covid.  He did everything under the sun trying to beat it.  A couple times he thought he did (like I did, last summer) only for it to come back.  

Anyway, he stopped posting videos a year ago--until this short this past week.  He says it took him 3 1/2 years, but he's now been symptom free for a year and feels he's made a full recovery.  I got the opportunity to talk to him and he was very understanding.

Mine has been ongoing for 2 1/2 years now.  A week or so ago I was feeling good 3 days in a row and just when I began to wonder if this was something encouraging to blog about, the symptoms returned.  But those good days and what he says below give me hope.

A dirty secret no more, the return of Barb Wire & a paper sack for retirement

20+ years ago, I worked alongside Mike Cullen, a guy my age who was single like me.  He was also twice as good looking, in much better shape and dressed twice as nice.  He even had better hair than me.  Normally I avoid guys like this but I loved Mike.  He was a rascal, but kindhearted too.

One time he told me we should sign a pact.  Whoever dies first, the other would enter the deceased one's home and remove any embarrassing things.  A key to get in and location of the nasty stuff would be supplied in advance.

I didn’t really have anything but didn't want to let Mike down, so I said I had some adult stuff on an old laptop in my bedroom closet.  When I asked Mike what he had, he just laughed and said I'd find everything hidden in his oven.  Surprised, I said "Don't you cook?"  

He just smiled at me and said yes, but not in the kitchen.  

Anyway, it seems that every time I put something in my oven I think about Mike because of the nasty stuff I've been hiding in mine.  About 5 years worth of grease and grime.  How did I let it get this bad?  I bought rubber gloves, large sponges and oven cleaner a couple months ago, but was waiting for the weather to warm so I could tackle this with an open window and plenty of ventilation.  So with Spring arriving this week... ta-da!  

I thought this would take about an hour and I wound up spending almost 3.  But this turned out better than I hoped for.  Y'know, I have an air fryer in my cupboard (a small one).  I'm going to try and cook more with that going forward, every chance I get. 

A couple days ago I ran up the street to Kuhn's to get some eggs and other things.  When I walked down the dairy aisle, I saw Barb--aka Barb Wire--looking at the cheeses.  I wrote about this woman last August, she's in her upper 70s, maybe 80.  She always wears the same thing; a skin-tight black jogging suit and black baseball cap with her ponytail coming out the back end.  She's pretty fit.

The woman has some peculiar issues though--the first time I met her at the Senior Center last summer, she asked me if I grew up in the city or somewhere else.  When I said in the country, she snapped "I think you're too soft to be a country boy!  I think you're a liar!"   

But I haven't seen her since September, so I figured I'd let bygones be bygones and say hello.  I walked up and said "Hello Barb, do you remember me?"  She turned around and frowned, and said "You look familiar..."   I told her I used to be a regular visitor to the center but haven't been there since last fall because of health issues.  She said "How did you know it was me from behind?  BECAUSE YOU WERE CHECKING OUT MY BEHIND!"

Sigh... I'm looking forward to returning to the center, hopefully this summer.  I'm not so much looking forward to that. 😣

Finally, I've had this paper sack with "For retirement" written across its front for umpteen years in my old apartment's storage locker and now my current one, and I honestly can't remember what I put in here.  

It's pretty heavy, I'm guessing a stack of books.  I decided it was time I opened it up and took a look.

Inside were unopened dvds of Babylon 5, a sci-fi tv series from the 1990s that I've never seen.  There are 5 seasons in here, plus a box labeled Babylon 5 Movie Collection.  

When did I buy these?  According to Amazon, they were purchased in November 2007.  It's a little kooky that I can remember conversations with my friend Mike from 20 plus years ago, but draw a blank when it comes to these dvds.  

Are there any sci-fi fans out there that have seen and liked this show?  Is it worth watching?  These hologram boxes are pretty cool, but there's so much here and frankly I feel done with 90s television.  I don't know what the me from 2007 was thinking. 😐

The Next Ten Movies I've Enjoyed Again & Again

After the positive feedback from my recent movie blog The Top Ten Movies I've Enjoyed Again & Again I thought I'd strike again while the iron's hot.

If you recall in that post, I mentioned my list was more like 20 movies, but thought it was too many for one blog-post.

I want to stress these aren't necessarily what I consider the best films ever.  I saw a horror movie in 2020, Saint Maud that I consider a masterpiece--but I couldn't sit thru it again. 

These movies are 'wonderful comfort movies', that I enjoy revisiting whenever I can.

So in ascending order...

10.  Every time I watch Butterflies Are Free (1972) I'm struck by Edward Albert's portrayal of a young blind man.  It's flawless. He's a 20 year old aspiring musician, living on his own for the first time (in a very slummy apartment in hippie-San Francisco) and Goldie Hawn lives in the adjoining unit, an aspiring actress who spends most of the movie in her underwear eating his food.  She's wonderful.

