Gorgeous Thursday!

[JudyJB]

It is indeed a gorgeous day at the beach here at Fort Clinch State Park, except today I am going to get my bike out and go for a ride through the live oak canopy here. It is two miles long and lovely. I took some photos coming in, but I want to take more at a slower speed, although you do not drive very quickly through this canopy with a motorhome or RV as you have to drive down the middle to miss the overhanging branches.

I took a beachwalk yesterday down to where the old pier used to be before Hurricane Matthew destroyed it. They keep saying they are going to replace it, but not so far. This state park is on the Atlantic ocean, right at the opening of the Columbia Sound. The northeast part of the park overlooks the sound and Georgia. My campsite is on the Atlantic campground, which is right next to the ocean so very nice breeze all the time. I am going to be here another 9 days and highly recommend this place. Temps have been in 70s and low 80s, by the way, which is perfect.

Thanks for the diagrams about the Pineapple Express, Anne. Napa did have .2 inches yesterday and this morning, so they did a little better than you, but the weather shows a good potential for rain for the next several days. Keeping my fingers crossed for all of you!

[Acadianmom]

Beth, the food at the potluck sounds delicious. I always eat too much at a potluck. I need to go with a 6 inch plate instead of a 10 inch plate. lol

I had a fried biscuit for breakfast. They aren't fattening enough so I have to fry them. A restaurant in town use to serve that for breakfast and my kids loved them. I saw an ad for biscuit mix on Facebook so ordered some. They make things look so good and these biscuits are pretty darn good. The directions call for 4 tablespoons of butter, 2 ounces of cream cheese and a cup of buttermilk. The mixes are a little pricy so I think I might try the butter and cream cheese in a regular recipe.

Barbie, your Halloween decoration is cute. I like google eyes. Anyone remember the lady that would dress up her dog? She put google eyes on things. I can't remember her name.

Sheila, I got some motion activated night lights at either Home Depot or Lowes. You can also order them on Amazon. The motion ones don't stay on all the time. I have solar motion lights all over outside. I am in danger of tripping over a cat in the dark.

I just saw my neighbor pass on his grandson's horse. That horse looked pretty frisky and I know he hasn't been ridden in a long time. I hope my neighbor doesn't get thrown. Harold would have had something to say about the way he was ridding. He was having to keep a tight rein on the horse. You need to be in an area where you can make a horse walk in a small circle until he quits pulling and every time he starts that go into a circle again until he quits pulling on the reins.

I'm glad California is getting some rain or a promise of rain. Yesterday afternoon I decided to mow the area that usually stays wet. I had mowed it high several days ago. I only got part of the yard mowed so need to finish. We are suppose to have a front come through tonight but it's not going to get cold. It is staying in the 80's during the days.

I haven't gotten an update on Mr. P this morning. The vet told me he was going to be out of town and I probably wouldn't hear from him until this afternoon.

Martha

[chalet05]

Good afternoon!

I've actually had a busy 3 days. A former coworker/friend came to visit and I was exhausted by the time she left. We hadn't seen each other in 4 years and we don't keep in touch. The surprise was when she stayed up until 3 a.m. Monday night! Tuesday morning we took a 2 hour drive up to Winthrop to see the house her tile-setting son has been working on for over a year. Wow! 8800 square feet and a very nice owner who showed us around. Then up again late Tuesday and then Wednesday sightseeing and shopping around here. It was a great time, but I needed more sleep.

Fall colors are beautiful! Had a little rain.

Sheila, hoping the best for you. I know it can be tough wherever your mother ends up and whoever her caregiver is. Velda, hope you are getting some answers about your eye. Barbie, that gourd is cute! Shirl, I spent a couple of 'depressed' days and was wishing we lived in the same complex! Catherine, glad you had a good trip to Kansas. I have got to figure that out for next year.

I'm still in pajamas at 1:30 and thinking it's a good day to finish a book!

[OregonLuvr]

Good afternoon all. I am just now getting around to sitting down and having some lunch. Been outside cutting my Rhododendron that must be 30+ years old back to the ground, we shall see if I killed it or helped LOL Then had to blow and rake all the leaves from my neighbors tree as the wind changed and blew them all my way. I'm not complaining as they just had the tree trimmed way back and of course there are lots of leaves left on the ground and still some in the tree so I suspect I will be blowing again LOL We are supposed to get rain tomorrow for sure but we will see. Stuff tends to go around us here so often, so it is just a wait and look outside.

It was really nice out when I got done with my yard work and sat down outside on the deck. Then the wind kind of kicked up and the clouds got more dense so I came inside...no rain yet tho. Then I heard a crash outside, a gust of wind blew over my glass side table....it is kind of heavy so must have been a big gust. So moved everything back against the house so it shouldn't happen again. Dinner is salmon, veggie and a small salad. Nothing fancy. Tomorrow will be shrimp and Yum Yum sauce, love that stuff. I have them thawing in the fridge now. I am trying to eat up some of the stuff I have in the back of the freezer. Making a couple of spring rolls to go with it, should be good I hope.

