A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Coffee House 2225, Happy Just to be Alive

thanks for your kind words Merme. But it is nice to be back here

Featherbeds... ummmm. Nothing quite like 'em. 'Cept maybe feather pillows.

Poll:

I like my pillow-- that is the one I rest my head on, not the ones that look nicest on the bed--

1) rock hard firm

2) firm, but with some squish & pliability

3) squishy, but with a definite shape

4) filled with down & feathers & a pain in the neck to get in a pillowcase evenly & properly

Votes so far [1] (me): #4

Thoughts?

Even though you weren't posting to me, Afgrey, as far as I know, regular members can not do polls. In the past if someone had an idea for a fun poll, a hostess would set it up for us. (Hint, hint)


Merme

Good morning. I woke early today. I was able to turn off my coolers last night and sleep comfortably. I am glad. I worry about machinery running 24/7 without a break.
It is to be almost triple digits today and then we get a break for a week, I think, and only low 90's. That is downright exciting. I want to get up and clean out the rain gutters of pine needles. And also the woodshed roof. I can't do that in high heat. So much to do. But I am pleased with my progress. Only a wee, little part of me wishes my body was still 20-30 instead of heading for 60.

Oh, Tina! Do I know this feeling!! I am 50 and although I do need to gain about 10 lbs., I am in pretty good shape-- still strong and agile. But all this intensive work in the house & garden these last couple of months has really highlighted the fact that I'm not 30. I usdacud (southern for 'used to be able') just bounce & run around like nobody's business. Now.. well... spend a smidge more time on breaks and don't bounce quite as high!

On the other hand, we know a pile of 20-30 year olds and I wouldn't trade places with them for all the tea in China!

About the pillow poll... . I am but a mere mortal gardener with no polling abilities.

Yes, I wouldn't go back to 20-ish for anything. And even worse I would not want to be a teen these days. Life is not nearly as fun as it was in my younger days. And I know so many 20's who expect a job with high pay and benefits to drop into their laps with no effort on their part. We have not done these kids many favors working so hard to make their lives 'better'. They have grown up with an attitude of deserving it as opposed to earning it.
That being said, I am pretty proud of my kids' can-do attitude. Enterprising.

Members can now post polls in the Banter Hall, but I reserve the right to change that in the future....

OMG, Afgrey!

You got tears running down my face, laughing!

Merme

Ladies! Ladies!! Ladies!!!

Some decorum, please!

Or not. I laughed out loud. And loudly!

So nice to have Cindy here, unrestrained or not. That always makes me smile.
I've been walking/crawling around on my roof cleaning out my gutters. I also cleaned off the top of my shade house too. I'm not sure why we put my lean-to shadecloth-covered potting shed under pine trees. Probably because we had no other choices. But those pine needles dig into the cloth and stick like crazy.
Now I am a wee bit safer from the next wildfire that passes by.
Almost time to go get my son from school.

YEA!!! Cindy is back and in all her glory! Welcome back, Cindy!

That's usually my line!


Merme

I am home and in for the day. It feels downright balmy today at 97*. But I won't go out and work until later when it cools off. Now it is nap time. I just have to shift my son off of my favorite napping sofa.

I am bored.

Sorry you are feeling bored, Marica. Are you sure you are not just overtired?

It is a bit steamy here today; nearly 80. The humidity is bad until the storm later clears it out. I'm laying low for now after a terribly, terribly busy morning doing loads of stuff I had no desire to do!

Gr-r-r-r, sometimes life is tough!





Can I please have some cheese & crackers to go with my whine?


Merme

Come to my house Marica- I have kids here to play with.. 15,,8,8, 6, 4 and 14 months ! making potato salad now for dinner later- doing burgers on grill- hoping rain holds off! going to make a pasta salad too I think for all these appetites we have ...
Well off to go make my bed finally- had to go off to a nail appt early so didn't do it yet....
Nana

Hi Sherri!

Hi Merme,


How are you... busy around here- kids and more kids and some of them are girls- I don't know what to do with girls!She likes to play with the boys though so thats good!
I got taters cooling for salad and eggs too... gotto eat soon...
Nana

Marica, "Purple green peppers " that's so funny.


I like the quilt in one of the bedrooms. How old is your house? Your plants look great. What is the "shack"? Like a screened in porch or storage or what? Looks like you have a table and chairs out in an open area.

