| Blog: |
| Carine-what's cooking |
Topics: |
| family, humor, life |
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carine_Nadel
Friday, January 16, 2009
HEATWAVE
I’ve heard from cyber-friends in New York that it’s very cold.
We here in Orange County have no idea what in the world you are talking about. Cold you say? My energy, money-saving husband is still yelling at us about the 3-digit number on our electricity bill. Air-conditioning keeps going on. He’s got it set at the uncomfortable temperature of 82.
I can hear you all-you’re saying 82? And yes, it’s been going off. Rumors and TV weather people have said this heat wave will continue throughout the week. I love it. There's nothing better than taking a power-walk without the need for a heavy sweatshirt, possibly gloves and earmuffs. In fact-I had to wait to take my beloved mixed Lab Sunshine for her half-mile walk until 4:15 in the afternoon the other day because at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.-it was 87 degrees outside!
Being a creature of habit, this threw my own daily routine way off. You see, I enjoy going for my daily power walk at 11. I wade through my 75-100 e-mails (most of which end up in the junk area), answer any of them I declare important and then grab my IPod shuffle and go do something to keep my southern region from becoming a bubble butt. I usually take Sunshine first, after all, poor dear can only manage the few feet and it means so much to both of us to have this time together. Have I mentioned she’s 12-1/2? I personally think she’s doing darn well! My last furry walking partner had to stop going out with me at age 9, poor dear Lucky always had bad hips.
Back to the heat-on a recent newscast, we were told that we were on fire alert. Again. I guess that rain we had a few weeks back wasn’t enough to actually soak into the ground. Especially the areas that were already ravaged by the fires that had hit us less than 3 months ago. Besides the high temperatures, parts of Orange County is also feeling the effects of the Santa Ana Winds.
My parents, bless them, are nearing 80. I called to see how they were doing. My mom was telling me that the high winds were keeping them very busy. It seems their next door neighbor doesn’t believe in taking care of her palm trees, at all! We mentioned the safety factor to my parents when we were at the house just a few weeks ago. It appears that the woman’s daughter comes to check on the elderly woman only once a month and she only has the gardener taking care of the grass.
So there were my parents pulling the huge palm tree fronds off their driveway, the entire backyard AND THE ROOF!!! Then they had to water down everything to finish cleaning it up. That afternoon, the winds became very strong again. Next morning my mom tried to go out her front door. I say tried because the neighbor’s stupid palm trees blew an entire new crop of fronds all over my parent’s front yard again! This time there were so many that my parents couldn’t get out of their own home!
The cleaning process began allover again. There were my parents, almost 80 going out in temperatures hovering at 85 degrees and 30 mile an hour winds pulling their neighbors mess off of their entrance so they could get out of their own home!
I told my mom that as much as she didn’t “like to make a fuss”-that this was not what either one of them should be doing. They were going to have to tell their neighbor and her daughter that either they get busy and do something about the trees and shrubbery on their property or you would be calling the city and finding out who to make a formal complaint too. I told her to point out that if either one of you wound in the hospital because of having to do the heavy work of cleaning up after their overgrown yard that your son-in-law the lawyer would find a way to sue.
My mom sighed and said she couldn’t do that! “Why mom? If this woman doesn’t care about what she’s inflicting on you-why should you hesitate to take care of yourself?”
“Because she’s older than us and doesn’t realize that this is a problem.”
“Mom, if she doesn’t, her daughter does-we live 40 miles away and can’t do this for you. This is not right”
As you can tell, we aren’t only having a weather heat wave-we’re also having some heated discussions.
We here in Orange County have no idea what in the world you are talking about. Cold you say? My energy, money-saving husband is still yelling at us about the 3-digit number on our electricity bill. Air-conditioning keeps going on. He’s got it set at the uncomfortable temperature of 82.
I can hear you all-you’re saying 82? And yes, it’s been going off. Rumors and TV weather people have said this heat wave will continue throughout the week. I love it. There's nothing better than taking a power-walk without the need for a heavy sweatshirt, possibly gloves and earmuffs. In fact-I had to wait to take my beloved mixed Lab Sunshine for her half-mile walk until 4:15 in the afternoon the other day because at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.-it was 87 degrees outside!
