WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JUNE 2024

A large church (Waymaker Church) van came to the park yesterday to bring the refugees supplies. DH went around asking everyone if they were refugees then the van gave them food, water, and other supplies to help them. DH was given 3 cases of water for helping everyone. That was nice of all of them.

The fire area was hit with a big storm that brought hail and 2 inches of rain in 2 hours. Very bad for here as the ground doesn’t absorb the water. The hail was so bad, they had to plow it and several cars, about 30, got stuck on the highway because of the hail and flooding. There is a campground there in Ruidoso that flooded due to that rain as well. They showed pictures of campers stuck in the mud at the campground. That reminded me of when DH and I were in Nevada and stuck in a flash food too! Our flood happened in Nevada at Cathedral Gorge.

Here is another creature I saw yesterday. This one in a spoiler as it is scary for some. But he was friendly and just marched away when I got to close trying to measure it with my foot.
RVRita at Bottomless Lakes

1948CWB wrote: »

Fingers crossed as Son is planning to pick up his two hounds today. The one that seems to be part Great Dane is going on 11 years old and cannot get up the back porch stairs so DH has had to go get him several times a day. The other one is a really fat and needy mix that sheds black hair wherever she walks. I will be doing a lot of vacuuming when they leave.

Debbie ~ The kittens are adorable! We had a siamese mix for 15 years and we loved that cat dearly. Could you teleport them to me?

Annie, Heather, John, and others ~ Quick healing thoughts for you.

Carol in GA

I wish I could send them too you- I know they would be so loved.
First hubby and I had a Siamese mix cat when we first got married( 41yrs ago on Tuesday). We found her mother up in Mendocino and gave her to mom for mother's day- How could she say no to us keeping her when we gave her as a gift. We kept one of her kittens. Sinder was over 16 when she passed away. I buried her at mom and dad's.

Hello, all, from the typical heat of a June afternoon in the Arkansas River Valley. So bright ya gotta wear shades... 😜

Busy couple days, just kinda gave up on everything yesterday, but today has been better. Slept well, which always helps.

Had to push Corey to finally go to the phone store and swap his phone in on a new one today. When he got home Wednesday night, the battery was swelling to the point where it was making me quite nervous, and he was eligible for an upgrade anyway. Not good for our budget, but necessary for his work, and better than having the silly thing catch on fire or even blow up while it's sitting on his hip.

I've got everything to put together a cheesecake for him for tomorrow, with fresh strawberries - today's his actual birthday, but he's always too wiped out on Friday to do anything, or care whether there's dessert or not. He wants to grill a steak tomorrow, and he always grills shrimp for me, so that works. Tonight will be something simple.

Finally got the determination from the VA, and they're going to double my rating from 10% to 20%, which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Basically, I had hoped to get at least enough to make up for my Medicare premiums when those begin next year, and it's almost exactly that much. 🤷🏻‍♀️Could have been worse.

Other than that, reading and working on the windows - only a few more to go! Also rearranged our bedroom to move the chest-of-drawers and line it up with the footboard of the bed. In so doing, got rid of five years of horribleness under and behind the quite heavy and large chest, which I needed to move anyway to get to the window. And the bedroom works better. Not sure that it's prettier, but it's definitely more efficient, as the chest now faces the closet, so getting dressed will be quite easy. Hopefully I don't stub my toes on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night! 👀😁😜

Next week is labs on Monday, then the hematologist by phone and the gastroenterologist in her office, both on Friday. Information filled week, one hopes.

The man will be home before too long, and I have to scramble out and get the clean sheets off the line, and then jump in the shower to scrub off the grub from all the cleaning and such.

Have a good weekend, my 🐣🐤🐥🐣🐤🐥🐿️🐔🐔🐔🐔,
Love,
Lisa in AR

Congratulations, Lisa, on your percentage uppage for disability. That is a help, I'm sure.

