Update

Ok...when the day starts off "funny" (funny as in weird, not going as planned, etc.) one should just return to bed and stay there!!!!

To begin with: the flowers that I couldn't identify...they're coral bells!!! Easy, huh?

The neighbor that wants to mow two strips into my yard: we discussed it this morning. I was out applying weed-and-feed and he started edging, so I decided it might be time to say something. I asked him to please not mow into my yard, as it's creating a little problem and that for the past 3 1/2 years he mows 1 to 2 strips over into my yard and that I would appreciate it if he wouldn't do that anymore. Finally slamming his dumb mouth shut, he said, "Well!!! I didn't know it would be such a problem for you!" I just said, "I'd sure appreciate it..." And I walked off! No love lost, I'm sure. I did notice that he edged about a foot over the line, but I don't think I'll go back for that. I probably outweigh him and I'm about 4 inches taller than he is...I don't want to hurt him! Much.

Then I cleaned the pool...hey, it's happening!!! Looking pretty good. I fully intend to get in a swim before the weekend is over!!! The water is about 75 degrees and BLUE!!!!! (More on this later.)

After cleaning up I went to run errands. The "phone store" isn't in either of it's two former locations. Finally found it....wanted to do the free exchange with my battery. First battery says "Invalid Battery" when I plug it in (in my car, in their parking lot...no dummy coming home first). Well, they put in another one and so far it seems to work.

Went to buy some little Dixie Cups for the bathroom and the place doesn't have those anymore...so I chose something else...it said $1 on the shelf...and $2 at the register. Ok.

Walmart did let me exchange the oily tuna...but she explained that they don't normally let people return food products. And I explained that I wasn't having a good day and might lie down in the floor and hold my breath and scream....I said it with a smile!! But she let me exchange the tuna.

I went to the pool store to get my water tested...and lo and behold...guess who needs still more chemicals. And they ain't cheap chemicals! $61 more and I'm guaranteed that within 24 hours my pool should be beautiful. It was looking pretty good before I went...so now it supposed to be a sure thing. Of course, getting all the instructions from the people at the store, I came right home and started putting the stuff in the pool...as instructed. Well....about 1/2 way through dumping the 3 liter bottle into the skimmer, I thought it was feeling thick. NOBODY SAID TO SHAKE IT FIRST!!!!!! And I didn't read the directions! So I added pool water several time and shook it and kept adding it....I can only hope it works correctly. Dumb, dumb, dum! I think so far this spring I've spent a little over $400 opening this pool....and I'm not done yet, as the pool crew is going to come out and change the sand in my filter. I DO already have the sand however...so it should just be labor $$.

And...ask me about the new diet! I bought some small candy bars to give to the people at the pool store (this was an idea developed prior to the $61 chemicals)....and so of course, I bought a package for myself as well....so much for not eating chocolate. And before you tell me to just eat one or two a day...TOO LATE!!!!!

I also just heard on tv that if you spend time sitting around with someone who bores you or leaves you feeling empty, the perfect mate is probably out wandering around looking for you. So, no more sitting around with Mr. Not-Right......whatever that means!

Count your blessings! I'm actually in a pretty good mood and feel fortunate to be able to do the things I do and have the things I have. I'm healthy (as far as I know), I'm able to feed myself and keep a roof over my head, and even at 65 I can usually still get a man's attention (requires either yelling, "Fire!", "Free!", or a big plate of barbecued meat....but I can still get his attention!)

Hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Don't forget to thank God for our military people that are spending time away from their families to save ours. BRING 'EM HOME!!!!!

Oops!

Oh-oh! Just opened a can of that tuna and discovered I'd bought "in vegetable oil" instead of "in spring water" so the other three cans will be going back tomorrow!!! Shucks! I force-fed myself the oily one anyway....HUGE difference in calories AND in taste. Water is much better!

