Judys Birthday

Judy's birthday was yesterday. We are both now 74.  She still puts up with me after nearly 49 years.  I will never understand why.  It was a low keyed day with calls and visits from kids and grand kids.  Andrew made delicious cupcakes and we took the obligatory photos.  I think all in all a pretty good day.

The stair lift was installed on Thursday so we can get Shannon into the apartment.  Tonight is the maiden voyage on this apparatus.  Knowing her, she is going to crackup on the ride down and up.  We still have a couple of tweaks with the lower dismount to work out, but is should be fine.  Our kind benefactors, the Elks Club of Waterford will receive the first photo of her riding down the stairs.  We will be giving it to them at their veterans luncheon tomorrow.  This is indeed a big step.

We watched the new Netflix documentary Will and Harper  last night.  These two individuals met in 1995 when they both worked on SNL and Will was just starting out as a player and his friend was a writer and later head writer for the show.  They became close friends over their time together.  Sometime much later Andrew (now known as Harper) sent an email to Will that there had been a transition in the life and he was now going to continue on living his life as a woman.  The film covers a lot of why the change was made thru questions and answers between the friends.  They travel from New York City to California with many stops along the way.  The two visit places like dive bars, race tracks and sporting events and generally the reactions were curious but not unkind.  The pass thru Texas was not a pleasant.  

I don't claim to understand why a man, a rather successful one and loving father would choose to change genders.  Will did not understand either.  But they are friends, real friends with genuine care for each other and each learned truths revealed thru honest discussions and shared experiences.  

If you can be open minded and without judgement, see this one.

All for now

stay safe

 

An article in the WSJ

Reading an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today about the removal of statues commemorating Confederate war heroes in North Carolina.  In America we exist in collection of dissonant realities.  This is one of them.  What we call the Civil War is called the War of Northern Aggression in some quarters in Southern states.  

In our vicinity, those of us that remember the history from high school attest that this conflict was fought over slavery or the right to own another human being.  This concept is abhorrent to most of us regardless of our background.  Proponents of these statues (67 in North Carolina alone) would say that the conflict was over states rights to determine their destiny.  It one of those so called rights was to own other people it kind of negates the concept.  These matters are rarely discussed because there is no solution to the discord that exists.

Sitting in our dwelling with our other dog, Miss Sweetums is quite comfortable for her.  She has taken a real shine to Judy and now seems to have a semi permanent spot on our couch  She and Harry have joining beds.

Have contacted Mobility Works in Livonia now that the construction work is completed.  They are starting on the stair lift system this Thursday to facilitate getting Shannon up and down the stairs. 

These are early construction shots from the beginning of the summer.  We have com along way with this process..  Glad we are done.

thats is for today.

all for now

  

Stay safe.



 

All In

Well, the space is finally done save a couple of boxes of books in the garage.  Brian Mitter, our contractor installed a solid core bedroom door, a door covering the water meter and fixed our sticking bathroom door.  We found a place for nearly all the pictures and art work we have been collecting for decades.  Have finally learned all the features of the dimmer lights.  It is starting to become home.  It has been a long road, since January 5th of this year to completion.  Lots of trips back and forth from Oxford Towers toting stuff.  

In order to make it a legal living space, we had an egress window installed.  We still are installing a stair lift for Shannon to access the place.  That is coming in few weeks.  She will be with us next weekend when Eli and Mare are back with their mom.  

My first friend at Oxford Towers, John Considine has died in Florida in hospice care.  He decided a few years ago to relocate there for health reasons.  He and I and our buddies shared Tuesday meetings outside most mornings.  Some of the members have died or. moved away.  We went to Einsteins bagels for coffee.  He was a mess in many ways, always seeking answers whether in religion, diet or alternative lifestyle. A Florida residence was his last answer.  He succumbed after a stroke and recent fall.  He always had great stories to tell.  His grandfather was the first parks and rec superintendent for the city of Detroit and has a recreation center on Woodward Ave. named after him. He will be missed by many and derided by others.  Sad he is gone.

