Monthly Archives: June 2023

June 24, 2023 · 9:25 am

Heat Index of WHAT?!

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Summer became official last Wednesday and it’s already pushing the boundaries of the season.

We’re going to try to cook out for the first time for the summer this evening. The heat index today is going to be 108. GREAT. We may end up eating at midnight.

Meanwhile, after we finish our errands this morning, I’m going to TRY to get some things done outside. I need to –

  • check for ripe tomatoes
  • finish weed whacking
  • and continue cleaning out my spring garden

I know I’ll check the tomatoes, but am not sure what else on that list will actually get done. If I DO continue out there, it will be really short sessions followed by longer resting periods and lots and lots of water.

I AM looking forward to cooking out, though, even if it’s really hot. We have a rope of LED lights around the deck cover and they give it a festive air. I can put my feet up, enjoy a drink, play with our animals, and enjoy talking with my husband while the charcoals get ready and then we cook. Tonight we have steaks – a splurge we haven’t done since last year.

I’m having to watch my husband carefully because he doesn’t ‘prepare’ for being outside. I have to TAKE him a hat and sunglasses as he mows, and bring him a cold drink if I can get him to take a break, or when he finishes. He works until he can barely get back in the house. We talk about it rationally, he agrees to try to do better, and then repeats the same behavior. Arrrgh!

He did get the mowing done yesterday, so if he’s out today, it will be puttering, cutting down branches that get in the way of his riding mower.

Be careful wherever you are, making sure that you weather the temperatures as well as possible, and watch for storms popping up that can cause problems.

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June 24, 2023 · 9:11 am

Best Intentions

Sent by my good friend, Carol.

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June 23, 2023 · 1:09 pm

FUN Celebration

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The whole gang was there – the birthday girl, Linda; Patty; Bud; Kay; my husband; and me; PLUS our favorite waitress, Mikey; PLUS the owner of the Pizza Barn, David.

Linda liked her presents, we all ate well, and then enjoyed sharing some chocolate cake Kay had made. Linda felt special (as she is EVERY day) but maybe more demonstratively today.

She will continue her birthday celebration at her retirement place, plus with the rest of her family, who is gathering for a big celebration in July, so she will have quite the marathon. :0)

Bud and I compared notes on the gremlins that had infested both of our houses this year. I think it was a draw if we were having a contest. We commiserated, and agreed to help each other try to get rid of them.

After Lunch Bunch, we went to replenish our grocery supplies and then filled 4 gas cans we were carrying in the back of the truck to use with the mower. Since we had rain recently and then relentless sun, my husband was understandably grousing that he’ll have to mow again. I need to get out with him to try to catch up with the weed whacking.

I hope that your weather isn’t frying you like an egg or blowing you to smithereens. Hopefully, we can all simply relax and enjoy a nice weekend.

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June 23, 2023 · 9:45 am

Suggestion

The Internal Alchemy on Twitter

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June 23, 2023 · 9:40 am

Frith Cold Cast Bronze Sculptures

Alert Hare-Paul Jenkins

Alpaca-Veronica Ballan

Arthur Pug-Harriet Dunn

Frith Cold Cast Bronze Sculptures by various artists

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June 23, 2023 · 9:27 am

More Driftwood Art

9gag.com

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Pinterest

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June 23, 2023 · 9:20 am

It’s Friday 6-23-2023

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If all goes well today, we’ll celebrate our friend Linda’s birthday at Lunch Bunch today.

WiffleGif

We’ll bring presents, and Kay is baking her a birthday cake to share. Pizza Barn, 2 S Adair St, Greenwood, AR 72936 – (479) 996-4343 – the restaurant we’ve been having Lunch Bunch in for over 20 years now, not only allows us to celebrate birthdays, but provides plates and a cake knife for us to use to share the cake. They have become like family, and we share birthdays and Christmas with the waitresses and owner, too. Good people.

I’m hoping we can create a special day for Linda, and that she can take the remaining cake back to the retirement center to share with others.

Fingers crossed!

