#19 Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners

Hi! :D
Dry heat my cactus! Even the cacti are miserable. I just watered them. Poor babies. It's like a pizza oven out there. 5:00 in the afternoon and still 110 outside. Yikes. Now you know the reason the dog and I go for walks at 3:15a.m.? Good for bones and sinuses but awful for skin, hair, eyes, and electric bills. Trade off I guess. When it comes to hair I guess I rather have hot and dry than hot and humid any day.

So I do volunteer/charity work and I write well. So...they asked me to write well for them. :D

Wrote a 2.5 page kind of extended blog-mini article. Spent a lot of time editing, researching facts, putting some things together I didn't know. Of course only use half of it when you write. Edited it, edited it; changed it; changed that; edited it, edited it again, sent it. Now read it again and wished I edited it again.....sigh...eye roll...whatever! We'll see what they do with it.

Waiting to hear. Aside from that the house is in shambles I did nothing for 2 days but write, sleep and eat. Flipping out my house is so nasty! No really... the floors are way over due, the bathroom is gross and YES you can laugh.

I have to clean out the freezer now. It has brown chunks of ice all over inside. Uhm...I drink Coke Zero like there's no other liquid on the planet. I didn't have any in the fridge. I wanted one. I wanted on real fast and real cold. I put one in the freezer. I got busy. I got a Coke Zero and some ice and a glass. I forgot the can was in the freezer "chilling" . Well, it chilled so well it literally combusted. Exploded all over the inside of the freezer.

My husband did about the same thing laughing when he saw it! Oh well he may have been laughing but he still left it for me to clean. So..........tomorrow guess what I get to do? :D
Clean up frozen coke out of the fridge. YIPPEE!!!

Jim, Kay........... how are things at the farm?
Bets...........how you doin'?
Carrie........ Well? What are you up to?
Hey, where's our new friend from Scotland? I don't see any of her posts other than the last that said she has a lot of reading to do. What's her name. I only know her by her "D" name of jayneth

Whoa! That’s hot even by cacti and scorpion standards! Good one, Beth!

Kay isn’t talking to her computer today. She wrote a post yesterday, but the system dumped it. I’m sure they will make up soon, but she is working on a scarecrow today and giving her computer the cold shoulder

Everyone is switching to autumn mode because it’s fall vegetable garden time. As far as the others are concerned, fall begins when we start planting the cool season vegetables. I can’t get into an autumn mood until the weather actually starts changing. It seems odd to call broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cabbage, turnips kale and kohlrabi cool season vegetables when we are sowing them in the heat of August. Autumn, when it really comes, in mid-October, is my favorite time of year in the deep south. I enjoy the gardens while the others are huddled around the fireplace. My sister IL told me a few days ago it was dropping down into the 40’s at night in Vermont. It may be fall there. but Kay better be dressing her scarecrow in shorts and a t-shirt.

(Jim)

Oh my goodness, 117? I even think that's hotter than Texas ever was while we were there. Of course I spent the whole time cowering inside.

And Agave, hahaha at you and your frozen Coke Zero!!!!!!

Good morning Jim,
Scarecrow in shorts & T-shirt. Now that's funny! Oh...our 117 degree day was only 1 degree short of a record for the day compared to last year. Like I said I have experienced the random 122 in years!

To me the most surreal thing about holidays around here is seeing X-Mas trees up when it's till 80 degrees outside and there's no snow and the sun's out! It is just so odd. I got CACTI in my yard!!! There's CACTI AND TUMBLEWEED!

I've been here 8 years and never get used to it. I have a tree and decorations you've seen in pics with Zoe. Half the time I don't put it up. Never "feels" like X-Mas when you're BBQing dinner outside. (We both hate turkey!) Matter of fact used to see wild turkeys in OH on the way home from work there and deer and pheasant. Used to love the snow on the trees. Hated winter but loved it for a month. Dec-Jan then it could go away!

The other thing I hate about X-Mas is it isn't X-Mas. We have Halloween stuff in June/July already in the stores and half the time it isn't even gone then they're shoving the Thanksgiving stuff in and by the time the Halloween stuff is on sale the X-Mas stuff is in. I actually started laughing one day. I was standing in the Wal-Mart and the shelves had stuff on them for all 3 holidays at once! What's the significance of them? Why celebrate? What's the "purpose/meaning"? Even if you didn't take them seriously/religiously at least you "understood" the intrinsic meaning and reason for them and what the celebration was about.

It really does make me glad now that I'm older. I am glad I grew up when stores were closed on Sunday and the only thing open were restaurants, the movie theatre, and truck stops. You may find a drugstore open half a day. You had to get gas and liquor on Saturday because everything was closed on Sunday!
Then the mall opened half a day until 4:00p.m. Then the mall opened all day on Sunday. Then until 7:00p.m, then until "normal" closing at 9:00p.m. on Sunday like all the other stores on the weekdays. Then on everything opened on Sundays. X-Mas Eve and Thanksgiving the same thing everywhere. The movies only had 1 movie or maybe 2 showing. That's what you saw. Then they got 5 or 6 going at one time in one place. It used to be so fun because you waited and waited to go see one movie you were sooooo excited about like the original Star Wars or the second part of it. You used to get sooooo excited the day AFTER Thanksgiving because THEN the X-Mas stuff came out and you could shop for gifts and wonder what you were getting and start listening to the X-Mas music. I really hate it now.
I still absolutely refuse to shop or put up the tree or listen to X-Mas music unless subjected to it until THE DAY AFTER Thanksgiving!!!

Oh I miss Fall. Know what you mean. My favorite season too! Leaves....color and color and color! The smell of them on the ground and the sound when you walked and even the smell when you burned them (you were allowed to back in the day to get rid of them). Acorns! Squirrels! Fall clothes (I have a degree in retail marketing and management)! New sweaters and boots and WOOL. Yes, I like "pretty", nice "lady" Fall/Winter fashions for that season. The collection of designer boots I had was obscene. So were the amount of PAPER bags I carried them in while I wore my "snow booties" to work! (lol) You know the nasty salt they put down on the sidewalks and streets to melt the snow stains leather (I don't do vinyl/pleather. YUCK!)

I get what you mean about Fall. Must be a relief for you down South! Cooler weather and less humidity. Cure for the "drippies". Did you take care of that poor prickly pear or is it still malingering? Yes planting now means good things later. Brussels's sprouts, carrots and kale ...YUMMM! Weird kid. I actually liked Brussels's sprouts! (Hate cauliflower and turnips and green beans, oh I hate green beans!) Yes I do love the fireplaces and warm drinks (hot chocolate, warm tea), fuzzy robes. But I like to be out in the Fall too.

I get you!

Here it's tumble weed season! :D Yep! Yeeeee-haaaw get along little doggies. Tumbly-tumbleweeds!
NO they are not soft!
They are huge, woody, dense, prickly, gnarly and don't fall apart and will scratch and could dent the car if they hit it and you spend a lot of time picking it off the grill !!
What they are all of the weeds, shrubs, scrub brush out in the desert and along the side of the road mixed with some assorted dead cacti "stuff" and whatever else out there that has fried, died, and baked to a crisp in the hot Summer sun and come uprooted from winds and lack of water (thin top soils) and just blows around. Well....as it blows around it collects and picks up other stuff just like it forming a "ball" of this stuff! Some of it is little but most of it isn't! I've pulled tumble weeds out of the prison perimeter fence as big as me! No exaggeration!!!(one of the jobs was to check the 'zones'; boxes that are lit to ensure the electric zap fence is working all the way around the prison!) They can get massive! And yes when it is windy groups of them blow en mass across streets and highways! I mean where's those semis when you need them right? When it rains they get wet, soggy and heavy. I mean it is like trying to move a 5 foot wet sponge with spines on it! They stick on, in and too everything!

I hate tumble weeds!!! Their an urban/suburban nuisance!! Out in the pure desert with nothing around they're cool. Aesthetically interesting. I think they also help transport a lot of the cacti/vegetation seeds also.

40 degrees in the day is our cold-ish winter temps. Fall is usually 70s. If you notice some of the pictures you'll see I have on sweatshirts and sweaters! Below 85 and we're freezing! Winter is usually 50s and 40s with nights in low 40s upper 30s. I can count on 1 hand the number of times we got frost or below freezing! I covered my plants 3 times last year.
All that is changing now. Last Thanksgiving it was 89 degrees!

E.P.A. who needs them? No hole in that ozone layer is there! Keep burning them fossil fuels! Yeah buddy! I guess we learned nothing about pollution and hazardous waste disposal during the industrial revolution. We also learned nothing about labor laws, workers and work place safety rights, greedy corporations, health, etc.
Why are people so dumb that they just can't see or accept the obvious? I mean is the human race dumb, brainwashed or still that evolutionarily stunted that we all singularly bent on our own destruction and won't be happy until we achieve it?
I heard the greatest quote. "Every time history repeats its self the cost gets higher." Sad but true.
Wise Cactus said, "Humans would be happier if we succeeded in living 1 day truly contemplating what we were doing than if we lived for a hundred years thoughtlessly and without regard for everything around us." Then he told me to go get the hose and make a water offering. He was hot! :D

Oh....check below Carries post for picture of tumbly weed!

Have a nice day,
TTC


This message was edited Aug 17, 2015 5:31 AM

Yeah buddy. We were still 1 degree short of last year's record of 118! Yesterday was 113 and at 5:00 when the sun started to set it was 111. Today is supposed to be "normal August temps" for all week of 108-106. Like I said we don't cry and whine here unless it gets above 110 or below 85.
Only stinks end of May- mid Oct. So I'll take yucky for 4.5 months and 6.5 glorious 50 degree days in January-80 degree days in May-June with NO HUMIDITY and lots of sun. Tradeoffs.

So how you doing today? Feeling good?
I've been o.k. so far. :D

Oh...here's a picture of a tumble weed I had been telling Jim about! And a few more desert stuff :D

pic #1 & 2 : tumble weed!
Pic #3 little lizards that get up on my garden wall. They climb on them and around them and hang upside down and can walk sideways. I forget what they're called but they're cute and fast and little. This one looks huge because we used a zoom lens on it. If Zoe can get one she finds them tasty.
Pic #4. Mr. Chipmunk that gets into my garden on occasion. Cute little guy
Pic #5 Garden critter Zoe (in yellow racing slick; head down) and friend at the "Greyt" gathering. It's like Woodstock for Grey hound owners.

