I cleaned my house today!! The entire living area. I swept, I mopped and I vacuumed. I dusted and sweated and I think I may have collected enough dog hair to make a rather large dog. Now that I think about it, maybe I could have used that dog hair in my Halloween creations ….
It all started when I decided to make my own spider web. I have used those stringy things you buy in a package before, but I hate the clean up. We get pretty strong wind here, so it will blow chunks of it onto the grass, along with my spiders.
I researched and pondered possibilities. One suggestion was to use cotton clothesline and white yarn. While the clothesline would definitely be strong enough, it seemed like over-kill to me. After all, isn't it supposed to be thin and gossamer-like?
I like to think about things as I go about my day and it should come as no surprise that I found just what I was looking for. A used water filter. The kind that look like twine wound round the core. Stronger than yarn and not as stretchy. Worked great and cost nothing!!
A work in progress. The child in the cage. I visited the thrift store and scored the outfit, plus shoes for $1.37! The clothes baskets came from the Dollar Tree and I always have black spray paint. You can see the can right there in the picture! Today I added some chain and a padlock. Changed up some stuff and added a cauldron for the witch to stir. Final pictures in a future post.
Back to the skeletons and spider webs. HeWho bought a dog skeleton for me! He knows I am too cheap to spend $8 on it!
My skeleton bride always makes an appearance this time of year. She is old. She made her very first appearance at my daughter, Jill's bridal shower. Almost 20 years old, she has held up well! Could that be her groom behind her? Under the "groom" is a rat skeleton. Another spider web to hold the spider skeletons.
Kamper Stacy found this frog skeleton for me! Love it!
This side is finished. I have four sections on the front. Another spider web is full of spiders with bats coming soon. Another section will feature witches and cats and the fourth will be all about jack-o-lanterns.
I added some creatures to sit in the rockers today. I am having fun with this and I still have the pavilion to decorate ……. not to mention Spooky Trail.
We will be having a Halloween celebration on October 26. Great fun, good food and scary times around a bonfire coming soon!
Meet Maisy. Maisy is a resident in good standing here. She is a sweet girl, Miss Maisy. She visits me from time to time. Her head reaches me about chest high.
Always friendly and happy to have some pets and love from me, She seems to like HeWho loves dogs the best.
He does share crackers with her. Here they are making out. Am I jealous? Not so much. After all I have been his main squeeze for almost 44 years.
Maisy is easy to love, until she whacks you with that lethal tail! I do have a bruise or two that was dealt by her. All worth it to have a hug form her.
This is one of my happy places. It is cool in the shade and a slight breeze wafts by occasionally. If only I could sit for a spell.
This is a weed. What kind? I do not know. It started growing at the edge of my yard a few years back and a neighbor told me I needed to pull it up, as it was a weed and an invasive one at that. I decided to let it be and see what it would do. I like this weed. I installed an app on my phone that identifies plants, but it failed to identify this one. It is about two and a half feet tall and blooms late summer. I like it, it provides some nice color this time of year. Invasive? Sort of, but it invaded an area between the lawn and the road that fails to grow anything else, so I am kind of happy about that. It helps define the yard and prevents people (HeWho) from driving on my carefully tended grass.
I found a pair of frog planters long ago. They now sport a wonderful patina that would be hard to duplicate. They have no drainage holes. I actually broke one of them when I tried to lightly tap a hole in the bottom. I still use it, I just sort of shove the two pieces together and plant something in it.
It is time to change the season. My red, white and blue theme has to go to make way for spider webs and skeletons. These are hard to see, but they were the tall zinnias that were in the giant planters in front. They are still blooming and there was no way I was going to lift the planters they were in, so I transplanted all of them, finishing this morning. They seem to be happy in their new location. Time will tell.
Yes, I did sleep last night. I am still a bit grumpy. I have decided I prefer the company of my gardens or my dogs over people. Maybe I just need a vacation.
While I was hanging sheets on the line this morning, the phone rang. Nothing new about the phone ringing. The caller inquired about a site for tomorrow night. I asked if he would need 50 amp or 30 amp. If you have an RV, you know what I am talking about.