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June 22, 2023 · 3:55 pm

Conundrum

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co·nun·drum

noun: conundrum; plural noun: conundrums

  1. a confusing and difficult problem or question.”one of the most difficult conundrums for the experts”

My husband is a Type II diabetic, though he describes this as NOT diabetes, but ‘a sugar problem.’ I’m borderline high, as well, so we eat the same.

The latest problem is breakfast cereal. You would think that would be a simple decision – We wanted to increase our fiber. Raisin Bran tastes good. It has 7 grams of fiber in a serving, so we got it. We SHOULD have read the full nutrients label, but we’re lazy and just grabbed it. I discovered later that it has 26 grams of sugar per serving and 262 mgs of salt – something I am trying to avoid. So we’re back to square one.

I Googled “High Fiber Cereals” on the net because I have a lot more patience here at the computer than with my husband at the grocery store. (He is always in a hurry and wants to come with me, so that’s in the mix.)

I found a good list of high fiber cereals that listed fiber content, but not sugar, so I went back and searched for low sugar cereals. I got a completely different list. ARRRRRGH.

Finally, I found a cereal that looks perfect for us. Fiber One by General Mills has 18 grams of fiber per serving, 140 mg and ZERO sugar! This means we probably can’t get it at our local stores, but we’ll try tomorrow. Failing that, we’ll get on the net and order some – hopefully.

Trying to eat healthy, adapting for health problems as you age, should not be so difficult.

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June 22, 2023 · 2:54 pm

Woof! Sit! Stay!

Cecil Aldin – dog with indigestion – medical mat

Dog Advice: “Take time to indulge yourself every once in awhile. You deserve it!”

Mickey-by Cecil Aldin

Dog Advice: “Take naps whenever you can.”

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Dog Advice: “Get into mischief.”

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June 22, 2023 · 2:38 pm

I Love El Arroyo Signs

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June 22, 2023 · 2:33 pm

Ahhhhh!

sandsculpture-neon.org.gr

You can see how relaxed and comfortable I am since my wonderful massage with Lynn Moody 479-629-7601 this morning. She is a true miracle worker as a massage therapist PLUS allowed me to fully relax – somethings I am able to do less and less these days. I also consider her a friend.

I came home, fixed lunch, and then fell asleep in my recliner. My husband put my throw over me at some point and I awoke feeling really good. Ahhhh!

While I was gone, he took our bed apart enough to be able to find the model # on the air pump for our bed and looked it up on the net. He found one! We looked at it together and ordered it. It’ll be here July 1st. When it comes, we’ll take the bed completely apart, replace the air pump, find and repair any leaks in the mattress, then put things back together. HOORAY!

We don’t have anything else on the schedule today, so we can relax and do what we want.

I just realized that yesterday was the first official day of summer. We’re due for high 90’s or 100 degrees this weekend with a heat index of around 110. That’s what I call ‘making an entrance!’

I hope you’re having a wonderful Thursday.

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June 21, 2023 · 12:23 pm

Kindness – Simile

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

Enabling Devices

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June 21, 2023 · 11:33 am

Michelina Frey – DailyPaintworks

Michelina Frey – DailyPaintworks

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June 21, 2023 · 11:26 am

More Anna Chan Shell Art

Anna Chan Shell Art – Emma Taggart – MyModernMet.com

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June 21, 2023 · 10:55 am

Wednesday 6-21-2023

Smiling Kids Pediatric Dentistry

My husband did a great job of getting us TO the dentist yesterday. We both got a good cleaning and good report. I did tell the receptionist that the NEXT time I call her, wanting her to arrange an appointment for the GeoThermal tech to come check our system, I would appreciate it if she were more cooperative. We had a good laugh. On the way home, my husband didn’t like the traffic and scared my hair off with the drive home. We are still alive, but I let him know that life was too short to have to endure that.

He increased my thinking about digging a hole in the back yard for him when he started talking to me in the middle of the night. He was mumbling too much for me to understand him. I was finally fully awake, only to find he said that I was ‘a cute fuzzy.’ I am definitely not at my best in the middle of the night awakened suddenly and forced to function. He quickly went back to sleep. I came downstairs and read for a while and then went back up to catch what sleep I could. He did remember talking to me and gave me a hug this morning.

