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Got woken up by cats around 9 (I racked out from exhaustion after all the cleaning and having to load up mom's stuff). No cold food in the house & nothing to really cook. Got kept up last night by the raccoons battling with the dogs. Watched one of my dogs jump up on the counter to chance a raccoon that jumped up there to get away from her. Raccoon scared one of my cats by swatting at her near the sink. She ran and peed in a food bowl (that had food in it). Raccoon later went over and ate the peed on food. I keep hearing the coons battling with the dogs. Definitely need to find a way to keep them out. There are 3 at least. A smaller one was the one who got up on the counter. My brother claimed one of the larger ones swatted at him and growled when he tried to pull the dog away so the coon could go back outside. He said he punched the raccoon (but he tends to exaggerate).

Looks like we will have to fix the back door sooner rather than later. Will be a pain to clear the weeds, vines, and stuff in the way. May need a new hedge trimmer bc I can't find the charger for the battery for mine & they don't seem to sell them anymore.

Went to town and had my friend go with me to Tractor Supply looking for the float switch D-Box. He changed that out & it still didn't work. I noticed there was a junction box getting rained on after the tin on the lean-to got blown up and twisted. I pushed it back in place (it's not secured) so it is covering the junction box so it should stay dry now. Looks like the motor burned up on the piston pump. Found one listed as "new" on Ebay with money back guarantee if it doesn't work. It's the same frame size, rpm, voltage etc as my current motor.

Went to a local place to get fried chicken since there's nothing to cook. Got Burger King for Mom. I May need to use bottled water to clean the fridges out so we can start getting cold food in there. Turned the cold to max in fridge and freezer to kill the larva & bugs that got in. Gonna suck cleaning it all out, but it has to be done.

I'm thinking of covering up the hole in the back door to keep raccoons out and opening my bedroom window to let the cats out. I can let the dogs out when they need to go.
 
That sounds like a lot to deal with @zannej !

I was up at 3 again this morning. Our company has 2 cats which are confined to their bedroom-DH's room- and I don't believe they are emptying and cleaning the litter box as often as they say. I can smell it from outside the door. Any thoughts as to what enzyme cleaner I may need after they leave?

I will walk first-when it gets light, feed dogs and then stop at doc's office to pick up printed lab work, go to Kroger, and then to Walgreens for passport photo. Updating as old one expired a few years ago.

When I get home, I will take eBay phots and make rice for dogs, also cook sausage to add to some soup I had frozen. DH has a doc appt. later but I think I will stay home--maybe.
 
Just found out today sons 9th grandchild was born a little girl which makes it even 5 boys,5 girls.Which 3 we haave never seen except in pictures. We don't travel to Tx. and grandkids all have jobs.
I think this makes it 15 Great Greatgrandkids for us.
 
LadyLocust said:
Pedialyte is good for grown-ups too. Will also help keep her hydrated.
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She never puked, just close all morning, Zofran finally kicked in about noon. We can't have her puking, that could fracture another vertebrae. Can't have her coughing or sneezing, that also could fracture one.

She is feeling a little better today.
That little house went to contract the same day it listed. Went looked at another , just listed, called on it .....under contract.
It's kinda frustrating.
So I got the best selling agent in our county , is coming over tomorrow , and said she will know when something is coming up for sale. She wants more detail of what we want.

Hopefully I can rest today.
May have gun buyers coming .

Y'all need to have a beautiful day.

Jim
 
🙏's for all. 🙂

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I got up and started in on tomatoes this morning. Tuesday is my kitchen detail day (extra cleaning in the kitchen.) Like I said before, it looked like a farmers market. I got a big pot of toms. down to the simmering for sauce stage. Had to put it in the fridge so I could get to work, but at least a big bowl of them off the counter. Also, Mom wanted one more batch for sauce. Have a huge bowl for her out in the summer kitchen so she can swing by and pick them up on her way by. Washed the bowls that were emptied and got strainers, bowls, and pots all put away. Not finished yet but couldn't deal with all of it everywhere. Got summer kitchen mostly cleaned this weekend so it's in a little better shape. Picked a huge tub of lavender. Was going to just take the pruning sheers to it, but the seed heads are so big and full this year I couldn't let it go to waste. Now I'm at work and going nuts already so took a minute break to pop in here - y'all are my sanity 😁
 
phideaux said:
She never puked, just close all morning, Zofran finally kicked in about noon. We can't have her puking, that could fracture another vertebrae. Can't have her coughing or sneezing, that also could fracture one.

