It’s Friday

[Othersharon]

Happy Friday everyone. It’s been quiet on here today so figured I’d jump in for a moment. It’s cloudy and super humid today with 80 so far. Just came in from outside where it’s still pretty wet from last night’s thunderstorm. I only heard a couple rumbles before I fell asleep so from what I’m hearing it was quite a light show too. I was just out weed wacking the edges in the backyard. Of course when I just have a little bit to finish the spool ran out. I was so sure I had extra but all I found, after much searching was the plastic bag with the replacement numbers on it. So now I need to run to Lowe’s and hope they haven’t removed all the summer things to replace with the Christmas decorations! I suppose there’s always Amazon but I really would like to finish the job. Shirl, sounds like a big plan for you. I was on track to move into my oldest son’s apartment when it got finished but now they are selling the big house and land. I’ve hesitated on doing it for quite awhile and now glad I didn’t do it. My house is way to large for me but at least I own it and wouldn’t have to move again. Sometimes it pays to listen to your inner self. And with GD’s situation it’s even more up in the air. Anyway, guess I should change out of my yard clothes and head out to Lowes. Maybe I’ll get lucky and be able to finish this evening. Hope everyone is doing well.

[Irmi]

I woke up to 73 degrees which is the coolest morning we've had for awhile. It is 93 now and the weather guy said we'd top off at 96. We've been in the 90's everyday this month but compared to lots of you, this is much cooler than you gals on the west side of the country.

Anita, I think about you and your brother so often. I hope he gets over the nausea. He's been through so much. Sharon, it's good to hear your grand daughter is improving and can hopefully be moved to a rehab closer to home. Shirl, I agree with the others that moving in with your daughter will be a welcome change for you. She and your family will love having you closer to them. All of you have such busy lives and although I read everyday, I can't remember who does what.

We keep busy, lots of times just taking road trips for a few hours, driving on roads we've never been on before. The Big Green Egg is heating up for chicken thighs and a few sides for our dinner.

[Colliemom]

Afternoon all. O’Sharon, hope you got your spool of line. Nothing more frustrating than running out in the middle of weed whipping. Been there done that, although I put new line on myself. But it’s a pain.

It’s a beautiful afternoon here now that the. Front that has been sitting here all week, finally left. It was pretty humid yesterdsy and the night before because of everything being wet from rain. The saving grace was the fact that although they predicted highs in 70’s, we never got out of the 60’s. It’s currently 74 at the moment, first time all week. Will pretty much be the norm from here on out. Not that an 80 degree day won’t sneak in, but we are heading downward on the temperature chart as we head into fall. But the front didn’t leave without spawning an EF-1 tornado and severe storms downstate. I did see something about 5 people being killed in the storms, but haven’t seen the news yet.

Nothing exciting going on here. Made a quick trip to town, stopped at Meijer and Credit Union and swung by Hobby Lobby All the walls are now up and the steel work for the roof is going Into place already. Amazing how much has been done this week despite the rainy Weather on Wednesday morning.

Shirl, I think you are making the right move. You will be around family and if this is your gardening daughter, you will in in heaven and no “bird lady” to deal with. Might even be able to go some places once in awhile. Sharon, I think you also made a good move staying where you are for now. That’s a concern I have, if I get to a point where I can’t stay in my home. But I will cross that bridge when the time comes if it does.

z

[OregonLuvr]

Good afternoon. I am so glad I watered early this morning. Our valley is filled with smoke. We have so many fires going on around us and to the south and north of us. Big thunderstorms last night and started lots of fires. The planes were stacked up at Medford airport filling with retardant. They are amazing pilots for sure. Helicopters also dipping for water. Our Oregon flat fire that has closed one of the main roads to the coast is only 58% contained and crosses over into N California, they have lots of lightning fires going on in conjunction with this one. Stinks outside and we will be 93 today again. So I will just stay inside. I wanted to go get gas for my generator but I am not going out in this smoke.

I made a chicken, stuffing casserole yesterday so will have that and some fresh green beans for dinner. Anita hope your brother is doing better. Shame he did not get to enjoy the Sling longer. I am not very motivated today but some days are like that, and it is ok by me. Think I will munch on the last of my watermelon and continue watching my show on ROKU. Irmi we seem to have pretty much the same temps only not the humidity. We did get a little rain last night during the thunderstorms but think it is all gone now darn it. No more in sight, which is good because of all the fires it started. Dry lightning is the worst I think. Especially since our state is so darn dry right now. Soon it will be September, I cannot believe how the months just fly by. I dont want to stop time just slow it down a bit.

