Still laughing

Thanks for bringing some much needed laughter into my day. I will definitely tell them to look in the trunk for a mosquito bitten lady that desperately needs a cut and color. With any luck The Closer will express interest in using your story in an upcoming show as the plot line.

That is certainly one problem with having enough rain, you always get way too many mosquitos with it. Rather like a burger and fries...the fries being the rain of course as you mentioned you become the burger.

Bridget was weighed today and is now up to 19.2 pounds. When she hits the magic number of 21 pounds, doc is going to do the surgery. She is really pretty with her shiny hair and it continues to grow. She has become a favorite of the vet's staff due to her sweet personality.

I talked to Charlie today and he is having a rough day. They sent him home without any pain medication and neither he nor Genice asked for any. Heavy sigh, I worry about those two from time to time. They put a call into the doctor and got some and he had just taken it with I talked with him, so hopefully by now he is feeling much better.

Paul had a great start to his year. He is very happy with his classes as there appears to be no major behavior problems, he really likes his new principal (a lady) and has no language teacher shortages to contend with this year. I hope it continues. The new outfits have garnished several compliments from fellow teachers and students. It is really good to hear happiness in his voice and I pray it will continue.

This has been a very slow week. The one thing I had planned got postponed until Friday and I have been pretty much at home. I am beginning to get antsy, so probably need to start a project---like finally redoing the office that is driving me nuts.

Not much on this home front

Like you, not much news to report. I'm not even sure I can tell you what's filling the hours of the day outside of daily grind. We've had several weeks of lovely weather but it's been such a cool(er) and wet summer, the mosquitoes have invited their cousins from other countries to visit. Even if I spray down with chemicals, just going outside long enough to water the potted plants and gather the tomatoes still nets me 4 or 5 large bites. I'm guessing there's a giant neon sign over my head that reads "Eat at Joes" in mosquitoese.

Sorry to hear Charlie had an operation! I do hope it'll ease his back pain. I think that's something that's troubled him for many years isn't it? I wish there was more opportunity to see him--he was always a favorite.

I have a "mystery appointment" at my hairdresser's tonight. She called my cell and asked if I could be there tonight at 6:45. Desperately needing a haircut, I said sure and she told me to bypass checking in and just come back to her station. Maybe a color and a cut. She's been nice this last year to color me "offsite" at a mutual friend's salon so that I just pay for materials rather than the $100 it usually costs but we usually have to do it away from her regular salon as they frown on it. Maybe just a cut. But odd of her to call like this. If I disappear, look in her car trunk first!!

Summer is still here

Many of my friends have started the decorating for fall, but with the heat and humidity still way up there, I have not been so inspired.

My oldest brother had back surgery yesterday for a disk problem, but did great and is going home today. This was unexpected, but hopefully will eliminate or diminish his back pain.

I take Bridget in tomorrow for weighing and I think I will ask them to check for diabetes. She has had an abnormal thirst the last few days and that is a symptom. I am sure hopeful that she does not.

I have been doing some quilting this week. The air pollution levels and heat have kept me out of the yard. It really could use some attention and I look forward to the days when I can spend the day outside getting everything ship shape again. I want to put in some shrubs and grasses and remove some high maintenance plants (all the roses must go). I also need to rework a lot of the stones especially around the tree as the roots have pushed them up. I plan to remove some of them and enlarge the bed around the tree. I really should be stock piling mulch and compost, but have not been near a home improvement store in weeks.

Like always there is little, to no, news of any importance. In so many ways that is a good thing.

We interrupt your programming to bring breaking news

Just a head's up! There's a current crop of email spam going around that appears to be from major news organizations like MSNBC or CNN with a BREAKING NEWS type subject. These are fake and lead to bad sites trying to put yucky things on your computer. I know you're very hip fake stuff on the internet but it's been a rather bad attack so wanted to let you know. If you have friends that are more gullible than you are, maybe give them a friendly warning.

