Good Morning, I watched the videos and it's definitely a rat. A very big rat. I don't know why he's not attracted to the traps, I used peanut butter and cheese, but this rat wants corn. He also passes on the poison pellets. I'll have to come up with something new and different. Or, wait it out until all the corn is gone.

I got another llama sheared yesterday morning and then John and I both took the afternoon slow and easy. John actually sat in his rocker and napped a bit. I tried to work on my email update. I need to get that out this weekend because I know I want it done before Norma comes up. I won't take the time to do it then, we have a whole week of activities planned.

Sannferris-poison a few pieces of corn on the cob.

Mygnsac-Wow, I hope you heal quickly. Has cisco decided to be friends with the neighbor dog or just be bullied instead? LOL.

Good morning everyone, it's 85 degrees and 68% humidity out there right now. I came in an hour ago and it was 81 degrees and 80% humidity then. At least it's a little bit drier now but we do have another one of those 105-109 degrees heat index warnings today.

I watered the garden and dreamed about picking another watermelon this morning, lol. We finished the one we pulled on Saturday. Yummy to the last bite.

Have a great day everyone.

Mygnsac, I'm amazed you can't get a decent watermelon out there. Used to be all fruits and vegetables were excellent coming from California. Sad.

Is that fish sandwich a new item on the menu? I'd love to have a good fish sandwich.

Hi all, thought I'd better get in here and chat cause I know I'll be gone a lot the next week as out County Fair is starting. We had Fair set-up this morning. I helped from 8-9:30 and then did my shopping and still made it home shortly after 12. Lori and I did one job we've never done before and that was staple up the green sheeting that helps keep the sun from shining in so strongly in the swine area. I held the fencing and she stapled and the staple gun had a kick to it. Now I'm working on the house, getting stuff together that I'll haul around for use and some other little things.
I didn't do anything big and exciting this last week. We did get two nice rains – any rain in July is nice. I fixed a 6 lb. Meatloaf for Sunday dinner in the crockpot. Had enough left for one leftover meal. It was a little crazy celebrating but we got it done. We sang the song 6 times, lit candles for each and they took turns opening their gifts.
When I was cleaning Saturday, I found some soft scrub I had bought one time and must not of thought it did a very good job since it was there and I didn't know it. Well I decided to give it another whirl in the back shower and it worked well. I just did a bit on one wall but will work on cleaning u the whole thing in the coming weeks.
We bought more boxes for books this week. Ralph went to a book sale and the Bibles were free so got about 3 boxes of them plus bought some study type books. We took our friends going back to Kenya out to Braums and had a nice visit and meal. I've also acquired a bunch of kitchen staples as they had stuff they didn't get used and had to empty the house. So some for the freezer, a little for the fridge and a bunch from the cupboards. Can use it myself or donate to the food pantry but it got it out of their house. I had the spaghetti box in my hands and leaned over to pick something up. The box didn't stay closed so guess who got to play pick up spaghetti sticks.
My sister picked the last of the sweet corn Alan had planted and sent me over another bag (husked at least) so I spent a morning freezing about 7 quarts of corn. The white corn we plant for the Kenyans was ready to pick this week. They charge them a dime a year just so they pay something and they picked 5443 ears in about 4 days – most was picked in the heat of the day. They would come out dripping wet but they wanted to get it.
Lori's kids were out this afternoon to give their pigs the first washing. They'll get another one on Monday. Ralph is taking them to the fair about 7:30 in the morning. I'll go in around 9 when the foods judging starts. Will maybe help there. I've been gathering stuff I take together as I've straightened the house.
Alan's family left yesterday to go out where she is from but the bus got hot so they took it to a chevrolet place (think it's the water pump) and they gave them a loaner car and they came back home (an hour's drive). They they figured out they could take the van so left to return the loaner car and travel on. It was kind of funny cause they had to jump the loaner car.
Tonight will be the usual pizza and salad. We had a bunch of produce given us last Sunday so I've made cucumbers and onions, tomatoes and cucumbers with a little ranch and vegetable relish so lots of good eating. I'll be eating out a lot this next week and Ralph will have a number of TV dinners but I kind of call this my “vacation”.
Ok, I'm going to try and finish this up. Went down to the furnace room this afternoon and there was a bunch of water on the floor. I was afraid it was the water heater except I still had hot water. No, it's how our ac drains and it wasn't doing it right so Ralph got the air compressor and blew dark yucky fluid out – seems like more than the pipe should have held. I did get the broken exercise bike carried out in the yard and picked up things a bit. Now hopefully the floor dries out quickly.

