Nice Day

This is what I woke up to this morning.  Just enough milk for my hot Nestle's Quik (breakfast).

 Luckily, I had that 6" sub left--I ate half so I'd have some left for supper.

I decided to walk out and get the mail--come along with me--okay?

My view from the front door

My view from the rocking chair Karen gave me when she bought new ones

 Down the steps, these are beside the front corner of the house.

Aha, Morning Glories coming up already--to twine up that trellis

 Let's take a detour to walk around the house

Where they took out the stump.  

I don't know if there is enough afternoon

light for Iris to grow here.

It's on the East side, so would get morning sun.

Hm-mm.

My shed and the neighbors behind me.

The neighbors with the yappy, damn Shiatsu.

They have raised garden-beds all over their lot.

They just throw down some landscaping cloth,

add the landscaping stone and throw in some soil.

Every year, they move them around. 

Nice garden, on west side, full sun reflecting off that white shed.

Hey!  I see Zinnia seedlings coming up.

Up toward the front of the house--west side.  My Lilac Bushes and

Rose of Sharon.  Rose of Sharon will bloom in late July and August

with bright pink flowers, white and bluish-purple.

All different types of Hostas around the Lilacs--this is where

I planted the left over Impatiens yesterday.

The unusual Hosta that was my Great Grandmas.

100+ years old and doing great.

  My nice shady front porch

Over by Jackie's house to get the mail.  Dar's house is the one on the left.

Usual mail--junk

Back across the street

My side garden around the tree--May Apples, Trilliums, Violets,

Jack-in-the-Pulpit--all transferred here from my woods

out by the farm where I used to live.

Freddie's lilies coming up by the steps.

 The sign my sister painted for me on a piece of slate

she found on Prince Edward Island.

My squirrel proof railing planters.

I see a few Sweet Pea seedlings coming up.

Back to my comfy porch.

I come out here each evening at 7:00 to read my daily

Bible devotional, relax and enjoy watching

my world.

This evening, around 5:00 I decided to take a walk.  I made it all the way to the corner!!!  It was only about 65 degrees, with the sun and a bit of a breeze.  On the way back, I stopped at Pearl's for a quick chat.  She seems to sit sort of slipped off to one side in her chair.  She had been grocery shopping with her daughter and she drove the electric buggy.  She ran into a display and knocked the whole thing to the floor.  Then when they got out to her daughter's car, she ran the buggy into the side of it.

It makes me sad to see her like this.

Sit back and enjoy---

I got the last Impatiens in the ground this afternoon.  I don't know what possessed me, but for some unknown reason, on my garden/plant buy list I had "1 flat of hot pink Impatiens", come to find out, I only needed less than half that.  Then I remembered, I usually plant my railing plants with Impatiens, but this year, I just planted Sweet Pea seeds in them.  

Well, today, I took the rest of them and planted them with the Hostas in the garden under the Lilac bushes.  That garden looks rough with dead and dying Tulip and Daffodil stems, but once they get died back, the Impatiens will spread.  They always look so pretty next to the green Hostas.  I have 6 different Hosta varieties out there.

My Iris didn't all bloom and I think they are getting to crowded.  I would like to take them all up this fall and make a new landscape stone, raised flower bed, where my stump used to be and is now gone, and just plant it with the Iris and Impatiens to fill in after I cut back the Iris.  There is only one problem .  How the heck am I going to load and unload all that landscape stone?  HAH!  I will have to ponder on that.

I am mailing the genealogy out tomorrow.  I got back 21 generations on this one-1100.  Scotland.  One of the ancestors fought with Robert the Bruce.  When Robert died, by his request, his heart was placed in a small casket and carried to the Crusades.  This great grand father held the key to that casket.  Thus the surname:  Lockhart=locked heart.  Cool, eh?

I have started on another genealogy that a lady wants for her son.  Just getting started on this one, but already finding out interesting facts about the ancestor's.

I so LOVE doing genealogy's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I can't wait until Thursday.  I get my SS on the 3rd of each month, but since the 3rd of June falls on a Saturday, I am hoping that it gets into my checking account on the 1st.  I opened my refrigerator door this noon and burst out laughing.  There is nothing to eat.  I mean---nothing.  Thankfully, I had a Subway gift card with $5.00 still on it so I picked up a Spicy Italian foot-long sub= two meals.  It was $6something, but I had enough coins to pay for it.

I have $3.00 in my wallet and $13.00 in my checking account.  This next month is going to be a killer too, because now I have to pay $20.00 to get my lawn mowed--every other week, and I have to renew my car license and it went up $11.00 this year.  $81.00 for a license tab to go on a 19 year old car!!!

