Good News

I named this blog "Any GOOD Reason" because when I started it, I really didn't have any reason to be blogging, let alone a good reason. That's probably still true, but I like doing it. I think it's that 'talking to myself' feeling. I really don't care if anyone reads it. *laughing* Maybe I secretly hope nobody does. For me this blog is a nice way to sort out my thoughts on various subjects, to mourn things I need to mourn and to celebrate things I want to celebrate.

Today is a celebrate day. After last week's mourning for Japan. They still need help and prayers and probably will for a while, but the Japanese people are strong. They will come back.

I've had a week full of GOOD news, which gives me a good reason to blog. Actually some of the good news happened last week, but I couldn't celebrate at this time last week. The news from Japan was too frightening. Anyway on to the good news:

My niece is home in America, safe and sound, after a long and tiring week of travel and limited amenities. Her place in Japan is inside the radiation zone from the nuclear plant, so she opted to come back to the US until things are to the point where she can return.

My other niece matched at the residency program she wanted, so she'll be starting residency after graduating from medical school in May.

My promotion went through. YES! My overall reaction has been a huge sigh of relief. I'm so delighted that after all the political nonsense, my promotion went through. As of the new fiscal year, September 1st, I'll be a full Professor. It feels good. I personally thanked every one of my colleagues, here and around the world, who gave me references, both in the form of letters and actually speaking with the Promotion & Tenure Committee. I'm very grateful that I know and work with so many wonderful people. I'm really a lucky person.

So those are my big pieces of good news. On top of that, Spring is finally here. My grass is beginning to come up, my roses are leafing out like crazy, and the side of my peach tree that was minimally alive last Fall is trying to make a comeback. The picture at the top of the blog is from last Sunday. Tiny new leaves can be seen coming out. The picture at the bottom of the blog is from today. The alive side of the peach is continuing to grow, so maybe there's hope. I just need to try to prevent whatever killed the other side from killing the living side. This morning when I was out there looking at the tree, I found two little peach seedlings coming up, no doubt from a couple of the thousands of peach pits that litter that area. I transplanted the two little seedlings into pots. Maybe I can keep them alive too. I've never grown a tree from a seed before, not being very good with plants. Luckily I had pots and potting soil so I could plants the little things. I bought the potting soil recently for some baby cacti I'm trying to grow, and I cleaned out two of the big pots that held aloe vera until the snow killed them a year ago.

I'm probably going to need to mow my lawn this week. That'll be the first time this year, which is about the same time I began mowing last year I think. I also de-wasped the bird boxes out front. The little boxes I hung up there for the swallows to nest in also attract wasps. In another month or so the swallows will be back, so I stuck Bounce sheets up there to keep the wasps away, and removed a large red wasp nest that was built up there last summer. When I pulled that nest down I stuffed Bounce sheets around the edges of the bird box, and a large red wasp dropped out, nearly on my head! Serious adrenaline surge. If I hadn't been standing on a step stool I probably would have been running. It was struggling and buzzing on the porch, and before I finished the Bounce sheets and moved it was gone. They really hate whatever is in those Bounce sheets. Works for yellow jackets and honey bees too. They just fly away from it.

So, not much to bog about today. Just puttering about the place and I wanted to post briefly about all my good news.

Tsunami

I'm sitting here this morning thinking about "normal". It's a 'normal' Sunday and I'm doing 'normal' Sunday things, normal laundry, normal cleaning, normal everything. And through it all at the back of my mind is my niece, who's life is anything but 'normal' right now. Sarah is in Japan. Specifically that area of Japan that just went through an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale. That area that was just totally destroyed by a 23 foot tsunami wave. That area that they are estimating 10,000 people died in.

Sarah is lucky or blessed or both. She "normally" lives just north of a nuclear reactor that is now in partial meltdown. Thanks to an efficient Japanese government with lots of disaster planning and experience, Sarah and the people around her were evacuated much ahead of the explosion and the partial meltdown. Thanks to the townspeople at the center where she was evacuated to, she has food and blankets for warmth, and finally a way to charge her cell phone and tell her family that she's okay.

