Saturday 5-13-2023

Tenor

You probably won’t believe this, but it’s been raining here – AGAIN. It has stopped for a minute now, and the sun is out, but we’re due for thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. The exact quote is, “Off and on downpours.” Oh, GOOD!

IF the weather cooperates, I’m planning to do more weeding in my veggie garden and check my tomatoes this afternoon. I did some yesterday, but the weeds have sprung up while I was unable to get out there, so there is a lot to do to get things good out there again. I may also do more harvesting this weekend.

The rose bushes I cut WAAAAAAAAY back for the winter are blooming! I took these pics recently, and I’ll take more to share with you soon.

My next big project is to move the deck furniture from the back porch to the deck and then use the pressure hose on everything to make it nice to use outside. Then I’ll be able to wash the furniture on the back porch, plus the floor. That will probably take a couple of days or so, but we would like to get ready to cook outside, so this will be the first step if Mother Nature is smiling on us soon.

I wish you a nice Saturday.

Another Soggy Day 4-29-2023

Many Pets

The rain continues. It started in again yesterday and rained pretty much all day and evening, so I didn’t go check on the garden plants. I’m hoping that it will clear up this afternoon so I can at least see that things are still going okay out there.

The Paducah Sun

We saw our first pair of hummingbirds at the feeder yesterday! I would have missed them if I hadn’t been in the kitchen refilling my coffee cup. We’ve had the feeder out for a week or so because my brother-in-law sent my husband a video of several hummingbirds at their feeder and we were feeling quite envious. It’s early here for them, as we usually don’t see them until May, but we were hopeful. I saw one try to stop at the feeder and the second one dive-bomb the first and then they were gone.

The Cozy Cook

Since it’s been cool and rainy with intermittent severe weather threats, I made us a comfort food dinner of beef stew in the crock pot. We had a nice bowl of it and had enough to freeze for a couple more meals.

My husband is finally starting to feel a bit better. We went to a couple of places in town yesterday and he was completely exhausted afterwards, taking a long nap in his chair when we got back. He slept well, though, last night and said he thinks ‘a couple more days’ and he’ll feel like himself again. I predict a little more recovery time than that, but I’m SO glad he’s on the mend. :0)

Have a wonderful Saturday!

It’s Friday! 4-28-2023

ebaum’s world

It’s not actively raining right now. We’re supposed to get more tonight and tomorrow. I wonder if I start singing, “Here Comes the Sun” the weather will improve or Mother Nature will send me a tornado to protest.

NatGeo

My husband is feeling enough better this morning and he’s going to come to Lunch Bunch with me for the first time in 3 weeks! Hooray! I’m not sure if we’ll go to the grocery after that or not yet. We’ll play it by ear, depending on how he’s doing.

When we get back, if it’s not raining I’ll get out and check on my veggie boxes and tomato planters to see how the sweet plants are. I’ll try to take some pics to share.

Gfycat.gif

Nothing big planned for today, but it’s celebration mode that my husband is feeling a bit better. :0)

Wednesday Thoughts 4-26-2023

“Dorky Dogs” – BoredPanda.com – Liucija Adomaite and Justinas Keturka

We’re having a quiet, wet day here, and apparently the off and on sogginess (is that a word?) will continue through tomorrow, at least. Sigh. It was raining fairly heavily when we got back from errands yesterday, so we just left the trash can at the road at the bottom of the driveway. The next time we go out we’ll see if we can get it re-tethered at the pole up the driveway a bit.

I wouldn’t describe myself as a “country-music-aholic,” but I’ve been listening to a lot of artists I’ve never heard before through the reaction channels on YouTube and I’ve found some incredibly moving songs and terrific voices. I’ve also discovered the kindness of some of the country singers that restores my faith in humanity. I get overwhelmed by ugliness in the world around us occasionally, and I’m turning to music more and more to show me there is a “good-bit-of-good” in the world yet. :0)

We just started April and it’s almost gone. It used to be that writing checks for bills kept me straight on the day of the week, month of the year, and which year we were in. Now that I pay almost everything electronically, I can’t get used to the month and I’m into the next. My hair blows with the time whizzing past.

