Swimming Lessons Over!

Last Thursday, we finished our eight days of swimming lessons. N and J did not go up a level, but J came slightly closer. They now can dog paddle a little, which is much better than nothing. I am so glad to get to sleep in longer next week.

We all made it to float night at the neighborhood pool last Friday. I spent all my time in the water carrying K. The kids all had a great time. I would have rather been home.

I expect we'll go to the pool a couple times during the day this coming week. I think we'll probably go tomorrow if the weather is good.

Start with my post labeled "Beach Trip"

Start with that post, and read your way upward, please. It will make more sense if read in the order I wrote the posts.

I got a shot of the sunset, taking the picture in the upstream direction (towards Washington, D.C.) on the Potomac. I think we were actually on the Chesapeake Bay, but it's hard to tell what is river and what is bay. We could see the lights in Maryland across the river. We even saw fireworks, but they seemed small on the horizon. Technically, every time we waded or swam past the end of the jetty at the beach, we left Virginia and entered Maryland.

It was a wonderful trip. We've never taken the kids to a saltwater beach. I've only taken them to an inland lake. There were pesky, bitey flies called sand flies that about drove me crazy, but every time the wind kicked up, they'd go away. I'm scared of jellyfish, but Mr. K was picking them out of the water in his hands by the time we left, and tossing them up on the beach, where the kids would bury them. I slept very poorly in the tent, so I was glad to get home to my own bed. Part of the problem is that we are packed too tightly in our tent. I think next time we camp, we'll try to bring two tents so we can be more comfortable.

Our host had set crab traps in the dammed creek (or perhaps it was a small river, anyway, damming it made a lake). He emptied his traps and cooked up these lovely blue crabs. They were very good, but you have to pick at them a lot to get out the meat.

A couple storms came up. This is a photo of the edge of the larger one. The winds were amazing. The storms came in fast and furiuosly, and then they cleared right up so we could go back into the water.

Here is a shot taken towards the Chesapeake Bay. We saw no one (other than our hosts) on the beach the whole time we were there. It was lovely.

Beach Trip

We camped near a beach where the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River meet up. Our neighbor (who lives in the shed) has a friend whose family has land along the beach, and they pretty much spend the month of June there. They invited us up to camp on their property. We didn't have any running water or other plumbing, but since we only stayed one night, it didn't matter that much. Plus, we spent a lot of time in the water. The water was salty, but not as salty as the ocean. Unfortunately, we had to watch out for jellyfish. N and J got stung a couple times. I also went fishing in a dammed creek that came out at the Potomac. I caught a white perch. I saw a stingray up close while I was fishing, and I saw a lot of jellyfish. I had to keep banging the tip of the pole in the water to knock them off.

Garden/weekend plans

My garden is producing some zucchini and pattypan squash right now. I've got tiny green tomatoes, and small green hot peppers. I did get some cucumbers, but I don't see any out there right now.

Two kinds of squash plants have grown out of my old "compost" pile. They're blooming right now.

We're getting lots of raspberries. We're going out of town tomorrow until Sunday so I have a friend coming over later this afternoon to help pick raspberries. We haven't had time to go out there today, and I'd hate to find them all rotten by the time we get back Sunday.

We're going to somewhere near where the Potomac River meets the Chesapeake bay. Our neighbor (who lives in the shed) has a friend who has a place out their (Fred), and Fred has invited us out there to camp, swim, and fish. We only have one night we can go because we have to go to a huge party some friends of ours our having tonight. Mr. K has to work during the week, so it had to be a weekend for the campout. There will be a place to put up our tent, but we have to bring our own water. I'm not sure about the bathroom situation, but I'm hoping there will at least be an outhouse.

Mr. K even bought some flip flops. I got him a swimsuit about six years ago, and he tossed it up in the closet. He's never worn it. I guess he'll drag it out for this weekend.

I'll have to shave my legs after the party tonight so I'll be ready to go swimming, too.

Summer Vacation

I've had to get up pretty early (6:15 to 6:30 a.m.) in order to get everyone ready to get the kids to their swimming lessons by 8:10 a.m. We're all tired and cranky, but we should get used to it by the time the lessons are over next Thursday.

We're quite lucky; this time there are only four kids in the kids' swimming class, and it has two instructors. They spend half the time in the water. Usually there's at least eight kids. I guess no one else wanted to get up early the first day of summer vacation, or perhaps money is too tight this year for some people to take lessons.

We haven't gone to the pool we joined since Sunday (when I took N and K--J was grounded). K fell into my bedroom door (she says) yesterday, and she has a very bad wound on her knee. It's a deep, splattered crack. I sort of wonder if she didn't hit a nail in the threshold. I thought about getting stitches, but it wasn't bleeding a lot, so I didn't bother. Stitches would make it heal with less scaring, but everyone (I think) has scars on his knees. I'm keeping my eye on the cut, though, to make sure it doesn't get infected. Anyway, I'm not taking K to the pool until it starts to get a hard scab. It's been weeping a bit of blood still. We change the bandage several times a day because it upsets K as soon as she sees blood on the bandage.

We've been getting a lot of nice raspberries in the last several days. I made meringue shells this afternoon, and put whipped cream and raspberries into them for dessert. The kids and I liked them. Mr. K wouldn't touch them. It is sort of a light, fluffy, girly dessert.

We've had to run a set of keys across town to the company who's going to manage our rental houses. They've got one house now, and I hope to transfer the other two by July 1. We have to meet a plumber at a different house tomorrow. N and J are complaining a lot about all the rental house running around we are already doing. I am hoping it will be over in early July.

