It's Monday and the Start of a VERY Busy Week

Happy Monday. It's a short post today because I took some major time to catch up with all of the comments you've been kind enough to leave my earlier posts that I hadn't had the time to respond to. It's a two-way street - this blog - and I love the comments as much as I love posting every day. But you only become friends when we're exchanging thoughts and commentary, thus comments are very important as well. 

Communication defines itself as interaction between two or 
more entities. When one of those people won't talk or 
communicate, or when they meet every statement with a 
negative shield, that's not communication, that's 
dictatorship. We're living in that in the USA right now 
(to a limited extent), and I'm living it in my home right 
now too. *sigh*

The weekend was too short - LOL - but it was filled with golf. I happen to be very fond of watching golf on TV, so I didn't mind spending the day at Augusta, watching The Masters. It's the official unofficial start of Spring to me. There's many years when I've watched the scenery of Augusta with the green grass and the wonderful flowers, but looked outside my own door to see a scene of white, grey and ice. This year, however, we had four snowstorms, only two of which dumped anything of note. That means it's going to be a dry summer and we'll probably have more garden pests because more survived the Winter cold. But, it was quite a pleasant winter to live through for me with my almost daily trips to the clinic or to radiation therapy. 

I love watching the Masters golf tournament. It's the 
official (unofficial) start of my Spring up here in the 
Frozen Northlands. Even though we had a super mild 
winter, I'm still counting my Spring as having just 
started on Thursday when I saw the green grass and 
flowers and heard the birds of Augusta, Georgia. 

But today is Monday and the start of a VERY busy week. I'll be more in touch tomorrow, just going to leave this for the day and get moving. Still, it's wonderful to be back on an almost-empty schedule once again. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow with a bit more to write about, I'm sure. Slava Uktaini. 

Fences, Yardwork and Printers - It Actually Was a Busy Sunday

We got the quote from the fence company. It's going to be expensive, but not as bad as it could be. Considering we've had the original fence for 30 years, and it's a bit less than double that cost, it could have been much worse. I'll be accepting their bid today so that we can get onto their books. It's probably going to be 3-4 months before it actually gets done. 

The fence style we want is just like this. Alternating 
boards on the bottom section with a lattice top and 
a straight span without finials. We'll have them put a 
capping board across the top to help with water issues, 
and if it lasts as long as the previous one, we shouldn't 
have any issues. They'll get all of the permits, etc. 

DH is talking about building a three-compartment composting bin. We had one at the old house when we first lived up here and it worked really well. We've got the space for it, and if he uses the boards from the old fence, it'll be almost free. We have three panels of the old fence down - the posts rotted and unable to allow them to stand proudly from the earth. Those boards could easily be reused for the compost bin. We'll see if it actually gets built, or if it's another smoke dream, but it would be a nice thing to have. 

We're thinking about a three-compartment compost 
bin similar to this. The cedar planks from the old 
fence should be perfect for the sides and backing. 
It would be a better use than just having the fence company 
haul away the old sections. 

Our tulips and lillies and other early bloom flowers are starting to come up, and it's a pleasure seeing green coming to the garden once again. He's plotting what he wants where - the garden is his thing, and he's lost and at loose ends in the winter when he can't putter with the flowers and plants. The deer, however, have been coming into our yard without hesitation since we no longer have the fence intact. They've been eating some of the bulbs - seeming to have a special love for our crocus bulbs. I'm not sure how many crocus will escape the browsing killers, but hopefully some will. We do love our early Spring crocus blooms, and of course they can't bloom if they're eaten by the damned deer. 

We love our spring crocus flowers, but apparently the 
deer consider it a delicacy. I think, out of maybe eight 
plants (or more), we might have two that have survived 
the deer. *sigh*

We spent a good amount of time yesterday raking up the dead thatch from the grass and getting the last of the fall leaves off the grass as well. Things are starting to green up now, and Spring is fully here. It was the weirdest Winter I've ever experienced up here in the Frozen Northlands. We only had two snowstorms of any accumulation. I shoveled at the shop exactly two times. We had some cold temps, but not much, really. It was as if Nature was apologizing for last year's record-setting snowfalls. But, it also means our soils are parched - no snowmelt to give them a good soaking. We'll have to be early with our watering this year, I fear. 