Lately Amber, our yellow lab, celebrates our turning the TV off by going to the corner of the room where her toys lie in a basket and bringing out one at a time, presenting it to each of us, ACTING like she wants us to throw it, but ACTUALLY wanting to play tug-o-war. By the time the evening is over, ALL of the toys are strewn over the living room carpet. I’m getting a bit of exercise as I have to bend over to retrieve each one and take it to the basket. (Do you supposed she might be trying to send me a message?)

I hope that your Wednesday, April 26th, 2023 is a nice one.

Feeling Lethargic

“Dorky Dogs” – BoredPanda.com – Liucija Adomaite and Justinas Keturka

We’re leaving in a bit for my husband’s haircut. We may go for some supplies, but it’ll depend on how my husband is feeling after sitting for the haircut. His back is still an issue.

We’ll get our mail and re-tether our trash can to the pole up our steep driveway. We’re due for rain starting sometime this afternoon and continuing off and on through Thursday.

I hope that wherever you are, you’re safe from the wrath of Mother Nature, somewhere warm and dry and cozy.

Thoughts on Tuesday 2-14-2023

Healthline

I received a Jacquie Lawson Valentine’s Day card from one of my long-time close friends this morning. It was a really nice way to start the day. My husband showed his romantic self yesterday while we were at the local grocery, asking, ‘You want flowers or something?” I swoon. :0)

I’ve always thought that Valentine’s Day, at least the way it’s celebrated, is awful. People all over the world, I guess, are pressured into getting ‘something’ for their significant other on a particular day of the year. I think that if you love someone, EVERY day is the time to show how you feel, with a smile, a kiss, a hug, or maybe even a nice gift if you find something you think they will like. When it’s NOT the ‘official’ time to show it, it’s REAL. Happily, my husband and I share this belief and we show each other often – when we’re not contemplating digging a hole in the back yard to stash the body….

It’s raining today, so I’m not looking forward to having to go out in it this morning. My husband has a haircut. I sold some earrings last night on my Etsy site, and so will mail them to my customer today. When we get back, hopefully, our huge trash can will have been emptied and we can pull it partially up the driveway to re-tether it to the pole.

We’ll spend time today with our truck in our shop. It’s making a grinding noise when we put on the brake. When we put the snow tires on, we checked the brake pads as we always do, and all was good. When the grinding noise started, we put the truck in the shop and took the back tires off again to see what problems we could find. We didn’t find anything. Today we’ll check the front again.

I hope that you have a happy Valentine’s Day with the one you love.

Fleezing Dizzle

Giphy

It’s not this bad yet, but we have teeny, tiny sleet pellets falling now. The temperature is 22 degrees F., and the “feels like” temperature is 12. Mostly, it LOOKS like just a really cold rain right now, but the pest control guy just called me to ask how it was here. I suggested he go home and be safe, rather than try to come to us until all this is past and we thaw out again.

We still have public power, but looking at the weather website, we really won’t get above freezing until Wednesday afternoon, and the STUFF doesn’t quit coming, really until Thursday morning. Should be interesting.

The “fleezing dizzle” title comes from a party my parents were having a hundred years or so ago. My dad had his own one-man advertising agency, and a lot of the people at the party were in the media. A topic of conversation came up where someone started to laugh helplessly as he tried to talk about a weatherman who got his tongue tied, saying “Fleezing Dizzle,” rather than freezing drizzle. Everyone started to laugh, with the exception of one man, who said, “Oh, God. That was ME!”

Meanwhile, we’re warm and cozy inside. I’m making spaghetti for dinner, and my husband wanted some hot chocolate earlier. Full comfort mode.

I’m enjoy book #30 of 55 of the In Death series by J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts, fully into her world of amazing characters in a future world. I love being rich in paperback books – able to snuggle down under my throw, coffee cup beside me on the warmer, escaping to another world, engaged in other concerns. A nice relief.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. On the way back up the driveway this morning, we stopped and I hoisted our ‘flying pig’ into the back of the truck. One of the huge limbs that came down with the last snow storm was the limb from which the sweet pig was flying and he had crashed head first into the driveway. I had forgotten how heavy he is. We took him out to the shop. I plan to refurbish him, since he’s been flying for several years now, and then I’m HOPING to convince my husband that securing him to a boulder at the top of the driveway, wings flying, would look just as good as him flying from a line in a tree….

I hope you are enjoying your day.

Wednesday 1-18-2023

“I’m at that age where my mind still thinks I’m 29; my humor suggests I’m 12 while my body mostly keeps asking if I’m sure I’m not dead yet.”

stanzi11 – Getty Images – iStockphoto

It’s a rainy morning here. Ever since I wrote a post called, “Wet Wednesday,” and Twitter put a warning label on it, thinking it was pornographic, I’ve found myself almost TRYING to think of titles that might garner a warning. They also warned readers about “Horn Tooting”. My responses to them DID result in their taking the warnings off, and I DID suggest that they might READ the posts before warning people about them. hahahahahahaahahahha :0)

I’ve been trying to be quiet because my husband is sleeping in this morning. I waited to let Amber out because it seems that she is unable to go outside without barking loudly to announce her presence to the world. I finally couldn’t put it off any longer and let her out. Amazingly, my husband is still sleeping. The “rainy-ness” of the morning and our ability to shut out the light upstairs make this a really good day to sleep. (He just got up.)

We don’t have any big plans for the day – mainly staying warm and dry. I wish you a happy, fulfilling day.

“Foggy, Foggy Night…”

The morning fog has already cleared to a large extent, but I wanted to share the feeling with you. You can’t see the valley that we can usually enjoy behind our house. We can LOOK at it, so we consider it ‘ours.’ :0)

More fog, but this photo also gives you an idea of the ‘weed trees’ that I’m trying to cut down a few at at time. They’re taller than they look here, and when I lop one off, it falls on me no matter where I stand. Not heavy, though, just irritating, and a little of this work goes a long way.

This morning we’ll gather our trash and drive the humongous trash can down to the bottom of the driveway to leave it for emptying. We’ll get our mail, and then make a quick trip to town for some supplies and maybe look for a new leaf blower. On the way back up the driveway, we’ll try to get more evergreen branches cut down so they won’t encroach on the driveway so badly. (I don’t know how long it would take for things to grow back as they were before we built our home over 35 years ago, but I don’t think it would be long.)

Hida Tool

It looks like I have today and tomorrow before we’re due for heavy rain Wednesday and Thursday. I think I’ll tackle the weed trees and see if I can reopen our view a bit.

Happy Monday!

Last Saturday of July 7-30-2022

Nicky Litchfield Animal Artist-TheRoseGallery.co.uk

I love this painting!

We got rained out (hooray!) yesterday on grocery shopping. We’re supposed to get more today (HOORAY – AGAIN!) so we’ll leave soon to see if we can get our mail and replenish our food supply before the rain starts. We actually have the doors open this morning and the a/c turned off! This won’t last, but I’ll sure take it right now. :0)

americasbestpics.com

We tried three places yesterday to buy Mega Millions tickets. One place didn’t sell them at all. The two places where I’ve bought them before have changed ownership recently. They have applied for their licenses, but don’t have them yet. I was disappointed, then learned this morning the winning ticket was sold in Illinois….

Free Arts

I had fun experimenting in my art room yesterday afternoon, but only made messes. I have another idea to try today…

I hope you’re enjoying the last Saturday of July.

Ahhhhh!

Medium

Crossing all of my appendages – including my eyes – worked! We finally got a bit of rain yesterday evening! It was mostly gusty wind and bluster, but the dining area windows finally had water on them. I don’t know how much rain we actually got, but we’ll take it. The high is only supposed to be 97 this afternoon. I may take my coat! :0)

Shutterstock

We’ll get our mail, go to Lunch Bunch to catch up with our friends, then drive to Ft. Smith to return my “too-large!” tops to the UPS Store, and finally hit Walmart on the way back.

I’m starting to see the end of my project to make Christmas gifts in my art room for my friends. I think I’ll finish in the next day or two. It’s been a wonderful time with lots of happy thoughts.

Tenor

Today will be DAY 6 on my daily yoga practice. My sweet SIL pointed out that building a new habit MIGHT take as little as 18 days. That sounds a lot less intimidating. I’ll still just keep my head down and do one day at a time until it becomes ‘automatic,’ – assuming I live that long…

I hope that you have an enjoyable Friday and a fabulous weekend.

Raccoon-y, Rainy Tuesday

Natural Resources Council of Maine – Photo by Jayne Winters

A critter like this was caught in our humane trap overnight. My husband just returned from taking our trash down to the bottom of the driveway and ‘relocating’ the raccoon about 5 miles away from us, hoping he won’t return. I stayed here to get chili started in the slow cooker for tonight and to answer a call or meet the driveway guy coming to our house.