I'm going to make an appointment with my car/house insurance guy to see if I can get my monthly bill lowered.  I can lower the insurance amount on my house and the contents and I think there is one thing on my car insurance I can take off entirely.  I wish they would change our car insurance back and get off "no fault".  I think the person who was at fault for the accident should pay.  Let their car insurance go up, not mine!

Gotta get a hair cut--well over 6 weeks and looks it.  Got to pay for the part of my PT that Medicare and Insurance didn't pay for, $147.00--I didn't expect that and they will get it in 2 monthly payments.  I do need to get a new bra too.  I had two, but one tore out under the arm and the underwire keeps poking me.  I tried to sew up the hole, but it keeps making a new hole, so---I put it in my bureau for an emergency.  That means I only have one bra.  That means I would have nothing to wear while it is being washed.  That would be a disaster.  

I cannot go without a bra, not with these Double D's.  Neighbor's would have a heart attack, young children would scream and animals might drop dead!!  

Such problems!!

Finally..................

It's been a long nine months, since I packed away my white jeans/shorts/pants and purse.  Finally...today...we in the North can once again wear white!

While it seems to be all right to wear white athletic shoes during the winter, I find it weird to wear them while sloshing through snow.  Those months, I wear my black or navy penny loafers.

Now--I can comfortable wear my New Balance or my cute little lacey patterend Keds.  I used to wear a lot of Thong sandals, something like a flip-flop, but with a strap to hold on my foot.



Then someone had the bright idea to take away the strap and we ended up with a shoe that made a flip-flop noise as it slapped against the bottom of our feet.  I have owned one pair.  They were to use at the fitness center to wear to get from pool to shower room or vice versa--to keep us from getting athlete's foot.  My Pammie used to wear flip-flops until one day, she stepped on something and it came up, beside the sole, and badly cut her foot.

I can honestly say I don't know of anyone who wears flip-flops.  Some of the olders in this park wear those rubberized clog thingies.

All my girl people wear cute sandals.

My guy people wear athletic shoes or boat shoes.

I have old, unattractive feet so, I go bare footed in the house and wear a pair of slip-on boat shoes for outside, or my New Balance or my Keds.

TODAY--we can start wearing all of these and.......white!!!!  For three whole months, until Labor Day...we can wear White!  This just may be one of the biggest celebration days up here!!

Almost Done..........

Almost done and done in.  WHEW!!!

The power wash guy, I call him Guy because that's his name, arrived at 7:00 on the dot.  When I heard him hooking up his hose to the outside faucet, I woke up.  It was daylight outside.  I don't get up at 7:00, so I don't really know when the sun rises.

It took him two hours and what a beauty.  My house is clean and white, no mold on the skirting and got the outside of my windows washed. He even did my shed.  $80.00.

It was chilly and cold, but all of a sudden, the sun came out about noon and I got busy.

I put my pots back in place by the front of the house, got everything on the porch put back together and then hit the little raised garden out by the shed.

A hot pink, purple and Chartreuse color scheme this year.

The Stack 'N Grow, is all stacked and ready to grow. 

Every one of these weeds had to be yanked out by hand.  I don't know what kind of weed it is, but if I don't pull each one, and get the roots, they will be back in a week.

I loosened the soil with a garden fork, then pulled the weeds, worked up the soil with my 3-tined hand digger (my favorite tool).  Punched three holes , equal distance in the back and dropped in a Sun flower seed, made a nice straight line with the handle end of the garden rake, planted, 36", in first line, 24", middle line and 6" near front-- Zinnias.

Zinnias are the easiest , sturdiest, most colorful flower to grow from seed.  I will cut them and make bouquets for my neighbors--late summer.

After I got them all planted and a Grape tomato plant at the end, I covered the seeds and tamped the dirt down firmly, with the flat part of the garden rake.

Now--I wait.
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I'm worn out.  My shoulders and back ache--my legs feel weak.  But, emotionally I feel really good.  There is nothing that calms this old farm girl/gardener, than working in the dirt and planting the "promise" of seeds.    They are miracles.
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Got this by e-mail tonight.  Della--7 months old and pulling herself up and walking along furniture.

Gray, cold, drippy

I have my porch pots planted, but not in place.  Tomorrow they are coming to power-wash my wee house, so I have my planters pushed way back out of the way.  I still haven't planted my Zinnia seeds because, #1: It's been to wet and #2:  I have to till that raised bed first and....it's been too wet.

I feel like I am late planting everything, but in reality, when I lived 25 miles north of here, we waited until Decoration Day weekend to plant, so....................

I got the 9th baby quilt done.  I have 9 grandchildren and decided 5 years ago that I wanted to do a cross-stitched baby quilt for each of them to choose from, for their first child.  I now have them all done.

If my grandson Marcus, marries that little farm girl,

this will be theirs.