It's Time

The swimming pool still looks like a scum pond, but I'm throwing in chemical$, and doing new treatment$, and cleaning$ and backwa$hing$ it daily now. Currently waiting for the latest experiment to work....twelve to seventy-two hours they said....we're at 25 hours and I see damned little difference!!!

BUT.....I'm sure sooner or later it'll get straightened out and I'll be out there swimming and sunning and having a good ole time! So....it's time to drop some pounds. I bought green beans (yuck...had to pick tooooooo many when I was a kid), corn (I know, not diet), beets, carrots, tuna (the cheap stuff), crackers, and some "refrigerator" veggies.

My new "chocolate" will be strawberry preserves on crackers.

You'll notice I didn't buy a whole lot and I bought the cheap brands. That because I'm not required to diet (dictated by some man). I'm a firm believer that I'll be what I want to be. And, since I've been here many times before, I know that me on a diet won't last all that long...maybe a week or two. But, so if I drop 10 pounds, I'm happy!! Maybe I need to lose 40 or 50...but 10 is good too!!!


And just so you don't think Schiz has to suffer with cheap dogfood...nope...she's Iams and Purina One all the way. Used to be (back in the good ole days) she was Science Diet .. dry...then some fool introduced her to wet dogfood. Big Mistake!!! She does get the "ground" version, not the chunks in gravy. Chunks in gravy and Shih tzu beard do NOT go well together. She really isn't offended but I have to stay with her when she's eating so I can catch her right away and wipe her face or she wipes it herself...on the light colored living room carpet. No chunks in gravy!

So hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be thin and gorgeous....well, shucks..and rich and popular and madly loved!!! Might as well go for it all while I'm out there. Like I said, "I've been here before".....don't think ANY of those things are gonna happen!!!

Oh well....count your blessings...I do!

New Flower Bed - No More Fishless Pond

Some of you may remember last summer when I bought and thought I wanted this little fishpond "thingee." Well, I've decided it was just a thing to draw mosquitoes and have to try to keep clean, so yesterday I changed it around a little.


After emptying and pulling out the black liner, I filled in with a couple of bags of topsoil mixed well with a huge bag of Miracle Grow Garden Soil. (I'm a huge fan of Miracle Grow anything --- it's just good stuff!!)


I'd bought a sweet potato plant to put in this bed, but somehow I got side-tracked and it wound up in a hanging bucket beside the flower bed.

I had a hosta that just wasn't in a good spot: too much sun I think, so I moved it.

Then I moved whatever that is with the spike of pink flowers. Everyone seems to know what those up except me...please somebody tell me. They have a scallopy leaf and look kind of like a geranium but they're a perennial. They get tall spikes of pink flowers (see the 3rd and 4th photos) If you can identify them for me I'd appreciate it.

I had some hen and chicks that Pat had given me so I moved them up there too.

The pampas grass and the zebra grass as well as a couple of mums were leftovers from fish pond days but they're going to stay put.

I'm just hoping it will all fill in and be pretty and not draw mosquitos!

Just for Fun

I got a new stick deodorant today. The instructions said: Remove cap and push up bottom. I can barely walk, but whenever I fart the room smells lovely.

Ah...the joys of bicycling.....

Yesterday was another beautiful day. Still trying to loosen up that hamstring so I went up to the little bike path (Hutch has two bike paths - hopefully someday they'll meet) and rode up and back and up and back and got home with 10.65 miles. Hamstring seemed better.

Carol and I decided to ride again this morning. We decided to just go to the south end of the bike trail (the BIG bike trail) and ride it north, then back south, and then back across town. Wound up with 19.25 miles. A nice ride. However, I noticed about the 14 mile mark that I was definitely feeling the old hamstring pull again.

Since I think this problem originated from my bike seat being changed, I decided it needed to be changed again...just a little.

I had ordered some new bike tires and received them yesterday, so after I got home I decided to put those on. I got RED ones!!!! I think after I ride them for awhile most of that may go away...but I thought they were kinda cute!