Yesterday we decided that we really need to do what we can to improve our driveway.

I’ve told you it’s long (650+feet), quite steep, and graveled (or ‘chat-ed.’) Having a concrete or asphalt drive would take our winning the lottery. The last time we priced it (about 15 years ago) it would have cost $15,000+ at the bare minimum. Actually, the gravel gives us more traction when it’s icy or snowy, so it’s fine with us.

When we get the washing, heavy rains we’ve gotten lately, though, the top 1/4 to 1/3 of the driveway stays fine. It’s the rest of it – steeper as it goes down to the road that runs in front of the house – that gets ‘washed’ badly, causing ruts, bumps, etc. making it harder to negotiate.

We arranged for a guy to come with a big truckload of chat. He can leave the top alone, and then ‘tail-gate’ the chat, letting some out slowly and gradually as he drives down our driveway. We’re hoping that ONE truckload will be enough because chat, like everything else, has gone way up in price.

A complicating factor is that you get chat when they will deliver. You can’t say, ‘Oh, it’s due to rain today. Can you deliver it tomorrow instead?” It’s totally up to the guy. He hasn’t called, but he may just be getting the load of chat and coming. He just told us it would be today. Also, he MAY call and want to reschedule due to the coming rain. My second hope is that, if we DO get it delivered and ‘tail-gated’ this morning, the rains don’t immediately wash big ruts into it….

Rainy Wednesday

“Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.” ~ Vladimir Nabokov

Rover.com

Guess what?!? It’s raining again!! Oh, NOOOOOOO!

“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.” ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

5News

We are just southeast of Fort Smith, so the big green blob with severe yellow and orange blobs encroaching show our day today will be full of storms. A great day to stay inside where it’s safe and warm and dry.

PopSugar

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” ~ Ashley Smith

I ended up doing a good amount of exercise yesterday, but had listed more than I could do. I did the ‘workout for week 2″ online, and that took half an hour, following by videos for warm-up, stretches, and exercises with weights – another half hour together. I also did half an hour of yoga stretches. This was a good amount of exercise for this sedentary broad. I also had elliptical trainer on the list, but was too pooped to do it. I’m going to think again about what I’m doing, since I’m doing more and more online videos, balancing the exercise time and load a bit better. I’ll try my regular trio of videos, the elliptical, and yoga today and see how that goes.

“Never run in the rain with your socks on.” ~ Billie Joe Armstrong

Ah – Rain!

Quora

It started raining last night and is still raining today.

I got my early spring garden planted, so I’m really happy about the rain, even if we drown going to Lunch Bunch today. :0)

Two days ago I got some leaf lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower plants in my raised bed, square foot garden. Yesterday I planted to bunches of red onion sets. I don’t have the irrigation timer installed yet, so I was really glad to see we were expecting rain last night. The garden is started! I’ll probably plant some radish seeds, plus more lettuce (my husband likes me to try head lettuce) if we can find it, but basically, the early spring garden is in. (This photo shows three of the six planter boxes. I took it before I planted the onion sets.)

I’m looking forward to seeing my friends for Lunch Bunch today. It’s a big moment of ‘normal’ in a chaotic, scary world, and I treasure it, and my friends. We’ll probably stop at Real Food on the way home to see if we can find some goodies to bring home.

Since working outside isn’t in the cards today, I’ll concentrate on cleaning some of the inside. Most of what I vacuum up is dog hair. You would think Amber would be completely bald by now.

I hope that you can stay safe, warm and dry today.

I’m Not Old…

Red bubble

Things happen – and more changes in a second than you can believe. Since I’m becoming an heirloom, more happens to the people I love, too.

My friend’s MRI is Monday, where they see how much damage she had from her recent fall. (Nothing broken, thank goodness.) A family member went from the ER to the hospital last night due to trouble breathing. She’s not in pain, thank goodness, but having trouble breathing is scary. My own next test/procedure is the middle of next month. A lot will depend on the results. Another friend texted me to tell me that she and her mom wouldn’t be at Lunch Bunch today. (she was going to a funeral and her mom wasn’t comfortable driving in the rain.) I’ll see what they think of having our Christmas gift exchange next THURSDAY. Fingers crossed.