The week has wound up okay. I'll be calling to talk to you as I always do on Friday so there's not a lot of news to put here. I'm glad it's the weekend! We had a huge branch come off one of the black walnuts in the backyard and Kev cut it all up Thursday night but tomorrow we have to haul it all down to the brush dump. We have a service that we pay to come handle brush and garden debris but I think I'm going to cancel them. They do a worse job every week it seems and even though it's not very expensive still---sheesh.

I'm starting to think about plants to put in this fall. I have a few spots here and there I need to fill in with some good strong perennials. Time to start browsing the web sites and catalogs again. I really want to add a tree to the backyard. I just need to decide what I want to add. Time to browse the old blog entries where we talked about trees! That's a handy extra to the blog. I can go back and revisit advice you've given me.

Some Links

I'm going to call you but these are the links I found:

Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency
Another Good Entry
Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth
A bit about diet and again, bacteria and other symptoms

Life in 30 minute chunks

Yeesh. Seems like I live life in 30 minute chunks. Back now!

I can't believe what a hard time I'm having locating decent thermal coffee cups. Just hard plastic insulated straight-sided Thermos type no handle mugs. I bought a couple at Target that Kevin loves and we had one go warped in the dishwasher and now I can't find them to save my life. It's crazy!

Not a lot of news outside of that. We've been watching a ton of Olympics. The gymnastics was great. I'm rather glad Michael Phelps is done. Not to dismiss his achievement but oy, I'm getting a bit tired of hearing about him. I've grown really attached to that cute little Shawn Johnson. How about you? Found any favorites?

Tonight I'm going to go home and watch last night's Closer. I really like that show!

The Wild World of Pet Supplies

Our discussion about pet supplies got me looking around this morning. I've found several places and they all seem to be _roughly_ the same price. Where they do vary is how much you have to order before free shipping. Here's the three I found that seem to be the largest and most reputable. (I found one who's prices were about half anyone else's and they only sell pet meds and not other pet supplies -- but the pricing made me suspicious.)

These are all based on Frontline Plus 0-22 pounds:

1-800-PetMeds - Free Shipping over $39 - 3 Dose $44.99
EntirelyPets.com - Free Shipping over $100 - 3 Dose $32.99
JeffersPet.com - No free shipping that I could see - 3 dose $33.95 They have a lot of cool stuff though.

See what you think?

More to come later!!

Thursday chat

The soap is just for me and I do not care what the label looks like. Yummy, I can hardly wait as the first bar is just a tiny sliver, but I keep hanging on to it. It will be nice to finally let it go, as it is really little and has done full service.

We are supposed to have excellent chances for rain several days starting tomorrow. I sure hope we will since the yard just got fertilized and everything is so dry.

The pancreas power caused Bridget to throw up, but the vet said give her Pepto today and give the power again tomorrow. I sure hope that she will be able to tolerate it. She was doing so good for a week or so. I worry about that girl!!!

Went shopping with Paul for some new duds and French posters for his room. Found good sales on both and he is all set and we had a very nice day. Lots of laughs. Paul can be a great companion and lots of fun when he chooses. I was tickled that he asked me to go along and share my opinion as that happens rarely. He is only teaching French this year, so keep an eye out for all things French. He is back full time starting tomorrow with department head meeting, inservice and meet the teacher night tomorrow night. Sure is hot for all that activity. It is thundering right now...keep your fingers crossed for us.

Bridget bit into my speaker wire on the computer, so I am without sound until I can buy a new one. I tried using electrical tape to repair it, but it did not work. I have strange dogs...one liked couches and one likes electrical wiring.

I look forward to more of your bubbling brain activity. The class sounds like it would be interesting and I know you were the star pupil.

Wednesday Woundup!

It's been a weeklong whirlwind. I've been in a training class all week, we've been shopping for a new car and it's been errand running o'rama. All that has meant my internet time has been pretty slim.

