Coffee and for Sunday, August 20th

Whoopeee! I have the day off along with the rest of you.

Come on in and have a seat .... let's share the day, and if we're lucky, maybe someone will come along with some calorie-free cyber treats to share.

Here's where we/ve been: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/641246/

This message was edited Aug 19, 2006 11:58 PM

McCool, we leave on Saturday morning and will return on Wedmesdy night. So will miss all of you;

Well, still Saturday and it is only a little after ten here now, and it has taken me off and on all day to read the past couple days worth of posts and now to try and reply to some of them. Woke up a bit to early this morning so decided to check out a few yard sales. Found a beautiful old wooden framed mirror with alot of detail work. The person painted it white and the paint filled it in so much you could hardly tell. Paid 5.00 came home brushed on some paint stripper and WOW. So tomorrow I will use some steel wood on it and do some light sanding before painting it. I figure I can hang it in our bedroom to make the room look bigger. Also found a large cast iron dutch oven with lid, well seasoned, at an estate sale for 5 bucks. I l usually only stop at the estate sales but since I had so much extra time this morning.

Elaine, no I haven't heard of that perticular Elvis, but then again we have at least a dozen or so running around here on a daily basis. We even have one that will marry you. And if you want to pay a little extra you can have Marilyn Monroe stand up with you.
You really should have said something about being charged more the the marked price. That is considered false advertising.

Darius, my hats off to you. I have to have a radio when driving. I am tone deaf and my singing is so bad that I scare myself. When DH and I were first married our car didn't have one. So I found a small battery radio that sat in the glove box area, with a hanger for an antenna and bottle caps for the knobs. Sad little thing....

McCool, three years ago DH was moving the desk in the Governors office when his secretary came in and scared the bejeebee's out of him. He turned the wrong way and ruptured a disc. That had getting epi shots every three months.

Defoe, PITA is a cat. And he knows it. LOL

Molly, sorry to hear about your roofing problems but glad that you are getting a nice rain for all the plants. Wish we would get something out of these clouds. Clouds come in mid morning, hang around causing humidity and not a drop falls. Las Vegas is suppose to get about 4 inches a year. I thought we have gotten about 2 inches but I was wrong. The weather channel just said that we have only had .75 so far this year and none since May 3rd.

DMC, all I can say is WOW on moving the house. R-50? Is that high of a value for insulation typical for your area? Here we only require R 13 for the walls and R 30 for the ceilings. We dont have basements here because of the caleche'.

Sarv, in Colo during my drive back to SC we would see large areas that had dead trees. When I stopped for gas I asked one of the cashiers and she said that they are from a root disease that is countrywide and has really hit there area hard. It was so strange to see how the sides of the road would be solid green trees and then a couple acres of dead ones right in the middle of it.

Well its time for bed for me. Hopefully I will catch up on this mornings lost sleep tonight. Hope all have a great day. ~~~~~'s to all.

Morning, sun is shining and the humidity is gone! What a wonderful start to the day! I opened the door for my garden walk only to find a huge dead mouse awaiting me!! Yuck. well it will be one less we have to trap I guess!! Cat was laying there with a satisfied grin on her face.

I hit the hay at 9:30 last night - had an awake time from 2 ish until 4 ish then nodded off again until 6:30 - all in all a good nights sleep for me.

IO1 is that arm bothering you because you clapped so much!! DH doing the carpeting!! Oh my goodness - that is something you;d never see here!! He did push the vaccum once, but it was under protest.

Yesterday when my post flew into cyberspace, I was telling my experience of getting charged too much. At Sam's I saw really nice summer chairs for 8.99 - I picked up 4 of them. When they rang up they were 29.99 - I pointed it out to the cashier, had to get a manager involved, but I did get them for the posted price. She kept telling me they REALLY were 29.99 - oh well, better train their workers better then!! I stood my ground (often I don't tho!!)

Carat - sounds like the tree disease is nation wide...how sad...I love big stately trees.

