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It rained overnight, so yardwork. Will have to wait until later this afternoon, or tomorrow. Cleaning up around the apartment today. Waiting on the fleece that I washed last night to dry. Because of the dampness my bathroom smells like a wet sheep. I guess it should since it is wet sheep fleece in there drying.

Need to clean up the garage a little bit. Once that’s done, I’ll be ordering a small chest freezer for in there. I’m getting an eighth of a beef from my brother end of this month beginning of May. I don’t feel like playing Tetris with the freezers over at Dad’s, so one in my garage is the solution. It’s also a fallback solution if one of the other freezers fail. One of them is over 40 years old.
 
I had an enjoyable time in Havasu Wednesday and Thursday, even though there was nothing happening around the water or boardwalk area. I enjoyed the 5 hour drive each way, quiet time was much needed. The 95* temp and bright sunshine was a shock, I had to buy a white T-shirt because my black shirt was way to hot in the sun. By about 5pm a few ladies started to walk around in bikinis so the day got better at that point. Burgers By The Bridge had delicious food at reasonable prices so I was there for lunch and dinner. The Western BBQ Burger and the Philly Cheesesteak were amazing. Highly recommended.

Last night GF and I went to a neighbors for BBQ and BS. After dinner the music started and so did the dancing. I recruited a friends wife to come over in about a month for a back yard party to teach us line dancing and other fun dance stuff. She is a great dancer and likes country and (yuck) hip hop and other fun dance stuff. She was impressed that I knew a few of the hip hop dances, I don't care for most of that music but a few of the fun songs are OK.

Today I am rearranging the work set up in my trailer to move in my new equipment and set up the shelves for the stock T-shirts. This is my Farmers Market set up and in a couple weeks the Farmers Market will pick up with all the tourists in the area.
 
Went to visit Mom at the hospital and brought things she requested, including her purse. She was super cranky and was going to use her insulin from her purse. We argued, she told me to leave, and I went and got a nurse to talk some sense into her. As I mentioned in the rant thread,she lied to the nurse and accused me of not feeding her and said that I "left in a tizzy". No mention of her telling me to leave. Nurse was a champ and confiscated her insulin in as polite a way as possible by convincing her that the nurse would personally be in hot water if she didn't. Mom was being stubborn about it at first but finally handed it over. I thanked the nurse as she was leaving. Mom stayed mad at me for awhile but calmed down while watching a harry potter movie.

My neck is hurting for no apparent reason. I'm going to try to nap a bit more now that we are back home. Mom is still at the hospital but she wants to be home before her birthday tomorrow.
 
What kind of Speed buggy did you deliver @INresponse My son fools with those things a lot he works a lot at Mudparks and Benefits for UTV racing and rock climbing, bounty holes ETC he hasn't done a dune race YET.
Speed UTV is a brand of side by sides designed and manufactured by the race driver Robby Gordon. One of his 3 shops is in Havasu. They are not like the typical Polaris RZR or CanAm or Honda varieties, they are designed very similar to a full race buggy with much stronger parts and more power. Robby and his son Max took 2 buggy's right off the assembly line and raced them in a big off road race and took 1st and 3rd in the race, competing against vehicles specifically built for racing.
https://speedutv.com/
"In the Evolution 2000 and Evolution Production Turbo UTV classes that were battling for ten thousand dollars in prize money for each class, Thomas Purcell, Max Gordon, Robby Gordon, Bruce Yee, Javier Gonzalez and Jeff Terzo were all on the gas. In Evolution Production Turbo UTV Max Gordon flat out dominated. He sat on the pole, finished first on day one and kept the pressure on the rest of the way. Max beat second place Javier Gonzalez by over 24 seconds and his father Robby in third by one minute. It was an impressive first race for the Speed UTV with Max’s win and three out of four Speed UTV’s in the top ten."
https://utvsportsmag.com/press-release/yokohama-norra-500-day-two/

The Speed UTV my boss has is the 4 seat El Jefe. He ordered it pre-production and waited 4 years for delivery, but the price almost doubled over that time so it was worth the wait. It is very impressive and handles great at high speed on sharp corners and rough roads. He has tried to get it out of control but it just hugs the ground and so far he has not been able to get it up on 2 wheels. If your son is not familiar with them he may be impressed, although they are quite pricey compared to the other brands.
 