She is feeling a little better today.
That little house went to contract the same day it listed. Went looked at another , just listed, called on it .....under contract.
It's kinda frustrating.
So I got the best selling agent in our county , is coming over tomorrow , and said she will know when something is coming up for sale. She wants more detail of what we want.

Hopefully I can rest today.
May have gun buyers coming .

Y'all need to have a beautiful day.

Jim
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Glad the wife is doing a little better today.
Hope this new agent will find yall just what your looking for.
Be sure and get a good inspecter to check it out,I'm sure you already thought of that, plus get it under contract but don't buy till you check out the n-hood.
Reason why we haven't moved from the woods is because of how bad many places are now. Once your home place is gone the choice is gone with it.
If its only 3 miles from where the house you were interested in is then you may want to really think through this leaving.
 
phideaux said:
She never puked, just close all morning, Zofran finally kicked in about noon. We can't have her puking, that could fracture another vertebrae. Can't have her coughing or sneezing, that also could fracture one.

She is feeling a little better today.
That little house went to contract the same day it listed. Went looked at another , just listed, called on it .....under contract.
It's kinda frustrating.
So I got the best selling agent in our county , is coming over tomorrow , and said she will know when something is coming up for sale. She wants more detail of what we want.

Hopefully I can rest today.
May have gun buyers coming .

Y'all need to have a beautiful day.

Jim
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Glad she is feeling a little better today. If there was slight improvement everyday, then you could both feel more confident in the return to normal, or maybe the new normal.

Back bone: Is there a way for her fragile vertebrae to be improved? If I remember correctly, they injected something into one at some point in time to strengthen it.
 
LadyLocust said:
I got up and started in on tomatoes this morning. Tuesday is my kitchen detail day (extra cleaning in the kitchen.) Like I said before, it looked like a farmers market. I got a big pot of toms. down to the simmering for sauce stage. Had to put it in the fridge so I could get to work, but at least a big bowl of them off the counter. Also, Mom wanted one more batch for sauce. Have a huge bowl for her out in the summer kitchen so she can swing by and pick them up on her way by. Washed the bowls that were emptied and got strainers, bowls, and pots all put away. Not finished yet but couldn't deal with all of it everywhere. Got summer kitchen mostly cleaned this weekend so it's in a little better shape. Picked a huge tub of lavender. Was going to just take the pruning sheers to it, but the seed heads are so big and full this year I couldn't let it go to waste. Now I'm at work and going nuts already so took a minute break to pop in here - y'all are my sanity 😁
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Looks like you really got it going on LadyL.:thumbs::huggs:
 
Weedygarden said:
Glad she is feeling a little better today. If there was slight improvement everyday, then you could both feel more confident in the return to normal, or maybe the new normal.

Back bone: Is there a way for her fragile vertebrae to be improved? If I remember correctly, they injected something into one at some point in time to strengthen it.
Click to expand...

Her bones are so brittle from RA meds for near 50 years.
The only vertebrae she has left that haven't been fixed are L2,L3,L5.

They expand the vertebrae , inject it with a permanent , immediately setting,. Cement.
Those will be stronger than new and never have a problem. Fractured vertebrae is extremely painful.

She had this done three times in 5 weeks to 5 vertebrae. 2+1+2.

Long recovery and healing time.

Jim
 
As our colleague Mr. Meer said, today is the Autumnal Equinox -- or, as we pagans call it, Mabon or Harvest Home. Although the Wheel lists eight major festivals, our favorites are three: Beltane (May1) just about the time in southern Idaho to start planting the crops; Mabon (Sept 22) where we bring in the harvest for the year; and Yule (Winter Solstice) where the Earth turns and greets the lengthening days.

This morning we dug the potatoes, getting about 70 lb of Pontiac Reds and Yukon Golds; and onions, about 35 lb of red and yellow onions, three little eggplants, and several pumpkins. Later today I will roast the potatoes and onions, along with the last of our Cornish Cross hens, while Dawn will make some pumpkin custard. While the dinner is cooking, we will shower, put on our party clothes, and then have our dinner together, along with a bottle of Costco's Best cabernet sauvignon.

Once again, we bless the Mother for her blessings to us:
"Blessed be our Mother the Earth / Blessed be our Father the Sun / Blessed be our Farm and our Garden / Where Mother and Father are One."

Blessed be and a happy harvest to all of you!
 
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phideaux said:
Her bones are so brittle from RA meds for near 50 years.
The only vertebrae she has left that haven't been fixed are L2,L3,L5.

