……. Introduction ……. Bobby and Ken are having such a great time with their diary threads, that I can no longer resist. Those of you that know me are probably asking yourselves, “How can someone whose favorite pastime is jumping down doomsday rabbit holes and reading conspiracy theories be a perennial optimist ?” I am not sure how that works either, but it is how I am , all the same. My mother was an optimist, my father was an optimist, and that is how I have lived for most of my life, even the bad times (as well as I was able to do, at least). One of the earliest things I remember Mom telling me was the story of the difference between an optimist and a pessimist . She said there were 2 rooms, one full of toys and candy and one full of horse manure. The first boy (pessimist) got to go into the room with all of the toys, and when they looked; he was not playing or eating the candy because he was sure it would make him sick, or he would hurt himself playing with the toys. The second boy (optimist) was put into the room full of horse manure, and they found him in there with a shovel, happily throwing manure everywhere. When they asked him about it, he smiled and said enthusiastically that with all of that manure, there had to be a horse in there somewhere, and he was going to find it. I wanted to be the little boy that found the horse. My dad’s advice was simpler. He just always said, “What is the good of life if you can’t enjoy it?” So, I try to do that , too, and look for good as much as I can.
Today was a really nice day, sunny, but not too hot or humid; so it was a day for me to work out in the yard. I really didn’t think that the Gardening Bug was going to get me this year, but I did get it anyway. I am pretty sure that I caught it from @Beth Gallagher , because it was after looking at all of her beautiful pictures of cucumbers and tomatoes that I came down with the gardening bug. Anyway, I have decided that I want to move the blackberries from the side fence to the back fence where there is nothing but an empty lot out there behind us. So, Bobby made me some nice holes and we planted some of the new blackberry starts a couple weeks ago. Today, we went out and cleared the old honeysuckle vines which grow up the back fence. Bobby used his big weed eater, and I used my clipping shears for the smaller stuff, and now the blackberry starts are easy to find and getting plenty of sun. Working in the yard for me is more like work for 10-15 minutes and then come and sit in the zero gravity recliner and put my feet up for 10-15 minutes; but at least I am out there doing something and enjoying it. I have been using the small seed starters with the humidity domes to start my cuttings, and any little seeds I start. It is easier than setting up the aerogardens right now, and it gives the seeds time to sprout without the squirrels eating the seeds first. I have zucchini ready to plant in the morning, and just started some okra today. This is my zero gravity recliner on the front porch. The picture was from a couple of years ago, when we still had Miss Tootsie, who has now gone to Rainbow Bridge. As you can see , they thought it was for little dogs to put their feet up and relax, too.
I'm glad you're gardening this year, Yvonne. I've been loving it so much; I was just outside picking cucumbers and vine-ripe tomatoes. Made me forget about my headache for a while! I have some dwarf cherry tomato plants in my little seed starter with domes. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them but I couldn't resist planting those seeds! They will probably go into pots on the patio. Be sure to post pics of your stuff.
Sad, sad news today. A little over a year ago, I started a thread about a long-lost friend that I hadn’t seen or heard from for many years. I had searched for my friend, Bobbie online, with no luck; but finally found her through one of her daughters. http://www.seniorsonly.club/threads/today-i-found-a-long-lost-friend.20492/#post-581567 Bobbie herself apparently is progressing into alzheimers, but she did remember me when her daughter told her about me finding her online. ‘We talked a little on the phone, but communication is hard for her; so I have been following her daughter Robin (named after my daughter Robin, who was named after my friend, Bobbie/Roberta), and she shared pictures of herself and her mother on her facebook pages. Bobbie’s daughter had undergone cancer treatments in the past, but seemed to be doing okay now; but about a week ago, something happened and they had to rush her to the hospital , which was the cancer center in Georgia, and they said the cancer had gone into her brain. She just passed away, apparently without regaining consciousness, and it all happened really fast and unexpectedly for her family. Even though I didn’t actually know Bobbie’s daughter, Robin, I felt like I did because of our online messages and the pictures she posted of her and her mom out having fun together. I am worried what will happen with Bobbie now. Will she still stay there in her little house by where Robin’s husband lives now, or maybe have to move elsewhere to be near her other daughter. It is going to be hard for her, either way; so I am just praying for her and the whole family.
So sorry to hear of the loss of your friend's daughter, Yvonne. I hope Bobbie will have someone to care for her now.
It has been a pretty quiet holiday weekend here, not even many sirens and police cars racing down the streets near us, which is kind of surprising for this part of town. We have pretty much just stayed home except for a trip to the fitness center yesterday. My son and Daughter-in-law will be coming over this afternoon, and Bobby is going to BBQ some chicken. I made potato salad, and thinking about making a chocolate fiber cake today. I did work outside in the yard and garden a little bit; but the weather has turned chilly again the last couple of days. Some people who used to live next door to us a few years ago stopped by the other day, and they are in the process of moving again, and needed to find a home for their chocolate labradoodle dog. She is about 5-6 months old and not too large, so I think that she will be a good companion dog for Marco Poodle. Bobby and I talked it over, and I decided to adopt her; so she has been here since Friday night and is starting to get settled in. She has really soft, silky hair and pretty golden eyes that the chocolate dogs often have. Bobby didn’t like her name (Hershey), and so we are calling her Mocha, unless some inspiration hits me. Here she is, looking out the window. Poodle is in his usual relaxing position on the back of the Poodle couch. (I guess now it will be a Poodle-Doodle Couch ? )
It has been a good week. The weather has been nice, and in the mornings, I have been out to work a little while in the yard and garden areas, and even did some weedeating with my new weed eater. I have the strawberry patch almost ready to put the final layer of dirt on it and then transplant all of the strawberries into their now home. Probably tomorrow, if all goes as planned. I fenced off the little garden area outside the back door because Mocha wants to bounce around in there, and if I plant tomatoes there, she will be trampling them to bits. If it looks like the fence is keeping her out (she bounds and leaps like a deer !) then I will plant some tomatoes in there tomorrow morning. Mocha is doing great on her house training, and she follows me around all over now, so I think that she is bonding really well. Next week, I will put a collar on her and start giving her obedience lessons and hopefully quiet her enthusiasm and bouncing around a bit. She has the whole back yard to run around in, and she thinks she is in the Kentucky Derby when she dashes around the yard. Poodle comes and sits beside me on my little gardening bench and we watch her run, while keeping well out of her way. Bobby has the swimming pool filled up, and this week it should be warm enough to paddle around in and cool off on hot days. We have been to the fitness center every other day and I am swimming for my hour, and my energy is getting better. I cut some leaves from the mullein, washed it off good and laid it out to dry. Tomorrow, I can put it in the dehydrator and dry it out for mullein tea. The mullein is really growing fast !
