Just need to talk to my friends (197)

JeriLynn, do you remember where you ordered your seeds from? If I can grow my own, I would love that. they are expensive and I don’t like planting them big pots. They always have them in a bigger pot. Let us know how they do.

shirley so good to hear from you. Life sure takes on a lot of turns don’t it. I hope things work out nicely for you and them.

Beth it’s very humid here today too. The worst one so far I think for humidity. I went to the Amish farms this morning, and I got quite a bit of stuff. I got fresh cabbage, garlic, shell peas, green beans, tomato, zucchini, summer squash, wild black raspberries, cucumbers and a watermelon from Florida. I’m going to freeze the peas. They look like the peas I prefer. the last ones I got are not like I like them. They were big and coarse. I did find out though if I cook them a lot longer then they’re not too bad. Thought they are no good like this so I’m just gonna cook them a while and see what happens.

I will just cook green beans, oh, and I also got some fresh little red potatoes, I like cooking them in my green beans. I hope to bake a cobbler with some of the black raspberries and freeze the rest. I hope I’m able to make some pickle relish with the cucumbers. I opened my last jar that I canned two years ago this week. I had made it with zucchini, and I want to do it with cucumbers this time. I don’t know for sure if I even have enough cucumbers to make just a small amount, but I didn’t want to buy too many cause I could have lack of time. They’ll probably have cucumbers longer than they’ll have black raspberries, and peas.

turned dry here also with all the heat, so I try not to buy too much and extend myself too much because I have to water a lot and take care of mom. They had fresh broccoli which I hope to freeze some but they had that quite a bit last year so I’m hoping they’ll continue to have that. they have blueberries to but I should have my own and they had really nice lettuce my sister got that, but I have my own lettuce. Corn usually don’t come in until maybe mid July but I’m thinking this year. If it’s like everything else it’ll be a little earlier and I definitely want to freeze some corn if I can.

HB my mom is so uncooperative that I doubt it but I am going to check them out and see what they look like. she’s not going to do it now but maybe in the future if things ever get so that she’s not against you about everything. thank you for the thought. I’ll look into it.

here…

caladiums are up, fescue is turning brown, been to bank and meat market where I asked for chicken bones and skin,,,alas, all had been spoken for, got some good pastrami and Provolone to make wraps for lunch

home now and will work on flip house plans and annual budget

fun at the birthday party last night…when is the next one?

I think being alone and loneliness are two separate things. You are alone but I think you can resolve some of the loneliness.

I too am alone but not lonely. I need activity. I need contact with people. I need brain stimulation. My car needs to be driven to keep the battery charged so I make certain to drive it enough. I do my docent work which keeps me studying and in contact with people. I work on genealogy. I get to the markets. They all know me and we have a visit over a cup of coffee. The shipping store. I am still working on getting rid of stuff.

I do not watch daytime TV except for the morning news and in the evenings I use my iPad to watch documentaries or a movie. I need to read more and will try to do that.

Right now I am studying the middle ages. There is a great course on Netflix I think. Pretty much starting with William the conqueror. The lecturer is lively and easy to watch. Anyone else interested? I could share the link.

Also working on a long term budget…ugh…but want to have money until I die. There's a happy task, lol.

How about some additional shares from others for dealing with loneliness.

Mint, PWDs truly cannot make decisions. You have to make the decision for her and get her to think it is her idea.

My 15 year old (thereabouts) cat Seven was straining in the litter box three times this morning, and she passed a blood clot, not a stone. I took her to the vet where she has blood work, urinalysis and culture, x-ray, and ear cleaning. Total $1500! But the vet forgot to give her an antibiotic injection even though I asked about it. I have to get her back into the carrier tomorrow to return for the injection.

Also, this feline cystitis is caused by stress. Seven has been high-strung for many years; Simon used to chase her as if she were a mouse. Since then she always hisses when he gets near. She also pulls out her fur. I didnt realize she was so affected. I have to keep them separated now.

