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What are you up to today? This week?


heidiiiii

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The blueberries are getting ripe, so I have put on my lonb pants and shoes and after breakfast I'll add some 50spf sunscreen and my disreputable hat and grab a bag and go berrying in the woodsy part of our yard. For breakfast I shall use up the last of the berries in the freezer (plus what I picked yesterday) to make banana blueberry muffins.

Holly,funny that you would write about blueberry picking-I just this afternoon had the last little portion of frozen blueberries from my parents' former bushes-Mom sold the house a few months ago,so those were the last of them for us. The 2 bushes were planted and lovingly tended to by my late father a couple of decades ago,a gift from my ex-husband (One of the few nice,but truly sweet things he ever did!ha!). They gave many a wonderful crop of luscious berries! I just hope the new owners appreciate them.Sigh!

I had to work today,as always,and I don't mind saying,I hate Mondays even more now! lol But my cousin gave me a pot of 2 nice size young Hydrangeas she rooted for me,so I was happy. No idea what color they will be,but that's okay-they are all so pretty! And free-heyyy! :D

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Back to work today, after a week off. This is my first summer in this position, and it makes me laugh at all the people who think we are "slow" in the summer. Even my boss intended for me to do my old position this summer, while still doing the new stuff too. He figured out that wouldn't work on about the 3rd day.

We were all told during our evals 3 weeks ago that changes were being made, and details would be given later. So of course everybody has been rumoring and speculating since. We should find out details late next week. Ugh.

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I picked again this AM, but the best bushful of big, ripe berries had to be left alone when I discovered the ground and my foot were swarming with ants!

DH came out later and fed them all a nice sprinkle of Amdro, so I'll try again tomorrow. Our volunteer muscadines are also filling with grapes, but the birds eat them a whole lot greener than we do, and we haven't gotten any since we've been here.

Last year we had a couple of late freezes that bit all the blossoms off of all our blueberry bushes and I think we found a total of three berries throughout the entire yard (we have over an acre, about half of it woods). The first year the sparkleberries came in about a week before the blueberries (miniscule blueberry-like fruit; lousy for pies, but terrific for muffins and breads); this year the sparkleberries are just forming; spotted them whilst picking the blueberries this AM.

I started papering Washington.

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I have a straw cowboy hat that I hot glued roses to... :D

Spoken like a true southerner! My closet has shelves for hats and I was surprised at how quickly they filled up when I unpacked. Who knew I had that many hats! LOL! I have normal hats like fedoras and fancy "out-hat Sunday burnch" hats. (If you know what "out hat" means, then you're a true southerner) Then there are things like my antique velvet riding hat from the early 1900s or the flapper hat with feathers and netting that I like to wear just for fun. I even own a fancy tea hat covered in mounds of satin roses that end with a long gauzy train in back. In the rougher side of things I have a full compliment of biker hats in leather and even a cowboy hat made from an old pair of blue jeans. Of course there's my huge floppy straw hat for gardening but shamefully I've never gotten around to hot gluing roses on it. <hanging head> This could mean that I'll be striped of my "crazy old southern lady" title.

Yesterday was a long and busy day. I saw my new dr again and am still optimistic that she can help me. She's actually looking at the whole picture and trying to connect the dots. I'm not ready to say what that big picture is yet until we find out for sure but I should get the test results back sometime today or tomorrow. We're trying a new mega anti-inflammatory injection to see if it'll take some of the swelling out of my joints, then more blood work plus a trip to get xrays of my back, hands and feet. After that we dropped off prescriptions at walgreens, went to the bistro down the street for brunch while we waited, then back to walgreens and finally a stop for groceries and then home. I feel like I've been hit by a truck at the moment but laying on a hard steel table in the convoluted positions required for xrays always does that to me. They asked me to lay flat on my back. I told her if I could lay flat on my back I wouldn't need the xrays. <ba dum bump>

The monsoon continues with another major storm last night. All our gullies are nicely washed now.........which isn't just an expression since the flash floods that rip thru them do an excellent job of clearing out debris. I stood out on the patio getting drenched but I couldn't go inside because I was watching my mesquite tree and encouraging it to hang in there. The property manager agreed to saving it so I'm just waiting for the landscapers to get out here and reshape her into balance again. I was SO happy when they agreed that it's worth saving but then again, this is the desert where any living and thriving plant is treasured so I should have given them more credit than I did. Anyway, the winds were whipping the top of the tree around in circles last night and I thought sure she was going to go over but she stayed upright and strong. Mesquite trees are a marvel of natural engineering the way the branches interlock with one another to provide support for the whole canopy. She twisted and swayed and for awhile her branches were touching the ground, but she made it without any further damage. <huge sigh of relief> It's one storm at a time until they get her reconstructed so hopefully they'll get out here today or tomorrow.