We repaired a CB Radio antenna wire that the hugely gusty winds we had had snapped off. It runs between our well house and the main house and was hanging down in the yard. So, of COURSE my husband grabbed our tall ladder and wanted to climb to the top of the well house to try to fix it. I helped the best I could, running to the house to get parts, tools, and scrambling up and down the ladder to hand them to him. We got it repaired and back up again. No injuries.

This was topped off by our dog, Amber, coming back covered in ‘that-that-is-not-to-be-named,” and we had to finish off the afternoon by giving her a cold bath in the back yard, something that really got our attention.

Christmas cards feel like hugs. We’ve started hearing from friends and relatives we wish we could see more often. We sent out ours last week, and hope they feel OUR hugs, as well.

I’ll be really glad when Mother Nature decides which season we’re having. We MAY get another 3 inches of rain between now and tomorrow morning. Severe weather chances are low, though, and I’m really grateful for that.

I’m trying to immerse myself in my book and in listening to YouTube videos to keep any bad thoughts in the back part of my mind, happy that we are snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug here. :0)

Lovely Rain

Pinterest

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.”

• Langston Hughes.

Senorgif.com – Cheezburger

“Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.”

• John Updike.

GifPit

“There are many things I do for amusement, but for happiness I like to gather up my memories and go for a walk in the rain.”

• Robert Breault.

TheUnofficialMartinGuitarForum

“Save a boyfriend for a rainy day – and another, in case it doesn’t rain.”

– Mae West.

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…

123RF

I finished the weed whacking I wanted to do yesterday! The tomato planters are clean, the debris is gone, and I got the grass and weeds down from around the planters, under the house, under the deck, down the back sidewalk, and around the brick planter beside the garage pad. And now it’s raining, right on schedule. Hooray!

We’ll run our errands in half an hour, delighted by the rain even if we drown while we’re out. My husband will spew bad words because he’s tired of mowing for the season, but the plants are all breathing a sigh of relief.

It’s quite dark outside, looking like nighttime instead of morning, but we aren’t supposed to have severe weather, just a cold front with cooler temperatures. I’M READY! :0)

If the wind isn’t blowing a lot when we get home, I may get out my umbrella and enjoy a walk in the rain.

Enjoy your day!

Thoughts on a Wednesday 6-9-2021

tomwhitestudio.com

Isn’t this wonderful? The child’s happiness just radiates from this sculpture. (Not sure how happy the frog is, though)

Summer is here in Arkansas all of a sudden. The temperatures are soaring, the humidity is rising. Afternoon thunderstorms are forecast almost daily, with or without severe weather. We have had SO much rain this year that one of the next things we need to do is trim out some of the greenery that is trying to close off our driveway. I will drive the truck S-L-O-W-L-Y down one side of the driveway. My husband will ride in the back, yelling at me to stop each time he needs to work an area. He’ll lop things off as well as possible, throwing the debris to the side of the driveway. When we get to the bottom (650 feet down our steep driveway) I’ll drive to the church, turn around and then go UP the other side of the driveway. We have SO much this year that we will probably need to do this several times before it is reasonably clear.

Ironically, one of the next pressing things is to get our irrigation system for the yard on, tested, repaired where we have blowouts, and schedule to run. Our rain will probably shut off one of these days, like Mother Nature turned off the faucet, and things will dry up and die fast.

I’ll spread out the black plastic we had on the floor of the greenhouse, trying to get the remaining plastic to dry enough that the mud will fall off. Right now the mud and rain makes it weigh a TON. I think that once it is dry enough, I can get the remains into two more leaf bags. Then I’ll spread grass seed on the bare area that was under the plastic and clean things up. And the dismantling of my beloved greenhouse will be finished. I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to make it work. It was too cold or too hot 99 percent of the time. We did what we could, with barrels of water warmed up by the sun, plus a space heater on a LONG extension cord in the winter, and extra fans and as much cross breeze as we could get in the summer. I think we could have made it work if we could have afforded to fully heat and cool it. Maybe we can try again if we win the lottery or the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes.

One thing we were looking for over 30 years ago now when we were looking for land on which to build our home, was running water (a brook, or stream, or even a pond.) We couldn’t find that and ‘settled for” the top of a ridge line with a terrific view of two more ridge lines behind us and the valley in-between. If we had been able to find the water, maybe I could still find the childhood joy of catching a frog…

Nice Day

Depositphotos

It is a wonderful day here so far. It’s overcast, but not raining. I have two main things to do:

THING ONE – get a haircut this afternoon

THING TWO – finish planting flowers.

