Insurance/contractor nightmares ( I need some balls )

Last year I had the opportunity to access a program to help low income home owners address issues in their homes which may cause them to have to move out. Don't get me wrong they don't come in and "renovate" your home, it's very specific and only the major issues under a certain budget get addressed and over 10 years you have a loan and lien on your house.  I live in a small village of 1000 where most of the houses are older ( mine was built in 1880) and every spring the rows upon rows of sump pump hoses line the streets as homeowners deal with the inevitable. My home is no different, so when I accessed this program I spoke to the contractor I had chosen about making sure the new furnace I was getting was elevated, maybe suspended from the rafters, to keep it safe from water issues. At first he said it couldn't be done as my basement is not full height and I asked for it to be raised at least as high as my previous furnace.  I was on a waiting list from the fall 2016 into mid January 2017.  They lent us a heater to help with the cold while we waited. Once the job was completed the furnace had been placed on maybe 2 inch slabs! I said that I was concerned but the job was done. Then comes April downpours and my basement floods like everyone's did and my beautiful new furnace sinks under the cold icy water and my house fills up with propane! I've never heated with propane and it terrified me...I waded around in the basement and hooked up a fan to try to blow it out all the while expecting to be blown up! I realize this event was not typical weather but what is typical weather these days? So my concerns born out I contact the insurance company and begin the task of quotes.  I contacted my original contractor who then told me the furnace could probably by hung from the rafters but it wouldn't be covered by the insurance company because it would represent a change from the original set up and would increase the cost by $700.00! Sooooo I could have had it raised in the first place but I think my contractor ( who seems to be a nice enough guy) was more afraid of losing the bid than my concerns over possible flooding!!! We're still in the process of finalizing this endeavour and even though I'm a woman I'm intending to pursue it to the bitter end even though I will most likely lose out.  It sucks being a woman in these scenarios because if you're not a bitch in the first place you're a sucker in the end.  I have often said that one day I will buy myself a penis just to carry with me in case I need more balls...maybe that time is now!

Wren update!

This morning after my dogs woke me for their morning constitutional I sat down with my coffee and gazed out the window to check on my wren family but something was different.
Since April the business of birds had been to nest, lay, hatch and feed, all under the watchful eye of the parents, chattering orders to each other at every step of the way. Mom and Dad frequently tag teaming, feeding larvae and insects into the dark hole of the bird box, disappearing inside, then within seconds flying off with baby bird poop in their mouths (yuk!) to procure more tasty morsels for their unseen, but loud little babies.
As I looked closely at the "black hole" of the wren house this morning there was a little face, followed by another little face above it! Over the course of the next hour more faces appeared and a great deal of pushing and shoving ensued. Eventually one little face pushed himself to the front and bumbled around trying to get his body out of the small hole without tumbling to the ground. First the head, then a foot waved around looking for something to cling too...push, push...push...then POP...his whole body appeared on the outside of the box he'd called home for 2 months. He looked surprised! Gazing around nervously, #1 seemingly wondered "okay what's next?". He looked up, he peered down, and seemed undecided as to what to do. His decision was made for him when wren #2 pushed himself out of the box knocking his brother off the perch! Amazingly #1 flew off the box as if he'd been doing it everyday! He landed on the vines on my deck much to his parents dismay as they chirped wildly at him ( I wondered what they were saying...as parents we all know the terrifying moment when we have to let go of our children to learn from their own mistakes). Meanwhile, back at the box, #2 was already on the perch and hopped on top of the bird box to get a better vantage point! Within seconds, during which #3 was almost out of the hole, wren #2 flew off in the opposite direction from #1!!!
As the parents became more frantic the mass exodus continued, rapidly producing 5 infant wrens in total over a period of just a few minutes! When it's time to go, it seems they go quickly! ( unlike human children!)
So my little bird drama is over for the moment, and the nest in my honeysuckle bush?...it's empty
now too! The wrens will stake out another nesting area for their second round before the season ends, so I will continue to see and hear these chattering little birds until the end of the season when they will fly off to warmer climates (smart little birds!) and I will replace the old wren house with a newer, prettier version. They deserve a renovation for all the joy they bring me!

