Pot Bellied Stove / Water Cooler
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Hello everyone, The weather has been pretty good the last couple of weekends making it easy to get the garden going. Hubby and I built a trellis for the tomatoes to climb on. I bought cherry tomatoes that were supposed to be a determinate bush type (that's what the tray they were sitting in said), so I bought two of them. A couple days later after I had planted them I asked hubby to look at how big they would get and he told me he didn't know, it says determinate. OMG, I was not happy about that at all, lol. Those things would take up my entire garden bed.
So, build a trellis from some old wood we bought from a lady who had used lots of nails and staples in. I took out the nails and staples, hubby did the cutting and building according to my vision as we went along. It turned out really nice and it's huge, 10' long by about 8 feet tall. So, I have two cherry tomatoes that will go crazy on it planted in front of the middle section. Then I have two roma tomatoes on each side. There are three containers, each 40 inches long with two tomatoes in each. I also seeded one basil and 1 bell pepper in front of the tomatoes, in each container. That still leaves me way too many tomatoes than I need, roma's only come in a six pack. I have two homestead heritage planted also. I asked my friend if she was going to come pick in a few weeks, there is no way I can use all that.
I'll be able to plant cantaloupes, squashes and beans along that trellis as well. It will be nice to rotate the crop out there. I have already decided I would like two more trellises, but these will be made with cattle panel in an arch design. The bottoms spread about 4-5 feet apart so I can walk through and sit down in a chair to enjoy some shade from the vines growing on it when it's hot. It will make it easy to harvest and work the vines by going under also. I have lots of seeds to sow of veggies and flowers. Flowers to bring the good bugs to the garden to battle the bad ones that always come my way. Already spraying soap water to battle the white flies on tomatoes, and found a cut worm in my onions the other day.
Sanferris-Sure glad to hear things are going well for you.
I hope everyone is having good weather and enjoying it too.0 -
anewstart22 wrote: »Hello everyone, The weather has been pretty good the last couple of weekends making it easy to get the garden going. Hubby and I built a trellis for the tomatoes to climb on. I bought cherry tomatoes that were supposed to be a determinate bush type (that's what the tray they were sitting in said), so I bought two of them. A couple days later after I had planted them I asked hubby to look at how big they would get and he told me he didn't know, it says determinate. OMG, I was not happy about that at all, lol. Those things would take up my entire garden bed.
That was supposed to be, he didn't know, it says "Indeterminate", which means it could go as big as 10 feet long trailing arms here in the south, sheesh!
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Good Morning. As I was typing here yesterday morning, my eye lids got very heavy and I went over to sit in my big chair and dozed off. All of a sudden, it was 8:30 and both Norma and John were up and getting their cups of coffee. I did not bring in the firewood, one log at a time, but John brought it in later and we had the house toasty warm all day.
I had an interesting realization very early yesterday. At about 3:30 am I woke up and was crazy with itches, even though the nurse told me to wear the bra 24/7, I took off the bra and went back to bed. I was comfortable while in bed, but when I got up at 6 am, I had pain. Got that compression bra back on asap. I knew it was giving me support and pressure, but had no idea how much that heavy pressure eliminated the pain.
Going to see the oncology surgeon today for post-op. The appointment is at 1 pm, so that gives me all morning to get John to take another shower and wash his hair this time. I NEED him to scrub my back for me, so that will get us in there together so I can make sure that shampoo gets used. Then, after we see the doctor, we can all go out for lunch.
Tomorrow marks one week from surgery already. I'll need to get an email update out to let everyone know how I'm progressing. I am so thankful that I'm doing so well.
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Well, I get to go in for jury duty tomorrow. We'll see if I get chosen or not. There was a long list of names that have to report. I know a couple of them so at least there'll be a familiar face there.0
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Good Morning, yesterday was good but I put quite a strain on John. He couldn't understand why he was there and did not like the waiting. We got the results of the pathology, there were 2 distinct tumors that were of the same cancer properties as the old ones, so the chemo pills that I’m taking should probably continue to be my treatment. All other tissue removed was benign. I go back to see this particular doctor in 6 months. I still have a lot of other doctors I will be seeing in the meantime.
I think that due to the fact that I'm doing so well, John doesn't understand or remember that I had the surgery already. Last night he kept asking me if the doctor that we saw is going to schedule me for the surgery. I said that it's all done and over with, I had the surgery last week, he does not remember any of that.
Today, Norma and I are going to clean house, well, I'll show a bit of an attempt, probably Norma will do all the work.
Tomorrow, we are headed south to meet up with 2 of Norma's friends who she went to college with. Should be a fun outing. Thursday, some cousins from the Portland area are coming for a quick afternoon visit, probably just an hour or two. And, Friday, back to the plastic surgeon for another follow-up appt.
Oh, way too soon, it will be time for Norma to go home. whaaaaa
Debora, did you get chosen? I was chosen once and then before we could go the distance, he made a plea deal.
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Yep, I got chosen - go back tomorrow. Can't talk about the case now though. Need to do a few things this evening so will save my long post for later.
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Hi Sheryl, did the oncologist say whether you will have to do radiation? Hopefully a nice lunch afterward made the waiting worth while for John. Sounds like some fun outings and visits the next few days. Be good to yourself. Nice that Norma can "help out" with cleaning the house.
Anew, so great to hear from you. Too funny about the monster tomatoes. It will be nice to have your garden going again though. We'll stay tuned for further developments.
Debora, I have been called down to the courthouse but have never made it out of the juror's lounge.
Take care all!0 -
Hello everyone, today began with a good deluge of rain, good enough to tear up my zinnias in the pot out in my garden.