I love when Goldie takes him shopping for some far out threads, but there's a scene where she pretends to move on and Edward's world is suddenly very dark again.  It makes me tear up every darn time.  Goldie won an Oscar for her performance but Edward Albert deserved the prize.  I'm glad I own this on dvd.

9. Breaking Away (1979) is about 4 young men from blue collar lives who just graduated high school with no idea what's next--except for David who loves his Italian bicycle, singing opera and dreams of becoming a professional bike racer--in Italy.  His father (Paul Doolie, God bless him) is a used car salesman in Bloomington Indiana struggling to understand what happened to his boy.  

This coming of age drama was released one month after my own high school graduation, and like these four boys I knew college wasn't in my cards either--at least not yet.  But it's poignant and original, and after all these years this movie still resonates with me.  

8.  This movie bears the distinction of being the first thing I recorded on a vcr when I got one in 1983.  (I think it aired on Sunday Night at the Movies but I can't be sure.)  It's The Final Countdown (1980).  I replayed the recording so much I wore out the tape.

The USS Nimitz is a nuclear aircraft carrier in 1980 (102 aircraft, 6000 men) that is mysteriously thrown back in time to 1941--right before the Japanese are set to attack Pearl Harbor.  The captain (Kirk Douglas) must now decide if he should use his vessel (which contains more firepower than the US & Japanese fleets combined) to stop one of the greatest attacks in American history. 

I'm not into war movies, but I do love time travel stories--and I love this one.  Also, this movie is unapologetically patriotic.  It's like a Navy recruitment film, but it works.  Watch this just once and you'll want to enlist, I guarantee it.

7.  I miss Jill Clayburgh.  I can't believe she's been gone since 2010.  The first time I saw Starting Over (1979) was the night of my 18th birthday.  I'd been on my own for a few months and this cheered me up so much.  After Burt Reynold's wife Candice Bergen announces she's leaving him to pursue a "disco songwriting" career, his brother (Charles Durning) convinces him to leave a slushy New York City and start over in slushier Boston.

Charles wants to fix Burt up with their friend Jill Clayburgh--who is dubious of Burt the first time she meets him, let alone all the baggage he comes with.  And then his ex-wife decides she wants him back... did you know this movie was written by James Brooks of The Mary Tyler Moore Show?  

I feel the need to watch this every couple years, and every time Candice Bergen breaks into her hit song "Better Than Ever" to a stone-faced Burt Reynolds I burst out laughing.  It's so good!

6.  I can't remember the first time I saw Moonstruck (1987), but boy did I fall in love with Cher here.  Cher plays Loretta, an Italian bookkeeper on the brink of middle age who is swept off her feet by her fiancé's younger brother Nicholas Cage.  The film is laugh out loud funny, but when Cher agrees to attend the opera with Cage, gets a glorious makeover and meets him at the Met... his look is priceless and so is hers.  It almost stops my heart every time.

5.  I'm going to say something that will bring the house down.  I am not a fan of Singin' in the Rain.  I'm not.  But I am a huge fan of Gene Kelly, and in 1944 MGM loaned him out to Columbia Pictures to star in Cover Girl (1944) with Rita Hayworth & Phil Silvers.

MGM later regretted this--the movie was a huge success.  I'm talking Oscars.   

Three pals dream of hitting it big, so what happens when one of them becomes a Broadway star?  "Make Way for Tomorrow" steals the show, but I LOVED the Broadway finale with giant sized 1940s magazines--Vanity, McCall's, Coronet, Woman's Weekly just to name a few--all with a living cover girl.  

My God this movie is awesome.  I'm glad I own it on dvd.

4.  Betty Hutton is picture perfect as Annie Oakley (sorry Judy Garland, originally cast) in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) as the real-life Wild West Show gunslinger.  I just loved how her jaw dropped every time she saw handsome Howard Keel!  And of course, "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" & "Anything You can do I can do Better" are show-stoppers.  Did you know this movie was unavailable until 2000 because of music right disputes with Irving Berlin?  It was worth the wait.  Note: Bobi, thank you for reminding me of this one--it's my third favorite musical. 😊

3.  Jimmy Stewart is a photojournalist with a broken leg, in that marvelous run-down Greenwich Village apartment.  Thelma Ritter is his home nurse.  And Grace Kelly the socialite is in love with him!  Yes it's Rear Window (1954) and I've probably seen this 15 times, easy.  

Here's a fun fact--my first time seeing it was at our local theater in 1983, after Universal Studios bought & released 5 of Hitchcock's movies he had squirreled away for 30 years.

It was released on RCA Videodisc a year later.  I snapped it up and probably watched it 10 times with my sister.