Being a creature of habit, this threw my own daily routine way off. You see, I enjoy going for my daily power walk at 11. I wade through my 75-100 e-mails (most of which end up in the junk area), answer any of them I declare important and then grab my IPod shuffle and go do something to keep my southern region from becoming a bubble butt. I usually take Sunshine first, after all, poor dear can only manage the few feet and it means so much to both of us to have this time together. Have I mentioned she’s 12-1/2? I personally think she’s doing darn well! My last furry walking partner had to stop going out with me at age 9, poor dear Lucky always had bad hips.
Back to the heat-on a recent newscast, we were told that we were on fire alert. Again. I guess that rain we had a few weeks back wasn’t enough to actually soak into the ground. Especially the areas that were already ravaged by the fires that had hit us less than 3 months ago. Besides the high temperatures, parts of Orange County is also feeling the effects of the Santa Ana Winds.
My parents, bless them, are nearing 80. I called to see how they were doing. My mom was telling me that the high winds were keeping them very busy. It seems their next door neighbor doesn’t believe in taking care of her palm trees, at all! We mentioned the safety factor to my parents when we were at the house just a few weeks ago. It appears that the woman’s daughter comes to check on the elderly woman only once a month and she only has the gardener taking care of the grass.
So there were my parents pulling the huge palm tree fronds off their driveway, the entire backyard AND THE ROOF!!! Then they had to water down everything to finish cleaning it up. That afternoon, the winds became very strong again. Next morning my mom tried to go out her front door. I say tried because the neighbor’s stupid palm trees blew an entire new crop of fronds all over my parent’s front yard again! This time there were so many that my parents couldn’t get out of their own home!
The cleaning process began allover again. There were my parents, almost 80 going out in temperatures hovering at 85 degrees and 30 mile an hour winds pulling their neighbors mess off of their entrance so they could get out of their own home!
I told my mom that as much as she didn’t “like to make a fuss”-that this was not what either one of them should be doing. They were going to have to tell their neighbor and her daughter that either they get busy and do something about the trees and shrubbery on their property or you would be calling the city and finding out who to make a formal complaint too. I told her to point out that if either one of you wound in the hospital because of having to do the heavy work of cleaning up after their overgrown yard that your son-in-law the lawyer would find a way to sue.
My mom sighed and said she couldn’t do that! “Why mom? If this woman doesn’t care about what she’s inflicting on you-why should you hesitate to take care of yourself?”
“Because she’s older than us and doesn’t realize that this is a problem.”
“Mom, if she doesn’t, her daughter does-we live 40 miles away and can’t do this for you. This is not right”
As you can tell, we aren’t only having a weather heat wave-we’re also having some heated discussions.
Comments:
<< Home
Yes... The neighbors ought to be more considerate and have their palm trees regularly pruned !
Enjoy the heat while it lasts, Carine. We are due for rain on the 25th...
Enjoy the heat while it lasts, Carine. We are due for rain on the 25th...
darn, that's our older grandson's 2nd birthday! The younger one is 10 days later Annie. And guess whose home the party's at????
Palm trees? Fronds? I've heard about things like that but I didn't know they were real. More snow on the ground here this morning. We haven't had above-freezing temperatures in quite a while too so the snow is piling up. It's getting harder to find spots to put the new snow.
My dad celebrates his 79th birthday in about a month. They've had occasional neighbor issues too since both their neighbors are in their early 20s. (Loud parties late at night)
My dad celebrates his 79th birthday in about a month. They've had occasional neighbor issues too since both their neighbors are in their early 20s. (Loud parties late at night)
my mom will be 79 in July, Dad 80 in May Dave.
Your poor dad-parties and 20 year olds. I live w/ 2 in their 20's, but they're such homebodies that they came home before we did on New Year's Day
Post a Comment
Your poor dad-parties and 20 year olds. I live w/ 2 in their 20's, but they're such homebodies that they came home before we did on New Year's Day
<< Home