I'll need to keep an eye on it to see how it does, but everything else looks great. One of my basil seeds has shown it's first two leaves in my cherry tomato container, so just waiting to see about the bell peppers I planted there too. I sowed one of each basil and bell pepper in the two roma tomato containers as well. I should be doing well with those in a few weeks. Tomorrow I'll sow lots of seeds for herbs and flowers to get the garden further into bringing the good bugs to it. We have lots of gecko's out here, they are all over the garden and I am hoping the bad bugs will be under control with them. I do think they'll eat the good guys too though, so it's all about balance out there.
I found a new tool for the garden too. I was searching for a DIY template for planting seeds in the the square foot garden to get spacing under control, and found the perfect tool already made for us. So, I don't have to make a template with wood pieces, or string, or....
This seedingsquare.com/ will be absolutely perfect. It's a canadian company so I will be buying stateside to avoid the slow shipping from there.
I have only been called for jury duty twice in my life, they nailed me to the chair the second time, lol.
Have a great day everyone.
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Good Morning, Norma and I had so much fun yesterday. Drove down to Wilsonville to meet up with her 2 college friends. We had met up with Barb and her husband about 5 years ago, but I hadn't met Marilyn before. Norma hadn't seen Marilyn since graduation so they had 40+ years of life to catch up on. I thoroughly enjoyed my "day out with the girls", I don't get to do that very often.
Isabella, I see the radiation oncologist on April 16th. My other doctors and I doubt that I'll need radiation, but I won't know for sure until he tells me in a few weeks.
Here's the update that I emailed my cousins:
Email Subject: One week later and 2 post-op appointments
I am constantly amazed at how good I feel. God has definitely put His Hand on me.
Last Friday, I saw the plastic surgeon and had the drains removed. I feel such freedom to have those tubes and bags gone. Monday was a visit to the oncology surgeon. The pathology report showed 2 distinct tumors, 1.9 cm and 2 cm, that were of the same cancer properties as what I’ve been fighting all along, so the chemo pills that I’m taking should probably continue to be my treatment. All other tissue removed was benign. Still feeling next to zero pain, I imagine that is due to only breast tissue being cut, no muscle or any other important parts that would impede movement.
I go back to the surgeon this coming Friday again, and I see my medical oncologist in 2 weeks. I have an appointment with the radiation oncologist also in April. Right now, we doubt that I’ll need any further radiation, but we’ll see what he has to say.
John does not remember any part of last week and is asking me when my surgery is going to be. I’m sure that his reaction is because I’m doing so well, no one would ever know I had surgery last week. It’s so very hard for him to understand what’s happening.
I am absolutely enjoying every moment with Norma. She needed to get away as much as I needed her here with me. We are having a blast, like 2 little girls, getting the giggles and ending up in big belly laughs. We can find humor in everything.
I KNOW that my progress is due to your prayers, Thank You.
Love, Sheryl
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This week ended up being full or at least feeling that way so this may be another of those long posts so you have been warned. Sunday when we left church Ralph told me had invited WB (his wife died about a year ago) to come for dinner since he knew we had plenty of food. We got home and found out Lori's wanted to leave as soon as we ate cause they were going to go see Beauty and the Beast (girls) and Power Rangers (boys). Well, WB didn't come and didn't come so all but Ralph started eating and when W finally came, he and Ralph ate together and had a good visit. Ralph took him home about mid-afternoon. So it all worked out okay but felt funny to start eating without him. Then the evening was the 85th dinner. We had a good visit at our table - 80-100 were there - cousins on both sides. We had soup and sandwiches and then yummy cake and homemade ice-cream. Yum
Monday I mostly had at home - worked on things knowing at 5 I could call to see if I had to report. Sure enough I did. Once I made the call, I cleaned up the bags from Good News Club and took the needed stuff and key to one of the teachers and dropped eggs off at a friend's. I did the dishes and things that would make it easier if I was gone more than a day - the unknown.
We didn't have to be there till 8:45 and I was sent to Courtroom C. There were at least 50 people and I was "fortunate" enough to be in the top 24. First they made a seating chart - we each told our name, what we did, if we were married, what our husband did and where we lived. Then each of the lawyers got to ask us questions. I wasn't asked much. Then we had a recess so they could decide the 12 that would stay. I started talking with one of the other possible jurors. She was selected too and so when we were dismissed for lunch we walked down to a sandwich shop and ate together. We went back and heard the testimony for the state - 2 hours worth and they were done and that's where we quit for the day. It was 4:30 so I made it back to Potwin to get my bag and key back and took my usual kids home. Fixed supper, did dishes again and some little things since I knew I'd be gong at least one more day. It started raining again and rained all night - enough to made the sump pump run. We needed the moisture but didn't know what it would do to the creeks.
A car went by before I Ieft and the way it drove, we thought there was water across the south road. But the car made it so I headed off to walk. Turned out the water had been across the road and left corn stalks - not problems driving at all. We walked and then I headed the long way to town. I did not go back home cause there was a possibility of creeks being up. In the morning we heard from the other side and about 9:45, the judge dismissed us to the back while he got the instructions ready and the lawyers got the final statements ready. He thought it would be 30 minutes but it was over an hour. We talked about our families and lots of other things cause we still couldn't discuss the case. By the time we got the instructions and head the lawyers, it was after 12. We decided to talk for awhile and talk about the case. We really wanted to make the husband guilty but the state did not have enough evidence to make without a doubt and if there was any doubt, it had to be not guilty so it was not guilty on all three counts. When we went back in, I just watched the judge so I would see the faces of the husband or the wife. We left the judicial building about 1:30. I went to the bank, stopped at McDonalds to eat and headed home. I got to how I thought I could get home and the creek was up so had to drive an extra 6 miles. By the time we went to pick up the kids for church in the evening, the water was almost down - enough that we drove through it. Ralph spent the day in town getting the headlight problem fixed (at no cost).
