Gorgeous picture of George and the countryside JACKIE! I think labour day in Canada means close the cottage and batten down the hatches! Sort of a work around the garden day, a last fling before school starts with fireworks at night to say goodbye to the summer holidays.
I gather you in the UK are expecting the patter of tiny royal feet again! Always good news, new life!
Anne.

Hello Sneakers, the day has flown away again.

I did finally get all of my various checks written but cannot do my last money transfer as the baking site is down for maintenance until tomorrow morning at 9am. Close!!

I did watch some U.S. Open Tennis, read some books, ran up and down the stairs doing photocopies and printing off some interesting materials.

My friend who had been in the hospital for so long is back in the hospital again. Yesterday I heard she was running a high fever again and the visiting nurse had been out yesterday morning. Things progressed and they have found she has leakage from her surgery that continues to provoke infections. She will now not be allowed any solid food for the foreseeable future as they hope everything will heal if food does not travel through what is left of her digestive system. So I do not understand the text, a picc line but not a feeding tube right now?

Upsetting and information is difficult to come by. Both of her daughters are here now which is also worrisome. They had been taking turns as they are both trying to keep their jobs. They only did this once before which was for the original surgery. Hoping for the best.

I think I am ready to get back to a more normal schedule. How about you?

Meanwhile--Love, love, love the photo of George! what a doll.

I hope everyone had a nice day. We had overcast weather today and it has cooled off now with temperatures in the mid-70's. It has been quiet in my neighborhood this weekend. I think everyone was out of town or out camping somewhere. Fine with me.

I do have to say I am hopeless with those coin-operated air machines at the gas station. They are usually sort of broken and you cannot read the dial. I have lots of trouble trying to get the proper amount of air in each tire. The front tires have a different pressure requirement than the rear tires. The dealership also sets the pressure different in the summer than in the winter. The tire shop has a dealie where you set the level of required pressure, attach the hose, and it shuts off when it reaches that level. Now that is cool! They do not charge me for that, at least so far. Neither does the auto dealership but it is very difficult to get up there due to road construction. But I am horrible at filling the tires.

Buzz, I am sorry Dragon did not work for you. I don't think I have a dictation program on all my devices. I know I can "say" my texts on my phone but I will tell you it is often not what I had in mind.

Anne, what nice plans with your family and I hope the air conditioner is now out of the window. We always had to find a crew to remove the air conditioner from my grandmother's window. It was always a timing issue as we did not want to leave her without cooling too early in the season.

Sandy, did you get to the pool today? I hope if you did that the weather was warmer than ours.

And I was happy to hear officially that another royal baby is on the way. I had heard so many unofficial reports that she was very unwell again and had been back in the hospital with all speculation that it was morning sickness again.

Hugs. Tomorrow it is back to errands, Mah Jongg, and finally the last of the online banking (I hope).

Lin

Good morning. Well I didn't get the A/C out after all. Round about the time Mark and Derek where due, a tremendous wind blew in, Harvey? Then it poured with rain, and it thundered, and the lightning struck, and then it decided to hail. The A/C is very big, and heavy, and effective, and it requires one person to lift and shove from the outside and one person to lift and pull on the inside. I don't think Mark fancied being outside as the tempest raged! Maybe next weekend. I don't think it will snow in the meantime. No fireworks from the neighbours last night! Just nature!

I've come to the conclusion that if everyone ignored the Korean chaps swaggering and boasting everything would go flat. He must get quite a kick out of worrying the world to death just like a naughty little boy in the playground.

Well, we went out before the children trudge to school in their brand new clothes. I didn't want Jilly muddying them when they bent to pat her.

It should be a peaceful Tuesday before the rain starts again this afternoon.

Anne,

An early and soggy dog walk this morning just around the local roads because a surveyor visited at 9.30 to measure the area for my new garden room and check that what is planned will actually work. A cheerful chappy but George felt the need to bark for the 2 hour visit which was very annoying as I tried everything from treats to firm direction into his bed. The surveyor did admit he has a Bull Mastiff dog so I wondered if George could smell his hound!!

I'm undoubtedly the wrong person to enthuse about royal babies because I'm a grumpy old woman when it comes to our archaic system of placing a family in a palace that then gets brought out on special occasions..... see what I mean? I wish them well of course as I would any family bringing new life into the world and they do need fresh blood after centuries of inbreeding so good luck to them!