We went to a family reunion in Virginia on Sunday. We drove down Friday and back Monday. There are 8 cousins born between 1959 and 1969,, and we were really close. We used to write a variety show every summer. There was original music (by me) and other music too (I was the arranger, conductor, teacher, accompanist and everything else to do with the music). I was amazed at how hard we worked! I mean now, I am amazed at how hard we worked in the 70s. We had no Xerox machine or no word processor but that was OK because I was pretty much the only one who read music. We memorized everything. We sang some on Saturday and it was remarkable how many words we remembered almost 40 years later.

There were 4 kids in my family and 4 cousins and all of them came! There are 8 grandchildren on our side and 9 second cousins...2 were missing. Lots of second marriages and plenty of stepchildren and half-siblings, and none of them came. It was nice to see the second cousins becoming friends. I think because we were so close as kids, we have tried to facilitate our kids being close to their cousins. Somebody said this weekend, instead of fighting, we sang.

So that was a wonderful emotional time this weekend. Ray said he wished his family would do something similar. (His parents both left families behind in Ireland and he grew up without cousins. )

Agave, one of the articles I'm working on is about thistles. You probably know that tumbleweeds are a type of thistle from Russia. I might ask you for a photo later.

Carrie

I'll be happy to find you some pictures of tumble weeds. I just have to wait for the right time when they come out. Getting close! Temperature is right for frying stuff. Now it's got to die. Then it'll blow around.
By the way I didn't know they were Russian. Here we just call them nuisance. I don't know if tumbleweed here is a specific one plant so much as different types of odd plants that just up and die and roll around either individually or as a ball that amasses collectively. If you're looking for one specific type of plant send me a few good photos and I'll get out and about walking and see if I can find it while it is still alive. Walking is the best way to "find" things in the desert.

Speaking of Russian....I was teasing my husband one day a couple of years back. I love politics (in case you haven't noticed on occasion) and I have roots in Eastern Europe. I also find Putin an interesting person in an iron willed, old school KGB Commie kind of way. This guy don't bend! So I was curious to read a little bit about him.
Came across some pictures. I'm sorry. I'm married not dead. Never found the guy hard to look at to begin with, especially in the right suit and attitude (not particularly 'good looking'...just something about him) but OMG my eyes went BOING! There was a picture of him with no shirt on riding a horse in the snow. Talk about muscles and a six pack! Guy looks goooood! Definitely all man that's for sure!

My husband was laughing at me and teasing me when I showed him. So I teased back about why doesn't he pump some iron. Now you've seen David. Tall, lanky. I mean if the guy turned sideways and stuck out his tongue he'd be a zipper.
I had come home a couple of days later after walking Zoe and found David with no shirt on ironing and then striking a few poses with it for my benefit! I about peed myself laughing so hard!

I think it's great what you did musically with you're whole family and all the work you put into it! How wonderful to be musical. I have NO musical talent. Different side of brain than "art/writing/language" . Music is usually with math and science people. That must have been quite a feat. It must have also been wonderful to see and hear. Don't you wish you had a video camera or phone that could capture that then so you could see it now?

I think technology is great in a lot of ways but I mostly think it has ruined our lives in the one way that matters. It has almost replaced the "human" element in everything. It has disconnected us from interacting with each other and from interacting face to face, voice to voice, using our minds instead of having a computer do it for us. I still write longhand and cursive when I write articles/blogs (short ones). It helps me "think". I find myself more often than not reaching for a dictionary. I do problems long hand which is why it takes me 4 days to balance a check book...Uhm...maybe I should cede to the calculator on that one!
I don't need 80 channels of crap to look at. I like Roku because I only pay for the crap I want to watch and select! We have a channel on LOCAL T.V. called "antenna t.v." because most people with just antennas and no cable can pick it up. It plays the original Barney Miller, Good Times, All In The Family, Maude, Three's Company, The Jeffersons. All the stuff I grew up with on prime time T.V.
Know what? It's my favorite channel.

How nice to have a big family that all got together like that. When my dad was alive we had all the Romanian relatives and Greek in-laws. Interesting since half of them didn't speak either language and most of them didn't speak English. Food and homemade booze was good! Guess nobody cared. There's was Orthodox X-Mas. Yep the stereotypical my big fat Greek Orthodox X-Mas before they made movies about it. It was in the 70s! Completely different day than Dec 25th half of the time. Turkey? What's turkey? Lamb and octopus!
Mom's side was Hungarian. Predominantly "Americanized" and did the Dec. 25th thing. Lots of food and traditions and English. Less relatives and booze and Hungarian (although some spoke it). They did turkey and stuffed cabbage and chicken paprikasch.

Oh and the cookies and nut rolls and home made cakes and pies and pastries and breads. AHHHHHHHH!!!!

Don't you miss it? Honestly if I could go back in time I would. I'd like to be my age now in the 70s. I think that would be one of my 3 wishes. OR I would like to freeze "time" so to speak right now and technology from advancing until humans caught up with it!

Speaking of Communist and catching up if I don't go get that Coke Zero cleaned out of the freezer Dave isn't going to find it "funny" anymore. (eye roll)
Talk to you all later.
Agave

Contents of Agavegirl's Freezer: (Now keep in mind I shop for 6 weeks at a time!)

2 packages of chix breast
2 packs boneless skinless thighs

1 pork shoulder roast (husband claims he's going to smoke on grill...yeah about same likli hood of me cleaning closet)
1 pork loin roast 3 pounds (for pork in red chili adobo sauce)
4 pork chops bone in (2 of which I didn't know I had...date o.k.)

1 5lb leg of lamb bone in! :D
2 packs lamb chops

8 pounds of 90-10 hamburger divided into little 1 pound "baggies" (o.k...... 1.5 lbs for my hamburgers, 2 lbs for chili, 1 lb for sloppy joes, 1.5 lbs for tacos; 2lbs for a whatever dish (stuffed peppers; meat loaf; meatballs, etc.)

several containers of frozen spaghetti sauce and chili and soup. (No such thing as making a batch for 1 meal. You cook for 20 meals, eat 2 xs and freeze the other 50 gallons! )

several bags of tater tots all open and in various stages of use; age undetermined (Husband!)

can of opened tomato paste (ahem, me) well....recipie only called for 2 tablespoons and I didn't want to throw it away!

half a box of pot stickers

4...yes count them....4 packages of bacon! Kept wondering where it was going and why I had to buy it again; just assumed I used it at the same time as the butter.

couple of Stouffer's lean cuisine T.V. dinners (good snacks)

In the "surprise"/bonus category:

Surprise!!! 3 bags of raw uncooked and unpeeled shrimp previously buried under husband's 5 pound pork roast (eye roll) :D

6 miscellaneous tater tots frozen solid
1/2 bag of peas with hole in it; other half of peas loose under bottom of husband's 5 lb pork roast
1/2 a bag of green beans that God only knows how old they are. I never see my husband eat anything green and I hate green beans. I dunno?

Surprise!!! 2 unopened boxes of butter....Kept wondering where all the butter went so fast and why I needed to buy it all the time. It was with the bacon I guess.

Surprise!!! 1 package of chicken drums (new to me) :D

A container of some kind of unidentifiable broth. Obviously had some intention for it. Can't recall. Went in garbage along with can of tomato paste tater tots and green beans.

Surprise!! Box of frozen individual snack pack edamame beans (you know soy beans; the nice dark green ones you eat raw with a little Kosher salt like they give you in Japanese restaurants?)

I lonely slice of garlic bread in a huge box taking up much space. Still good. Making it with my chili today. Dave can have tater tots.

Frost bitten container of Butter Pecan ice cream due to lid falling off (should I scoop off top layer and see if rest is good or pitch?)

NO COKE ZERO all over everything.!!!

Personally, I love butter pecan (and I can't believe I read the contents of your freezer).

Why?
Did you get a good giggle out of it? I did and a few groans!
Since I had to clean it I figured I might as well sort it out. I had a list made of it so I knew what to shop for the next time (NOT bacon, butter or pork roast and tater tots or shrimp!!!)

A discussion about tater tots and pork roast later ensued with DH. It was funny but I won't post it.

I know I found some it amusing and some of it not so.
Isn't amazing how freezers turn into "black holes" and refrigerators can turn into Petrie dishes and science projects? Want to know what I find in the fridge next? Wednesdays are always fridge clean out days! :D

I have till Wednesday to decide about the Butter Pecan. Love it. Still not sure what to do with it. What's your vote. Keep or pitch?

I love butter pecan ice cream, too! Scoop off the top "layert" of frost damage: THEN, if the rest tastes bad, you can ALWAYS throw it away! Personally, though, I would NEVER throw away any butter pecan ice cream! There
s ALWAYS some recipe that uses it..swom3ewhere! There's gpotta be! You coul;d even smother it in your fgavorite topping so you only KINDAS raste it!

LiZards: I always could tell when break time was near just by looking out the window: the ground shimmered (lizards and opther cold-blooded reptiles would warm up and start moving. . crawling, slithering. jumping etc.)
For awhile, I mused that our house must have some kind of unusual, maybe mutant, lizards. . . they crawled on the sides of my house and my little boy would always be trying to catch one. One day, I saw him actually castch one and I thought "Good! Now I'll have a spec imen to take in for the experts to ID!". Just then, it wriggled and raced away, leaving one unhappy little boy holding only a tail! Mystery solved! Although I admonished him to quit trying to catch the poor l;ittle things, I don't think he ever stopped 'cause I never saw a lizard on my house with a tail.

The "good old days" Yep, I remember groqwing up; there were few things I care to remember. I looked forward to turning 18 and finaloly being protected by law.
Here's some memorable events; where were yuou when:
JFK was assasinated? (I was in kindergarten or 1st grade, when it was announced over the PA system. Adultsx were crying and very sad: I was bewildered and didn't understand)
Man landed on the moon? (I was on a survival trip in the mountains and my group hiked in to watrch the telev ised event. Most of us were more interested in taking hot showers and enoying the comforts of being in a modern building, safe from the creepy crawlies of the local environment!)
The space shuttle exploded and burned up? (I was driving cross=country and glued to the news radio. I stoppede in a rest area, checking my route and the estimated debris path. Later that night, in a hotel room, I watched the news coverage with sadness, switching channels to get a more complete coverage of the tragedy.)

Agavegirl and her freezer. . sounds like a big, stasnd alone unit: chest or up-right? I always wanted one, back when I was cooking for my growing family; I envied being abvle to shop the sales. Stocking up was NEVER a possibility! Lord, those kids could EAT!! I made do with what I had: a small refrigerator's freezer, my knowledge of anatomy & Meat Science and my determination & inventiveness to feed my brood! Not only would I buy the chedaper whole chickens and cut them up, I'd buy the cheaper bone-ion cuts and big hunks of meat (especioally roasts and family packs) to use my butcher knives and turn into more expensibe cuts I never could have afforded to cook & feed The Ravenous Horde!