Thursday was at home for the day and I worked on things here - get the Sunday School lesson ready, decided to straighten the house, etc. etc. Our local school district did not have school cause too many roads the bus had to drive were flooded. But all was okay by Friday. Thursday night I went to Bible study - always a fun time.
This morning we did our usual errands. My list was short so we did get home by 11. I had time to put everything away, heat up the stuffed peppers for dinner and some other stuff. Then we went to an auction in an Amish community that's held on the last Friday of every month. It started our as a poultry auction and there was plenty of poultry - chicken little and big, eggs, egg cartons, geese, ducks, and turkeys. There were also rabbits (so cute) pot bellied pigs, goat, hay, fencing. Oh yeah, there were guinea, peacocks and even 2 swans. Ralph found out how it works if you bring something to sell and then we watch for awhile. It was cool and we weren't going to buy so headed home(a strong hour away). We stopped at Dollar Tree and the thrift store we like and ended up with a box of books. We came home and ate the part of the sub we got at Walmart this morning.
Tomorrow I'm babysitting for about 2/3 of the day for Derek so that should be fun. When I come home I'll make my salad, etc. it will all work out.
Sheryl, you have to have lot of patience to make kata. Wish I lived closer. Glad the firewood got in so you could be toasty warm. It has been a cooler week for us. So glad you've been able to handle the pain and you are doing so well. Sorry John has already forgotten you had the surgery but nice too. So glad you and Norma have been having so much fun.
Isabella, I got out of jury duty a lot of times when I helped a lot with Emily. I did go to federal court once but thankfully, was not chosen although I made it to the courtroom.
Anew, how fun to get your garden going. The trellis sounds neat. You can get things going so much earlier than here. Yummy. Cool on the garden tool. Let us know how it works.
Have a great weekend. I'm sure I'll pop in to read but doubt I'll take time to chat.
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Good morning everyone, today will be another busy day in the garden. I am hoping we make it before the rain sets it in, it was supposed to be sunny today with a little rain tomorrow. Now they say 30% chance of rain today and still rain tomorrow. We have more soil mixing to do which will refill the big 3' x 8' bed, fill up other containers, and still have plenty of great mix to add containers or fill in holes after I pull a spent plant. Hubby will be happy not to mix anymore soil for a long time. He is such a trooper to help me out.
We had to run to big town yesterday morning, and I needed to water the garden first. He helped me and was such a trooper. Couldn't ask for a better person to be my partner.
So, today we water the garden again, mix soil, build some more trellis's and setup what I already have, and if time is available build a structure onto the big planter boxes that we can put a top on. I need to keep animals out of the garden, they keep destroying my plants. I know it's the opossums because they are always in my yard at night. They use our fence as a pass through to move along the way.
I seeded all kinds of herbs and flowers yesterday, still need to plant cucumber, peas, and hopefully some cantaloupe when we get those trellis's done. Noticed another basil coming up in the tomato boxes, still have one more to come up and still waiting on all three bell peppers to sprout up.
Last night I cut open a personal watermelon, and hubby commented there wasn't much flavor in it all. He is so right and I let him know that when we grow our own he will enjoy it like he did when he was a kid.
And the best part of it all! There was a beautiful blue dragonfly in the garden today. Yay, the good guys are on the way. Oh, and the zinnia's are looking great. I am sure glad I didn't dead head all the flowers because they looked so terrible out there. Just a good shot of water and they came back 10 fold within minutes. Which sounds so strange, since a deluge of water the day before is what hurt them in the first place. But nice and perky and colorful all over again. Planted some seeds for the dwarf one last night.
Hope you all have a great day today!0 -
Hi all, It's been cold here the last couple of days! No wonder so many people are getting sick with all the crazy temperature changes. I've been wearing sandals every day anyway since I had my pedicure. I have to show my lovely toes off!
It is my friend Jami's birthday this Wednesday the 5th so we are going shopping for her birthday today as is our tradition. Really looking forward to our girl time again even though we just had a great time last Saturday. We picked a BUNCH of lemons this week so I took a bag full to work (they went quickly because people LOVE our lemons). Later today or tomorrow I'm going to bake a lemon bundt cake. I'm going to poke holes in the cake also so the glaze will soak into the cake as well as on top. I'll let you know how it turns out. Jami got a new car. She had a Lexus luxury sports car that she would have to start putting money into so she decided to sell it while she can still get some decent money for it. She chose a new Infinity Q60 luxury sports coupe. Pretty snazzy. She got almost $9K for her Lexus and negotiated on the Infinity until she got close to the bottom line price she wanted. She is going to pick me up in it today.
Sheryl, very happy to hear that the general consensus is that radiation will not be needed. I'm sure the radiation oncologist will agree. I agree that prayer makes a huge difference. God is SO good! I will continue to pray daily for you and John. Your girls day out sounds like great fun. Glad it went so well. Norma being there is great medicine too!
Anew, your garden tool looks really cool. I had never heard of such a thing but what a great website and what a great way to make the most of your gardening space. Yay on seeing the beautiful blue dragonfly. I know what you mean about the mini watermelons. I will only buy Dulcinea brand mini melons now because they are consistently sweet and delicious and I know they will be good. With the other growers I never know how they will be and am disappointed more often than not. Did you know that watermelon and watermelon juice is good for high blood pressure?
Debora, that was a quick trial. Good that you had a buddy to go thru it with. That is funny that you had stuffed peppers. I made stuffed peppers last week and we got a couple of meals out of it (I only made a small pan). I stuffed them with turkey meat, rice, onion, celery, jalapeno, pepper jack cheese, and various herbs. They were delicious! What was yours stuffed with? The Amish auction sounds interesting. Do you think you guys will take something there to auction/sell?
Well, I'd better go get ready for my day with Jami. Last time she came to pick me up I'd gotten so carried away on the computer that I was still sitting here in my house clothes when she arrived. I can't do that to her (and myself) again!
