Hello everyone!

It is a rather warm sunny day with temperatures over 90 degrees F. There may be a break on Wednesday but chances of rain are still not good. I was out early this morning watering my plants and looking at the demise of more of them. Yesterday was blustery here and the plants had a rough day.

I am sticking close to home. Anyone else have hours of fireworks last night? People were shooting off things during the day but after dark it was crazy. Two houses on the next block over had near professional shows and the municipal fireworks were visible from my house if I stood outdoors and those went on forever. Apparently they had 2 years worth of supply to use up. 🤣🤣 My neighbor ran by my house from around the corner. When he saw me looking at him, he slowed to a walk but cut across the neighbor’s yard to get to his house faster. He was not there long and he walked by again in the other direction. As soon as he was past me, he started running again. That was odd!

Jeri, good to see you and what a wonderful time with your family. Everyone together again! It must have been so amazing. Everyone looked so happy.

Sandy, you were kind of look after Ewok. Fireworks are so difficult for many dogs. My friends purchased a thunder coat for their dog and out it on him for the 4th of July. It didn’t do any good so they sat in the car with the dog, which seemed to be the only thing to calm him a bit. Sorry you got in trouble for using the blanket. Trip to Florida approaching fast! Yippee. And i am glad your brother seems to be doing better.

Bob, wahoo, another great group of photos. Hope you are having a lovely afternoon. And no more bushes near that electrical box. I have utility easements on my lot and if they have to dig up things or take down my fence in order to fix something, it’s my problem to put things back together. I always hope they do not have to dig into things.

Jackie, NO, not another small leak! Argh. You just cannot shed those contractors. Congrats on the progress with the painting. Good job. I hear of your rain and I must say I do wonder where our rain has gone. 🙃. Good luck on the new planting of peas by the way. Did you have a talk with the lady having problems regarding the allotment and/or people in charge of things?

Anne, neighbors still packing? Aren’t they at the final deadline for moving? My gosh, your dream of moving along with Mark and family sounds tremendous. Think there’s any chance at all? How exciting!

Patsy, did you enjoy your holiday? Have the temperatures dropped in your area? Did Katie stay calm through the evening?

I need to get back to my chores. I am not sure if we have trash pickup on our usual day this week our not. I guess I will have to look that up online. Sometimes we are delayed, sometimes not.

Oooh, a hummingbird just flew by the window. So cute.

Be safe and healthy my friends.

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️

Am interesting teapot. Oh my!

Hello! Weather is PNW mild again. And the new air conditioner sits unused but I am glad it is here. There must be some kind magic in being prepared for any emergency. Like a heat wave or extreme ice storms.

The 4th of July fireworks were beautiful. The neighbor put on a show also lots of town businesses chipped in to buy fireworks for the city and they were shot off from a barge in the river. Katie wasn’t too upset by everything. She barks an occasional disapproval but all in all she enjoyed being up late running in and out of the deck door. She had a chewy treat as we had ice cream at midnight.

I will fix chili casserole for dinner. That way we can have leftovers tomorrow. Yea…cook once, serve twice! John loves it and so do I.

Our phone land line isn’t working so I am using our smartphone for everything. Not John’s favorite but he likes it better now. Our ancient flip phones are very hard to see and use. I simply refuse to try to use them anymore. So some sort of change is on the way.

Loved seeing all the photos and send a belated Happy Birthday to Jeri. Lovely to see her birthday party.

Sandy: I loved seeing that sweet Ewok cuddled in his blankets. I bought Katie a thunder jacket a couple of years ago. But Katie doesn’t seem as upset anymore. Not sure how or why but am thrilled. She still gets upset at thunder storms.

Lin: your neighbor does sound odd. I think he is very curious about you. I would be nervous about him but he might just sort of nosy. Living alone takes special care. I used to constantly tell our daughter that years ago as a young grade school teacher, living alone in rural Colorado. Someone did break into her garage and stole her snow tires. She was careless and even left her house unlocked many times.

Anne: glad you have an air conditioner. I don’t do very well in heat. I think my brain gets inflamed and I am not very nice.

Keep safe and remember a mask might still be a good idea…….
Patsy☘️

Good day. My containers provide joy from time to time. This morning it was a tiny handful of fresh green beans, a small tomato and a small zucchini. Another sunny hot day, nearing 90 degrees F already. I am happy I watered the plants this morning when it was a bit cooler. All sorts of bugs are on the move today.

I was cutting a few weeds and was hit in the head by a Cicada killer wasp. Oh yes, they are preparing for the seasonal onslaught. I called the pest/wasp control people and requested another treatment to combat these wasps. They will return on Friday. We will see what they can do. They were just here last Wednesday. I am losing faith in their control measures.

