Just Some Miscellaneous Friday Rambling Stuff

It's Friday, so it's automatically good.

Work was easy, so that was also good.

I got to buy yarn, which makes it spectacularly good.

It's a 3-day weekend, so that's very good.

Can you tell that I'm really glad it's Friday?

Because I am.

Anyway.  I picked Otter up at home after work and we went to Hobby Lobby.  I'm going to make a scarf for my sisterfriend Virginia (she doesn't have internet access at the moment so I can talk about it without blowing the surprise).  Her favorite colors are green & blue, and I found some really pretty variegated yarn to use.  I might start on it this weekend, it won't be a long project.  Otter also found a few things she was looking for.

We've been discussing the pool situation.  Specifically, the lack thereof.  We had been thinking we were going to get one this summer, but the prices have about doubled what they were last year.  I'm having a problem with the idea of spending a lot more $$ than we anticipated, so I think we're going to skip the pool this year at least. 

But we are going to have to replace our dvd player and probably soon.  I think we'll probably actually buy a blu-ray, I don't think that actual dvd payers are even being made anymore.  Blu-ray will play most dvd's, and since we have quite a large movie collection that's a good thing.  We watch a lot of movies!  We might go blue-ray shopping on Sunday, since Otter is probably going to be out with BF for the afternoon.  (Pizza and video games - maybe we should go with them!)

We're grilling on Monday.  Burgers & Dogs, nothing fancy.  But it will still be good.  I bought two containers of potato salad (Bill loves it so I always have to have extra) instead of making my own this time.  I also got a container of macaroni salad.  And the burgers & dogs supplies, as well as an extra jar of pickles because the pickles I bought recently seem to have evaporated.  Don't suppose you'd care to venture a guess as to what happened to them, Otter?  :)  Like I've said before, she is her mother's daughter...

I guess that's all for today.  I'm going to play on the internet for a few more minutes and then go make dinner.  Creamed chicken and rice.  Yum.

Just Some Stuff on Sunday Morning

This is Frasier.

This is not.

Frasier has a twin out there somewhere! When we first saw this, we thought it WAS Frasier. Except for the white fur on his front chest area. And the cat, of course.

It's Sunday morning. It's warm and humid and it will be hot later but it's going to be a nice day. Bill and I had coffee out on the deck this morning, which is how we generally start the day. But then the skeeters showed up and brought their buddies the flies, so we decided it was time to come inside.

I've discovered something. Well, actually Bill discovered it. The hummingbird feeders are being visited by honeybees. Lots of them. The hummers are still showing up, the birds & the bees don't seem to bother one another. I just thought it was odd, we've seen the occasional wasp on the feeders but never honeybees. We have a lot of bumblebees, they like the sunflowers.

Today's activities include moving some trellis pieces (from the wooden fence inside the dog's yard) to the new privacy fence. Bill hung up two of my fence mountable planters and my butterfly houses Friday evening. We've discovered that the morning glories are starting to sprout like crazy against the fence, so we're going to give it something to grow on. There were always morning glories on the chain link fence, we just had to keep them pulled down when Frasier's electric fence needed to be turned on. But now, they can grow all they want to! We probably will need to get a few mor trellis pieces and I'd like another planter, if I can find one, like the first two.

Still no pool! We've pretty much given up on finding a new one, they are mostly all sold out this time of year. So we've been looking for a used one on Craigslist but they seem to go fast. We did look at one last week, but it was a smaller pool so we passed on it. Otter's gone over to her grandparent's a few times, so she at least has gotten some swim time in this summer.

Bill's brother and his family were here this weekend. We had a really nice visit with them yesterday. We've had a lot of company this summer and we have enjoyed all of it. It's been a whirlwind, but a fun one.

Otter has one week and two days left of summer school. As of last week, her grade was a B!!!!!! Then she has about a week of down time before she goes to Texas to spend a week with her grandparents. Then about a week before school starts again. 11th grade already! I don't think I'm ready for that.

Whine Wednesday

It's Wednesday. I'm whining.

I'm whining about the fact that we are pool-less! We've looked on Craigslist and there have been a few that are promising but they have sold fast. There are a couple of others, but for various reasons we probably aren't interested in them. Price, condition, etc. We decided to look at a couple of stores so we checked some on-line ads. BigLots current online ad had a promising pool, so we went to the store. And discovered that their online ad is about 2 weeks out of date. No pools left. Except for what we call kiddie pool size, which is about 1 1/2' deep. So we went to Wallyworld and they do have some, but they are not what we want. Wrong style, size, price. We went to another store (Froggy, remember Atwoods?) since they had the dog food we use on sale and they did have a good ad 2 weeks ago with a bigger and cheaper pool but they were out of stock. Which is what we expected, but since we were there anyway it was worth asking.

So I think we are going to have to spend this summer without a back yard pool. Hopefully, we'll find one on clearance at the end of the summer or we will go get one as soon as the ads come out next spring/summer.

Well, Otter's summer is about over anyway. She's going to Summer School for algebra. She'll start Monday. It will last until the end of July. It's at the intermediate high school that she's attended for the last two years. (Our school district is Intermediate High School for grades 9 & 10 then 11th and 12th grades are at the Senior High School). She passed all of her other classes, and has enough credit points to go on to 11th grade. But there are a couple of classes that have to have a passing grade to be able to go on and algebra is one of them. It's the only one she didn't pass, but it's the one that matters. She really tried, but she is not particularly math-abled. She's like me! So she'll be going to school in the mornings, 7:30 to 12:45. She was hoping to be able to come home and go for a swim, but that's not going to happen this year. Anyway, Summer School will end at the end of July, then she'll have a couple of days break before her annual summer trip to Texas to spend a week with her grandmother. Then she'll have about a week before school starts.