Have a wonderful day!0 -
Good Morning. This morning is laundry for Norma, she's packing already, these 2 weeks went extremely fast. She leaves tomorrow afternoon. I will miss her terribly.
Wednesday, we had a wonderful visit with cousins who drove up from Tigard, Oregon, about 30 miles, but seems longer when you have to drive through Portland in traffic. I am so grateful that they were willing to make the trip. They are going to Hawaii later this month to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.
Yesterday, we had an equally great visit with Carol and Larry. Always so good to catch up on what's happening in our lives. Carol and I visit a lot, but the men and Norma don't get in on all the fun very often.
Very good report from the plastic surgeon yesterday, I go back in 2 weeks for another follow-up. Everything is looking good and healing well. I still feel wonderful, Praise The Lord, this is great. I haven't taken any pain meds since last Monday. Since I went to the doctor again, John asked me several times last night when they will be "cutting" me. I said the cutting is all done, these visits are after surgery doctor visits. He seems content when I say that, that all the hard stuff is over, but then, he forgets and asks again.
Today at 1pm, we will walk over to Jack and Gayla's and go out to lunch with them. My idea to go to China Kitchen, but will have Jack drive because it's easier for Gayla to get in and out of their vehicle than mine. We went there with them a couple years ago and I loved it, the food was very fresh and delicious. It's across town, so John and I haven't been back there since, not that it's too far to drive, but it's just so much easier going Mexican in Battle Ground just up the road. When I can talk John into going out, it's usually Mexican.
Debora, too bad the state didn't present more compelling evidence. It's hard to feel in your gut that someone is guilty, but by law, have to "set them free". Since you mentioned that the wife was there in the courtroom also, I guess that it wasn't an offense against her, or at least, she lived through it.
I remember when I was a kid, my mom was on a jury where they convicted the wife for killing the husband, with scissors, ewwwww. When she was pronounced guilty, she yelled out and threatened each one of the jurors. Freaked my mom out, but this woman got locked away so wasn't a real threat.
I better get going, check on Norma's laundry for her and get a load of my own in.
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Good morning everyone, today will be a humid, overcast, waiting for the rain day. It is supposed to rain, I hope it does because I have not watered the tomatoes as of yet. Was supposed to rain yesterday as well. So, it gets two more hours to dump some rain upon us before I go out there and water anyway. We finished mixing the soil in the garden, filling pots and I finished all the seeding I can do for March and April.
My hands hurt, my whole body aches, but I feel good knowing I will have a pretty well rounded out garden this season, can't wait for fall when I can plant the cold crops.
Have a great day everyone!
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Good morning all, Jami and I had a really nice day together yesterday. She took Dan for a ride in her car and even let him drive it a bit but she didn't drive it to go shopping, we took my car instead. I'll have plenty of time to ride in it. We found her a really cute outfit and she found a couple of other cute items so it was a very successful trip. She wanted Costco very berry sundae for lunch - what a cheap date!
Then Dan and I went grocery shopping when I got home so we only have one store to go to today. I plan to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight.
Sheryl, so nice that you got to see your cousins. Wow, 60th anniversary for them, amazing! How was the China Kitchen? Bummer that Norma is leaving already. Time really flew!
Anew, nice that your garden is all set now. I can't imagine the aches and pains. I have a bible study friend that just told me about an all natural pain reliever that someone told her works really well. She tried it and really likes it. I bought a bottle. It is not very expensive. I haven't tried it yet. It is by a company called Hyland Homeopathics. Here is the link if you want to try it. Otherwise I'll let you know when we use it. Hope you feel better. hylands.com/products/hylands-arthritis-pain-formula
OK, I'm off to church. Have a great week everyone!0 -
Good morning everyone.
Had another long weekend. We had Friday off because of the Cesar Chavez holiday.
I got a lot done this weekend. Vacuumed the house, waxed the furniture, cleaned the bathrooms, did five loads of laundry, changed Dad's bed sheets, cleaned the carpet twice where the cat threw up (ew!), hardboiled a dozen eggs for the week, made some beans, cut the cat's nails, etc.
We had some REALLY windy days at the end of last week, so I spend a lot of time cleaning up stuff that had blown all over the place, and I spent most of Saturday morning getting the pool cleaned up. Gosh that pool was full of stuff. It looks crystal clear now though. Still too cold to go swimming though.
Saturday afternoon I loaded up my car with stuff I've been purging from the spare bedroom and ran it over to Goodwill. Mostly Christmas nic-nacks and decorations. Last night I kept purging and have another load of stuff ready to go. I'll probably take it to Goodwill next weekend.
Dad is still attending his monthly American Legion meetings. He seems to be enjoying them. Last Saturday they had a barbecue. He went to it, but said it was just so packed with people, so he decided to leave. He wound up stopping at Round Table and got himself a salad. He's one of those weird people who goes to a pizza place and doesn't eat pizza!
I keep catching Cisco eating grass in the backyard. I hope he isn't getting sick. It's about time for him to go see the vet for his annual visit, so we'll have him checked out.
As I was unloading groceries on Friday a couple guys approached me. They claimed to work for a charitable organization and asked to paint our house number on the curb for a contribution. We passed (we already have our number on the curb), and then a little later I saw a cop car down the road taking them in. Someone must have reported them. Got to be real careful these days. I suspect they were just canvassing the neighborhood for possible burglaries.
Sheryl, I'm so happy to hear that you are doing so well with the recovery. It must be so confusing for John. Sounds like you have a great time with Norma! It's so great that she was able to come be with you.
Debora, jury duty...ugh. Not something I look forward to. They call me in about once every couple years.
Anew, its nice seeing you pop in!!