Sheryl, glad the moles seem to be gone but yuck on the big rat. Can you put corn in the trap to get him to go in? Glad you had a nice outing a week ago. Kind of fun just to meander around the stores. Glad you were able to help John with the project he started when you went to Bible study. John has a real gem in you. How many llamas have you gotten done now? How exciting that it's almost time for Norma to come.


Isabella, nice of you to spend some time with Jami. Sorry her ankle is not healing well.


Anew, fun to have friends come and visit. I'm sure they enjoyed your meals. 17 pounds is a big watermelon and good to the last drop is even better. Alan's hired man was down in Texas last weekend and brought back some watermelons and Alan said one was 44 lbs. That's huge. I think they took it out west with them.


Oh, Marcie, sorry your had another fall. Doesn't sound like it slowed you down too much though – even giving Cisco a walk and chasing down a neighborhood dog. I saw his picture on facebook. He's a cute one.


Today only got up around 90. Would love to have a week of those kind of temperatures – would help with the animals at the fair. We'll see what happens. We can use fans so they are taken care of. I've got all but two rooms straightened now and the are probably the worst ones (kitchen and living room). I need to find my belt pack so I don't have to carry my purse all the time and get my bag loaded up so getting closer to be ready.

Isyvanek-You can buy that pillow on Amazon too!

Good Morning. The saga continues...

I got big plastic Rubbermaid containers over the weekend and now have all the bags of cracked corn secured. I mixed some crack corn in with the poison rat pellets at each bait station, untouched. I set another rat trap out plus the live animal trap and used can corn since it sticks better than the dry cracked corn so it would stay in place on the traps. Well, the corn is got and the live animal trap is sprung with no critter in it. This guy is tricky, so much smarter than me. I have found the video clip where he enters, at 11:20 pm, now I have to find the video clip where he's in the trap, eating and see how he escapes. Maybe he's even bigger than I realize and the trap doesn't come down while he's totally inside. If the door comes down on his back, I could see how he could back out. I'll set up the bigger trap tonight. This rodent is costing me hundreds of dollars in surveillance system and Rubbermaid totes and corn and peanut butter and cheese, not to mention my time and effort and frustration, I'm ready for this battle to be OVER!!!

Only about 6 hours left before Norma is here and I can play, play, play.

Good Morning. Well, I can see that the rat entered the barn, but the traps are untouched, the corn is still sitting on the pad in the center. I set up both live traps, and the rat trap. I'll check out the video clips and see when he entered. Viewing the rest of the videos takes a much longer time and I keep putting it off. I make copies of all the clips and have them in a folder labeled, view to "watch for any action". They're piling up and maybe I'll never make the time to view all of them. Boring!!!!

Norma arrived yesterday at 2:30 pm and while she made phone calls and texts to let everyone know she arrived safely, I made late lunch and we just visited all afternoon. Sat on the glider bench on the front deck, it was nice, in the shade so not too hot.

Today, we go to Bible study and then have lunch with Carol. Head back home so I can make late lunch for John.

Tomorrow, John will go with us to Seaside. He probably won't enjoy the women visiting part, but the drive will be scenic. I already told Norma that I want seafood when we go to the coast. I'll be eating out a lot this week and enjoying every bite of it.

Good Morning, a quick note before I jump into the shower and get ready to go out. More details later...we'll be staying home all afternoon and I'll try to pop back in here to tell you about the last 2 days, we're having FUN!!!

Good Morning, hey guys, sorry that I didn't get back over here yesterday...we're headed out the door again this morning. I'll be back when I can, maybe I just have to wait until Norma leaves.

Good late evening. Had some rain very early am and some again this afternoon so I did not water the garden. Been a very slow day today because of the rain, I just want to sleep when it rains, lol. I did the dishes and a load of laundry but that's about it until we went out for dinner with some friends. Went to a mexican food place we haven't been in at least 14 years. I can remember now why we never went back, the food is not very good.

I'm having the problems with cramping all over my body again. This evening while standing in the parking lot after dinner my left thigh backside started to cramp something fierce and I couldn't get it to stop for about 20 minutes. Stretching or putting weight on it did not help, I just had to get through it. I think it's the water pills that are doing it because if I stop taking them I am okay. Even taking the potassium has not helped the situation. I don't know how I can fix this problem and I need the water pills so my lungs don't fill up with fluid again. We have already done blood testing to test my minerals and everything was fine in that area.

We bought a Sweet Kiss cantaloupe the other day at the grocery store and boy did it live up to it's name. Sweet, almost sickly sweet and it was very juicy with the juice running off the knife blade while cutting it up. I don't think it is something I will buy very often, it was just too sweet for me. It's a hybrid produced by a company called Sandstone.

Well, I don't have much more to say so I will say goodnight to everyone and I hope you all have a great weekend.