Barbie - I hope Jake's new chemo pills go down well. Sounds like they are keeping on top of things.

I've woken up to a dull day, but tomorrow is the start of a patch of good weather for my friends' visit. I haven't minded it coolish, I'm not a fan of heat, but it hasn't been great for the economy of this seaside city. Can't wait to stagger down to the seafront. I think I'm still half a block short. I could get there, but, as Ginny says, you've got to get back again! I will get a taxi to see the girls.

CJ - it's just a small, overgrown, city garden, which we fancifully call a wildlife garden. We love it. I love seeing what pops up of its own accord. There is a fashion, and even mission, in British gardening, to rewild everything, with planting being soft , abundant, and natural seeming. Lawns are allowed to grow in 'No-mow May' to encourage wild flowers. We don't have dangerous snakes, or insects here, so nothing much is hiding in the grass, and all kinds of insects are greatly encouraged. Insecticides are frowned on. The idea is to have an abundance of everything, including birds and bugs. We have foxes and squirrels.
I love the natural look, but ours is more by laziness and chance than anything else. It is green, green, green, with splashes of interloper colour. In the dining room, it is as if you are outside. Our living room also is dominated by the garden view.
The area of the conjoined gardens from the two streets, must be a couple of acres, with mature trees, and many shrubs. A haven. I feel so lucky.

Feeling OK this morning. Will do a few more exercises.

Love Heather UK xxxxxxxx

Ginny - Love the view from your cottage, so pleased to see you moving toward retiring. Regarding the VA - unlike Social Security, there's no work or salary restriction, you aren't restricted from whether you work or not, and there is no subtracting from your VA disability, no matter how much you get paid. If your son is retired military, the VA part of his retirement pay is simply untaxable. In other words, my ex-husband was 50% disabled, so half of his military retirement was untaxable, but there wasn't VA pay ADDED to his retirement pay. Regarding how they add varying disabilities tied to military service together, the math is arcane and punitive to the vet, to say the least. Thanks for the hints on the cooling towels to you and to Lanette and others - they're helping enormously.

Carol - sounds like you're ready for your guests to depart! How is your husband feeling?

Tracey - Love the freezie sleeves, and you've given all those kids a memory they'll keep with them, of someone who knows how to be kind. What you're doing really matters.

Machka - I can't bear to shut all the light out of any room except the bedroom, it's the only place we've kept the room darkening curtains. And I put the window tint behind them, as well, but that's more for the heat reflection there. It's making a difference already in how much the air conditioners are having to run to cool the rooms down to 75 or 76 degrees (24C). It's all I can handle in terms of being able to be comfortable in the summer heat.

Barbie - Hope chemo in pill form goes well for Jake. Being able to get that kind of medication in your own home is such an amazing step forward.

Heather - Thanks for the good wishes for Corey's birthday... I'm thinking of trying a Swiss roll cheesecake - I have a good recipe for red velvet cake, but I've never made a rolled cake before. In theory, it SHOULD work... 👀😁 Either way, it will taste good, even if it falls apart. I need to do the baking before it gets too hot! On the subject of your friends and Covid - I wouldn't get near anyone with a compromised immune system if I had the flu OR covid, or even a really bad cold, so it makes sense to me to keep your distance.

Kim - Keeping an eye on the fires every once in a while from here - hope your friends are doing OK.

Absolutely gorgeous full moon just set this morning. Perfect view of it from where I sit typing this. The white morning glories are just emerging from the pre-dawn darkness, and I need to get moving if I'm going to get some baking done before it gets all scorchy!

Later, y'all,
Love,
Lisa in AR

From a couple days ago - the purple morning glories are coming on strong, and will fill most of the twine trellis before long. The window you can just see under the flag is the one I look out of every day while I'm trolling around the interwebs and talking to y'all. The blue above is the T-111 that was under the siding, and we'll be repairing the obvious places before we repaint a more vivid deep teal: