I hope that you are having a wonderful Sunday.

It was 45 degrees here when we got up! It’s hard to believe that we have been trying NOT to turn on the a/c to sustain life up until just a week or so ago. Thankfully, even though it’s too cool to open doors now, later on today we will open up so that we can enjoy the glorious breezes flowing through the house.

I made keto chili in the crock pot yesterday morning. It tasted quite comforting when we ate dinner last night, having had to close the doors again. :0)

I told you yesterday that I am filling up our raised bed, square foot planter boxes with Mel’s Mix, a wonderful soil alternative. The level of the planting medium has really gotten low. I still don’t know what ‘happens’ to the soil. I know that it settles, but this is as if it simply disappeared. It has been two years since I made a serious effort to replenish the boxes, though, so I guess it’s definitely time. I mix up the loads of ingredients, dumping them into the used cement mixer we bought several years ago. I’ve been mixing double loads, and it took THREE double loads to fill up ONE of the planters. I ordered new ingredients from our local co-op, and they should be ready for us to pick up Monday or Tuesday. We will be spending lots of time mixing and dumping over the coming weeks!

When we started this, I thought we would put a new wood strip down the middle of each row of three boxes and reattach the hoses and sprinklers. I now think it would be better to wait until spring to do that, since the wood would begin deteriorating in the sun and precipitation right away. I will start covering the boxes with tarps, using bungie cords, as we fill them.

The other big project I’m continuing is de-cluttering my house. I did this a couple of years ago, feeling quite ruthless, but everywhere I look now needs another purge. I’m working my way through each room – sometimes only one area at a time, pulling everything out, deciding whether to keep it, donate it, or pitch it, and then cleaning and re-organizing the area. It’s amazing how much STUFF you accumulate when you live somewhere over 33 years! The first area is our master bed room and bath. This includes floor-to-ceiling bookshelves (one for me and several for my husband), closets, plus floor to ceiling shelves in the bathroom and a full medicine cabinet. I’m trying to go through a bit at a time…

Enjoy your day!

I just published my first blog post of the day. The WordPress people decided to change the entire way one writes a post, show images, credit image sources, categorize posts, etc. No notice – at least none that I saw – and very UN-intuitive. I was told several times that I was not ‘authorized to edit or update my post.’ I finally left it to go to Lunch Bunch and errands, and tackled it again when I got back.

I’m under the distinct impression that people are paid extra when they change things. They don’t have to be GOOD changes, just have everything look different. I have found that as I age, I appreciate things that stay the same. It really irritates me when I have to ‘reinvent the wheel’ in order to post on my blog, save something to my computer, access websites, etc.

Enough of my griping (I guess) but I feel almost as if confetti should be dropping from the ceiling to help me celebrate being able to publish a post or two today. I still can’t figure out how to put my posts in the categories I set up…

Best Media Info

“He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.”  ~Clarence Budington Kelland

“A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.”  ~Author Unknown

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” – Jim Valvano

Survivor-Pediatrics-WordPress.com

“A dad is someone who
wants to catch you before you fall
but instead picks you up,
brushes you off,
and lets you try again.

A dad is someone who
wants to keep you from making mistakes
but instead lets you find your own way,
even though his heart breaks in silence
when you get hurt.

A dad is someone who
holds you when you cry,
scolds you when you break the rules,
shines with pride when you succeed,
and has faith in you even when you fail…”  ~ Unknown

This is my dad, Jim Wheaton. He and my mother gave me a happy childhood. While I was growing up, I didn’t realize how very special he was. I just loved him and tried to please him. I learned so much from him.

• He taught me not to let what others might consider a disability make any difference. (He had very little use of his left arm and hand.) When he met a man sitting on the sidewalk with a sign asking for handouts, holding up a hand like his own, my dad crouched down, looked him in the eye, held up his very similar hand, and said, “Get a job.”
• He taught me the value of looking for humor in a situation. He made the kids at school laugh so hard they quit making fun of him. He stood back, able to see a situation as if it were in a movie in front of him, and reached for the humor, rather that simply reacting. Right before he died, he wrote a note to us. It said, “Remember me laughing.”
• He taught me to never stop learning. He spent hours pouring over books on archaeology and geology – what he would have liked to do with his life. He was endlessly fascinated.
• He taught me the value of being different. He ran a one-man radio advertising agency in Tulsa, OK. He was given a lifetime achievement, Silver Addy award by the the Tulsa Chapter of the American Advertising Federation – “With admiration and respect for his unique contributions in advertising to Tulsa and all other markets.”
• He taught me the importance of showing up. He was my special guest speaker in a class for my master’s degree. (He was well-known in Tulsa, and people recognized his commercials on the radio.) I made a presentation showing how I would teach advertising techniques to students. He had the whole class laughing and fully engaged during his speech. As he finished, he said, “One of the nice things about speaking to a group like this is being able to tell you how proud I am to be the father of my daughter,  Linda Lewis.” The class made a collective gasp, as I had just introduced him as “Jim Wheaton – Tulsa’s 2nd worst radio voice” (his self-designation). Needless to say, this is something I will never forget.  I still tear up.

If you can enjoy your dad today, let him know how very special he is to you. Give him a HUGE hug and big kiss. Start making EVERY day Fathers Day.

My husband and I finally got all the repairs done on our irrigation system, so our tomato plants are getting watered every day now, rather than having to depend on the rain or my remembering to water them with the hose. I still have some pruning to do, but mostly, the plants seem healthy. We have bright yellow blossoms and some tiny green tomatoes now.

We had about three weeks where we had a LOT of rain and then sunshine, so we have a LOT of greenery this year. I’m hoping that we will actually have a tomato crop, rather than just giant plants.

Fingers crossed.

I’ve been concentrating on weed whacking and murdering weeds around the civilized part of our yard, so now I’m behind on weeding our veggie garden.  The yellow crookneck squash and zucchini plants seem to be doing well so far.

I will try to get caught up on the weeding in the planter boxes this weekend.

I’m hoping that the plants will have plenty of room to send vines in all directions and will make lots of produce. I plan to spiralize them and divide them into portions and freeze them for when I am using them as a substitute for pasta on my keto eating plan.

Lunch Bunch was rained out yesterday. :0(   It got really dark and rained heavily right when we would have been ordering and trying to eat at a picnic table in the parking lot of the restaurant.  I was disappointed because I wanted to see my friends, plus take them some fresh lettuce from my garden.

Later in the afternoon, things got serious.  It rained and hailed, we had gusty winds, harder rain, lightning, thunder, and flying hairballs. The weather alert went nuts, saying we were under a tornado warning and to take shelter now!  (Of course, my husband just scoffed and ignored the whole thing.)  I finally sat down in my chair, thinking if we were going to get hit, I wanted to be with him.  Luckily, the bad weather passed, after raining a lot of the night.

I haven’t found any damage so far. I will go out to the garden later and see what’s what out there.  We are having a lovely day so far today. We are planning to try to cook outside this evening in celebration, for we are due for more heavy rain tomorrow and Monday.

I hope that YOU are safe and well, and that Mother Nature will treat you well today and the rest of the holiday weekend.