I had a good nap. Boo woke me up by stepping on my head. i started drifting back off again so he meowed at me until I got up to put out food. I found poor Fippy sleeping on Mom's chair in the living room. Door swings in and has a spring so he can get in but can't get out. He really misses her. I'm still sleepy and need to take some naproxen for my neck. It's really bugging me today-- as are my hips.

I talked to my mom's eldest sister on the phone briefly and I'd messaged her and mom's youngest sister to let them know what was going on. Can't remember contact info for the 2nd eldest sister (Mom is the 3rd of 4 girls). Pretty sure the other two will let her know though.
 
Went to visit Mom at the hospital and brought things she requested, including her purse. She was super cranky and was going to use her insulin from her purse. We argued, she told me to leave, and I went and got a nurse to talk some sense into her. As I mentioned in the rant thread,she lied to the nurse and accused me of not feeding her and said that I "left in a tizzy". No mention of her telling me to leave. Nurse was a champ and confiscated her insulin in as polite a way as possible by convincing her that the nurse would personally be in hot water if she didn't. Mom was being stubborn about it at first but finally handed it over. I thanked the nurse as she was leaving. Mom stayed mad at me for awhile but calmed down while watching a harry potter movie.

My neck is hurting for no apparent reason. I'm going to try to nap a bit more now that we are back home. Mom is still at the hospital but she wants to be home before her birthday tomorrow.
Nurses are experts at wrangling ‘difficult’ patients in. I hope your Mom doesn’t have any more insulin. She’s going to do herself in if she keeps freely giving herself extra insulin.
 
finished supper, giving somewhat solicited advice about valve lash. @LadyLocust , most of the snow is gone except north facing slopes and a bit in the bush
 
finished supper, giving somewhat solicited advice about valve lash. @LadyLocust , most of the snow is gone except north facing slopes and a bit in the bush
Do you keep track between last snow of spring and first snow of winter? Our snow has come off the mountains fast! Still some up high but not very thick. Hoping for a decent rainy spring.
 
Do you keep track between last snow of spring and first snow of winter? Our snow has come off the mountains fast! Still some up high but not very thick. Hoping for a decent rainy spring.
I would actually have to know what the date is, most of the time I don't know what month it is. our weather is very erratic, it has been below zero for the last 4 mornings, we usually get a big dump of snow some time in May
 
Had a great time plant hunting after lunch. Had friends with me, dug up lots of elderberry sprouts and a few pecans. Got to search a new 30acre property for medical plants. Last time I was there it was a huge cotton field, I was a kid. Found all sorts of goodies, a wonderful day. In fact, I noticed earlier my clothes still smell like the woods in spring. Shame they can’t put that in a scented candle…

The black berries were in full bloom, even found crossvine blooming. Then the kicker! We get back to the family home. I discovered that their mother, before passing, had set out crossvine on a fence, and underneath was yarrow! Clearly the lady knew some plant medicine. Shame kids never listen… I didn't. Anyway, today I got to tell 2 of her kids about these plants. I was honored, I thought the world of their mom and dad. Their dad was the guy who told me the general area where his dad harvested yellowroot (25sq miles, took me 2 years to find the actual location :)).

A great day, no plans but tv tonight...

crossvine blooming then yarrow

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Planted some more garden, took a load to the dump. Got back home and mowed as much as I could get done. Took care of the birds.
Dug up some Nandinas that came up under our old ones to give to my sister and Neice. Took cutting from Forsythias for them and my mom. We are getting together for my dad and Nephew in laws birthdays.
 
Long day at work today, longer than usual.
Got a family event tomorrow and an old friend will meet me there then the two of us are heading off to who knows where.
@Spikedriver good to see your daughter was able to be in attendance for that, I remember you mentioning it. That kind of stuff gets to me. Sometimes when you post about your job or the work you do...reminds me of my LH and the stuff he used to have to do, put up with, etc. Nothing having to do with the railroad and certainly not the grueling labor and schedule you have to deal with, but i don't know how you guys get through it. A good woman helps, I guess.
 
Going to clean my building shortly. Just Buddy left to feed, he was in his little barn all day yesterday in the rain! He'll be glad to have his hay outside!! The pool is so full I'll have to siphon some water out! It's like a giant rain gauge!!😃 Still have some laundry to put away from yesterday, changing sheets, and hopefully cleaning the inside of my truck!!😮 A nap is happening somewhere in there!!
 
