Meanwhile there's trivia

The current state of play: the car's in the shop, no word yet on insurance approval of the estimate, the holiday holding everything up. 

The house is awaiting the estimate of the contractor sent by the insurance company, who visited a couple of days ago. Much more work than I'd thought.  

The way it works now, he submits his estimate to third party, who conveys it to the insurer for approval. Could be days or more. After the approval, wait for contractor, then the work itself is about five days. 

This looks like most of July, and I have questions about who does what still, so shocky that I didn't take it all in. Gary and the other neighbor were there for support.

The contractor  found the source of the ant problem we've been plagued with, a nest behind the stucco, and neighbors are getting an exterminator to address it for all three houses, all with the same problem.

Then there's the HOA situation, where after multiple attempts to get a ruling on whose responsibility the exterior wall is, finally the manager says he can't recommend a contractor, which we think means the HOA isn't involved.  That's one less complication.

Meanwhile there's nothing else to do but wait, something I'm not very good at.

Also in the condo, my rental, the ac is not working well, suddenly needs service. This was what finally knocked me down. 

It may be expensive, and I'm here with no car. Tenant HS says he will call and arrange service and we'll go from there.  But it just seems too much right now. On top of the current political situation, which is there for me like everyone else, a dragging worry. 

So, on to coping. Thank you all for lovely support and it helps a lot. I'm enjoying reading the series of Pargeter murders, saves me from running amok. Well maybe running is beyond me. Walking briskly amok.

We've had large storms, winds and rainfall. It must have been bad, because HS started out to a concert and turned back! 

Here's our main development road Friday 

I've been out walking, now doing the circuit of the development on sidewalks, too much mud for getting to the pond just now.

And I've been doing a yes2next video each evening, April and mom Aiko, different one each time. I'm happy with the stamina I'm building. I need it.

Yesterday I spent time with the teenager from next door, with her Gold Award girl scout project. It's about computer literacy for seniors and protection from scams. 

I'm not really her target audience. In fact she was amazed at my online activity, and said I'd been blogging since she was born! And was also amazed I'm a founding member of an online platform.  

I did point out gently that my generation has been working with computers at work since the early 60s. Then it was DOS and supplying information to mainframe operators. Now it's trying to keep up with rapid advances.

Then Gary visited later, saying he was running away from ironing, and we got caught up on his family doings. 

Good news there: when he moves out, a family member who's a friend of mine, is to become his tenant. This will be great, and I told him to let her know she'll be on my baking roster, the bonus for living next door.

I also had a great lunch, depressed or not, figuring I'm worth it.

Potato salad with oil and vinegar, fresh picked celery greens, scallions, chives and lemon balm, sardines and watermelon. Dessert was yogurt, strawberries and Freecycled brown sugar.

Lovely weather, 80s and sunny, afternoon on the deck reading, listening to a lot of birdsong, and several visits from Gary on plant-related issues. I ended up giving him the current coleus growing in water with well developed roots, to plant in a pot.

One of the bird songs I was listening to I thought might be a catbird. I've seen a pair around, lovely tune. So I checked on YouTube and played a catbird video, yes, same song. Whereupon the real bird went silent. Eventually he started up again, I suppose realizing there was no rival for his site. 

I think there are also young mourning doves locally, judging from the incessant flybys of parents past my fence, probably feeding them. Cardinals too.

Handsome Son picked up DVDs from the library for me, since I was waiting for the contractor and didn't like to be out. So I've got Pie in the Sky and Brokenwood for evening entertainment. 

And a funny Freecycle happening. A few weeks ago I offered a batch of paperback novels, no takers. The other day I offered various things including a crate. No takers for the crate.

Then yesterday I offered a crate of books 

Same crate, same books, but in five minutes I had a taker. Accidental marketing. Too funny. I'd had a quick taker for the folding wooden bookcase from the kitchen, now empty because I'd passed the contents out to various destinations.  

All in all, things could be worse. Everyone keeps reminding me that the people are fine.

Happy day everyone, keep on keepin on, sez

Ted and co.