Dog Days Of Summer

Well lately I've been obsessing over euchre. I was in an online league but when I went to play, I found I had been deleted. That's what happens to inactive players, and it had been at least a year since I made an appearance. So I joined up again, and have been at it night and day. The novelty will wear off again I'm sure.

I've been reading up a storm too. I recently finished two Sidney Sheldon books and am currently reading a Joy Fielding book. Of course all the titles escape me right now, and I'm too lazy to run upstairs to have a look.

It is sizzling hot outside. Has been for a few days, after a ton of rain. That's the forecast all week, HOT. A couple of years ago, we bought a little plastic pool for Bear. I figured he must get awfully hot sometimes with a black fur coat on. He wants no part of it. If I put his toy in it, he will step in, grab is toy, and run. He doesn't want to get wet. Silly dog. The other day I put Eddie in it to see how he would like it. Well, he LOVED it. I couldn't get him out of it. He was soaked to the bone and shivering, but would not get out of the pool. I had to move his tether away from it so he couldn't reach it, to let him dry out. So here's Eddie having a blast in the pool...

And there's nothing else to say. Things have been pretty quiet around here, boring as hell even. The dog days of summer.

I LUV CHAR

While Mr. Man drank a few bottled Cesars as he was waiting for D & S.W to come over for drinks and euchre, an idea was hatched. Suddenly he jumped up and put gas in the lawnmower after I had ran out of gas and let it sit where it stopped. He began to cut seemingly erratic lines in the grass. Soon it became clear he was writing something. It was so cute. He wrote "I LUV CHAR". I then had him climb up on the roof to take a picture of it. The ladder was right there because he had been up on the roof earlier measuring for new shingles. The pictures don't really show the whole thing, but you get the gist. I love this man, my Mr. Man, so much, and I love knowing that he loves me too. So here's a picture...





He's up on the roof and I'm down on the ground. He's behind the satellite dish which you can see in the foreground and in the shadow of him. But look at the grass. A very sweet gesture.

Then S & D.W came over and we ate and drank and played euchre. Then we decided we should have a bonfire too. It wasn't going long when we all decided to call it a night. It was an early night, as they were planning to head out to Canada's Wonderland in the morning, and Mr. Man planned to get up on the roof early to start shingling.

Since they couldn't reach me by phone (I guess they didn't have the cell number), I received a registered letter from the doctor informing me that I need to make an appointment for another biopsy. Apparently the cells keep coming back "abnormal" so they have to keep checking for cancer. So far no cancer I guess, just abnormal cells. I'm not sure how often I have to go, if it's every six months or every year. One or the other. So I go in September, in fact the first day back to school. Little R will be in her very first day of high school.

Speaking of Little R, she got herself a little part time job over at the Burger and Fries Stand. She put in four hours today, her first day. That's a cool first job, working in a chip wagon, I think.

I mowed the front lawn yesterday and most of the back today. I did a little, very little, weeding in my gardens. Thats when I discovered, the wire I had buried a couple of years ago, for one of those electric collars for Bear, was cut, completely severed. So 500 feet of wire and $200 is gone, useless, a lot of work and money for nothing. Since you can buy extra wire seperately, we're going to try to sell the kit with the collar and control box and flags, everything but the wire, in our yard sale, that we may or may not have this year.

Speaking of yard sales, one of my nieghbours had one today. We couldn't resist walking over to see what was there. I don't think there was much planning or advertising, so it was mostly only nieghbours attending. I bought an angel with lights made out of sticks, to stick in one of my gardens for $.50. We also bought a silver coffee pot, creamer and sugar bowl for a buck. I'll never use it. I may get around to polishing it and putting it in one of my cabinets. There was a lot of craft type stuff, a lot of kids VHS movies and a lot of toys. I found myself wishing I had grandbabies so I'd have a reason to buy some of the cool toys.

We went out for brunch today and then picked up pizza for dinner. Mr. Man put a good dent in the shingling. He's not doing the whole roof, just parts of it where there are leaks. Really the roof isn't bad, just in spots. My baby, Little R is a working girl now. She's growing up fast now. I haven't talked to Big R much lately as she was away on vacation, but we have been talking again which is great. I called my father to wish him a Happy Birthday the other day. He turned 92. He then passed his drivers test and is legal to drive another 2 years. Amazing.