Froggy arrives tomorrow! I have orange slice candy ready. It's a family tradition. Along with peanut M&M's, but I didn't buy those yet because I would have already eaten every last one of them! Flea marketing & thrift shopping are on the schedule for the next few days. Along with a trip to Talequah, which is about an hour east of where we live. There is a Cherokee museum that we want to go to, that's Sunday's plan. Oh, I can't forget the real reason Froggy comes to see me: Braum's!

Some Tuesday Thoughts & Ramblings

The rest of the pictures from Oklahoma City. CHIHULY!

This is a close-up shot of the glass tower that is immediately inside the museum. There is a similar one inside the downtown library in San Antonio, or at least there used to be one. Although it wasn't quite this tall. These things always remind me of squash blossoms.

Standing on the main floor.

This shot was taken from the 2nd floor.

This is the one I want. However, since it probably COSTS MORE THAN MY HOUSE I don't think it's in the budget.

This was set up like an acquarium. It was behind glass and a little dark, so the picture didn't come out the best.

I like these, too.

Chihuly glass is known for the lip wrap, or edge color, that is on most of the pieces in this style. It's heavy glass, much thicker than it looks and must be extremely hard to handle while it's being created. It's all blown glass. They are also very large.

Otter liked the color of these.

This is what I was most interested in seeing. It's a glass ceiling. And it's covered with Chihuly! I told Bill that this is how I want our bedroom ceiling to be decorated. Silly boy, he thinks I mean painted. I'm talking the actual pieces.

More of the ceiling.

And still more ceiling.

This reminds me or either spiders, or Fiesta. Any San Antonio natives will know what I mean.

I absolutely love this one. I'd take it in a heartbeat, but I'd still have the same problem as the green set I like.

This one resembles a sunflower, so of course I like it.

Here's a better shot.

OK, that concludes our tour of the Chihuly Exhibit.

Moving on.

We discovered something this afternoon. The builder that owns the lot behind us is putting up a privacy fence. The entire length of the area that runs behind our street. Wish they'd done it a few months ago. Like before we planted bamboo! And before we installed the bamboo block, which was the real work. They have just put in the posts today, we're going to watch and see how fast they actually get the fence put up. And then in all probability, we'll (we being Bill) go dig up the bamboo. Which won't be that hard, it's not all that spread out yet. We did discuss leaving it. But the privacy fence is set back a couple of feet from our fence line, which would leave about a 4' gap between the bamboo and the fence. Also, the privacy fence would block the light that the bamboo needs which would mean it wouldn't grow very well. If at all. But we would be leaving the block installed, as moles can't get past it. But we'll wait and see, it may take them months to get the fence finished. Although we don't think so.

Other happenings: We are pool-less! Saturday afternoon, the pool decided it was time to leave. It split down one side and was non-repairable. Bill saw it happen and we were able to get out there and redirect the water so that a) no tidal waves taking out the deck, b) no tidal waves coming in the back door and c) the septic system wasn't overloaded with a sudden influx of water! We are going to replace the pool, but it might be at the end of the summer when they are on clearance. Unless we find a good deal now. Of course, this coincided with the "hot" weather hitting and heat alerts being issued for the week. (The hot weather here is pretty warm, but it's still not S. TEXAS hot).

Froggy arrives the day after tomorrow! Thrifting, flea marketing, many trips to Braum's, lots of gossip await.

Picture Wednesday

In no particular order!

This is a volunteer sunflower. It's one of 4. This one plant alone has over 15 buds. The first one is just starting to open up. Yes, I know it's sideways! Blogger isn't letting me turn the picture so there may be a couple of sideways shots. Turn your head! This is the second year for volunteers, last year's came up as a result of bird seed but they have apparently naturalized now because there are 4 of them and I did not put seeds out in the areas where they are coming up. Happy, happy!

Just starting to open up.

The rock garden! It will be extended about a foot and a half, all the way around. Eventually. I'm not sure if it's this year's project or not, it was going to be the big thing I worked on this spring but after the bamboo block I'm kind of tired of playing in the dirt. The trellis that Bill built for Otter is to the side, you can see a sunflower and one of the chairs on the deck is visible through the trellis. Also by the chair but not visible in the picture is another sunflower. If you look carefully, in the middle of the rocks is a particular paver block that Grandpa gave me for Christmas many years back. Anybody care to guess the State? :)

We haven't gotten in yet, it's been too cool for the water to be even comfortable. We had a spell of warm days, then as soon as we got the pool up it got cool again. Late May and we are back in jacket weather.

Playtime!

Maggie tackled Frasier. But he got right up again and they started running around the living room. Maggie was zooming up and down the hallway for a while.

Like I said, no particular order! This is a closer shot of the fountain that is in the back of my rock garden. It's now a planter. I went back to Ace Hardware and got a couple more moss rose plants. A couple of years ago, Bill painted it with a white colored concrete paint and it's slowly flaking off. The bowl is cracked and he patched it but the patch showed, so he painted it. We had problems with the latest pump we had in it, which is probably because it got left in it all winter, so I decided to make it into a planter. It turned out pretty good and it will probably stay this way now instead of a fountain. Bill took the pump out of it Sunday afternoon, and there was a tree frog inside of the reservoir where the pump was. There was another tree frog down in the rocks behind the fountain. We've been hearing them a lot lately in the evenings.

Still sideways! Bill's Nekkid Lady fountain topper. She is holding an urn on her shoulders and was originally designed to sit in the middle of a fountain or pond. The water would come out of the top of the urn and flow over all sides of it. But since my fountain is not that style, Bill cut off the top edge of the urn and rerouted the water to where it would flow out of one side. It worked great, when the fountain was a fountain and not a planter. At one point, I had a plant sitting on top of the fountain but we wanted to add to the flowing water so we bought a topper. Of course, since Bill was in charge of picking the topper... The fountain probably originally had a topper or decorative piece on the top. We bought it when Builder's Square was going out of business, so we've probably had it at least 12 or 13 years. Since it was missing the top piece, it was on clearance for next to nothing. I don't remember the price, but I think it was around $40.00 which is almost free for the size & style fountain - we had been pricing them and decided that they were more than we wanted to spend. But when we found this one, it came right home with us!