I'm SO looking forward to having my new 
Epson 4830 printer set up at the shop. I adore 
Epson printers - their clarity is outstanding 
and they're workhorses. I've had the one at 
home for more than a decade and I work it 
hard. It will be a joy to be able to print 
things out at the shop right away instead of 
taking them home to be printed and returned 
the next day. 

So that's about all - not really exciting. Oh! I did buy a new ink-jet printer for the shop. It's two steps above the Epson printer that I use here at home - my workhorse. It was on sale at the office supply company for less than $150 - more than $100 off the usual price - but only through Saturday. I wasn't able to get to the store until first thing Sunday morning, but their computers hadn't been updated yet, and I still got the sale price! Yippee. A total WIN. I'm taking it to the shop this morning and hopefully will have it installed and ready to go no later than tomorrow night (it all depends on how easily things work with our computer system). It won't work for our inventory/sales system, but it will be used to print things like government forms, inventory sheets that I'm devising on the laptop, and other items. It will be a joy to have a top-notch printer at the shop, and when we close, it's coming home with me. It will replace the computer I have next to me in our computer room, and the printer I use now will move to my craft room. Perfect! 

The Epson 4720 printer (just like this) is what 
I've been using at home for more than a decade. 
It's extremely dependable, gives a quality, 
crisp and clear printout, and I can't imaging 
functioning without it. We have an HP printer 
at the shop and it's a piece of crap. The printing 
is fuzzy and it's just NOT a good printer. It 
was free - that's the only good thing about it. 
But I need some quality at the shop now, so 
Epson got the nod. 

So, have an excellent day. I'm plugging photos in here and wrapping things up. I'd like to get started getting that new printer set up ASAP, so I'll be at the shop unusually early today. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Spring - A Very Wet, Possibly Flooding Season for Us

We're in Spring here in the Frozen Northlands, and that means unpredictable weather and warm temperatures dueling with snowstorms. We had a snow over Sunday/Monday that dumped 2-3 inches onto the ground, making our world white once more. But as I drove home from work last night, I noticed all of that snow had disappeared and we were once again at Spring's threshold. 

Yes, we're still able to get snow, and actually had a 
Saturday-Monday where we got 2-4 inches across 
the Cities. But it's really the end of the season, so by 
the time I was leaving work yesterday, it had all 
melted. 

The rivers are flowing high and flooding is happening along many of them. It was a very snowy winter - not the highest snowfall, but up there in the top three. That's impressive snowfall numbers, so our thaw is dramatic and, in some cases, dangerous. River levels are high and the speed is as well, I know there will be flooding in some areas. No doubt. 

This photo is from somewhere in Northern 
Minnesota. As you can tell, there's a lot of 
water our there coming down right now. 
It's beautiful, and it's dangerous. 

DH did manage to get the backyard cleaned up late last week, so we have a full yard waste bucket for Wednesday's pickup, and that part of the yard looks reasonable. The front yard needs some serious raking and cleanup. If we're done with the snow, we might be able to get to it by the weekend. 

As you can tell from this photo on the Big Fork, 
the waters are angry. They are roiling and 
carrying a lot of soil along with them downstream. 
Various towns already have their sandbags 
prepared and laid down, hoping to keep away 
any flooding. We'll see. The next two weeks 
will be crucial. 

He's also dreaming about what flowers to put into his garden this year. He knows he'll have minimal time to devote to it - our focus will be on getting the store closed and the merchandise sold or consigned. He'll be picking low-care items that will brighten our Sundays, because I think we'll still need to get a day off every week or two. It's going to be a high-stress year, for sure. 

Personally, I won't be affected by high water, but Chickie 
will have to use an alternative road to get to and from 
work since she crosses the Mississippi River every day 
to get to work and back home. The yellow dots 
stretching from the Twin Cities southeast follow the 
Mississippi River. The red dots to the northwest 
are on the Red River which actually flows north 
towards Canada. Sandbags have been placed and people 
are on water watch. 