Good evening everyone! It's about 95 here today, supposed to be anywhere between 98-103 tomorrow. Our record temp is 100 set in 1994 so we may very well meat or beat that tomorrow. We also tied our record for highest low temp. It got down to only 69 last night. Unfortunately, I do have to make dinner tonight but it's a lot of stuff that I can put on the stove and then walk away for a bit so it shouldn't be too bad. Got my iced gatorade and I took a cold shower when I got home from work so I'm hanging in there. My MIL keeps asking if she can buy us an air conditioning unit. We haven't decided yet, it's a coule hundred bucks for something that we would use maybe 5-6 days every few years or so. We'll see. Seems silly for her to buy one for just her visit. Time to check on the stove.

maybe she could schedule her visits when it's not so hot.
yea, I'm with you. I couldn't see spending (or someone else spending) a couple hundred bucks on something yo only use 5-6 days out of the year.

our heat has subsided a bit here. were down to mid 90's, and my maters that have stayed tiny and green for the last month when temps were around 100 are FINALLY starting to turn a bit red. don't know how they'll taste after being green for so long?

we cooked some burgers tonight. and I'm about to go out and water.

Some people (like me) get sick in the heat or at the least, can't sleep. If she's that way, she may just be thinking it is worth the $100 or so just to stay comfortable & feel well.

I would think so.

Plus, then you could use it whenever you needed it as well.

So, why not?

I had a rough day today, so I'm taking it easy tonight.


Merme

I think overtired is one way of looking at it-- I'd been going full speed for so long... an..d...th..e..n ... almost... ever..y...thing... is ... in ..order..except some basic weeding & such. ...

And yet there is another showing tomorrow!

O.k.-- The Shack. The shack is a semi-enclosed space, officially named the Synaptic Jct. It's a play on words. I'd have to go back into the vault to find the photos, but the idea is that John loves to cook out. But b/c of the lay of the land, when we first moved here, he was always cooking up on the drive. And folks congregated down in the garden. So he went off for a few days, and I mentioned to a friend that I wanted to make John and outdoor kitchen-- a place where he could cook and we could hang out. And... poof!! It's been a great place. It has a really high pitched tin roof, so when we have a fire in the shack, we can be 10-15* warmer than outside. I love fussin at the kids-- close the doors, you're letting the heat out!! of course, it's all only screen, and one side isn't screamed at all. But it makes fo rgood fun. Actually, in retospect, it's very energy efficient. I'll find the construction photos.

House was built in 1907. Quilt from JCP.

Hi everybody!

I have a very busy day underway, so I will stop back in later, probably after dinner.


Hope everyone has a fine day!


Merme

I overslept a little today after a rough night trying to get comfortable. So Ted is going to miss his 3rd Wednesday in a row from summer session. I am glad that it is a more relaxed schedule than the regular school year. This is his last week then off until Aug 25th.
I ordered almost $150 worth of seeds last night for fall planting. So as well as getting the house ready, I have to get more ground prepped for sowing. Wish me luck!

Good Morning everyone----I am back but still not completely back to my schedule.---I have a lot of "household chores" to do today. However, I am going to try to be around more, kinda between 'chores'--I miss being here.

Tina: when yo get done planting at your house---you can come on over & see waht I need to do-----


Off to eat breakfast & begin laundry now--be back soon.

Good luck, Tina! How much space are you going to have to prep?

It is all wildflower seeds mostly for the outlying areas. I figure I have to clean them up for fire danger so I may as well toss handfuls of seeds around. Then when/if I get plants and pretty flowers I will be more likely to keep the area cleaned up and some additional water to it. The more water the easier to keep fires away. It worked before for me anyway. It has just been a few years since I was able to do it. And now I don't have the 'help' to weed-eat or spray my posies away.
Marica, I have acres I can plant on to my hearts desire. But getting water to all of those acres is the issue. And then keeping the weeds and critters at bay. So I concentrate on the acre or less right near my home. My house is nestled on the side of a mountain so I have a lot of slopes and cliffs to deal with. It makes for an interesting challenge.

Good morning!

That sounds neat, Tina! Hopefully it works and you will have beautiful flowers!

Life has been busy for us. We have been running to one thing or another almost daily after work and on weekends for the past few weeks. Weekends in the summer are always busy for us but we usually have our weekdays open. Not this year I guess. The summer is going so fast. I got all of Tristen's school supplies bought. Now I just have to buy the clothes. I have a little time though. He doesn't go back until the day after Labor Day.

I'm still working on daycare...not much luck so far.

Hi Jessica,
Wish you lived here- I do day care almost every day... and all boys.. would be so easy..... LOL!
My company went to go visit cousins on her side this morning so I have some quiet time now- ben enjoying it... we did a burger bbq last night- tonight we are having son and his family over to visit too and bbqing steak... have all the sides left over still and will do a few hot dogs for kids.... so will be alot easier tonite......
Well need to go take my shower and get steak into marinade too... do a couple loads of laundry after too... always laundry to do seems like... only 66* right now - end of July... nice!
Nana

I wish I lived closer too Nana!