In this context, I'm struggling with 'normal' this morning. There's so much I want to do, and nothing I can do. So I'm doing the normal things, laundry, cleaning, and also periodically checking the news from Japan and the family Facebook pages for updates. And struggling with the dichotomy. My life is so 'normal' here, and the news from Japan is horrific. I have no way to imagine the anguish of my brother and sister-in-law as they waited to hear from Sarah or news of her whereabouts as more and more reports came in, as the world watched the tsunami roll over everything in it's path, as property crushed and burned and no doubt took lives with it.

Sarah is fine this morning. I find myself reminding myself of that fact over and over. I'm not religious. While I often believe in God, I don't believe in religion, in any of it's myriad forms. But I thank God for keeping Sarah safe and ask Him to watch over all the survivors in Japan and all the people rebuilding their not-so-normal, shattered lives.

Tax time!

Well, actually it's not tax time yet, but given that I used to do my tax return on February 2nd, I'm a little late this year. Hmmmmm. I think last year I was a little late too. Partly that's because ever since I can no longer do the EZ form, it's taken me longer to decide to sit down and do them, and partly I'm waiting to make sure I get acknowledgements from all the charities I donate to. Anyway this weekend it's too cold (again!) to do anything resembling yard work so I decided to do my taxes. For the first time ever, I did them electronically.

That wasn't by choice though. I'm so old-fashioned that I've been doing them by hand and mailing my return in by snail mail every year since I started doing taxes. This year I got a little notice in the mail that the IRS was no longer sending out the paper books with everything you need to file your return, and to please get with the program and file electronically like most reasonable people. *laughing* Well, they didn't use those words, but that's essentially what they said. So I was dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and I used Turbotax and e-filed my tax return yesterday.

I hate to admit it, but it was actually easier than my old, hand-written method. Plus I got almost $1000 more on my refund than I would have gotten doing it the old way. Turbotax knows what to look for and leads you to it, does all the calculations, and makes sure you don't miss anything. Very nice. I suppose I'll be e-filing from now on because it seems like one of those things that once you start using, you can't live without it. Like microwaves or online banking.

Interestingly, as much as I like online banking, I probably wouldn't have missed paying that bill last month if I were still writing checks each month. The statements for all my bills would be there, I'd write checks and check them off, so I always knew what was still pending for the month. Now I don't keep track of that. I just pay my bills as I get emails that they're due. I'm still trying to figure out HOW I missed that one last month. When the bill comes due, it turns red in my online banking account and sends an email to my email address. Usually I don't delete that email until after I pay that particular bill. But even if I had deleted the email, the bill should have stayed red until I paid it. It was never red last month, even though obviously I didn't pay it. I really don't know how it happened, but I do know that I need to stop relying quite so heavily on the electronics to keep me up to date on things. It makes me wonder. Do I really need to check off each bill on a list as I pay it each month, so I know what's paid and what's not? Or am I getting even more anal-retentive and obsessive-compulsive than usual?

The temperature this morning when I went out to get the paper was 34! And the little birdbath was frozen! I hope my aloe vera didn't take too much more damage. I didn't see anything in the news about freezing temperatures last night although it was damn cold yesterday. Mid-40s with a strong north wind. I took my car and had the oil and filter changed and some minor maintenance done and it was COLD outside. Things are starting to bloom around here though because it's starting to be warmer in general. Bradford pears are all in bloom and redbuds are starting to bloom as well. My peach, if it lives, won't bloom this year. I think I had it cut too far back to survive. It's hard to believe that last year is was so overgrown that my cat hid it it. This year it's a "Y" shaped stump. Here's a picture of what's left of it, with my neighbor's bradford blooming in the background.

The trees aren't really starting to leaf out much but if we'd get some rain and just a little more warmth they'll all leaf out with a vengeance. I really like the times of year when things are green better than the winter. Although it is nice to have a few months of not mowing the lawn.

Addy went out today and rolled in the dirt over by the peach tree. I think sometimes her skin is itchy and maybe that helps. Addy has really thick fur and often has dandruf. She likes rolling in the dirt when she can get out there, and lately they're both getting a little braver about being out there. Plus of course it's been a little warmer. I'm ready to have leaves on the trees and grass in my yard. Zoe's been sitting out there watching, waiting for the first grasshopper to come by probably. She's in stalking mode right now so I guess she thinks she saw something move. Anway, guess that's it for today. Later.