So, have an excellent Tuesday. I'm wrapping this up and heading out to the pool. I think I need a good workout to get my own stress levels back under control. Slava Ukraini. 

It's Friday - We Still Have No Land Line, But We Have a Backyard Again

Here we are - it's Friday and another rather crazy "day off". The telephone is STILL not fixed, and our appointment has been moved to today. Of course, I wasn't home yesterday and DH can't hear anything, so there's a possibility they came to the front door and needed to speak to one of us, and he didn't hear the doorbell. But ... I'm just as inclined to think that repairs earlier in the day had taken longer than expected and the repair person simply ran out of time. DH is concerned that the phone won't be operational by Tuesday when he requires it for his monthly call with his broker. All I can say is I'm trying my best to get this done. 

Honestly ... it's a good thing I really don't depend 
on my land line. DH needs it for a Tuesday 
conference call, but hopefully we will finally 
have it repaired today. 

Since my Wednesday was such a mess, I'm swimming my third time this week today instead. I'll mess up everyone else's schedules, but there usually aren't a lot of people who like that 5:00 am time slot - they tend to come more for the 6:00 am group. We're not on a reservations system any more, the COVID protocols are over and done with. So I'll see who else will be sharing the pool besides me and Rosemary (who swims Monday-Friday at 5:00 am). 

I normally don't swim on Fridays, but since I 
couldn't swim on Wednesday, I'm taking advantage 
of the pool today instead. 

I'll be grocery shopping today, dropping some price tags off at the shop, and then cooking my next batch of "Ogre Juice" this afternoon. I've been turning recipes over in my head ... what do I want to eat? ... and I haven't the vaguest idea. We're unseasonable warm now - it's 3:30 am and we're at 64 F (17.7 C). We'll fall a few degrees before moving upward to tap out in the lower 80's (27+ C) for the day. That's not as warm as earlier in the week, but it's only April. Earlier in the week we actually had temps of 88F (31.1 C). In APRIL!!! Crazy. We'll be back to normal over the weekend, however, with daytime temps in the 40's and 50's and nighttime temps touching at or slightly below freezing. 

Today we're at the edge of the orange (that we 
just passed through). Tomorrow we'll be 
solidly in the blue. Crazy temps for April, but 
April always has surprises in store up here in the 
Upper Midwest. 

Next week we'll be seasonal again - overnights in the upper 30's to low 40's and daytime temps in the upper 40's to mid-to-upper 50's. It was nice to get this preview of summer, but too hot too quickly leads to a melt that is too much too soon and can lead to floods in some of the major rivers in the state. Slow and steady is the best way to come out of Winter and enter Spring. 

DH says he'll plant four Lantana plants for me this 
year. It's my favorite plant for those crazy colorful 
blossoms of multi-colored delight. He's also not going 
to plant any Datura this year. Last year's Datura crop 
got WAY too big for the space he had reserved for it. 
It is poisonous too, so we had to be careful when 
we disposed of it. 

DH actually spent some time in the back garden yesterday. He cleaned and raked and put up the patio table and the grill. He's thinking about plants and what he wants to plant where. Last year's garden was a disappointment for him, so hopefully this year's will be better. We usually won't get plants until Mother's Day, though, and that's almost a full month away. So ... I'm heading out to the pool and getting ready to start my day. I hope your Friday is wonderful and filled with magic moments. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

A Garden Checkup and Spring Is Almost Here, For A Quick Slide Into Summer

I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend. DH and I took advantage of the tolerable weather and took a close look at the garden and the yard to see what will need doing when the weather gets a bit warmer. I was surprised with the number of plants that survived the winter - several of the potted strawberries actually made it through, and my small strawberry patch which we piled dead leaves into for winter insulation seems to have made it to another year. Of course, I have no luck with my strawberries - they grow nicely, but they don't bear a lot of fruit. 

I love fresh strawberries, but I've never had much luck 
growing them myself. I'll work with the ones that 
survived the winter, but I rarely get many berries from 
my greenery. Thank goodness for Farmers' Markets. 