What I've been doing? Tending my Tomato Jungle. I have 8 propducing plants. . . Need I say more?? I'm looking forqward to the first frost. . . sure, a month before I'll start helping the plants wind down & ripen their remaining fruit, but come October 11 (average date of first frost and thus my designated end-date): I will just . . . STOP! Plants will be cut down, bucketsd emptied and stored. . . GEE! I'm looking forward to taking a hatchet to those "tomatoe trees"!

For now, it's time to go tend that Jungle!

Bets....Send me some 'maters!
I'll send you some bacon! We can both eat B.L.T.s! :D

No I don't have a big chest freezer although I wish I did. Grandma had one! That thing was the size of a station wagon. My electric bill would be $1,000.00 a month because of the heat out here and it would run constantly and never shut off because it would be in the garage. There's no place to keep it in the house!
I have a regular side by side that's what's so amusing and why I was flipping out! You know my family is a bunch of immigrants off the boat. Gotta have food! Can't be without food. God forbid stuff isn't falling out of the pantry or spilling out of the freezer. It's a quirk I inherited. Amazing what going hungry in a poor country will do and then growing up in the Depression era here will do to you. Who cares about anything else. Gotta have food! I kind of picked up this little "odd trait". (eye roll).

DH and I don't have kids. I couldn't imagine. Don't tell me but I'm guessing your grocery bill is like $600.00 a month or more. I don't know how people with kids do it. We're poor enough just the 2 of us and the dog.

But if you notice did you not see beef on my list. That's because beef wasn't on sale but at the time pork and chicken was. So I bought pork and chicken! When beef is on sale we buy beef and not pork or whatever isn't on sale.
I'm also the "stock up" person. If I happen to have a little extra money and it is on sale and outrageously cheap (hence the butter and bacon and shrimp) I'll buy a couple and toss them in the freeze so I don't have to buy it when it is outrageously priced or when it doesn't go on sale for a long time. Yep...I stock up like the relatives did.!

Like you I'll buy a big roast and do things with it. I have a friend who is a butcher/head meat cutter so the leg of lamb was a treat. He ...ahem....stuck a 50% markdown ticket on it for me...ahem...even though it came in that week! I got a $37.00 5 pound leg of lamb for $16.00!

Now before I get a lecture I didn't ask for that.!!!
He just took it upon himself to do it! I never expect him to or look for him to give me deals either!
He does however tell me when the freshest stuff is coming out and when stuff is going on sale for the next week the store flyer is out!
He'll also cut things for me if I don't like what is in the meat area. He's generous in his cuts.
Also "family packs" are always cheaper. 8 pounds of hamburger is cheaper than 4 a lot of time.
So I buy it, get out my little food scale and measure out a pound at a time and put that in Ziplocks and use as needed/wanted. Same with chicken, pork, etc. That way I have tons of meals and aren't buying it every 6 weeks. Usually I meat shop every 2.5-3 months except for hamburger or if something "great" is on sale.

We buy produce and stuff like that as needed.
Neither of us drink milk. Use it only for cooking so a quart of milk last about a month!
We don't eat cereal. I eat whatever. He likes eggs.

So that's my secret.

Make friends with the meat counter is all I can say!!! Get to know the store manager well to. We're on a first name basis with ours. He cuts us a lot of slack in regards to rain checks, sale items, substitutions, etc because we shop there all the time. Even if we only spend a couple bucks for a few items we are in 3 times a week. He knows our smiling faces!! Having worked the grocery business that's how to "work it".
Be nice to the cashiers! They'll take your coupons even if they aren't right. Hassle them and hey'll nit-pick over every one. Call the store and give praise and compliments. Call corporate and do the same thing. It gets back to the store. They loooooove you! They'll start hooking you up!

Also we don't do junk food so we have money to spend on "food". No cake, cookies, chips, boxes of instant potatoes, instant mac 'n cheese, instant or pre-packaged anything! Rare t.v. dinners, or little nibbly types of things but outside of that no junk food, jars of stuff, things in boxes, etc. I'd have to say the percentage of that is maybe 10% or less in the house.

Have fun hatcheting those mater plants. I gotta go scrub off the bathtub ring and clean the floors. :(

That's an excellent point. You can always TEST the butter pecan and THEN throw it away. Back 30 years ago, I was still able to do a little house cleaning, and I was throwing stuff in the trash, and I asked little daughter to throw away that toothpaste lid (and why was it separated from the toothpaste?). She said "We can use this for a Barbie to put flowers in." THAT'S why my house is drowning in stuff. NB we did not as a general rule have Barbie dolls, She knew what they were but I don't think she owned one before 1995.

And your "where were you then" list? I am younger enough that I don't remember events as clearly as you do. When JFK was shot, I was at the OBGYN with my pregnant mother; my baby sister was born a few months later. No, wait, my sister was born in 1963. I was at some doctors office with my mother and sister. Maybe her 6 month chek up? I know I was doing some oldest child type thing and I was at a doctor office with my mother. For the moonwalk, I was trying not to fall asleep in front of the TV. There was a fire in the basement (the oil burner or something) and the fire men trooped by in their uniforms while I was dozing in the front of the TV.

When the space shuttle exploded I was pregnant. I don't think we had a television. I do remember the Christa McAuliffe jokes.

How about when John Lennon was shot? I remember EXACTLY where I was. I was in bed listening to news on the radio, That afternoon I used the phone booth at Boston University to call my best friend (I had a private Beatlemania with her in the seventies in junior high, long after the Beatles broke up).

Let's see. Born in 1968. So until the age of 10 really didn't much pay attention to "things".
I remember Nadia Comaneci the Romanian gymnast simply because my grandfather knew her family in Romania! I remember Jimmy Carter the "peanut farmer" getting elected. I remember the space shuttle blowing up. I don't remember where I was for any of these things particularly. I just remember therm.

I remember the out break of AIDS/HIV. I was in college in Pittsburgh.
I can tell you a lot about the "second British Invasion" of music. High school and college in Pittsburgh. Primarily from late 70s to mid 80s called "alternative or new wave".
I remember designer jeans (Calvin Klein and Jordache) , Zodiac boots, Candies shoes, disco, head bands were all the rage, leg warmers, mini skirts, big shoulder pads were all the rage. That was Jr. high school through high school.
I remember roller skating (Jr. High and high school).

I remember 8 tracks, cassettes, vinyl records, NOTHING made out of particle board or plastic, real wood Lincoln Logs, original Legos and Hot Wheels. Going to the store and buying a candy bar for .25 cents. A pack of cigarettes was .89 to $1.10. I remember premium unleaded gas being .79 cents a gallon.
I remember full service gas stations (check your air in tires, check oil, fill washer fluid, clean your windshield AND pump your gas)! I never pumped gas until the day I was forced to.
I remember $3.25 being the minimum wage when I started working or $2.05 plus tips if you waited tables.
I remember phones that were attached to the wall with a cord (not cordless). They had rotary or push button dial, no call waiting, no call forwarding, no caller i.d.
No cell phones,
No computers
No internet
Typewriters, dictionaries, thesaurus, and SHORT HAND! (still know some)
They taught cursive writing and you got graded on it. We "wrote" essays and some papers long hand and if teacher couldn't read your writing it was wrong!
No hand held, calculators until I was older
No cable, remote controls, direct stream t.v., d.v.d.s or any v.c.r.s (V.C. R.s, remote controls, color t.v. and cable were new. We only had HBO and Cinemax. )
No microwave until I was in 5th grade and then the thing was the size of a Volkswagen.
Drinking age was 18. If the cops caught you drinking and driving they followed you home to make sure you got there o.k. and didn't cause an accident. Now they throw you in jail.
Who shot J.R. on Dallas
Star Wars
Later on the O.J. Simpson murder trial. I was watching him flee in his vehicle with the police in pursuit on television with friends!
Rodney King trial.

Whole bunch of stuff from military we don't talk about.




These are the things I remember more so than dates specifically or remembering where I was..