That's about all the news from paradise. Well there is other stuff, negative stuff, that I'd rather not mention here. But it doesn't really involve me or my family, it's peripheral. People around us. That's it, until next time, have a lovely evening. Monday morning is almost here.

The Birds and The Flowers

The other day Edwad found a bird in the front yard. I assumed it was dead, killed by a cat or whatever. When I put Eddie in the house and went back to investigate, I found the bird was in fact alive. I think it was injured and I think it was a baby. So I got on some gloves and put him back up in the tree he was near. I wanted to cut the grass, and I didn't want to be running over any birds with the lawnmower. Shortly after he was back in the middle of the yard. So this time I took him to the very back of the back yard. I haven't seen him since. Here's pictures of him back in the tree...

I never did cut the grass. It's looking really ragged at this point, it still needs to be done.

Today I took a couple of pictures of flowers. My gardens are looking terribly neglected. We've had a lot of rain the last few days and before that it was just super hot with no rain at all. When Mr. Man had to dig up the septic line in the winter he accidentally dug up my Columbines too. I didn't think they would come back. But I do have 3 plants there now and today I noticed one has one bloom on it. It's the yellow one. The other two should be pink and purple. I hope they bloom too. So here's my first yellow Columbine this year...

And here is my Snowball Hydrangea...

Here is my yellow Rose. I wish I had got the picture before the rain. Also yellow Lilies. And one of my 2 Hosta plants.

So that's it for today. Not much exciting around here these days. I'm not in the mood for yard work today. Feel more like playing online euchre. Have a good day!

I Survived

I survived Port Dover July 2007! I got a t-shirt that says that too, from the Riders Mag, thank you Critter! (I had to do a little work for it but we won't get into that lmao.) What a trip! We were right on schedule, got up at the ass crack of dawn and got all ready, out the door just before 8. Off we went. About half way there the bike started acting up. Mr. Man pulled over into a parking lot of a restaurant. That's a good thing because we were there for 3 hours! He fiddled and fooled with the bike to no avail. He fiddled and fooled with it until it just wouldn't even start. Finally after 2 hours I convinced him to call for a tow. Then it was almost an hour wait. Then a couple of hours driving back home. We sat at home for a few minutes and decided to go to Port Dover anyways, in the car. So it was around 2 when we headed back out. We made it there by 5:30. We had to park in a field a couple of miles outside of town and take a shuttle bus in. Who knew they use school buses and who knew how many people use the service. The buses were running constantly and like the parking lot/field they were packed. We were supposed to meet up with people at Angelos between 2 and 4 p.m. Since it was 5:30 when we got there we didn't meet up with them. We did however run into some folks we haven't seen in about 10 years or more. We had lost contact with them. So numbers were exchanged etc. and then they were off as they had been there all day. The band at Angelos was really good, my kind of music, all AC/DC and the like. We ventured out for a while to buy t-shirts and check out other bands and ran into one of the guys we know from Brothers of the Third Wheel, a trike club. Got our t-shirts and went back to Angelos. We met a nice couple who were from a town near where we live and sat with them for a while. We did bump into a few people we know but kind of just kept drifting around. Mr. Man spilled like 3 beers throughout the evening, don't know what that was about, that's so not like him. The last shuttle bus was at 1 a.m but I think it was around 11 when we packed it in and hopped on the bus. Despite breaking down and all, I'm glad we went back in the car, we had a blast. Apparently Mr. Man was the only one taking any pictures. So here's the bike arriving back home, bitch that it is...







Note the sign on the window lol.


And here's me sitting on a cement stoop at the patio of Angelos. It was the only seating available at the time.






And here's me several hours later after getting a seat at the only picnic table on the patio...

And here's me and Critter still later. Not sure if this was before or after I flashed him and his camera to get a shirt. It only took him 3 years to get me to do it lol!

Ew, lookin rough there.

As I say, I'm glad we decided to go. Otherwise we would have sat at home fighting. I was pretty pissed about the bike. I didn't say a word in the tow truck all the way home, because I was just so pissed off. But we made the best of it and had a great time. Today I'm sad to know we won't be riding again at all for a while. Who knows when Mr. Man will get the bitch running again. Sigh.

