FRIGID MONDAY

[Nasoosie]

Little Hope sleeping in a tree yesterday...photo taken by Sue Mansfield, NABC biologist and researcher.

GOOD MORNING TO ALL!

I am very happy to see Hope thriving, at least for now. Am hoping to watch her grow up into a beautiful adult bear, despite her lack of a mother to teach her things and protect her.

It was only 36 degrees F. when I woke up this morning, but at least the sky is clear for the first time in about 36 hours. Sun is now shining here at school. This is one of my last three Mondays at school! Scary thought. I sure do hope I am going to be able to support myself in my upcoming retirement. So much to think about and plan for, it overwhelms me.

I hope you all have a good day doing something fun, and seeing new things. Stop by and let us know what's going on in your world. Kids are here already, and I need to get on the stick!

Happy Monday! Coffee is hot!

[BirdbyBird]

Woke up to low humidity here in Huntsville, AL, and the pups are patiently waiting for me to get off the 'puter and get the leashes out for the, sigh, final walk before packing up and pulling out to head back to Ohio. Had a wonderful hike yesterday with Peaches and Beth. Beth shared some of her last MX shrimp for a tastee dinner for Jean, Sarah and I. We got our fill before the skies opened up and washed all the humidity away. Sarah took me on one more tour....of a beautiful lake and don't tell Liz and Joselyn but I think she has warmed up her Hand and Foot skills. She took me by over 3000 points! Ask and I am sure she will modestly share all the details og going out with me still holding ALL my cards Sorry no pictures yet. We have been having too much fun visiting and hiking and then sleeping after the hiking! Hope to make it back to Ohio all in one day. Ellrn, my step mother, was suppose to go home from the hospital today but she told me yesterday that she would "tell" them that she didn't want to leave until Tuesday so I could pick her up...... I can't wait to find out if that works. Either way it will be a busy day tomorrow and back to scoring more tests at work on Wednesday.

Don't want to head north but each time I head out it helps me realize that this traveling thing get more and more real and not so imposing. I don't ever want the "specialness" or the sense of miracle and blessing to go away because I know that I am able to do what many still wait to do. But I also know that there are many many that have been out here traveling and living for years and I am just learning the sense of freedom.....

Pictures eventually, I promise.

[dayspring39]

It just turned to afternoon here... so Good afternoon Ladies... It is a beautiful day here in Normal... we are doing laundry and taking care of things for Gwen's departure tomorrow morning... I will so miss her... I will be here for three weeks then Jackie (another daughter) and Sekana (one of my granddaughter's} will be here for a month...

I have the energy to catch up and sort some things so that is good... I do not want to slip into a depression... we did get the pictures off my camera yesterday and it was extremely hard to see Dear Wilma's coffin... I would like to put it away and not look... but that is part of healing...

We will have a good day... I hope everyone will also....

take care... I will have some soup for all of you and salad... wow that will be great...

Kathleen

[Liz]

Ok, counting my days here...14 if we don't count today. Glad you had a nice trip, Tina. I'll be thinking about you as you go back to care for your step mother. Looking forward to your gtg pictures too. Sarah, Joselyn and I have been practicing our hand & foot skills....she'll be the one to beat. Tell Peaches that Roe really needs some good long hikes...he's been putting on some couch potato fat. (He's not been following my low fat/low cholesterol diet).

The heat and humidity here is oppressing...may try to get out on the river again tomorrow, but other than that, can't stand it outside.

Kathleen, sorry Gwen has to leave...but now you can look forward to Jackie & gd's upcoming visit....a long one! (I don't know if I could handle my gd here for a whole month...2 days is a stretch for me )

Soos, I'm sure your determination and resilience will carry the day...and you will soon be enjoying making your retirement plans with confidence.

[sharon]

Almost afternoon here, so guess I'm still good for coffee time...specially since I'm drinking iced coffee! Been up on the roof all morning getting the swamp coolers cleaned out. Wanted to do it before it gets to hot, then after a quick shower to wash the stink off will be off to Home depot for filters, pumps (yes, stupid forgot to take them out last fall, so need new ones...sheesh, sometimes don't know where my brain is! ) and belts. Hoping the motors are ok, but won't know until everything else is done. I don't want to turn them on until nice clean filters are in place. They're turning ok, so they should be fine. Fingers crossed. I'll try and get the parts installed late this afternoon after it cools off. It was 101 yesterday, so the the house got a little uncomfortable around 2. Getting the coolers on line is a sure fire garantee that it will cool off here and probably won't need them until July. Happens every year.

Soos, glad little Hope is doing ok so far, I know how you worry about her. You'll be fine with retirement, and in a few months will wonder how you ever found time to work!

Kathleen, it just takes time and everyone grieves at their own speed. Don't try and rush through it, and it's ok to be angry. It's all part of it. Hugs to you.

Liz, there's a reason I no longer live in Florida and that awful humidity is one of them...it just drains you!

OK, kind of cooled off now, so it's shower time, don't want all of the customers at Home Depot to run screaming! Hope everyone has a loverly day and those traveling, stay safe!

[Bethers]

Peaches and I were sad to see Tina and the pups leave today. We got in some good hiking. Yesterday I think we were out close to 2 1/2 hours. On Trails. Today, we just walked around and around on paved areas as there was lots of standing water this morning - and Tina was going to be needing to get on the road. The dogs were ok with it. And when Tina decided it was time to head back to her rv, Herschel headed down another road and she graciously told him, OK, one more time. Then we all headed over to Jean's. Today and tomorrow Huntsville is having low humidity days. Might be the last of them this summer. So, we got Jean to join us all outside for a couple minutes. Peaches and I will head out this afternoon again - on the trails - and see what we can find. Liz, Peaches says - get Roe over here!

Hope everyone is having a great day.

[bluepinecones]

Almost evening here now so I hope you all had a great day.

Soos - Thanks for the photo - helped cheer me up today.

Was sad to see Tina leave as well. We had a great time. She was trying to boost my moral on the comment about our last card game. She is much better at it than I but sometimes luck of the cards cannot be overcome by skill. I want to give Tina time to post her photos before I add much to the gtg but I will add 2 photos from trip to Space and Rocket Center under the AL gtg thread and a few of the furbabies in the pets thread.

Thanks to much help from Beth plus prodding by her and Sparkle, I now have an avatar. Thank you ladies. Must admit I'm more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it.

If the shrimp Beth cooked for us yesterday is typical of Mexican shrimp, I can vouch for fact that it would be worth trip to Mexico to get them.

Liz - While today was very pleasant and humidity way down, it won't last long. Am looking forward to your visit but don't expect a lot of relief from the FL weather while in AL.