WHATCHA DOING TODAY?

[snapshotmiki]

Praying for you and yours, Mt Rider!  You have a lot going on at this point!

 

Sunday School and Church this morning.
Re-organizing kitchen appliances later.
Will do video at some point.
Make a couple of phone calls.
Start sedating Oreo (Corgi) with pills for tomorrow's vet appointment.

 

 

[Mt_Rider]

Visit for Father's day went well.  He loved the malt, of course.  Then we took him outside in wheelchair.  Sat in shade til clouds covered hot sun.  Then DH pushed his chair and my mom and I shared my chair.  They have fascinating rocks lining all the sidewalks.  My mom was disappointed that the sun wasn't out to make them all sparkle.  But 2 deer walked thru in the woods of the next property while we sat resting.  That happened just as my dad was getting a bit morose.  Cheered him up a bit.  He wasn't happy that we had to leave.  We were already past visiting hours but no one seemed to mind on Father's day.  It went well.

 

I'm    tho.  And eating malt when I haven't had much dairy or sugar for a long time.... ugh.  Sure tasted good tho.  I will remember to get small, not medium next time. 

 

MtRider  .....     TIRED!

[Jeepers]

Happy Anniversary Miki.  

Sorry I'm late. I haven't been on reading as much as I usually am. 

 

I hope things are starting to come together for you Mt. Rider!            

 

 

I've been down in the dumps lately. Nothing is wrong. Depression sucks though. I have zero motivation or energy. It will pass. It always does. It isn't as bad as it sounds. Kinda like the migraines...I'm used to it. Just have to wait it out. 

 

I've had tendonitis in my shoulder for about three weeks now. That's probably wearing me down too. The last time I had this I had rehab, acupuncture, fainted, threw up on myself and took an ambulance ride. This time I'm staying home. It takes a couple of months to heal. At least it only hurts when I move it a certain way. I can barely dress myself. Reaching around behind me and pulling pants up hurts so bad. I'm waiting that out too. I need a muu-muu.  

 

Our weather has been perfect. It's been in the high 70's low 80's. Most of next week it's supposed be in the 70's with very little humidity. Crazy weather for the end of June but I'll take it. We'll get hit in July and August though.

 

 

[snapshotmiki]

I hope you feel better a little sooner than you anticipate, Jeepers!  And I'm glad you all had a nice Father's Day visit, Mt. Rider!  Both of you get some rest please!

 

Walked first, fed dogs and gave second round of sedation pills to Corgi.
Did laundry.
Started a crock pot of pinto beans that were soaked last night.
Pulled a pan of spoon bread out of the freezer.
Took Oreo to doc at 11:30 for anal gland expression and nail clip. Refilled sedation pills for next trip (hopefully not for 6 months or so).
Need to do one more load of laundry and go start organizing my new shelving in shed.
Hope you all have a good Monday!

[Annarchy]

I had a list, 6 AC people, more if I needed.  #1 canceled, not enough people working.  #2 re-scheduled for today, between 2-5 pm.  #3 showed up around 7:30 am, but the company doesn’t have financing.  #4 talked with me on the phone, said he’d be here around 1pm.  #5 never showed up.  #4, He got here early, gave several options and recommended something that would be much more efficient and cut our electric bill in half, if not more.  1-3 all said they would install a replacement with what we already have.  Tough staying inside, AC set at 73, with the Honeywell window unit cranking, and the inside temp was still above 82°.  Yeah, old 1980’s unit, Freon.  Re-filling the Freon, would cost over $1,000, with no guarantee our old AC would keep going much longer.  I canceled #6, very high visible Co, with costs reflecting their overhead.  So, if the shipment comes in as scheduled, they can replace our unit, stand, thermostat, & ductwork for 1/2 the price the other companies were going to charge, and have a much higher efficiency.  God willing.    
 

Temperature today was considerably cooler at 105°F, in the shade.  Lol, the tech was ‘warm’ even with the units running constantly and the lower outside temp. Lol.

 

Long day…

 

 

[Jeepers]

Glad you are getting a good deal with your AC Annarchy. Lower electricity bill will be a great bonus too. The HVAC people told me that when the air con. goes out at the Indy house I'll need it replaced because of the Freon. Same with this house. Probably my fridge too. Will you be without air while they replace your unit? 

 

I got some more of my food squared away in the pantry. As I went along I checked out the 'sell by' dates. Some of it expires this year. I was surprised because I know I didn't buy it that long ago. I'll still use it of course. Mostly drink mixes and things like that. My Nido expires in November and I know I just bought it during the pandemic. I haven't checked the can goods yet. Those little plastic single serving fruit cups don't last as long as I think they should either. So, be sure to check the dates on your medium term preps BEFORE you buy. 