Today is all cold and dreary. I'm a bit hungover. And the grass needs to be cut. Back to reality.

Four More Days To Go

Mr. Man never did get a chance to work on the bike this weekend, but he still insists we'll be going to Port Dover this Friday. I'm not going in a car. Forget that. He'll have a chance to work on it tomorrow.

So our new neighbours came over to our fire Friday night. Apparently their cat, their indoor cat, has been hiding in our garage for several days. I thought I saw eyes in there one day, but just thought "give your head a shake". Whenever I hear scurrying noises in there I assume its chipmunks, voles or mice. Poor thing. Good luck catching it in there too. That garage is packed to the rafters. If they do try, I hope no one gets hurt. So, they seem like very nice folks and a far cry from the freaks who lived there before, thankfully. They have 2 little kids and a cat, no dogs. All those dogs and kids were just visiting.

I'm still tuckered out from the party on Saturday. I'm so glad I planned it for Saturday rather than the usual Sunday. Sunday was nothing but muggy rain. Hopefully it will have helped the grass though. I think it looks a little better already. I had made punch, for the novelty, and because I bought that damn punch bowl and am determined to actually use it. Everyone tried some but I don't think it went over too well. They preferred the pop. We barbecued jumbo hot dogs, and had a couple of store bought salads, because we're lazy like that. I baked a cake and they ate the whole thing. There was chips and pretzels and candy. Soon after the lighting of the bonfire we gave them all glow sticks. Shortly after that they all ran out to the street for a game of Manhunt (Hide and Seek) and when they came back only half of them still had glow sticks. The boys, being boys, broke them open and spewed the glow goo all over everyone. Like I say, a good time was had by all.

Did I mention I saw a chipmunk in my backyard the other day? That was a first. I know they had one hanging out nextdoor a couple of years ago, but I've never seen any here. He was near a pile of wood trim and that would explain why the dogs are always over there sniffing around and digging a trench under the wood pile.

Well, that's about it for this morning. All this talk about my backyard and my gardens are calling my name. Have a lovely day!

Little R's Birthday Party

Well, Little Rs birthday party was a success. It started out subdued but by the end it was pretty rowdy. I started having a mini meltdown as the scheduled start time neared, thinking no one would show up. The first guest arrived 5 minutes early. Others soon followed and all who said they were coming did come. That was a relief. I'll never forget the year when she was much younger and only one kid showed up. We ended up taking them to an amusement park instead. That experience was traumatic. But I digress. I think a good time was had by all. I think I had the timing off a little, it was a long party. Just before the 11 p.m end, one of our neighbours set off fireworks 2 yards over, that was a bonus. Once the boys and those not staying over left, Little R insisited on coming in to watch a movie before retiring to the tents in the backyard. They watched The Blair Witch Project and then went out to their tents, shudder. I didn't get to bed until 2 a.m. Mr. Man got me up around 9 - 9:30 this morning and we bundled into the car. We took 4 kids to our favourite little place for breakfast. Then we had to drop them all off at home all over the county. It was fun. Today has been very muggy, humid and rainy. Apparently there was thunder early in the morning, before I got up.

D.W was here all day helping out. He single handedly put up both tents, which turns out to be a simple task, what do I know about tents? He helped hauling firewood. He helped blowing up balloons. He helped set up the games net. He was a very big help. It was very windy all day. We weren't sure the tents and balloons were gonna make it. And it was looking pretty sketchy for having a bonfire too. But it did eventually mellow out enough for the fire.

So, here's pictures...

niggardly cheese wheel, indeed!

Was just skimming through my junk mail, which I rarely do, but I've been expecting some RSVPs via email and thought they might go to my junk. One caught my eye. It was from "Char Graves" and the subject line was "niggardly cheese wheel". I thought what the hell is this! And had to check it out. When I opened it, it was none other than an ad for 100% guaranteed penis enlargement.
Just thought I'd share!

TGIF

We finally got that cabinet from the W family. I had the perfect corner for it. Guess what? It doesn't fit. It's too tall for the familyroom. I'm not sure I have another corner upstairs to put it. What a drag. It would be perfect to contain my rooster collection. So I'm thinking we may try putting it in the kitchen.