McC - lay in bed - leave the cookbook open to the muffin page - it's your day off!! I am hankerig for an omlet this morning. I may just boogie out and get some fresh peppers. The only thing I don't have are mushrooms. Oh well, I'll just have to put on extra cheese...

I better get off my hiney and get a cookin. ~~ to everyone on this fine day!

Hey did someone change the time???? Says I posted at 4:34am and it was 6 something. When did this happen??? Or did I miss something...

Good Morning to all, raining here but that is a good thng, every bit o earth is dry.
Yesterday, by evening time, boredom has been plagging me for a few days from feeling so rotten , I decided to make more tomato sauce and also some zucchini bread.

This time I did not forget the oil, was I ever disappointed, it is not as good as the one I made forgetting the oil a put gabs of butter on top before it was finished baking, cannot compare but it is edible, you may like it more than I do, so have some, there is plenty on the counter and coffee too

Good morning all! Beautiful sunny day here too. DH got up before me, and was in the den, so I grabbed my cuppa and sat down here. After a bit I heard him coming out........and there he was, on all fours, crawling to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. Drama!!! I have no idea how he planned to carry a full cup back into the den using only three extremities. Says he can't put any weight on his left foot. He didn't do any sliding into bases, (no hits!) so has no idea what he did to that foot. I asked him if he wanted to go and have it xrayed, and his response was what good would that do......MEN !! Is he planning to crawl across the parking lot to get into work tomorrow? Or will it miraculously heal over night? Further updates as new info becomes available.

Bonnie, most kitchen chores done by the other half don't include clean up. When I was still working we had an agreement, I'd cook, and he'd do the dishes. We had a dishwasher, so it's not like the kind of dishwashing where you stand with your hands in hot soapy water for a half hour. He did the dishes. Period. Pots were sometimes left on the stove. The counter top or the range weren't wiped. The floor not swept. But he did the dishes. LOL
My dad was a wonderful cook, but he never cleaned up after himself either. I think it's genetic.
I wondered about the scent of lavender being troublesome too, that's why I asked. I know food odors can be awful, but wasn't sure about herbs or flowers. Maybe I'll do it anyway, and put a warning label on the package!

Elaine, an nsect in the house is cause for much rejoicing!! An all out attack ensues, and the poor thing doesn't have long to live. Sometimes, lamps and knickknacks become collateral damage as the four of them careen around trying to catch the winged intruder! The best ones are floor creeping bugs, those are usually good for a longer period of entertainment, with all four, crouched around it nattering about who gets to execute the final blow. Anything that lands on a screen and is still outside, just gets stared down until it flies away. They seem to know which ones are fair game and which are unreachable.

They are sure if they try hard enough they can catch the finches and sparrows that gather around the feeders, and occasionally run from window to window to track them as they fly away. Wouldn't they just love to get out there for a good chase. Fat chance.

Have to settle for a ~~~ to anyone I haven't specifically addressed, massive CRS attack ....hope all have a good day. I need to go feed the grand-kitties, this morning and make sure they are all right. Probably better run some water on their outside plants too, we didn't get a drop of rain here.

Later,
Sheila

Hi there
i've been keeping up with posts...yesterday was crazy-My great big cat Dinah bit or clawed (or both) my hand when I tried to pick her up to give her her food. I got nasty punctures that hit at least one nerve and my hand went numb...I thought I'd gotten an electric shock. So I went to the health center and got a tetanus shot (which I was overdue for) and antibiotics since it was already swelling and getting nasty. So no weeding or anything that needs a right hand. Weird, well that's the kind of week it was here. I know the cats are all on eggshells.

Casey-good finds at the sales. I haven't hit a good one since last year-no, I did get my clawfoot tub this spring. Since the farm will be our retirement place, and I believe energy supplies are going to get scarce and expensive in the upcoming years, we are building/remodeling for energy efficiency. We should be able to get by with wood heat if necessary. I am also keeping the plumbing lined up and drainable (for freezes) and incorporating passive solar.

Maria-I hope you're feeling better and isn't Samson just such a good boy to help!! What a sweetie.