[Redetotry]

I think the heat has wore me down haven't done much all day and even cancelled the three things I was scheduled for today. It is supposed to be the last day of the heat and currently at a little after four it is 98 and feels like 114. The feel like would be higher but humidity is only 51%. Irmi I feel for you having a whole month of 90's!

Karen I saw an instagram post this that made me think of you. It was of a woman standing in her doorway looking frantic and calling for Herby then it showed her running down the road chasing after a Rumba!

[Bethers]

I had 5 days on in a row. 3 closing followed by 2 openings. Hard part was Wed was the 3rd closing and we got swamped in the office for the entire shift. Luckily I liked who I was working with and we kept our humor and got through it. But no breaks whatsoever and both of us were exhausted (as was her husband who was escorting/taking orders to sites, handling maintenance. Crazy night. She didn't need to be back to work until 3 for closing Thursday and tells me after getting home and taking a shower she slept 12 hours. I got home, showered, walked Ty, ate, fed Ty, walked him again and got about 7 hours sleep when I woke before my alarm and was afraid I'd over sleep if I let myself go back to sleep. Got through yesterday, still tired lol. Finished today, mixture of office and cleaned 3 cabins, and got poured on for the very short rain we had lol. Now I'm off 2 days and will get, hopefully, some energy back. I don't like working with the person I've worked days the last two days, but we can't love everyone lol and I bet I'll have several more day shifts with her before leaving, but also several closing shifts without her, whew.

Our heat should be letting up overnight. Yay! Hopefully this will be the last of these miserably hot days. My AC is dripping inside during the worst of them, but working. I keep containers to catch the drips. It doesn't happen with the heat without the stinking humidity.

Anita, I feel for your brother, and you. I hope things can get better for him during the continued treatment. Shirl, I'm so glad you have such a wonderful and close family where you can make a decision like this. And, as others have said, you'll probably be in heaven with a garden without your upstairs neighbor being a factor. With my already terrible hearing one of my major fears is problems (more problems) with my sight, so I totally understand your thoughts and fears. Hugs.

[chalet05]

After another good night's sleep and a nap, I finally began feeling human this afternoon! Just fixed a 3-bean salad. A bit miffed that baseball game isn't on the normal channel so will follow online.

Karen, sorry you've got the smoke now. It was really bad here while I was gone and just a haze now. Rain had been predicted but didn't happen. Irmi, at least with the 90/100 degrees here, we have no humidity. Only 80 today and was cloudy this morning so had slider open a bit. Beth, I had an A/C that dripped inside and turned out the drain holes on the roof portion of the A/C had not been drilled out! They can also be clogged.

Brother still needs to eat and get back on meds but apparently doing better with nausea. Thanks for the thoughts.

When I went to catch the train last Sunday, there were two obvious PCT hikers also waiting. One from Australia and the other Germany (though he certainly spoke clear English). They had made it to Canada but were headed back to the Sierras to do what they had skipped due to snow. Thanks to the book Anne recommended, I knew what they were talking about! I couldn't think of the book I read, but they knew from my description. The book I'm reading now mentions that author, Cheryl Strand, as famous. I'm learning more and more about the experience and what people can do for them along the way.

[JudyJB]

I wish it were drier around here! I am in southern Ontario, near Owen Sound, staying at a KOA (ugh!) because I waited too long to get reservations. The damp weather means the mosquitos are out, and i got quite a few bites a couple of days ago while tromping through a couple of cemeteries. Now, I have been going out with a nylon jacket on and spraying my legs. The little heating device works, but really stings while you use it. And last night, i ended up in the equivalent of a very, very heavily wooded state park, after it had sprinkled some more. So my good shoes got really wet and were covered by sand. I scrubbed them out this morning, even though they were leather, but they have not dried yet because no sun out to put them in. And before I went out to unhook this morning, I dug out my old Crocs and wore those! At least they are easy to wash off.

208 mile drive today, which might sound like not much, but it was all curvy and hilly two-lane roads. Where I am now is right at the base of the Bruce Peninsula, which juts out into Lake Huron to form Georgian Bay. It is formed by a tall ridge of rock called the Niagara Escarpment that goes all the way from New York and Niagara Falls, around the top of Lake Huron and then down around Lake Michigan to northern Wisconsin!! It is an interesting formation, and if you want to know more, check out this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Escarpment

The lake in this part of Lake Huron is crystal clear and popular with divers looking at the many wrecks from the 1800s on the bottom of the lake. I remember when my kids were young, but good swimmers, we went swimming in deep water and could look down 20 feet at divers underneath us!