They expand the vertebrae , inject it with a permanent , immediately setting,. Cement.
Those will be stronger than new and never have a problem. Fractured vertebrae is extremely painful.

She had this done three times in 5 weeks to 5 vertebrae. 2+1+2.

Long recovery and healing time.

Jim
Click to expand...

Bless her heart hope she gets releif and heals soon.
 
FedEx was successful in delivering the second cell phone. Enclosed instructions on how to activate sent me to a deleted web page. Winged it and....it worked! Followed on screen instructions to copy data from defective phone to new and ... It worked!

I am now reconnected to the world.
 
Strawberry has been walked today.
Went an looked at new apartment.
Several things I liked, but also things I didn't like too.
Things I like were: kitchen had dishwasher, garbage disposal, refrig,stove
5 closets,2 small bedrooms.
Things I didn't like rent,it's like twice what I pay now.
I also have to pay electric, water, sewer, trash, internet.
The new apartment's water bill is minium $150 deposit, $80 water, $25 for sewer,$25 for trash.
Seems steep.
Here I don't pay for water,sewer, trash.
Fact that the second bedroom is about the size of my bathroom now.
Which is an excellent size for a bathroom, but not for a bedroom.
No outdoor space for Strawberry.
No place for my freezer, raised beds,flower pots.
The tub is really tall, I tried to climb in like a normal person and I couldn't.
I don't feel like it's a good fit if I have to climb in the tub backwards.
And my sons were afraid that I would fall getting in the tub.
So I will continue to look.
But will probably stay where I am thru the winter.
I'll save more money this way. I guess.
The deposit on the new place would have wiped out my emergency fund and my savings account.
That's pretty steep just to get into an apartment that was built in 1992.
But it's more modern than what I got.
But here I will stay for awhile longer.
Tomorrow is another busy day.
Running errands for my dad.
Paying bills, rent for here.
 
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zannej said:
Viking, I'm glad your kidney stones stopped. I'll have to look up a blood type diet. Mine are caused in part because I take synthroid for hypothyroid. I used to drink a lot of tea but I have cut back & drink water, but I haven't been drinking as much water lately so I think it triggered them.
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Have you considered taking Amour Thyroid or Nature Throid? I am allergic to Synthroid but when I made the switch 90% of my side effects of the Levothyroxine/Synthroid went away.
 
Talk about sh*tty luck. We were evacuated from our home Labor Day weekend due to the El Dorado fire and now we have no power because of a fire a street over (house fire/car accident). The power may not be back on before morning. Hell they may not even come out to fix the power until morning! The street next to us has power but everyone on our little section and around the small fire has no power. I figure I could take the girls out for breakfast if the power is still out in the morning. At least it will be cool enough to enjoy the mandated outdoor seating. I'll have Roo bring her school work so we can stay on top of it.

Just so it is understood we are 100% without grid power right now. I am using my phone as a hotspot for my laptop so I can monitor the outage. I need to buy another power pack for my phone asap. I know I will need to charge it tomorrow and may have to do it in the car at some point. Oh well. A trip to the store in the afternoon if the power is still out will take our minds off the lack of A/C. ;)

I did get some paper bricks made today. They just need to dry out for a few days. Roo wants to use the press but I found it to be hard to use because I stuffed it FULL with pulp. I'll let her try but I know she will whine about it being hard...! :rolleyes:
 
Grimm said:
Talk about sh*tty luck. We were evacuated from our home Labor Day weekend due to the El Dorado fire and now we have no power because of a fire a street over (house fire/car accident). The power may not be back on before morning. Hell they may not even come out to fix the power until morning! The street next to us has power but everyone on our little section and around the small fire has no power. I figure I could take the girls out for breakfast if the power is still out in the morning. At least it will be cool enough to enjoy the mandated outdoor seating. I'll have Roo bring her school work so we can stay on top of it.

Just so it is understood we are 100% without grid power right now. I am using my phone as a hotspot for my laptop so I can monitor the outage. I need to buy another power pack for my phone asap. I know I will need to charge it tomorrow and may have to do it in the car at some point. Oh well. A trip to the store in the afternoon if the power is still out will take our minds off the lack of A/C. ;)

I did get some paper bricks made today. They just need to dry out for a few days. Roo wants to use the press but I found it to be hard to use because I stuffed it FULL with pulp. I'll let her try but I know she will whine about it being hard...! :rolleyes:
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I know the feeling, we are at the end of a line and sometimes the wind blows and we go dark.... sucks to be in the dark and the neighbors across the street have power. I consider myself to be a Desert Rat, born on the SouthWestern border but for work moved to the Northeast. When we first moved here we rented an all electric townhouse, second winter lost power in sub-freezing weather for over a week, no light, no heat, no hot water, (we were sleeping in a tent in the living room), and I learned that a propane stove does not work for dodo outside in sub-freezing weather.