McCool-I hope you're getting better too. A depressed immune system and lots of public contact are a tough combo.

m5-LOL about the insect in the house. Monster found a sunbeam yesterday and was leaping in the air after dust motes!! There you go, maybe he can kill the dust bunnies! He's really lifted our spirits, the kids are just loving him. Matilda is calm and sweet and purry. They were such a good choice, we love them already. Hope the DH foot heals. We are quite prone to injury doing things we never thought twice about...Reality check, I guess.

sarv-Your humidity is here! Oh well, we got rain all night, and it was very needed by now, so it's okay!! And I too will be crushed if the nasty tree disease gets here (and it will).

Off to take some meds for now and get ready for church~~~~~~~~bbl

Many, many years ago I was using the vacuum bent over to pick something up could I get up? Not. DH was in the cellar I had crawl on all fours to that door and call him for help. Next day I was fine but from that day onward my back was never the same, still have to be careful what I am doing.

Good Morning!

dmc, I have tons of books on passive solar, including 2 copies of the best one (IMHO), The Passive Solar Energy Book, Expanded Professional Edition by Edward Mazria. I had to buy a second copy because I lost the solar radiation and shading calculator transparencies in the back pocket of my first book. Be glad to send a copy to you if you don't already own it once the rest of my books are here. There's also a great book on Moveable Insulation (window covers) out there somewhere.

The 2 story addition I built for my mother in 1992 had R 50-or something a tad higher. My sister never turned the heat on, just the heat from mother's Monitor in the LR that came through the doorway and up the stairs. That was in Boone, NC, elevation of 3300 feet and a zone 5.

So sorry so many of us are having health issues. Many years ago my first serious boyfriend who was Jewish always said "Be Well"... I wish we could all be well and stay that way!

IO1, please dmail me with your snail mail address. I've lost it... probably on the other computer which is still not hooked up.

Good morning everyone.

Just a quick note here. My pelvis has gone back to where it wants to be, well, the left side anyhow. I was hobbling around last night, I hoped it might go back into place, (at least part way where it has been for a few days) overnight when I got relaxed, but it feels just the same this morning. So, it's back to the Chiropractor as soon as I can get an appointment. Meanwhile, today we are taking a short but necessary trip to Boise, so I will be sitting but that doesn't help it, but probably won't hurt it either at this point.

Yesterday I watered, weeded, mowed, and never did get Patch ridden. Maybe today after we get home.

Maria, I'm glad you are feeling better. Did you use the oil the recipe called for? Butter would have given it a better flavor. Mine calls for oil and I think next time I make it I will use butter. It always felt wierd to me stirring all that oil in at the last minute. The first time I made it I thought that would ruin it for sure.

McCool, hang in there. I think you need to be taking megadoses of a good vitamin/mineral to build up your immune system. It takes time to do it, so start soon. Winter and the real cold season is coming.
Elaine, take it easy, you probably just took one step forward (resting that shoulder for several days) and then 2 steps back overusing it. Your parents will understand that you can't always do everything. Bless your kind husband for helping you with the cleaning.

~~ to everyone, gotta hit the shower, feed the horses and go.

Mary, dmail me with a phone number and I'll explain a good tip for the pelvis. Too hard to explain in print, LOL.

I finally made it back here with about two minutes to catch and respond - the catch up took most of that time so mostly just ~~~~ to all.

Mither is Scottish in origin. I don't remember when or why I started using it but it suits her so well I just kept it up. She is just 'me Mither' (and me Treasure)! She is also in a tie with my DH for me 'best friend'.

dmc - one quick note about the cat biting you. Every time one of my cats has actually turned on me like that it has been caused by pain of some sort. The most recent occurance was with Legree. He reacted rather violently (for him) to being picked up. It turned out that he had a kidney infection and he was hurting. Its just something for you to watch for. And we all know that a bat cat hair day can happen *anytime*. Just watch for other symptoms.

Well, my two minutes is long gone so back to sanding the new flooring.
ginni

Darius, could you explain exactly what the passive part of passive solar heating means. DH and I were thinking of looking into solar heating for at least helping with the energy in SC but havent a clue as in where to start.