We've had a bit of rain in the last couple of days but it doesn't seem to have done much for the grass. It wasn't enough. I'm not complaining or anything either. Saturday should be perfect for Little Rs birthday. We're doing it more in the evening this year, rather than afternoon. Its going to involve outdoor stuff and a barbecue and a bonfire. Then sleeping out in tents. That's cool for 14 year olds eh? Sure it is. Our first time here we had all the old fashioned outdoor race games like the three legged race and potato sack races, stuff like that, the kids LOVED it. They were still talking about it at school in September. This is a few years later, a few years older and we're thinking horseshoes and volleyball. Last year was a pool party with our 16' Easy Set pool. They had a blast.

Last night Mr. Man suggested we go to town for dinner since Little R was off doing a 4-H thing. So we went to a bar with food and a pool table. On the way there I said we should have called D & S and D.W & S.W and get them to meet up with us there. I never think of these things in time. Once we got there Mr. Man pointed out a computer in the middle of the bar with a big sign over it saying "FREE INTERNET". So I immediately got on it and sent messages to D&S and D.W & S.W telling them we were there and to come on down and join us. They didn't get the messages. Bummer. But Mr. Man and I had a good time none the less. He kicked my ass at pool a few games then I won the last one, fair and square. We took the backroads home hoping to see some wildlife, thankfully we didn't run over any more small animals. We didn't see anything.

Today is cut the grass day. Half of it is dead and the other half is growing and needs a cut. I've been watering spots but it doesn't seem to help much. I've noticed a couple of lawns which are immaculate, they must water every day.

I've been trying to get pictures of all the birds I get to watch, but I'm usually too far away, even with the zoom on. I need a better zoom. We took pictures at the trikers fireworks, a couple of them turned out ok but the photos just don't do justice. There is a setting on the camera for fireworks but we didn't have time to fool around with it and find it. I'm determined to get a good photo of a hummingbird before the summer ends.

Haven't talked to D nextdoor again. I haven't seen her. I am hoping we can clear the air and get back on track. She now knows that I miss her. Not sure that's a good thing or not.Oh well, I'll try again today. I'll be out there weeding and mowing all day.
Have a lovely day y'all.

My Horoscope

Todays horoscope...

If you are uncertain about how someone feels, ask them for clarification. Even if this makes you a bit uncomfortable, it will be better in the long run if you know where you stand. But it won't work if the other person feels pressure from you, so approach the subject as gingerly as possible and without any attempt to coerce the answer that you might want to hear.

This seems like perfect timing. I spoke to the "clown" the other day. It was spontaneous, not planned at all. Just out of the blue I thought I'd try talking to her. We had a good little talk. She said it was good talking to me. We agreed to do it again. But she has snubbed me ever since.

I know its going to take some effort to get over all the things that were said, especially by Mr. Man. I didn't expect things to go right back to normal. But it has been over a year now and thats plenty of time to think about things.

I don't understand why we can talk one day but not the next. Oh well, I hope I see her today and maybe we can talk some more.

Have a great day.

Poor Little Racoon

It's so chilly in here this morning I had to turn the furnace on. I haven't been checking the weather forecast so every day is a big surprise.

The other night as we were driving home from the Trike-In we ran over a little racoon. That was a first for me. I cried! I was so upset. Then thankfully I had forgotten all about it, but Mr. Man had to remind me. The poor thing, it was awful, I felt terrible.

About a week ago, I went to water a house plant and noticed there was a weed growing in the pot. The weed was bigger than the plant! How did I not notice this before? Must have come from the dirt I used when potting the plant. It was pretty funny. My gardens need weeding enough, I don't need to be weeding my house plants too.

A few days ago was S.Ws birthday. I had picked her up something months ago when I saw it. I also dug up some more stuff out of my gardens for her. I think she planted it this weekend.

On Friday Little R went to a pool party. One of the kids in her class had a graduation party for the whole class. They live in a ritzy area. She had a good time. I was worried, not sure how it would go. But she was fine. In Septemeber its off to high school. I'm worried about that too and you know she'll probably be fine.