I have laundry whirling in there. I have picked up a ba-zillion pine cones. Enough to fill my 55 gallon drum. I love them as fire starters. And I have been raking up the rest of my pine litter. Well in the shady spots. It is blessedly cool out there by comparison to our temps lately. We will be hard pressed to reach 90 today. But still warm enough to make me want to take it easy and work in the shade.
But I think very soon my sofa will be calling me. I didn't sleep well last night so a nap is sounding just about right.

I am home, so HI EVERYBODY! but I am completely done in. We hit 83 today and I just can't bear such high temperatures. Big T-storms are forecast for tonight, with hail, and a drop in the temperature by at least 20 degrees, so I am looking forward to that storm! All my friends are equally anxious for it to arrive to break this nasty weather for us.


I had a replacement girl today because my regular one had a funeral to attend. She knew she wouldn't be here, of course, so yesterday she did as much as she could ahead of time so things wouldn't be too chaotic here today with a new person trying to help me get ready for dialysis.

So, it went fairly smoothly, but still a touch difficult to have a new person here. Just the process of "that bowl goes there; please put the forks here" and "drape my bath towel over the wheelchair after I get out of it" and "cut the press & seal this big and lay it out on the open the drawer, then fold the edges in and...." can be on the side of nervewracking.


And, I'm always a little surprised by adults who don't know how to use ordinary appliances... dishwasher, clothes dryer, etc. Those are fairly run-of-the-mill things, not like asking a stranger to perfectly run some kind of "it washes the floor and then dresses me" machine no one has ever heard of!

But we got through!

Even better, she lives very close to where I live and has a 12 year old son. They are new in town and haven't made strong connections yet. So she wants to invite Maxi to go to the beach & boogie board with her kid and I'm all for that! Maxi goes crazy trying to find people interested in the beach.


Merme

Cool on the new buddy for Maxi, Merme.
I didn't get much of a nap but the stretch-out was excellent. And then I went out and tracked down a leak and fixed it. That is always so satisfying.

Hi everyone, I'm dying over here in record shattering Seattle. Current temp is 104. Seattle's all time high was 100. This is the hottest Seattle's ever been since they started keeping records in 1860-something. We also had the highest low temp ever last night. It only got down to 71 and the previous record was 69. We miss our evening cool offs. It's muggy as all get out too, we are usually a bit drier. Okay, I'll stop whining now. Our living room is actually fairly tolerable. We did find an air conditioner last night but it doesn't really work that well. Well enough with the other fan going to help circulate the air. I bought a case of gatorade at sam's club last night. Thank goodness my job has air conditioning, those poor people would never survive. How's everyone else holding up? I'm thinking about venturing down to the store and shopping for some shorts I can wear to work. They told us we could wear shorts for the next few days and the store has a/c I could take advantage of for a bit. No cooking tonight!

Merme, I'm glad you've got someone who is doing a good job for you. I remember that other person who was always late or not showing up?

Today I was at a workshop dealing with childhood obesity and we went out to Lowe's Motor Speedway and rode in the Petty Car at 145 miles, saw a knife thrower perform and listened to a presentation by Heba from the Biggest Looser. Obesity is a sad thing. This is the first generation ever for which the children are not expected to live as long as their parents and it's because of the effects of obesity.

Cheryl, I think the answer to your MIL should be "yes".

Whoa. This whole summer weather thing [2009] is ... well, ya know, what Mother Nature does sometimes. Chicago has had a record low, or so I hear. I'm wishing it would warm up. Late July. Cincinnati. And I need a sweater. ?? It would be interesting to be a record-keeping mammal that had a life-span of about 200 years, don't you think? Little blips would be distant memories.

Chermoni-- get some window fans. Two fans in each unit, two sets of controls. In/Out + speed control. Put them at the north & south sides of your house. In the evening [N} --->>> ... ----> [S]. At night [N]---> .... <--- [S] . By 10am, pull the blinds & shut everything but the interior circulating fans down. I know you know this.

The thing to keep in mind is that some how or other, our not-to-distant ancestors managed w/o A/C-- and managed well enough to be our, well, grandparents. Also-- fill the tub with cold water. Water is a heat sink. That is, the heat in the air will warm the water & take heat from the air. Makes a nice luke-warm bath at the end of the day.

Anyway... . Good to hear about Maxi's potential pal! But what's up with not knowing how to ... oh wait. She is no doubt a distant relative of someone who painted natural wood work black enamel.

Thanks Marica, unfortunately we can't put fans in any of our windows. We have only two windows for the living room and kitchen. The are old fashioned windows that are tall and skinny. The screen is on the inside with a little door that you open up and then push the window out to open it. The rest of the kitchen/living room is all window, facing west. Not a very smart design if you ask me. We're doing okay, it's just really hard to sleep at night. By 10am it was already over 80 here today. This weather is crazy! We had near record breaking snow in the winter, now this. Seattle is supposed to be temperate. Hope Bill has a/c.