Daughter Katey is moving into her first home in Roseville.  We are helping her move stuff this morning.  She is excited and we are for her big step.  Now all my kids have moved from apartments to houses as well as us in this new dwelling.  It's kind of a full circle moment.

It's time for me to begin my weight lifting regime and leg strengthening exercises.  Becoming more comfortable with my new beard.  Andrew is upstairs making breakfast for Steph and the kids.  I hear him banging around in his kitchen.

thats it

all for now

stay safe

the Tumultuous Road to completion

It's been a tumultuous road to completion on this apartment.  The appliances have been installed save the over the range microwave and ice maker.  At so many levels Lowes failed to perform as promised.  First, I appears that they gave our refrigerator to someone else.  Later, after many phone calls, we got a replacement.  They sent out a team of installers to put in the ice maker.  Neither of which had ever performed the task before and were completely flummoxed.  It went back in the box, only to be refunded after lots of discussions and negotiations with the store and corporate office.  Judy and I made the management decision that we would use the microwave we already had and sent back the item shipped.  We had lost all faith that Lowes could install it successfully and safely.  Each of us had images of this heavy machine falling on the stove and ripping out the overhead cabinet.  On the upside, everything we have  works and it's nice to have a dishwasher.  The new washing machine does well and has a massive capacity.   We are nearly at the end of this process.  The general contractor is installing a bedroom door and a door over the water meter tomorrow.  Then, thats it.  Judy has completed nearly all the painting.  My painting talents are minimal and its best I stay away from the brushes and rollers.

 The refrigerator is semi full and the grand kids are happy to show up after school to eat and hang out.   We have tried to stock some of their favorites   Today is the first dinner we will provide.  It will consist of things they are used to and comfortable with.  Lunch at both schools is served  early so they are famished when they walk in the door.

We have located most of the stuff packed from the apartment aside from AA batteries.  Starting to put stuff

on the walls to make it more homey.  Still taking too many steps looking for the location of regular items.  Are fhe forks in this drawer or that one?  What shelf on the pantry are the cereals?  The place is starting to feel like home but not there yet for me.

I have job assignments.  I water plants, clean the cat box.  cut the lawn, and incessantly make lists of items to purchase and tasks to complete.  Cooked my first meals on the new stove.  I made a mushroom, lemon pasta and an eggplant /olive feta cheese  pasta dish, cooked in the oven.  

This beard is making me look like Gabby Hayes (few of you will get this)

These are some photos of plants around the yard.

all for now

stay safe

More developments

Well more stuff is being delivered today.  Appliances are coming.  The plumber is hooking up the sink/disposal/faucet.  Stove and dishwasher are being delivered and a new washing machine.  Lots going on.  By the end of this day, we should have an up and running kitchen.  Katey has gifted me with some athletic shirts from her collection.  They fit good and are comfortable.  

Have to mention this date in our history where terrorists attacked and killed our citizens and destroyed the World Trade Center.  Even from afar, it is still a devastating memory.  Like the Kennedy assassination, we all can remember where we were when we heard the news.  Our world has been forever changed since that day.  We still feel sorrows for the victims and their families.  

It is going to be a sunny day and Harry is still not comfortable with all the changes going on in this new environment.  He's got this well what's next look. 

Big presidential debate last night.  I did not view and looked at the post mortem online this morning.  The election is still a ways off. It could still go either way.  Many of us are nervous.

All for now

stay safe

Had to include my final photo from Berkley of lovely blooms from a hasta plant.  

Progress

We are making progress on our resident apartment.  They put in the new countertop in the kitchen yesterday.  On of the installers got cut on the stone.  Mama Judy jumped into action and patched him up and made him promise to visit Urgent Care after the day was thru. We are getting the appliances tomorrow and we will

finally be in business,  This process started on January of this year and now coming to fruition. Doing more walking in the neighborhood.  Walked on Lahser to 12 mile yesterday with Harry.  The houses were well maintained and tidy.  The walk was too noisy for my liking. 