Mary, please give Darius a call or visa versa. We want you up and riding Patch without being in pain.

Maria, I hope that you are feeling better today. When I woke up this morning I was a little congested so I popped an extra vitamin C and B this morning. I am a big baby when I am really sick and no one in this house is going to take care of me so I need to stay relatively healthy.

I hope no one gets stiff at church, ( I always do) and a great day to boot. Off to church for us. ~~~~~'s to all.

Casey

Casey, Passive means mostly NO parts. Mainly it's based on orientation, insulation, summer shading, summer ventilation, wind barriers (house and grounds) etc. We are such a stupid people, orienting our houses to the streets instead of orientation for energy efficiency. Nonetheless, much can be done with implementing other parts of passive solar, like cooling earth tubes, and windows at the ceiling to vent hot air in summer... or a tiny fan to direct all the heat at the ceiling in winter back down to people level.

You can buy the book I mentioned above on Amazon, used but the general edition, for as little as $2. It's THE bible on passive solar. I only saw one prof. edition listed on Amazon today and I think it was around $15.

I've built 4 passive solar homes, been in a zillion more, have seen all the mistakes and have seen some really good ideas.

Even as I am a staunch passive solar activist, I still plan on a solar panel to pump water from my spring.

Hi everyone
Well, I guess y'all were right ... cause I was just toooo sore when I got up this morning to go to church, so just rolled back over and buried my head under the covers. LOL

Mary, so sorry you are all out of adjustment again. That's the pits! I actually had been considering something like that, since so many of you go ... but gosh, I wouldn't like having to be adjusted so frequently. Sorry your year didn't turn out as well as expected for your rides ... at least I think that's right? But the horses are doing better now? Oh and you're getting those cooler temps at night. How nice.

sarv, I had 2 other experiences with our HD doing that little stunt and man oh man does it ever make me mad. I fought the last 2 times I made a flower pot purchase in there and left smug as a cat ... but it took 30 mins to get them ... and the other night I just wasn't in the mood to jump through the hoops to get it.

Cece ... have you found out any good info on your pond? How is the fish count? Sure hope you haven't lost anymore!

dmc, I really must go hunt up your thread about your house. I managed to find Darius's (or is that Darius') hehehehe been out of school tooo long! I think Casy has one about her new home, also but it's either not on my watched list or inactive at the moment.

Casy, speaking of hoops ... I'm so sorry to hear about the hoops you and the DH are jumping through with the insurance co. I don't know what the answer is ... but our medical is a mess in the US.

dmc, was it you who got scratched or bitten? All of a sudden I've had brain freeze and can't remember for sure. LOL I *know* I read something like that. Anyway, so sorry and hope your hand gets better.

Molly, how did your day go yesterday? Is your company still there or all gone now. Did you get more rain or are you all dry now?

Maria, oh thanks so much for the bread this morning ... it's just wonderful. Everything you bake is good. Now don't you go overdoing too soon after being under the weather. :-)

Meezers, I know what you mean about the cooking and cleaning up bit. Now I have the *sweetest* DH, and y'all know it's true, but yesterday when he was cleaning the carpet I asked if he had done the ceiling fan and baseboards when he vacuumed. He just looked at me with that puzzled look on his face. I had to walk out of the room because I knew I'd say something that would hurt his feelings. LOL
Okay, ~~~ to everyone I've missed. Gotta get up from here!
~Elaine~

Elaine,

Sorry you are feeling poorly. Artcons and his wife left late yesterday afternoon. Headed past and north of you. They will be back Tuesday on their way home.

It rained last night after dark. If I had known that I would have sealed that leak. We have rained predicted for the next several days, but sometimes that ends up being rain only to the edge of the hardtop. That's the way it is out here.

Molly
:^)))

Mary, I would recommend using butter, that new recipe i used calls for 1 cup of oil, when I made it the first time I forgot to add it so I used 1/1 sick almost melted butter on each loaf just as it started to bake, it came out just yummy, this one with the oil seemed very runny and when I to0k it out of the oven it was heavy as a brick like when I buy that kind of thing in the store

Of course oil does not firm up as butter does,as it cools that is the difference, never will I use oil in baking again, besides cutting the fat in half is better for you

My Dr, prescribed a drug for me, she said it is better then any prescription, it is sold over the counter, it clears congestion and thins mucus. it worked for me like a charm.