[snowball]

another day in my life... nothing to say at all... it was a sleepy day for mom made me wonder why I went in... although I did get the strings tucked away in my dish cloths... I did finally text family about having to come up with a plan as to what we hope for mom when she is able to be discharged and asked them to please let me know that they got the text either in the group or in a private one to me... oh and also asked if you haven't talked to mom in a day or two please call her see if we can get her out of this funk and into eating... one brother commented on her pain another one made a statement again in regards to pain and another brother called mom...now whether he did that cause of my plea or if he just called I don't know my sister maintains that she shouldn't be in any of the decisions since she can't help I just wanted to know that everyone is getting the text... and she is horrible about calling as she isn't doing anything so nothing to talk about ... I get grumpily about it...
so it was Trudy and dog was Molly I'm not sure if I am remembering correctly or not but I sorta remember a post on FB that Molly died but again not sure about that
I was in my PJ's at 1:00 Anita and if I wasn't going to be going to the hospital I might have stayed in them longer... it's always good to finish a book...
speaking of books.... I haven't read it but my dd is for a book club... called the Orphan Collector... don't know the name of the author... she said it's been pretty good... guess it takes place during the Spanish Flu wishing that I had a library card here I'd check it out...
and Barbie your gourd is pretty cool... have you thought about making a Thunder Drum? I keep forgetting to ask you....
? for anyone who knows because it just slithered through my mind read a book takes place in Montana... in a description of
the area mentioned the sweet song of the Cardinal.... now I know they aren't in Idaho or Wy I actually can't remember where they stop at although have been spotted in AZ and my nephew swore he saw one in NV he said he saw one of those red birds that Aunt Sheila likes... but Montana????
Did you get on your way Beth?
you all have a great day
sheila

[BarbaraRose]

Karen, I love Yum Yum sauce! I mix it in with fried rice. So tasty!

We "might" get a little rain by Monday here, but I am not holding my breath. I need to get my Jeep washed this weekend so that might increase the odds of rain here! Mammoth Mountain area already has quite a bit of snow, very early for them so they are planning to open the ski resorts early this year. A good sign!

The guy in Florida who is suspected of killing his fiance near the Grand Tetons, was found yesterday in the swampy park reserve in FL where he disappeared a month ago. He was found dead. I am not really surprised. Both families can now get some closure and hopefully some privacy, and finally be out of the spotlight now. If he had been found alive, there would have been charges, a long drawn out public trial and been miserable and traumatic for the families to go thru for quite awhile. There will still be a lot of unanswered questions but they can grieve and move on now. It was a very senseless tragedy all around.

Good news!! I sold my Halloween gourd to a coworker today. I brought it in to work just to show them and she asked if she could buy it. I really didn't know what I was gonna do with it anyways so I sold it to her for $15. I also brought my 2 biggest unworked-on gourds for the guy who is interested in working on them. He is an artist and is wanting to try painting some designs on them. Sold them to him for $10. I prefer working on the smaller ones anyways and the big ones take up a lot of space. Will be interesting to see what he does with them. He is very excited about it. I loaned him a book on how to work on gourds.

I am still having trouble getting to sleep by 11pm. My brain just thinks it is way too early to get sleepy! And then 5:45 comes way too soon after I finally do fall asleep! Turning the clocks back in a couple weeks will help that some, even tho I hate having it get dark even earlier at night! My eating/appetite schedule is way off as well. Just not hungry when it is meal time on this new schedule.

My neighbor with the kittens asked me to come by tomorrow evening to put food out for them since she won't be home til late. So hopefully, I will be able to see them all before it gets dark out. She said the missing 3rd kitten finally showed up again, so that is good!

I also have a haircut to do after work tomorrow. And probably at least one over the weekend.

Sheila, it is good that you are making sure everyone in your family is in the loop about your mom, etc. My brothers never let me know what was going on either about my dad, or about his house after he passed and the house belonged to all 3 of us! I was not happy at all that they were making decisions behind my back while I was busy cleaning up the house, after changing my plans and moving back to MN to help with the house, etc. At least with you, no one can say they weren't informed even if they don't or can't participate.

I do want to attempt to make a Thunder gourd. I will have to order the stuff to make one with. They aren't too difficult to make from what I have heard.

Have a good night!

[Bethers]

Barbie, I understand why someone bought that gourd. It is so cute! And I understand not being able to go to bed early. That's been a problem I've had all my life of I had to be to work before 10 or so. Even if I wake up early, I don't get up and function well. I'll be starting some days at 7:30 next summer. Should be interesting. But I did by 7 at the store some days, and at 5 am on Fridays several times last year. It doesn't mean I got much sleep lol

One of the motel buildings we closed today. I only partially cleaned the necessary rooms as they'll all need to be cleaned again in the spring. But I started washing all the mattress pads and pillow protectors today. Got them done and tomorrow will start on the comforters and extra blankets, etc from those rooms. All of that will be bagged and placed in the rooms to make next spring. If I can get that building finished this weekend, we should be able to do the other building fairly quickly when we close it Monday. Maybe I will get on the road Thursday, but should definitely be able to Friday if not Thursday. Ty liked it today because I took him down with me while I was working on the laundry. Maybe he'll get to come awhile again tomorrow.

[MandysMom]

Anita, answers about my eye?
Velda