Doubled Post

This message was edited Aug 18, 2015 9:25 PM

I have vivid memories of a Green Apple Records 45 with Revolution on one side and Hey Jude on the other. Who was your favorite Beetle, Carrie? I can remember girls getting in fights at school defending their choice. I remember organized record breakings (that is vinyl’s for some of you) when one of the group made an offhand comment that the Beetles were more popular than God. I think the reason that Green Apple 45 sticks in my mind is because I hid it during the scandal. I cannot remember which of the Beetles made the comment now. It was true at the time among teenagers anyway. It created an anti-Beetle backlash even beyond the southern Bible belt.
When 60’s fashion boomeranged and my daughters were wearing the old uniform. I groaned and my mother got a laugh out of it. I do not think it was as bad as the frilly dress and combat boots combination the 90’s came up with all on its own. I think I will dress my scarecrows in 60’s fashion this season (one flowerchild, one freek and one militant) Also, one scarecrow in 50’s Moscow fashion would be fun, if I can find the clothes at the rescue mission thrift store. Amargia might as well have fun with our new “communist hippie” label. Actually, I am the only one who falls into the right age bracket for hippie, but I took the test in Joe Queenum’s book Balsamic Dreams: A Short, but Self-Important History of the Baby Boom Generation and failed his hippie test. Yes, you have to take a test now. The days of qualifying because you once dressed the part and knew all the words to We Shall Overcome are gone. Jim qualifies for the eco-hippie early 70’s thing, but his buzz cut and habits acquired in over 20 years of military service do not jive with the green hippie label. Everyone else is too old or too young except for a professional gun dealer and avid hunter. We cannot squeeze him into the hippie label no matter how hard we try.
Jim, Nadi and I have all had a crazy couple of days. It seemed Jim had done something terrible to his spine and the surgical work done. His back made a sound like clapping hands and he said he felt oddly off-balance after some initial pain. He went in for an x-ray and the new hardware in his back looked as it was supposed to. During the exam, the doctor laid her finger on a vertebra that looked a little out of kilter and pressed gently. The loud popping sound happened again. She jumped back saying, I’m sorry. Oh my God! I am so sorry!” Jim laughed and said “What for? I feel better now. Not so lopsided.” The final diagnosis was that the sound resulted from nitrogen bubbles popping. The pain was a minor soft tissue tear made when the nitrogen blew out. Imagine a large man’s spine popping the way your knuckles do when nitrogen bubbles in them pop. Evidently, the doctor had never heard the sound either. No more lawn mowing for Jim until he is fully healed, but, otherwise, no serious problem. How are you handling the ‘be still to heal’ orders, Beth?
One of the reasons Nadi chooses to live at Amargia is that she suffered identity theft and it is taking forever to straighten it all out. She has LifeLock and they are doing a good job getting her out of mortgage payments for a house in a town she has never been in. (It usually is not this bad, but the realtor or whatever is refusing to admit he was scammed.) This kind of service from LifeLock does not come cheap, however. Their services to prevent identity theft are more affordable. It appeared the identity thieves had gotten passed LifeLock, but it turned out to be a new scam. If any of you get a phone call from a collection agency saying you owe money to Dish Network or other service providers. Don’t worry even when research shows the collection agency is legitimate. It is still a scam. Scammers have evidently infiltrated some legitimate collection agencies and are using them to do the dirty work of frightening you. The agency workers are seemingly unaware they are working a phony account. Calling whoever the bill is supposedly owed to will straighten things out. The account numbers they use are not real. Yet another scam to watch for. (sigh) For the sake of people in Nadi’s situation and since we cannot go back in time, I am looking forward to new tech like facial recognition software, retina scans, national fingerprinting…anything that will make identity theft a thing of the past.
My old Energizer bunny self returned for a few days. I was able to work as hard and long as before I became so sick last year. I slept until 2 p.m. today. lol. Well, it was nice while it lasted. I was able to get an amazing amount of catch-up work done; mostly weeding. Eventually, we may have to hire someone to do the mowing, but, for now, Nadi and I are keeping up. Nadi has to work long hours to earn the extra money she needs to pay LifeLock. Jim wants to hide his head under the pillow when he sees me mowing. I walk like John Wayne adding a sweep of the foot to check for debris pulling the push mower behind me. I am sure that violates some safety regs, but it gets the job done.
I thought you had a chest freezer from that list, Agave. ROFL. I have a chest freezer in the kitchen, but it is half the size of the one my mother had. There are some lemongrass stalks I should probably give up on and toss. Buying the tubes of lemongrass paste from the grocery store is so much easier than peeling a frozen stalk of lemongrass. Nobody uses what we grew and froze. We freeze many of the herbs we grow and like it better than other preservation methods. It is simply easier and most retain their flavor better that way. Lemongrass appears the exception.
Finding mutton or lamb in the local grocery stores is unlikely except around Easter. A few farmers are beginning to raise African hair sheep. Their looks make them easy to mistake for goats . We have to go to Taj, an Indian/Greek resturant, if we want to eat lamb. Landmark Park is the only place I am aware of locally where one can see a live wooly sheep. I understand they recently gave their wooly sheep an air conditioner and the resident goat is continually trying to crash the sheeps pad. It is not the strictly traditional 1900’s farm look the park would like, but everyone loves the wooly sheep and they bent the rules a little to keep it on the farm. If wooly sheep were possible in this region in the 1900’s, the times have definitely changed. Then, I have watched skunks give up their ecological niche to armadillos in my lifetime. It isn’t that I miss the skunks, but their disappearance is indicative of the change many still refuse to acknowledge.
Autumn is peeking out of its burrow, if one looks hard enough. The fall flowers are beginning to bud and it has dropped to bearable low and mid-90’s. The sunroot (Helianthus tuberrosa/Jerusalem artichokes) are flowering. There is a feeling in the air and an old woman’s thoughts turn to scarecrows. I did not grow bushel gourds this year to use as heads and pumpkin shells disintegrate in no time in our September heat. Heads require some thought. ;-)
kay*

Kay, I remember all those things! Although I never had a Beatles record as a single; they were all on albums by the time I got to them! I don't think I had a favorite. I saw George Harrison in concert (because it was possible, not that he was my favorite) but I had albums by each of them as solo artists. It was John Lennon said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ,

Did YOU have a favorite Beatle? That sounds terrible, and terribly frightening, about Jim's back.

Agave, I reember all those things too, but I'm older enough that I was shocked when Reagan was elected. I remember the morning paper after Nixon resigned the headlne was so bid and black! I was in Virginia at my grandparents' that August and we were following the whole story closely. My grandfather had worked for the "gummint" as an economist, so he followed the whole thing avidly.

Good morning all. Not sure what category I fall into. Hey...don't make fun of combat boot and filly skirts. That's what I wore in art school in the 80s. I had my own boots going INTO the military! I also had my own designer shoes too. I earned them Mom & Dad didn't buy them for me.
Perfect statement and summation of what my generation was all about though. Who we really are and how we really feel versus what we want and how we have to be so we may achieve a level of social and financial security that allows us to be who we really are and show how we really feel without living at mom and dad's. I'm a generation X-er! Yep. First generation to never do as well as their parents. Let's hear it for the underachievers!

I guess punk for my generation was what hippie was for yours. We weren't interested in being proactive though. We were all just p.o.'d by everything in between the hippies and us that had happened that sabotaged our futures. It wasn't until my late 20s that I gave a hoot about something in particular unless it effected me personally. Then it until my mid 30s when I started to care about things in general because they not only effected me for a longer period of time but everyone else to.

Now I am at the point where I'd like either like to start the white middle class riot or just sit back and indulge in my own self destruction or see if the world beats me to it first.
(What shoes does one wear to start a white middle class riot? Combat boots are too militant; tennis shoes don't quite make a statement; heels aren't practical for this; sandals are laughable; I don't "do" cowboy boots; Suggestions? I'm leaning towards black leather slip on ballerina flats...stylish, dress up or down; and you can run in them if need be; no arch support though, hurts if someone steps on your foot. Uhm...equestrian riding boots! Stylish, practical and just that right amount of commando military flair!)

Now that all the Gen X-ers are tired of being underachievers we actually want to go achieve something!
It's getting to the point where I alternate being disgusted and amused with most of these high functioning retards we call the human race. It leaves a wide berth to ponder the phrase "made in God's image". Personally I think his quality control managers have been slacking off. There needs to be a factory recall on the product. Can we start with Walker, Boehner and the Koch brothers? And nobody understands why I like to talk to cacti.

Don't mind the Beetles. They're fun. Beetle mania missed me. Got older and listened. Like them. Appreciate the Rolling Stones a lot more. Far more edgy, grittier, and a little more to say. Not so much bubble gum.

Wise Cactus wants to know if Jim will stay enlightened about not bouncing around on a tractor fresh out of back surgery? :D He suggest for now that it is better to let the lady mow the grass. For the time being she can "see" the wisdom of this even if he can't see if he can't tell wisdom from the doctor's waiting room.
Poor Jim, the human popcorn machine! Glad he's feeling better though.

Yep good old D.O.s Love mine. I keep my Osteopathic doctor for when I fall on my head. At times I've had to go get my back, shoulder, arm or whatever adjusted and put back into place after I've fallen. All you hear are a few snap, crackles and pops and you feel a hundred times better. Ahh........no longer walking like Quasimodo.

Poor Nadine what a nightmare. :0 I hope her credit wasn't ruined and they didn't get her social security number. I bet that realtor is probably super embarrassed. That's probably why he won't admit it or help. Life Lock is good. Hopefully they'll get it straightened out for her.

PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER....PAPER!
If you don't want it hacked, stolen, lost, used, or transmitted USE PAPER and the phone! Why doesn't anyone use paper? They can't hack your check book. Most people without I.D. can't pass your checks. (Name one place that takes a check without i.d.?) It works the same as your debit or savings. Don't take checks? Fine they take cash....PAPER!
Credit cards I call BEFORE I shop. I tell them I'm going to the mall (as if; anymore); bunch of little small dollar multi transactions in a few hours time. It's me. Let it go through. I saved for furniture. I called the credit card. Told them how much it was and that I was chagrining it. Let it go through. They did. I also paid it of immediately.

In person I MAKE the sales people check my I.D. with my credit card. I'll ask them, "Would you like my I.D. with that or are you just going to assume the card isn't stolen?"

I don't have anything, go anywhere or do anything, or own anything of real consequence because I have no debt. We pay everything off except the house and monthly utility bills. No car note, no credit card bills, etc. So in a way I guess we're lucky. No bill collectors calling.

We also don't have dish or cable. We killed them. We bought a super long range antenna that picks up all the local channels out of Phoenix and Tucson plus a tons more. We got Roku direct stream t.v. so we watch what we want which is primarily Netflix and a couple of other things; we have magic jack for the phone (best thing ever!) and really the only thing we even need a "cable company" for is internet. We cut our bill by $89.00 a month! We've had Sirius satellite commercial free radio for almost 10 years now. We own it for a lifetime. First 5 years you pay then it is free for life.

If we want it we buy it or charge it and pay it off in full. Another reason why the credit card company would know something funny was happening. I don't run a balance. If I have to pull it out of my savings I will but I never leave a balance on my credit card. I just pay the bank account back every month instead like a bill.
All these places take checks as form of bill payment.
I have duplicate checks. When I write the bill I keep my half of the bill, staple my duplicate of the check to it and put it in the appropriate folder (utilities, mortgage, etc.) When the check clears I write on the bill the date the check cleared. If anyone tries to call me and say I owe them NOPE!! Good luck! I keep this stuff 2 years. Then I burn it. (Yes, burn)

I don't pay bills on line. COMPUTERS GET HACKED. Why give my account, phone, address, billing information, credit card numbers, banking information, etc. on line? I don't give that stuff to people I owe money to. I give them a check! They make me mad enough I'll pay $1.50 and give them a money order (LOL). They can only be cashed BUT they can't be deposited like checks. Someone who works there actually HAS TO go to the bank and cash it! (LOL)
I love my cell phone company.
It just irks me beyond belief that they don't take checks. They'll only take credit or debit or cash. So...I just hand them a money order when I pay them. (*grin*)

People on the phone ask me for the last 4 digits of my social. NOPE. I tell them "You don't need that." They argue. I say "NOPE" here's my name, my mother's maiden name, my dog's name, shoe size, address whatever. YOU DO NOT need my social or any part of it. If they nsist fine. I remind them that the call is recorded and that if I experience any unusual activity I am holding their company and them as an individual personally responsible for it and will not be liable for any activity or bills. That usually stops them right there.
If they don't sound like they're from this country I don't talk to them. I hang up and call back.
I talk only to people. I do not give out my phone number or go through voice mail jail.
Quickest way to get a person is either tell them you want to buy something, cancel something, or it was lost/stolen. When you get a person on the phone go, "OH...I got the wrong thing BUT since I got you....." I don't deal with machines. Hint...if you need to call them they never put the right phone number on the computer. The right one is always on the bill!
Never settle for talking to just the person on the phone. ALWAYS get the supervisor on the phone too. I had someone tell me there wasn't one available. I said, "Really? So they gave you the keys this morning and you're the only one working there supervising everyone? No one is in charge? You're your own boss?" I got a supervisor a minute later.

