Never Forget...

 

Wednesday Whatever

 

Here Come the "Ber" months

This has been all I am reading about...how so many people are excited that the "ber" months are coming.  I am not excited.  I think spring and summer went by too fast and I want them to stay awhile longer.  If you are one of the fan club members of the "ber" months then I suppose you are very happy.  However, if you are like me...spring and summer 2027 can't come soon enough.

August was an interesting month.  

My oldest son and dil and grandpuppy had to evacuate twice because of the fires in Reno, NV.  Luckily their home was not damaged and they weren't out of it for too long.

Tree cutters came to take down 2 trees that we were worried might fall on the house during one of the UP's "ber" months winter storms. They had them cutdown, cleaned up the entire area w/blower & rakes and filled in holes made by the trunks of trees in a little more than 2 hours.

Pepe LePew (the skunk digging up our side yard)and his buddy have been very busy.  We see them out there digging for bugs as soon as it gets dark.

We saw a buck in the backyard which is unusual.  In the 50+ years, we have lived here, we have only seen a buck 3 times.

        (No pics as blogger and I are having a disagreement on getting pics to load)

See you in September!!

                                           (A funny for the first day of September)

Wednesday Words and Music

 UPDATE:  My eldest son and dil and grandpuppy were allowed to go home on Monday night as the Reno Fire was 27% contained and there was no longer a danger to their neighborhood.  Thank all of you who sent prayers out to them.  Please continue to pray and send good thoughts out to those still in evacuation, those who have lost their homes and for the emergency personnel who have been working tirelessly to contain this fire.

Wednesday Words and Music

These are the songs that I go to whenever there is stress in my life.  I love the music and the words are very inspirational to me. For example; "Be Not Afraid"...I seem to start singing that to myself whenever I have found myself in the middle of a health crisis.  It gives me a sense of faith that I will be able to handle anything that will come upon me.

"Be Not Afraid" by John Michael Talbot

"On Eagle's Wings" by Michael Joncas

"He Raised Me Up" by  Josh Groban

"You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor

"Bridge Over Troubled Waters" by Simon and Garfunkle

Concerns

 I had planned to post this past weekend but plans change.  My oldest son and dil had to evacuate once again on Saturday for the "Hawk" fire in Reno, NV.  They and my grandpuppy are living in a hotel in northern California.  Right now, there is no end in sight for going back to their home. However, on the good side, their home is still safe.

Please keep them and all the residents as well as emergency personnel in your thoughts and prayers. 

 

Friday Funny

 

The first full week of August was filled with ups and downs.

Monday: 
First, I took the change that B and I accumulated since January to our credit union to be deposited in our emergency account.  I miss the days when you handed the change to the clerk and they ran it thru the machine.  I went in with this huge bag full, the clerk said just go over to the machine, push the button and you can do it yourself.  I looked at her and the machine thoroughly confused.  A nice woman customer came over to me and said, "I'll help you."  I was very grateful to her and told her so.  Customer service is not what it used to be.
 
Next, B and I went to the library. I picked up 6 books. B laughed and said I would have these read by next week.  He isn't wrong.  A fun thing is that the librarian is a former teacher.  It seems she and I were student teachers at the same school over 30 years ago  Wow!
      
Finally, B took me to lunch at Applebees.  Nice day!

Tuesday: 
B worked on the side lawn which had been dug up by skunks looking for bugs.  We saw the 3 little baby skunks running into the woods in the morning and then saw the destruction in the side yard.  B went out in the afternoon to work on it but said it will turn out to be the same the next morning as they come out after dark.

Wednesday: 
B and I went grocery shopping.  Because we have been using the pantry and freezer quite a bit, we have been finding our grocery bill has gone down considerably.  The pantry and freezer were started during covid--an upside to the pandemic.      

Thursday:
We went to a farmer's market in L'Anse, MI which is only an hour away from us.  It made for a beautiful ride as the weather was perfect and we were able to pick up some good produce.  We got tomatoes, grapes, cucumbers, carrots & celery as well as a homemade loaf of sourdough bread.

Another half hour after that and we went to lunch at a drive-in in Baraga, MI.  It's the kind of drive-in that was around in the 50s. You stay in your car and they put the tray on the window, homemade root beer in frosty mugs and super flavorful hamburgers.  The only thing missing was the car hops on roller skates.  I am so dating myself with that reference.

Friday:
A trip to the Post Office to mail in the last of bills for July and then to the cleaners to pick up a jacket that was very stained.

Saturday:
I am not sure how I managed to do it but I pulled a muscle on the left side of my chest and boy, does it hurt. Moving is a trial and I hate being unable to do anything but sit in a chair.