The training class has been pretty interesting though. It's about virtualization with a product called VMware. What it does is allow companies to run multiple servers (machines) on a single piece of hardware. So with this product, I can do the equivalent of making your one single PC look like dozens of PCs to our users and each user thinks they have their own PC. It's been a lot of fun learning something new and it's the hottest technology going. Every company is going to this ---you can imagine the difficulty companies have storing and cooling and putting power to dozens and dozens of servers.

I'm disappointed. None of the spiderwort I've planted, either in the garden or in my pots, appears to be coming up. Maybe I'm being impatient but it's been 10 days or so and I'd think I'd be seeing some sign of growth. I still have plenty of seeds so I'll just keep trying. The tomatoes are starting to ripen up as are my pepper plants. It may be time to learn how to make some great salsa!

I got the soap mailed off today. That's going to be one really great smelling package and I had to to resist the urge to dip my hand into your stash. That applejack is wonderful. The bars I bought have just handwritten labels on them rather than fancy labels. If you buy just bars without labels you get bigger bars for the money. I realized after I did it that you might have been looking to use them for more of a fancy display and might want the fancier labels so I hope what I did is okay.

After I leave class today, I'm off to meet Kev at the car dealer. Looks like we're going to be getting him one of those Hyundai Sonata's. I hate adding another car payment but I suppose it's time. The Taurus is 10 years old and getting up there in mileage.

A compost class? That's fantastic! I'd LOVE to do something like that. Where are you going to put it and any idea what you're going to use as a container for the compost? I'm certainly in agreement with you that for many places, shade is the way to go. I'd like to have morning sun but anywhere afternoon, deep shade or filtered shade is so nice. YOu can get some lovely plants for that. I just read a big article on dry shade versus damp shade and they had a long list of terrific plants for shade types.

More tomorrow! Juices are bubbling!

There may be garden hope yet

We actually have some decent temperatures today and a nice breeze to boot. There are some fairly good chances for rain today, but only of a scattered nature. Hope they scatter over here.

Did you watch Paul James this weekend? He had a couple of pretty good shows. I always enjoy watching him and have learned a lot from him. There was a segment on Ft. Worth schools Junior Gardner Program that was pretty neat.

I am enrolling today for the city's compost class. I have finally figured where to put one. There is so much clean up and weed up work that I need to do this fall and several trees need some lower limbs trimmed up. I hope to get a lot of releveling of stones after the shift from the heat and a permanent walkway built in the long beds. I am going to plant a couple more trees in the back as I have decided that shade is the way to go. I think I will only leave a small area sunny for my daylilies and go with trees, ornamental grass, shrubs, and ground covers in the rest. It is just too hard to maintain flowers during our prolonged heat waves.

My latest passion is Autumn ferns and I plan to add a lot come fall and as my budget allows.
I found an interesting page featurning sofas in the paper and will send it to you.

Cantalope cheer

Cantalopes do take a lot of room, but the only time in my life that I got to eat as much cantalope as I wanted was the year that we grew them. They were also the best tasting ones I ever ate. There is nothing like picking one and bringing it in warm from the garden, cutting it open and eating it straight from the shell with a spoon. YUMMY

What are you going to do with all the tomatoes?

I am so glad to hear that you are getting a weather break from the heat. It certainly does zap you, but before you know it things will start cooling down. At least I hope it works out that way.
I sure feel sorry for the returning teachers and students as the first month of school is so hot.

I have no news. I am going to see Swing Vote with Kay and Lois today and to the water store and that is the "big" news from this neck of the woods.

Hope you got the rain.

Good advice!

Thanks for the good advice! It's nice to have someone to talk to and get some advice from on various things. It helps to know if I'm on the straight and narrow.

I haven't mailed the soaps yet. I will get those out this week for sure but haven't made it up to the old post office just yet as it's just been too hot to even think about it. Our cool front hit this morning though and things are significantly cooler. I hope we get the rain they're predicting today since I chose not to water the beds. It's always such a dither---if I water, it will rain. If I don't water, it won't rain. Agh! If it hasn't rained by this afternoon, I'll give everything a light drink and hope I tempt fate to bring the rains.