 

Another good reason to can your own food. You know they are good at least 5+ years. 

[Mt_Rider]

   I'm packed to stay with my mom from tomorrow [Tuesday] til Saturday....I think.  Car will be going for repair and that's always a bit unknown.  The issue is bizzare too but our mechanic has seen it happen.    He'll figure it out, I hope.  DH will have my old truck if he needs it....hasn't been started in a while but should be okay.

 

Riding and hoping to get my hip Xray tomorrow.  If the timing works out.  Hope I can sleep better than on this bed.  Pretty sure it needs new mattress cuz both hips have been screaming at me thru the night. 

 

I'm going to begin riding X2 per week again.  It's become obvious that I'm not holding well if I have to wait 7 days.    God is providing some money for that....   

 

MtRider  ....see ya all at the weekend.   

[snapshotmiki]

Hope your a/c is fixed now Annarchy!

 

I'm tired.
Went to Walmart this morning for a few things and to Kroger for local sale, a few other places.
Came home and put away items.
Took dogs for walk, but no energy left for me.
Will wash rugs and then dog blankets after awhile.
Otherwise taking it easy today.

[Littlesister]

Annarchy, hope you now have air conditioning now. We had a very hot and humid day yesterday.  I would not have made it without air conditioning. Today we had rain and has cooled way down. Hope it stays cooler for a few days. 

 

Mt. Rider, Have a wonderful time with your mom. Hope the horse riding will get you back on track. 

 

I have had a busy few days. Made barbeque from the one Boston Butt I was able to get at the Churchland Food lion. Today I needed to go to the Food Lion by me for a loaf of bread. Decided to see if they ever got any Boston Butts in as I had already been in there looking for another one 3 times. They had two of them and I got both of them. So now I have almost 24 lbs. of pork to make barbeque with. That will give me about 24 to 26 pints of barbeque. Should hold me for a while till the kids discover I have it anyway.

Our Walmart was closed down for a long while today. Found out they blew  transformer. I wanted to get a couple of propane cylinders for my small grill.  

Have appointment with foot doctor tomorrow morning. Hoping the heel of my left foot is not anything serious. But it sure hurts to walk on it when I first get up to walk. Then after being on it a bit it is just a bit sore. Still thinking it is a bone spur. 

Finally finished getting all the chicken out of freezer and canned up. So that is done. In a couple of weeks I am going to go through all the beef in freezer to see what I have and make veg. beef soup, beef stew and to just can some beef for other meals.  Need to check on how much hamburger I have as well. Might make up a batch of spaghetti sauce to can also. My tomato plants are loaded and looking like they will start to ripping in a couple of weeks or so. So will be busy canning those as well. 

Finished going through all the boxes in small bedroom. So now it is just the one dresser and the shelving units that I have my canned goods on. Need to decide how I want to use the room. Thinking I will be keeping my sewing machine in dining room but I do need a small desk. So might put that in the small bedroom. Then can see if I want to get another shelving unit for canning supplies and get those out of shed. 

[Littlesister]

Went to foot doctor this morning. Not the best news, but not the worse either. I have 2 bone spurs. But the one on bottom of heel is the one that is bothering me. Also have planters facia. So at night I have to wear a boot to bed. Have to pump it up for the arch. Also have to do exercises everyday. 5 to 7 times a day. He taped my foot up to support it. So I have to keep that on for 5 days and then can remove it. I go back to see doctor in a month. Have to take Aleve twice a day as well for inflammation. The good news is that with being diabetic. I have no issues with my feet from that. 

Going to get the boston butts on tonight in the slow cooker. Will let them cook all night and then early morning will get them canned. The roma tomatoes are just starting to show signs of ripening. So it won't be more than a couple of weeks and I will be canning tomatoes and other things with them. 

Green pepper plants are full of blooms and has green peppers forming, As well as the eggplants. The cucumber plants are now full of buds. So they will be forming later as well. 

 

[snapshotmiki]

Have fun canning, Littlesister!  Sounds like a full day!

 

Walked first, walked dogs, then fed dogs.
Cleaned in house and then cleaned front porch.
Still need to make pudding and jello.
And clean lawn chairs.

[Jeepers]

I'm getting ready to take six bags to the dumpster. Tomorrow I have about that much paper and cardboard to recycle. It's a lot but barely makes a dent. Sigh. 