Iris

Good Morning,

Mint, I ordered my seed from Park Seed on Amazon. (I did that because Beth mentioned that's where she got her seeds.) I didn't get everything planted this year because i didn't get my pathway around the pool/backyard done. Maybe this fall we can get that done. And I have some grow pots that I can start them in next spring. I also ordered Zinnia and Cone flower for planting around the pool. And I'll transplant some bee balm from the front bed. I want tall flowers so I don't have to look at the actual pool. I just want to see the deck and the water. LOL. We have so MANY projects, nothing ever seems to get finished. Just started. My DH is a worker bee but not like I work. I start and finish, then move to the next project. I'm not complaining as much as just venting I guess. Oh well, it will all get done when it gets done. DH thinks he has to do everything himself and there just aren't enough hours in the day. I would hire out for help but he won't hear of that!🙄LOL

We had a really good time with the grands yesterday for the pool party. The food was good, everyone visited and played and laughed. Today is the birthday party for the 10 year old and all I have to do for that is show up. It's up in Huntland (18 miles away) at DH's homeplace. We had to get a new battery for one of the jet skis, so we'll take that with us when we go. I'm trying to plan a weekend day at the Lake. There are 3 boats in the family and we have the 2 jet skis. I think it would be fun to just spend the day. The older grands and I talked about it yesterday and they were enthusiastic. We'll see.

Time to go get the Ladies out of the hen house and give them leftover treats from yesterday. If I go empty handed, they look disappointed. 🦃 If chickens can actually "look" disappointed. lol

Back later, have a good day everyone.

Good morning all. I'm so glad that you enjoyed DH's "your doing it wrong" support hose story. He was just so matter-of-fact about it.

Lorita we are having remote troubles also. It works just fine, except it won't change to channel 5! Just that channel. Frankly I want a different remote as I think this one has far too many buttons we don't use. One evening somehow every channel was in Spanish. I don't know how that happened. Even turning it off & on didn't fix it, I finally unplugged it from the wall for a minute then plugged it back in and that fixed it.

Zetta I'm glad that your house sold. That was undue stress that you didn't need. Now you can look forward with excitement for what's ahead.

Iris that is a big vet bill for sure. It seems around $500 or more every time I step into the vet's office. It's the same vet & office I've used for 30 years, costs for medicines and bloodwork have just shot through the roof. Hopefully you won't have too much trauma going back for the injection.

I'm thinking I'll get the smoker going as soon as I sign off here. Its already 92 out, but we have a slight breeze which once its going will be good. I'm going to smoke a chicken, do a beer can chicken, spatchcock a chicken, toss a tenderloin on and some brisket hamburger patties. That will keep us eating well for quite awhile. Dinners will be easy as I will just add potato/noodles, vegetable and make a salad.

Be safe everyone. I'll be back later to check on my porch friends.

Hello All,

Thank you for the congrats on my home sale. It's still all crazy. A home inspector will be out here on Monday to do a home inspection, I guess the roof and the foundation, things that could cause the sale to fall through. But at this point Iam so tired of it all, Iam comfortable I will just stay put. They are also sending a person out to watch how fast the water comes out of my well.

We are now in the process of finding an apartment in Bend, Oregon, for my son to live in, I want him all settled before I take all my fur babies and head to Arizona. I hope to have this all done before the winter snow settles in here is Oregon.

Lorita, I also tend to isolate myself. I did live in a big city a few times and yes there are lots of people, I don't miss any of that, that might be why I isolate, I prefer quiet. I have a TV in my bedroom the remote will turn it on and off and works the volume but will not change the channels. There are some buttons on the bottom of the TV that I can change the channels with.

Iris, Sorry to hear your Seven is having some problems. Sounds like Seven does not like the carrier. My Sammy also not like the carrier and I have had to put him in that each time I had a home show. My Emmy goes under the bed, and I can't get her, she is such a scaredy cat the home show will keep her under the bed till she knows Iam back home.

Beth, Thanks for the laugh, about the snapping turtle. I also want to see the bottom of what Iam standing in.

Mint. You are always doing the best for your mom, maybe tell her she will be having problems in that area if she stays in wet pants during the day.

Take care everyone, Hugs to All, Zetta

I put in a toilet riser for Dick…I love it now.

I could easily live in Chicago again. That would not keep me from my being alone/isolated when I chose to be. During most of the time I am by myself…no music/TV. I like the quiet however I need to have personal interaction and again, it is bad for my car not to drive it. It will get "stove up" if not driven.

