Mercury I Will Meet you Out Behind the Woodshed

 

We are seeing tiny pieces of spring shooting up out of the ground or blossoming from a bush or tree. The weather is warm enough this winter that Mother Nature is truly confused. 

In between the raindrops, I do see buds pushing themselves out into the world, bringing with them the promise of warmer weather. I love spring. The scent of flowers and new life in the air, an invigorating energy enters my body and makes me want to do so much more, and the wonderful promise that summer is coming soon makes spring one of the best seasons. 

***

Monday, March 2, 2026

Friday, daughter Dawn, granddaughter Jess, great-granddaughters Novalee and Zyrah came to visit, at the same time Mallory and Hayden added fun to the day. It was a good day, filled with laughs, family, and fun. 

We said our hellos, gave each other hugs, and chatted for a moment, then climbed in the cars to go find a place to eat. Our first choice was a Mexican restaurant. Our favorite in this area is Hacienda Vieja. That's where we chose to go. 

The girls sat and played while the adults chatted. It was a good time had by all. 

After a meal of tacos, taco salad, tostadas or flat tacos as Terry calls them, burritos, chips and salsa, enchiladas and side dishes of beans and rice were all chowed on, we chose to go to a park to let the food digest and the girls play to burn some energy. Off we went to Stewart Park. 

Terry asked Mallory (his daughter) if she could help hang onto him while he pushed the swing for the girls. He was doing well even though his knee surgery had only been healing for a week. 

Novalee seemed to love the swings, although she stiffened her body instead of creating a lap. It was good for a couple of laughs. We knew she was in a swing that would not allow her to slide on through and fall out. 

Terry was having a good time pushing the girls and getting them to laugh. 

While the girls were loving Grandpa Terry pushing them, his knee was getting a bit wobbly and sore. 

My sweet man gave one last push and had to go sit down to rest his knee. 

Little Novalee wasn't sure what happened. Her mom, Jess, came over and began to give her swing a push or two. 

We had fun watching the smiles spread across the faces of the children. Nothing better than a smile or laugh from a child. 

Bella, Dawn's pup, watched with curiosity from her stroller as Dawn and the family played with the girls. We got into the car after giving the girls an hour or so to play and drove home again. Grandpa Terry played with Zyrah on the swing for a while as the rest of us hung out. Mallory and Hayden took off to drive home. 

As we chatted, Dawn and Terry found out their receipts from the restaurant had a flaw. Terry was charged for Dawn's items and ours too, while Dawn was also charged for her items. Her receipt was correct and our receipt had everyone's meal on it. This meant a double charge on our ticket. 

I called the restaurant and could not help the woman on the phone understand what I was meaning when I explained the situation. We all got into cars and drove to the restaurant so Dawn and Terry and I could explain. 

We explained and found she had already caught the mistake before we arrived. She ensured us that there was a void on Dawn's items from our receipt. After thanking her, we began our goodbyes again before getting into the cars. Dawn, Jess, and the girls were heading home. We overheard Jess saying she wanted to take the girls to a yogurt place we have here, called "Level Up" games and frozen yogurt. We offered to take them there. 

Everyone had a bowl of yogurt and chatted some more. It was so good to see the girls again. I miss my family quite a bit since I'm in Roseburg and they are in Eugene and Springfield and Lowell. It is only an hour away but in terms of seeing each other often, that hour feels a lot further away than it is. 

Yogurt finished. Terry and I drove one way, and they drove off the other way. Great ending to a beautiful weekend filled with family. Our night consisted of our regular tasks such as walking dogs, feeding them all, and petting kitties. We watched our favorite show and off we went to bed. Poof! Just like that, another weekend gone. 

***

Saturday and Sunday were fairly dull, as we both had nothing real important to do. Just two old people living life. We enjoy our life though. Both of us are happy with life in general. Terry tells me it is the happiest he's ever been in life, and that makes me smile. I know I'm very happy and quite settled in our life. I do love "us."

Saturday and Sunday led to more deliveries and hanging out together. As I go on deliveries, I find various places that I think are awesome and snap some photos while I'm there. I had a chance to run back to Oakland. Along the way I had another stop to make too, including a stop in an RV park along the river. Pretty place, or at least I think so. I love water. Rivers, creek, rain or snow runoff, rain gutters, puddles, oceans, whatever waterway I can find is fine with me. 

On the other side of the boat dock and the bridge is another sight in the fish hatchery. I have stopped in there before and did enjoy that view as well. 

I do apologize for these not being taken from the clear, but there were several people trying to get their boats in the water and out of the water after a day of fishing. I was making a feeble attempt to remain out of the way. 

***

This is our cat, Esme. Why? Why not? 

***

Saturday evening, we are sitting around, chatting. I picked up my phone after Terry went out to read and smoke his cigar, and the lock screen would not open. Continually pressing the numbers to create my pin, the disgruntled phone basically told me to screw off. I could not get into my phone. 

I have had the same four numbers making up my pin for years now, but I thought I would give some others a try. Nothing. Nada. When my hubby came in for the evening, I told him about my dilemma. He researched what to do and he found the same thing I had found. Basically, it all boiled down to having to do a factory reset on the beast. 

What? That means you lose all of your messages, your photos, your contacts ... everything. I do mean everything. I had to set up the entire phone again, including all of my delivery apps I had to download and then log in again, plus my email, my banking apps, etc., leaving no stone unturned. I am three days into this mess and still find apps that I'm missing. 

Once again, she is ready to go. Maybe. Possibly. We'll see. 

Know what caused all of this mess? Nothing. Absolutely nothing is what I'm told. I'll tell you what I think caused it ... same thing as it has been for many, many years in my life. Anything digital, electronic, or has any sort of electricity going through it ... I break it. Not on purpose mind you, but it falls apart on me. Believe it or not, it happens every single time Mercury goes into retrograde.

I cannot name how many people call bullshit. You may be laughing as well. Research tells me it is probably not true, but nobody, and I do mean nobody can convince me otherwise. 

I have had computers stop working or have major glitches. Phones have died on me before. I have had regular land line telephones have screeching noises come on the line when Mercury is doing its dance on my life. Yes, it is laughing at me. I know that happy little bitch is. Smiling and dancing as she watches me from afar as I collapse and kick things or burst into tears. 

Every. Single. Time. 

Each time, once Mercury is done playing her jokes, my stuff works again. I either figure it out or the item suddenly repairs itself. This time though? Yeah. She did a number on me. I had the entire conversation from day one that Terry and I have had since we met. Not anymore. That pisses me off more than anything. 

Well, played, Mercury. Well, played, bitch. I'll meet you out behind the woodshed. 

***

This is the end of this post now that I have my blood boiling again. It's time to take a break and simmer down. 

Before I stop writing, I would like to say that Terry had his surgeon's appointment today. He is off crutches and had the bandages removed. The knee is healing well, and all is good. His brace has to remain on the leg to prevent any bending of his leg. His physical therapy begins soon. 

I am so happy to see him healing so well. We also found out today that he didn't just pull the tendon off the kneecap, but the doctor also explained why his incision was so long. The poor guy also pulled his ligaments off of his knee as well, and those also pulled away. All of that from walking. That's all he did was walk. See what happens when you begin to get old? 

Everyone in our household wishes you all a beautiful week, filled with laughter, peace, love, and abundance. It's tough right now but remember to take a breath and relax once in a while. Take care of you. Hugs to you all and thank you for reading the blog. We do appreciate you. 

Until next time, 

Terry &Vicki Macrae

Two old people dodging Mercury's thunder bolts