When we bought our home we stayed within our budget, it was very hard to find anything that met our needs. I was very insistant that we have atleast 3 forms of energy in the house to heat; electricity, natural gas, and a fireplace (Which I quickly replaced with a flat top wood buring stove, so we could heat and cook). I have created battery backups for all of our mission critical devices (sump pump, wife's oxygen & CPAP, my computer and router) that will buy me about 8 hours to establish a longer lasting solution. I keep dreaming of a set of solar panels that are grid tied but have an integrated battery backup similar to solarwall, but the costs are just outside my beer pocket book.
 
Last night the wife made a roast, it was good. She tried to make a casserole based on something she saw on TV… for me that is always a bad sign…. She made a sauce by putting steamed broccoli in a blender with a little cream then she poured it over cauliflower and baked it, adding a layer of cheese at the end. The result was a pea green dish with the consistency of grits…. Frankly, I would prefer to just steam the broccoli and cauliflower with a little butter ;)

I find that as I age, I prefer simple food, not a lot of spices or fancy stuff. Burger and fries, grilled steak with a baked potato, shepherd’s pie, or a simple stew will meet my dietary needs just fine.
 
Do any of you use a working pantry backed up by a food storage system? I am trying to do just that now and I am running into issues. The debate revolves around how much should I put in the pantry vs the food storage area... For example: Is a one pound bag of each type of dry bean in the pantry with the remainder in buckets in the storage area the right mix? I am finding that the wife is going for 5+ pounds of everything in the pantry, which seems like overkill to me.... Anyway would just like to get a little enlightened feedback.
 
A small container of whatever it is in the working pantry, the big containers somewhere else. So if you use a one lb pack of beans at a time, then a one lb pack is in your working pantry. I keep a gallon size rubbermaid container of flour, sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar in my working pantry, but I keep tons of each of those things in the basement. Some things are only in the basement. Like powdered milk, because I don't use it often.
 
Wife is about the same today. At least she's not getting worse.

Home care nurse coming at 11am.
Real estate agent is coming at 1pm.
Church friends bringing food at 2 pm.

Sprinkling rain this morning. Grass has slowed down.

Need to take time to put another gun on classifieds today, but we both gotta go to big town tomorrow for labs.
Then Friday to hospital for kidney specialist.

Think I'll go clean and straighten the garage , to pass time. Was gonna do some shooting today , but raining and busy.

Hope y'all have a productive and happy day.

Jim
 
For land-line phone and internet we have Frontier(who are bankrupt). I have to reset the modem many times every day and I got tired of it. So I called and the repair guy came yesterday. He checked the line and installed a new modem. Made no difference, had to reset the modem several times yesterday evening as I fully expected. This ISP is our only choice other than satellite so for now I will stick with it.
 
Power was restored in the middle of the night. I woke up when the lights turned on and walked around the house turning them all off. I had asked K to do it when the power went out but it looks like he blew me off. Then back to bed. K slept through all the lights coming on and it pissed me off. This whole adventure threw off my sleep patterns I was up at 3am before K.

Switched out Juju's clothes. She has mostly outgrown her 4T clothing so I took it all out and replaced it with XS(4/5) and 5T stuff. I saved the 4T things I think I can sell on ebay and I will be taking photos and list them today. Mostly it is the cute Christmas dresses for when the girls see Santa and a few fleece jackets.
 
Good Morning everybody.
It is a wonderful day in the neighborhood.
I passed on the new apartment(safety issues for falling).
It's peaceful here in the neighborhood this morning.
Nice cool morning.
Strawberry has been walked several times.
I ran the errands for Dad.
Got things switched around for him.
Sitting at home right enjoying the quite.
Will be doing dishes here soon.
Having leftovers for supper.
 
MoBookworm1957 said:
Good Morning everybody.
It is a wonderful day in the neighborhood.
I passed on the new apartment(safety issues for falling).
It's peaceful here in the neighborhood this morning.
Nice cool morning.
Strawberry has been walked several times.
I ran the errands for Dad.
Got things switched around for him.
Sitting at home right enjoying the quite.
Will be doing dishes here soon.
Having leftovers for supper.
Click to expand...


GoodMorning MoBook and glad the n-hood is peaceful today.:woo hoo:
 
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