I keep off of face book. I swear I am the only human I know NOT on face book. I don't tweet, hash tag, zip, zoom, and whatever else. Everyone I know who has gotten in trouble at work or had problems with identity was partially because of face book!
Let's see I know where you live, and what city/state. I know how old you are. I know if you got kids and how many and if you're married. I probably got a photo of you I saw on face book or whatever. Hmm....now how hard is it for me to make a fake i.d. and identity? Ever check Been Verified.com. Shoot I can get your complete address and phone! Then I can call the utility company, the bank, etc. and say I'm you!!! Oh and I also know what you said about your boss and his wife and your coworker and her brother and your neighbor and the hot guy at church who sits in front of you and....and...and...yeah! It's all too easy to compile someone's data and life.
Do you know you're the only people I'm "on line" with?

Like I said, technology is way too fast now. It either needs to slow down or stay where it is at and let us catch up. There is something to be said for paranoid and old school. :D

Here's our latest scams out here.
An air conditioning/heating company shows up saying I called to have something fixed on my air conditioner or the H.O.A. was sending them around and they are required to come inside and check my thermostat reading and look at my air conditioner. (If you rent they'll say landlord sent them. If you own they'll say H.O.A.) These are legitimate companies trying to sell you something. Even if they don't sell you something they still bill you for the "check up" and service call. Dave and I know better but they've zapped quite a few with it.

My other favorite has been people showing up in work clothes/uniforms saying "the city said it was required." to have them paint my address on the curb with reflective paint and stencil on my house numbers. I can choose a little design to put with the numbers (palm tree, cactus, flag, sun, AZ sports logo, etc.) This stencil is about the size of a license plate and is "supposed to go on the left side of your driveway".

Really? I didn't receive written notice prior. Do you have the work permit number? Do you have the number where I can call them? Do you have a city/state employee badge or i.d. or i.d. number? Why would the city let me choose a "design". The city would just slap the numbers on and call it a day. They wouldn't decorate it.

If the "city said" it was required to paint my address on the curb with reflective paint and pay you $40.00 for doing it with a stencil then they would have sent me a notice saying so or my H.O.A. would have. Also the city wouldn't require me to write you a check or pay you on the spot. I would get a bill. Checks would be made to "City of Casa Grande" or "Casa Grande Dept. of whatever". Get out! Scam!!!

Don't know what to tell you about freezing lemongrass since it is woodsy/grassy and water usually breaks this down into something unpleasant. Dried lemongrass is basically coriander.
I read somewhere you can melt butter snip up your herbs (dill, basil, etc.) mold it and freeze it that way and have herbed butter. I've seen that done in ice too for some things like mint but that usually goes into beverages. Not sure on the lemongrass dilemma.

Where I grew up in Ohio it was always fairly common but that was due to the large Greek and Eastern European communities. I about fell over here. Surprisingly it is very common! We raise sheep out here. Didn't know it but we do. The cotton was a shock too. We have a couple of places that gin cotton out here! There's a place that grows olives also and has an olive mill. It is tiny but it is there.
I thought for sure we'd have cattle! Nope. Sheep and a few dairy farms and cotton and cacti. They'll do alfalfa-cotton rotations a few years then let the field grow in the one year. The next there's sheep! Yep sheep! I guess they eat and fertilize and then they're back to alfalfa-cotton rotation. So getting lamb blade steaks and chops isn't hard. Leg of lamb isn't all that common but it can be had when in stock or ordered regularly. Believe it or not there is a really authentic and great Greek restaurant by my old house run by Greeks from the old country and there is a small monastery run by their orthodox church!
It is getting close to "Fall" here also. All the cacti are done blooming or what's left will very shortly. Today and tomorrow are the last two 106 days. Then for the next 10 days it is back to 103-100. I even saw a 99 in there! Time to take down the shade tents over the plants.
I have to go to the Neurologist tomorrow. No big whoop. Check up time. Just takes all damn day.
Talk to you later (Oh...and I hate Ronald Regan. Singularly destroyed the middle class.)

O.K. pic #1 Arizona cotton
pic #2 beautiful poppy I found on side of the road
pic #3 &4 SHEEP!! Yep, there they are!




This message was edited Aug 19, 2015 8:13 AM

Just so you know, Agave, we are not supposed to talk about religion or politics. I have seen them close threads because the conversation got too political. That doen't mean I don't agree; it just means I don't want the thread shut down. Koch brothers and Reagan might get us in trouble.

And, I have had checks forged and I couldn't recover the $$. I knew who did it but I couldn't PROVE which checks she had altered. I've also had credit cards stolen and EVERY time the CC company just erased the charges immediately. I've found it to be easier, with my limitations and my lifestyle, to keep a close watch on the cards from my computer.

My social is not a secret! It is my Medicare # and it used to be my Medicaid #. Back when I was a sales girl, we would take checks with a social security number. Some people just recited their number and some, unbelievable but true, had it printed on the checks along with their address and phone number.

Hi Carrie. :D
Gottcha. Thanks for heads up.

That's unfortunate about forged checks. She must have been fairly good at it or had some practice for awhile. It is hard to alter peoples handwriting "convincing" unless you're good and practiced. As an artist I have problems with it and I have to practice DH's signature a few times before I can when I pay the bills! We can both sign the checks but there are some that only he writes because it is in his name and some only I write... and some it doesn't matter. The electric company is picky. Because the account is in his name they like him to sign the check. I dunno. If he isn't home to pre sign the check for me I have to on bill paying day. It isn't easy.
It's not so hard to alter numbers though; to make 7 a 4 or 3 and 8 or 6 and 8. You should see my checkbook! I can never find the whiteout when I need it! (LOL)

That's a shame though you never got the money back. :( Do you know what ever became of that person?

I had a problem one time with a credit card company that gave me a problem about erasing charges because the card was actually stolen and used in the store I worked in. They questioned me. What was worse was the store questioned me to like I stole something or did it deliberately when I disputed the charges. The charges got taken care of. So I got a new card, and after that I made a big deal about letting my bosses know "I... WAS... SHOPPING...TODAY! Yes, I needed a new pair of pantyhose, mine looked like the cat chewed them." and just got in the habit of calling the credit card companies also so I never had another issue again.
I was never so embarrassed in my life. Seriously? I had keys to the store and dropped off their money at the bank. If I wanted to steal clothes I could have gone in early...like I always did because I was on salary and did a mountain of paperwork .... took off the security tags and put the clothes on before I turned on all the video equipment inside the store!

I also had scenarios where I hadn't used my card in such a long time and then did that things got suspended and I had to call the credit card company and let them know who I was, what I was buying, yes it was me, yadada, yadada. So again I just got in the habit of calling them. I hated being embarrassed.

It does concern me now though when I shop that nobody wants to see my I.D. with my credit card. They just all assume it is mine and because I'm clean and neat and dressed decently that I wouldn't be the type to steal a credit card and neither would someone else. Not every person in prison looked like a thug with more gang tattoos than teeth. Some of them you could put a suit on and they could walk out looking just like their lawyer.

I remember opening instant credit cards for customers and one of the questions on the form was their s.s. number. We would write it down or they would fill out the "quick app" and we would stand on the phone in the middle of the floor blabbing it to the credit dept. Then we would write the approved "new" credit card number on the application and put it in a plastic zip bag with checks ON THE SIDE OF THE REGISTER not in it. The customer got a paper temporary card with their number written on it until they got their plastic one in the mail.
Unbelievable right?

You would think with all the identity theft around even Medicaid/Medicare would come up with a better number system. I do understand the convenience of the computer. I guess sometimes I forget how convenient it is for those who aren't always able to get out. It is just so worrisome though because it seems they ask for so much information and somehow it seems so accessible to almost anyone. That's the scary thing.
They take a great tool and use it for unscrupulous means. Wouldn't it be nice if these people put this talent to use for something so much more productive. Perhaps the F.B.I. should recruit them in lieu of jail time. I couldn't believe the things the inmates could manufacture out of nothing.

Anyway gotta go. Seeing neurologist tomorrow. SIGH...EYEROLL. Every time I see him he gives me 3 new drugs to research for myself. They're always a joke. I swear he gives me the most extreme stuff possible on purpose.
Oh well, time to go.
Have a good day.
Most likely talk to you all on Friday.
Feel good.
Agave..

Pics #1-3 Dave's beautiful shots of a Saguaro
Pic #4. A Hibiscus I used to have. Zoe treated it like a salad bar and it died.
Pic #5. One of mine! :D Just a cool shot I took of a close up of cactus arm. Loved the rows and dots and spirals and patterns it makes.


This message was edited Aug 19, 2015 6:09 PM

Carrie, George Harrison. I still enjoy listening to the guitar work in the song Something.
Agave, hope all goes well at the neurologist.
I created a new bed for the anise hyssop today and am very tired tonight. Sweet dreams.
k*

sheep: grasss maggots vs cattle. . . sheep are smaller, require less dail,y nutrition, have a shorter generation interval (time from THEIR birth until the birth of their first offspring), have more offspring per pregnancy, provide additional sources of yearly income (meat AND wool) and are lesss finicky about what they'll eat. On the other hand, they're born just looking for an excuse to die! They're so stupid: when pregnant with twins (the usual number), after they give birth , they;ll get up and wander away/mothering with the first one, abandoning their other one; this multiple birthing makes birthing season the #1 mortality season. They will eat almost anything green, even those plants that are poisonous to them! they're so skittish, even thwe SIGHT of a human walking toward them will cause them to panick and resemble bouncing cotton balls on twigs! (this panicking and twiggy legs often results in broken legs!)Since they're herding instinct is so strong, they'll scastter infrequentky but immediately mob back up. . .making it very easy for many to be killed by predators at a single instance (after the first one is killed, then the sheer joy of an easy kill takes over the predators and the slaughter ensues!) Even pet dogs often beco9me sheep killers! If they lay down in a slight depression, sometimes they can't get up and . . .DIE!! I've worked with both species: can you tell which I prefer ?