Yesterday we went to the local nursery to get two flowers that my husband likes – impatiens and wave petunias. We’ve cut back on what we’re planting this year as kind of a leftover from the pandemic. We had already checked several places for flowers. This year I would have been content with planting any number of flowers we saw. Finally, it came down to the fact that my husband wanted wave petunias and impatiens, and was willing to drive to Ft. Smith to get them. Happily, we were able to find a bright orangy impatiens for the front porch and other shady areas in front of the house, plus wave petunias in a gloriously deep purple.

Pahl’s Market

This is the color of the impatiens I planted yesterday. It should spread nicely, filling a couple of shallow round faux terra cotta planters on the porch, plus I dotted them in the brick planters that line the front of the house.

Good Shepherd Holbrook, NY

This is the color of the wave petunias we found. I’m cleaning out 4 large terra cotta pots that live up high on the railing of the deck, plus some other planters on the floor of the deck.

I’ll take pictures when the flowers start to look nice.

Tonight the rains are supposed to start. (My mouth dropped open when I saw this. I may still look like a gaping fish. )

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.

Sun 16

79°/64°PM Thunderstorms50%SSE 11 mph

Mon 17

76°/65°Scattered Thunderstorms51%SSE 9 mph

Tue 18

77°/66°Scattered Thunderstorms51%SE 9 mph

Wed 19

74°/66°Scattered Thunderstorms57%SE 11 mph

Thu 20

79°/67°Scattered Thunderstorms45%SE 10 mph

Fri 21

78°/68°Scattered Thunderstorms44%SE 10 mph

Sat 22

83°/67°Scattered Thunderstorms37%SE 9 mph

Sun 23

82°/65°Scattered Thunderstorms38%SSE 8 mph

Mon 24

82°/65°Scattered Thunderstorms41%SSE 8 mph

Tue 25

82°/65°Scattered Thunderstorms36%S 9 mph

Wed 26

82°/64°Isolated Thunderstorms33%W 8 mph

Thu 27

83°/65°Isolated Thunderstorms31%SSW 7 mph

Looks like we’ll be dodging a lot of raindrops until further notice…

“A Whole Lot of Meltin’ Goin’ On…”

Warmquest

This gives you a bit of an idea of our driveway. This isn’t ours. Ours is graveled, 650 feet +, and STEEP. We had no choice about it being on the north side of our property.

My husband insisted he was going out yesterday to get some sugary treats at the local grocery store. I told him he really should wait – that we could go together Sunday afternoon after more melting occurred. He scoffed and went anyway.

He came back about an hour later with the sugary treats, but without the truck. He was unable to get back up our driveway and left the truck about 3/4 of the way down. He later tried to retrieve the truck, but had to leave it down there.

Today we will walk down the driveway, trying to NOT fall on our heads, hopefully back the truck down to the road, go to town and replenish supplies (my husband said the roads are pretty clear now – our driveway is probably the worst place in town) and then hopefully be able to drive back up and put the truck in the garage.

I’m still amazed that my husband told me I was RIGHT. Right about yesterday being too soon to go to town, and right about the fact that I thought we should put the snow tires on the truck at the end of the fall as we usually do. My mouth is still hanging open.

It’s 41 degrees F. out there now, so we should have ‘a whole lot of meltin’ goin’ on’ (thanks to my smart SIL – and Elvis, of course – for the title.) The forecast for today is RAIN. I won’t complain – even if we drown.

Singing in the Rain?

Vicki Wynberg – Fine Art America

“Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.”
~ Vladimir Nabokov

Clouds, drizzle, rain, gusty wind, hail, flooding, flying hair balls – all on tap for us today, overnight, and into the day tomorrow if the weather forecasters have it right. UGH.

We live on top of a ridge line, so we don’t have a large concern about flooding around our house, but we DO have some concern about lightning and hail, plus gusty winds. In the past several months we have had several more serious storms- resulting in several trees breaking and falling down on either side of the driveway. Happily, they fell AWAY from the driveway, rather than into it or across it, so we are simply ignoring it for right now.

This is a wonderful day to enjoy a warm, dry house.

PandaLifeHacks

“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.” ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Rio Samba Roses

Rio Samba Roses and celery

As you can see from the tomatoes, onions, and roses, I spent some time working in the yard yesterday.