It is callrd Mucinex D, www.mucinex.com you have to sing for it with SS # address and name in this state because some have disvovered it can be used with an other drug to make some sort of illigal drug

.

Hi Friends!

Maria, I use organic safflower oil in my zucchini bread, turns out fine. I may have to try some with butter to see the difference.

I'm SO tired of tomatoes, still have about a bushel to process, and then peaches. My kitchen may never be free of all the debris! Right now I have 7 cans in the pressure canner, spaghetti sauce from roasted tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic plus some sautéed mushrooms and chopped black olives. I only do it in pints because usually there's just me but even when my sis is here, a pint of sauce is enough for a meal. I plan to can some italian sweet sausage separately.

Plus, I have 2 trays of peeled, seeded paste tomatoes drying in the oven.

OH I feel like such a slug= I haven't canned a thing- oh I remember, I did do some cherry juice early in the summer. Ahh, now I feel better!!

I'm all dressed to go out to the boat -toenails polished, clean clothes on etc. I still need to tackle the hair tho. We need to stop at the store on the way out to pick up some pita chips to eat with the hummus my mom brought out and some brew for DH. DH will say he doesn't need any, but then drink my DB - that bugs me, so we'll stop.

My sis just called on the cell phone to let me know they got a late start= she is ALWAYS late, so it is no surprise. Plus she left her cell phone at home on the table- she was using her DH> They are leaving DB boat for a mini vacation in the upper part of Mich. She said her DH was furious with her - it will be a silent drive for 5 hrs up here!! I swear she had ADD as she is always forgetting something - last week it was her purse at work - she had to drive 45 min one way to get it!! She has a saint for a DH - thank goodness...

I figured out my 'time' problem on the computer. I still don't know how it got changed tho!! But I fixed it- proud of myself that I could figure that out!!

Darius- I've always wanted to do solar heating for our pool - just never got my butt in gear to figure it out. Our hose is often left in the grass and the water out of it is boiling hot- I am sure I could figure something out. DH says not to bother - he knows he'd be roped into helping!!

I still have 2 plants to get into the ground - was going to do it today, but I forgot and now I'm dressed up, so guess it will have to wait until Thurs when I get back.

My clothes are all laid out for the trip - I'll take pics and show you we're I've been!

Maria, I've written down that medicine your doc said was so good - and over the counter too!! I've not taken my allergy meds all week and do feel much better. I can't figure out what's what with it. I have a real thick drainage down my throat - the allergy meds do help with that, but I'm thinking it is drying me out too much. Oh well, guess I better let the doc tell me what to do. I am great at self diagnosis!!

IO1- I don't routinely go to the chiro, but when I had my bulging/pinched disk, he was a lifesaver! I wonder if I should have gone for my bursitis stuff - but I didn't. But it took over a year for it to go away. Hope you are on the mend soon tho. You are a better woman than I am - I would have said something to DH. I just cannot keep my mouth shut - it's gotten me into trouble over and over!

Well, time for lunch...

Sarv, a solar heater for the pool with NO moving parts is easy and cheap to do. It all works on the thermosiphon principle... heat rises! But, you have to disassemble it before any freeze, or make a more complicated system with a non-freeze liquid in the pipes and a heat exchanger.

Have a fun mini-vacation!

For those of you who love a play on words, you should tune in to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell me on NPR radio. It is really funny! http://www.npr.org/search.php?text=Wait%2C+wait

Walgreen'shas a house brand of the same stuff that's in Mucinex and at almost half the price. Read the label. Probably other drug stores have their own brand too.

Running back out, stuff to do.

s.