This is the one Helene choose for Della

Finished yesterday

There will be one quilt left over.  My 2nd grand daughter, Susanna is not going to have children.  Which in a way is a good thing, as she is not the motherly type and is constantly traveling for New Balance shoes, running in marathons.  

Now I can stitch on my Nativity Scene, which has teeny-tiny holes and stitches.  I made a mistake yesterday and had to pull out stitches today, but it is going to be beautiful with the metallic threads and beads.

I have also, over the years, made afghans for the grand kids.  They have them, except for Jennifer's kids.  I have theirs packed away in nice tight plastic boxes and will ship her oldest, Andrew's to him on his 16th birthday this November.  I made it in MIT (Massachusetts Institute for Technology) colors because he's wanted to go there since he was 9.  It's a very handsome Claret red, gray and black.

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It has been a week since I bit my tongue all the way through, and it is still hurting.  I checked out the spot and it is healing, slowly.  I swished with warm salt water and dabbed a bit of Hydrogen Peroxide on it last night before I went to bed.  I did get a mouth guard and managed to get the impression good so it fits well, but during the night, I must spit it out because I spend a couple of times each night, patting around the bed, trying to find it to put back in.  HAH!

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I had fun yesterday at Michael's.  I got in line, waiting for the cashier, and a guy came up behind me with his cart.  He had on a dark navy shirt, pants and hat with a big yellow "M" (Michigan) on it.  His cart was filled with 2 large poster frames and several 8 x 10" poster frames.  He looked receptive to chat, so I said.

"Hm-mm.  Gathering sports memorabilia?"

"Yes.  Hey!  Good call.  How did you know?"

"I am a Spartan.  I went to the smart school."

"I oughta have you help me put all this stuff together."

"Oh, I've done it lots of times.  For award banquets, or displays, stuff like that.  I was involved in youth athletics for years."

"Then you're an expert!"

"No.  I'm a Spartan and don't you ever forget it," 

I could hear him laughing as I walked away, up to the cashier.

Some days are more fun than others. HAH!

33 years later-------

The prediction is coming true.....

 Now, all we have to do is burn all the history books and print new ones, written by the most liberal of professors and then, we can mold and form the minds of the children.  We can build a beautiful socialist society, where everything is free to everyone.  Everyone is the same and has the same.  We could name it, The Socialistic Republic of Russmerica.  

To be politically correct we must demolish this statue too...

because:  "For much of his career, Lincoln believed that colonization—or the idea that a majority of the African-American population should leave the United States and settle in Africa or Central America—was the best way to confront the problem of slavery. His two great political heroes, Henry Clay and Thomas Jefferson, had both favored colonization; both were slave owners who took issue with aspects of slavery but saw no way that blacks and whites could live together peaceably. Lincoln first publicly advocated for colonization in 1852, and in 1854 said that his first instinct would be “to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia” (the African state founded by the American Colonization Society in 1821)."

In the sky or on your phone,  

GPS or by a drone.

The camera in your monitor,

Or by your neighbor who lives next door.

The micro-chip in your wrist,

Just gives them yet, another twist.

Big Brother is watching you.  

=========================

I am probably getting close to my "call".  It is nearing my time when I will be carried to the beautiful hospice house, given my injections of morphine to calm me down--they say it's for pain--watch the beautiful movie as I stare at the ceiling and lapse into a coma, another injection and, down the conveyor belt I go--into eternity...or your next meal.

EEEEEEEYOUCH!!!

Was it a nightmare?  Was it sleep apnea?  Something triggered me to bite all along the right edge of my tongue.  I even bit though it, in one place!

Woke up with a start from the pain.  There was blood coming out of my mouth.  Because I am on a blood thinner, the bleeding would not stop.  I got kind of scared, but didn't feel I could maneuver myself to the ER.

I sat up for awhile, I lay back down.  I knew I didn't want all that blood going into my stomach.  Finally, I just hung over the bathroom sink and let it drain--trying not to spit and make it worse.

Finally, I got a white linen napkin, put an ice cube in it, packed that between my tongue and bottom teeth and went back to sleep.  

When I woke up this morning, it looked like a bloody murder had occurred on my bed and in the bathroom.  It is sorer than anything.  I think I better buy a mouth guard to wear at night!!!!!

Gross!!

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From time to time, I have been known to spend $300.00 on annuals to fill pots and baskets and planters.  Last year, we had such a hot and dry summer that every annual I planted died.  I spent $279.00 last year.

I am proud to say, I showed great restraint today.  I had my garden planting list with me and went to Lowe's to buy annuals.  Now, granted they aren't as large as the fancy gardening center I like to shop at across the road from me, but they will catch up.  I had 3 of the Chartreuse vines I always use that I couldn't find at Lowe's, so on the way home, I stopped at the fancy gardening center and got them.