My Columbine seems to have survived, which makes me quite happy. I see the beginnings of several of the lillies cresting the soil, and some of the ornamentals are poking their heads up. It's the end of April, and even though we're still going to have temps below freezing this week, it won't be for any long duration and we're probably finished with any deep snow. We're cold enough over the next two-three days now to have a quick flurry if all of the conditions line up, but it's more likely to be sleet or rain. 

We don't grow a true Rocky Mountain columbine - the 
intense blue/purple of those blooms only occur when 
it grows in the high altitudes of the mountain valleys. 
But, DH does plant columbine for me, and they're lovely 
even though they're not that blue/purple coloring. 

Although I still need to make reservations for the YMCA's swimming pool, they increased the numbers once again and now, instead of the 10 or 15 people they were allowing into the pool, it's increased to 25. It's not something I usually need to worry about in the 5:00 am group, but later in the day - people will be impacted. We only have five double lanes in my little pool, and at least one of those gets reserved for water exercise/aerobics. I'm pretty sure that by the time the outdoor pool opens in a month or so, reservations will be a thing of the past. 

Our outdoor pool is Olympic size, my 30+ laps will drop 
down to 16 laps for my mile. It's a whole new mindset, and 
we usually get a lot of people from other YMCA's in the 
area taking advantage of our pool. So it can be crowded, 
and there's a lot of people per lane. I'm not a super fast
swimmer, so I'll use my short fins to keep up 
the pace. 

So we're pulling out of our long Covid winter and entering a new Spring with some hope. The world might be going to "hell in a handbasket", but my little corner seems to be well on the way to recovery and Springtime hope. I can't do much about the world, but I'm grateful for my own little corner of stability. I hope you have a glorious Monday filled with love and friends and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

One Glorious Spring Day Bookended by Ick - the Story of My Life - LOL

It's Saturday, and I'm so very happy to see this week wind down. Today is going to be a glorious day, weather-wise. Yesterday was cold and rainy, tomorrow will be cold and rainy, but today will be sunny and the first day when we might crack 70 degrees in months. People all over the Cities will be working in their yards today, getting their yards raked and their planting beds ready for new plants. The standard, in my part of the world, is holding off planting many plants until Mother's Day (May 8th this year). That's usually pretty much a guarantee of no more freezing overnight temperatures until September. 

DH likes to take one trip to buy flowering plants, close to 
Mother's Day. He always has a plan for the garden. Last 
year he was happy with some of the plants, but disappointed 
in others. I thought the whole thing was quite lovely - lots 
of green with sparks of color. 

Of course, on this glorious day of sunshine and nice temperatures, I have to work. Tomorrow we'll have falling temps all day, stretching back close to freezing overnight heading to Monday. Ick! I don't think we'll get the rain they were predicting, but it's still going to be much colder on Sunday than today. 

Lantana flowers are my absolute favorite. Although they 
are a perennial in warmer zones, they are only an annual 
in ours. There's only one nursery that carries Lantana, and 
it's quite a distance away from us. We go there once a year, to 
get my flowers as well as varieties of other things we can't 
find locally.  

Since I'll be at work, though, I won't have to handle a rake to get the last of the leaves of Fall gathered up and put into the compost. I'm grateful for small favors, because that's never a favorite task of mine. We may end up doing some more tomorrow in the colder temps, but I'll only have a single day of it where DH has a weekend's worth of work ahead. But he's the gardener, not I. So if he wants to plant flowers and my tomato plants (no more than three this year), he'll have to drag himself away from his computer games and do some yard work. 

It's time to clean up the leaves our neighbor's tree deposits 
in our yard and rake the thatch from the grass. It's actually 
quite a lot of work that DH has ahead of him if he feels 
energetic today. Our yard waste bucket can start getting 
filled again. We're back on a weekly pick-up schedule 
until late Fall. 

What about you? Although most of my on-line friends are in the Northern Hemisphere and entering Spring, I also have some friends in the Southern climes who are bracing for winter ahead. What's on your agenda to get ready for your upcoming seasonal shift? Do you have a yard you have to work in? Or are you in an apartment or a compound where you just need/want to do a bit of seasonal cleaning. Do comment below, inquiring minds want to know - LOL. 

I've been trying to get some Spring cleaning done in 
the house over this past week. I have a lot more that 
needs to be done, but step-by-step I'll manage it. 

Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday morning. For all my fellow LJ Idol friends, get those stories written and posted, the deadline is tomorrow. Cheers, peace and Slava Ukraini. 

It's the Beginning of Spring - Insects, Arachnids and Garden Plants

I can tell it's the beginning of Spring. It might be cold outside, but many of the trees are starting to look fluffy again with the start of buds at the ends of their branches. I'm hearing the occasional mouse or squirrel in my chimney (this is a regular, annual thing - annoying but temporary), and I'm seeing the occasional insect crawling or running across my floor. That's usually ended as quickly as I see it, my foot putting an end to the family line. I don't particularly enjoy killing things, but my home is my personal space and I'm not putting out a "For Lease" sign to critters. 

I don't allow critters to live in my house 
alongside DH and myself. I can't always 
catch them all, but if I see one crawling on 
the floor, it's "game on" and death in my 
shoe on top of it. 

We had a quick snow yesterday morning - it actually came down quite heavily for an hour or so. However, by the end of the day it had all melted and temps were in the upper 30's - very comfortable after all of our cringing cold days of January and February. DH is starting to think about what plants he wants to put into the garden this year and how many tomato plants I want. I know I don't want five tomato plants again - that was WAY too many tomatoes. I want to stick with cherry tomatoes, and I think I only want two plants, three at the most. He mentioned that maybe he'll plant green beans behind the woodshed and that would be absolutely fabulous! I'd love fresh green beans for dinner. 

Too much of anything is too much, and having 
four cherry tomato and one standard tomato 
plant last year was just too much overload. 
I can't eat that many tomatoes, and I hated 
wasting part of the harvest, but I had no 
choice. I think two, three maximum, plants 
will be quite sufficient. 

But, it's still a bit too soon to be seriously planning. Although it's 26F already at 4:00 am, it's March - we're not quite ready for true Spring yet. I can look forward to it, though. St Patrick's Day is on Thursday, and we're supposed to have a high close to 50! That will be amazing and so nice for the people in the parades. Both St Paul and Minneapolis have St Patrick's Day parades, with St Paul's being the larger (we have a much larger Irish population base). I remember temps as high as upper 50's, but I also remember temps as low as upper teens, so 40's will be lovely all around. DH picked up sauerkraut and Pumpernickel bread and cheese yesterday so that he can make Reuben sandwiches with the corned beef I'll make on Wednesday. He's really looking forward to them. 

We didn't have a corned beef last year. I told him I'd be 
happy to make one, but he was only focused on what I 
couldn't/wouldn't eat because I was fairly newly on 
WildFit at the time. Now he's "used" to it, and we've 
learned to accommodate my food choices. I'll eat 
the corned beef, and maybe the sauerkraut, but I'll 
skip the bread, the cheese, and the dressing. I'll 
enjoy my meal as much as he'll enjoy his. 

I got an interesting package in the mail yesterday - a Muama Ryoko WiFi Portable Wireless Router. We get horrible signal in parts of our house, and there are times when I want a better signal, and can't get one. This little gizmo can travel along with me and give me a strong wireless signal of my own. I'll crack the box open tomorrow, put in the SIM card and see how it does. I'm rather looking forward to it, it may resolve some issues with my phone and my laptop and open some locations to me that were difficult before. 

I'm looking forward to using my Muama Ryoko Portable 
Wireless Router. I get into many situations where 
wireless is challenging or spotty. This should help a great 
deal in getting a clear signal and keeping my personal 
privacy settings intact. 

I'm out of here. The swimming pool is calling my name. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. And Fuck Putin, Peace for Ukraine. 

A WildFit Success and Thoughts for the Weekend

I had a lot of fun interacting and listening to fellow members of my WildFit "Tribe" on yesterday's zoom interactive call. We had a lot of new faces in the group, and a lot of older "friends" from the program, people who are usually there for the weekly call. I got the support I needed for this weekend's challenges, and gave others positive reinforcement for their own goals and issues. 

I didn't join WildFit because of health issues, but many of 
our group did. To have it work so splendidly for so many 
of our group is outstanding. To hear Harpreet's story of 
success was massively uplifting. 

