WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JUNE 2017

Fathers' Day: My DH doesn't have children but my 2 DDs sent him pictures and greetings on FB which I showed him. He was happy with that and I told him that if we ever had kids he would of been the best dad ever! Dolly is our (fur) kid!!

He did have a stepson in a previous marriage. He sends him Christmas cards still but rarely hears from him.

My son is a total biker. I haven't talked to him in 2 years. He will call his YS but not me. I saw him 5 years ago. I've been married to Bob for 13 years (next month) and they have never met. Neither one seems to give a hoot! Whatever. I'm over worrying about people or family who treat others that love them. So there!

I can't wait to weigh in tomorrow!! I put my belt on today and it was on the 4th notch! Yeah!

Good night! Going to catch up with you all soon!
Dana in Arkansas

stats for the day:

**wahoo hrm not recording right all the time :0/ **

bike ride hm 2 gym- 11.32min. 130mhr, 15.2mph, 2.9mi = 91c
apple watch- 88c
ROWING MACHINE- 20min, 46aw, 107mhr, 3064meters-1.9mi. = 88c
apple watch- 140c
Plyometrics exercises- 21.49min, 3ets of 10each, single leg toe touches, ceiling to fl single leg touches, push-ups, hamstring leglifts, crunches, sit-ups, reverse bicycles, leg lifts, all 4's elbow to knee, 110mhr = 87c
apple watch- 118c
bike ride gym 2 dome- 5.47min, 14.5amph, 131mhr, 1.4mi = 56c
apple watch- 50c
bike ride from puyallup 2 sumn station- 13.01min, 147mhr, 14amph, 3mi= 128c
apple watch- 126c
jog station 2 wk- 4.56min, 9.20min mi, 149mhr, .5mi = 45c
apple watch- 54c
jog wk 2 sta- 5min, 9.57lmin mi, 151mhr, .4mi, windy = 57c
Apple Watch- 54c
bike ride dome 2 hm, up Mst- 17.39min, 8.3amph, 155mhr, 2.4mi, windy! = 183c
apple watch- 145c

total cal 770

Pictures are from my garden. I am making it a goal to sit out under the umbrella two hours a day in the late afternoon. The evening primrose is in bloom. The fountain I have going on the patio. The Sweet William is part of my view as are the black and yellow flamingos (University of Iowa) from my lounge chair.

There's really only her 2nd cousin once removed in Astoria, her brother in Bend, the manager here that sometimes takes her places. No there isn't a POA I will ask her. I have decided to do what a can for her, and not worry so much. I will write checks if she asks me to, for her to sign, but I will not organize her finances. I will ask if she needs items at the store, but I will not be her taxi service. I am still upset that her brother dropped the ball. But it's not her fault her family is the way they are. The resource lady was pathetic today too. She's not senile enough for a senior center, so she can't to anything. Just wait until she gets older, blinder, its not right, but she has her hands tied too. So I will do what I am comfortable doing for her, and leave it at that. Time to walk Annabelle, which I enjoy by the way.... Hugs ladies!
Becca
Oregon

Starting off ... I did not proof-read for mistakes ... so I hope that most of it makes sense or you understand what I am trying to say.

Katla – I’ve never live in a neighborhood that had a “Homeowner’s Association.” I don’t think I could live with rules that determine what shade of a color I could use on my house and the color of the door, or whether or not we could have any type of fence, and what kind of shrubbery or trees we could plant. I know my BF and a neighbor she did not particularly get along with made bed(s) around a utility pole and electrical box that stood out like a ‘sore thumb’. Couldn’t (or weren’t supposed to plant anything that would grow that would impede the electric company from easy access to the box. Well, BF had plants irises, day lilies and low growing green shrubs and she come out and digs the up and plants some really evasive vine (trying to hide the pole). BF came home and really got upset. One of the irises was from a bulb that was from her home place growing up. Her mother had them and when they got stationed in Japan, she sneaked them in and out and everywhere they ever lived, they got planted. She gave me a couple of fans; but, this year – it hasn’t come up (or it did not bloom. None of my irises bloomed this year and only a few of my day lilies did. I had wanted to dig this up this last fall because they bulbs needed to be divides; but, DH did not want to do it. I wanted to also do it so that I could rearrange the bulbs according to the size they’d grow. Right now it is a mishmash of just about everything. Zinnias, now bloom everywhere, thanks to the birds (or hummers or bees), I’ve been trying to get him to, at least, disc up a bed to plant my seeds in. They probably would not bloom if I plant them now. I can’t do this myself. I try not to complain too much because he does cut my roses back when they need to be and he waters my plants that are outside.