Isabella, sounds like a nice day with Jami. I've never eaten at Costco, but there are usually tons of people there doing so.
Well, I think I'm going to go take a little walk and then get back to work. Have a great day everyone!!!0 -
Good evening everyone, it's been one of those days that I can't get easily moving because I hurt so bad. But I did it, I went out to the garden this morning and moved some of the soil we mixed from the big bed I planted the pea seeds in. I put it into eight 5 gallon buckets I bought at Lowe's yesterday. There was just way too much soil in that bed to use it wisely, but I had run out of places to put the extra soil we mixed up. It's great to know that when I need some soil to put somewhere I will have it ready to use.
That's good because it would be next fall before it would be cool enough to mix anymore to use. It also means the structure to my garden is almost complete and it's taken four years to get where we are now. Just too short of a time we can work out there with our weather patterns we have. Still need to figure out trellis for the cantaloupe I planted and a cage for the bush cucumbers. I still want some cattle panel trellis's for rotation of the crops, but that will have to wait. We need to figure out what to do with the smaller bed with the bottom falling out of it. I know I want a new bottom, but I think I want to move that bed also, which means moving the smaller containers where the onions, leeks and chives are planted. This can happen in the fall when the garden is not yet planted with fall/winter produce, and will be perfect timing. By that time the spring/part summer crops will have all been done and the garden waiting for it's new season. It is way too hot here in summer to plant anything.
We also need to hook up the water system this fall. We have most of the parts for it, but we still need more and I don't want to set it up until I have the garden design set just right for all seasons. Then I won't have to move the water system.
While I was in the garden today I saw more Anole's (I kept calling them gecko's), and a pretty butterfly that made me smile. I also discovered another bell pepper has come up, so that's all three bell peppers, and two basils. Still waiting on the last basil plant. There's plenty of room in the garden to seed more, so I bought more seeds. That's logical, right? LOL, it's all more herbs and flowers, but one was a sugar baby watermelon. Yum!
Try to find the anole in this picture, lol. These things are really a beautiful green, and they turn to brown also.
wildtexas.com/wildguides/anole.php
It looks like everyone has been busy the last few days. I hope it continues for you all. Have a great night.
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Good Morning, I'm still here, but no time on the computer. I'll be back soon to catch you all up on the last several days.0
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Good morning everyone.
I wasn't feeling too well yesterday, so stayed home from work. Feeling better today.
I did start feeling better yesterday afternoon, so I continued purging stuff from the closet in the spare bedroom. I took another load of stuff over to Goodwill. Mom must have had a basket addiction. There were tons of them in there! Also tons of wrapping paper in there I didn't know about. I've purged just about all of our holiday nick-nacks. Kept a few pieces that have sentimental value.
Our gardener is going to run a bunch of stuff to the dump for us too. Dad and I are in a purging mindset right now. We have a lot of stuff up in the attic and in the backyard that needs to go.
We noticed the gardener was working alone yesterday on the yards. Usually his son is with him. Dad asked about it apparently his son decided he didn't want to work. So on the drive over our gardener stopped his truck and made his son get out and walk back home. His son is in his mid-20s and no excuse for that.
We had another wind storm on Monday, so we had to clean the pool again. This is getting old! No more wind storms!
Well, I guess it's time to get back to work. Have a lovely day everyone.
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Good morning everyone, got a great night sleep, well morning/afternoon, lol. I just woke up about an hour ago, and it's 12:30 in the afternoon right now. My body still hurts, but the back pain is what is hardest to overcome. I feel better today though, so as long as I am careful in the garden it should be much better in a couple of weeks. It's sunny, 71 degrees and only 31% humidity out there, what a beautiful day it is today!
I checked on the garden and while I was watering and picking a few weeds I noticed more seeds coming in. One of my bush cucumber seeds is up, I planted three seeds. My alaska peas are coming in with 5 of the ten holes I planted the other day, all with 2 seeds per hole. I have some zinnia's, and marigolds coming in as well. It is so fun to watch things pop out of the soil.
Mygnsac, glad you are feeling better and it's good to get stuff out of the way too. We have more to do here when I open that room that's been closed up for the bed bugs. I think I am going to let it stay closed until at least july or even august just to make sure they are "DEAD".
Have a great day everyone!
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Good morning all.
More rain in our forecast. It's been sprinkling this morning, and more rain and wind later. So much for my clean pool!
When I got home from work yesterday I continued to purge stuff from the closet in the spare bedroom. So much stuff in there! Snow globes for days! Mom was more of a pack rack that I thought! I've got another load of stuff to run over to Goodwill.
Yesterday was trash pick up day, so I took my elderly neighbor's cans in for her when I got home. Her daughter was living with her for a while, but has moved away, and she can't do it. She has COPD and is quite sick. I don't like that she is living alone right now. She needs someone with her. Her husband passed away a few years ago.
Cisco can't seem to decide on a permanent sleeping place. All last week he slept with Dad and this week he's been sleeping with me. I wake up to find him on my bed. So many choices that dog has.
I almost forgot to give Cisco his Frontline and heart worm medicine yesterday. He gets it once a month and yesterday was the due date. He dosen't like the Frontline flee medicine, but loves the heart worm treat.
Anew, I hope you are feeling better today. Yay on everything popping out of the soil for you!
Back to work. Have a nice day everyone.
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Good Morning. I've been up for hours, but had a trillion emails to junk. I have to figure out how to make the spam go directly into the spam file and not into my inbox. They sure do come in overnight in droves. I hear John stirring, but I hope to get something written before he comes out here.
Anew, I admire you for pushing through your pain and getting your garden going. How exciting to see seedlings popping up already. I keep putting it off, right now, there's too much mud. Later, I'll find some other excuse.