Drinking some coffee and watching the Sunday morning news. I crashed at 6 last night and the extra sleep has made all the joints and tendons cranky this morning. I was tempted to go for a walk to loosen up, but still haven’t got off the couch. We are going to church in a bit and maybe to the new Scheels over the hill. I do need to get the irrigation in the garden up and running today, I’m hoping I just need to get the timer set and fix a couple of risers in the beds we added height to last week. I still feel pretty wiped, I wonder if I have some bug in addition to just overdoing it the last couple of weeks. This getting older thing just flat sucks some days!
 
We're going to our JuCo, the College of Southern Idaho and just limp stroll through the campers. The trees are greening up and here come the flowers! Next week, we also hope to sign up for some BIOL courses for the summer; they're both 4-credits, so we're probably just going to audit them.

It's been a bit over three weeks now since Dawn had her total right knee replacement. Both the surgeon and physical therapist says she's doing fine, even though we still do a series of exercises three times a day. We're half-way back to our pre-op 2 mi/daily, but she poops out after about a mile. The weather here in Twin Falls County has been good recently, despite the Official Idaho Wind© trying to blow us into Alberta.
i have had both knees replaced.
Physical therapy is brutal but keep it up.
It will help in the long run.
I still do a routine of physical therapy exercises after 4 years on the second knee.
And 7 years on the first knee.
Still working on steps and weights training increases.
I have my right knee is acting funny.
Left knee may or may not be on recall.
It snaps crackles and pops like it did before I had it replaced.
But the left knee hasn't given out yet.
The right knee has given out recently.
Go figure.
Chemo sucks.
 
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My grand maw worked on my reading some before I started school. Flew thru Dick and Jane in 1st grade. 3rd grade we had something where u could buy some little books. I got three, first one I read was Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. Teacher asked me about it, told her I wanted something different. She had us do a book repot on our book and was blown away at the detail I put in it.
When they started the testing stuff my reading was high school level by 5th grade. I read everything I could find. Daily newspaper cover to cover. Step-dad got a set of Encyclopedia Britannica. At some point I went thru most of those.
The reading farmboy. Lol
Estelle is reading books her Granny read in school.
Yep,
Dick and Jane books.
 
Was planning on yard work, again. Yesterday was beautiful here in the afternoon—sunny and warmish. Today, not so warm and not so sunny. Only plan is to harvest more dandelion flowers and roots for future dye learning. Going to order a “get started with natural dyeing” kit. Will be on the lookout for used stainless steel pots at garage sales.
 
Wow. We usually don't start mowing our hay until July.
Umm...I never said I was mowing hay...

All the grass n weeds in the front yard, back, garden, boneyard n what used to be my goat kid nursery field.
I'm keeping a wide wide area mowed down this year around structures in case of fire later when it gets hot.
Its alot to keep up with and I'm looking forward to it going dormant.
My hay field wont be ready till late june or July but I dont do that myself. A young local couple hays it out with their equipment and keeps most of it. I keep a few bales to winter my two old goats on and a tax break from the county.
It works out good.
 
My daughter had the solemn honor of laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier today. I'm not sure she understands exactly what a privilege it is to honor those fallen soldiers, or why the tomb sentinels behave with the utmost respect and discipline. But I am positive that it is something she will never forget. She is the one in the black dress.
View attachment 128275
That's awesome..
 
Have had several days of Doctor appointments.
Good news is that in 4 weeks I will have 2 new earring aids instead of one.
Will have a gizmo to place by tv so the sound goes directly to hearing aids.
My I phone will be in sync with hearing aids.
My sons and their families are in Az for their dad's side of the family reunion.
That should be interesting.
Lady locust, Estelle and I have been making miniature cherry pies in tart pans.
So before you ask, so their is no super tough crust.
I bought miniature pie crust for her to use.
This pie crust is by the canned biscuits in Wal*Mart.
We got 12 miniature cherry pies, some with her version of lattice top crust.
Not perfect, but we learned something together.
She helped me with the pie filling.
You know the measuring,stirring etc.
Her hunter orange knitted square is about a 1/4 of the way done.
I adjusted her jump rope for her.
Now she is starting to pick that up too.
I have a new power tool.
My sons will dislike it when they find out.
Need to pick up some angle iron for a building project.
And I will payday.
Several years ago when I was my Dad's care giver, my raised beds with vegetables literally walked away.
But now they have reappeared, broken.
Wonky(makes me think kid got hold of hand saw wonky).
So I will be attempting to reassemble them into new but different garden boxes.
My new power tool is Black and Decker Matrix drill with attachments
As of today I have purchased the circular saw attachment.
Payday I hope to purchase the Router attachment and extra batteries, drill bits.
Good to be back.
Seems I might be replacing my right knee replacement in the future.
It gave out. it's on recall. Go figure.
Maybe kickboxing wasn't such a good idea 6 months after knee replacement.
Then the Ortho surgeon shouldn't have told I was go to go doing what ever I was doing before knee replacement. lol....
 