We woke up Saturday morning and saw feathers all over the deck and in one of the feeders. No little body but we think that a hawk killed a bird at the feeder while we slept.  There has been a hawk hanging around the woods by the house lately.  We have seen hawks in the past but this is something we have never seen.  If it happens again, B says we will take the feeders down for awhile until the hawk gets the message and goes away.
      
Sunday:
I am still in pain over pulled muscle but I am forcing myself to get up and move and do some small things that don't require a lot of bending.

Our oldest son called and told us that he and our dil and grandpuppy had to evacuate their home on Saturday because of the Bug fire in Nevada. They were staying at friends' house. We were so worried about them especially after we saw some of the videos posted on the fire on facebook. However, he messaged us later in the evening to say that although the fire is still going strong, the officials say it is contained where they live and they could go home. 

How was your first full week of August? Up and down too?
 
 

Tuesday Tidbits

 

Little Things That Make Me Smile

1 little chipmunk in the bird feeder 

2 little skunks running into the woods in the morning after digging holes in the field to get insects for a late night snack

deer laying down in the field just watching the world go by

a sunrise of pink and peach and orange

raindrops on green leaves that sparkle like diamonds when the sun comes out

the smell of freshly mowed grass

a cool breeze after a hot muggy day while I am sitting on my deck swing

a bouquet of wildflowers and container of homemade rhubarb muffins from my neighbor

Friday Funny

 

Friday funny

How many of you remember this cartoon?

 

Sunday Sum-Up

 We had a thunderstorm last Sunday. Lightning, thunder, hail and wind gusts up to 50mph. It took down many tree branches and a few trees looked like they were doing the hula in the wind. Monday B called a company we had used previously to take down a dead tree to get an estimate on the cost of removing one tree that is in a bad spot in relation to the house.  They were to come out Tuesday but the heat and humidity was so bad as well as the air quality due to the Canadian wildfires that he gave his workers the day off. He came out Wednesday and gave us a price that was not as bad as we thought it would be.  It would include taking down the very very tall poplar as well as a dead tree which was in the way of getting the machine in the back yard and cleaning up all the wood as well.  We are going to have it done in August.

As I said the temps and humidity was awful in the beginning of the week. We had three fans going during the day and at night.  During the day we were okay but even with the fans sleeping was not peaceful.  Can't wait to see the electric bill for this month.  Thursday, the temps went down into the 60s so it was very good sleeping weather at night but the temps are supposed to go back up by Monday.

The Canadian wildfires have been making their presence known around here with all the smoke and ash.  We have had air quality advisories for 4 days to the point that many events in the area have been canceled as well as some workers have been given time off.  Ashes were seen covering cars and falling from the sky like rain.  Hopefully that will back off soon.

We had an influx of daddy long legs spiders all over the house back and front.  It seems that this is their mating time of year.  They also plant themselves on the front and back as there are a great many insects because we have the lights on at night.  B has been using his blower to get them off the house in the mornings.  We will be happy when they are done with the mating and are gone.  My house every morning looks like a 1960s spiders horror movie.

Well, I hope you had a constructive and fun week.  Hopefully the weather in your area is something you are happy with.  Next week can only get better....Right?

Friday Favorites

                                                               Ice-cream flavor: Spumoni
                                                               Senior Activity:  Jigsaw puzzles
                                                               Color:    Purple
                                                               Season:  Summer
                                                               Holiday:  Christmas
                                                               Food: Tortellini w/meat sauce
                                                               Movie:  Casablanca
                                                               TV Show:   NCIS
                                                               Hot drink:   Vanilla Cappucino
                                                               Cold drink:  Strawberry Lemonade

(Thank you to Rian from her blog "Older but better...?" for the idea.)

Monday Smile

This would be me!

 

Saturday Sum-Up

B and I watched "A Capitol Fourth" on PBS. It's a great way to watch good performances and the fireworks without worrying about bathrooms, bugs and parking not to mention the traffic jam to leave at the end.

B and I enjoyed a nice quiet holiday weekend.  We grilled on Saturday because it was too hot to turn on a stove or oven.  Burgers and potato salad with ice cream for desert made for a lovely 4th of July dinner on the back deck.

Our youngest son and dil came over on Sunday with dil's parents - surprise! The inlaws have bought a house in the UP.  It is located only about 9 minutes from the kids and they are excited to move. They have talked about it for a long time and went ahead and did it.  They are thinking they will be moved to the UP by the end of the year. We also talked about how a move is a great time to do some purging so you don't have to move so much stuff. It was very good news.  No more traveling for the kids downstate over the Mackinac Bridge especially in not so nice winter weather. 