Beagle Bliss! This was after their play session, they had a grooming session and she stayed in this position for several minutes. I think she was actually comatose.

One of my hosta plants in the front of the house. I have always loved hostas but never had a place for them until we bought this house nearly 5 years ago. (Time flies!) They are a lower light plant and the front of the house doesn't get full sun so I bought several the first spring we were here. Then for the next couple of years, I bought a few more and filled in. Now they are firmly established and are getting big, which is exactly what I wanted them to do. They die back completely during the winter, then they come back bigger each year and I think that they have propogated, because there are a couple more than I remember planting. There are a few different varieties of them.

The grooming session that produced Maggie's bliss. She is smiling.

Looks kind of scary, but it's just clouds. Nothing to worry about here.

Bluebonnets. At the end of May. And they still have buds!

They still have buds AND they are forming seed pods.

Anybody Want to Play Pool?

Or at least get in the pool!

It's in place and filling up. It will take it a few more hours, then we should be able to swim in a few days. The water won't be warm enough until then. I'm not a duck, I don't like to sit in cold water.

We are finished with the bamboo block. We are going to get more bamboo tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, the rain will hold off long enough.

It rained yesterday afternoon and is sprinkling now. It's supposed to be the same tomorrow, dry morning and then possibly raining in the afternoon. So we will get the chickens grilled in the morning and then eat them whenever, with the macaroni salad and corn on the cob. I'm hoping that I can get my flag out tomorrow, so maybe it won't rain after all.

Frasier smells. He smells like a wet dog! He was outside just long enough to dampen his fur just enough so that he smells. Well, I've been out working in the yard so I probably don't smell much better. I am heading for the shower in a few minutes. When my left knee lets me, that is.

It's been bothering me lately, and I mowed the lawn this morning which always aggravates it. Then when Billyboy and I stopped at WalMart, I ran into a metal rack that was on the back of an SUV. The kind that you stack bikes on and I've also seen people put their ice chests on them. I was looking down to put my keys in my purse and when I looked up, the wind blew my hair in my eyes and I couldn't see. Which is usually when something jumps out in front of me and this time was no exception. I tripped onto the shelf, Bill freaked out because I think he thought I'd fainted or something. My left knee is of course what I hit with. Always! It had a bruise on the left side of it already, from kneeling on the ground and colliding with a rock and now it's probably going to have a bruise on the right side of it.

My doctor tells me that my only option will probably be knee surgery one day, but also that I am to avoid it as long as I possibly can. At the rate I'm going, there won't be anything left of my knee to operate on!

While we were out, before I smashed my knee, we stopped at Ace Hardware and they had the plants I'd been looking for. Moss Rose, which is now in what was formerly my fountain in the rock garden and I also found small Lantana, which are planted in a long planter I had but I probably should have gotten more of it. Otter also finally found a peppermint plant, it's out on the deck with all the rest of the plants, enjoying the rain.

Catching Up

First things first: Why did I want a house with a big yard? The rest of the story is that I now know what I want for Christmas: A RIDING LAWN MOWER!

Actually, we didn't want a big yard. We wanted a specific house, which we got, and it just happened to have a big yard. Well, we did want the big yard. I just don't like to mow. But Billyboy was busy with the trench work for the bamboo block, so I got the joy of running the lawn mower around the yard. I'm afraid I missed a few spots, but at least it's done for a few days. We usually share this chore.

Otter's last day of school is Thursday of next week. It would have been tomorrow or Friday, but there are a few snow days to make up. So they have to go to school after Memorial Day. She had a pretty big project for history class, which she chose to make a PowerPoint presentation for. It's entailed a lot of hours of research and then a lot of time to put it together. She presented hers in class today. SHE GOT A 90!! She's worked really hard on it and we are very proud of her. We're proud of her anyway. We got pizza tonight to celebrate. She deserved it and I think she enjoyed the treat.

Her topic? How Has the Content and Technology of Movies Changed Over Time. What can I say, she's her parent's daughter and we love movies!

Bill's nearly finished with the bamboo block. Some of the bamboo didn't survive the transplant process, and some of it is already growing pretty good. We are going to get some more, which we always planned, but we are waiting until we get finished with the block installation. We should be finished in the next few days. It's a lot of work to install, it has to be put 3' below the surface of the ground and also just above the surface.

Also, we are going to put the pool up this weekend. The water won't be warm enough to actually swim for several days, but it will be nice to have the pool up. We need to do a little work on the yard first - also known as filling in a few dog holes! There are not too many holes this time, the dogs have not had all the access to the back yard that they would like. But there are a few. And they need to be smoothed out before the pool goes over them.

That is about it for my catch-up. I'm too tired to type any more. Also, the ice cream that is in the freezer is screeching my name. Loudly.

Stroke of Genius!? (Warning: Political Content)

Smart move on McCain's part. Very smart. He's picked exactly what might win him the election: Female, younger than he is and Pro-Life. I'm sure that everyone has or will hear of his choice soon, but here's an article about it. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25970882/ I guess we all know by now where I stand on certain issues. I'd love to see a woman get in there and it not be Hitlary!

Anyway, now that the political stuff is out of the way for the moment - on to other subjects. But there will probably be other political comments as the election gets closer. So don't say you weren't warned! :)

Otter is playing the asthma game today. It's mostly allergy related, but it still kept her at home today. It's my turn to stay home with her so I'm getting my laundry and housework done early. We had discussed leaving the pool up until Labor Day but now I'm glad that it's already down and put away. It hasn't really been warm enough for the water to be comfortable to swim and Otter isn't up to it anyway. And it's one less chore to worry about this weekend. We have plenty to do without it, we won't be bored because of inactivity! I did have one errand I had to run, since the mail theft last year I don't mail anything at all from home (or even from the office), so I had to go to the post office and drop off the envelopes with the bills I paid this morning. But that was a short run, and I made sure that Otter was doing ok before I left. Otherwise, I would have waited until Bill got home from work and then gone.

