No More UPS Or Canada Post Ground Service Either....Yay Tariffs!! Gleep!!!

 My husband is disassembling the  box of goodies he planned to sent to our son south of the border.  After finding out that FedEx was no longer an option for us, our son suggested we try using UPS as he has had to send many paintings to Canada for art exhibitions in the past year.  Weeeelllll....that is no longer an option for sending personal items south.  We rolled up to their office this afternoon and my husband carried his box of stuff inside.  Less than one minute later he emerged, still carrying the box after being told that UPS no longer sends packages via ground transport to the USA.  Too much hassle with paperwork, brokers etc.  He told us to try Canada Post, so although we had little hope of getting the parcel sent that way we took the time to go to an outlet and ask.  Weeeelllll, we COULD use Canada Post....IF we create an online account and then send them the info as to what is in the box, then they will assess what tariffs and other customs costs we will owe and whether or not they will allow us to send it at all, then we pay any costs with our credit card and they email us a special certificate of sending that we print off (thankfully we do have a printer), and take to the post office here to prove that we have permission to send the parcel across the border.  How long this process takes we have no idea and having our credit card on yet another website is not appealing so we will likely never have to find out. Hence, our son will just have to do without the items we wanted to send. One of them should fit nicely into my husband's luggage for our summer trip....a used item that our son once had a great deal of fun with and would enjoy having back again.  

How can you tell we haven't mailed anything stateside since last August when all these new rules and regulations came into effect? hahaha We knew and assumed and are not surprised things have changed drastically, but gosh darn it, what a hassle to send a small box to our own son.  Well, guess he will only be getting new items that we can send through American Amazon from now on. For now at least......

AND gosh darn it all over again....if it isn't going to rain could the steel grey clouds and chilly wind gusts of the past three days just go away so we can enjoy some sunshine???   

My husband went to the doctor this afternoon to hear the test results from his annual physical examination.  Everything is A-OK other than, as usual, his iffy cholesterol count.  The doctor wants him to try one more experiment with his present statin  and then if the new experiment also fails like the last two did and the debilitating headaches return, all he has to do is call and leave a message for the doctor and a new med will be prescribed.  He will run the experiment next week when he returns from his upcoming camping trip. The doctor pronounced him, apart from the cholesterol, "healthy as a horse"!!  So happy for him. It is great news; even greater news at his age!

As is usual for me when he is at the doctor's office, I go along for the ride and shop at the store next to the clinic.  Today I found not one, but two replacement summer dresses for one I had to get rid of. They will be perfect for bopping around in NYC in the heat in August. So inexpensive....so happy....so easy to pack them in my carry on bag....so relieved!! A good day. 

For Our Farming Relatives

 Hello farming family: I am disappointed to report that other than a very brief shower of raindrops around midnight the other night, no true rainfall materialized all weekend. Sigh….it is already scarily dry here. While it is helping local farmers catch up on their late snowfall induced seeding season, the seed isn’t going to germinate properly now if we don’t get some serious rain soon. Over the weekend we were forecast to have anywhere from 30% to 60% chance of rainfall three days in a row but what we received was a big fat nada! Happily no thunderstorms or hail, but….

Sorry about the group post but it saves sending the same report to all of you individually. Happy farming season you guys!

Late Night Kid Noise But No Early Morning Goose Wars! Yay!

 After a long and busy day that included a cup of deliciously strong tea which kept me awake late into the evening, I was very pleased that the Goosey Turf Wars from that morning seem to have ended….for now. The weekend event in the park where most of those geese normally reside, that drove them over here for the weekend, ended sometime close to dinnertime last evening so by bedtime all the geese had returned home. This morning we have only our usual five regulars who do very little squawking. Whew!

Our little troupe of middle eastern kids who play outside often even on school nights until midnight or later was at it again last night after a blessed two night reprieve. Last night I didn’t care at all because the tea had ME bouncing off the walls until nearly 1 am….the same time the kids finally went silent….a nice dovetailing that gave me a good start on staying asleep for the night. 

I am grateful! I feel almost awake this morning! Yay!