The wonders of Wrens

I am unabashedly, a bird lover. Wild birds, pet birds, injured birds, well birds, hungry birds, fat birds, I love them all.  I love to watch their quirks, their comings and goings, their flirting, their nesting, their parenting skills and the feeling of sadness when they head off to warmer climates and the world becomes many voices quieter.
Of all my garden birds my favourite is the little spunky, saucy tail up, common house wren! That may seem strange when there are so many more "flashy" birds to choose from, but when I hear my little wrens chattering in the spring I can only smile a big smile and think "they're back! Yeah!"
My house wrens have been nesting in my garden for 22 years, establishing their territory and growing in number throughout that time. I live right next to a forest and actually since I've been ill my "garden" has become a bit shall we say "wild". Although my neat flower gardens, vegetable garden, and pond are no longer, my berry bushes, trees, and lots of fragrant shrubs have made this corner of my world very attractive to birds ( and I feed them!which helps!).
As I have mentioned in other posts, I became ill back in 2003, and most of my energy now is focused on the most basics of life, and dealing with constant pain which is very tiring.  Whereas I used to be out in the garden everyday possible, now I spend more time in the house. I used to erect a screened gazebo every year and feed and watch the birds from there, I now have a window by the couch where I sit and watch as the world goes by, so I had a brilliant idea! I mounted a wren house on a pole right outside my window! Best idea I've had in a long time as this has brought me much joy as I have a front row seat to the busy nature and highly protective qualities of these tiny chattering birds.
In cleaning out their nest this spring I came across a wide variety of nesting materials which included pine needles, feathers, some branches and amazingly a few large screws and nails which certainly must be decrorative because they're shiny and I can't see how comfortable they would be!! But maybe
they were trying to fix this old house as it is in great need of renovating ( a replacement was in the plan but they came home earlier than expected).
I love witnessing the focus spent on choosing their nesting materials. They are very stubborn birds and fly in with branches 4 times too big to be moved through their nest box hole! They try and try over and over again, dropping the branches and flying down to retrieve them. Eventually they satisfied and begin the task of egg laying which obviously is Mom's job but after that Mom and Dad are equally invested in the parenting and guarding their babies. One wren flies in relieving the other to go in search of food and on it goes like a well oiled machine.  They chatter in their wren language
And alert each other when anything seems threatening, like our dogs bounding around rambunctiously, or me trying to get a great photograph ( not ) of them. When it's really hot they perch on the roof of the house (which has a split in it ) and flap their wings rapidly in an effort to cool the house down ( always make sure there's water nearby that they can drink and share with the little ones.
It may seem silly, but watching them has become a big part of my day and I worry when it's hot, cold, or wet!
When they finally leave for the season I hope they are safe and miss they're presence in my garden.
But I know they will be back, or they're little ones will be back to nest somewhere else in the area next year.

A bird in the hand is worth 9 in the bushes?

As I mentioned before my poor garden has gone wild since my illness starting back in 2003. My lilac bushes are now at least 10 ft. high along with my honeysuckle bushes. I had decided that this was the year to trim them back, especially one of my honeysuckles, which has grown so high that it covers my window! I wanted to wait until they had flowered so the bees and I could enjoy their beautiful scent and flowers. There's nothing quite like it. But now I have a problem! Another wonderful delay! I peeked out my window and in the middle of all those branches sits a little nest overflowing with hungry chicks, mouths open leaning perilously close to the edge and risking falling out in an effort to be the first one to eat!
I've been trying to get a photograph of them but once Mom noticed me at the window she flew away with a juicy worm hanging from her beak and hasn't returned yet so I certainly don't want to interfere with dinner!
So it looks as if my yard will have to undergo some inspection into each bush to choose which ones are uninhabited and which have little tenants! As much as those shrubs need trimming I hope I find some more tenants too!
Wren update: my wren's eggs hatched a few weeks ago which means a flurry of activity is going on outside another window! Like a relay race the parents fly in with food and wait for the exit of the other who has fed the chicks and leaves with clean up duty while the other sits with an insect in his mouth. Efficiency to the max!
So while I continue in my life of isolation I have my dogs and nature's gifts to lift my spirits. Okay it's not the same as real human relationships but they have few expectations and don't care if I'm too ill to meet a prior plan. No ones disappointed and my pups just curl up with me until I'm well enough to take them on an new adventure!