Moving is rough. You pick up something and then have to decide what to do with it. Hopefully the work I am doing now will make things easier for my children when I die. I especially do not want them to find messy drawers…lol.

Today I will see as a blessing that I do not have cows or chickens. That said I do miss having dogs but never again.

Looks like another hot day. Two more blessings…AC and a generator.

Lorita…is the remote one that came with your TV or is it kin to your Direct TV?

https://www.directv.com/support/article/000081979

Good morning to all on the porch.

It's supposed to be another hellish day in terms of heat. DS worked a 9-hour day as trainman on the tourist railroad. I am amazed that they actually had anyone turn up given the miserable weather. Attendance was down and they upgraded everyone to the First-Class parlor car which has A/C although a few opted for the open-air experience. He's accustomed to managing dangerous heat (thanks to marching band and scouts) but was still wrung out when he got home at 7pm. He's got a shorter day today, but similar heat and humidity.

Beth— Were you the one who recommended the deer spray? We've used a whole bottle so far with better results than my former brand. Not perfect, mind you, but so much better than the last couple years. So far, I have only lost a few daylily and coneflower buds.

How does one do bone broth in a slow cooker? I have a small one mom left behind when she moved out; would that be big enough?

Iris— I am sorry to hear about dear Seven's health issues. One of my mom's old cats would develop cystitis around stress which was just awful. They were in one of their nomad phases— sold the house I spent my teen years in and stayed temporarily in an apartment while their condo was being built. Then they sold the condo after a year and moved to an apartment while their new SFH was built. The cat was OK in houses but didn't like either apartment or the condo. When they traveled, he got sick at my apartment but was find when I moved to a house. He wasn't allowed outside, so I have no idea why this mattered to him.

Jerilynn— Your family day sounds fun. I hope the chickens were happy with their treats.

Lorita—I hope you get your TV/remote situation squared away. That's got to be really frustrating.

Zetta— I don't envy you the physical work of moving. I've never really moved myself although I did move my parents several times after dad was diagnosed and once years ago when I bought their house and mom was still teaching. DH and I lost our first house in a massive flood; we pretty much lost everything. While that was sad and expensive, in a lot of ways it made things super easy. A year or so later the county bought the property to extend a park, so we never even had to do any staging/showings. A silver lining for sure.

jfkoc— I'm like you- I like my quiet. When I go to mom's she's got at least one TV blaring "for company"— sometimes both and not always on the same channel. It makes me crazy.

Sandy— I love the rooster names. So fun. We did the estate broker when we cleared out my aunt's place in Maine. After getting dealers in for my uncle's extensive clock and antique arms collection, the estate guy turned up with 3 trucks— one for his sale room/auction, one for Goodwill and a third for the dump. Easy peasy. She had a good-sized house, a couple cottages, a 4 bay garage, boathouse and shed packed with stuff. I was pretty salty when I had to go through the boxes I'd packed 30 years before when they retired to Maine. I'd tried to convince her to donate them then but was told off rather sharply that she might need them someday. They were still taped up. I have one of the crocks on my hearth as a reminder of that exchange.

Mint— Gooseberries are a kind of currant. I saw them a lot in the UK made into jams and pies. I have seen jam at my Amish market. I need to stop by the market one of these days. I want to buy some popping corn; they sell a "Mushroom" variety that pops big and fluffy with very little husk. It's so much better than the microwave kind.

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I did something different yesterday. I made myself a skirt. It's been so hot I really don't want to be outside, but I didn't want to clean. I almost never sew for myself.

I raided my somewhat skimpy stash of fabric and found a 100% cotton gingham seersucker. I decided on a simple elastic waist, mid-length (to hide my nasty TKR scar) with side vents and pockets. Simple was critical as a 1/4" check should be properly match at the seams. I added a self-fabric tie because why not? It's cute. LOL, I expect my mom will see it and ask if I got it at Talbots as it kind of has that vibe. I might make myself a nightgown out a Pima cotton top sheet I have laying around.

Now that I have a skirt, I'm going to need a half-slip. Maybe I'll take mom with me to Boscov's to buy one. They're probably the only bricks'n'mortar store around old-school enough to carry such a thing. Mom loves Boscov's— she'd never buy clothing there but will want to look at all the things. It's too hot to drop her at the pool today.

HB