Note:  Steve from Toronto, thanks for reminding me about this one! 😊

2.  How many times have I seen the best Star Trek movie of them all?  Countless.  I first saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (1982) on a date with a very Trekkie woman named Amy and the moment Spock died, she literally screamed "Noooo!!" in the theater.  When I frantically whispered "Amy--stop!" she cried "Have you no emotions!!"  I swear to God, I'm not making that up.  

Fyi, when Leonard Nimoy died in 2015 I cried like a baby.

 1.  Wizard of Oz (1939)  Judy Garland, I am yours forever.  The End.

Finally, if I didn't give Honorable Mentions to The Graduate, When Harry Met Sally & every Charlton Heston movie between 1968 & 1973 (Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man & Soylent Green) I'd have to make a third list and we don't want that, do we? 😏

Meanwhile, at the Tiffany: Some of the people in here are pretty out there

Recently, a woman who lives down the hall from me knocked on my door.  I’ve seen her a few times on our floor, rode the elevator with her a couple times, but we’ve never spoken to one another.

So I said hi, can I help you?  She asked me if I ever smelled marijuana in my apartment.  I said no, never.  She said “I smell it in mine sometimes, could it be coming from upstairs?” 

I said that was certainly possible.  Whenever the woman who lives above me cooks something with garlic, I can smell it down here—it must come down through the heating vent.

She said “I haven’t smoked pot since I was 19 and that was over 50 years ago, but it’s not a smell you forget. Have you ever smoked it?”

I was pretty surprised she asked, but said no, I never did.

She said “If I got some pot would you like to smoke it with me?”   

What the--!!  I said no thank you, and she should be careful.  Steiner has a strict policy regarding marijuana.  Not even for medical purposes unless you ingest it, like those cannabis gummies.  She said she hoped she didn't upset me.  I said of course not, and asked if she was an undercover cop or something.  She laughed and said no.

Later that night I told my (very Christian) friend Diana what happened.  Diana said "She probably thinks you're a real square." 

There is another woman on my floor (a little younger, name unknown) who keeps to herself, talks to no one—but she recently hung a sign in our laundry room that read:

Below her loud words she taped 3 tiny pieces of fuzz on the bottom of the paper.  Even without my glasses I could see it was just dryer lint—is she crazy?  Steiner does not like crazy.  They do not like reports of bedbugs either.  In the 7 years I’ve lived here, 4-5 tenants on various floors have reported bedbugs—and all 4-5 tenants were gone in a couple months time.

I don’t know what happened to them.  I don’t know if it was their choice to leave or Steiners.

Lastly, I recently had a couple run-ins with my 70 year old neighbor Dee.  The first was a couple weeks ago, when I was exiting the building as she was coming in, and she asked if the recent ‘door slams’ from her apartment bothered me.

I said they made me jump a couple times, but it was no big deal.  She said “That’s Rosa, honey!  She’s my housekeeper.  She’s here one day a week, I’m not going to say anything.  Good housekeepers are hard to find.”

So are good neighbors Dee, and you are taking yours for granted but whatever.

The second time was a couple nights ago when her tv was louder than usual.  When I knocked on her door, she shouted “YEAH?” without opening it.  I said it was me and asked if she could turn it down a little.  She shouted “I CAN’T HEAR A WORD YOU’RE SAYIN’ HONEY!”

I shouted back “NEVERMIND I’LL CALL STEINER AND LET THEM HANDLE IT.”   Jeez Louise!

She opened her door then, just wide enough to peek out and asked if her tv was too loud.  I said yes.  She said she had hearing aids but often forgot to put them in.  She added “I don't know how far my tv is from my couch, probably 20 feet."  I said “I have a pretty good idea.  The same as mine, 7-8 feet.”  

She said “No honey, Steiner told me when I moved in all the apartments are different.”

Oh Dee… they meant there are 3 layouts: studios, 1 bedroom units, 2 bedrooms.  We both have 1 bedrooms, yours is a mirror of my own.  I was friends with the tenant who lived there before you, plus I caught a glimpse of your stuff the day you moved in.

I wish I could show Dee this layout I came up with showing my apartment and hers, but she might not appreciate my view on things.  Especially when my view includes her things.  The End!     

Until my next post is ready, here's some food from this weekend

I hope everyone (who celebrates it) had a nice Easter.  I wasn't going to post these pics of my Easter weekend dinners, I am actually close to finishing up a new blog-post about my neighbors.  But I couldn't resist.

Forgive my boasting, but this was a delicious meal.  Just because you live alone doesn't mean you have to go without!  These were the best scalloped potatoes I've ever made (the secret is to drop a quartered onion into the pot and let them slow cook forever) and also the creamiest devilled eggs I've ever made.  I always get the mayo-mustard ratio wrong.  They'll never be this good again.