We have tomatoes all over the place. They haven't ripened yet but looks like we'll have a goodly crop of them. My cantelope plant is taking over the world but no fruit. Not sure how long I can be patient with it as it continues to creep across the yard. That was one my husband was absolutely correct about---I think cantalopes are related to weeds!

I don't know if you'll read this but I'll call you later today to see how Lady Bridget did with her surgery. Poor little thing. I'm sure she'll be pretty slow moving for the next week. It has to be done but I always wish I could explain better to the animals before we have to do things like this.

HOT talk

All the experts and books say that you should NOT fertilize during the summer months that this causes great stress to plants. I would advise against it, but sometimes it is easier to go with your husband and lose some plants than to argue the matter. You must decide this for yourself. If Kev insists and you loose some plants, he will know for future plantings and a few plants against a husband's feelings seem a small price to pay.

I feel just like you do that I am not getting hardly anything done because of the heat. We also have not had rain, so things look pretty sad around here in the yards. I am still walking with the girls, but have shortened the duration of the walks because it stays hot at all hours. Bridget is having her surgery Wednesday and I will be so glad when this is behind her. She is such a sweet addition to our group, but unfortunately she continues to have occasional accidents in the house. I know she knows to go outside and I think that it is becuase she is still puppy enough to be busy playing and wait too long to go. It does not happen often, but I do not want it to happen at all.

Bridget's fur is beginning to grow longer and she is taking on more the look of a sheltie every day. The best way to describe her personality is "lady like".
Can't wait to get the soap. The bar you sent is dwindling fast as I use it daily to bathe. I just love it, have I mentioned that?

I am taking the crayola bags to the police station with a couple of my friends tomorrow and then we are going to lunch. I am really looking forward to that. I got the tote finished for my friend and need to get it in the mail this week. I am not sure what I will work on next. I think I would like to get some of the things that are already done quilted.

Debs remember you work full time and do not have as much time at home as I do. One day you will, so do not beat yourself up for what you do not get done, but celcbrate what you do get accomplished. I bet if you ponder that for a few minutes you will realize just how much you do in one day. In the long haul it matters little. Relax and do not feel guilty about what you did not get done. Do what brings you joy and the rest will take care of itself. (This is your momma talking I realize, but good advice none the less)

Summer Doldrums

I'm going to hit the soap shop tomorrow and have your list in my hot little pocket. I appreciate you offering to pay for that stuff but don't worry about it. You send me so much stuff made with your materials, time and love that picking up some things you enjoy gives me great pleasure.

I'm having a hard time finding things to post about right now. It's so hot that I just don't feel like I'm _doing_ anything. Of course, I'm not doing anything so that probably explains why I feel that way. I haven't found any new web sites or activities that have me engaged, I'm not gardening outside of bare minimum maintenance and I can't seem to work up much enthusiasm to do much around the house. I'm not even doing much running with girlfriends right now as no one really wants to go do anything.

I don't know how some women, like you, do it. Everything I talk to you, you're doing this or that and going to this place or that. I just guess I don't plan my time very well. Seems like by the time I get all the "gotta" stuff done, there's not any time left for "wanna" stuff. I certainly haven't maintained the exercise regime I just _swore_ I would. I need a friend like you have to call me and make me go do those things. If I'd do that, I'd probably have more energy to do the other things.

Opinion time: Kev thinks we should hit the veggies with some fertilizer and I'm not sure. First it's hot. Second, they're in a new bed with heavy compost and it was treated with Osmocote. I know the slow release things and the good soil probably isn't the fast release nitrogen plants like but I hate to stress them with something like Miracle Grow. What do you think? Should I give them an application of something like Miracle Grow? What about the flower beds? Is it a good idea or bad idea to do that when it's so hot?