Quiet at Last....

With the temperatures approaching the mid 90s this afternoon, another preview of the long, hot, summer to come,is upon us....and unlike our neighbors to the north, south, east, and west of us, we remain dry.  10 miles east, 30 miles south, 70 miles north, and 100 miles west of us, all got plenty of rain over the weekend, or yesterday....Mercer County?  Nary a drop....some thunder and lightning, but no rain to speak of, and we remain parched to the bone....and now the heat is back....with little rain in the forecast.

Last night I crawled back on the bike so to speak....after getting hit in the throat by a fast ball off the turf on Saturday at Celina, I went back behind the plate at Crestview last night...the heat was pretty intense, but the strong breezes helped, even with the umpire full gear on....the nearly 2 1/2 hour game ended just before 8:30, and I rolled home arriving just before 9:30pm.  Sam came home from his double header, his 4th in 7 days, a while after I arrived...tonight we both go to Lima, me at Shawnee, and he will head to LCC.  The heat will be even more intense than last night.

The one thing we do have that has been missing over the past week, "Quiet"....The fire and water restoration crew, out of Lima, took the powerful fans and from the kitchen, basement, and the water vacuum from the TV room and wood floors.  Their clean up girls are here this morning, finishing up the dusting...and then we can begin the  repairs and replacements.  The first of the kitchen and cabinet folks will be here tonight at 7pm for the beginning rounds of estimates. 

So far the bill sets at $5000....just under $3 grand for the clean up, and just over $2000 for the kitchen floor replacement.  There will be more, the refinish of the portion of the hardwoods...it appears the 90 year old pine will be saved, but not without a portion needing some refinish.   Also the excess water and electric bills to the city will need to be reconciled...Nationwide will take care of that.  What we will do is have to take care of the improvements and upgrades to the kitchen.  Different floor material, probably new windows, and a relocation of sink, cabinets, and improvements to same.  We are not exactly sure of what we will have done.....but changes are in the future.

For now, we will enjoy the "quiet"....

This morning I walked out and noted the first of the seasons Sunflowers had bloomed....one of the wild variety.  Sadly, there will not be many this year, and those that do bloom will be mostly from left over seeds that the birds and Squirrels dropped on the ground last year...of those I planted from seeds, few remain...my first failed planting in four years.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose....with the warm, windy, then hot and dry spring, it appears things will not work out well for the flower crop this year....even the Moon Flowers are not growing well....despite the watering I have been  handing out.

So for now we enjoy the lack of noise, and beat the heat as best we can....

back later>>>>

Photos-The Kitchen Floors are now dry, and ready to be replaced...once we get the estimates taken care of and what the final plans are.....the first of my sparse crop of Sunflowers peaked out this morning....it appears they will be few and far between this season, better luck next year, as the saying goes.