Anne ~ North Korea is definitely best ignored by the rest of us because there is absolutely nothing we can do about what could happen. Just enjoy each day and hopefully no one will make a silly mistake along the way because kim jong un is not stupid so knows his country would be obliterated if it came to a nuclear war and I'm sure is just pushing Donald's buttons to make himself look a great leader at home!!

Buzz ~ That's good you got your money back from Amazon and I'm sure a headset, even a good, reliable one won't cost as much. When I have the time I'm going to sit and test my system just for the fun of it although as a touch typist I hardly know my fingers are moving across the keys so no pain for me..... yet!

More blackberry and apple jam was produced this morning using a granny recipe that threw the berries and chopped apples with core and skin into a pot to soften before pushing through a sieve and mixing sugar before boiling. Well the pectin in the seeds certainly worked and barely 5 minutes into the boil it was setting on the edges of the saucepan where it was cooler so into jars it went. I forgot to buy vodka for the damson liqueur yesterday and didn't have a chance today after a phone call from my housebound neighbour worried after a visit from a carer who used a hoist without a 2nd person which is a no-no so I popped up the track to see her and chat until she calmed down. She told me a lovely story about a young crow that one of her sons when still a child found out of its nest and took it home to mother to look after! They fed it on chopped worms and soaked bread in milk until it was an adult when it would then follow her children to school and wait in the trees for them to return home. It also used to dive bomb a man who wore a bright yellow helmet as he rode a small motorbike round the village but when she apologized to him he told her he didn't mind because he loved birds!

On that note I will go and give my hens some corn for their supper and then think about what I'm eating..... oh yes, cold roasted chicken, oops!!

Jackie

I'm keeping an eye on IRMA! Oh my word, 185 mile an hour winds! Headed right this way. I stocked up on gallons of water, but better shop for canned goods, though I'm sure our culinary dept is preparing! 185MPH! Down to dinner after throwing out garbage and all other things I manage to accrue on a daily basis! Robby is gorgeous, as I knew he would be. My headset will arrive Thursday so I'll try again. Wish I were a touch typist. I use many fingers...at random!
Buzz

..................Always believe something wonderful is about to happen!................

Ohhh boo! I have to go through a lot of scary tests to determine a course of action on my knee/hip/back problem. The sciatica is like a nasty condition that will not completely go away. I am not myself these days. Cranky and nasty. But we will persevere. If we know what's wrong...we can figure out how to fix it!

Weather was better today, warm but still smoky. Oregon is on fire!
There is something going on everywhere.
Patsy

BUZZ, just a quick note on my way out to take Jilly for a long walk. I pray Irma dodges your area, and you stay safe! Thoughts most definitely with you!
Happy little Robby going to school. Lovely little child, and I'd love to be spider woman as well!
Anne.

At this mornings meeting, we were given lists of preparation items. There are generators for at least one elevator in each building, corridor lights, dining room, nursing floor, and several other places. All 3 meals daily will be provided, and all staff will live here during the storm, if it hits, to help those who require help. Oops, I hear shutters being put up outside! My only concern is the strength of the windows, which are nor shuttered in my apartment, but they have survived previous hurricanes, and if something happens, I'll figure it out after[ it happens! We lived through Hurricane Wilma 11 years ago, with no electricity water, phones, or flushing toilets for 21 days, while in our own home, so I will take it as it comes! Thank you all for your dear thoughts! I must go check out my battery supply, as my lanterns require many! JACKIE, are you going to end up with another cat? You are so kind-hearted toward these poor little strays!
Wishing you all a lovely day, and must get going here...need to move everything away from under windows, just in case! My arthritis is already feeling an approaching storm, lol!
Buzz

..................Always believe something wonderful is about to happen!...........

Buzz, it sounds as if preparation is in place. That does not mean we will not worry. It is part of my DNA. A friend in Tampa has been searching for drinking water to purchase. She now has five gallons for herself and her cat. She is also moaning that she really only has cans of beans to eat if the power goes out. Something is better than nothing!

Sandy, I hope you will be able to sleep tonight. It is only Wednesday and the storm has a lot of traveling ahead of it before it arrives on our coastline. You just cannot stay awake until the weekend. Find a boring book or a horrible TV show to lull you to sleep. Works for me, usually.