I confess that when we were simply RVers I could not have answered that question. HeWho does all things electric and sewer related was in charge of that. I was in charge of the inside stuff. Cooking, cleaning, dogs and such. I am not ashamed to admit that I like it that way.
That was then, this is now. I need that information in order to place the RV in the correct site. I can't really answer the question about having availability without knowing this. I have no 50 amp sites available for this weekend. I have had people tell me that it really doesn't make a difference, they can use either and I will tell them how many of each I have left.
The caller says, "It is just a typical RV." I took a deep breath and explained that I have only 30 hook-ups available for this weekend. He again tells me that it is typical. I ask for particulars as I try to determine his electrical needs. "How many air conditioners?" I ask. He replies, "It has air conditioning." I try again, "How many units?" He does not know. I try a different tactic. "Does the plug have three prongs or four prongs?" He is unsure, I hear him ask someone else (wife?). She tells him it is just a plug-in. He tells me it is just a typical RV plug.
So many questions fill my head. "Have you ever seen the plug?" "Have you ever used the RV?" "If so, who helped you with that plug, perhaps they know what it looks like?" I can usually figure out what the camper needs with a few questions if the answer is not "typical".
I sincerely hope that I am in a better frame of mind when this typical camper comes in tomorrow. I may have to let HeWho take care of this one.
I am so happy this day is over! Had a super productive day yesterday. Got all the mowing done and transplanted about 100 mum seedlings and still had time to bake a cake and make a pizza. Checked the app on my phone to find that I had walked 12,733 steps, or 4.9 miles.
You would think that I would be tired enough to sleep, but I was still up at 3:30 this morning looking for something to make me sleep. My mind would not close down. I went to bed and finally drifted off. I have no idea how long I slept before Martha, the boy cat, still inside for whatever reason, decided to pounce on Eddie and wake me.
Note, I said that Eddie's yelp woke ME. HeWho is oblivious to his surroundings when sleeping, grunted, and turned over. He slept on, while I struggled to recapture my dream. I was up by 8 to tend to doggie bladders. I toyed with the idea of crawling back in bed. Instead I decided to cancel my plans for grocery shopping and stay here.
It was pleasant outside, a light wind and overcast. I walked out to clip the huge spent sunflower from it's stalk and ended up weeding around the fence that contains the pool. Since I chose to stay home, HeWho "needed" to make a trip to Walmart for new tires. He took off with Kevin and they spent half the day waiting on the tires. He did bring me a meatless whopper from the Burger King. My big reward. Ended up being my breakfast, lunch and dinner. Indigestion for dessert.
I will admit that I have been less than pleasant to be around and was happy to be left to my own devices. I stayed outside as long as I could after the clouds blew over and sun shone down with a vengeance, then I came in, hoping to have a nap. I half-dozed while listening to Hot Bench dole out some justice. Then went back outside to attend to more gardening chores.
I dragged the hose across the parking lot to water my fledgling mums while I transplanted more plants and strung some fairy lights in one of my gardens. Sometimes I wish I was invisible, even though it was past closing time and I was intent on my task, I was hunted down. For quarters. I was on my way back in to the office to fulfill the quarter order when I saw that someone had run over the connection of two hoses and the parking lot was flooded, while the mums were dry.
Annoyed, I turned off the water and gathered up my hoses. I decided to call it a day and come inside and get showered. I got the water going and wet my hair. I applied the shampoo and had the bottle in my hand, the lid between my teeth when suddenly there was NO hot water. I was not expecting ice water to cascade down my back.
I gasped and the man who never hears anything demanded to know "what's wrong?". I was trying to get my hands free to get to the shower head. He kept demanding an answer, so I yelled at him while still holding the cap to the shampoo bottle in my mouth.
I am so happy the day is over and now I am going to bed. Maybe I will sleep, maybe I won't.
We had Cub Scouts for the weekend. A former seasonal kamper is one of the leaders and made the arrangements. Everything was so organized! The kids were very polite and so cute.
Saturday morning I went out to check on the bathrooms and found a couple of boys waiting to brush their teeth. I told them to use the ladies room, since it was not occupied. The look of horror on the faces!! They declined, telling me that the sign on the door said "WOMEN"!!
Sweet innocence, why can't they stay that way? Kudos to the parents of this group of children. I kept the pool open for them and the weather cooperated for a lovely weekend. And now the pool is closed for the season. Time for a break!
