Hot and Dry Here!

 My work computer system is down most of today, so i am taking a break to post this.  It is so hot and dry here, we are watering stuff about an hour or hour and a half a day just to keep our bushes, new plants and some young trees alive.  Was very dry June and July, had a couple good rains in early August and dry again.  My thoughts go out to all the people and animals affected by both the fires and the hurricanes.  What a disaster on each end o the spectrum!

One of my success stories is this cool trellis of ivy we have grown for nearly 3 years.  We started it in the spring of 2018 before we moved to this retirement house full time.

This past Friday we had a program for DH uncle who passed away early last week.  He had military funeral at the nearby national cemetary.  It was nice.  DH sister and his mom had been going through his house and papers and had moved some stuff to be salvaged out (dishes and a little furniture).  They saved the truly personal effects (keepsakes and pictures to be passed out when all the family was gathered.  After the service, we went to his house to finish this task.  His house was dark, dank and filthy.  Very sad.  Much of the trees and shrubs outside had become overgrown and an eyesore.  The cousins all split up the pictures and a couple of antiques.  He had 2 overgrown plants that i am going to take a cutting from and make a nice plant for his sister - DH mom.  SIL asked if i wanted the overgrown plants and i opted for cuttings instead.  This type of reminders make me 1)  sad because who is going to go through my stuff?  We don't have kids.  My sister?  My neice and nephew?  My SIL and her husband have no children either, she stated this weekend that she and her husband donating their estate to a charity.  Not a bad idea.  And make me feel 2)  more determined than ever to always be cleaning out and aware of my possessions.  

While DH brother was in town for the service, we played golf on Saturday.  It was HOT!  And i got off to a slow start.  Feeling hot and not hitting well.  I played with my new driver for the first time and it took a few holes to get used to it.  Then, viola!  It was really great.  I hit a few really nice drives, over 130 feet and seemed to really see progress with this driver!  Yay.  This is a picture of the many creeks running through the golf course we usually go to.  I got a 48 on the back 9, my best score every!  So happy.

We finished the show Merlin on Amazon Prime.  It was really fun and enjoyable.  We both got tired of some of the repeated plot lines and some of the gaps in reasoning some of the characters displayed, but we enjoyed the theme and the time period and characters immensely.  It is about young King Arthur of Camelot, his trusty sidekick Merlin and Gwenivere (sp?) and the Knights of the Roundtable.  I give it 7 out of 10 stars.  I just heard on the radio they are doing sometype of limited comeback show about West Wing (which is one of my very favorite shows ever) this fall re voting.  Will probably be too political for my taste, but we shall see.  We started Yellowstone last night and will enjoy catching up on that - the season 3 final episode aired this past Sunday.  It is a ranch family, father is screen legend Kevin Costner - and it started a little slow, but by 2nd episode I was hooked!  I told DH if we get to a point we cannot find something to watch this fall, we will have to designate a couple nights a week for just reading.  We have a huge collection of mystery and crime novels.  But i still seem to find several shows i want to watch, including Friday Night Lights this fall, and Homeland this winter.  

I just got a couple bags of small tomatoes for our friend who grows about 50 plants, since my work system was down - i made a 2nd batch of salsa.  I am going to take a jar to my high school friend whose step dad came home on hospice this past weekend.  She texted me.  I have a loaf of zucchine bread for her mom.  She is the gal i have distanced myself from and frankly have found it quite a relief to NOT be in daily multiple text/couple group text situations with her any longer.  She referenced the space she was giving me as i asked for.  I wanted to respond back that i did not request space, i requested RESPECT.  Maybe subliminally she took my request for respect and turned it into space.  Oh well.  I have known her since 3rd grade and love her mom and step dad.  It is sad.

My own dear grandmother is not doing great either.  She is slowing way down, unable to take care of herself daily and falling.  We have hired daily care for her and my aunt is arranging to have her moved into same building my aunt is, right next door.  

Well, my IKEA furniture should be here Friday and hopefully i will have before and after photos soon!  I haven't sold much lately or cleaned anything out.  But i will have to gear up for some fall clear out!  Here is another before and after (sort of)...