All total today, I spent $111.19.  Instead of putting Impatiens and Petunias in the three planters that fit on my porch railing, I am going to use only two planters and planting Sweet Pea seeds in them.  If they succeed, they will trail as nicely as a Wave Petunia and if they don't succeed, it's no big out of pocket loss.

Today it was 88 degrees with 25 mph straight winds and an occasionally 40 mph gust.  I unloaded my plants and put them in the shade, came in and turned on the A/C.  Tonight it will get down into the 50's and tomorrow's high is predicted to be 62.  It should make a nice day to get all my pots cleaned up and planted.  Put the rug down on the porch and get my chairs in place.

Tonight, as I go to sleep, I am going to keep chanting, "Don't bit your tongue, don't bite your tongue"......and I think I will sleep on my left side, so in case I do bite, it will be on the other side.

ARGGH!!!!!!

What a great day.....................

We have jumped from April weather in the 50's and 60's, to July weather near 89.  Last night, before I went to bed, I flipped on the thermostat to "Cool" to cool it down inside. Something just didn't feel right.  It was 82 inside and I knew it would take a while to get everything cooled off so the thermostat would click off--I had it set for 74, and went to bed.

I woke up at 4:00am and the A/C fan was still running.  I checked the inside temperature--77 degrees.  So in nearly 5 hours, it had only cooled down 5 degrees.

At 8:00, I jumped on the phone and called my electricity company, that I have my Appliance Service Plan through.  They would send a guy out by noon!  YAY!  I was hoping it wouldn't be a Freon leak or the condenser had died.

Then I heard a racket, looked out and there was a Stump Remover company pulling in the yard between Tammie's house and mine.  Seven years ago, there was a 30 feet tall Willow Tree between our two houses.  It made me a bit nervous because I know how Willows, when they get old, can split right down the trunk, putting part of the tree on her roof and part on mine.

She's a lot like Dar and had kept after her husband to cut it down.  She was having panic attacks every time we got a 10mph wind. He talked to me and we agreed to split the cost to get that tree down.  It cost $800.00, which is ridiculous.  Shortly before he was going to pay me half, because I had paid for the whole thing at the time, she kicked him out and filed for divorce.  So, of course, he needed money to find a place to rent.  Over the next year, he paid me in bits and pieces and I never did get the full half.

Anyway, when they took down the tree, we wanted the stump removed.  That thing was huge!  and I mean YUGE!!!  They wanted $400.00 to take out the stump.  That was not going to happen.

So this morning, here is a guy, with a remote controlled machine with a big saw on the front.  I had never seen a machine so fancy.  I saw Tammie in the yard so I scooted over.  "Ohmigosh!  You are finally getting rid of that thing.  "I am going to put in a pond with a fountain," she said.

This girl!  She owes the IRS back taxes, she owes the hospital and she is in arrears on her mortgage, but the minute she gets a bit of change............)

"It's not costing four hundred, is it?"

"No.  He's only charging me a hundred."

"What?"

So when he was finished, I asked him if he had time to remove the smallish stump from where I had the Mulberry tree removed.  

"Sure," he said.  He reminded me of my only nephew Adam, at a younger age.

"How much?" I asked

"I'll do it for nothing.  I'll just get it out."

"Oh no," I said, "I gotta pay you something.  
After all, I had a price on the removal three years ago and it was $150.00.

"How about, hm-mm, forty or fifty?"

"Fifty is good,"I said.

He not only removed that stump, he filled in the hole.  Usually they leave you with a huge mound of dirt.

"I don't have fifty dollars," I said.  "I couldn't find a ten.  All I've got is these three twenties."

He broke out in the biggest, red-faced grin.  I expected him to start kicking the toe of his shoe in the dirt and say, "Aw shucks!"
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The A/C repair guy arrived at noon-thirty, checked out the unit to find that the Freon pressure is still at the top end (this unit is 20 years old) and that it needed a new capacitor, which had died because it was old.  Just for kicks, he put brand new fuses in the fuse box.  He praised me for keeping the unit so nice and clean and I told him, that although most people around here don't cover their units in winter, I always make sure the screens around the sides are clean, no leaves in the unit and then, cover it for winter.

Like the doc always tells me, "Well, just keep doing what you're doing." he says.

The "normal" charge would have been around $175.00, my cost = zero.  I pay $29.95 monthly for my all appliance service plan and since I have had three service calls already this year, I'd say that plan has paid for itself and more.
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After my Soap, I attacked the porch.

Skritch marks from the squirrel claws, on two railings

Badly worn steps, that I sanded

 Done and done.

I almost fell off the steps because I had been bending over to paint the porch floor and got a bit dizzy.  That's why that chair is there, to sit in and get my bearings.

Now, I can clean up my porch pots and get some seeds and annuals planted and rest easy for the rest of the summer.