We had a really good conference call with our son today. My husband has trouble communicating, and so does it less and less. Our son was asking if he would talk to him on the conference call thingie today. We got it set up and I got my husband to come over to my computer. The volume was too low for him, and I figured out how to increase that so that they could talk one-on-one, something they haven’t done for a while. It was good to see them smiling at each other. When they finished, our son and I talked. It was great to catch up and laugh together. He is safe and happy, so all is right in my world.

Even though I failed in my attempt to get the dental receptionist to make an appt for the geothermal guy to come, I DID call the correct number after that and he’s coming out this afternoon. It gives me confidence that someone who is knowledgeable about the system checks things over twice a year. He also changes out the filters in the basement and the attic so we don’t have to – a wonderful thing.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

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June 20, 2023 · 9:42 am

Seasons

Sent to me by my good friend, Carol.

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June 20, 2023 · 9:33 am

I’m a Wuss

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We go for our 6-month teeth cleaning this morning. I’ve always been afraid to go to the dentist. This fear intensified when my my mom was diagnosed with oral cancer and died of it.

Each time before we go I have a recurring nightmare about our driving in the Vette, going to the dentist. (My husband puts on the gas when I would put on the brake in any given situation. The Vette makes this tendency worse.)

In the nightmare, my husband has another stroke while driving. I’m trying to steer the car to the side of the busy traffic and get it stopped while he is fighting me, but steering the wrong way and putting his foot on the gas harder and harder. Then I’m trying to get us help – and having to drive the Vette to follow the ambulance.

The fact that I’m an adult seems to have no bearing on my fear of the dentist. I tell myself I’m a wuss and should be able to get over this doesn’t stop the nightmare the night before or the tension of having to ride in the Vette to Ft. Smith. Should I enter a contest for Drama Queen?

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June 19, 2023 · 11:50 am

Today’s Project

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This isn’t our driveway, but my husband just asked if it were, so you get the idea of what we’ve been trying to clear.

Each storm makes more branches hang down, making the driveway more of a tunnel, to the point we’ve caught ourselves bending down inside the truck to avoid the branches. :0)

We’ve been carrying the loppers in the truck and each time the weather is cooperative, we try to clear a bit of this. We don’t last long, but we’re persistent and we ARE making some progress.

Today after we took our trash down for pickup tomorrow, my husband decided that today was the day he would try to pull down some much larger, dead or almost-dead branches from a tree right beside the upper part of one side of the driveway.

He attached a tow strap to the trailer hitch on the back of the truck and the other end to each branch we were trying to bring down. He drove down slowly and I watched and yelled at him – either to stop him from running over a planter or let him know that the branch was down. We would then drag the branch to the burn pile we’re accumulating.

We did this four times and got most of what we needed to do on that tree accomplished. We still need to go out and put things we moved back in place and neaten up a bit, but the majority of this project for the day is done.

Good thing, because it’s 84 degrees and bright sun now, and is supposed to get to 95 this afternoon. UGH.

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June 19, 2023 · 10:25 am

Juneteenth 2023

Audacy

“Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining June and nineteenth, it is celebrated on the anniversary of the order by Major General Gordon Granger proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas on June 19, 1865.” ~ Wikipedia

reddit.com

My husband is alive, even though he woke me from a deep sleep at 0-dark-thirty this morning wanting me to remove a tick from the back of his knee. The light blinded me so it was hard to focus. When I did, the tick was so small I thought it was just some dirt. I could hardly feel it. I tried to remove it with my fingers, but finally found some forceps in the bathroom with which I was finally able to remove the tick. As I was wondering why we needed to do this in the middle of the night rather than the morning, my husband started to snore. Soon after I tried to get back to sleep, the alarm went off. AND, as I type this, guess who is taking a nap in his recliner in the living room….

The only thing on our schedule this morning is gathering trash and driving it down to the bottom of the driveway. We spent some time cutting branches in the driveway yesterday and will probably do another session today. It doesn’t take long for us to poop out doing this, but little by little, we ARE making a difference.