This cool round firepit area concrete was here before we moved in.  We usu store away the chairs when not in use to be able to mow around and move the water hose easily.  The firepit area had these 3 stacked concrete 'things' in a half circle around the far side of the concrete - i found them useless and inhibiting to movement.  We never sat on them.  DH didn't want me to get rid of them for some reason.  So we kept 2 of them for 6 years.  Recently i asked again if i could get rid of them and he said yes.  So a couple weeks ago i decided to surprise him while he was out of town.  Turns out i love using a sledg hammer.  I like the clean look MUCH better.  You can see all the temp fencing i have up right now trying to get some new grass to seed - its a mess.  And a lot of watering!

More Summer Stuff and Some Sad News

 We found out last week my DH uncle had passed away in his home alone and the town police force called to let DH mom know.  She and my sister in law went over and took care of his affairs and made his arrangements.  They are this Friday.  He was a veteran, so he will have military burial.  He was a very nice man, funny, enjoyed talking to him.  I am sorry he died alone.  I am even more sorry he was an active alcoholic and did not have a relationship with God.

I also heard about a woman in my hiking group, losing her son suddenly to a heart attack.  He was only 50.  Then, my DH brother's wife lost her mom.  She had fought a long battle with Alzheimers.  Something else troubling me is how quickly my dear Granny is declining.  She continues to have falls and mentally is just not doing well after nearly 6 months of isolation.  

DH and i boarded 2 dogs and took 2 dogs with us to see our friends at the lake.  My friend, J i have known since grade school.  He inhereted his mom's lake home couple years ago, even thought they still live full time in Florida.  The lake has become even more busy than ever due to the Covid 19.  We stayed just one night, had a nice visit. Swam Saturday and took a boat ride Sunday, then drove home.  

We took this girl with us and she was a big hit.  She stayed right close to the house and everyone loved her.  She does not want to get in the water though.  I tried for 30 min and she was not having it!

During our boat ride, we saw this huge flag and i thought it was really neat looking, so i took a photo.

At our friend's lake house, we had the downstairs bedroom which looks directly out at the lake and when we woke up Sunday morning, it was really foggy on the water because it is cooling off in the evenings, but still pretty hot during the day.  This week was supposed to cool off, but is still pretty warm today.  I like the cooler evenings, but i am not ready for summer to end yet.

DH and i have become curious about having a place at the lake, so we are exploring that.  We have pretty much accepted that I will have to be back to work indefinitely to wisely afford a 2nd place, so i have began exploring that too.  My current team leader has indicated we might have a few years on this project and she has told me about a full time position - that is more of a long shot, because i am sure there will be a LOT of competition for each position.  I have also reached out to my old boss in the city to see if i can now work for them again remote, since everyone currently is remote - he sounded positive about the possibility...so we shall see.

Have not sold much, but i did finally sell a jean jacket of DH that he bought and decided was too short.  So that's good.  And we agreed we are going to possibly go camping next month, so we are going to go through our equipment and keep what we will use and well what we don't want.  So, that will be really the last area of our stuff that we haven't cleared out.  September as it cools down will be a good time to clear out and organize the shop (3rd garage).  

What i have been doing...i made 3 desserts to take to the lake for our potluck - they were all a big hit.  Choc cake, lemon bars and home made apple pie.  Or course, i had to at least sample all 3, lol.  But i have been doing really well not eating sweets otherwise and have decided that intermittant fasting is something i want to try.  I am doing 6 - 7 hours of eating and fasting the rest of the 17 - 18 hours.  I will let you know how that goes for me.  I don't need breakfast, so i wait for late lunch 1.30 or 2 and that way i can still eat after yoga at 7.30 or 8.

I have planted some grass in 3 areas of my yard - so that next spring the grass will be mature enough that i can weed and feed.  This area is going to be my fountain area, eventually.  

Between all the pavers i am getting grass going, so i still just mow right over it, but it looks interesting and minimizes the difficulty i have getting a lush grass area because of the traffic and because of the lack of sun all day there.  Plus, i can put a fountain in the center and minimize the trimming around the bottom.  More on that soon!

I have also transplanted a few cactus and succulents to simplify my pots outside and have planted some things in my raised beds sort of late in the season, but so that i can simplify how much i will have to bring in for the winter in pots.  My west wide of my house is the front, but i am going to get it as low maintenance as possible, focusing on cactus and drought tolerant plants, since they get so much sun.  Here is my Florida cactus i potted in a bigger pot.

When we got home from the lake yesterday, i took a nice leisurely walk while it was barely still light outside and when i got home DH was in the process of watering a bunch of my plants and it made me so happy because he is starting to enjoy the plants also and i did not even ask him for help.  So, maybe he will get hooked like me!