So today I'm waiting for phone calls from tree doctors and human doctors and a window repairman because the big window in the living room sprung a leak and moisture has built up between the double panes. That's my most prized view of the mountains so it can't be obstructed!

Silly ramblings. I'm whistling past the graveyard this morning; hoping that I might finally have an answer and sorta scared of what that answer means. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much because I've been disappointed so many times before but if Dr S is right, it puts all the puzzle pieces in order. Think positive thoughts for me dear friends. I could use a little of that today.

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Deb, I've got a crock pot of your BBQ sauce going this morning. The fragrance alone ought to be reaching out to you with positive vibes. :D

I had to adjust the recipe a bit. Couldn't find any liquid smoke, so I got Weber's mesquite flavoring that has salt, onion bits and various seasonings. I put in a quarter cup of that instead of the chopped onion and optional seasonings. We'll see how that works.

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Thanks guys. I do feel your positive vibes around me and the feeling of family. Thank you so much for that and always being here for me coz there are some things that I couldn't handle if I didn't have this support system. Kathie, isn't that smell just absolutely mouth watering? LIterally! I drool all day when I make it. I bet your substitutions work out great. The best thing about that recipe is that it can be tweaked and turned into something unique for each person who makes it. In about three hours Lloyd will be following you around asking if dinner is ready.

Oh, I have a new lizard story for you guys this morning <chuckling> This is so funny. I was on the phone with my SIL when it was happening and we both got to giggling so hard we couldn't talk. Anyway, right now the backyard is full of teeny baby lizards from the early summer clutchings. Primarily I have whiptails and spiny tree lizards and both are so small when they hatch that they could curl up in my thumbnail. The spiny lizards are the smallest and most delicate. Apparently one clutch was born in a crevice of the patio concrete by the house foundation so I have two or three of these teeny little babies scooting around at the speed of light all over the patio and backyard. Their little feet are still tender so they literally fly across the top of the gravel going from one bit of shade to another while they're out hunting ants and gnats. My favorite part of the day is early in the morning at sunrise when the wee ones come out, stretch their legs, and dive off into the gravel to go hunting.

They're in real danger of drowning when it rains so while the whiptail babies are out hiding under planters, the spiny babies are more inclined to come up on the porch. I'm super careful about where I put my feet right now coz these guys have a slight chameleon trait and can blend in with the tan stucco or the grey concrete. They're small enough that they look like a crack in the concrete until they move and then they move so fast that they're almost a blur. Anyway, last night when it was raining, I saw one of the babies come out and apparently he was hungry enough that he thought he'd brave the rain to go hunting.......until he realized that there was water in the crevices where the concrete pads join together and those crevices are just deep enough that a baby lizard would fall in if he tried to cross. So he approached it a few times from different angles and still couldn't figure out how to cross without getting wet. Finally, he scooted back a little ways and took a run at it. There was a little tan blur and then he hit the crevice...........and promptly fell in. That crevice is only half an inch deep which isn't that much to me, but to a baby lizard, that was quite a drop! He pulled himself out on the other side with all the righteous indignation of a cat and shook off the water. The look he gave that crevice was one of utter hatred. <cackle> But he finally made it over the "river" and turned around to head off into the gravel until he realized that it was raining and even wetter out there than in the gullies around his patio home. He did a little of the lizard posturing (push ups) to show that he wasn't scared of the rain for intruding on his territory, but it didn't work. He stood there for a couple of minutes before he realized that the rain wasn't going to be intimidated into stopping so he turned around, hesitated for just a second, then took a run and tumbled back thru the river to go hide under the welcome mat by the back door and cuss about all the indignities he'd suffered.

<giggling> It was really funny to watch. The baby lizards are really adorable in a totally miniature kind of way just like puppies and kittens so these itty bitty things can be endearing as they learn the ways of the world, especially when it involves taking an unwanted bath.

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we dont see many lizards these days...or birds or bunnys....manos the kitty and Bebe make sure no such unwanted critters dare enter their kingdom.