I am also planning to work outside, weed whacking, harvesting and cleaning up the veggie garden, and fertilizing my tomatoes. I’ll have to be careful, though, because it is supposed to be 95 today with a strong sun.

Just when I think I’m doing reasonably well today, I call the dentist’s office trying to schedule a check on our GeoThermal system. (Their phone number was just above the GeoThermal number on my desk calendar.) Embarrassing!

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June 18, 2023 · 11:04 am

Shell Art – Anna Chan

Anna Chan – Seashell Art – article by Emma Taggart – MyModernMet.com

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June 18, 2023 · 10:40 am

Father’s Day 2023

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I lucked out. I knew my dad loved me, even though he was embarrassed to show or say it.

He gave me his sense of humor and sarcasm – things I treasure every day, and a fierce loyalty to family. He grew up handicapped due to a fall from a horse at three. His left arm was deformed and much shorter than the right. He essentially did everything one-handed. His sense of humor kept him from being bullied overmuch. It’s hard to be a bully when you’re laughing your rear end off with the person you thought to bully.

His intense creativity and willingness to think outside the box led him not only to support his family being a one-man advertising agency in Tulsa for over 20 years, but also winning an amount of celebrity and a Silver Addy lifetime achievement award for his ‘unique contribution’ in radio ads.

I will never forget the day he came to my college class where I was making a presentation regarding advertising toward my master’s degree. I brought him as a special guest to make a small speech and play a couple of ads to help me show how we could teach our students to listen critically and be smart consumers.

He ended his part with, “One of the nicest parts of my job is getting to make presentations like this. This one is particularly fun because I can tell you how proud I am of my daughter, Linda Wheaton Lewis.” The class gasped in surprise that this man some had asked for an autograph was my dad. I gasped and cried because it was such a nice thing to say, and in public!

He asked me to ‘remember me laughing.’ It was a long time before I could do that, but I got there. Remembering his favorite stories, the way he taught me to laugh at myself, and remembering his unique view on life are a lasting legacy.

Happy Father’s Day.

Jim Wheaton

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June 18, 2023 · 10:00 am

More

Morteza Mirzai-Flickr

We had quite a storm overnight with LOTS of loud thunder and lightning. a lot of people in Ft. Smith and the surrounding River Valley don’t have power this morning. We were lucky, with no damage that we know of. We have another storm due around noon, and then I think we’re clear.

My good husband mowed the grass right before dinner last night so it looks like someone cares around here. I need to catch up with the weed whacking when things dry out.

We set the triptic (sp?) on the truck when we left to go to town yesterday, measuring how far it was from our driveway to the place we usually turn on Hwy 10 to finish the trip to town. It’s 5.3 miles to get there, going the back way. There’s another back way, where we go down back behind our house and out to HWY 71 South and then back to Greenwood, but that’s even farther. It’s not a huge deal – just a couple of extra miles in the wrong direction – an annoyance until the new bridge is built and open.

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June 18, 2023 · 9:42 am

Uh Oh

The Wedding

The wedding ceremony came to the point where the Minister asked if anyone had anything to say concerning the union of the bride and groom.


It was their time to stand up and talk, or forever hold their peace.
The moment of utter silence was broken by a young beautiful woman carrying a child. 


She stood up and started walking slowly towards the pastor. The congregation was aghast as the penny dropped.


The Groom’s jaw dropped as he stared disbelievingly at the approaching young woman and child. Chaos ensued.


The bride threw the bouquet in the air and burst out crying. Then the groom’s mother fainted.


The Best men started giving each other looks and wondering how best to help save the situation.


The Minister asked the woman, “Can you tell us, why you came forward ? What do you have to say?”


There was absolute silence in the church.  

The woman replied, “We can’t hear you at the back.”

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June 17, 2023 · 9:19 am

Digs

The only thing worse than this is having to do it with what I consider super small type fonts.

Yesterday I signed up for a 6-month membership at a site designed to help pre-diabetics (me) and diabetics (my husband is Type II) manage their condition better – better information, diet plans, exercise advice, menus, etc.