Pre War Syria - http://www.the-dialogue.com A week in Pre War Syria

Pre War Syria

I have had some disturbing conversations on Twitter which lead me to believe that the ignorance of pre war Syria is so great that some people forget that Syria was not always a pile of rubble filled with starving, injured, dirty and bloodied people clamouring for just a piece of the world's attention between the never ending discussion of which Trump tweet is most telling of the imbecile behind it.
Believe it or not I've had tweet conversations where the other twit, I don't mean tweeter, is crying foul on the aftermath of sarin gas attacks on innocent Syrians claiming that they are all acting!? It is completely fake says one..."Fake news" cries another, all in some devious plan to garner access to America so they can blow them all up!
When the international news carried the story focused on the little Syrian girl who pleaded with the world,via cell phone, for help, one women attacked me with the notion " how would this child get a cell phone account"! "The same way your child did!" I replied.
The idea that Syria is some land so far behind the Western world that cell phones have never been available to them, or that that they have always lived amongst rubble and chaos, seems to be a generalized thought with no consideration that Syria was once a city with apartment buildings, stores, roads, communities similar to our own. Certainly living under a Dictatorship has its consequences, and Bashir Al Assad has spent most of the countries money on his own desires and those of his wife, leaving his people to live without many of the things we Westerners don't even think about, like clean streets. It costs money to clean streets, money Assad would rather spend elsewhere so dirty streets were the norm! We would all have dirty streets if our government didn't act on the needs of its people and PAY workers to clean them! The women on the other end of my "Twitter war" would not be lining up to volunteer her time to clean them I guarantee you!
If you are the least bit curious as to what Pre War Syria was like I forward you to a great essay, not a
sound bite, dealing with this issue which will help to dispel some of the misinformation flooding our
twitter feeds and news broadcasts. You can read it at http://www.the-dialogue.com A week in Pre War
Syria.

Moon Over Matter

Many people scoff at the idea that a full moon affects the behaviour of people, but those of us lucky enough to work in a hospital know that a full moon will mean a busy night for all concerned.

Working as a nurse I watched firsthand the change in number of incidents compared to waxing or waning moons and the full moon phenomenon. Especially in emergency medicine where the increase in admissions and odd behaviours of some patients increased 10 fold with the fullness of the moon!
One particular night after doing rounds on a surgical ward in the dark with our flashlights, we received a phone call from security saying a patient had reported a fire in her room. We immediately sped into action, fire extinguisher in hand, running down to the room where the fire reportedly was. We entered the room quickly checking the patient, who was asleep, and every corner of the room, but no fire. We returned to a quick round then back to the nurses station to continue our paperwork.  Within 10 minutes we received another phone call from security issuing the same information from the same room!  We asked them to check their switchboard while dashing again to the room as described. Again no fire...patient asleep...we moved the phone away from the bed, checked it, checked everything and all was okay. Not to repeat myself, but I must as we received a 3rd call and now we were really spooked.

There's nothing like wandering around a hospital ward in the dark with just flashlights checking bodies for movement or absence of ! Patients find it frustrating, nurses find it spooky because no one looks "well" under the glow of a flashlight! As we rounded the opposite side of the ward there was a sign! A poopie line exiting the exact opposite room from the room the calls were supposedly coming from. The bed rails were up ..bed empty...following a streaky trail we found our patient scooting around the corner on her bottom!  She told us there was a fire in her room and she was escaping! Somehow the phone system had switched the line over in a mirror image of the ward!? It took quite some time to convince our athletic patient that there was no fire and exhausted after we cleaned her up, she finally agreed to return to bed and stay there. We unhooked her phone and checked her every
15 min till she slept.  I don't know how the lines got switched but it was one of the spookiest night shifts I ever worked! Blame it on the moon!!!

The magic of the Moon

Happy Father's Day to my eldest sons

My eldest sons are celebrating Fathers Day today too. They have grown up to be GREAT DADS, showering my 5 grandchildren with love and affection. 

Though they are frequently tired juggling work and parenthood, struggling through looking after sick little ones only to get sick themselves ( don't we all remember those days) they soldier on focusing on the good things rather than the struggles. It's fun to watch them balance their lives and see their hearts swell with love and pride for there little ones ( Grace isn't so little anymore!) .

Here's to Fatherhood! The most important and challenging job they will ever have.

Happy Father's Day boys! ❤️