Did you ever dry Morel mushrooms when you were in Idaho? I did for years. I quit when the mushroom wars started and premits were required and some started carrying guns to scare others off what they deemed their turf. I liked drying herbs, apricots, beans, peas, and making jerky. Great survival food for off the grid living. Carrots, onions, garlic, and potatoes were easy to store. I had lots of spring water, so dried foods was the way to go and completed my root cellar and cool dry loft foods.
I have never dried morel mushrooms, @Faye Fox , and actually didn’t pick them very often. We usually had those large ones with the sponge underneath, and they were easy to find. I am totally glad that I am not living off-grid anymore, to be honest. It was not easy back then, and would be pretty much impossible for me nowdays. It has been a good week for working outside in the garden, and bit by bit, I am making progress. I had raspberries that were starting to spread, and Bobby helped me dig them up and I have them replanted in a safe place underneath the kitchen window. The swimming pool at the fitness center has been closed the last couple of days; so we have just been at home; but it is back open again now and we are looking forward to going tomorrow. In the summer weather, I do not even bother with the hot tub, just shower and head for the swimming pool for my hour swim. Our backyard pool is getting about warm enough to paddle around in there and do more water exercises, as well as sunbathing. I am looking forward to the sunbathing !
We are off to the fitness center…….. two days in a row ……YAY ! ! I can’t believe how much better I feel when i drink the bulletproof coffee with coconut oil in it. I have been having to drag myself along just doing the twice a week swimming, but yesterday we went, and I am up and raring to go again this morning………. So happy ! I always get tired of all of the mixing to make it and gradually stop drinking the bulletproof coffee, and then i forget how wonderful it makes me feel. I have been reading Dr. Bruce Fife’s coconut oil book again, and it motivated me to start making the coffee again. So, I have been looking at those personal blenders to use, and along the way, found the vortex usb shake mixers. They work with a vortex , and can be used for making protein drinks, hot coffee, chocolate, or whatever, and are meant to use the bottle for drinking out of. I just searched through the ones on amazon and found one that is 24 oz, so large enough for any size drink, in case i want to use it for iced coffee later in the day, plus it was on sale 50% off for the pink one ! It will be here Monday (hopefully), and making my morning coffee easy to make.
Wow, we are almost into the Fourth of July weekend; it seems like spring went fast and now we are beyond the summer solstice already. Bobby has had the swimming pool set up (for a while now) but we have had rain several times a week for most of June, so I have not been in the pool yet. My pool tanning float from last year developed a bad leak over winter somehow, and Bobby is not sure if he can fix it or not, depending on how many leaks it has. So, this morning, I went searching on Amazon and found one for 50% off, and it has an inflatable rim, but the bottom has places where the water comes in. Instead of filling it with water, you just lay in the lounger and the water comes in naturally. I started working in the yard, but with the rain, I have not done much lately, and the days it didn’t rain, it was so humid it was hard to breathe outside. We have been going to the fitness center and I have been swimming except for days when thunderstorms happened and they close the pool area. A few cherry tomatoes are on the little bushes by the front gateway, and blossoms on the squash plants. I still need to get out back and transplant the strawberries into the new strawberry bed that Bobby made for me, so maybe that and lounging in the little backyard pool will happen this week.
Well……two years later…… an update. Today has been a weird day, could have been better, but could have been a lot worse. My DIL called me this morning to tell me that my son had rolled his pickup and was in the hospital, condition not supposed to be critical , but he was not really awake. So, family phone calls most of the morning, and finally we learned that he was okay and being able to go home from the hospital. Robin’s boss gave her time off, so she is coming over this weekend from the Netherlands and she and my other son, and myself, will fly out to Washington to visit with Michael and see how he is doing. When she goes back, I am going to go with her (hoping that really happens this time) and then come back when she comes for her MS doctor appointment in September. Now that all of the restrictions are lifted, all I need is my passport (which I have), and no vaccine required; so I should be good to make the trip.
Oh my goodness, @Yvonne Smith . I hope your son doesn't have any serious issues after that accident, and I'm glad you will be able to go see him. And how exciting that you will finally get to go with Robin to the Netherlands! I hope everything works out and is "smooth sailing" from this point forward.
He is home and resting up; but I am sure he will be feeling it before too long. I am so thankful he is okay, the picture of the truck had me wondering how he managed to survive and not be hurt bad. The truck is demolished. Apparently took a sharp corner too fast, hit the bank, and rolled the truck.
WOW!!!! I'm glad he's OK. I bet he feels like he's gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson (except his ear ain't been bit.) So when are you going to the Netherlands, and how long will you be gone?