Otter is napping on the couch, so I'm in the back part of the house. I have laundry going but it's far enough from the living room that it won't disturb her. I don't want to be noisy, she needs to sleep. So I'm playing on the computer and might move to the bedroom to watch tv in there. I need to vacuum, but I can do that later on after she's awake. Both dogs seem to be copying Otter, they are also snoozing. But they do that frequently anyway so it's probably just coincidence!

I was going to post my August book list today, but there are still a couple of days left in the month and I have more reading to do. I just got another book at the library that I'd been waiting on, and I have several that I bought recently which I haven't gotten to. As well as one that I started a week or so ago and then put aside for other books. And I think I still have two other books from the library that I haven't gotten to yet.

Frasier just relocated. He came back here where I am, more or less fell in a heap in the floor and sighed. And was asleep almost as soon as he hit the floor. Maggie was asleep in the living room but she might have moved as well. But chances are that wherever she is, she's asleep!

FROGGY: GO TO THE DOCTOR. NOW!

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled blogging: Bill is retooling his car project yet again. He's building a hydrogen generator, supposedly they will help with gas mileage. He's had some improvement. But he's a typical engineer. In other words, he keeps taking it apart and rebuilding it. He's changed it each time. I've lost track of which incarnation the project is on now, but he's having fun with it. Seems like it would be something that wouldn't be fun, but he's certainly enjoying it. Our next door neighbor, Chris, also has built one (or two or three) and they spend a lot of time talking about the generators and working on them. Froggy's hubby would be included in the "male bonding" sessions (they remind me of little boys with new toys), but he lives several hundered miles away. But from what I understand from Froggy, he's rebuilt his more than once too. I guess it's just a guy thing? I know it's an engineer thing. Engineers just are not normal! Froggy's husband might not be an "official" engineer, but he is probably one by experience so he counts as one. Right, Froggy?

(Froggy, did you go to the doctor yet?)

Summer's End

I am declaring that Summer is officially over as of today. We took the pool down and it's put away until about May of next year. It took us all day to get it put up and filled, but it only takes a couple of hours to get it drained and boxed. Otter had planned on swimming yesterday, but it never really got warm enough and then we had a thunderstorm. So instead, she got in the pool when we were going to drain it and took the toys out. Then she got herself arranged on her inner tube and we pushed the sides down so she could ride over the side and a few feet over the grass. She was able to get back in and ride two more times before the water got too low. But she did enjoy it. She thought that the water would have been warm enough to swim today, but it really wasn't. There is a nice big square area in the center of my yard that now looks like the world's biggest mud pie. Needless to say, the dogs are now prohibited from the rest of the yard! Frasier has an affinity for mud. The grass will still have enough time to cover the pool area by the end of the season, or at least it will have time to give it a good try. We could see where moles had been tunneling and had apparently been planning on coming up to the surface in a couple of spots, but they were stopped by the pool. There were also quite a few earthworms we spotted in the dirt.

We really got a lot of enjoyment out of the pool this summer. We finally figured out how to keep the water clear and not get algae: quit trying. We just filled up the Duckinator with chlorine tabs and kept it filled, and that was enough. We've usually used testing kits and chemicals but they never really worked and we had more problems with green water when we were using the kits. So this year, we didn't get a new kit (because we never got around to it) and just used the Duckinator. And it was absolutely fine. The Duckinator is a container that holds the chlorine tabs, it has a topper that is a rubber duck wearing sunglasses. It's cute. I've also seen them with turtles and penguins, but we like our ducky.

Incidentally, we refer to the pool as "the pool that eBay bought" because it was the first big item we bought after we started selling on eBay. We figured out that we've had it 7 years. I think we've gotten our money's worth out of it by now!

Otter got a driving lesson this afternoon. Bill took her out for about 30 minutes. When I asked her how it went, she told me all about hopping the curb on a turn. She'll learn! I am going to call the driving school tomorrow and get her scheduled for the rest of her lessons, but we still have to give her lessons because she has to have so many hours behind the wheel to get the actual license. I'll probably take her out a couple of times this week, depending on the weather. Some of the hours she needs have to be at night, but those won't be until she's gotten some practice in.

While she was out being Speed Racer, I got finished with my sewing shelf. I at least got all my misc. stuff into two plastic crates and up on the shelf. I can probably get it a little better organized, but I was tired of it and just wanted it done. Later on, I'll worry about reorganizing it. For now, it's fine. And now, it's back to my laundry!

Day One is Over!

Otter survived the first day of 10th grade. She said she actually enjoyed it and thinks she's going to have a good year. She has the first lunch period and so do all of her friends. She took her lunch in her Bento box today, but tomorrow she'll probably buy hot lunch. Thursday's lunch is her favorite, chicken patty on a bun. So that will probably be the day she generally buys her lunch.

No homework yet, but it'll start soon enough. She said the bus ride was uneventful, but she still has the same bus driver as she's always had. We were hoping that this woman would retire, Otter says she's always grouchy and I have seen her drive enough to know that she should probably be in another line of work! Otter also has a few supplies that we need to get, which we will probably do tomorrow after school. Most of the stuff she needs is stuff that we already have.

Since I've been home, I got out my trusty weed-eater and went after the tulip bed. It's been overgrown with weeds for quite a while, we never did anything with it after the tulips finished up. Otter said it looked like I'd given it a haircut, but scalped is probably a more appropriate word! I also hit the whiskey barrel planter that had my bluebonnets. Then I had to go get gas for the lawn mower, which Bill is going to use in the front yard tonight. He managed to mow the back yard last night, before he ran out of gas. While he was mowing last night, I was using the weed eater around the rock garden and a few other spots. I really enjoy working outside, lawn and garden chores are fun.