Anne, I hope you and Jilly are only encountering nice folks out on your walks. It was cold in my house this morning. It never did get very warm today and temps are in the 60's already. Brrrrrr for tonight. Back to the eighties by week end.

Jackie, another cat!!! And still not the one you have been hoping to find. Goodness, I hope you found a placement. And as you mentioned it, I am sure your neighbors didn't follow the rules. When I asked permission to have a fence installed I thought I would have no problems as so many fences in the area were just what I had in mind. Unfortunately, the planners denied me and when I sent in pictures of three fences within a block of me just like my proposal I was told, no, you cannot do that. I asked when they would contact these people and have them live up to code. Ha, they were grandfathered in. So better to go ahead and do what you want apparently and ask for forgiveness later if necessary.

Patsy, oh oh no. Hate medical tests. I hope it will go better than you are anticipating. And sorry for the pain, I can understand feeling grumpy.

I did not do everything on my list today but did get a few errands accomplished that were not on the list (in my head). I decided I didn't want to take a long drive even though the weather was quite nice so I stayed in the metro area and am satisfied with that.

The pendoodle class is apparently like joining a cult. You are in, pens are issued to you and you are to return with them each month. How do I not know what I am getting into. So apparently the instructor covers a couple of different designs each month and then they do a project. Today was doodling on puzzle pieces and then all the bits were assembled into one large puzzle which was then coated with some preservative and will be put into a frame and hung in the entryway. I will include a photo.



Time to move as I am enjoying sitting too much!

Hugs.

Lin

Jill woke me up last night, yipping and whining. I thought she wanted the "bathroom", but when I checked she was actually fast asleep dreaming! We finally got out for our proper walk. Not bathroom duty, back garden, but the proper walk, and one of our neighbours across the road was taking his rescue beagle to the vets. Apparently he'd put a bag of trash outside the backdoor prior to putting it inside the garage and dustbin. Then he let his dog out whilst he went back inside for breakfast. The dog tore the trash bag to bits and whoopee, pet paradise, she found a juicy pork rib bone. This resulted in a bone splinter and a trip to the vets. She got over that but developed an infection, hence this was hopefully a last vet visit if the antibiotics had cleared the infection. You have to watch dogs all the time! Jill would be a great scavenger if she got the chance! I sympathize when it comes to Brady JACKIE, Tabitha Daisy, my last cat was a rescue shelter cat and the wildest of all my previous cats. Great mouser as well until she matured a bit.

The damage in the islands is incredible! God bless, BUZZ, all our prayers are with you.
Did anyone see the northern lights last night? Apparently, the sighting reached the northern States. Mother Nature was very active with solar flares, waterspouts in the Great Lakes, and a fire ball meteor which I gather broke up before reaching earth.

Anne.

Good evening.

Good to hear from you Jeri. Everything you've been doing sounds like great fun. Will you be happy to be home once again? Maybe you will have itchy feet to get going again soon. Have you been traveling with the new camper and truck?

Anne, I have been listening to a bit of the news about the storm and it is horrible news indeed. One of my few vacations was to St. Martin. Lovely lovely island. I imagine it is transformed now. I hope they will be able to recover quickly. So it was a night of unrest in the Sneaker doggie family. I wonder what she was dreaming about? I hope you both get rest tonight.

Jackie, I have never heard of Doctor Foster. I looked it up of course but do not have access to it. I think Episodes of the first season are for sale on Amazon's streaming service. I doubt I will purchase though. The show does sound somewhat odd but lots of dramas can be a bit difficult at the start and then you end up loving them. I hope George is letting you rest this evening. It was a restless night.

We had a new lady join in at the library today so much more time spent playing games and less time talking about anything personal. I missed the easy conversation we usually have.

Trying to decide if I will go to Tai Chi in the morning or if I should made a trip to Walmart. I guess I will decide in the morning.

I am going to take my very itchy, scratchy eyes and call it a day.

Hugs.