My father's grandparents from both sides were from this area, so I am going to do some exploring for those. There is a fantastic Grey Roots historical museum here that has a staffed genealogy area. I was there about 8 years ago, but will go there again tomorrow afternoon to try to find more information. In any case, it is a beautiful part of Ontario.

Anyway, I hooked up with my jacket and hood up, but am staying in the rest of this evening!! Unfortunately, they are expecting more rain tomorrow.

[Cudedog]

When I went to catch the train last Sunday, there were two obvious PCT hikers also waiting. One from Australia and the other Germany (though he certainly spoke clear English). They had made it to Canada but were headed back to the Sierras to do what they had skipped due to snow. Thanks to the book Anne recommended, I knew what they were talking about! I couldn't think of the book I read, but they knew from my description. The book I'm reading now mentions that author, Cheryl Strand, as famous. I'm learning more and more about the experience and what people can do for them along the way.

Hello Anita.

Sorry to hear that your brother is having such a bad time, hopefully they can get a handle on it and make him more comfortable.

Glad you liked the book! After I recommended it to you, I went back for a second read (I had last read it about 8 or 9 years ago, but the paperback was still on my bookshelf).

Oh dear.

I don't know whether to apologize to you or not - I did remember that there was a lot in the book ("Wild: Lost Then Found on the Pacific Crest Trail") about the Pacific Crest Trail, but I had forgotten about all of the "racy" parts. Oops. Sorry! I hope you didn't find these parts offensive.

I did find that I enjoyed this second read just as much as I had enjoyed the first.

I ran across a new book yesterday, also about the Pacific Crest Trail - I think it was just published this past week. It is called "Trail of the Lost":

https://www.amazon.com/Trail-Lost-Relentless-Missing-Pacific-ebook/dp/B0BP2MYKMT/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=trail+of+the+lost&qid=1693021337&sr=8-1

It is about (non-fiction) the search for three different through-hikers (a PCT through-hiker is a person that hikes the entire trail, from Mexico to Canada) that have disappeared from the PCT during their hikes, and how intensely they have been searched for. To date, none of them have ever been found.

I read the sample chapters of this book on Amazon last night and found these chapters intriguing, so I will order the Kindle version tonight so that I can keep on reading.

No near fires to me so far this year (thank goodness!) so I have had no smoke here.

I do sympathize with everyone that is suffering through wildfire smoke this year - seems like a lot of people are getting smoke, with so many fires all over, especially those tremendously large fires in Canada.

Anne

[snowball]

whoever mentioned that cartoon about the runaway rumba that was cute!!! I think that would happen here in my mind I have given it a thought as to what to have it do and what day... the problem is mom not sure because she is up and down a lot... I would hate to have it startle her and have her fall... maybe it's a good idea that I didn't get one ...yet
if my son in law was through with his house I would have him bring his carpet cleaner over while we are gone and clean the carpet at least the heavy use area's
actually went to the yarn shop to see if they could show me how to count the rows on this scarf that I'd started and lost track of the rows.. it's going to be for my niece... the gal there doesn't crochet she wasn't much help her solution was to use up however amount of yarn I want to and call it good... with it being a scarf probably will be ok
went to the store and got stuff not sure what for what but got stuff... have a salad to make for tomorrow I couldn't make up my mind but guess I did while there... saw this video yesterday will have to try it one day when I can make it for multiple people it sounded really good.....
do you ever watch a cooking video and wonder and wonder why??? watched one last night where this gal put a lot of shrimp and fake crab in a pan a huge pan like a turkey roaster the aluminum one then like I think 3 bottles of alfredo oh probably before that broke up pasta and put that in water measured into the bottles the sauce was in oh looked like mozzarella balls but not sure because it didn't say and then topped it with lots of shredded mozzarella cheese and possibly parm.. it looked like it worked but not sure how but this one gal that I like watching did a salad that was a chickpea salad looked so good I did give it a thought but no mint at the store and I didn't want to make another stop it had yummy stuff in it... so am making coleslaw I make it a bit different and is really good then my dd and her husband are coming over on Sunday so if the roast is good we will have roast if not then bacon and french toast but feed them breakfast last time they came over... found a recipe for sourdough gingerbread what to make that up if I remember to do so.. got to start the start tomorrow night...
heard about the tornado's glad it wasn't near you Sue have to wonder about other's that are in that area.. Sharon Meekums is in Ohio so have to wonder
Tell me again when you plan on leaving Iowa Beth... so I can make plans
you all have a great day
sheila