 

My shoulder is still hurting bad but I found some old CBD cream and rubbed it on. Ya know, I think it might be helping a little. At least enought to load the trash in the car. 

 

Last night I clicked on Amazon to have a look around. I had forgotten all about it being Prime Day. There were sales galore. It ended at midnight and it was already 11:00pm. Dang. I might have gotten a bread machine and a stick blender on sale. BUT I did get on in time to get G-son his birthday present. I was going to get it for him for Christmas but I couldn't pass up the sale. A kids 8 in. Fire Tablet. It was 50% off! Regular $140.00 on sale for $70.00.   I was all over that bad boy. Arriving at his house tomorrow in time for mom and dad to set up the parental controls and wrap it up. Amazon has sure made this grandmothering gig easier. 

[Annarchy]

Lol, Jeepers, you mentioned a dress, I’ve collected several.
 

 …https://www.softsurroundings.com/p/santiago-dress/

they are soooo comfortable!  And look nice with a jacket, shawl or a light shirt.  EP Woman’s club love them too.  Lol

 

Long day, laundry, pulled weeds,a nasty nasty weed is trying to take over my  yard…. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternanthera_caracasana
 

 

[kappydell]

FINALLY THE RAIN WENT AWAY!  The rains were not kind to us.  Outdoor kitties were miserable.  We made extra rain shelters around the yard so they could run for cover.  And we found out where new mama hid her little ones...under the front -porch...where it FLOODS.  Rescued kitties several times (she was persistent in going there).  What fun...face down in mud, fishing in a down-pour thru the hole where we pulled up the boards on our front steps, for kitties we hear screaming for help.  The stuff nightmares are made of (if you like kitties).  Only a couple did not survive.   We have one survivor inside, bottle feeding her - she was bone-cold after we found her.  Now she is doing well, fortunately big enough to drink (guzzle) replacement formula out of the mini bottle.  We dont trust mama not to stick her in a bad spot again, so she stays inside till she gets bigger.  We named her Claudette, after the storm.   The male cat who was attacked by the owl (according to our vet) with the throat woulds is healing nicely, too.  From what the vet said, his wounds were caused by talons of a large predatory bird.  We do have owls here.  He was too big to fly away with and he fought himself free, and came home with a scary looking throat wound.  The vet stitched him up nicely.  He too is inside, where we try to keep him from scratching his stitches.  He does take his antibiotics nicely though.  We just hide them in his food. 

I cringe now when I hear the owl hooting at night.  Then I go grab a spotlight and shine the trees until I drive it away.  He can go hunt elsewhere.   They are proteted so I am loathe to shoot it.  Maybe I'll start throwing firecrackers at it to harass it.   

 

We busted the budget again.  Usually it is food, this time it was...fireworks.  Mary especially enjoys doing a fireworks show (she was licensed up in WIS to do shows, and loved every minute).  I still remember the night the finale put the street lights out, and rocked the fire trucks (fire dept on scene in case of sparks setting a fire).  We could feel the concussions in the air pounding on us as the ground shook.  Whew!  However, I digress.  Down here in GA fireworks are legal (!!!) so we go early when the selection is good.  They only sell a couple weeks before the 4th.  While Mary bought 3, 4, 5, and 6 inch shells, and multiple firework "cakes"  I nosed around.  My purchases were a little more "survivalist"....string pull activated smoke grenades in several colors...strobe light fireworks....large military smoke pots....pull-firecrackers of low power (aptly named "booby tyraps" ) to make perimeter alarms.  Strobes to create distraction, ruin a lurkers night mision and light up the hot zone.  Smoke is for hiding in and creating view obstructions for lurkers as well.  And...of course some M-120s, nice and LOUD to startle.  Between us we spent...brace yourself...1200 dollars.  It will be a great show, though, with leftovers for Haloween, Christmas, etc.  We saved half the year for it.  Now we start saving for Christmas decorations!

 

So chainsaw Mary is sitting in her easy chair making multiple-shot sky-rockets from singles (a trick she learned shooting professionally) and putting longer fuses on the larger fireworks giving us more time to get further away after firing them.  We work together well after all this time, and have a good rythym.  We are expecting lots of applause from the boaters who travel around the lake at night to watch others shoot fireworks over the lake.  Our prep-friends live on the lake, we do the "show".  

A good time is had all around, and Mary grins for a month afterward.  Her favorite holidays are 4th of July and Chrostmas.