Lanette - I have a POA, Durable POA (medical), Living Will, and regular Will. So that my husband and sons can make decisions. Same for DH. DH’s ‘estranged’ daughter kept getting his Mother to give her POA; and, they (he and his brother) kept taking her back to attorney to have it rescinded. She’s ‘estranged’ because that is HER choice. But, she also took ALL the pictures, so I have just a handful (can count on both fingers and still have some left over). Yesterday, I emailed her husband to ask if he could convince her to send the pictures to us, since, for 10 years, she has ignored our requests. I asked that he ‘please let me know one way or the other’. She is as vindictive as her mother was. I won’t be surprised to if, IF I DO, that she just threw them in the trash. I don’t ‘expect’ to hear anything, to be honest. BUT, this will definitely be the ‘last’ time. One day she will have to ‘answer to a higher power’ about the things she did and maybe Karma has already made her visit; she did not deserve to ‘lose a child’ and I felt so sorry for her because I know the pain – her mother told her after about 8 or 9 months to ‘grow up and get over it’. I never said that to her; when she called … sometimes I listened up to an hour of her crying and blubbering. We have not seen their daughter since she was 1; she just turned 11. I’ve seen pictures of her on FB. I had told her when we found out that she was pregnant this time that she would look totally different than her first child, because God would NOT put the child through a lifetime of constant comparison. Growing up, my BF’s aunt had an only daughter and the grandmother was watching her; then when she got ready to go, this child ran out of the house and behind her. She ran over her and killed her. I cannot imagine THAT pain. A few years later this couple had another daughter … and they named her ‘exactly’ what the dead daughter’s name was. That is downright spooky (to me).

I laughed and told her that Abigail would have ‘red’ hair and ‘blue’ eyes; and, sure enough she did. She wasn’t nearly as pretty of a child as her first child. She takes more after her daddy.

As for not having kin near you as you get older. We live next door to our DOS and his wife. I know if he outlives us, he would check in on us; but, he’d never be able to help us financially.

DYS lives too far away; but, he has already said that ‘if’ we needed $$$ he would send it to us. I just hope and pray that neither of us ever have to be in a ‘long term facility’.

I’ve been blessed, I guess, that I never really had a work situation that was miserable. But, the place I had worked before DH got transferred, had a man come in (after his car was repo’ed) and killed several people. No warning … just came in and started shooting. Financial side and insurance side separated by a common wall, 2 doors except in the back where you could go through without having to go out the door and into theirs.

In Thomasville, GA – some knee-jerk poisoned the roots of several live oak trees as a prank. These trees are 100s of years old. I think he ended up doing some prison time for it. Like a lot of ‘stupid people’ he bragged about it on some social networking site, FB or Twitter. How did this person get seeds for the Sequoias’? I would ‘think’ if they are ‘protected’ so would their seeds. They must grow very quickly to get large enough to break up sidewalks. I’d love to have one! Actually, I would love just to ‘see’ one!!!!! When the 2 storms came through Albany, GA in January of this year, we lost a lot of trees. There used to be a canopy on 3rd Avenue going to the hospital, that was basically almost totally shaded … not any longer! Some places looked like a bomb had gone off. One large trailer park on the east side totally blown away. Tornado was a mile-and-a-half wide in some places, stayed on the ground for 70 minutes through about 7 or 8 counties. Very few deaths surprisingly; but, they had 24/7 weather coverage and everybody was warned. Bad thing is that some people had no choice but to ride it out and hope for the best. Lots of animals picked up; they are still cleaning up.

Allie – What was wrong with Homer that had Tom all concerned about him? So is there going to be a ‘custody fight over the dog’ or ‘visitation privileged’. Just kidding … couldn’t help myself.

Woo Hoo! Florida won their game tonight! Killed ‘em!