But before he mows the lawn, he's going to get up on the roof to seal a couple of cracked spots on the rock that they chimney is made of. Otter thinks that she should dial 9 and 1 on her phone, and be ready to dial the other one and press send! Might not be a bad idea, since this is Bill we are dealing with after all.

Ok, the pool is calling me now!

Some Sunday Stuff, Early (& Later Update)

It's early as I type this, but I'll probably update it later. It's not quite 7:30 a.m., we've had breakfast and I have a load of laundry going. Otter and I are going to get dressed and head out to Sunday School in about an hour. Billy Boy is out in the driveway, tinkering with the van. Which wouldn't be a worry, if he were normal. But he's not normal, he's Bill!

We had a good Saturday, we stayed inside most of the day and enjoyed the air conditioning. Late in the afternoon, Otter and I got in the pool. Bill was working on his car project, he's taking apart and rebuilding it for about the 185th time. He sat out in the back yard and talked to us while we swam and he played with his toy, I mean worked on his project. Otter rented the movie 1408, which sounded good. But that's about all I can say - that it sounded good. Don't waste your time on this one. It's a typical story taken from a Steven King story - note that I said "taken from" not "screenplay written by." In other words, it was awful.

Otter has discovered Dr. Who! Remember that show? It was fantastic when it was on many years ago. It was resurrected several years ago, it didn't do too well. But about 4 or so years ago, there was a new series created and it aired on the BBC. It is tremendous! We have been addicted to it since we first started watching it, back "first generation" to borrow a phrase from that other sci-fi show that I occasionally watch. OK, so I'm obsessed with that other sci-fi show. But anyway, I'm discussing Dr. Who right now and not that "other show." Anyway, the current series is on about it's 4th year and we are really enjoying it. It's on the Sci-Fi network. A lot of the early episodes from the current series have been uploaded onto Utube. Watch them, if you have the time. They are worth the time and effort.

After thinking about it, Otter and I have decided that yes, we are going shopping this afternoon. I am looking for a couple of things for myself. Otter doesn't really need anything, but she probably won't object to getting a few new things if we find any. She wants a couple of books anyway, so we'll hit the bookstore while we're at the mall. Also I think she wants to look for more earrings. She has plenty, but you can never have too many!

This is one of my newest back yard babies. It's what we Texans refer to as a pear. It's actually called a Prickly Pear, for those who don't speak Texan. I have been wanting one for a while, but they are not too easy to find up here. They grow to be huge, and I'd love a big one out in the yard but I don't think that they can take the amount of cold weather that we get. They can stand a little, but not as much as we sometimes get. I haven't even seen them at any stores, this one was actually one of the cactus that you might have seen where there is a bloom from another type of cactus glued onto the top. The fake bloom fell off of this one before I bought it. I saw it and wasn't sure if it really was what it looked like, until I read the label. I wasn't even sure if it was going to survive. But it is thriving, it's even growing. The top section is new, so I think it's happy. I really don't know how big it's going to be but I'm going to have to repot it at some point. Probably sooner than later. I'd love to plant it outside somewhere and I might try but I think what I'll actually do is wait until it gets bigger and grows more sections. Then I can take off a small section and root it. Because I really don't know if they can take our winters.

This is Frasier from a few minutes ago. He was cruising the back yard, looking for things to bark at. He didn't find any, but he was having a good time. Bill was getting ready to mow, and Maggie was safely inside. She's not afraid of the mower, she just didn't want to go outside for some reason. She might have thought that we were about to block them outside.

Probably more later, after we go shopping.

(Here's the later Update!)

The shopping was a bust. We went to the first mall and bought nothing, but we did look in several stores. So we decided to go to another mall, since we were early and not all the stores were open yet. Otter wanted to look in a specific store for earrings and there was one at the other mall. We figured that by the time we got there, they would be open. Which probably would have been a good plan - except that the store in the other mall is not there any longer. So we looked at several other stores and still found nothing. Otter did buy the book she wanted, at least. We ate lunch at the mall's food court but it wasn't very good. It just was not a good shopping day for us. So we came home.

Otter's been reading her new book and I've been doing some stuff around the house that I wanted to get done. Including laundry, which never seems to go away no matter how hard I want it to! We might get in the pool later, but other than that it's going to be a quiet afternoon. It's still pretty hot and we have another heat warning, which the dogs have taken seriously because they have spent most of their time snoozing in front of an a/c vent.

More Misceallenous Ramblings!

It's Monday, it's hot. I'm not feeling particularly creative at the moment, so no really good titles!

Anyway. I wanted to comment on a comment left on my last entry. My friend Jan mentioned one of her rooms looking like their had been a doggie massacre, because her dogs were all just sort of parked on the floor not moving because they were comfy. When I got home today, Maggienator was splayed out on the floor in the living room not moving and Frasier was on the opposite side of the living room with all 4 feet up in the air! I think he was hoping for a belly rub, but it was funny. Lazy dogs. Spoiled rotten, they've been inside in the air conditioning all day since Otter was home. They act like they just don't have any energy at all. I don't really think that they could be any more spoiled than they already are.

Froggy, Otter wants to let Uncle Froggy know that the moldarama animals are now posted on eBay. We'll see what happens with them.

We haven't heard anything else from our tenant, so I guess that the sheriff believed that the previous tenant does not live there any longer. When he moved out, we found some things that he left there which led us to believe that he might have been indulging in some "creative organic gardening." That might have had something to do with the authorities being interested in him or it might just be a coincidence.

Ok, the pool is calling me!

Some Friday Stuff

Not much, just stuff!