 

On the personal side, I am disgusted with going to the doctors.  Every time I do they find some new issue that needs addressing.  Went to the eye doc and he found cataracts.  Now taking eye drops to bring pressure down in eyes so I can get cataract surgery done.  Then saw my primary doc.  She was pleased with the 25 pound weight loss, after making certain that it was intentional.  She adjusted my blood pressure meds down because with the weight loss, the blood pressure dropped too.  Too low.  Then she asked me to walk.  Uh oh, she did not like my gait (again) and said that I should be walking well after all this PT work.  Not to mention the ongoing pain, which I just assumed was arthritis.  She got me in to go see the ortho doc who did my hip in two days flat (we go tomorrow at 9:00 AM).  I don't know what she told them, but she expects correction to both my gait and pains.    OK by me, Im tired of hurting.  I have no idea what they will do though.  No surgery allowed during August...we go to WI that month.  

 

I could stand some boredom for a bit....nice, restful boredom.   

 

No such luck...the garden is starting to produce summer squash and tomatoes a-plenty, all of which will need processing. Okra and collards are going crazy.  (BTW, collard slaw is delicious!) All of which attract pests.....we do tomato hornworm picking at least once a week. Then our trip.  Then we return to get transplants started for the autumn garden.  The wierd weather just adds to the excitement.  I'll never complain about being bored again, LOL.  

 

 

 

[Jeepers]

Very nice dresses Annarchy! A little out of my price range though. I'm more in the $39.00 range kinda girl. Or less.  

 

I'm also short. I have to get petite and even some of them are long on me. Once D-ex and I was pants shopping for me. I said I need to be in the petite section. He looked at me and gasped, PETIT?  I had to explain that petite in women's clothing simply meant short and not tiny.  Ex for a reason.  

[Annarchy]

I got a couple of those dresses, blue, brown & dark green, when they went on sale at $29.  Every now & then, I get lucky.  They shrink in length in the dryer.  Being tall, I line dry mine.  
 

Yikes, I did too much yesterday, paying the price today.  Today’s motto, ‘..just keep moving..’

[snapshotmiki]

15 hours ago, kappydell said:

.we do tomato hornworm picking at least once a week. 

I just read on my other forum that if one uses a blacklight flashlight at night, they glow in the dark so they are much easier to spot.  Haven't tried it yet, but sounds interesting.

 

Walked first at 8:15. It's getting to hot and humid to wait that late to walk.
Fed dogs.
Cooked bell peppers, onions, jalapenos and turkey sausage for future breakfasts.
Made lots of Squash soup! Still cooking. Going to PC some of it and maybe freeze a little. Squash was free, carrots and sweet potatoes canned previously and butternut squash was frozen.
Still need to dust house and that may be it.

Dropped my jeep off at mechanic's with a new fuel pump and filter to get replaced. Hopefully I will have my jeep back soon!

[Littlesister]

Went to Harris Teeter early this morning to buy the hamburger they had on sale.  It was a limit of 4- 2.5 lbs. for 3.99 a pound and was packaged up at 2.5 pounds per pack.  I used my card to get 4 and DH's card to get 4 more. It was also senior day. So 5% off total purchase.  I now have about 20 lbs. of 93% hamburger to can on top of the 24 lbs. of boston butts to can as well. Also hit the jack pot. Was not looking for this but wasn't going to turn it down either. They had roast, steak, flank steak, stew beef, all on sale at 1/2 price. today was the sale by date.  I have 2 pressure canners going now with 16 pints of beef now. I cut the two roast in half as they were huge and put those in freezer. Tonight I will put one of the boston butts in slow cooker to cook over night and get started on the hamburger tomorrow morning since that has to be cooked and is just to late to start that right now. I will be canning for the next 2 days. 

I also stopped at Best Buy to buy a new Wi Fi router as my quit and the company could not get it going again. Also looked at some antenas for the TV. I am looking at cutting the cable off. They went up again for the 3ed time in less than a year. Got to love Spectrum. Then went to B.J.'s to renew my membership for half price. Bought another propane tank. So now I have 3 with 2 full and one about 3/4 full. Filled the gas tank there as well. Gas has gone up again to $2.95 and I can get it there for $2.75.  Propane was still 14.00 for a tank. I was surprised at that as it has been that price for the past 3 years.

Well time to go clean up kitchen and get more canning jars out for tomorrow. Need to get them in the dishwasher and get kitchen cleaned up again for tomorrow's big mess.