Not sure what I'll be doing today, haven't checked the weather forecast. I'd like to get out in my gardens and get some weeding and watering done. We haven't had rain in weeks. The grass is completely brown and brittle. I'd like to have the yard decent for next weekend when we have Little Rs birthday party. It's going to be another outside thing. We even picked up a couple of little tents for a sleepover. We're going to have a bonfire. We got a horseshoe kit but not sure we'll set it up. We got a badminton/volleyball kit. And I'm sure every year I say it's the last year I'm doing the birthday party thing for her. But yes I do think this will be the last year. We were planning something special for her 16th. This year will be a little more mature than previous years I think.

I'm off to start my day. Have a great day.

Happy Canada Day!

I think it was Friday, the freaks nextdoor finally moved out. That night the new folks started moving in. First thing I noticed was tons of kid gear. The backyard was littered with toys. Then I noticed the kids, there was about 10 of them. And dogs, several dogs. Eventually we figured out that some of them were just moving helpers. The very first day, there were 2 boys out back shooting a BB gun. I was freaking lol. The yards are large yes, but not that big. I had visions of getting shot in the head while I'm on my knees in my garden or something, or one of my dogs getting it. I had spent the day bird watching and thought maybe they were picking off all my birds. Then I overheard them talking, and they were talking about smoking dope! They were like 11. And the swearing coming out of them, sheesh. But even so, I already like them better than the ones who were there before.

On Saturday we had a bonfire. Mr. Man had brought home a pile of skids and whatnot from work, just for that purpose. I thought it was a couple of fires worth, wrong. It was kind of funny because there were several houses in a row all having fires at the same time and when cars drove by out on the main road they would honk at us all. Yes the new people had a fire the first night they were here to stay. That's when we met them over the back fence as well. They seem nice and friendly enough. But we won't be making the same mistake of getting too friendly again. I haven't seen enough of them yet to determine exactly how many kids and dogs do actually live there.

There's the pile of skids, doesn't look so big to me now lol. And the fire just as it was started. We hadn't had a fire in quite a while, I don't think we had a single one last year. The pit is surrounded by little rocks, and that was surrounded by tall grass and weeds. It was pretty small. We paid a kid to dig out around it and will probably line it with bricks or rocks eventually. Because we hadn't had a fire in so long and I was always throwing sticks and whatnot on the pile, there was a dense pile of crap to burn out. I'm happy to see its now just a pile of ashes.

Sunday morning we had to get up to go down to the city. My 91 year old father walks in the mall every day and sometimes, Sundays I guess, Big R goes with him. The last time she was here I admired the shirt she was wearing and asked her to pick one up for me. Then I thought may as well get one for Little R too. So I needed to pick those up from her. So we met them at the mall and joined them for their walk. It was brutal. I had a hangover. Mr. Man's hangover hadn't kicked in yet, he was still buzzed from the bottle of Jack Daniels he consumed the night before, by himself. My father walks painfully slow. It was sensory overload for me. We have one mall here and it is only a fraction of the one in the city. The whole thing was a little surreal. I went to that mall as a kid, thats where we hung out. It was just weird being there again. I kind of felt like I had been living a dream the last 4 years. The city really is no longer home to me, this is home. For the first year of living here, I drove down to the city a lot, like weekly. I missed it. I didn't feel at home here. Now it's the other way around. My father will be 92 this month. He still drives! However he is being tested again the day after his birthday. I hope he passes. After mall walking we went to Big R's new apartment, this was the first time I've been there. It was very nice. I'm so glad we're back on speaking terms, I think she's glad too. She's coming up next weekend for Little R's birthday.

Big R and Little R at the mall.

We came home for a bit and then Mr. Man decided yes we are going to the Trike-In. We were too late for the trike games and rodeo, but we did get to see the fireworks. One of the guys brings them up from the States so they're the good ones. It was a very good display. This one was held at a campground where our friends have a trailer. Our friends just happened to have a spare trike at their trailer so we got to boot around on that. Good times. They have 3, the wife has one and her hubby has 2. He's selling one. Too bad we can't afford it right now. Anyhow, we had a fabulous visit with our friends at their trailer. We were invited to come up for the weekend any time soon. We may just take them up on the offer. It was a really nice park as far as campgrounds go. Pretty laid back too. We are seriously considering parking our own trailer there. It sure would be nice to get it out of the driveway. I'm glad we went.

So that's it for our Canada Day weekend. Today will be spent lounging around the house, recouperating. This summer is just flying by. Can't believe it's July already. Though really, it just started.