It will probably rain today – in fact it’s dark and gloomy outside right now – so it’s good I got most of the weed whacking done and used the leaf blower to tidy things up a bit.

We will run errands today – and try to vote on the first day of early voting here in Arkansas, and then we’ll be in the rest of the day. Here’s hoping we don’t drown in the rain!

Rain

Pinterest

I’m getting ready to leave for a much-needed massage. It looks like I’ll get a second shower, too, as it’s dark outside with thunderstorms predicted. I’m not water-soluble, so I’ll be happy if there is no hail associated with the storm.

I’ve been working hard lately cleaning, so I’m hoping to reward myself with time in the art room this afternoon. I have a new design for earrings in my head, and I would like to see how it goes. :0)

Our irrigation system brains in the well house keep getting zapped by the various short power outages we’ve been experiencing lately. We ordered a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) lately and my husband put it out there and hooked it up. Hopefully, now we won’t have to reset the thing over and over again. Fingers crossed.

I gathered some tomatoes yesterday. Most were the size of cherry tomatoes, but I will happily use them in salads. Nothing else from the main garden at this time, except some good-looking weeds.

I hope that your day is filled with fun.

 

 

And the Rains Continue

Read It Forward

These days I am truly thankful we live on top of a ridge line. The rain just keeps coming.

Last night while we were watching TV, the wind came, and really whipped tree branches around, to the point I got worried.  This lasted for about 45 minutes, and then things got still. THEN I started to listen for a tornado. Thankfully, nothing happened.

It rained overnight. It’s raining now, it will rain every day for the next week, if the forecasters are right. The air feels like we are sitting in pea soup. We have our doors open now, but we may have to close up and turn on the air conditioner this afternoon for awhile, as we did yesterday until the wind started. I can’t get out to see how our plants are doing. The only thing we are doing is getting the mail and taking our dogs out.  Makes us thankful, too, for a warm, dry house.

Pinterest

“Never run in the rain with your socks on.” ~ Billie Joe Armstrong

 

 

Animal’s Look

“Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.”   Vladimir Nabokov

 

 

Quora

“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.” ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

 

Photography Plus

“I’m just waiting for people to start asking me to make the rain disappear.” ~ David Copperfield

Thoughts on a Thursday 11-21-2019

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I started my day with a glorious massage. I was still having problems from all the leaf mulching I did, even with pain gel and yoga, so it was especially appreciated today. My massage therapist, Lynn Moody, 479-629-7601, truly has a gift for finding sore spots and making them give in to her healing hands.

We’re having a Holiday Open House at Rags & Roses, the local shop where I’m sharing a booth with my friend, Carla.  The Open House is this coming Sunday from 1-5. The address is 100 North Main. There will be food, door prizes, photos with Santa, a musician who plays guitar, fiddle, and mandolin, plus all the nice things people are selling in the booths. I went today to make a contribution to the door prizes. Tomorrow I’m taking an assortment of the new wooden earrings I’ve made recently. They are for sale on ArtFire, too. If you would like to look at them, here they are – ArtFire.

We just had lunch and I’m about to head up to my art room to play. I’m planning to paint another journal, more note cards, a tote, and start more earrings – all with my Unicorn Spit Stain/Glaze. I love that stuff!

It’s getting dark outside, looking like it’s about to pour. We’re supposed to get a lot of rain between now and the end of the day Friday, so it’s a great time to be inside.

Hope you are staying warm and dry, and that you have something to do that makes you smile.

 

Thoughts on a Thursday 10-24-2019

Alma Maghakyan – LinkedIn – Imgend.com

I’m in awe of people who can create .gifs like this.  You can almost HEAR the rain!

I just came back from having a glorious massage by my therapist, Lynn Moody. She is so kind and caring, as well as a master at finding all the tight, sore spots, knots, etc. and making them go away. AHHHH! If you’re in the  Fort Smith/Greenwood/Hackett & surrounding area, call for an appointment. Her number is 479-629-7601. You’ll never stop thanking yourself.

I’m working on another wooden plaque using the Unicorn Spit stain/glaze. I think I’ll have it finished by the end of the day. I’ll take a pic to post here.