Lin

My post went into thin air after I clicked on Post Reply! Too tired to repeat. but I have 2 web sites in case I get socked with Irma... an yes, she is one whopper! Bigger than Harvey or anything ever recorded, and the width is around 400 miles. SANDY, I don't recall if Jacksonville is in or out of the loop! At some point north of me (we seem to be dead center!), it seems to go east offshore, but it will be getting Georgia and SC!
OK,, we received 2 websites to send to friends and family:
ActsRetirement.org
Facebook.com/ActsRetirement
Acts is the name of the group owning 32 retirement communities. The name of my community is Edgewater Pointe Estates at Boca Pointe (what a mouthful!) If and when my electricity goes, one of those websites will be able to give you information! We had a Hurricane buffet tonight, and will start the breakfast, lunch and dinner hurricane program on Saturday.
I am grateful to all of you as your wishes reach me, and I, too hope for the safety of everyone in Irma's path. I should be able to post tomorrow; after that, we shall see, but my lanterns, radios and batteries are all set and working and ready for whatever comes along. If the windows blow out (I'm on the 3rd floor facing south of a 5 floor building), there are plenty of safe havens in my buildings, all connected. At least 1 elevator in each building will be on generator. Every floor has a lovely lobby and each of the 4 residential buildings has a lobby plus our "club" building (NO, I did not move into a country club!) has a lovely safe large lobby and 3 dining rooms, all on super generators. So I really am more secure than if I were still in my private home. I just wish I had storm windows as 185 mile winds are nothing to sneeze at! I hope this one doesn't disappear (this post, that is!)
Buzz
..................Always believe something wonderful is about to happen!...........

Yes JACKIE, Tabitha Daisy was a full blown tabby cat and caught anything that moved, giant grasshoppers, chipmunks, grass snakes, but oddly rarely killed anything, just brought them in the house to show Mom. I suspected she thought the chipmunks were kittens being the same colouring,
Her only rival was the cat we brought to Canada, the never to be forgotten Thelly who was white with black patches. A farmer offered to take him in when we emigrated because he caught rabbits but such was his personality (he used to trot to the shops with me and the then little boys, attacking all dogs that got in his way) we couldn't bear to leave him behind at the age of 9. He was the Rolls Royce cats kitten and had the shape of an aeroplane in black on his white chest.

Oh BUZZ please stay safe! Like Jackie said keep well away from windows. I've never experienced a hurricane either. We usually get the aftermath of rain as it moves up and weakens. I shall be on tenterhooks all day tomorrow thinking of you! Point taken about "earthquake" lights in Mexico! JACKIE.

What IS a sandwich fair SANDY?

Welcome back to the mainland JERI! And LIN sincerely hope those scratchy eyes are on the mend. PATSY, hope the sciatica is receding, RAPIDLY..

Grocery Friday, what's new! Except Mike is coming over this afternoon instead.

Stay safe everyone, PLEASE!
Anne.

OK, everything is filled with working batteries and ready to go, including my treasured fans! Florida without AC is unthinkable but last time we had a really bad hurricane it was October and not as hot! I promise to stay away from windows and I think I'll be really OK. So thank you everybody, I will heed your advice and love you for giving it!
JERI, your phot is not simply N.S. as I remember it, but also a dramatic work of art! WOW!
SANDY, have a great time in Sandwich, and I believe your daughter's saying what she is, has to do with her not wanting you to worry! She hears the same warning I hear, and I'm sure she takes similar precautions! Being your daughter, I'm certain she is a bright and caring woman! We'll both be fine and have fun at the Fair!
My headphones arrived and they are beauties and when this is over, I'll try an installation so I can talk instead of type! Hugs to all...
Buzz
........................Always believe something wonderful is about to happen!.......................

Hello fellow sneakers, sorry I've been off for a while. Got a few weeks of more tests biopsies excetera, so far things are looking good polyps in the stomach benign just have to deal with the chronic nausea and heartburn. The surgeon determine surgery would not help for the acid reflux that's burning my vocal cords just need to keep taking the medicines.
Sandy, glad you didn't ignore babes birthday I'm sure he was happy to hear from you. It was great to hear that you have another year on your lease without any increase. You are very lucky to have the boys so close and be able to see them regularly please enjoy. I do miss my grandson, but we'll have to deal with things the way they are and hope that he will know that I do love him. I I also do not like the F-bomb, but it seems to be frequently used amongst those who do not know how to express themselves appropriately as Patsy so aptly said. My sister has already closed down the pool for the season so no more swimming even if we get an Indian summer. Hope you can enjoy your last few days at the pool before they closed it down

Annie, sorry for the name change my voice does not want to pick up and write your name correctly oops! Love all your stories especially Jill stories, she seems like quite the character and I'm glad she's giving you a lot of love. My voice recognition does not like Jilly either yay it took it this time chuckle chuckle. Being a retired RN I too was interested in the story of the nurse who was arrested for doing her job. The officer should have gone through her the correct procedures to obtain the blood. Sorry to hear they didn't get your air conditioner out but hopefully it will be done next weekend.