SSN. . . when I lived in CA some years ago, the DMV used your SSN for your driver's license; to combat theft and return of astolen property, the police departments urged everyone to engrave their SSN on all their property. . .they even offered the loan of etching guns for free! I routinely refuse to divulge the last 4 digits of my SSN "for verifixcation of identity": only THEN will the mindless "person" resort to the alternate form of verification, usually something benign.. . but this is only AFTER refusal to give out any or all of the SSN.

facebook: yes, there are MANY people who will use various social media and any/all computer sites (twitter, eBAy, Dave's Garden, etc) and blindly answer every question on registration forms and reveal personal information in the course of using that site. Registration for a facebook account does not require one to answer truthfully! Most people fail to recognize that the internet (computer and sites) are rich sources of personal PRIVATE information. While even children are taught not to talk to strangers and not to divulge personal info in chat rooms,, adults unquestionly divulge EVERYTHING to organized bits and bytes, blithely uncaring that ANYONE could see and use that info against them! My PC does not contain any of my personal information, aside from my first name. I"ve declined to store my passwords anywhere online or in a "password vault" or use a password generator; they're in a notebvook beside my PC. I DO regularly shop (and pay) onl;ine . . . using a bank account I set up SOLELY for this purpose and kept funded at a minimal level, with no ties to mu main bank account (a different bank with no knowledge of my main account and I physically walk deposit money over so there is no electronis link): I realize my personal information (used to open this account) is subject to some danger, but when was the last (or even firast) time the personal information of a bank's account holders was breached? I've helped a few "friends" on facebook with interrnet and computer security, particularly pervasive was the tendency to click indiscriminantlky on links causing the PC problems that caused the trouble in the first place!

It's time for me to go tend my "maters (HOW I'm looking forward to destroying them! Thinking of different ways makwes me smile in anticipation!).

sheep: grasss maggots vs cattle. . . sheep are smaller, require less dail,y nutrition, have a shorter generation interval (time from THEIR birth until the birth of their first offspring), have more offspring per pregnancy, provide additional sources of yearly income (meat AND wool) and are lesss finicky about what they'll eat. On the other hand, they're born just looking for an excuse to die! They're so stupid: when pregnant with twins (the usual number), after they give birth , they;ll get up and wander away/mothering with the first one, abandoning their other one; this multiple birthing makes birthing season the #1 mortality season. They will eat almost anything green, even those plants that are poisonous to them! they're so skittish, even thwe SIGHT of a human walking toward them will cause them to panick and resemble bouncing cotton balls on twigs! (this panicking and twiggy legs often results in broken legs!)Since they're herding instinct is so strong, they'll scastter infrequentky but immediately mob back up. . .making it very easy for many to be killed by predators at a single instance (after the first one is killed, then the sheer joy of an easy kill takes over the predators and the slaughter ensues!) Even pet dogs often beco9me sheep killers! If they lay down in a slight depression, sometimes they can't get up and . . .DIE!! I've worked with both species: can you tell which I prefer ?

SSN. . . when I lived in CA some years ago, the DMV used your SSN for your driver's license; to combat theft and return of astolen property, the police departments urged everyone to engrave their SSN on all their property. . .they even offered the loan of etching guns for free! I routinely refuse to divulge the last 4 digits of my SSN "for verifixcation of identity": only THEN will the mindless "person" resort to the alternate form of verification, usually something benign.. . but this is only AFTER refusal to give out any or all of the SSN.

facebook: yes, there are MANY people who will use various social media and any/all computer sites (twitter, eBAy, Dave's Garden, etc) and blindly answer every question on registration forms and reveal personal information in the course of using that site. Registration for a facebook account does not require one to answer truthfully! Most people fail to recognize that the internet (computer and sites) are rich sources of personal PRIVATE information. While even children are taught not to talk to strangers and not to divulge personal info in chat rooms,, adults unquestionly divulge EVERYTHING to organized bits and bytes, blithely uncaring that ANYONE could see and use that info against them! My PC does not contain any of my personal information, aside from my first name. I"ve declined to store my passwords anywhere online or in a "password vault" or use a password generator; they're in a notebvook beside my PC. I DO regularly shop (and pay) onl;ine . . . using a bank account I set up SOLELY for this purpose and kept funded at a minimal level, with no ties to mu main bank account (a different bank with no knowledge of my main account and I physically walk deposit money over so there is no electronis link): I realize my personal information (used to open this account) is subject to some danger, but when was the last (or even firast) time the personal information of a bank's account holders was breached? I've helped a few "friends" on facebook with interrnet and computer security, particularly pervasive was the tendency to click indiscriminantlky on links causing the PC problems that caused the trouble in the first place!

It's time for me to go tend my "maters (HOW I'm looking forward to destroying them! Thinking of different ways makwes me smile in anticipation!).

You're plotting how to destroy your tomato plants? A little bonkers, but sweet.

bonkers?? SWEET?? hmmmmmm...first thought? Just what kind of people do ou hang out with???

the men in white coats. . . "they're coming to take me awsay Ha Ha! They're coming to take me away hoho HAHA HOHO hehehe...."

I hang out with you guys!

Good morning to all! ,

(BetNC, can I come hang out with you, your 'maters and the guys in white coats? I would appreciate some stress relief.)

Sigh. Neurology visit yesterday. Really like my doctor. He's new to me. Ditched the one I had for 7 years that was basically a pill pusher and making me sick LITERALLY! The other at the Mayo Clinic was a sweet lady with more degree abbreviations at the end of her name but was impossible to get in to see. Dr. N. is in observation this day, she's doing surgery that day, she's teaching this day, her calendar for scheduling only opens ever 6 weeks can you call back, etc. What a pain in the .... Nice, liked to chat. Basically played therapist more than doctor.
I like my new doctor. He listens! He actually makes diagnoses. I just found out I have carpal tunnel in my left hand. Explains constant numbness tingling and pain around my index finger and the shooting pain up to my wrist after a few hours. (Ironic considering I do free lance writing).
Other quack told me it was a pinched nerve due to a prior Epilepsy fall and that nerves heal very slowly and it would work its self out! It had been years! (Had a fall one time where I landed somehow ON knees and was balancing my full weight on my wrist and hand my hand curled up under me. Kind of like how a chimps arms are. Don't ask.....I have no idea!) Also thought the cold numb tingling sensation in my left foot and ankle and ataxia I've had for years now was associated with this "pinched nerve" and severe fall. NOPE....meds related side effects.

So once again...time to play musical meds. Like I said, I like this guy. He gives me a list, let me do the research on them to my satisfaction and come back and go "yep/no, keep shopping". He has that much respect for me, my intelligence, and ability to do research find knowledge and make Since there's now about 300 meds out it will take me awhile to run out of options.
Only really scary thing he does keep suggesting....brain surgery. YIKES!!!

He explained to me it is the most effective way to treat right front temporal lobe seizures that meds don't work on. My case. He said if I was his own daughter that's what he'd do. I actually believe him because he's a genuine and sincere person who takes time with me and conducts exams and listens to me not just pushes an agenda.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I just won't do it. I have a friend who did it. Seizures are gone. So is the use of their right arm essentially. Can't grip or hold or lift anything. Problems using small things like utensils. Holds it in her fist the way children and inmates do. I don't like the idea of losing function with one part of my body to compensate for another.

Also it just terrifies me. I can see it now. The surgeon coughs just a little and gets a tad to much on the scalpel. Looks at this little chunk of brain matter and then wipes it off on his apron and goes, "Oh she didn't need that anyway". Better yet I can see him setting it aside going, "I'll have it spread on some crackers with fava beans and a nice Chianti" (LOL)

I take 2 different pills currently. So I am getting off one completely. I will stay on the other. I'm supposed to go back in 6 weeks and we will be looking at Levetiracetam (Keppra) as a replacement for just the one I am staying on. I'll be taking the 2 together (at least one of them might work). If I react well to the Keppra in terms of no allergic reactions or severe allergies, worsening conditions more seizures (LOL) we'll take me off the old one completely and just use the Keppra if I react well to it. Side effects, side effects. Lets see: irritability, bad breath (oh goody), upset stomach, throwing up, headache. Sigh.....
I think I'm going to keep shopping.
So that was my Neurology visit.

Good side was that I was in Tucson, my absolute favorite city in AZ. Just love it. Reminds me of a cross between Pittsburgh size wise and walkability wise and art wise. They have an Art Institute there. (I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh). The art scene is great. Parts of it remind me of L.A. with the fun, funky places to go, unusual shops that aren't mall stores, cultural things. Cheap good food, night life, events free, colleges. A very "young" vibe even though there's a lot of middle and older aged persons residing there. NO cookie cutter houses and subdivisions. Street cars, buses, walkable, very bike user friendly. Perfect place for me. Husband even enjoyed it because he could "see" and take in everything.

Broke the no-limited carb rule. I loooooove good home made Italian food. I make it from scratch but not too often. There's a fabulous Italian restaurant in town we ate at called Carrusso's. It has been there since 1938! Still jammed packed even at 11:00a.m. for lunch!!!

Very reasonable and very generous with the food. They have an amazing "small" city garden where there's outside seating. Two huge olive trees that are currently bearing fruit, barrel cacti about 3 feet around, Agaves and Aloes I would kill to bring home. It is raised and done in tiers. The garden is on either side of a central round court yard and has steps that lead up to a small patio seating area with about 5 tables. Had it not been 106 yesterday I would have insisted we sit out there!!!

Oh and weighed myself this morning. Gained 1.8 pounds!! YIKES. Nothing but high protein, high fiber NO carbs, Nazi intense Paleo mode for the next 3 days. I'll lose 3 pounds then I have room to indulge again the next time I go see the doctor :D

And yes...most live stock isn't too bright. I've seen cows in a whole entire green pasture standing on a four foot pile of cow manure. Why? Chickens are fairly intelligent. We had some feral ones that lived on an abandoned farm. It was on a rather busy road we drove down for years. Chickens had been there for years. Never saw a dead one in the road. YES...the chickens learned how to look both ways and cross the road to get to the other side because we would see them on both sides! They pretty much resided either under the prickly pear trees (These were about 5 times larger and older than the prickly pear in the picture above I had shown you guys ) and most likely wandered into neighboring farms for feed corn that grew there. They looked just fine and happy for the 8 years I've seen them

I think horses fall somewhere in the "not too bright" category. Not stupid but not chicken smart either. They do o.k. but they're not exactly the brightest bulbs in the box. Also they're BIG , HEAVY, and decide they want to move around without warning, which makes things worse. I've spent a lot of time around them. Body awareness ...especially where yours when you're standing next to them or in their stall...is not high up on their list of considerations. Also they literally EAT your hair no matter how much food they have.

So how is everyone else and whatcha' doin?

I'm doing my 3rd load of laundry, the dog has been walked, I did the dishes and filed the bills. Going to transplant an unhappy cactus from the back yard to the front. We're going to cook out today. That's about it.