Dana – DYS treats his ‘step-daughter’ as if she is his. But, of course, she does not call him Daddy or any variation of it. Calls him by his name. She did get upset that her last name would not change when her Mother married him; but, after she explained why … she understood. I know that her mama is having nip-ups as she went with her Dad and his family to Destin, FL for the week. Raining like a scalding hyena because of the hurricane in the Gulf; and, they will have to travel back through it to get home, if they didn’t go ahead and ‘cut it short’. DH has not received a “Father’s Day” card from his daughter in 10, no calls, no letters, nothing. He is ‘dead’ to her (apparently). At this point, my feeling is that she and her family got transferred overseas and went down in a plane in a plume of black smoke. Their daughter knows ‘nothing’ about us. Oh, and in the email to her husband, I ‘mentioned’ that her 1st cousin had ‘died’ 3 years ago from cancer, not that she would ‘give a damn’. Yep, there is a lot of resentment on my part because my DH did not ‘deserve’ this treatment. C’est la vie! I wish that I could get over it like my DH seems to have done. But, I guess it was easier for him because they lived 4 states away from one another and basically he felt like he was nothing more than a very good uncle that she visited with for 2 or 3 weeks in the summer and they wrote letters back-and-forth. She was told she HAD to call her step-dad … Daddy. Her mother had written DH when we were engaged and about to be married a letter saying that ‘if he did not “pay up”, she’d have his parental rights revoked and he’d never see her. She was hedging on him getting her that summer. He took the letter to the Judge in Jacksonville the first thing in the AM and he called her up (an hour behind us) and told her that he would ‘hold her in contempt, have her arrested, and brought back before him’ IF she was NOT on the plane when he sent the ticket to her. That pissed her off. He threw his mail up on a bookshelf; and, the letter from her about letting her husband ‘adopt’ fell back behind the shelf. I was cleaning up and found it, nosey enough to read it and told him that afternoon when he got home that ‘if’ he agreed with it, the engagement would be ‘off’ as it would kill his mother if he did because then she could withhold visitation with her. Of course, he was not about to agree to it. That is the letter he took to the Judge.

Yeah, for the NSV!!!!

Michele – When my mother was dying and my sister had called me to come up as they were going to put her on morphine drip later that day so that I could see her when she was still half-way lucid. I checked into a Days Inn. Went to see her at the A.L.F., and was told that ‘if I wanted to’ I could spend the night with her. So I go back to the motel and told them the situation. I ‘still’ had to pay for the room and I did not even break the seal on the toilet. I told the ‘Inn keeper’ that one day I hoped she’d be in the same situation. Paid her and told her where she could ‘stick it’. Went to the DQ and ordered a meal and went and sat with my Mother. When I went into the room I could not tell if she actually knew who I was. I thought that maybe she thought I was my oldest sister. I spoke to her and asked, “Do you know who I am?” Very indignantly she said, “Of Course, I do, Lenora!” At least she knew who I was. The next day my middle sister came; but, she came to long enough to call her by name and grab her hand. A day earlier she had told the owner of the A.L.F. that she would fall asleep and see the gates swinging open and shut; and, that she was not ready to “Fly Away!” I can remember when my Daddy was dying and in the ICU – the choice to take him off ‘life support’ was made after I was sent down to get everybody something to eat. When they still had the life supports connected and I got a turn to go in, I stand outside his door and look at him and the machines; and my mother was right behind me. As soon as I walked into his room they’d go haywire. After 2 or 3 times, I crawled up in the bed beside him and talked to him and told him that I was going to be ‘ok’. The only thing I wanted from him was that ‘when I passed away; I wanted him to “Call me, Dale, Daddy!”, so that I would know that I was not just dreaming. He always called me “Dale”, since the age of 3 … because I got a full cowgirl’s outfit and a red wooden rocking horse for Christmas. I was a real Dale Evans and Roy Rogers fan. Every Saturday when they came on, I sat in front of the TV and that was MY TV time … nobody could stand in front of it or change the channels. Not that we had more than 3.