Anne, so will you be able to observe moving day? From a cool house of course. And congratulations on finding your emojis. 👍🏻❤️👍🏻

Patsy, I am glad the temperatures have retreated. Excellent. And cook once serve twice is a very good idea. It is wonderful that Katie was not extremely upset by the fireworks.

I haven’t seen any other posts today. Is this a trick by MFP?

Be well everyone. I have a class and/or presentation each day for the remainder of the week. Wahoo mi hope I learn many new things or at least a couple. 🤣😂🤣

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️

Sunny and warm today. But the real issue is a major breakdown in the kitchen sink. The plumbing under the kitchen sink is leaking and under the sink was full of water. I had unload all the stuff under the sink and dry that out. John went scurrying off to Home Depot for repair stuff but to no avail. He couldn’t find what he needed and he could not fix it. So tomorrow at 8:30 am the plumber is to come. It is very upsetting for John to call for help but in truth we may be getting old………too old to do any and all repairs ourselves. For John that is a huge confession. Not for me. I am happy to hand off some of those tasks to hired and competent professionals.

I have been reading the samples of new books on iBooks on my iPad. Good grief! Where are all the good new books? I don’t mean those opinion books authored by the lunatic fringe. I mean real page turner books that make it hard to to put the book down. Oh well, it is a message from the house cleaning god to get back to work!

Went through some of my stack of unfinished and scrap painting projects. I happened on an unfinished painting I was working on of my dad. That was such an emotional moment, I had to set it aside again. I will work on it again but not right this minute. I want to figure out a painting of Katie-MoMo-Mazzie just for fun. I might try to do it in colored pencil or conti crayon. But to get the big difference in colors, I will need to do it in acrylic but I am not going to paint with oils ever again. The smell really bothers John.. it is not worth making John sick.
As expected…..lots of new cases of Covid. Visitors with kids and no masks or vaccination! Go home crazy people! Get vaccinated or stay inside your home and never venture out.
Patsy☘️

Good morning friends after a stormy night of rain, bangs and flashes. It was terribly hot yesterday - 33 deg with a humidex of 40 but today it is positively chilly.

A very large removal van turned up at 8 am yesterday and three men proceeded to empty Harrys house. They finally had everything packed by 2:30 and Joyce came over to exchange emails and have a little snivel. I like Joyce, she was always out working whilst Harry did his hoarding. I found out that the pond fish are safe swimming now in a friends bigger pond.

Joyce took off for her new home up north and Harry with another chap proceeded to load two trucks with the last of Harrys treasures. Piled high, high, high. Harry was so red faced I hope he hasn't had a heart attack! He was just turning the street corner in his departing truck when at 3:30 up rolled a huge removal van, a smaller van and five cars out of which jumped 3 men and about 5 young women.

At this point I don't think they are the actual owners of the house but rather extremely energetic helpers. Everything was in the house by 5:30 including a snow shovel which is a good sign that the new folk know all about Canadian winters. When I got up earlier and opened the blinds not a sniff of five cars, a huge removal van, and a smaller van. Just a few pizza boxes neatly left on the doorstep. An obviously empty house!

I really miss the lilac bush which kept me and next door private, so instead will half close the blinds on the one side of the house that has a window until the lilac recovers in maybe 5 years!

Ha! So most of us have had cut down bush issues and now we are all experiencing water leaks. Isn't that odd and I should add that yesterday not one person wore a mask including Joyce when I got the fare-thee-well hug.

I'm going to dig my acrylics out as well PATSY now the "the winter of my discontent" is unloading trucks "up north" and I've nothing to grouse about HOPEFULLY!

ANNSIE.

A very young Woman has appeared. She appears to be Indian and has a small Yorkshire terrier on a leash which makes her okay in my books. Anne

Hope so SANDY, but it didn't help finding screwed up coco colo cans on my lawn. However, maybe it was the professional movers who were the culprits.
Never a dull moment PATSY!
Annsie

Good morning…it is almost 11:00am but still officially morning. We have a cool day with another marine layer. It might burn off this afternoon.

The family news is good, our daughter realized that she is going to have to “lean in” and put real effort into her health regimen or it will be the nursing home next. So she has done research and devised an exercise regimen to strengthen and promote flexibility. I am so thrilled. She sounds so much better. She is bombastic like she used to be! She demanding and loud like she used to be. Some might find that horrible but that is her personality. If she is quiet and whimpering it is alarming. She can be funny and over the top but entertaining and lovable in a crazy sort of way.