Every time you think you have seen it all ....
and heard it all, you discover you haven't.
I was on my way to my annual visit with my cardiologist when the news came on the radio. Walmart is about to open their very first stand alone health clinic. I was blissfully unaware that some of the Walmart super stores have clinics in them. I knew that some of the Target stores had them. One stop shopping on a whole new level.
Is this the newest approach to health care? When you go to a clinic or an emergency room, you are well aware that you might be exposed to some very sick people and could possibly get even sicker. I have been to some facilities that have separate waiting areas. One for those who have are there for a check-up and then another for those who are sick.
I wonder what will distinguish this Walmart clinic form other urgent care facilities? The one-stop shopping will not factor in. I am sure they will be similar to other clinics and accept insurance in any form. Will they offer roll-back prices? They already administer flu shots and other vaccines in the pharmacy.
Will the Walmart medical clinic slowly start to add merchandise? You know, just a few items related to taking care of yourself. Pain relievers and cough remedies, then a full aisle of vitamins and supplements. Bandages and heating pads. Then, before you know it, deodorant and shampoo. The "waiting area" will slowly be taken up with aisles of goods pertaining to your health and well being. they will start with just baskets to haul your merchandise in and soon carts will appear. Outside the clinic, of course. They will have to add a structure for the carts. About that time, the "manager" of this new facility that was to be dedicated to health care will decide there should be a small aisle for chicken noodles soup and juices (drink plenty of fluids) and the entire facility will have to grow to accommodate all the merchandise and a waiting area for all those ailing people who flock to this Walmart health care facility thinking they will get some health care on the cheap, what with the name of the facility including "Walmart" on the front of the building.
I ponder things while driving. My cardiologist is located in Washington. Washington, Missouri, that is. They have a clinic in the hospital in Hermann, Mo. It is a pleasant drive, about 20 miles on a two lane road meandering through farmland and woods. On the way you are on a decline as you slowly make your way to the Missouri river. Once over the bridge, you find yourself in the quaint little town of Hermann.
Bed and breakfast, bakeries and antique stores line the streets as you drive very slowly through the town and begin the ascent to the road leading to the hospital and a winery. Even though my check-up found me a few pounds lighter with an excellent blood pressure, I did not decide that a wine tasting was in order. It was only 9 am, after all.
As I exited the hospital through the main door on the front of the building and headed to my car, I looked up to see a black truck parked right there at the entrance in what I thought was a handi-cap space. The windows were open and in the driver's seat sat a man engaged in the process of brushing his teeth! His mouth was all foamy with agitated toothpaste. I sorely wanted to whip out my phone and snap a shot of this, but he was looking at me, as I was looking at him.
I got into my car and sat there watching out the rearview mirror, all the while wondering where he was going to spit out the foamy toothpaste, which triggered my gag reflex, so I started home.
The weather acts as if it is confused about the seasons. Actually this happens every year and we all comment about it. Old people talk about the weather a lot and always have. I used to make fun of those old people and now I am one of them.
Back in the day, when HeWho baffles me incessantly, was a young man, he rarely succumbed to weather. Hot weather, cold weather, didn't matter much to him, he was usually in a pair of shorts and barefooted. All of our Christmas photos have him in shorts while the rest of us were dressed more appropriately. Not coats, we lived in Georgia and it was usually in the 70's, but we still had more appropriate attire …. and shoes.
He is old now and prone to chills and such. But, why the man was wearing wool socks recently is a mystery to me. It has been in the upper 80's and
90's and he has donned jeans and a T-shirt every day, but WOOL socks?
I may have complained mentioned a time or two that he is quite fond of the wood stove and will frequently have the temperature in the upper 80's. There have been many nights when I have waited for him to go to sleep, then opened the window so that I could sleep.
As much as he loves heaters in the winter, he loves air conditioners in the summer. After a morning of mowing and weeding I came in to shower and sit down. I use cool water in the shower as I am usually drenched in sweat. After my shower, I dressed and came in to sit down for a spell. After about 10 minutes, I was freezing! He had the thermostat set on 62. Said he was comfortable. Must have been the day he wore those wool socks!
