Monthly Archives: July 2018

Paul Cadden Pencil Art

Paul Cadden – Solent News – everythinguncategorized.wordpress.com

 

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1st Tomato Harvest of 2018

These aren’t perfect, but they’re delicious! I harvested one small one the other day, got two of these last night, and two more just a few minutes ago. I can’t wait to slice one up and bite it!

One of our tomato planters isn’t doing well. The plants have blossom end rot. Though I’ve treated them with bone meal and Blossom End Rot spray, I’m not sure I can solve the problem. The nook planter in the spot behind our house and next to our screened porch is doing much better. We have lots of green tomatoes that I’m hoping will ripen.

This has been a hard year for gardens here in Arkansas. I was comparing notes with my friend, ‘gardening expert’ Kay, at Breakfast Bunch this morning. She says her garden is basically a bust this year, too. We had a cool, wet spring followed abruptly by August temperatures and strong sun starting in May. This has pretty much done everything in. I still have some cantaloupe plants that are healthy with lots of blossoms, but no actual melons yet. I also have onions, and I may start to harvest them soon. Other than that, a few radishes and the one good planter of tomatoes.

I may just cut my losses and clean most everything up soon.

We continued the clean up after the dismantling of the hummingbird bird bath when we got home today. The good hose is now on the holder. The ratty hose is in the burn barrel. The potting soil is in the large, low, round planter and saucer, ready for me to get out there and plant the Impatiens we found at Wal-Mart. They’re a little bit worse for wear, but then, so are we!  :0) I’ll take pics when they’re planted.

I don’t plan to do a lot more outside today unless things cool off a lot.  I’m still stiff and sore from cutting down and hauling tree parts yesterday.

The ‘inside list’ is off the page, so I’ll tackle it this afternoon.

Have a great day!

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A True Friend

Len Wein via SayingImages.com

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Gorgeous Glass – Scott Johnson

Prism – Colored Garden Centerpiece – Scott Johnson – http://www.artfulhome.com

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“Little Waterfall”

“Little Waterfall” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Pastel Painting – Take 4

kemstudios.blogspot.com

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Cute T’s – Take 7

email from Bill Lites

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Life Lesson

Walmart

I always buy ‘el cheapo’ mens’ digital watches at Wal-Mart. I can see them better – and that’s the whole point as far as I’m concerned – and I don’t have to slit my throat if I mess one up.

I learned a life lesson after watching fireworks from our deck Wednesday night – DON’T spray your watch with Deep Woods Off!

I didn’t notice I had a problem until Thursday morning when I started to put my watch on. It was smeary with the residue of the Off. I got a Kleenex and wiped it off, but then the smear turned to sticky, awful STUFF. I took the watch downstairs and used Goo Gone on it. That helped some, but not enough. I followed that with a bit of Windex on a Kleenex and voila! the face of my digital watch was SO messed up I couldn’t see through it. I tried other things, but to no avail.

When we went shopping later in the day, I got another watch, much like the one above, so I’m fixed again until the NEXT time I learn a life lesson.

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The Insanity Continues

coolanimalspics.blogspot.com

Yesterday we had a pop-up shower in the afternoon. Apparently, this energized my husband because the rest of the afternoon into the evening was filled with outside work.

  • He announced that he had unplugged the hummingbird bird bath we made, saying it wasn’t working; no hummingbirds – or ANY birds – used it; and that it was making a mess on the deck. The fact that all of these things were true didn’t help with the disappointment when starting to dismantle it. I took the decorative stuff, bricks and rocks out of it, then unplugged the hose that attached to it. My husband then helped me dismantle the whole thing, saving what was reusable and putting the rest of the stuff into the burn barrel. He started the fire that got rid of the rest of the bird bath parts. Meanwhile, I decided to leave the ‘table’ we made for the bird bath and will put a large, low, round planter with saucer on it. I got a bag of potting soil from our stash and wheelbarrowed it over to the steps of the deck. I heaved the bag out onto a step and was bringing the wheelbarrow back to its place when I saw my husband looking into the trees on one side of our property. (I should have known.)  I continued the bird bath project, intending to trade out the good hose that went to the bird bath for the ratty one that hangs on the bricks beside the nook planter. I wasn’t making any progress, so I went to ask for my husband’s help.
  • He was standing with the chain saw in his hand, wanting ME to come help HIM. There was a tall, dead tree he had decided should come down. I pointed out that the tree would fall on the electric wires that run to the shop. He was unimpressed and undeterred. He was trying to cut a wedge in the tree, but the chainsaw blades seemed to be dull. We spent the next half hour or so changing out the blade and the blade holder in the hot shop. Then we went back out. When the wedge had been cut, I got on the back side of the tree and prepared to push. This came quickly, with the tree coming right down on the wires, but thankfully bouncing off without taking them down.