Our son is alternating between his animation projects and his beloved boat. That is also very good. He is in contact with his crew. A schedule of sailing afternoons for the rest of the summer and early fall is planned. When he is busy, he is happy.

John is going nuts with the repairs that keep cropping up on this old house. Things wear out and houses have a life span. We are at the point that requires constant effort to keep things operating. John finds that extremely annoying. But downsizing and moving is not an option for our dear John. I would in a heartbeat! The kitchen plumbing has now been replaced. We just need to find those bubbler doodads that fit on the faucet. Our kitchen faucet is brass and is unusual in design and size. Replacement parts are hard to find.

Sandy: I really understand about being excited to see your daughter. It was that long before we saw our son. We are still not able to visit our daughter. But there is hope in that regard.

Anne: your neighbors and their activities have been a source of great entertainment. They will never know how much fun you had. It reminds me of an old movie from the 50s called The Rear Window. A classic and controversial at the time for the long kiss! Wow! Compared to today, that kiss is nothing at all.

Jackie: we enjoy your refurbishing activities. It sounds like the sort of things that happen in this house. I would even get a rescue doggie but John would have a heart attack. Katie is spoiled and is a huge juvenile delinquent, so we do have our hands full.

Lin: I love that you have a regular phone visit with your friend. As well as other friends that you maintain contact with. You are a good friend and provide that needed human touch we all need.

Remember…it isn’t quite over yet! Masks etc!
Patsy☘️

A very quiet day here which is not surprising because after the recent heat it is pouring with rain and downright chilly.

Again a number of cars showed up at the overnight empty house. I would guess, although quiet outside. everyone inside is either cleaning or painting walls. They seem to consume quite a lot of pizza judging by the empty cartons lined up on the drive. Maybe they are Italian? I hope so because I love Italian food and culture and actually I buy and have delivered food from an Italian store.

Here, Mark showed up under a large black umbrella to peer at my down spout which apparently has sprung a leak. And a very wet grocery delivery guy showed up with my groceries which included two cucumbers when I only ordered one. Someone will be phoning about a lost cucumber!

Finally. A long phone chat with a traumatized Maria who endured over five hours of what sounds like horrendous heart tests. She will get the results in a weeks time.

That is a pretty tea set LIN.

Great and wonderful news concerning your daughter PATSY. Your house and my house sound somewhat similar when it comes to constant maintenance. There is something wrong with the fluorescent lighting in my kitchen right now. The tubes need replacing at an alarming rate and I'm beginning to think its the holding unit and not the tubes. I sincerely hope JACKIE has a LONG LONG spell of no problems. after such a trying year. SANDY, happy holidays!

I'm off to see how many of my acrylic paints have dried out now I've given up worrying about junk piled against the fence. Talking of which I wonder if Harrys new neighbours are looking in horror at the junk being loaded off his truck and onto his new front lawn. Joyce remarked on what a hoarder he is when she came over.

Anne.

So sorry to read about your brother Jackie, and hope he recovers quickly. As for Maria she and the doctor hope her problem is caused by stress. The hospital staff did detect a tremor before the final results arrive. She is the nicest person one can meet and tells me that although Tony should be in a care facility she can't bear to do that to him after a long marriage.
Life is very hard for some poor people isn't it.
Morning all,
Anne.

Hello, we had rain overnight and we have chances of severe weather later today and overnight. There was a hail storm that missed us this morning had pretty big hail. The weatherman said it would have produced good-sized dents in any vehicle parked outside.

As I have been typing I see storm clouds rolling in again and the wind has picked up considerably. Well, if I leave suddenly, you will know a storm has arrived.

Jackie, I am sorry the treatments did not work for your brother. It was brave of him to try. And I trust the vaccine will not make him feel worse in the short term.

Sandy, happy hair day!

Anne, Maria must be suffering so much with the stress. I know we all wish we could help her in some way. Her hubby really does need professional care. Or she at least needs someone else in the house helping her care for him 24/7.

Patsy, happy day to you. I had to dig out some acrylic white paint for a step involved in a class I am taking relatively soon. I kind of hit the panic button when I realized the first of these classes (which I did not sign up for) is this weekend! All sorts of folks were talking about all the prep work they had done and I decided I had better move it. Anyway, all I could find was heavy body white so I was on the hunt for something more fluid. Eureka, found it! Painting is complete. And I am glad your daughter has found the wherewithal to attack her health with her normal gusto. That is terrific. Good for her.

I did some laundry this morning. I needed clean clothes!

Did I mention I finally got an appointment for a haircut late next week? She is going out of the state for a family wedding. Oh joy and won’t be back for a few days. I am not thrilled about what she might bring back with her.

Oooh, getting really dark so will post this.

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️

Sadler