Monday, B and I went to the post office to mail in some bills, the library to do a jigsaw puzzle swap, picked up a few groceries, dropped off absentee ballots at the township hall, picked up B's prescriptions and donated a number of items to UPAWS (the local animal shelter).  In order to save on gas, we try to incorporate all our errands into one trip.

What with the heat wave and two days of thunderstorms B and I decided to run away to Escanaba and the Island Casino for 2 days.  Escanaba is only an hour from us and the casino is another 30 minutes from there.  We got a room which was quite inexpensive compared to some hotels we've been to. After registering for our casino cards (everytime you put the card in a machine, you earn points which can be used in the restaurants in the casino), we went to play.  Amazing how much time passes when you are sitting in front of one of those game machines.  B and I did pretty good with both of us racking up a little over $100 apiece.  We ate dinner at one of the restaurants and with points got a discount of 50% on the bill.  Friday morning, we had a quiet, relaxing breakfast in another of their restaurants and then we were off for home.  Needless to say, it was an inexpensive runaway that we both enjoyed.

The weekend will be quiet.  Our only project will be on Sunday as we have to replace our mailbox which got damaged in a snowstorm by a county plow this past winter.  B put it right temporarily with rocks and braces but now that the warm weather is here, we will be putting it more permanently with cement.  The weather will be in the 80s and sunny so it should set fairly quickly before the mailman comes Monday.

All in all, not a bad week in July for B and me.
 

Thursday thoughts

 

Happy 4th of July!

Just had to post Snoopy!

 

Happy 250, America!

 

June Catchup

It has been awhile since I posted so I thought I better catch up as the month of June is closing fast.  The weather this month has been so rainy that getting out has been very sparse.  However, it seems come July, we are supposed to be getting temperatures in the 80s and 90s which I love but the downside will be the humidity that comes with it.  As long as I can sleep at night comfortably, I will not complain.

We went to the cemeteries for our annual visit.  We got a green plant for B's parents in the Catholic cemetery.  We cleaned a bit around the headstone and B remarked how he is the last of his generation left.  It certainly makes one feel old to think of that.  The cemetery where my parents are does not allow real plants and flowers, so we took a large bouquet of artificial flowers as well as an American flag as dad was a veteran.  We cleaned around their headstones too mainly because they are under a tree that drops a great many needles.  So we swept and raked it a bit.

After the cemeteries, we headed for a local farmer's market to see what goodies were for sale but were disappointed as there wasn't a lot there yet.

I was attempting to let my hair grow because I didn't feel like going in to get a haircut.  But I kept finding myself looking in the mirror and hating the way my hair looked and fighting the temptation to take my scissors and start chopping it off. So I gave in and went to Cost cutters, had them do the chopping and now I am happy.

Our oldest son who lives in Nevada surprised us by letting us know he was coming home for a visit over Father's Day.  Our dil couldn't come because she is finishing up her studies for her master's degree.  We were sad to hear we wouldn't see her but proud of how hard she is working to get her master's degree.  It was so fun having him here.  Also, since he is my techie son, he worked on issues I had with my computer and tried to help me with a new phone but the phone company was not in a cooperating mood.  I will have to deal with them another time.  

Father's Day, our youngest son and dil came over for dinner ad we had a fun family time.  Lots of news to share as well as watching the US Open golf on tv (my youngest is the golfer in the family) and the World Cup (my oldest is more into that).

The Monday after Father's Day was B and I's 53rd wedding anniversary.  53! So hard to believe we have been together that long.  It seems like the years just flew by. the kids took us to Texas Roadhouse for dinner to celebrate.  We had a wonderful time.  I look at them and still see them as the little boys they once were and cannot believe how grownup they are.  Of course, if I said anything to them about that, they would just give me "the look" and say, "Oh, mom."

Tuesday, it was time for my oldest to head home.  He drives from here to Milwaukee and gets the plane from there to Nevada. I always say I am not going to cry when I have to say goodbye but I always do.  He promised to text me along the way so I know where he is and when he gets home.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, he is the photographer of the family and he took some lovely photos while he was here.  I will share some below.
 

  Momma & her 8 babies

 Slim

Winston aka Winston Churchill

Lower Harbor Park-Lake Superior

 

Monday Musings

I saw this on the computer and it really made me think...

"Don't you just wish that Jesus would walk into your kitchen, sit down with a cup of coffee, look at you and say, "Ok, here is what we are going to do".

 

Friday Funny