The closest I have come to ‘camping’ is being in a ‘camper’ and having an awning outside where we spent most of the time. We grilled out every meal and the weather was nice. But, sleep on the ground or in a ‘cabin’ … haven’t done THAT since I was a Brownie or Girl Scout! My BF and I would ‘hide food’ and take it back to the cabin with us and then climb up in the rafters so that the counselors could not see us when they came and made bed checks.
Yeah, we had hunters coming on our property because the guy who cut out timber said that the road they took the timber out on was ‘ok’ to go down. NOT so, and, they talked and laughed within 100 feet of a climber son had up and our next door neighbor found them ‘in one of his stands’ that had a ‘No Trespassing sign’ on it that he had not put up, they had. So that morning, when they left; Trey and his dad put up and chain and a sign with our name and number on it “Private property, Do NOT enter!” The first call from them was to say that Alan had given them permission. Well, Alan does NOT have the right to give you permission to come on our property. The man ‘argued’ that it was a ‘right-of-way’. I told him that it did not have trees on it so that the timber company could have a way in and out; but, WE paid property taxes on it and the deed and survey shows that it belongs to us and is NOT a way to get to landlocked property. I think Louis wasn’t looking forward to answering the call. He comes in and I tell him what the conversation was about. Five minutes later, another man calls and says that is how they had been taking anothers’ wheelchair-bound grandson to the back side of their hunting land. I told him I was ‘terribly sorry’ but, they had access to the land from the other road; and, if they wanted to hunt that section of their land, then they would just have to walk or drive their truck to it. They were NOT even to park their truck in front of the chain and walk over our land. If they did, the Sheriff would be called and we’d prosecute them for trespassing. Louis laughed and said, ‘you heartless B****’! I asked him what he would have done after they went through all the trouble to put the gate/chain up. He laughed and said, ‘the same thing’. We could’t even go out on our own land and hunt because of them smoking and talking and laughing the entire time. The only person that is allowed to come on our land is our next door neighbor who uses the ‘fire break’ in front of the pines, so he can get up the hill in front of our house. Louis can always hear people trying to get up the hill when it rains. I never hear them. When it was really bad, before I rode the backs of the County Commissioner and he helped get it worked on, the teenagers would come ‘bogging’ on the road. Talk about a mess! We called the Sheriff and were told, ‘go get a license’ and ‘we’ll go pick them up’. Yeah right, pouring down cats and dogs and we’re going to go talk to no telling how many people who might be drinking and having guns with them. Don’t think so, they will just have to come get them out when they get stuck. IF they are stupid enough to walk to the house, they might get one stuck in their faces.

My middle sister has 2 cats. One is lame and its name is “Flop” because that is the sound it makes on her wood floors. She had another cat at one time whose name was “Lucy Furr”, it was a ‘black cat’. She could always come up with some of the strangest names for her animals. She had a dog when they lived in TN that was a real Heinz 57. Front legs short, back legs long; front half was straight fur, the back was ‘curly’. I cannot remember its name; but, it was so appropriate. I’ll have to ask her.

You are a good neighbor/friend to take him homemade chicken broth. Didn’t you say a few days ago, that you took food to someone or several someone’s?

They’ve put me on some sort of medication to lower my cholesterol; but, it isn’t Crestor or Simvasitim (so). I have had a nagging headache every night since they put me on it.

Pip – for 770 calories … you could definitely eat ½ a pizza or more if you wanted to.

Margaret – Love your garden/yard. The hammock and the black and yellow flamingoes; because it looks so restful and I collect flamingos myself. They’ve taken over the house! I have over 70, and, not two of them are alike.

Becca – You are a great neighbor and friend to do this. I do understand that you don’t want to be (or become) the sole person she depends on. It pretty sad how a lot of our Seniors end up living. Some even end up ‘out on the streets’ when they no longer have understanding of the consequences of not paying their bills.

“War and Peace” Edition X

Lenora

Lenora - I took a casserole and a pie to a lady who had neck/spinal fusion. Then I took 3 types of rice, some applesauce and chicken and rice soup to this guy. I made a key lime cake, spanakopita and sausage and peppers to take with me to my cousin's in VA. I guess that's just me -- I cook.

Better get to sleep. I swear, every time I itch someplace, I constantly think "bedbugs???" But I did read on the Internet (and I'm choosing to believe this) that not everyone brings home bedbugs and to cut back on the possibility you should store your suitcase away from the bed. I kept mine on the sofa.