This message was edited Aug 21, 2015 6:23 AM

I love doctors who are respectful. I have to change my browser serttings; I can barely type!

medical doctors. . . ***sigh** upon first meeting, I can tell just HOW respectful he'll be and usually fairly quickly determine what kind of attitude he has towareds his p[atients (listens to" basically ignores and expects you to automatically do what he says 'cause he's A DOCTGOR and he kjnows vbest. . .)

Dr. White Coat strides in and announces "Hello, Pat, I'm Dr. Coat. [1st wince at the presumptious, disrespectful address.] What can WE do for you today?" [2nd wince at the Royal "WE"] My response: "Hello, Doctor, I'm Dr. *****" Things either immediately go splendidly or rapidly spiral out of control.

Since my degree is in a closely related field aand I've taken some of the same courses they have: I don't accept such curious explanations as "nerves will heal". Doctors who say such things do NOT like to be challenged, contradicted or corrected!

Nerves do NOT heal. The nerve may be inflamed and THAT can be addressed and corrected. Nerves cannot repair themselves or be repaired; an alternate route for the transmission of impulses might eventually be establ.ished by the body. If the gap between the two ends of a transected (completely cut} nereve is more than a very small {so small, the space is almost invisible. . . athe width of very fine hair is HUGE in comparison), then the resulting loss of function (that depends on impulses from this nerve). . is PERMANANT because nerves do NOT heal.

Think about somebody who's paralyzed because thier spinal cord was severed [cut] due to an accident: Think of the spinal cord as a conduit. . . housing nerves that run to and from the brain, caryying orders and sensations to and from various parts of the body. It doesn't take a degree to realize nerves do not heal.

Honestly!!! Some of the things I've heard from medical doctors! Do you know what they call the guy who graduated very last in his class at medical scjhool? DOCTOR!!!!!

**climbing down from her soapbox and putting it away**

Bet, what degree do you have? Just curious. I often get "I wish all my patients would do that." (Bring pills in to convince the MD about prescriptions.) The absolute worst was on week 4 of being on high flow pure oxygen, I (despite all the things wrong with me) had the timority to ask the pulmonologist what "high flow" was. She said "it's more air!!!" Clearly, it's either more oxygen or more pressure or SOMETHING, lady, don't tell me it's more air. That sounds like Sesame Street. I eventually found out and I forget what the answer is....but I can never forget her patronizing "it's more air."

You got it!
Same thing they call the kid that got D's in college as the one who got A's...graduate with a Master's Degree.
If you do just enough to pass you still get the degree.
I had a general sense something wasn't right BUT since this stuff coincided with / as a result of the seizure it had not occurred to me to thing was a separate type of or unrelated injury.
l had a TODD seizure which mimics symptoms of paralysis for 3 days and like a stroke with severe ataxia for 8 months after. So I assumed the numbness and tingling was concurrent with it. The severe stroke like ataxia dissipated after 8 months but took almost 3 years to go away! So did the numbness and tingling in my feet, legs, around my waist and in my tail bone.

We are here presently and as I....discovered...NOT my former doctor I was B12 deficient. That cleared up a lot of the problems. B12 deficiency is hard to identify because it mimics the side effects and symptoms of so many other disorders and medications. (Did you know 30% of our population is B12 deficient and doesn't know it.?)There were still some lingering problems. Mild ataxia, still some numbness/cold feet and the hand thing.

So after I found out what my B12 numbers should be as opposed to what they were I then got into the side effects of the meds...research, research, research....AHA! Causes some of these problem. So I started cutting the doses. Better but not perfect. Kept playing with the dose...better but not perfect.
I'd say I'm about 85% better ON MY OWN! The last quack I went to argued with me, ignored me, I told him about the side effects, my blood work, etc. Completely tuned me out and had some medical explanation for everything.
Then I started doing my own research because I was getting worse. He was overdosing me and causing me to have more seizures more often and with more severity.
I canned him! I also reported him to the A.M.A. @$#%#&$ Quack, pill pushing piece of garbage!

Second Dr. N. was nice but pain to get into. I explained that.

Now I have my doctor......LOVE HIM! This is only the second time I've seen this new doctor and whammo...he figured out what was wrong with my hand in 2 minutes! He listened to my list of complaints about side effects, and he thinks I'm intelligent. He doesn't patronize me because I'm not a doctor...at this point I probably could be a Neurologist. He knows I'm smart and informed and can read numbers and charts just like him! I've actually broken them down for him and gave him the analysis and he was amused. :D
So he respects my intelligence and lets me do my own research and make decisions WITH him about what I want to do with my treatment.
I wish I would of found this guy first.
Good doctors are so hard to find.

So how you feeling? Leg doing better?
How's everyone else?
Me had a good day. All one can ask for.

I'm glad. It sounds like at least the threee of us (Bet, Agave and I) have specialists we get along with, finally. My best new doctor is very young and not too stuck up. But I'm past the point where medicine has any treatments for me (very sad). At my stage of MS, we're just trying to manage the symptoms.

The first doctor who said the words "multiple sclerosis" to me was a neurologist who specialized in migraine headaches. His best line was "neurologists don't like to treat people with MS because there is no treatment for it." Gag me with a spoon!

There is some interesting new MS research going on, Carrie. That thing with the African hookworms is not entirely considered fringe weirdness any longer. The theory is we have co-evolved with certain parasites and some of the relationships are more symbiotic than we once believed.
I would not buy the illegally sold worm eggs, of course. That would be like eating a piece of moldy bread instead of taking a penicillin shot. I do believe the research is worth watching. I think they are on to something important. The three disorders the research is focused on at the moment are MS, Crone’s disease and severe allergies, but I think it may affect the way other auto-immune diseases are treated in the long run. There is a paradigm shift involved. Instead of looking at the body’s component parts or individual systems it looks at a body the way an environmentalist looks at the planet. We really are a walking biosphere. Looking at ourselves that way might be the change of perspective we need to move forward.
We already take that approach here in a small way. The “milk” in our fridge is soy, almond, coconut or cashew milk except after one of us has been treated with anti-biotics. The cultured milk and active culture yogurt show up in the fridge then to restore the natural flora and fauna of the gut. There is a lot of new research that shows the little critters we host affect much more than our digestion. These “bugs” also affect our immune systems and of all things, brain function.
TTC, I can see why your doctor is encouraging you to consider surgery. The burns, bangs, bumps and bruises you’ve endured because of seizures sound terrible. I hope and pray you can find the right medication cocktail, but I would not take surgery off your list of options. Kay asked me to write that experiencing Charles Bonnet Syndrome after the surgery is extremely rare and she didn’t mean to frighten you about the surgery.
Kay is doing sleep marathons again. One day of serious work and two days to recover. Kay is accepting it as old age slowing her down, but I’m not convinced. This only started after she got really sick in Dec./Jan. Besides, weight loss isn’t the usual problem for women her age. Most of the other women that age I know have the opposite complaint. I’m waiting to see if she plateaus at the minimum weight for a female her height.
I’m taking Tramadol to ease the soft tissue tear and Nadi and Kay are watching me like hawks to make sure I obey docs orders. Who knew it could be so hard doing nothing. How are you coping, Beth? I’ve never considered mater murder, but I have some zucchini I would like to take a machete to.
It is muscadine and scuppernong grape harvest time. Those are the thick-skinned, southern fox grapes that are only a few steps away from wild. Kay’s loves the rich flavor and looks forward to eating them fresh. She considers what is normally available in the grocery store bland by comparison. I like the flesh and the traditional grape hull pie made from their skins is good as is the wine. It reminds me of a Greek wine I had once. The ‘Southern Home’ hybrid did not produce this year. Southern fox grapes don’t naturally cross with European grapes. I am looking forward to tasting the fruit from that cultivar.
(Jim)

Your grapes sound yummy! Wish I was there to taste them. It would be so wonderful. Especially with some cheese, olives and nuts and a bottle of wine. Ahh...dinner the way it was meant to be. Simple, uncomplicated, satisfying and good. Summertime my favorite meals aren't necessarily those I cook but things I "nibble" collectively.

Spent a rather hot day tending cacti...YES..they do need some love too. Put in a new barrel cactus and just sat and hung out by some of my old friends in the heat. So much for end of Summer relief. It's shooting back up to 109-106 again for the next month. No cool down until mid to late September. :(

Carrie I'm so sorry your doctor was insensitive. It's not an excuse but I don't know how these people not be insensitive and do their job. I'd be in the bathroom crying if I had to deliver every piece of bad news health wise to someone and not be able to shut myself off emotionally. Then again I'm not that kind of person which is why I'm not a doctor I guess. I don't think they're mean I just don't think they look at things emotionally or from your point of view. It is rare if you get one who does. I found one so I'm going to cling to this guy for dear life! Hopefully those you have helping you now are treating you better.

I agree wit you Jim on exploration and alternatives. Why not? My feeling has always been what is the worst thing that can possibly happen? Am I any worse off then I am now? Can I get better and if so by how much/what percent? Is that an improvement than where I'm at. If so, then WHY NOT?

Tell dear Kay, no she did not frighten me about the brain surgery or the Charles Bonnet Syndrome. I just like to believe what I say when I say, "There's an answer to every riddle and a solution to every problem. You just have to think long enough and hard enough about it to find it." To me brain surgery is the absolute, last, final option. When I have nothing left to try, nothing left to do, nothing left to explore, think about, research or contemplate then maybe I will think about that. So far though my research and intuition has paid off well.
Perfect example of why I keep slamming on the breaks is that I have carpal tunnel not nerve damage and ataxia and cold, numb feet due to meds side effects not nerve damage/poor circulation . It took them how many years to catch this?
Uhm...now they want to do brain surgery...what might I actually have instead? Yeah, now you see why I'm not foaming at the mouth to go do this. I'm sorry even though my doctor is great it is going to take an awful lot for him to convince me of this one.

As for you, I'm glad they're babysitting! Behave yourself and get well. Buddha said all things are impermanent. That means your condition also. Take some comfort in that. :) You'll be your own self again soon. In the mean time enjoy and stop feeling guilty. If you're like me then that is what it is..guilt for not working, and driving yourself harder than necessary or into the ground.

So far though my research and intuition has paid off well. Epilepsy is Epilepsy. I fall on my head. All Epileptics do. I know many who have been hurt a lot worse than I and some who never get any injuries other than something minor. It comes with the territory. Every illness has got it's "thing". I'll keep playing musical meds until I figure it out. I will figure it out.
I keep going back to the periods of when I was seizure free. There was the majority of my life. Then a spell of 6 years. Then one for 3 years. I try to look at "why"? What was going on in this time exactly when I was seizure free?
You know what I came up with?
I was happy. I was really, truly, purely, genuinely happy inside and out and at peace with my self, my life and my circumstances. I was beyond happy. I felt joy. Real, true, unadulterated joy. It filled me and my every day from the time I got up until I went to bed. I felt like anything and everything was possible in life at any given moment at any time even if I wasn't.
I had bills. Often I didn't have money. Some of those times weren't always happy days but inside of me...TTC...I felt this indescribable joy.

