Several days ago we rented The Wrestler, starring Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei, and we were finally able to watch it last night. The acting by Mickey Rourke was outstanding. I’m not surprised he was nominated for an Academy Award. I have to say it was a very good movie, and it had a story to tell and it told it very, very well.

But I can’t tell anyone they should see the movie. It struck me as one of the saddest stories I’ve seen. Actually, a tragic story. Bruce Springsteen’s song, The Wrestler, played over the closing credits, finally pushed me over the edge into tears. A day later I am still feeling so sorry for the main character and the choices he made, which ultimately left him sad and alone at the end of his career.

It made me hug Don a little harder. It made me appreciate the life I have and the wonderful people and family with which I have been blessed. My wish is that everyone could love and be loved, and that no one would pass through this life unknown and alone.

Over the last two days we have planted hastas and vincas in our front flowerbeds, followed with a thick layer of the new black mulch that will keep its color for at least a year. The heat and humidity here are both high right now, and both days we sweat buckets!

Don did all the heavy, hard work of digging the beds out and the deeper holes for the hastas. I am so lucky to have him! He is always happy to do chores like these, and never, ever complains or makes me feel like I’m asking too much of him. In fact, I am the procrastinator who would put the actual digging and planting off until ‘tomorrow’, while he wants to ‘git ‘er done’ right now. Hence, we have a much nicer looking front entry now, and there are no plants ‘waiting’ in the wings to be planted! I love it that he is anxious to get the work done, and now even I can reflect and be happy that it’s completed and not something still on the to-do list.

Of course, we both like to jump into the pool when a hot, sweaty job like that is completed, and that’s how we’ll be spending the next hour or so…cooling off and drifting on floaties under the hot Oklahoma sunshine, with no guilt feelings. We have to be quick, though; in Oklahoma you can have a sunny, beautiful afternoon turn cloudy and stormy in a matter of minutes! So….we’re off!

We had our first pool party yesterday–finally! The weather cooperated and the sun was blazing (a requirement!!) and there was NO WIND, for a change. The water was perfect. So we grilled chicken for dinner after an hour or so of pool time. It had to be one of the most relaxing and fun afternoons we’ve had for a long time. We are definitely going to enjoy this larger pool this summer!

Earlier in the day we found a very tiny Sheltie dog wandering the neighborhood, obviously lost. Fortunately, he had a collar and a rabies tag. Although the rabies tag was outdated (2 years old!!), the veterinarian’s number was still good, and they did have a record of the owner. However, they called the numbers and neither of them were still working. Luckily the office manager gave me the owner’s name and we were able to locate her via the Internet (don’t you just love it when it’s GOOD information). Very shortly we were able to drive the dog to his home, and a happy reunion ensued. We were thrilled to be able to put pup and owner back together. And RELIEVED that we wouldn’t be faced with deciding the poor little thing’s fate. He was pretty cute! I must say, though, he had only been out since ‘this morning’, she said. But he was obviously not very well cared for, with a matted and oily coat of fur and nasty yellow teeth; the vet had told us he is only 2 years old! So, we are hoping for the best for the little guy.

We are off today to visit relatives in other towns. Long drives followed by fairly brief visits, but we are glad we live close enough to see them frequently.

Have a great weekend yourself!

The pool is up! Yea! A cause for celebration, not only for being able to use it in the Oklahoma heat, but also because finding pool salt turned into a QUEST of semi-ample proportions.

In addition to graduating to a larger pool this year, we also invested in a much larger pump and a salt water generator, which will allow us to avoid using chlorine in the pool. The salt water generator requires that you add salt to the pool water. Once the salt has been thoroughly dissolved, you turn on the salt water generator and the electricity passing through the salt water creates ‘natural’ chlorine for the pool. There are many advantages to using this system, including the use of fewer additional chemicals to keep the water balanced, no chlorine smell, no more red eyes (a big plus!), and more.

Sounds simple, yes? Definitely. But the search for pool salt proved to be a bit more daunting than we had anticipated. We knew that we wanted Morton Pool Salt and searched online for it. Guess what, it isn’t that readily available; only a few places carry it online, and even fewer in their local stores. Sam’s Club was our best bet. But, not having a Sam’s Club membership, we continued our search, calling and driving to various stores. Home Depot and Lowe’s were both supposed to carry the salt, but in fact did not have a single grain. There was plenty of water softener salt available, but that salt will not work in this system and will eventually ruin the equipment.

We finally gave in and purchased a Sam’s membership so we could get the cotton-pickin’ stuff and go on with our lives.

We hadn’t been to a Sam’s in many years, and had forgotten just how much fun it is to see so much stuff at such discounted prices. Makes you want to buy stuff you really don’t need, just because it’s so cheap! But! No Morton Pool Salt!!! Imagine our frustration at that development! NONE of the Sam’s in town had it, nor did they think they would get any in! Then why was it on their website?! No one knows. It’s just another one of those things that will go unanswered.

We left totally frustrated, but with a trunk full of FOOD, so the trip wasn’t a total loss. And we now have a Sam’s card so of course we’ll now be stopping by there frequently, I would think.

One bummer. The same Intex above ground pool we purchased elsewhere was selling at Sam’s for $100 less than we paid. Trying not to think about that too much. Would have paid for the Sam’s membership plus some of our grocery purchases!!! Bummer. NEXT time we’ll check there first. In person.

Of all things, that very same night Don went to a local Walmart to pick up totally unrelated items and decided to check, just in case, to see if they had Morton Pool Salt. Eureka! He found it! Walmart did not have it listed online as being carried at any of their stores, but they had two pallets of the stuff. WHY didn’t we just go by and look there? Guess we just trust the Internet too much!

We are happy that we finally found the salt we needed! The pool is open for swimming (& floating!), and we enjoyed it very much this past weekend……finally!!!! And, thanks to our Sam’s membership, there is so much more of us to float now……!

We are spending part of the holiday weekend putting up another above-ground pool. We can hardly wait. Last year, our first experience with above-ground pools was surprisingly pleasant. But we learned a lot. Like, the pumps that come with the pools are inadequate and you end up having a heck of a time cleaning and keeping the pool clean. Not so fun. We also learned that the 12′ diameter was okay, but we really wanted a larger size. So, we are putting up an 18′ pool this weekend. Yippee! The pool comes with a pump and filter, but we purchased a much larger pump and a saltwater filter, and are anticipating much less time spent this summer cleaning (& complaining–that was me you may have heard cursing one afternoon last summer…… Believe me, bailing out a pool to get it totally clean is so NOT fun.)

Don has been sick with bronchitis this week, but we are hoping that he will feel up to the challenge and be able to get the pool done over the weekend. If not, the world won’t stop, but it would be nice to get it up and warming. Last summer it was such fun to be able to jump in and relax after work, but Don’s fun was cut short when he developed two herniated discs and had to have surgery on his neck (I know OUCH). Barring any unforeseen problems, he should be able to squeeze a lot of fun out of this pool this summer. We are both looking forward to that, you can bet!

I hope all of you have a great Memorial Day weekend, spent doing whatever it is you most would like!