Transitions

This morning's attire can only be described as "soupy and gloomy."  The humidity weighs me down allowing a flood of memories to resurface while a list of things to do clicks in my head.  It's August weather such as this that tells me the season's transitioning.  The tomato crop has slowed to a crawl and blossoms are beginning to wither.  This summer has been a good one for my little urban farm.  I can't complain.  The freezer's jam packed with cherry tomatoes, kale, and green beens.

Today my prayers go to those along the Gulf coast as Tropical Storm (almost Hurricane) Isaac approaches.  It's unbelievable to me that another storm threatens New Orleans so close to Hurricane Katrina's anniversary.  Hopefully, lessons from her wrath encourage residents to do the right thing and their preparations have been thorough. 

The "Mom Mission" continues.  I need to get her on an earlier schedule.  She's tired, grieving, and, at times, can't make sense of it all.  For some reason on Sunday she insisted I change her room around.  This all stems from radio reports featuring severe thunderstorms as the meteorologist cautions (quite strenuously)  folks to stay away from windows.  Mom insists she needs to get away from the bedroom window.  I comply with the move (although I wanted to do it after the room had been washed and painted), but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

Browsing the hardware store had the feel of a European vacation (I don't get out much.)  The paint department offered a vast array of new colors and textures.  The house needs a change.  We need to get away from the colors of what once were to those that offer brightness and hope.  I leave the store with a fistfull of paint swatches, eager for Mom to choose the colors that speak to her.

The building department proved to be a problem.  I don't build much.  A web search informed me about these drip edge thingys.  I finally found them only to discover they were 10 feet long, not too easy to get into a small vehicle.  I asked the salesman if they came any shorter.  His response, "No.  Just pull your car around back and we'll stretch it!"  Wise guy!  In the end he cut the piece in two, which barely fit in the car.  A $5. a strip fix to save a big buck expenditure.  That's the way to roll!

Fingers crossed the "indoor water feature" has been resolved.  Yours truly did her rooftop inspection last Saturday and installed the aforementioned "drip edging."  (Thanks to my neighbor for holding the ladder.  She's a home repair gem!)  I caulked the two 5' pieces back together, so the moisture shouldn't seep through as well as liberally stuffing the stuff around the offending gutter.  Thankfully, the moisture barrier had two days to cure.  It's a temporary measure, but the edging has kept the cellar dry as of this writing.  If we can avoid tropical storms, blizzzards, and ice dams, it'll make it through the winter, next spring I'll get bids on a new roof.  This home management stuff has proven to be new territory for me.

In the meantime, since I don't sleep much, I've signed up for free college courses on Coursera.  Coursera comprises a group of top notch colleges and universities offering open courses, aka free.  Enrollment for me includes a course on "Introduction to Sustainability."  These are non-credit courses, but learning is important to me.  Without education, news hype takes on a life of its own.  I don't know what news accounts to believe any more and what measures to take to be a good steward of the planet.  So far, so good! 

So, what's new in your worlds?