Sarv----- so you are headed for the boat again huh??? Lay off the booze out there on the water. We had 2 real good accidents this weekend not far from the house. I have no idea of the injuries and really do not care what they did to themselves. The first one they must have been going real fast after dark Friday night and just forgot where the channel was and smacked a runabout about 20 yards up in the woods. Tore the bow off and the passengers went thru the windshield. I imagine it hurt. The other one was last night when a drunk(I am sure) slammed a 46 ft cruiser onto a clearly marked reef accross the lake from me about midnight. Took them 3 hours and 4 boats to extract that thing from the reef. no idea about injuries there either but I am sure all the passangers went flying around like ping pong balls. To jam that thing all the way on top like that he had to be moving a good clip also.

Afternoon all, had a late start this morning, no time to chat before church, had lunch and the sleepies hit, so here it is almost 3:00, and I am finally sitting here. You all have been a gabby bunch.

dmc, was that you with the cat bite? Sure hope it doesn't get infected, glad you went to get the shot too. My Miss Boots does that ocasionally, but she isn't in pain, just a crabby old cat. DH doesn't like her and keeps saying "maybe she will run away", or maybe she will commit suicide". I bet if she paid him any attention, they would hit it off, but she snubs him, and sometimes if he comes into a room where she is, she will leave.

Mary, sorry that the pelvis is cock-eyed again. Mine does that from time to time, and it sure ain't fun.

McCool, hope that your day off is all you hope for. Do what you want, not what you should.

M5, insects in the house, doesn't affect Miss Boots, but Mr. B. loves the creepy kind on the floor, he plays with them before having them for lunch. Hope your DH's foot gets better, if he has to crawl to work, please take some pics!

Sarv, have a good time, I didn't realize that you would be gone that long. Another mini vacation, good for you.

Darius, that canning can really get old soon. But I keep trying to remind myself that I sure will enjoy it this winter.

Carat, wow, on 3/4 inch of rain this year. You all are surely having a drought. The pool school is on Sept 9, and if there are any real good tips, I will pass them along. I sort of expect it is Pool Closing 101 for newbies and/or dummies. I really would like to have a heater for my pool, so that we could extend it's use a few months.

Darius, anything you could offer in way of solar advice about a pool heater, I would be interested in.

Maria, the Mucinex does indeed help loosed the phlem, but I had a problem with it, as I am allergic to generic meds, not the medicine, but the filler or binder used to hold it together. So if I use it at all, it is sparingly.

tgif, thanks for the explanation of Mither. I figured that it was Scottish/Irish or Gaelic. Are you any of those, or just something you picked up along the way?

I01, you must really have felt bad this morning, if you didn't go to church. Sure hope that you can get that arm feeling better, and that it will stay that way. What, are you supposed to dust the baseboards and the ceiling fan? I thought that if you turned the fan on once a week, that it would push the dust off!! I guess I will see if Miss Boots can learn to slide down the baseboards on her walks down the hall, maybe if I tied a dust cloth around her middle, showed her how, then she would know when I put the cloth on her that it was time to do it again!! Yeah, right!! If I tried to tie anything around her, I would be wearing her on my head, with her claws dug into th sides of my face.

Molly, more rain? Good, the plants always love it. We had rain this morning, about 7/10, and it sure helped, but has turned humid again.

Well, I just remembered we have pot luck at church at 4:30, and I haven't made anything yet, so gotta get to it. Will check in when I get back.

Bonnie, I will have to surf my brain cells a bit for the pool solar. Essentially it's tubing of some sort (can be hose) under glass and downstream from the pool. The water heats up, goes to the pool and cold water comes back to the collector in a loop. No moving parts.

Before any of you start taking Mucinex please check with your doctors if you are taking any kind of medication for breathing issues. This means you Darius. Some of the ingredients will counteract each other.

Darius, thanks for the info. We have been planning alot of passive solar ideas without knowing it had a name. I am going to go check out getting one of the books you mentioned. Thanks.

Sarv, our solar heater for the spa runs on a small pump about the size that a small fountain would use, the force of gravity and siphoning. The only reason we have the small pump is so we can be in the spa with the air jets on and not have to worry about getting to many air bubbles in the lines to stop the flow of water. We do have to completely disconnect it in the summer as it managed to heat the water to 133 last summer.