I had a tenant who is behind in her rent by nearly a month each month (she had a mini-stroke a couple months ago, missed several weeks of work, and just can't get caught up) call me and tell me to send her the pay or quit because at the suggestion of a friend, she called the Salvation Army, and they will help her with one month's rent so she can get back on her feet. She has usually been keeping updated on when she thinks she'll get me the rent, so I hadn't sent the pay or quit. I'm glad she's getting help, and I hope she'll get back on track before the management company takes over because I'm not sure they'll be as lax at enforcing the rent due date as I am, and I do believe this tenant is telling me the truth about her problems and not just putting me off the way other tenants do.

End of the School Year!

It's today. The kids are home for the summer now. They're already bored. I had J go out today and clean algae off my siding in her swimsuit for entertainment. Then I let her play in the sprinkler for a few minutes.

My neighbor who lives in a shed has been listening to TV on his radio. That ended today with the demise of analog TV transmissions. He said he was listening to CBS on his radio at noon, when they ended with the national anthem and the radio went dead, just like the TV stations used to sign off at night when they used to shut down at night. Now it's shut off forever.

I'm not sure what he'll do for entertainment any more. He'd listen to everything all day, from Regis and Kelly to Rachael Ray. From the evening news to whatever prime time shows were on.

Not much

K saw the doctor today. She got the second of her MMR shots. I didn't use the word "shots" around her until the nurse came into the room with the injection after we'd seen the doctor. She's growing fine. She's small, though, but proportional. Her height and weight are both in the 25th percentile for kids here age.

Mr. K had a little time home between jobs this afternoon, so I got him to help me take my car into the shop. I don't know if they'll get to it today or tomorrow, but I don't want to drive it until it's fixed for fear of a) making the problem worse or b) getting stranded somewhere.

I gave N and J each 60 cents today to buy an ice-cream treat with their lunches. This is their last school lunch of the year. They'll be home for lunch the next couple days. I'd rather they just attend all day, but for fewer days. No one asks me, though.

My son was building things with Legos a couple nights ago. This is my favorite of the pictures I took.

It feels like summer around here. When I step out of the house, I can hear the rustle of chipmunks and lizards in the bushes. I got two zucchinis and on summer squash out of my garden this morning.

N and J are done with school on Friday. The last three days of the week are only partial days. They are excited, but they complained all weekend about how bored they are. I don't think they realize summer will be like one long weekend.

We seem to have lost a children's library book. I'll renew it on line to give us time for it to turn up, but it seems to be gone. I'll be buying it soon enough. Normally, I only allow the kids to have their books when they are actually reading them. When they are done, I pop them back in the bag hanging from my bathroom door. When they were little, I never took them to the library so I wouldn't have to deal with this problem. We have plenty of kid's books all over the house, so it's not like they had nothing to read. Anyway, I let K get a book since the others got books. Hers, of course, is missing. I let her read it and forgot to track her back down to retrieve it.

Jessica made a cute tie-dyed t-shirt at a Daisy (Girl Scout) event this weekend. It came out pretty well. She earned her "Use Resources Wisely" petal from this.
K sees the doctor tomorrow for her three-year-old checkup. I am hoping she's already had her shots and won't need anything caught up. She's much more afraid of everything now that she's older.

Saw a property manager

I saw a property manager today. K misbehaved badly because she was so bored, but it certainly looks like this will be the way to go. I think I'll turn my first place over to them in the next week or so (I don't want to initialize getting a court date because then I have to go to court; I want the management company to get the court date if necessary). Then the others will be turned over as of July 1 if all goes as planned.

Mr. K and I spend a lot of time talking about the economy, inflation, our rental properties and their mortgages, our money in the stock market, and the way our country is racing towards socialism. It's all very depressing.

I've probably quoted her statement here before (and I think it would make a good signature line), but here's a quote from my favorite British prime minister:

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

Margaret Thatcher

The other excuse

I was supposed to get some rent by May 13. It didn't come. I called and left a message about it. I got a call back from the "husband." He told me it had been sent, and the "wife" would call me the next day to discuss it. I heard nothing. At the end of the week (the Friday leading up to Memorial Day), I left another message telling them the rent still hadn't arrived, and that if they really sent it, they might want to try to put a hold on the money order. Also, if I didn't hear from them by Tuesday, I'd be sending the pay or quit.

Tuesday I sent the pay or quit. Last Friday I got a call from the tenant.

She had a field trip with her daughter when it was time to send the rent, so she had Uncle J, who lives with them (the "husband's" great-uncle) go get the money order and mail it to me since he was going to the post office anyway. She even gave Uncle J an addressed envelope in which to mail it. Apparently she told her "husband" she had paid the rent. That's why he told me she had paid it.

Uncle J is having memory problems. Sometimes he's found out wandering around the neighborhood. Uncle J bought the money order. He forgot to mail it.

Meanwhile, the police got Uncle J because he had violated parole in the state of Maryland by leaving the state and moving to Virginia without getting their permission. He's back in jail in Maryland now. When he was jailed, they took everything away from him, including the money order. None of his stuff can be returned until he gets out.

My tenant has no money with which to pay the rent now. She tells me next month's rent will be on time, and she'll try to throw in some more money with it for last month's rent. She'll try to get last month's rent paid each time she has money throughout next month. If Uncle J gets out of jail any time soon, she'll just send the money order to me.

*****

I am meeting a guy who works at a property management company. We'll meet on Wednesday. If it sounds like it will work, I'm tuning all three rental properties over to a management company so that someone else gets these headaches. I'm probably not going to get a court date at this time. I'll wait and see if I get the rent. I have no one to watch the kids when I go. Mr. K says he has no time to deal with it. I'll see if the management company can handle it.

I am hoping to have the properties managed by someone else before a month passes.

ETA I don't necessarily believe a word of the excuse I was given, but it might be true in places.