I made them take down the humming bird feeder as it just seemed so cruel to invite them in for a nice drink and KAPOW cat food!

but I do laugh at the ones who brave our fence walls

today it was 100 by 11am so I am in the ac and doing as little as possible

stay cool and hydrated my friends!

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I baked boneless pork ribs in a foil-covered pan for about 3 hours while the sauce mellowed, then took off the cover, drained the fat & juices, poured some of the sauce over them and put them back into the oven (325) for a half hour for the sauce to thicken up a bit. Excellent! Fork tender ribs and wonderful flavor. Served some mac & cheese as a side. Good old comfort food.

Lloyd suggested adding some pineapple, which might not be a bad idea, but then he thinks everything would taste better with pineapple. :D

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Lloyd suggested adding some pineapple, which might not be a bad idea, but then he thinks everything would taste better with pineapple. :D

Actually, everything tastes better with ranch dressing. :ohyeah:

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My SIL says everything is better with bacon and cheese! Very strong guy there.

I say everything's better with bread!

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...Lloyd suggested adding some pineapple, which might not be a bad idea, but then he thinks everything would taste better with pineapple. :D

Yuck! Now I know why some of the "New Orleans" bread pudding recipes I've seen list pineapple as an ingredient.

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Yuck! Now I know why some of the "New Orleans" bread pudding recipes I've seen list pineapple as an ingredient.

Good grief! Check your sources! There's a limit, even in Lloyd's World. No self-respecting NOLA cook would put pineapple or any other kind of fruit in bread pudding.

(Never mind that several full-of-themselves NOLA chefs have been desecrating the name of bread pudding with all manner of appalling variations in the past year. We've crossed several restaurants off of our list because the chef tinkered with the recipe waaaaaay too much. And that's not even counting the numskull who puts fruit cocktail in bread pudding. Aaack! We do hope this fad fades quickly.)

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I wish you a bottle of ranitidine tablets next time you go Googling bread pudding recipes; fortunately I finally found a couple of acceptable recipes (meaning they only call for the bread, eggs, milk, butter, sugar and raisins). I think the one that totally grossed me out included nuts and chocolate chips (blagh!).

We hit the comfort food hard tonight; I cooked chicken in mushroom soup and dried onions until it fell off the bone and then used the soup & onion gravy over a veggie pilaf for a side.

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omgerd Holly my kids HAVE to have it with raisins AND chocolate chips....now...growing up it was one or the other...now its both

they all ask how to make it but NO one stands with me as I toss it all together...and I sure as heck dont have NOOOOOOO recipee as my momma taught me when I was bout 8 or nine and thats how her grandma made it.....with raisins...served hot with chocolate syrup.....best in the morning for breakfast cold out of the fridge.....(choc chips is all me babah)skip the syrup...lol

son actually made me get the ingredients yesterday...lol....

I also have never put butter in mine.... mine is also not runny as I have seen...hot out of the oven it can be jiggly but firms as it cools

pick it up and go... I always make a huge pan for when we travel...as my great grandma did....dunno where she got her recipe...ladies equivalent of good housekeeping back then?

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Sorry I have been offline for a while. My DW had a change of heart last Tuesday, so I returned. Every time we move she gets upset about the number of boxes that my mini tools and supplies take up (around 6) and the space they take up. She doesn't realize that building houses is more than a few sticks and a bottle of glue. I figured she would appreciate that I found something to do around the house instead of spending all my time at the local watering hole every evening. I told her I was giving the houses away, but she didn't like that idea at all, so they are still here for now (sorry for getting anyone's hopes up).

It took barely a week for the lawn to grow almost knee high, so we went out and bought a lawn mower and electric chainsaw yesterday. It took almost 2 hours to mow about 1/2 of the front yard before I lost the light yesterday evening. I was going to wait until after the afternoon downpour and the trees cast some shade on the yard, but this morning I looked out one of the windows and saw somebody mowing our backyard! It was Bill, the husband of the husband and wife realtor team that sold us the property. Their SIL was supposed to sell us a used riding lawn mower when we moved in, but was having problems with it. Bill knew our lawn was going to get out of control if we didn't have a mower, so he came over and just started mowing. I cranked up mine and we knocked it out in about an hour. Our timing was perfect as the afternoon storms started early- right as we were loading his mower back into his truck.