For the first time in my life, I am now a minority.  This community is about 70 percent African American.  To a person, all the folks I have encountered have been pleasant and quite friendly.  One could call it "code switching", but I don't think so.  I think it is an age demographic thing.  Most of the people are old like me.  in some ways, moving past our differences.

and on to our similarities. This is a good thing.

Big presidential debate tonight.  The question will be; can Kamala best the former president?  Will he go off the rails and attack her with false labels and bring up past legal decisions that color her in the worst possible light?  Will all the crimes he has been convicted of be brought to light?

Sadly, Mufasa has died.  What a wonderful and enduring legacy James Earl Jones leaves behind.  There

could never be anther Darth Vader.  I remember seeing Star Wars in 1977 and being completely consumed by the story and the heavy and labored breathing of this most menacing character.  I can't count the number of times Shannon and I watched The Lion King on a Sunday morning with me reciting the dialogue. 

thats it.

all for now

need to get into the shower and begin my day

Current events

It's morning and the kids have returned.  Andrew has the day off and he is doing the morning shuttle duty.  Have decided to grow the beard back.  The initial discomfort has worn off and now it's pretty comfortable.  Judy was helping Marie with her algebra homework last evening.  Neither Andrew nor I have the capacity for these math problems.  Today the electrician is coming to complete his work.  We have power for about half of the apartment at this point.  

We had a mountain of garbage for yesterday's pickup with all the yard waste and the packaging for all the cabinetry.  Southfield's current contractor for this service picked it all up, thank goodness.  So pleased with this, I wrote to the city complementing them on this service yesterday.  

Have found use for the shelving units from our storage space from Oxford Towers.  They are ones you can disassemble and reconstruct without tools.  Have proved to be an asset as we establish this new living space.  Doing lots of climbing  in this setting.  One day my Fitbit told me I did 51 flights of stairs due to all the stuff moved from garage to apartment.  Thankfully this part of the process is almost done.  

The biggest part of the struggle of transition is finding new spots to put living equipment and then remembering  where you put it.  The space is all new. Few locations have been established.  At some point it will make some sense.  Slept poorly last night.  It affected my balance making me all off kilter.  

Well, waiting on the electrician.  He will probably not be thrilled with all the stuff thats been put away.  Hey, we live here now.  Glad to have a single address

all for now

stay safe
 

Life Below Grade

Well, we're in sort of.  Still moving the closet stuff and the kitchen stuff.  Have electricity for half of the apartment.  There is more work to be done on the elec panel.  Here are some photos of things as they are now.  Paining still has to be done.  All the segments of the work took longer than anticipated, (no surprise).  Appliances are coming next week and the countertop .

on the following week.  

We have arrived.  The move is all complete with lots of stuff in the garage looking for a home. It is most pleasant to only have one address.  Lots of things to get used to in this neighborhood with its manicured lawns and all the Mercedes and Cadillac automobiles around.   

Touch screen on my 2018 Ford Fusion went black. 

Everything else works, thank goodness.  We have reviewed YouTube videos and tried their methods without success so far.  Would really like to get this fixed without going the dealer route.  

My other son Alvin is in from Hawaii where he is stationed, with his wife and new baby in tow.  Judy is chomping at the bit to squeeze this chubby little guy. 

So it is September 2nd and kids are back at school.  I miss the noise and activity of Rogers Elementary down Oxford Road..  Really quiet here, something I will have to get used to. 

Eleven steps up to the main floor.  I travel on these numerous times in a day.  Constructors have installed many overhead lights to brighten the environment.  These photos are lit by one table lamp, hence their dimness.  

Well off to un load the car for the last time. It's filled with dishes and other kitchen equipment.  I have told everyone that this is my final. move.  I am going straight to the graveyard from here.  Hopefully I will expire upstairs so the undertaker won't have to haul my sorry ass up the stairs.

all for now

stay safe

now a full time Southfield Resident