I spent several minutes trying to read a ‘free gift’ booklet as an introduction. I finally figured out a way to enlarge the font so I could read it without my glasses (and worse – a MAGNIFYING glass) to better see the diagrams. I thought about writing a nasty note, and then figured they would probably refer me to an optometrist…

My take-away from all this is happiness that I am in good enough health to LOOK for ways to improve it, and the smarts and determination to figure out how to make the information I found work for me.

I’ve now added the site to my computer, signed up, and also added the app to my phone. I ain’t dead yet. :0)

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June 17, 2023 · 9:09 am

“Drifting…”

Betina Broussaud-Loup Wolf.

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Teak Pig-Modishstore

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Beautiful art from driftwood

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June 17, 2023 · 9:03 am

Think

Zazzle

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June 17, 2023 · 9:00 am

Feast for the Eyes

Angela Fehr

Connietownsart-etsy

Heather Withers

homesthetics.net

Irises – artbyrachel

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June 16, 2023 · 11:52 am

Home in One Piece

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We are home from Lunch Bunch now. We didn’t go anywhere else due to the weather people being right about gusty winds and heavy rain, but thankfully not about the ‘baseball-sized hail.’

tumblr_n9mzwl9Kmx1svxaato1_400-WiffleGif

Only Linda and Patty were at Lunch Bunch. Kay and Bud stayed home due to the threat of the hail, but we had a great time.

Patty told us about her anniversary/vacation celebration in Greece and showed us a couple of stunning pictures. We enjoyed good conversation and lots of laughs, and I hugged both of them.

I reminded them that we are set to celebrate Linda’s birthday NEXT Friday, the 23rd, even though her actual birthday is the 29th. (If we waited until the following Friday, we would MISS her birthday – not acceptable.)

I’m glad we got to Lunch Bunch, but I’m happy that we’re home now, just in case the weather guys will be right about the hail…

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June 16, 2023 · 9:30 am

Olivier Bertrand Cardboard Art 4

Sitting Tiger

Symbiosis

The Boss

Olivier Bertrand Sculpture

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June 16, 2023 · 9:24 am

Unlikely Angel

Jelly Roll

I can’t say enough about this man.

He was in and out of jail during his teens and early adulthood for about 10 years. He was notified that he had become a father and decided to turn his life around. He got his GED in jail.

As you can see, he’s a big man with face tats – an unlikely looking angel, for sure. He is a singer and song writer, winning all kinds of awards in the past several years (3 CMT awards this year). He is trying to give back to his community and is giving understanding and hope in his songs.

Some of the lyrics in his original song, “Save Me” are –

“I’m a lost cause
Baby, don’t waste your time on me
I’m so damaged beyond repair
Life has shattered my hopes and my dreams”

I’ve told you I’m watching what is called “reaction videos” on YouTube. The reaction to Jelly Roll’s songs is amazing. The men reacting really FEEL the lyrics and obviously identify with them. Many actually tear up or outright cry. Jelly Roll is voicing the feelings of MANY who have had problems, felt rejected, felt thwarted or useless in their lives. The fact that Jelly Roll is successful now is such an uplifting thing.

A more unlikely angel there will probably never be. Along with the face tats, he has VERY strong, ‘salty’ language. This is a real, honest, raw, GOOD man with a big heart who is trying to be a good husband and father, writing and singing music that he describes as ‘therapeutic’ music. He believes music can save people, and I believe he is right.

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June 16, 2023 · 9:04 am

Severe Weather

Ozark Radio News

Weather across the U.S. may be severe today, so we need to keep a close eye out. I think I read that 50 million people are under threat of severe storms, gusty winds, hail, etc. today.

Unless things turn bad quickly, we’re planning to go ahead to Lunch Bunch this morning and then to pick up a prescription and groceries before coming home. Of course, this is all subject to change if we see flying hairballs.

If we’re lucky enough to have this bad stuff bypass us, I plan to check my tomato plants and harvest the rest of my heads of lettuce this afternoon.

Hopefully, we’ll all come through this threat intact and safe.

Be careful.

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