[Jeepers]

I had a lot of errands to run today. I took two more stinky bags to the dumpster. I still need to load the cardboard and paper in the Jeep to recycle. That will be easy though. I went to two different drug stores plus Wal-Mart for a new blood pressure monitor and no one had any. I'm not concerned though. There is a drug store on about every other corner up here. I just got too tired to keep looking. I dropped a small fortune at Wal-Mart and I didn't get very much. Just the usual bread, milk, eggs, fruit/veg etc. Sheesh. I noticed the shelves are looking thin again. 

 

Went to the Dollar Tree and was disappointed there too. They didn't have three of the four things I went for. No kitchen matches or shelf stable milk Gossner's I think it's called (prep items) and no Splash drinks. Our D.T. stores are pretty small compared to others but we have a lot of them. I picked up some more of those flavor packets you add to a bottle of water. They are name brand like Welch's, A&W, Country Time, Hawaiian Punch etc. Easier to store than a bunch of different bottles of flavors. I think I'm set with drink mixes. I have the individual flavor packs, canisters of Gatorade and Tang...not my favorite. Plus Nesquik, coffee, Nido and protein powder. 

 

Every place you look there are 'Help Wanted' signs and I do mean everywhere. Some places have great big signs in their window. I was starving and rolled into Wendy's. I got a grilled chicken sandwich and a large chili. No fries and no drink. It came to $8.00 and a little change. Crimony!  Looks like my eating out days are going to be dwindling down. Way down. Atleast when you go to the Dollar Tree you know how much it's going to cost you. If they have it. 

 

[Jeepers]

Littlesister, we were posting at the same time.  

Way to go on your meat haul! You had better luck shopping than I did. Those jars are going to look beautiful. I noticed our gas was $2.89 today. 

 

I forgot to mention that when I was in Wal-Mart I went down the canning aisle. I always do. The only jars they had was one box of quart jars that was opened and six of the jars were missing. And one of the jars had the lid and ring missing.    I wonder how does one go about stealing six quart jars? Plus the top off another one. I'll bet by the weekend those lids on those jars will be gone too. 

 

Still no lids anywhere up here in Ohio. 

[Littlesister]

Jeepers, our stores are now packed with food. Haven't seen them that way in a long time. Canning jars are still hit and miss and no lids. I haven't looked at Walmart yet. But will not be able to get there for a few days. 

Been on my foot for most of the day and it is now starting to hurt a bit. Did my exercises and then propped the foot up. I really hope what he is doing will work. 

As soon as I get the barbeque in canner tomorrow, I will have to start washing clothes. So I think my day tomorrow will be starting around 5 am. So off to bed early tonight. 

I have been wanting to make poor man's steak for a long while now. But it is a long process. Going to pull out the instructions and see how it is done again as it has been a long time since I read those instructions. With 20 lbs. of hamburger, that would really be a great thing to make as it does take a lot of hamburger to make it. Then the rest of the hamburger I will just can.

[Virginia]

If you have Dollar General, I see they are well stocked on jars, just no boxes of lids in yet. I read somewhere that DG has well stocked the jars all over.  Who has all those lids???

[Jeepers]

Thanks Virginia. We have a couple of Dollar Generals by me. I'll have to check them out. I don't really need any. I just like to keep a lookout for them to see if they are being restocked yet. Canning is going to be in full swing soon. I like Kerr jars but they have never been availible in Ohio or Indiana around me. I ordered quite a few cases of them from Wal-Mart last fall. 

[snapshotmiki]

Walked first, walked and fed dogs.
Went to Dirt Cheap for a chair cover---dogs.
Stopped at thrift stores, then Kroger for a couple of things. Got 10#s of hamburger patties for $20. Good deal for here! Came home and parted them out and vacuum sealed.
Put The previously canned Squash soup away.
Worked on cleaning lawn chairs.
Think I'm about done.

[Annarchy]

DH told me “don’t work too hard” when he crashed around 5am.  I am still paying the price, in my hip & knee, for sitting cross legged on the ground, digging up that terrible weed.  Only 1/2 done, BTW.  
 

So, I raked the pine needles out of the back yard, slow watered a tree that took a beating from our 120° week,  trimmed (cut to the ground) a mesquite tree and eucalyptus tree, every year at least 2-3 times. Cut shipping boxes down, smoothed & folded packing paper and filled the dumpsters.  Pulled the ice chests out of the shed also, to take back to TX.  MIL’s shed has much more room than ours, and that’s where I re-use them.  Still need to make more room in the shed, his ‘boy’ brought us a tankless water heater, for when we have to replace our ‘new’ one.    Paid a bill and rested. 
 

Trying to figure out, “What’s for dinner?”  Lol