Saturday was a very enjoyable time, great food and great people to share it with. The restaurant was just as I remembered, delicious!!!!! Although, I did not remember the name of the place correctly. It's China Cook, not China Kitchen. Anyway, we pigged out and brought lots of food home for yummy meals later.
We were not able to quite finish the laundry...the dryer door decided to die. It will not close properly and stay closed enough to keep the switch pushed in to keep the tumbler going. We did everything we could think of, resorting to duct-taping it and even that didn't work. The heat of the dryer would cause the duct tape to pull away and it would shut off. I suppose I could stand there with my finger on the switch, but how boring is that, standing (or sitting) in the laundry room for at least a half hour at a time with my finger on a push button.
So, I went washer/dryer shopping. Norma left Sunday, so after we dropped her off at the airport, I told John that I was going to stop at Home Depot and get "Sticker Shock". I told him that he wouldn't care later...he'd forget the prices. Then, Monday, after my doctor's appointment, I stopped at Lowe's for the same thing. Then, for 2 days, I waffled between buying a set or just settling for a dryer. When Marcie got her new set, I think I mentioned that I purchased my washer and dryer, used, when we moved here in 1992, so I estimate that they are over 30 years old. The washer needs to be moved to get the dryer in place and I figured that by moving the washer, it will die also, so might as well get the set and replace them both at the same time. I went back to Lowe's on Tuesday because the sale ended on Tuesday for the set that I decided on. I have Whirlpool and am so pleased with them that I always told myself that when the time came, I'd buy Whirlpool again. But, I chose GE because the price was right and the washer won't lock down the lid during the cycle, so I can add clothes or soap after the cycle starts. Yay! I would go crazy if I couldn't get in there during the wash. They had washers in stock, but the dryers were sold out, so I have to wait for the next shipment, end of next week.
Marcie, I hope that Cisco is and will be fine. I have also heard that when cats and dogs are eating grass, it's a red flag that something is wrong. Keep us posted. How wonderful that you have another access to the dump and can get rid of more trash. We are stock-piling scrap metal (woodstove, washer and dryer) so I see a scrap-metal run in our future. Fortunately, we can combine stuff with Jack and have a full truck load. Plus, he knows exactly where to go and how it all works, so we'll split the money.
Yesterday morning, we had a visit from some other cousins. So good to see them and get caught up. Bev, my cousin, is one of them that live in Grants Pass, Oregon, and she came up to be with her daughter's family all week, who live in Portland. Kristie, Bev's daughter, is the cousin who came over often when I had chemo and she brought food and did laundry and cleaned my house before we had hired Comfort Keepers to come in 2-3 times a week. She is such a sweet girl and has her hands full with her own 3 daughters. The oldest (10 years old)has some form of slight autism and the middle (8 years old) is so intelligent that it's hard to keep her occupied, she finishes her work quickly and gets bored. The little one (5 years old) also has some issues that I trust she'll grow out of, but you never know. Bev wants to come up to help more often, but her husband is not doing well now, so she is torn between caring for her husband and helping out her daughter. I just keep counting my blessings when I hear of everyone else's daily routines.
Well, John got up and then went back to bed again so I have time to answer some more emails.0 -
Good morning everyone, today is another beautiful day with the sun shining and humidity isn't so bad at 57% and 75 degrees, it's almost 10:00 my time. I am waiting on hubby to get home from the city trash collection place. Today is one of two per year that you can take your trash that won't fit in the cans for them to haul them away for you. So, old wood from the garden, other garden stuff I don't want like plastic containers that are sun damaged and other junk like that. When he gets home, I will be showing him how I would like everything watered out there because I am doctor ordered not to be in the garden until tomorrow.
Yesterday I had an angiogram catheterization. It went very well, I was home around 3:00pm and am just doing the recovery thing to keep my artery from opening back up. I don't know if I posted I have been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy or not, but that is why I had an angiogram. So my arteries are clean as a whistle, my heart is weak and operating at 55% and my lungs are staying inflated. So, doc thought last week that I may have had some infection that damaged my heart, and I am thinking that is what he will tell me when I have m follow up appt in a couple of weeks. Apparently he got lots of pictures to study. I feel good, just a little sore there on my leg, hip area, so I won't be hanging around here today.
Have a great day everyone.
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Good morning all, today is our free library concert. The musician is one of our favorites. We have a gift certificate to Chili's so we will go there for late lunch/early dinner afterward. We haven't been there for years so we are looking forward to trying it. Do you have Chili's Grill and Bar in your area? I've had a major eating week! My work friend Paula is leaving San Diego. Her last day was Friday so we went out to lunch twice this week. Then my friend Carol invited me to lunch at the Senior center on Tuesday. Then we had a potluck for Paula at work on Thursday and our company had Installer Appreciation Day on Friday to show our field guys our appreciation so we catered Mexican breakfast for everyone. I gained a few pounds and really feel the need to get a handle on this! Several girls at work are starting a "biggest loser" challenge on Monday. I think I am going to participate even though I won't contribute money and so won't be eligible to win the pot. I think it will just help to be in that mind set with everyone. My one hesitation is that I will have to tell them what I weigh. Yes, I am embarrassed. We'll see how it goes. Sylvia recommended videos by Danette May somewhere on facebook. There was an offer for free weight loss DVDs - all you have to do is pay $6.95 shipping. They supposedly incorporate exercise with a healthy eating plan. She sounded so sincere I went on line to order them. Of course, before you complete the checkout she offered all these other DVDs and protein powder, etc (one time offer at this "special price"). By the time the transaction was complete, I kinda felt duped. Oh well, we'll see how things go. $6.95 isn't tragic if the DVDs turn out not to be very helpful.