Michele in NC

So missed a few pages - I'm dealing with too much heat - yesterday was 105 - hotter than I have ever been in and no airconditioning... today is cooler 91 - but back to over 100 tomorrow... gardening is starting at 6:30am trying to beat the heat... but thinking of you all.

Kim in HOT N. California

Katla - We grew up riding, roping, branding, etc. I know how to fry up good old prairie oysters. My brothers have always been and will forever be cowboys at heart. I'll have to see if I can dig up a photo of my older brother. He also has the mustache and wears a cowboy hat most of the time.

Lenora - DB uses electronics a lot in his job. He takes care of the water for a town of about 5000. He quite often checks the water plant on his IPad.
I'll take the crap at work over being shot. That is a terrible thing that happened.

Margaret - Love the photos from your garden. I'm not sure what is wrong but I can't seem to get my deck finished the way it is most years.

Lanette - I'm going to have to bloom in quite a lot of "fertilizer"

I need to get everything ready for our vacation. I had no get up and go today, I guess it got up and left. I did give DD a ride to her hair appointment after I got off work. She left lights on while she was painting the big window mural and her car wouldn't start. Good thing I had gone up to check out the windows. It looks awesome. I will have to find some of her recent work to post. I got my manicure and pedicure appointments changed to tomorrow and Thursday. This is a pain having to be ready to leave right after work on Friday.

So a lady called the paint store to complain about DH's painting abilities. She is not happy with his work. He painted in her house in September of 2014 and now she's not happy? I told him she probably wants to change the colour and doesn't want to pay for it.

Picked up my grandson so he could take the bottles and cans in. He made a little over $20 even with forgetting one whole garbage bag behind. I asked him what he was going to use the money for. Food ! Duh. He is a 14 yr old with men's size 13 feet and taller than me. He is always hungry. He is going to do balloon twisting on Saturday at the event his Mom is working at. So far he has mastered swords, puppies and a simple flower. We actually had a really good conversation this afternoon. He will be doing all honours classes this fall except maybe Math.

For any of you techies out there, you can go on Sound Cloud and listen to my other grandson's musical creations. Just type in The Creedster. I believe his music can be found the same way on Facebook. I am proud of him but don't listen to his music much. It just isn't my cup of tea. He has won 2 scholarships to a music program in Vancouver. He dreams of producing.

The girls have their final hurrah for dance lessons this week. They are both already begging for more lessons next year. We will see what dance they end up in.

Have to do all my final stuff for the Blast before I go on vacation. I think it will be fun.

-Sharon feeling overwhelmed by life.

Good morning ladies! Happy Wednesday! Taking a break from my Challenge today as my back is still sore and now my knees are sore from the squats. I will hit the local pool tonight to get some water therapy in. That usually works out the soreness.
Paula- Like the others, I would also like to convey my condolences to you and your hubby on the loss of his friend. AND like the others, I would agree that to pass away while enjoying an activity with people you love would be the ultimate way to go. Sending much love and hugs!
Lenora- The bit that Beth mentioned about the brochure for a local funeral home, was in reference to my DH's birthday. He sees every birthday as "getting closer to death" (such an optimist). Since I posted that early yesterday, we sat down to dinner last night and I asked him if he" wanted anything special for his birthday, tomorrow (today)?" He replied, "Ugh. tomorrow is my birthday. I would have forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it." He said it with so much gloom, I told him that I was thinking of putting a funeral home brochure in his birthday card and he said "Don't bother, I already have all of the local ones!" LOL! He wasn't this way when we dated/married. I think I sucked the life out of him!
Heather- I am at the point where I would find men doing yard work otherwise done by me to be very attractive, rather than attracted by their looks. Beauty fades, but the appreciation for a body doing hard work doesn't! I am sure my DH's attractiveness would multiply greatly if he cooked sometimes. I will have to compliment him next time I see him doing anything close to the stove or grill!
Ginger- Your reunion weekend sounds wonderful! Do you have a good turn out each year? I come from a large family also (eleven kids on my mom's side) and our reunions used to be HUGE; but we are down to only a couple dozen of us getting together now. It seems the families/cousins don't gather like we used to.

Kids are here; we are waiting for the others to arrive so that we can take a walk to the beach. I think I will pack our lunch and just do an early lunch on the deck before we head down to the sand. ttfn xoxoxo KJ (Kelly)