Finally--I'm in serious love with this ham.  It used to be sold only twice a year for Christmas & Easter, but you can now get it year-round at Kuhn's.  It's a spiral cut, roasted red pepper pineapple juiced ham.  I love it on a buttered roll with a little bit of ketchup.  

Oh darn it, nothing for dessert but some chocolate cookies but I'm stuffed anyway.

As long as I'm here, I wanted to show you what I had for dinner Saturday night while watching The Ten Commandments.

Last week my friend and former classmate Pen (we grew up on neighboring farms) told me she was making sloppy joes to take to a church dinner but had to make them from scratch as she had no Del Grosso sauce in her cupboard.  

She also made them with deer meat instead of ground beef, which she assured me were quite tasty.  Well, we both grew up with venison in our diets, so this wasn't surprising.  I told her I was glad her sloppy deer joes were a big hit.

It did inspire me to make them this weekend (but beef for me, not deer).  I think Gia Russa makes the BEST Sloppy Joe sauce.  I add a tablespoon of brown sugar and a tablespoon of minced green pepper.  Perfect, every time.

This is what real friendship is--I sent Pen this pic of my Sloppy Cow Joe, and said "What's wrong with this picture?"   She answered "Well, that isn't Squirt soda in that glass, but that doesn't make this wrong."

She was absolutely right--Kuhn's was out and I had to settle for cranberry ginger ale instead. 😊

Okay, that's it!  A new post is coming in a couple days, thanks for letting me share.  Happy Easter everybody.

Thinking out Loud: The storm before the calm (well, I hope it's what it is)

Before I say anything else, can I offer a couple small apologies... my first is for another blog post with my big head at the top.  I just don't have much of an outside life at the moment.

The second is for the content that follows, which I'm sure is going to be more of the same old / same old.  I feel the need to write, but I don't really have anything to write about.

Ever since my long covid relapse last September (why) I've been dealing with "swollen face mornings", then inflammation in the eyes & mouth that subside a bit around sundown.  

A couple of ice packs or cold washcloths get me thru the night until bedtime at 11:30.

Last Friday (the same day I posted my movie blog) things went off course and there's been a lot of flare-up in both of my temples.  I'm trying to remain optimistic and hoping it's a looney last push of sorts before dying out completely.  

Would love to see it gone by summer, keeping my fingers & toes crossed.  I'd appreciate it if you could do the same. 😉

Y'know, it just occurred to me that I'm now the same age as my Grandma Morris was in this photo.  (Around 64 1/2 years old.)   

This was the night of my high school graduation in June 1979.  That's my Grandpap Morris in front, Grandma, myself, my beautiful Mom & my very dark Dad in the rear.  

Gosh this seems like a hundred years ago.  

Here's a strange little story.  For years my grandpap carried a little leather coin purse in his front pocket.  He passed away 3 years after this photo was taken, in October 1982.  (He was 71.)  

At the viewing the night before the funeral, I asked Grandma if I might have his coin purse after all was said & done and she said "Of course McDougall, Ace would love for you to have it."  

We parted company, and went off to talk to other friends and relatives.  A bit later, Grandma came over and took my hand, and pressed something into it.  I look down, it's Grandpap's coin purse.  I said "Aw, thanks Grandma!  I didn't know you had it with you."  She just smiled but didn't say anything.  She walked back over to Grandpap's open casket to talk to Uncle Kenneth (Grandpap's brother) and it hit me.  He always carried it with him.  

To this day I wonder if Grandma fished it out of Grandpap's pants pocket when no one was looking.  I'm pretty sure she did.

FYI, after I finished school and moved to the city, I carried it every day in my own pants pocket.  I'm retired now, and don't have much use for coins, but it still sits on my dresser next to my billfold.

Right now I'm waiting for someone from Maintenance to come to my apartment.  This past weekend, I had my kitchen window open and the wind was gusting in, and I had my window blind stretched out as I was trying to clean it when SNAP!  The string broke.

I reported it on Steiner's website, and was told to expect someone on Tuesday.  They said "You may be charged if a replacement blind is necessary."  

Charge me, charge me!  This blind has too many layers of grease & grime!

Well, I was just informed my guy is running a couple hours behind schedule and I'm starving, so I went ahead and prepared my Early Bird dinner.  

Pasta with dried herbs (basil & parsley) with ground turkey meatballs, steamed broccoli and chopped cocktail tomatoes.  Shaved parmesan cheese over everything.  It's pretty tasty stuff.

Finally, here's my new window blind--the timing couldn't have been more perfect, I'd just finished washing up my dinner dishes.  I thought I'd have to beg for a new blind, but Manley brought a new one with him.  I like this one, there's no drawstring--it's very sturdy and you just push it up, pull it down.

That's it for now--thanks for letting me share my day, everyone.