Marcie, nice to have a long weekend thanks to Cesar Chavez. He did a lot for our farm workers. Great job on all the purging of stuff. Feels good doesn't it! Our Costco has a nice snack bar at great prices. The lines are long but move quickly. Where else can you get a hotdog and drink for $1.50?! I don't eat there often but enjoy it when I do. Interesting about the scam number painters. We have a guy that comes thru every couple of years and offers to re-paint the numbers on the curb for around $11.00 for plain numbers or a bit more if you want a design (like a rainbow) with it. He tapes a notice to your garage door and if you want it done you leave the money in the envelope. We have had him do it once or twice. The numbers get faded and it makes it easier for people to find the house. We haven't had any scammers come thru but I can see how they could take advantage of people who would think it is the same type of service. Were your mom's snow globes the really nice ones or little plastic ones? I like snow globes and can see how they would be addictive to collect. Did you keep one?
Anew, Your garden is really coming along. So nice to see the little shoots coming up. That is why spring was always my favorite season in NJ. The Anole's look really cool. I love watching the lizards in our yard. I don't know what type they are but I take great satisfaction in the knowledge that they eat bugs. I don't think you told us about the cardiomyopathy. At least you finally have a diagnosis and hopefully you will be able to tolerate the treatment. I'll continue to keep you in my prayers.
Sheryl, So happy that the China Cook outing went well. Good food, folks, and fun! If you don't mind my asking, how much did the washer and dryer end up costing? Is the washer top loading? Ours are old (I think we bought them in 1994) but they are Maytag and the repairman that had to come out for a small leak several months ago said they are still in surprisingly good shape (yes, the Maytag repair man finally had to work!). Nice that you got to have a good visit with cousins too. Is John still fascinated with the wood burning stove or is it old hat now?
Debora, you must be even busier than usual, although that is hard to imagine!
OK, I'm gonna get going. It will be time to leave for our concert soon. Have a great week everyone!
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And here goes another week speeding past. Babysitting a week ago Saturday went fine. I was there from about 8-3. 3 1/2 year old has gotten potty trained - tells you and takes himself - very nice. When Lindsey came home, there were 5 kids - just not all her kids - that neighborhood goes back and forth a lot. I came home and made my salad and finished up a few other things.
Sunday I taught the lesson in SS. Molly got to sit with us in church. She did well and then it was home for dinner. I did not have many leftovers. Some were leery of my salad cause they thought it had cottage cheese in it. Ralph can't stand it so I would not use it for something for him to eat. It was cream cheese and sour cream with a little sugar - I just couldn't get rid of the lumps but it tasted good with the apples and grapes. After everyone left, we had a quiet evening which was nice after all the going of the past week. Monday I got to be at home. Ralph went to Historical Society in the evening. He said it was very interesting - a lady talked about a town that was just made up of black people. Tuesday was Good News Club. The person doing the cookies made yummy ones - rice krispie bars and sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles. We were getting more rain so kept everyone inside till their rides came.
Ralph wanted to go in and buy boxes so he could start packing up more books so we went even though it was raining. The wipers acted up - they worked okay but would only stop in the up position. Then when we got the boxes he went to bring the car up so they wouldn't get wet and it took him a long time to come. Turned out the wind took his door when he opened it and it hit the car next to us so he had to exchange info. We've never heard back from them so it must have not been very bad.
Wednesday our work with the Echoes was to put in order all the ones people had given me since I did the original laminating. So now we'll go through and look for ones we don't have, ones that can go to the Mennonite Library and then ones we can toss. This won't be a fast process but the lady helping me doesn't want it to end. Thursday morning I was up at 3:30 am so I could take a friend in for her colonoscopy. It all went well. She was back home shortly after 10, I dropped by to see Lori and then picked up a computer for a friend and was home by noon. I had 4-H Council in the evening and went early and ate at Freddy's with Matthew and Julie.
Friday was errand day with 8 stops this week. We even voted for our special election so don't have to think about it on Tuesday. The evening was a banquet at the school Ralph and the kids attended for high school. The meal was delicious - the cooks at school make it. Dessert was bought - a yummy individual bundt cake. The program was good and then afterwards we visited so long we didn't get home until about 10:30. Today I've had the whole day at home, straightened the house, did some food stuff and other little things and chatting you was a big want to.
Sheryl, the time with Norma zoomed by but what special memories you both have. It was so wonderful that you felt good after the surgery so you were able to do more. Frustrating that John doesn't remember but nice that he's fine once you remind him. Nice that you got to see more family.
Yay on choosing a washer/dryer quickly. Hope you enjoy them when they come. I like the idea of it not locking. You can pause the ones that lock and add stuff but this will make it even easier to do.
Marcie, you've had some busy weekends at home after a busy work week. You're making great progress on the spare bedroom. It's a job to clean up the yard after a big wind too. Glad your dad is enjoying the American Legion meetings and has another activity on top of all his walking. How's Cisco doing - any problems after eating the grass? Love the tough love your gardener showed his son. Nice of you to help your neighbor.
Anew, how fun to see your hard work pay off with seeds sprouting. Getting all set up took a lot of planning and work but you'll sure enjoy the results. You push through a lot of pain to do all you do. Hope some rest takes care of that.
Sorry to hear about the cardiomyopathy. Is there anything you can do to treat it? Guess you'll learn more when you see the doctor.
Isabella, you have a great group of friends - always off doing something fun. Jamie's car sounds very nice. What color is it? My stuffed peppers were traditional - ground beef, rice and tomato sauce. We may take old hens to sell someday but won't be there often.
Those free concerts roll around pretty often. Fun that you will have a free concert and then get to have a free meal. We have Chili's around here. Haven't eaten there in awhile though. Hope the DVDs help with getting the added pounds to go away - they are sneaky about slipping back on. I've gotten lax on logging again. So what can I say. Show the group at work you can be the biggest loser even without winning any money. Everyone else will have to tell what they weigh too.