One wonderful thing ... WildFit is known for its success with Diabetes 2 patients. One of our group came on and told us her blood sugars had been normal the previous day, so she stayed off her medications for the day thinking to see if it was a fluke. On Friday, her blood sugar levels were in the "normal" range once again, and she hadn't taken the daily dose of medication she has had to take for the past 15 years. She ascribes this to the food program we're on, and she was almost in tears as she shared her success with the Tribe. I admit I got a tear in my eye as she was explaining her results and how much this meant to her. What a triumph! 

Diabetes has been growing massively over the past 50 
years. It's expected to jump an additional 55% in less 
than 20 years. Diabetes 2 is curable. But rarely is. 

I know the program is working with several different physicians and institutes for this very thing - Diabetes 2 is epidemic in our society, and if we can get levels back down and healthy people through the food plan, it's a total win/win for everyone. I know I'm feeling fantastic, I'm down almost ten pounds now, and I have energy. I'm working on my cooking ... I'm still learning flavors and which things go well together. Sunday will be a challenge - a set of ribs in the slow cooker with Bar-B-Que sauce for DH, a second batch of ribs in the oven with a dry rub for me. I need to figure out my marinades today, and I'll have to clear out some refrigerator room so the ribs can marinate overnight. 

I actually have two of these old crock pots, I use them in my 
studio for chemicals that need to be used heated, such as 
pickle for my sterling silver work. The one I use in my 
kitchen is slightly newer than this - the lid is plastic instead 
of the glass of the older version that always broke when 
you didn't want it to. 

DH says he's just crabby about everything, and he doesn't want to be crabby, which makes him even crabbier. He says that nothing brings him joy anymore. (I'm not sure if anything ever DID bring him joy ... but who am I to judge?) I told him if he concentrated on not being crabby, perhaps he would find something to bring him joy. It's like talking to a brick wall. I know this can sometimes be the prelude to something much more dangerous - Alzheimer and other medical conditions. I'm really hoping this is temporary and that nicer weather and an easing of Covid restrictions will let him have some fun again. But who knows. 

Here's a Bouncing Spring Chicken for all of you - a 
little smile to start off your day. Enjoy your weekend! 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have an absolutely fantastic Saturday and I'll be back on Monday. Remember to be kind, stay safe and please wear your mask. *Hugs* to everyone. 

Baby Steps - The Dryer and the Sandwiches

Today we're trying again with the clothes dryer. I decided, after much research, that I'd rather spend the additional dollars for the repair instead of purchasing new, and also insisted on "first thing in the morning" today for the repairman. That means he'll be at my door sometime between 6:30-8:30 am this morning. I might have a functional dryer before 9:00 am, and that would make me extremely happy. I have a full slate of things I need to do today, but if I can just get that one thing accomplished, I'll consider it a total win. 

I already did my morning meditation, and it's 
raining, so I doubt I'll be going for a walk 
(unless walking the aisles of the grocery 
store counts), I might listen to music ... or 
not, but at least this would be an easy 
To-Do list for me - LOL. 

It's raining, as it's been doing for the past 24 hours. If it was colder (it's in the low 40's at 6:00 am, so nowhere close to freezing) we would have a miserable blizzard. Instead, it's looking more and more as if we're going to have an early Spring. I'm hoping we won't have an April blizzard to mess things up, but I'm totally on board with an early Spring - 100% happy about that idea. 

By April 18th last year, we had the patio and yard pretty 
well cleared of the winter's detritus and were ready to set 
the patio umbrella into the iron table. It's looking as if we 
will be ready on almost the same time frame again this year. 

Of course, when I look back at my photos, we were cleaning leaves from the backyard patio on March 30th last year, but we still had snow on the ground in late March 2019. Our snow has been gone for most of March this year, so I have high hopes that we've dodged the weather bullet and might be able to enjoy our outdoors once again. 

DH bought himself a loaf of Pumpernickle bread, a can 
of sauerkraut and a corned beef yesterday, and had two 
sandwiches for his dinner last night. Although I adore 
Reubens, I wasn't even tempted. I had my own dinner, 
and it was quite tasty. 