At the closing, we discovered that the property was almost twice as large as we thought it was. The tree line in the back yard is actually the half way point. There are at least two gigantic oaks that make up some of the canopy, but there is a wall of under growth and vines that make the rest of the property inaccessible. That's what the chainsaw is for. There's only one (or more like a thousand) problem with trimming it all back- there are banana spiders and several other varieties that have created a shield of webs in front of the over growth. For anyone who doesn't know, banana spiders, which have a leg span greater than a dinner plate and the small but highly aggressive crab spiders are very ambitious web builders. Even worse, they are never alone. The webs that can be seen are draped from about 12 feet up all the way to the ground. Others are built at angles or horizontally above your head and field of view if you walk under the outer most limbs of the trees. As much as we need the insect control, I don't want to wait until winter to clean up the back yard and see what we have. It isn't wise to wait until after hurricane season to find out if there are any dead trees in there that have the potential to come crashing down on our home. I can see at least one dead fall that is leaning at a 45 degree angle on another tree. Luckily it is leaning parallel to the house, so it isn't a hazard. I'll have to find a way to get rid of the spiders before I can do any pruning.

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Jeremy, glad to hear you are back in the fold. Hope life runs more smoothly now that you've put down roots.

I had to Google banana spiders ... bananaspider.jpg

oh, my. What fun you'll have exploring the new territory!

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Jeremy,I'm so glad you and your wife have worked things out! I know the yard work may be really difficult,but in the big picture,what a nice surprise to know you've got more land than you thought you bought! And I guess what I thought was a banana spider is something quite different-Wowzers!! :ohmy:

Deb:I'm wishing you the best in finding an answer(s) to your health issues,and I am so tickled you are able to watch those sweet little lizards and have some much needed moments of joy-God bless your heart! ^_^

I really wanted to write something good about today,but I'm having a bad case of the blues lately. I'm trying hard to be positive in my own wait for the mammogram and ultrasound tests to be done. I feel like this thing is the size of a bowling ball at times,and that doesn't help my high blood pressure at all. Work hasn't been a bowl of jollies lately,either,with expectations way beyond what I am paid for,imo,so I'll most likely look for another position,as soon as this lump 'thing' is settled... I have my washer repairman coming tomorrow,for what sounds like a minor repair,so that is good. The central air isn't working AT ALL today,but my landlord has the a/c repairman coming out asap-hopefully tomorrow...I said last winter I wasn't going to complain about the heat this summer,so :zipped: ! lol

I am making some (sloooow) progress on some windows for my D.C. Ashley this week! :)

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Hang in there, Kat. The waiting is almost the worst part.

Jeremy--Glad things are beginning again. The yard sounds like a huge challenge. Anyone around have a brush hog who could clear some of the brush out? Or a good weed killer sprayed to get vegetation cleared down to the heavy stuff? (Round-up.)

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Jeremy, I'm so glad your family is all together again! Please be careful with the tree cutting; we found out yesterday that a former co-worker of my DH was seriously injured doing just what you are talking about. Those spiders are also terrifying!!!

Kat, minis is one of the best cures for the worries. Trust me, I am an expert worrier :bigwink:

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Banana spiders spin beautiful golden webs and their silk is strong and sticky; down side, they're a mess to get out of your way (nothing like walking face first into one on a hike); upside, they are gorgeous first thing in the AM with the rising sun shining on them through the trees; we used to have them at our havana house and I'd find all sorts of noxious bugs and critters in their webs.

Jeremy, I'm glad things are calming down.

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I am in Albuquerque until Saturday. We had an awful time getting here yesterday. By the time we started out around 3pm there were horrendous electrical storms like I have never seen here before and rain like a hurricane. It doesn't rain like that here in New Mexico often.

We didn't get down the road before the windshield wiper on the drivers side ( of course) broke so we had to go into town the opposite direction and buy a new wiper. The storms got worse so we went back home and waited for it to calm down a bit. Setting out an hour later we made it to the state road and the road was blocked off by state troopers. Apparently down the road into the Rio Grande Canyon boulders had come down and crushed a state trooper's car and the road was blocked for who knows how long. There are only 2 roads in and out of the area we live in and the one we had to take is twice as long and very dangerous. 5 hours later, through bad roads and storms we made it to Albuquerque! What an adventure!

Today I am pretty much marooned in the hotel so I am going to take out my trim and paint it. Its 100 degrees out so other than maybe a quick swim in the pool I won't be going out much. I didn't mean to write such a thesis here....:p

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