I will never be an exercise ‘enthusiast.’ I don’t look forward to it, and still have to be determined to make these sessions priorities on my daily to-do list. But I have to admit that I’m still shocked that my BODY told me it missed my exercise sessions on Monday, when our dogs got into a fight and my day was spent trying to tend to our smaller, elderly dog, Molly, instead of anything else. (She is stronger each day, is eating and drinking and able to go outside with me. Whew!) My BODY complained about my lack of exercise! I felt sore, stiff, and creaky Tuesday morning, and MUCH better after I did my NOW usual time of 35 minutes on the elliptical and 35 or so minutes of stretching yoga. So my attitude has changed from “SHOULD” to “NEED.” This is a sea change for me, and I’m pleased to recognize it.  So today is gloriously physical with massage, elliptical trainer, and yoga.

I’m looking for a good beef stew that fits my keto-macros needs and will be accepted by my husband, who truly loves traditional beef stew I’ve always made, full of potatoes, carrots, etc. I tried one recently while our son was still home. My husband ate one bowl, said, “hmmph” and wasn’t interested in eating more of it. Our son and I ate the rest, thinking it was really pretty good, but until I find one my HUSBAND determines is YUMMY, the hunt continues. I’ll get more serious about the hunt right away because our temperatures are dropping around here, and my husband is looking for comfort food.

I wish you a happy, healthy Thursday.

 

Thoughts on a Thursday 9-26-2019

Animals | HowStuffWorks

We’re having a quiet, soft rain this morning. I can HEAR the flowers, grass, and trees saying, “Ahhhhhh”

Centre of Excellence

I am leaving for a massage as soon as I finish this post!  I’m REALLLLY looking forward to it. Lynn Moody, my massage therapist, is a true miracle worker.

Since it’s raining, I’ll concentrate on inside stuff today, plus my elliptical trainer and yoga.

I’ve been showing you gorgeous melted crayon art lately. I ordered two melting tools recently, and I’ve been watching YouTube demonstrations on different techniques. I’m like a kid at Christmas, waiting to be able to play with them in my art room!

I hope that YOUR day is relaxing and fun.

Toward the End of Garden Harvests

I just came in from taking a quick look at the garden, and then to the other end of our house to the tomato planters. This is today’s harvest, but it’s obvious that the super-hot weather lately has brought a halt to most of the harvests now.

We have had a wonderful time this year. We had a LOT of lettuce, radishes, and tomatoes, and were able to share some of each of these with our friends. The zucchini made big plants, and we harvested several zucchini, but I’ll read about how we can do better on these next year. I also want to plant yellow crookneck squash next time.

The cantaloupe was fun, but all we have are either green or yellowish small ones, all hard as a rock with vines spreading everywhere. I have no clue if they’ll actually continue to grow and ripen or not. Another subject for a lot of reading.  The red onions are still looking good. As soon as the weather gets a bit cooler, I’ll start looking to see if any are ready to come out of the ground.

 

Beautiful World

Of course when I was the farthest away from the house, the rain started. I toweled off when I came in, but it’s a very good thing I’m not water-soluble. :0)

Rain!

 

Alma Maghakyan-imgend.com-LinkedIn

It was really muggy and hot when we went grocery shopping this morning. I had pretty much decided to stay inside today when all of a sudden the sky got dark, the wind was whipping the trees’ branches around and it started to rain!

AHHHHHHHH! This is refreshing for the mind and spirit, if not actually resulting in lower temperature and humidity.

I LOVE IT!

Rainy Wednesday

 Scary Mommy

“I love the rain. I want the feeling of it on my face.” – Katherine Mansfield

No work in the garden or weed whacking today. The bug spraying man came this morning, spread granules outside, treated the inside of the house and then left just before a gentle rain started.

Because of unforeseen circumstances, we had to make two trips into town to get our errands done this morning, but the rain mostly stopped when we had to get out of the car.

Now we are in full of a good lunch, enjoying some quiet time. We have front and back doors open so we can enjoy the nice breeze and the soothing sound of the rain…

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.” – Langston Hughes

And the Rains Continue

Depositphotos

We had strong storms last night with lots of lightning and thunder. Quite impressive. I was relieved to see that we had no discernible damage this morning. It’s raining now, but a quiet, soaky rain that will benefit everything – though my husband is grumbling because he can see the grass growing and he JUST mowed…

I’ve switched to INSIDE stuff today – regular household chores, but I’m going to make some breakfast and then do a session of yoga this morning so I can add another gold star to my calendar. :0)

I hope that the weather is nice where you are and that you’re enjoying your day, too.