DH broke down, finally realized that I'm eating differently than he, and bought himself a corned beef and some sauerkraut. Last night he made himself Reuben sandwiches and a salad. I'm trying to think about what fish I want for dinner on Friday. The salmon I've had for the past two weeks has been lovely. I might just go that route once again and repeat Friday's recipe because that garlic and ginger combination was amazingly good. 

My thoughts today are NOT deep thoughts. No ... my thoughts 
today are completely shallow. That's really not a problem. 
Not everyone can fix the world's problems, and if they 
think they can, they're so VERY wrong. 

So, that's my deep thoughts for today ... in other words, pretty shallow. Then again, I'm not taxed with resolving the world's problems, so shallow can be good - at least for my Wednesday. Have an excellent day - be kind, stay safe and please wear your mask. I'll return tomorrow. 

Stay-at-Home - Day 30 - A Venture Out, An Adventure

Today I have an 8:30 am appointment at the Auto Body Shop for Minion. They'll replace the shark fin and fix the roof. The shark fin is the easy part, the roof repair might end up requiring a complete replacement of my roof. I cleaned the car out on Saturday while helping DH rake the thatch from the grass. The car hasn't been this empty since I bought her years ago. The insurance company arranged for a rental car for me during the time of repair, so I'll have a strange car in my garage for a while. I have no idea how long this fix will end up taking, but it is what it is. I just hope they do a good job. 

At the very least, they'll have to pull up the depression in the roof and
repaint it. At the most, they'll have to pull the sunroof out and pull off
and replace the entire roof with a new one. I have no idea, I'm just very
grateful that my insurance will cover the cost. 

For the first time in over a month, I actually woke up hours before my alarm, at my usual time of 3:15 am, and I couldn't manage to get back to sleep. So here I am, almost on my old schedule of posting times. Not a bad thing, but 90 minutes before I wanted to get up, and WAY too early for me to get onto the treadmill. So I'm catching up with email and doing my blog and other miscellaneous things. 

The rules are pretty simple - don't go anywhere unnecessary, wash your
hands often, keep social distance between you ant others, etc. It's
almost become a mantra. I wonder when hugs will return, I miss them. 

I really don't have much to say today, life has been rather boring while we're housebound. DH still thinks the Stay-at-home will be pushed outward to the end of May, I'm still thinking we'll be able to re-open on May 4th. I guess we'll have to see what happens. 

Did you get a chance to see this amazing photo released by Hubble to
celebrate the telescope's 30th birthday? It's called "Cosmic Reef" and I
loved it so much, I added it to my computer's Wallpaper rotation. Just
stunning! 

So that's life from the trenches of the Frozen Northlands, which isn't frozen anymore (except in the far northern portions of the state) and which has trees that are actually starting to show their first leaves. We're sitting outside on the patio almost every day for an hour or so, just to get a bit of fresh air and enjoy the early Spring. The flowers will come, but they're slow, and DH is chomping at the bit to go to the local Home Depot and buy plants. Maybe we'll do that later today. Have a great Monday, stay safe, stay home, and stay well. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Stay at Home - Day 24 - Venturing Out

It'a a Tuesday, and that's the day I cut checks for company bills. We're an old-fashioned company. I might pay my personal bills via electronic checks, but for the store, I actually type paper checks and mail them. I know that's almost as old as pressing cuneiform characters into clay or painting Egyptian hieroglyphics onto reed papyrus. Having paper checks makes DH happy, and since he's in charge of the finances, I try not to rock the boat. 

I learned to type on a machine very similar to this one. This typewriter
dates from the mid-1950's, I received my first typewriter as a gift
from my father in 1964. I used it through college and over the years
developed some impressive speed and skills on the keyboard that
has been a key to my employment through the 1980's. 

However, I don't own a typewriter outside of the shop, so to type checks, I have to drop by the shop. That's OK, I also pick up the mail on Tuesdays (and Saturdays), so I had the chance to add one more bill to the small pile. I'm missing some mail, but so far I've been able to get e-bills from the vendors we were missing. I suspect I might never see some invoices, but as long as I'm not overdue on any payments, I'm OK. 