How is it that the person you love most in the world is also the person you consider killing from time to time?

I was hostile, but he was standing there, looking SMUG, saying, “I told you it wouldn’t be a problem.” This was only the beginning, since we needed to cut the whole tree up and drag it to our growing wood pile that we’ll burn ‘sometime when it’s safer.’ It took us another two hours for my husband to chain saw the tree into pieces and me to drag all the pieces and heave them onto the pile.

We limped back to the house, shed our yucky clothes directly into the washing machine and took showers. It took me a bottle of water, shower, and resting for about an hour before I felt human again.

Needless to say, the bird bath project remains unfinished. I do have plans to use some of the decorative stuff I took out of the bird bath in the aquarium next cleaning. I’ll enlist my husband’s help when we get back from the Breakfast Bunch to help me with the hose and the potting soil for the planter. I hope to plant some pretty flowers in it today.

And GUESS WHAT! – we have MORE rain in the forecast for this afternoon and evening…

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Cute T’s – Take 6

email from Bill Lites

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Pastels Paintings – Take 3

artist unknown – pinterest.com

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I Love Birds!

“Blackbird” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“Dance After the Bath” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“Left, Right, Left, Right” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Pencil Sketches I Love

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I HOPE So!

Thinking People via Melissa A Eastman

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Getting the Lard Off Report – 07-05-2018

mashable.com

This is the end of Week 10 on Nutrisystem. I’ve lost 15 pounds and 15.8 inches. 

I’m a bit frustrated at my fumbling around on measuring myself. I’m following their suggestions, measuring in the bathroom where I can look in the mirror and make sure the measuring tape is level, etc., but I’m still coming up with different numbers from time to time. I guess the ‘flexibility’ in measuring can be factored in, assuming I screw up the same amount each week. As long as the general trend is downward, I’m happy.

Of course my husband, who just eats the food I bring him, not worrying about drinking water, exercising or anything else, has lost more weight than I have. I’m delighted for him, though, because he is a Type II diabetic. His blood sugar number this morning was 101. (normal is 100 or under.) His lowest reading to date was 96. I’m hoping that the A1C he has at the end of the month shows really good improvement. He told me last night that ‘it’s amazing that I’m losing weight and I’m never hungry.’ He is also really pleased that he gets to enjoy an orange or an apple each day – something he thought he would never be able to do again. His reaction so far is, “I don’t see why we can’t stay on Nutrisystem essentially forever.”

It’s a really good thing he feels this way because I have a lot of lard to lose and, though I’ve made progress, the weight is coming off slowly. I’m more pleased with the change in measurements, though there’s a long way to go there, as well. It’s so much easier when we’re both eating essentially the same thing. I’m not having to spend a bunch of time in the kitchen. I dash in, get a snack or we each grab a meal. I cut up raw veggies for lunch and a salad for dinner. Not a lot of time to think about food – always a good thing.

I will have ‘re-runs’ (a term I love that my friend Marsha uses) at lunch, and my husband will have one tonight for part of his dinner. The flex meals are still a work in progress, but we’re getting a bit more comfortable with it now.

I’ll feel a bit better when I’ve made enough progress that people begin to notice there isn’t as much of me as there used to be. :0)

 

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Insane

newhairstylesformen2014.com

My husband and I are insane. It’s 92 degrees, strong sun, heat index of 101 so far. And what have we been doing? Mowing and weed whacking! I KNOW!

I did take a sweatband and hat to my husband as he rolled by on the mower. (He said he had leveled the new blades and wanted to see how he did). Since he was mowing, I felt I HAD to be doing something to help, so I got out the weed whacker and the bug spray.

I handled a couple of new ant hills. We have these little tiny black fire ants this year for the first time. They’re ferocious, mean-tempered, and don’t want to share even if it IS supposedly your land, planter, or garden. I found out the hard way that I seem to be allergic to them. I don’t do anything really dramatic, but I DO blow up like a toad and the bites take forever to go down, quit hurting and itching, and finally go away. I hosed them down, smiling as chaos ensued in the ant hill. :0)

I weed whacked all around the front, all around the back, and MOST of the side before pooping out. I changed the battery on the wireless weed whacker without help, PLUS was able to pull out another length of the cord when needed, also by myself. :0)

Now we’re wringing wet, pooped, and drinking water like mad, getting ready to take a break for lunch.

I’m not sure if I’ll do another session today or not, but I feel that we made good progress today on something that is NEVER completely done.

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“After Rain”

“After Rain” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Pencil Sketches – Take 19

forum.santabanta.com

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Krzysztof Lozowski Art – “Sunflowers”

“Sunflowers” -Krzysztof Lozowski

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Cute T’s – Take 5

email from Bill Lites

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Are Fish ‘Affectionate?’