Froggy, you mentioned Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. I just ordered a subscription to Texas Highways, which generally makes me really homesick but I like the magazine anyway. I might get Parks & Wildlife later on.

The rain cachement system doesn't look hard at all. We already have the rain gutters. We still might get it accomplished this year.

Interesting phone call this evening. From our tenant. It seems that the sheriff's department has left more than one note on their door that they had come by, looking for someone. Today they left another note, this time it had the name of the person that they want to talk to. They are looking for our previous tenant, the one who moved out a year ago. He moved back to NY, but then a few months back I got a call from someone wanting to verify rental history - it seems he moved back to Tulsa. We are wondering if he's been a bad boy, since the sheriff's department is trying to find him! I told the tenant that if the sheriff's department doesn't believe her to give them my phone number and I'll verify that he no longer lives there. We might not ever hear any more about it, though.

Otter and I had a nice swim this evening. The pool was almost warm, it was the perfect temperature and we really enjoyed it. We'll probably be in it longer tomorrow, since it's supposed to be 101 degrees. The last time we had the pool up and it was that hot, the water was actually too warm to swim in and we bought ice blocks to put in it. Which was kind of fun, reminded me of Dad and the watermelons. But the pool was in full sun then, it gets just the right amount of shade now.

Those are my thoughts for today!

More of My Rambling Thoughts

Several things on my mind today. I guess I'll start with the phone call I got from Froggy while ago. The one where she stole my line: "We're Fine! If you hear anything on the news about our weather, we're ok." That line. The one I usually use when we've had twisty stuff in the area. The line that she used today because THEY had twisty stuff in the area. The hurricane, Dolly, went in pretty far south but it was such a big storm that SA and points north have gotten a lot of rain out of it. And not just rain, SA had a couple of those aforementioned twisty things with a few possible touch-downs. I remember a few of those hurricane related experiences myself! Froggy had quite a busy afternoon, and she'll probably never want to see again what she saw today looking out her back door! Can't really say I blame her, either. Been there, done that! Don't want to do it again.

Otter's flight yesterday was perfect timing, considering how bad their weather got yesterday afternoon and evening.

Otter had her day at home today. She slept in, she called me about 9:30 to tell me she was up. Not that she was awake, just that she was up. She didn't have a lot of chores for today, I wasn't that mean. However, tomorrow is another day! :) At the moment, she is in the pool.

It's been pretty warm here, which is normal for this time of year. We should get the 100 + stuff this weekend but it will only last for a few days, unlike South Texas so I don't really complain too much about it. We'll spend a lot of time in the pool anyway.

I'm still thinking about simplifying. I've actually done a lot of that over the last few months. Along with slowing down, we're also cleaning out and getting rid of a lot of stuff. We have so much junk that we don't need/want/use! So we've been de-cluttering, which I absolutely love to do and Bill & Otter absolutely hate to do. At any given moment, there is usually at least one and frequently more boxes and/or bags of stuff near the front door that will be taken to Goodwill to donate.

I also want to get a rain barrel. Bill thinks that it's a good idea, so I don't think I'm going to get any resistance from him. We might actually get two, with the amount of rain we get here. That might be next spring's project. I would prefer to just go buy one, but we haven't seen any locally. I don't really want to order one and pay shipping, I'm thinking that Atwood's Farm & Ranch Store (one of Froggy's favorite stores here) might carry them but they would be a springtime item. We don't want to use a trash can because it wouldn't have strong enough sides to handle the freezes we get. Something along the lines of a 55-gallon barrel would work.

Our sales tax holiday starts a week from tomorrow. It's Friday through Sunday, August 1 through 3. Otter doesn't really need a lot of clothes to start school on, but there are a few things she does need and we're going to look then. Quite a few places are taking advantage of the no sales tax and having additional sales. I am also in the market for a couple more skirts, so I'll look then as well. Otter is going to need a new coat, but I haven't seen any in the stores yet.

Otter had a visual lesson today about driving. After I got home, I picked her up and we ran a couple of errands. In one parking lot, I saw someone in an SUV pulling out of a parking spot so I decided to wait and get that spot. But then I saw him back out and back right into a small car that was also backing out at the same time, the little car had a pretty smushed bumper after that. I also think that the SUV driver was about to run, because he started to pull forward and then I could see him looking around at all the people that had witnessed the accident. I went to the next aisle over and parked, but it was a good learning experience for Otter and she now understands just why it's so important to look when you are backing out!

Ok, I've rambled enough for now.

Busy Monday!

Froggy told me to stay busy. I think she must have also called my bosses and told them to keep me busy! I hardly had time to breathe today, it was one thing after another and they were all things that could have been dealt with without a big fuss. But when you are a 90 year old man, I guess everything is a big, major deal. Just being alive at that age can be a big, major deal! So I don't complain too much.

Looks like there is another house being built in the area behind us, formerly known as the front cow pasture. This one is not directly behind us, but it is more behind us than the first two are. The privacy was nice, but I guess it was just a matter of time. Sigh.

Otter, Magginator wants you to come home! She's been like a shadow ever since I came home without Otter yesterday. When I was heading for bed last night, I glanced into Otter's room and the beagle was up in the middle of the bed. Maggie had the blanket that she normally sleeps on, she had it between her front paws and it looked like she was hugging it. She looked so sad! And she's hardly let me out of her sight this afternoon.

Bill was able to get into the pool yesterday. He hasn't been in it yet this summer, because of the spot on his leg where the skin cancer was removed. It's still not totally healed, but it's close. So he decided to chance the pool and it doesn't seem to have bothered the spot. We had a nice swim, and Maggie sat on the deck and stared at the pool the entire time we were in it!