After some struggling and cussing, I finally decided I just didn't have the hand strength to loosen the allen bolt/nut/whatever they call it to adjust my seat, so after my son got home I asked him to do that and we adjusted it. All this is happening in the sunroom. Needing to "try it on" I slipped on a pair of flip flops that were handy, and swung my leg over the bike. Trying to balance and sit on the seat and still reach the floor, and well...I'm a klutz. I fell COMPLETELY OVER!!!! IN THE SUNROOM !!!! J helped me up and asked if I was ok. I thought so....I had barely skinned my left knee on the wicker/rattan rug out there and my left hip hurt...but I'm ok. Five minutes later I decided my hip still hurt, I should go look. Well....like I always say: Count Your Blessings!!!! There are no pictures....but my lower hip (the part where women usually bulge) looks like I've been kicked by a mule. And has started feeling a little like that too. I have a small thumb-sized bruise and a larger chicken egg-sized bruise on my left knee. And my ego is SHOT! I told J that if I wasn't so fat, I would have probably broken my hip, but my padding cushioned it for me, I guess.

J mentioned that the tires were kind of slick and I need to watch out for them until I put a few miles on them. Maybe that's part of why I fell? But a couple of short rides to check the seat position and I'm ready to go again.

Now...how am I counting my blessings? Well....no one except my son saw me do it!!!!! He did however make some snide comment about me evidently not needing to be in motion to fall over....

Beautiful Day!!!

I just got back from a little short bicycle ride....and all I can say is, "If you're not out there, then GET OUT THERE!!!!" It is beautiful!!

I've been fighting some hamstring "stress" and decided that today is the day to stretch it out a little, so I went up Plum Street to the new entrance to the Hutchinson North East Bike Trail (or whatever they call it...something like that). It's just a little less than 2 miles from end to end, so I had to ride it a couple of times, but rolled back in the driveway with 10.02 miles. Good enough to see if my leg tries to pull up into my fanny!!!! (It doesn't really, but it sure feels like it when it ties up.)

Go outside. Sign off this thing, and go outside. It's just beautiful. I gotta go out and putter around in the back yard....bye.....don't forget to count your blessings....and this day would be one of them!

Got Another Dog

So yesterday I stopped at a garage sale and the people had dogs. The woman was holding a 5-month old Pekingese on her lap that was just the cutest thing ya ever saw (and that's saying something...because as much as I love Shih tzus I'm just not too crazy for Pekes). But this one was really cute and well mannered.

As we discussed dogs she had her husband bring out the most gorgeous critter I think I've ever seen. She was an 8-month old Shiloh Shepherd. WOW!!!!! Looks like a VERY large German Shepherd but with a little bit longer hair...and not as low in the hind quarters. Extremely affectionate and just beautiful! They've been around since the 1970's but are not yet an AKC recognized breed (according to Google) but they can be shown in specialty shows. My understanding (and this may be dead wrong) is that they are a breed developed from cross-breeding German Shepherds and wolves and Great White Pyrenees. I see Pyrenees only in coat density and size. What a gorgeous animal!!! Females are around 120 lbs and males 130-140 I think it said. Google it and check it out!

Anyway...as you can probably tell by the pictures, I came home with a dog. He's a digger...just can't get a picture with his head showing. Schiz wasn't at all sure she liked him at first...now she just ignores him.



Ok....he's battery-powered and that part doesn't seem to work. The man said, "He barks...and makes another noise...." His wife said, disgustedly, "He FARTS!" They told me up front they didn't think he worked anymore....but I tried fresh batteries and could only get a little grunt, grunt noise out of him. But I only gave a quarter for him!! I originally bought him to put in my sister's yard (she hates me)...but now I'm thinking he's kind of cute back by the polycart! I may just keep him...at least, for awhile.

I know....I've really got to quit going to garage sales!