Our trees are starting to look bushy - what I call it when the
leaves are just starting to bud. I love early spring up here
in the Frozen Northlands. It's a beautiful season and a
time of hope for all of us, despite the pandemic. 

It was a nice errand, though, because it's blue skies, just at freezing for the temps - a little cold for this time of year, but still within reason - and the trees were showing their first hints of green. Grass, being a sturdy plant, has been growing in over the past month and well-kept lawns are looking lovely and green. My lawn is NOT well kept - it's so shady that a majority of my "grass" is actually Creeping Charlie - a weed. But it's green, and the grass tries to come up also, so by the end of May, we'll have green, just not a beautiful sward of grass fit for an English manor house. 

I would love to have grass that looks this beautiful. Unfortunately, we
have too much shade from our numerous trees to be able to get
anything close to this. DH isn't the "Grass Whisperer", but he is
most certainly the "Fern Whisperer". Our fern crop this year will
be magnificent once again. 

We're into our final two weeks of quarantine. I'm hoping that our customers will come back once we're open again on the 4th of May. I was cheered by one piece of mail from an older woman whose necklaces I've been repairing for a few years. She wants me to contact her and has a "box" of necklaces she wants me to repair. I guess I'd better finish my Owl Project (the display stand should arrive next week) so that I can devote myself to a "box" of repairs. Of course, a "box" could be three or thirty pieces. 

I hope all of you are enjoying your day today. Stay home, stay safe, stay well, and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Stay at Home - Day 23 - It Was a Nice Weekend

Saturday was a beautiful, warm, and sunny day with some wind, but that was OK. DH had been watching the weather carefully and decided Saturday would be a great day to bring the grill out of the storage shed and grill some steaks for dinner. Yummy! I thought that was a great idea. 

Here, we've cleaned off the patio, pressure washed the umbrella,
and washed the table and chairs. We bought the patio set
when we moved into the house in the 1980's, so we've had it
a long time. We spend a lot of time in the summers sipping
drinks on the patio, protected from the sun by the umbrella
(and a nice, wide-brimmed hat that I always wear). 

To do that, though, we had to do some spring cleaning on the patio and the backyard that we really spend most of our time in. I pulled the pressure washer out of the storage shed and attacked the patio table umbrella - dirty and with some patches of mildew from years of neglect (we love the umbrella and are always looking for a replacement, but we really like our stripes, the colors, etc, and haven't found a good replacement after years of looking). So, I attacked the umbrella with the pressure washer and then with a stiff brush. It looks great - happy and drying in the sunshine while we swept and raked away the last leaves of the autumn season. 

A small patch of snow in my front yard, in a shady
space that usually has a mountain of snow in the
height of the winter season, is all that remains of
the cold season. We're into Spring now, and this
probably has melted away by today. 

While driving out to the Post Office on Saturday morning, I noticed a single patch of snow still in my front yard, so I took a picture to celebrate the last of the 2019-2020 season of snow. We're finally into warmer temperatures and it's time to truly celebrate Spring. When coupled with our enforced Stay-at-home regulations (until May 4th), I'm settling in quite well and I'm really happy. I'm enjoying sleeping later, being less rushed and less stressed, and I'm relaxing more than I have in years. COVID-19 may be a disaster worldwide, but I'm enjoying some aspects of it. 

From the East towards the West, looking across the patio to the table
nestled in the curve of the wall. DH spent a very hard year working
on making the walls and the staircase to the right (not visible in
this photo). We hired a firm to grade the rest of the backyard and
set the patio for us, although we purchased all of the bricks and sand
necessary. They actually did a decent job - not fabulous, but I really
can't complain. It's a nice herringbone pattern. The stacked logs
will be put into the woodshed after DH has built that. It's high
on his list for this summer. 

So, on that note, I have given two views of our patio area - facing to the west where we have our rounded walls that DH built several years ago, and facing to the east where we will build the wood shed on the far left this summer, and maybe, someday, a pergola at the far edge of the grassy area. But that's for the future, and right now, we're concentrating on making it day-by-day. I hope all of you are healthy. Stay safe, stay home, stay well. I'll be back tomorrow.