We had another turtle in the yard on Saturday. Otter and I were about to get in the pool when Frasier suddenly got very interested in an area by the back fence, so we figured that it was either a turtle, frog or possibly snake. It was a small, female box turtle. She was not a timid turtle! She wasn't aggressive, but she wasn't afraid either. We decided to leave her in the yard. One of these days, Frasier is probably going to get the lesson about turtles and he'll learn exactly what that long neck is good for! I think that is the 3rd one we've found this year, but it might be the 4th. Still lots of frogs also, but I haven't seen any snakes this year.

We also had a stowaway tree frog. I brought my cactus plants in Saturday evening since it was about to rain. And there was a tiny, grey tree frog on one of the pots. It jumped onto another plant after I brought the cactus inside, and we caught it in Otter's bug jar so we could take it back outside. Otter has always liked insect life - she is her mother's daughter, after all - and when she was little she bought an insect collection kit. She always let the bugs go after she caught them, and she still has the jar. It comes in very handy when we have spiders we need to relocate so Maggie won't eat them. It also works for tree frogs!

Froggy, before I forget: When I told Otter that your new dog's name is Lucky, she reminded me of the joke about a dog being named Lucky usually being the one that is constantly getting hurt. Just thought you should know. Although naming it Bill would probably be a really bad omen! :)

Keeping Busy Sunday

Froggy told me to keep busy so I won't miss Otter so much so I used that as a title. I have been busy, I cleaned house some, did laundry and we had a few things to do.

We got up early this morning, and then I took Otter to the airport. We got there about 6:30, and checked in without any line. Before I could even ask if I could go to the gate the check-in clerk asked me if I wanted to, so I had no problem getting a pass. We got through security fast, another benefit of being so early. We had time to look at all the gift shops and I had to have coffee. We got Otter's boarding passes online yesterday, so she mostly just had to be at the gate in time. The plane left right on time, I waited until I saw the plane take off and it was out of sight before I left. There was another mother who was putting her son on the plane. The boy was eager, he was excited. But mom was in tears after he boarded the plane!

When I got home, Bill informed me that the pool had overflowed due to yesterday's rain. We got quite a bit of rain in the early evening and through the night. When Otter and I were in the pool yesterday, it was already pretty full due to rain over the last few days. The pool is a soft-side, and when it gets too full it will overflow. But the way it's designed, when the water level gets down a certain amount the side that is down will pop back up. So he had the hose in it when I got home, then we went to Lowe's (his 2nd trip of the day, my first) and when we got home we discovered that it had overflowed again! But this time it was due to the hose being left in too long and it got too full. But it didn't lose much water this time. We might get in it in an hour or so, after the water has had time to warm up.

We did have to make another trip to Lowe's, Bill's 3rd and my 2nd. We also went to the dollar store and he even consented to go to Wallyworld with me! Which turned out to be a good thing because I needed to get dog food, and I can't get the huge bags by myself. So since he was with me, we got a 40-lb. bag. Which should keep the dogs happy!

When we got home, Otter called when she got to San Antonio, she had called her grandmother already and was on her way to get her suitcase. Then she called me again after she met her grandmother, they were on the way to eat lunch somewhere. I hope she remembers to call us occasionally! She said that she had a good flight, it was full and that she had no problems with her layover/plane change in Dallas. Although her father did, he was a basket case until we heard from her! He wants me to be at the gate when she gets home, but I'm going to meet her at the luggage pick-up.

Her return flight is direct, there may be a stop but she won't have to change planes. But I don't think her grandmother is going to escort her to the gate. She'll be fine, she knows what to do. She's flown by herself before, this was just the first time she's been completely unescorted through a plane change.

I guess we gotta let her grow up sometime! Altough I think that Bill might disagree.

(Otter, if you read this on your vacation - Pirate is still safe. Although your father spent an awful long time looking at Hannah Montana room decor in Wallyworld this morning!)

Another Post for Sunday!

But no Maggie pictures this time. Maggie has been funny today, she just hasn't been photographed. Frasier has been kind of weird. He kept bumping me with his nose, I was sitting in the floor playing with the two of them and he kept almost ramming me with his nose. He was being playful, I don't know what he was thinking though. He likes to be hugged, some dogs don't but he loves it. It's possible he was trying to get me to hug him again, since I just had. Who knows!

Otter is ready for camp. As soon as we got home from church, she got her duffle bags out and her list of needed items. Then we got everything together and made our list of stuff we didn't have, which meant a trip to Wallyworld. When we got home, she got everything packed and it's all stacked in the corner of her room. She has two duffle bags full of clothing and supplies, an Army surplus laundry bag that is currently holding her pillow and towels, her sleeping bag and a backpack that she'll take with her in whatever vehicle she'll be riding in. The backpack has snacks & a book. It's amazing, how much stuff it takes for one kid for one week at camp. She's excited about it, this will be the 2nd year at this particular camp and she had a great time there last year. It will be very quiet around my house for a few days.

But I'll manage to stay busy, I have plenty of projects to take care of. Among other things, Froggy will be here on Friday. !!! There is an auction at an Army surplus place tomorrow and Tuesday, the owners are retiring and they've decided to just close instead of selling their business. It's a big store, and the sale will take 2 days. Bill's off Monday and Tuesday, he'll go at least tomorrow (Monday). If he needs me, he'll call me and I'll head over there after work. If not, I'll go to the driving school and get Otter's enrollment finalized and if he does need me then I'll go to the driving school on Tuesday. I have a few craft projects I'm going to try to get finished up and several books I want to read. We still have some things to list on eBay for our friend's widow. Then I'm off on Friday, the start of my vacation. I'll hit the grocery store that morning and then go pick up Froggy at the airport.

We didn't have time to go for a swim today, but we have been enjoying the pool. We spent a few hours in it yesterday, it was very nice. But it's in full sun this year, so I have to be careful about how long I'm out there. Froggy, bring your suit!