Hope you are enjoying these last weeks of summer and taking time to make your daily lives better.  Bye for now.

Summer Stuff

 So, here is a picture of my new planter(s) that I mentioned last post.  In the background, you can see the 2nd one, just like it.  I like them because they hold the pot up so that the stuff that hangs over the side can cascade over the side really pretty.

I haven't sold much of anything, except a pair of jeans and a cool black Harley Davidson sweater.  But just selling jeans and a sweater this time of the year is good!  I also took a trunk load to Goodwill.  In getting my guest room makeover done, i got rid of one bed headboard and moved another one into place that i had in the attic.  Gave away the one with a large chest and mirror to a young man, a friend's son,  who is just getting his own place and got rid of something in my attic - win/win.  But, i had 3 large rubbermaid tubs under the bed storage boxes full of clothes and when I looked at it after being there for about 2 years I thought "I don't need ANY of this".  While, at the time I put it away, I was not ready to let go, evidently.  lol.  Basic clothes don't sell quickly or for hardly any money at all second-hand, so I mostly just give clothes away.  If you have a designer label or something really high quality (leather, jeans, coats, etc) I might try to sell, but just every day stuff (dresses, sweaters, etc) I mostly just donate most clothes instead of storing and messing with them.  But there is a time when I am ready to get rid of stuff, and when i am ready, i am ready, even a short time ago i might not be ready to get rid of.

Our tomatoes are still doing well.  Getting lots.  I froze 4 quart bags last week.  This week I will give some to family and I think make tomato soup, even though it certainly isn't soup weather!  But a nice light tomato basil will taste nice.  My sister and I drove for the day Saturday to the lake to spend time with some family.  My cousins are twins and their birthday this week.  So I took them home made bread and tomatoes and we ended up eating some of the tomatoes and people were going nuts over the "Arkansas tomatoes"!  I took big and small red ones, yellow and pink.  One of my cousins was really liking the yellow.  My mother in law likes them best too, less acid.

As for gardening, I have harvested some lettuce seed and will see if I can grow some more from seeds.  Pretty cool, huh?

I was sharing gardening stories with my aunt and cousin and so i shared this one.  This house we bought in 2014 had a pretty pink crepe myrtle directly in front of the house.  

As you can see, the plant there right near the front door, that's the crepe myrtle.  It is big, but not as big as it got before we just could'nt get around it.  Esp last summer, we had a really wet summer and it got so large that it blocked the sidewalk infront and was going up against the house, so we could not walk easily by on that side either.  So late last summer, we trimmed it way down and dug it up and moved it. Whew, it was a job!

The pretty crepe myrtle is doing fine!  We are so happy.  We really had to hack away to get it out, so we were a little concerned.  If you look in the background of this picture, you can see where it used to be.  We planted a small weeping cedar tree that we are training to curve back and forth.  I will post more pictures of it next time.

And finally, some cute dog photos

Hope you are staying cool and having a great August!  We are having a hot week, so i am just trying to enjoy summer while it lasts and not wanting to rush into fall!  

More Movement

So, i have been sort of watching my diet and cut out sugar and no wheat, except for a bad cheat day at Taco Bell and one piece of cake for our anniversary...I am sure my aches and pains are better.  I was trying to really use elimination diet to see if i could feel better, see if the soreness was related (I think it is) and get ready to go to the lake next weekend.  Sugar notoriously inflammatory. 

DH and i went across the countryside to get these cool iron planters stand thingy's (pictures next time) and got hungry and stopped at first thing open that wasn't crowded and it happened to be Taco Bell.  Oh well.  Otherwise eating good and enjoying the fresh tomatoes and salad lately!

DH and i went to eat for our anniversary.  It was nice.  We took a pic in our convertable to remember this weird year.  

I cannot deny that i did have a couple bites of this fabulous cake.  It was good, but mine is better.  Recipe next week, i think i am going to make it for DH to take to the city.  He is going up to play golf with his brother.

I sold my Harley Davidson boots i posted picture of here last week.  $95!  I am currently in the process of gathering plans and materials to build a fountain.  This will go toward the pots i will buy.  Pictures soon!

I also sold this gas firepit (we are getting a much smaller one) and gave away these tables...and a gas grill we don't use.  We are pretty fond of just a simple charcoal grill.  

I am taking the day off tomorrow to kayak.  Hope you are enjoying August!  We have been blessed with some moderate much needed rain and cooler temps here.  Today mid 80's, about 10 degrees cooler than normal.  Love it!