No I don't believe it is that simple. But I think a lot of our recovery can be that simple. Tap into that feeling of "joy" again and "Physician heal thyself." even if it is the joy of knowing you're right when you discover ways to cure what ails you. I say go for those African Hookworms!

It was funny. I was born in 1968. All day today I could not get out of my mind a song written and sung in 1967 by Scott MacKenzie. I must of listened to it about 12 times in a row. My husband asked if I was alright. I said, never better. You probably know the song,

"If you're going to San Francesco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco you'll be sure to meet some gentle people there
Lord knows those who come to San Francisco in the Summertime
There will be a love in there
In the streets of San Francisco gentle people with flowers in their hair.
In the streets of San Francisco there'll be a love-in there.
All across the nation
Such a strange vibration
People in motion
There's a whole generation
with a new explanation
People in motion....."

I'm sure you know the rest of the song.
Anyway my husband teased me about it and the 60's "Age of Aquarius" hippie vibe stuff. I was joking around because it was amusing so get a good laugh out of the photos...but you know what...I still can't get the song out of my head.

Peace. Out.
TTC

Agave, that sounds HOT! I get stuck on songs too. Today I saw a picture of Stephen Colbert with a beard, which started me on a Stephen Colbert jag, which wound up with the discovery that he was on Law & Order Criminal Intent in 2004. I want to see that show. 15 seconds of it are available as a L & O celebrity mashup on youtube, but otherwise.....I am about to order the DVD so I can see this one episode with Stephen Colbert on Criminal Intent. Obsessed!

There was a bunch of spam on this forum yesterday - someone from India saying nothing in English but a bunch of characters - part of me says "oh, great! A disabled person in India who doesn't speak English wants to join our forum. Here's my chance to be welcoming and accepting" but the rest of me thinks "Our forums happen in English. If you don't speak ANY English, you should find another place to post." so I kicked it up to Melody, who made it disappear.

Hi Carrie,
That's funny. Maybe it wasn't Spam. Maybe it was some poor lost soul who found a way to reach like minded eccentrics. Perhaps I and wise cactus are the conduits? Hey...if she can get a universal translator on her keyboard my feeling is the more nuts the merrier the fruit cake.
She and I can have a good ol' chat about the merits of Mahayana Buddhism (me) as seen through the eyes of a Vedic Hindu (embraces a few of same concepts but does diverge wildly in core fundamentals). After all Siddhartha (the Buddha himself) was Indian and did gain his enlightenment sitting under the Bodhi tree in India. As a matter of fact the tree is still there. I always wanted to make a pilgrimage to see the tree before I die (or it does from some gross pollutant.)

Hmm........explains maybe why I sit on rocks under large cacti and have talks with them?

Yep, know what you mean about the getting stuck on a jag thing. Not sure what you're referring to when you say, "That sounds hot!". It is either Putin on horseback with no shirt or my husband doing the ironing with no shirt. Heck...either one works for me. :D

But I do know what you mean about getting stuck. We have Netflix. My husband couldn't figure out why I was binge watching all 100 and something episodes of Law & Order S.V.U. Well......Christopher Maloney was on it. Guy can't act his way out of a paper bag but then again he doesn't need to. He just needs to stand there. Flexing anything and wearing the occasional tight t-shirt instead of his long sleeve numbers goes miles also.

Oh....John Hamm from Mad Men. The infamous Donald Draper. The guy that played Roger Sterling on the same series. Hmmm.....! Binge watched that series twice now. Uhm....Jonathan Frakes from Star Trek Next Generation. Great beard and nice blue eyes. Tall also! I think he's 6'4".

But then again I only watch television that is stimulating and thought provoking. Well I do!
(I just didn't say what thoughts they stimulate or what gets provoked.) :D

Wise Cactus is telling me to behave and go plant my tree before it is 900 degrees outside. Right now it is only 700!

I picked up a pachypodium (Madagascar palm). It is only 12-15 feet max which is short for a "tree". It has a single skinny trunk with spines like a cactus and gets a fat/bulbous bottom. It has narrow feathery types of leaves that grow only from the top. Gee...kind of sounds like me if I were a plant. (eye roll...sigh...middle age) I'm also going to try to not kill a succulent given to me. It is an experiment to see if it will live in the mostly shady spot on the side of my house. I hope it does. It is so cute.

Zoe had a happy day.
Daddy was off so we took her to the dog park very early this morning. YIPPPPPEEEE!
There's one by our house. There was a group of 8 people and doggies there already. Zoe had lots of off leash fun. Yes, she is small pet safe and even the little dogs had fun being chased around. Zoe indulged them. She does play nice and has good manners with the others.
She's done for the day. Three dimensional area rug until tomorrow.
Tired out from the exercise and the extra attention all the people gave her.

O.K. catch up with you guys later or tomorrow. I got to get that tree planted. Let me know if our friend from India joins. What ever happened to our friend from Scotland?
Hugs,
Agavegirl

When I said that is HOT, I believe I was referring to the temperature (in degrees Farenheit) of Arizona, although if I had known we were talking about Jonathan Frakes....Christopher Maloney doesn't do it for me but I used to like to watch Mariska Hargitay when SVU was newer and she had short sassy hair, like me.

My husband used to teach on Friday nights so I would watch TV (after the kids were in bed). I just read (I love Wikipedia) that it premiered in 1999. My kids were 9 and 6. It was on at 10 pm, they were probably asleep by 8 or 8:30. PROVIDENCE came on at 9pm and then LAW AND ORDER SVU at 10. Ray would usually get home around 11-11:30. That's before Netflix, of course. Then in 2012 he moved to Texas in April and DD#2 and I didn't move out until June. There was a week or two--between her senior prom and her graduation, I think--where we watched SVU on Netflix EVERY night, and then I would hear the theme music in my head all night. Unfortunately Mariska Hargitay (who is three years younger than me) has long hair now, and it makes her look like she doesn't realize she's in her fifies. The show is much more like a soap opera now. I liked it better when it was a tough, sassy police woman who had confident short hair. I tried to grow my hair longer but I can't carry it off.

I'm SOOO bored laying in bed with my feet up!!!~ I DO get up (briefly) for usual stuff (bathroom breaks, fix a meal, tend my Tomato Jungle etc).

I thought idly of how to demolishj the Jungle. It'd be real neat to blast the suckers clean out of their containers; that way, I wouldn't have the chore ofcutting them down etc. (The lawnmower guy just mows over any leaves, branches that I toss on th3e lawn: he's on a riding mower and mpws over EVERYTHING in his path!). As kids, I rememb3er how an M80 would blow an ant hole to smithereens. . . .but they'd be too puny to shift the plants. Then I briefly considered dynamite? {naw..overkill], grenades? [naw, not specific enough: they'd destroy my patio, too] whaT I need is a SHAPED charge! What about claymores? [naw, they'd take out part of the shed-type thing] home-made gunpowder?. . . I think I should abandon ALL plans of using explosives. . . . I SURE don't wanna be no terroriwst=in-training!!

How about tqaking the weed whacker to them? [naw, the wire cages would tear up my weed whackere].

**sad sigh** I guess I'll just have to end them like anybody else. . . but I CAN make it a party!! Who's bringing the keg?? Turn up that radio!!! Laissez les bonne temps roule!! woooWEEE!

The first thing I saw when I o-pened my back door, to go out and tend The Tomato Jungle, was more flowers on my cherry tomato plant! AAAAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! And 2 other plants also had bright yellow flowers! I had just pruned off the bottom non-producing leafy branches (they'd already produced, at the begginning of the season), tohelp the plants ripen what they had, before their scheduled demise on October 11. I feel BETRAYED!!!!

Here's some pics:

1 view from my back door: traitorous FLOWERING plant!!!
2
3 The Tomato Jungle (long view) I planted singlet French marigolds in the ground, as they attracted insects (I've seen several different colors of butterflies, big fat bumblebees and a wal.king stick - who also prowls the tomato plants!)
4 today's yield
5 my "neighbor" garden replanted in zinnias for this summer (the pic under my name is the same garden, in spring)


Here's some pics

HI Carrie. Ah bummer........ and here I was thinking you thought the idea of my man ironing was Hot. :(
I guess it goes to show you how wildly different women's ideas are of what makes a man "attractive" LOL
To me any man that irons is attractive! Throw in cleaning up his toilet before I have to, picks up his underwear and doesn't watch sports constantly and he's a veritable God!

Yes it is HOT here in AZ. It was 109 today. It is 5:15 and still 107.Grrrrrrr. Enough. I drank 4 bottles of water in a row and it still wasn't enough. Had a touch of "heat headache" when I got done outside. Usually caused by dehydration. I got my tree in but said the Heck with it on the watering. I'm doing the watering of the back yard tomorrow morning. I'm just too bushed.

I like Mariska Hargitay. I think she's a good actress and very pretty. I agree with you. I like her hair shorter also. Looks good from a bob length and shorter. Doesn't look good past her chin. It does make her look older. I saw the show when primarily when Ice.T. was on and when the guy who played Detective John Munch (name escapes me) was on. Surprised at how well Ice T. could act. Did a good job. The person who played Detective Munch was a stand up comedian. I wish I could remember his name. Grrrrrrrr. Stupid sun. No, more like stupid memory.
Like you I also used to watch the show while DH was at work. I didn't have Netflix then. I caught what was on. When we got Netflix I was able to go back to the start of the of the show which was cool. Big bowl of popcorn, blanket on cool Fall-Winter nights and Zoe keep me company until DH got home at 1:45 a.m. Sometimes later if he had to work over.

We weren't always on this goofy schedule. We used to go to bed at the time we are now getting up!

I haven't seen S.V.U. in such a long time I have no idea how it changed.

You and your daughter must of had so much fun doing that. Nice memory. I remember being "forced" to watch Lawrence Whelk and Hee-Haw with my grandparents. Sheer torture but now that I'm older I was just glad I sat on the floor by grandpa's feet and played or read while he and grandma watched it. It made an impression on my mind about time spent with them, their house, what they looked like, etc. I can still see them and everything as clear as it had happened yesterday. Sometimes it is just the little things that last.

Speaking of little things, my little back is aching and I need some more water. I'm going to go lay down and watch some t.v. with the pack. I sure hope you're doing well.
Peace. Out.
Agavegirl

Richard Belzer. kb