Prayer Request: Pastor David will have surgery this coming Friday, the 27th. The doctor wants to take between 50 and 60 lymph nodes, that way he can get plenty out to test. If the tests are negative, then David will be cancer-free. Any prayers will help. His doctor was very positive, and David has a good feeling about it. But prayers are never wasted! So please add him to your prayers.

2nd Sunday Post

It's been a pretty good day. Bill went to church for the first time since his skin cancer removals, he had been resting his leg as much as he could on the weekends so he's skipped the last few since there is a lot of standing. But he's back "in the groove" now.

Don and Darlene came over this afternoon, Bill and Don grilled burgers & dogs and we had a really nice meal and visit. Otter is always glad to see her grandparents. We all ate too much! It was a rerun of the Mother's Day meal, but it was still a good choice for today. Bill said that he's really enjoyed his Father's Day. We gave him two t-shirts, our tradition is to get funny ones for him for Father's Day and/or Birthday. His birthday is Wednesday, by the way.

Otter spent a few hours in the pool, I got in with her yesterday but today she was a solo swimmer. She has what we are referring to as a "creative sunburn" from yesterday. She missed a few spots with the sunblock, mostly on her shoulders but it almost looks artistic. Bill probably won't be able to swim much this year, because of the spot on his ankle. It's a lot better, but he still has to be somewhat careful with it.

Froggy, this is just for you. As I type this, Otter is out in the garage. She's trying to catch a frog that got in there. She's going to take it back out to the back yard and set it free. Just thought you might want to know! (At least it's not a turtle!)

Otter has redirected her blog slightly. She's doing web comics now. So far, her stories are starring plastic ponys that she is in the process of "rehabbing." They are turning out cute, she's very creative. If it works out, she wants to sell them on eBay. There are quite a few people who do that. She's enjoying it, whether they sell or not. I think the ponies in her web comics are pre-rehab. Check out her blog, she wants opinions. She hasn't been on the computer much this summer, though. Too much else to do. Like washing my car on a weekly basis. Don't you just love conscripted labor? :)

Tuesday's Interesting Stuff

My coyote! He was running down the fence, but he stopped to watch some birds flying overhead. When I called his name, he looked at me and wagged his tail. Such a hard life he has!

After an absence of 2 years, the pools back! The mermaid (Otter) had just gotten out of it, she said it was cool but not quite as cold as Sunday.

I don't know why this picture is sideways! I have tried to get it to rotate, which it does on the computer but when I upload it to blogger it reverts back to sideways. Anyway, this is the volunteer sunflower's first bloom. It is loaded with buds.



Yes, we really do feed Maggie. But she likes to eat her feet for some reason. Actually, all dogs will bite off the ends of their claws when they feel like they are getting too long for comfort. Of course, Maggie being Maggie she only does this AFTER we've wrestled her down and trimmed them.

We're back at eBay listings. We had a few things that we posted as a cleaning out effort, some of them are going to be donated and some sold. Now we have a bunch of old radio/vacuum tubes listed, for our friend Larry's widow. There are still more of them, so we'll be listing them for the next few days. That is, when we aren't in the pool!

Surf's Up! Come On In, The Water's Fine.

We're in the process of filling the pool. We started on it early this morning, we had to do some leveling of the yard first. Bill decided to bury quite a bit of the tree limb debris, and the dirt he took from the hole got rearranged - we used it to level the yard. Then he got the pool out of the shed and we started putting it up. It's been filling for several hours now, and it will take several more. But it will be finished today. It won't be warm enough to swim in yet, but we should be able to swim sometime this week.

Otter was slave labor today. She filled in lots of holes with the excess dirt while I was working on leveling, then she and I got to cut limbs to a small enough size for Bill to bury them. Hot, sweaty work. But now it's done and we don't have to worry about it anymore.

When I posted Thursday night, I mentioned the possibility of bumpy weather. This time, they got it right. It was very bumpy. We were awakened by a thunderstorm about midnight. Actually, I was awakened by the sound of the fan quitting as the power went off. Then the thunder. Then the fun stuff! This time, the fun stuff included that sound that we couldn't identify a few weeks ago. We didn't realize it this time either, until after I'd spent several minutes trying to find the wind-up radios. The first one I found wasn't working, then I finally found one that did work. And that's when Bill realized that the background noise wasn't just the very strong wind! I got Otter out of bed at that point, she went to our safe spot and by then Bill found a radio station that came in well enough so we could get a report. The wall cloud that had been sighted was close, but not right in our area. Which is a good thing, because if there had been a tornado in our area it would probably have taken us out well before we figured it out since we spent so much time trying to find the radios! There is now a wind-up radio with a flashlight on the night stand by the bed. It's going to stay there.

We were without power for a while, and it was nearly impossible to get back to sleep after the excitement. Eventually, the power did come back on but until it did we had to deal with humidity. It wasn't pleasant. I spent most of Friday in a daze, trying to keep myself awake and drinking coffee. Lots of coffee.

We had more rain Friday afternoon, but not anything bad or twisty. It was extremely warm, and I had some difficulty with my asthma after a brief rain shower made very humid. Humidity is a big asthma trigger for me, and it was pretty bad Friday.

Today wasn't too bad, it was warm but it was very windy. The wind caused a few asthma-related difficulties for Otter. She had to come in and get her inhaler at one point. But she bounced back quickly. She is currently sitting by the pool, watching the water level slowly rise. Of course, the water will be too cold to swim in today!

Tomorrow, I'm going to look into driving schools. The original plan was for us to teach Otter, but there is more work than we have time to deal with right now to be certified to teach her according to the state regulations. Since we would still have to pay out a pretty good amount to teach her ourselves, we've decided after discussing it that we want to enroll her in an actual school. So I'm going to make some calls tomorrow. But with her summer schedule including a week at camp and a week & a half in Texas, she might not actually be able to start until towards the end of the summer.

Congratulations Amy! Graduation is a big deal and we're proud of you. Of course, if you'd picked the RIGHT college... :)