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@MoBookworm1957 sorry to hear about the right knee. My mom had hers replaced but she couldn't or wouldn't do the pt. Said it hurt to much, well it's still hurting, now a chronic issue. The docs can't find anything wrong with either knee... Yet she still wouldn't do the pt. From my observation, do the pt even if it kills you. Not doing it results in a worse condition that the original bad knee.

No plans today but rest and tv... cool outside and a soggy mess from overnight rains. Yep, my recliner is the place to be. :)
 
It was such a beautiful day yesterday and today its warm but a blah grey...
I went to my community group meeting yesterday. The topic was supposed to be on our radios n plugging in other frequencies but we had to postpone that. So we had a presentation and ideas to harden our homes in the event of civil unrest and out of town folks migrating up causing trouble.
Right before the meeting my neighbor called me over because we had a strange van going up n down our dead end road. I was in town , so I finished up n came home and another neighbor came by as well. By then the guy had left and another neighbor called on the phone wondering if we knew who's in the van.
So we all had a good conversation about security n what ifs.
Then I've been cleaning up what used to be the goat kid nursery field. Getting the little play structures out, rocks and mowed...the grass n weeds..again (for mt , clarification ..ya know) . Keeping it knocked down. I need to redo fencing too and take the two goat houses out.
Today. I will walk the pups , clean the chicks house , make my breakfast stuff for days next week then sit down n work on my rug.
 
My grand maw worked on my reading some before I started school. Flew thru Dick and Jane in 1st grade. 3rd grade we had something where u could buy some little books. I got three, first one I read was Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. Teacher asked me about it, told her I wanted something different. She had us do a book repot on our book and was blown away at the detail I put in it.
When they started the testing stuff my reading was high school level by 5th grade. I read everything I could find. Daily newspaper cover to cover. Step-dad got a set of Encyclopedia Britannica. At some point I went thru most of those.
The reading farmboy. Lol
My mother was a great encourager for us for our education. Parents had remodeled their old farmhouse, and on the wall outside the bathroom, a chalkboard was painted. Mom would have us practice numbers and letters, writing our names there. We also had almost every Golden Book that was published at that time. In the afternoons, each of us, four of us, selected a book for her to read. We sat in a huddle on the couch while she read. Of course, we memorized some of those books.

There is a reading assessment, the Developmental Reading Assessment, DRA. There is an interview part of it. Who reads to you? What is your favorite book at home. Many children have no books at home and no one reads to them at home.

On the other hand, I have known children who were reading by the age of 3. A young boy when I was in college doing student teaching, saw a sign on a nature walk we were taking and read it. "Santa Fe Trail" I don't think he was 3 yet. The sister of a couple of my students over the years began reading along with her mother as her mother read to her. Joanie was not 3 yet when she did that. Young children have a sensitive period in their life, around 2 to 3, for letters, print, reading. It is lost on most of the world. After that sensitive period, the work of learning to read is more work, but obviously doable.
 
@MoBookworm1957 sorry to hear about the right knee. My mom had hers replaced but she couldn't or wouldn't do the pt. Said it hurt to much, well it's still hurting, now a chronic issue. The docs can't find anything wrong with either knee... Yet she still wouldn't do the pt. From my observation, do the pt even if it kills you. Not doing it results in a worse condition that the original bad knee.

No plans today but rest and tv... cool outside and a soggy mess from overnight rains. Yep, my recliner is the place to be. :)
I still do the physical therapy exercises.
Walk, recumbent bike etc.
In the case of the right it's faulty screw back off or wasn't attached properly to start with.
And kick boxing probably didn't help either.
Nor did military style 5 k's with full gear in all kinds of terrain.
And yes, the knees will hurt if you don't do the exercises.
Have your mom try chair yoga, I'm told it works wonders.
I use it on occasions when my balance is off kilter.
Otherwise I do baby yoga, yoga with grandchildren.
Estelle is teaching me stretching exercises she does for cheer leading.
 
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