My sister is off seeing her kids this weekend so I planned a meal that uses tortillas so no one would miss her dinner rolls. Well, she baked some anyway so I put them in the freezer and will try and remember to send a bag home with Lori. It can help with a meal at home. I'm making salsa chicken. Then in the evening we have a salad supper for the women at church. It's always yummy and I hear the speaker will be good.
This week has 4-H, Good News Club, the Echoes, no Wednesday night church or Bible study but we have a special Good Friday service. Plus I need to get things ready for Easter. I did get the coins to put in the Easter eggs. We'll see if I can get to the few decorations I have. So we'll see if I chat much (or just read)
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Hi Debora, another whirlwind week for you! Kinda nice that you still have Echoes to do since it is a time of good fellowship. Our free concert was enjoyable. We chatted with an older gent afterward. He reminisced about the old days. I enjoyed my meal at Chili's more than Dan did. I have had a hankerin' for baby back ribs so that's what I had. They were moist and tender and the fries were hot and crispy. They brought them in a little metal basket that kept them pretty warm which was nice. We only had to chip in $7 after the gift certificate which was mostly tip so that was nice. Your salad with the cream cheese and sour cream sounds interesting. What was the recipe? Your plan to make salsa chicken and tortillas sounds like a tasty idea too. What will you make for Easter? We have a Good Friday service also, it will be at noon. I am leaving work at 11:00am and taking the rest of the day off. I haven't planned anything for Easter. I might just get a rotisserie chicken at Sprouts and call it a day.
Hubby has a slow leak in his tire - sure enough there's a screw in it. We are going to go to Costco to get it fixed. We plan to get there as soon as they open then go to the later service today. We'll see how that all plays out.
Have a great week all!0 -
Debora, I realized that I forgot to answer your question about Jami's new car. She wanted to get it in black but I advised against it and after she had time to think about it, she agreed with me and got it in white instead. 0
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Good Afternoon. Just popping in while John is outside. A beautiful day today, and yesterday I was outside working along with John. Had a big windstorm Friday, but we came through it OK, didn't even lose power. South of Portland got hit a lot harder, a lot of trees down; blocking roads and on houses and cars. The news said that 76,000 PGE users had power outages. We only have pine cones and light branches to clean up.
Isabella, I don't mind sharing the prices. The original price was listed at $599.00 each and Tuesday was the last day of the sale where they were marked down to $478.00 each. I asked everywhere I went about getting a price break on buying a set, since I really only needed the dryer, and they all said that's rare anymore. Very seldom will a manufacturer give that deal these days. For Lowe's to do the installation for free, I also had to buy all new hoses, connections and dryer duct-work. So it was adding up, but I thought that's worth it. I applied for and got a Lowe's credit card so I could get an additional 5% off. The credit card offer was a choice of the 5% off or 12 month interest free financing. We will pay the entire bill when it comes, so I thought getting another 5% off is a good thing. Total for everything, plus tax, came to $1,102.
I looked behind the old washer/dryer and WOW !!! it's filthy back there. I think I should pull them out before Thursday so I can clean. I doubt the installers will let me clean while they are here, they'll be in a hurry to get the job done and get out of here. There's 25 years worth of dust bunnies back there.
Well, John's asking for help, gotta go.
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Good Morning, not much new since yesterday afternoon. Going to rain again today and I'll be out in it, have an afternoon doctor's appointment.
Oh, I meant to say regarding the price for washer/dryer, total includes tax, not plus tax. I always get that phrasing confused.
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Good morning everyone.
It's a pretty day today. Billowy clouds, sunshine, no rain and no wind! Surprisingly the last wind storm over the weekend didn't blow stuff in the pool. It's still crystal clear from the last cleaning.
Looks like they've officially declared the drought over in more areas of California. I guess we'll be seeing more green lawns around town again in the summer.
I took another load of "stuff" over to Goodwill yesterday. I'm getting to know those people really good. I took all of Mom's doll collections...minus the one she had since she was a little girl. I'll keep that one. Most of the other dolls were gifts to her from friends over the years. Tons of em! I also kept her stuffed Garfield cat. She loved that thing.
It looks like I'll be taking my elderly neighbor's garbage cans in indefinitely now. She leaves her backyard gate unlocked for me. She has a daughter who lives nearby, but she only stops over a couple times a week to check on her Mom. That family was really helpful to us when Mom was sick. Loaned us ramps to installed on the front porch for when we needed to take her to the hospital/doctor and visited her often.
I didn't do as much this weekend as last. Just hard boiled the weekly eggs, swept up some leaves on the back porch, and continued to purge stuff. Would you believe there is still purgible stuff in the spare bedroom closet?! Once I finish in there I plan to start purging stuff from my bedroom closet. It's just jam-packed with stuff that needs to go. Dad's closet will be next on the list. Lots of stuff in there he never uses. Also getting rid of Mom's old sewing machine. Dad and I decided it should go. If we need another one, we'll purchase a new one, but I can't remember the last time I sewed anything. I'm definitely not a sewer.
Friday I had a late meeting in the afternoon (2 hours!!!) and didn't get to leave work until later in the day. Gosh, the traffic at that time of the day is just horrendous. I don't think I ever got over 10 mph the whole way, and had to sit through traffic lights through 2 or 3 runs. It just seems like traffic has gotten so much worse in this town than it used to be.
Isabella, the snow globes were glass and really pretty. Just didn't display them so they needed to go.
Sheryl, you and me are new washing machine and dryer owners! Sounds like you got a great deal. Loving my new set. I think Dad bought them at Lowes too. I know the feeling about the mess behind the machines. We really scrubbed the floors good before the new machines were delivered.
Debora, as usual, I'm impressed by all you do!!!! My goodness!
Well, I think I have a little time to take a walk before going back to work. Have a nice day everyone!0