Elaine, my thread is kinda inactive right now. Nothing really happening since we are here still. But watch out once January rolls around.

Well DH is starting dinner and I need a few things from the store for my lunches next week.

You are right Casey, one has to read the directions very carefully amd remember there are three kinds , it is the mucinex D, my dr knows what kind of med. I take she would not have given it to me if I took something that may contradict it

Thanks for the heads up Casey.

Gads with my canning I feel like Sisyphus, only with veggies and not a big rock!

My cell phone keeps going off with the Low Battery beep and it's in this room somewhere... do you think I can find it? No!!!

Hi everyone,

It must be a busy night ---- no posts for 2 1/2 hours! It will probably take me quite a while to type out what I want to say, so by the time I go to post this, there may well be several posts ahead of it.

Thanks for all the concern and advice. I took two of the multi-vitamins tonight and an extra vitamin C. The C is no problem, but I'm a little leary of too much of the others. We'll see.

Bonnie, wish I could do just what I'd like, but I'm afraid that "should" didn't even come into it today. I have things that I must do, like it or not. I messed up the color on a big candle order and have to redo it. I'm about halfway through and plan to finish and get it packed for shipping tomorrow. I also have several jewelry repair jobs that I need to work on. At least I managed to get the beans picked today. They were on the edge of unuseable. On work days the only time I could pick is in the morning and the plants are always too wet then (I know you're not supposed to mess with them when they're wet as that's a sure-fire way to spread diseases).

Thanks for the info on passive solar, darius. DH and I wanted to put a solarium on one side of the house, partly to reduce our use of heating oil (with the added benefit that I might be able to keep a few more plants alive over the Winter), but it looks unlikely that we'll ever be able to afford to do it.

dmcd, sounds like you have things planned out beautifully! Your farm sounds like the ideal spot for retirement. Hope the cat bite has quit hurting so much. The only time I've really been bitten was when I was trying to force a very nasty pill down Miss Miceus's throat. The vet's office told me about the "pill popper" only AFTER that episode. Helpful, weren't they?

We had a thunderstorm earlier this evening. Rain came down in torrents and we had one lightning strike that was way too close for comfort ---- cats went scattering everywhere. We heard the volunteer fire department siren go off just afterwards, so something nearby must have been hit. Hopefully the storm means that the hot and humid weather we had today is on it's way elsewhere!

sarv, hope your mini vacation is a great one. Thanks for the advice re: leaving the muffin recipe out for DH. Actually, I generally like to cook, but I am NOT a morning person (and he IS), so he's had to get used to more of a brunch than a breakfast when he requests this sort of thing.

Maria, glad to hear that you're feeling better. Thanks for the zucchini bread! It doesn't look as though I'm likely to get enough zucchini this year to make any myself. I may end up inundated in yellow squash though.

I01 and Mary, hope you both get relief very soon. Mary, doesn't riding aggravate the pelvic displacement?

Molly, I do hope that that leak proves to be easy to fix. What did you finally decide to do in your orchid house? Did you put in screens, doors, or what?