I’ve been told that goldfish are ‘dirtier’ than most aquarium fish and take  a lot more care in keeping their bowl or aquarium clean. I’ll have to agree that it seems I need to completely change the water every week or so, even with a good filter with a cartridge I change twice as often as the box suggests.

My husband keeps suggesting that the fish are too much work, that they don’t ‘love’ us, aren’t affectionate, don’t do tricks or anything – just make more work for us. I just look at him when he starts this. He finally shrugs and gives up. I’M the one who is doing the work, after all.

My fish don’t have names. To be honest I can’t tell the three more regular goldfish apart. I have a white one with a gold spot who could have a name, but I don’t want to treat that one any differently than the others.

I don’t know if my fishies are ‘affectionate,’ or not. The only thing they do that melts my heart is that when I come up to the glass to feed them twice a day, they see me, bunch up in the top right corner of the aquarium and wriggle their little bodies as fast as they can go, mouths opening and closing.  I don’t really know why I find that ‘sweet,’  but I do.

 

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Happy Independence Day – 2018

Each July 4th I remember one of the many reasons I decided I wanted to spend my life with my husband.

My dad’s health was failing fast. One of the things that bothered him the most was that he couldn’t see well enough to do the Cryptoquote in the daily newspaper, read, watch TV, etc. My mom would carefully print out the Cryptoquote clues on a large piece of paper in black magic marker so that he could see them. He was delighted with her for this and spent much of each day trying to solve it while my mom worked the NY Times crossword puzzle AND the cryptoquote.

My father’s favorite holiday was Independence Day. He loved getting a big, long string of ladyfinger firecrackers. They’re the little ones tied together in a long double string. You’re supposed to untie them and shoot them off one at a time. My dad would take the whole string, light it, throw it out in the yard and enjoy the seemingly endless explosions, laughing.

One of his last years he was very depressed. My then ‘boyfriend’ and I went out and bought fireworks for a back yard display. We of course got ladyfingers, TWO strings, sparklers, my favorite ‘snakes,’ and lots of inexpensive night time fireworks. My husband-to-be worked so hard that evening, setting off one firework at a time. It was so hot my poor guy was dripping. My dad’s grins split his face. He could SEE them! He thanked us over and over again, saying it was the best 4th of July he’d ever had. Our display teed off a neighbor on the next street, but we didn’t care. If I hadn’t already fallen in love with my husband, I would have that night. I will never forget his kindness to my dad.

Now my husband and I enjoy the friendly (I hope!) competition of some down-in-the-valley behind us neighbors, each trying to outdo the other in wonderful fireworks. We sit on the back deck, put our feet up on the railing, drink our cold drinks (water this year – we’re dieting) and enjoy the show. I’m not sure if our yellow lab, Amber, will be afraid of the fireworks or not. If she is, we’ll put her inside. Sweet elderly Molly is so hard of hearing now she might not even be able to hear them!

I hope you are with family and friends this celebration day.

Happy Independence Day!

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Defurminating the Dog

Amber is miffed at me because we went out onto the screened porch with a trashcan and a ‘furminator’ tool and I proceeded to try to thin her hair. She’s been panting like crazy in this heat even with plopping herself into her kiddie pool almost every time she goes out. I even gave her a cookie after she had taken all she was going to tolerate, but she’s still miffed.

furminator

This started when I was watching the news today and Amber sat down on her bed which is right under the TV. She plops, rather than sitting more elegantly, and this resulted in a cloud of hair flying in all directions.

After getting 1/3 of a large trash can full of hair today, I’ve decided that we’ll try to do this at least every other day. Even though I’m not winning any popularity contests with this, it will make her more comfortable and it will help MY mood. I’ve been vacuuming a LOT (for me) and each time end up with a canister full of dog hair and YUCK from our floors. Maybe I’ll feel that I’m making more progress in this as we thin Amber’s coat a little.

Meanwhile, she looks at me, huffs, and lays her head down again – on the floor because she can’t fit into Molly’s bed. :0)

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Pencil Drawings – Art by Julie Rhodes

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Green

“Green” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“Brown and Green” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“Grass and Clover” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Pastel Paintings I Like – Take 2

“A New Daisy” -kemstudios.blogspot.com

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Glorious Glass – Take 13

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Cute T’s – Take 4

email from Bill Lites

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It’s Official

household-tips.thefuntimesguide.com

We now have clean, repaired gutters with screen covers, plus no more huge dead tree limbs hanging down over the driveway, ready to fall on us as we pass!