Yes,Lin , sings my voice recognition doesn't like your name either wants to go Lynn oh well. And yes we do enjoy pictures of your crafts you are so talented please post more. I agree I did not see any mistakes on your fashion coloring, they were lovely. I had an issue with my light coming on due to tire pressure for many months until they told me that it was with the change in temperatures so at season changes when the temperature is go from high and low so quickly that will cause the pressure lights to come on they say. And you are lucky because it costs us each time we have to have our engine light reset. Many times I have just left it and let it stay on cuz I know there's not an issue and eventually overtime it does go out. You've just got to love modern technology... Chuckle chuckle.. sorry to hear that the forest fire winds are blowing your way I know my nephew is having a lot of problems in Washington near Kent with falling ash from the fires.

Jackie, are you hoping for new neighbor? Or would you rather live with the problem you know versus getting a problem you don't? Good job for George protecting you.

Patsy, I agree it is very telling when someone uses the F-bomb and cannot express themselves appropriately. I am still contemplating whether I'm going to be able to modify my loan or if I'm going to have to move. I am truly not looking forward to purging through my accumulated Mass! I suppose it has to be done would be better sooner than later. I hope your test go well and that they find what they can do to help you with your sciatica and other pain. Living with pain is difficult situation.

Buzz, my dear dear friend it sounds like you have things all planned out for the coming storm and I do hope that your windows hold up. It does sound as if the situation you are in is better than if you were in an individual home. You are surrounded by others and could get immediate help if needed. Obviously we all care for you and are concerned. Thank you for posting the sites where people can find out how you were doing. I am not very Tech literate but I'm sure Sandy in particular could figure out how to find out how you're doing and would let us all know. By the way I just use voice chat through my phone or Cortana through my computer to dictate here as I do not do well typing especially on the tiny keyboard on a phone or tablet.
Jeri, glad to see you made it safe and sound back to Nova Scotia. It sounds is if you were a good help to your friend and I'm glad you were able to visit. Safe travels, and catch up with us when you when you have internet access.

Well, sneakers, I have been busy with my Gardens both the one here at home flower end veggies as well as the community garden in the town. Plenty of Sun gold tomatoes, I have put up half dozen pints of homemade tomato sauce, and made a batch of tomato relish. I also have given neighbors and the food pantry several quarts of the sun gold tomatoes. The other Tomatoes seem to have gotten a blight that we cannot seem to get rid of. I've got two zucchini right now waiting to be shredded to make zucchini bread. I am either sauteing or roasting small zucchini and yellow summer squash daily and enjoying the Bounty while I can. I have had very few cucumbers and it had to buy a couple of the store. I just harvested the end of my broccoli this week and pulled the plant. I have also pulled all but two of my cabbage. They did not do well they are small and have had many whitefly problems. I plan to shred Blanche and freeze some for the winter. Carrot seem to be doing well and we'll pull them as I need them as they keep better when left in the ground. Coleslaw seems to be in my near future. My nephew is here the other day and helped himself to a popsicle out of my freezer and did not get it closed tight I again had problems with things melting. I have a girlfriend coming Monday and we will be going through the freezer and throwing a lot of stuff out as I'm not sure as to whether it thought or not would rather be safe than sorry... What a waste of good food! The freezer is out in the attached garage but I did not notice until a day or two later. Well, now that I finally got all the gastric appointments out of the way the next ones will be for the skin lesions when I see the dermatologist for consult, hopefully things will go as well there as they did for the gastro's. They did reschedule a couple of my appointments for the gastro when I went in because my vital signs were too low and they did not want to take the chance of anesthesia to do the biopsies at that time. I did get them done finally just yesterday Thursday and all appeared well, thank goodness and thank the Lord.

Hope you all weather through the storms and the forest fires along with personal storms.

Till next time your fellow sneaker
Mae