Sheila, I don't know which story was funnier, the cats or your DH! (Not that I think that it's funny that he hurt his foot, but you know what I mean.) Now, if your cats could just teach D.K. that bugs on the other side of the screen can't be caught, I'd be a lot happier about it. She's taken to climbing and hanging onto the screens in many of the windows. It's bad enough on the old ones, but I hate to have her making holes in the brand new ones. If she sees a bug though, there's no distracting her. This morning I went into the bathroom to find that the entry was covered by an inch or so of kitty litter and in the middle of it was D.K. in the Sphinx position, with a satisfied look on her face. For some reason she insists on attacking the kitty litter bag and tearing out a bottom corner. I've seen cats do this with bags of dry cat food, but Kitty Litter???

~~~~~~~to Casey, tgif, oz, and any of the rest of the coffee gang who are out there. I know it's kind of early, but I'm going to post the link for tomorrow and go collapse. Goodnight Gracie (and everyone else!)

Tomorrow's thread is up at http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/641855/


See you all over there.

McCool, it is still the 20th, and I am gonna post here.

Oz, those boat accidents sound horrible. Years ago, we went to the river/lake every weekend, and believe me, there were more hairy moments than I like to think about. I believe booze and boating are the most dangerous vs cars booze. My sister was driving a boat one time racing another boater up the river, she fell behind, and hit he wake of the other boat, and darn near capsized us. I flew out of a rear seat and landed on a cooler, with a very very bad bruise on one leg. The scariest thing about this incident, we had children in the boat at the time. Never did trust her after that to pilot the boat. This was a very powerful inboard runabout that would pull 8 skiers, so you get the idea. Booze is best enjoyed in a recliner, or on a deck that has less than a 1' of drop to it. That way, if you do fall, it won't be catostrophic!!

McCool, sorry that you had to redo that candle order. About lack of zuchinni, would you like some? Those things are like rabbits, produce, produce, and produce some more. I am not a morning person too, the DH and I just grunt at each other early in the morning. He is a morning person, and used to get on my nerves by whistleing or singing at early morning times. Just told him one morning, to save his festivities for the drive to work, and leave me alone. Actually, our work schedules worked out fine. He left an hour and a half before I had to get up, and honestly that was the best sleep I got all night. I could get up, have my coffee, read the paper, and dress and get ready for work without having to have someone in my space. The first words I usually uttered were "good morning" when I got to work!!

Carat, wow, the 133 degree water would have enabled you to skin tomatoes. I like hot tubs, (that is my next project), but not for my pool.

Darius, if you come across any info that would be useful to me about pool heater, I would appreciate it. Just trying to get my money's worth by extending the swim time.

Well, after I had made a big bowl of cole slaw to take to the pot luck, and starting to make a casserole, had the thought that "is this the right day". After consulting the calendar, saw that I was a week early, so we will have plenty of cole slaw to eat this week. The pot luck is next Sunday. LOL, This church holds a pot luck the last Sunday of the month, and my befuddled brain got the dates mixed up.

Well, a neighbor and I are going out to lunch tomorrow to celebrate her winning entries in the state fair. She entered 19 items, most knitting and spinning, and won 10 blue, 7 red, and 2 white. I am not into knitting etc, but she was so happy about her success, that I offered to take her to lunch to celebrate!! Any excuse to escape for an hour or so. On Tuesday, my DTS and I are going shopping for essentials for the trip to Reno on Saturday, then Wednesday will be serious efforts to get clothes ready for packing. So you see my week is already planned.

I need to check some other forums before calling it a night, so hope you all have a good restful night.

Good night all.

sorry wrong thread ...................... duuuuh !

This message was edited Aug 21, 2006 1:00 PM

I shouldn't have dozed off this afternoon, just couldn't keep my eyes open.so now it's well past my bedtime and I'm not sleepy and the cats are rampaging all over the house enjoying my company. It cooled off nicely this evening and I picked one ripe yellow tomato and a bowl of little pear tomatos. My egg plant is getting bigger by the day. And the lonely moonflower vine is up to the flooring of the deck!

Ouch on the bites, Dmcd. Never have had that happen to me, but years ago I took my bluepoint siamese to a breeder's home to use her big fella for stud. My little Singh Lo decided she didn't like him and came from the floor to the top of my head without sheathing her claws, I had track marks for weeks. Siamese claws never fully retract anyway even when they are calm.
I hope it heals up quickly. I should probably get a tetanus shot too, haven't done it for way too long.

IO1, you take it easy on that arm and don't be overanxious to be using it and delaying the healing. So good of your DH to pitch in and clean, we'd have to be knee deep in crappola before mine would think to grab the vacuum cleaner. Speaking of whom, here's the victim, and now I'm going to bed and settling for a long ~~~~~~to everyone else.

Night Gracie

Sheila

P.S. He asked why I was taking his picture, I said "So I can hang it up next year when they ask you to play softball again". Borrowed the crutches from our neighbor who had knee surgery a couple years ago.