Yesterday Ryan Edwards and his partner from Edwards Gutter Cleaning, 479-462-2663, spent 4 hours in 97 degree (heat index 108) heat, getting us fixed up. I provided bottles of cold water and a bathroom, and they handled everything else. Surprisingly, we actually HAD screens in part of the guttering! He repaired one end of the guttering in the back, where it was drooping at the wrong angle, replaced some of the screens that weren’t tight, cleaning everything out and making sure all was working well. They took a ‘break’ at one point, cutting down the dead branches from the mimosa tree at the bottom of the driveway, then came back up to continue work on the gutters. They found almost nothing in the guttering that is the closest to the few large trees we have around the house. Mostly they found tiny gravel from the shingles.

We had agreed on a price for the guttering and branch removal, but he cut the price due to the fact we already had screens in part of the gutters!

When he finished, I told him and his partner how much I appreciated them. I stressed that I was pleased that he did what he said he would do. He called to keep me informed of when he would be here. When he was delayed, he called to tell me that. He treated us like real people who might have a life and plans that didn’t include waiting around for service. He did a beautiful job, leaving everything clean. I told him that I had already written about him on my blog and that I would do so again. He was really happy about that. :0)

Ryan Edwards is an honest, hard-working man you can depend on. He doesn’t try to gouge you on prices. He doesn’t pressure you. He listens carefully when you’re explaining what you would like estimates for, and gives them straightforwardly. He doesn’t try to sell you anything you don’t want. He takes pride in a job well done. I recommend him highly and will call him whenever I have outside handyman type work. I hit the jackpot on great companies!

 

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Hard-Working Guys

deckerhomerepairs.com

The gutter cleaning guys called and said they were delayed, and that they would be here around 2 pm. They got here as promised, and started work.  I received an estimate from the owner for cutting the broken branch off the mimosa tree at the bottom of the driveway, so they’re going to do that, too.

I showed them the garage fridge which has bottles of cold water, as well as where a bathroom was before they started. I just went to check on them, because it is SUPER hot out there. They seem to be doing fine. They were at the back of the house, trying to realign and support the end of the gutter run that is drooping. They’re cleaning the gutters, too.

One surprise – on the front of the house, one end of the house already has ‘screens’ on the guttering! They’ve been up there some 30 years or so, and WE haven’t had any interest in climbing up a two-story ladder to check things if we aren’t having problems, so I was really surprised. So was my husband!

I don’t know if they’ll change the estimate because of part of the guttering already having screens or not, but I’m inclined to pay them the full amount. The heat index is 108 this afternoon. I made sure they had cold water. They’re taking breaks every once in a while, sitting in the car a/c. I still feel bad it’s SOOO hot while they’re trying to work for us.

jaxstorm.realverse.us

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Addition to my Exercise Plan

funnypicclip.blogspot.com

I found an interesting guy online recently who seems to specialize in helping ‘the less fit in our population’ (read old, obese, sedentary, non-exercisers) get healthier and feel better.  He says we can do his program with no equipment and at no charge.  (skepticism here, but we’ll see.)

As you know, I’ve been using the elliptical trainer two or three times a week, and have been doing yoga stretches more often, but not daily. I’ve also been doing a weight exercise and an over-the-door-shoulder pulley exercise to try to address pain in the muscles that go from my neck to my shoulders, across the upper part of my back. The list of my problems might be impressive if I listed them, but I perked up when this enthusiastic man said he might be able to help me if I get the right mindset and cooperate with him, doing the work conscientiously.

He started sending me a lot of emails, plus his associates sent some – kind of putting me off. But I decided that I would look at one of them a day, no matter how many he sent, and give this an honest effort.

I looked at the first email yesterday. The focus of this one was to get down on paper WHY I wanted to do this. Not stuff like, lose weight, get fitter, etc – but WHY. What was the reason BEHIND all the obvious stuff? I finally got down to the fact that I want to be able to walk with our son when he visits from Thailand, not pooping out because my hips are screaming. I want to be able to keep up with him to enjoy every minute of our time together. (Our son is very generous, having provided a secure chat program where we can type at each other in real time, send messages, pictures, etc., PLUS a program like Skype, but tons better, that allows us to SEE each other and talk.) None of these, however, can make up for the fact that my ‘hugs bucket’ is empty, so I’m really happy when he says he’s trying to plan a trip home to visit a bit.

I want to be able to go to the local park with him, walk the new walking trail around the city, go with him to the mall, wherever he wants to go, whatever he would like to do. He walks a lot in Thailand, to and from town to get supplies (1.6K each direction). He doesn’t even notice he’s walking. I would only last about 100 feet and then my hips would be screaming and I have to sit down and ‘realign’ or something. They stop hurting soon after I sit down, and then I can continue for another session before having to stop again. I want to be able to walk without pain.

The online fitness guy says he can help me, showing people older than I (can you imagine?) and lardier than I (imagine that!) doing exercises that are helping them feel better and look better over time.

I’ll read his second email and listen to his next video today. I want to add this program to what I’m doing now. Maybe this will work!

(If I continue with this, I’ll give you his name and URL. I want to check this out before I give any more details.)

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