lost

 I have been thinking of Dolly Parton today

    Truthfully, I am not a country and western fan.  Sure, I like Merle, and Willie and Waylon and a few others, but I am not a fan.

    Then there is Dolly.  

    I have learned more about her the last 2 days than I thought I would ever want to know.

    Turns out, she was a pretty remarkable person.

    Talented, intelligent, humble....and generous.

    Because I a not a fan, I missed all the good things about her. 

    I didn't know she was one of 12 children, that her father could not read, that they were pretty poor hill country folk, that Coat of Many Colors was based on a.true life experience.  I also did not know she was a prolific song writer.

    I knew about the Imagination Library, but not about her redeveloping a block for businesses in an impoverished area.

    She was rich.  But she knew that being rich has a responsibility to improve the lives of others.

    Too bad some of the billionaires in our country don't take that same philosophy.

    Anyway, Beth is acting a little weird so I have a vet appointment on Friday.  She is not eating her food, and seems to have trouble pooping.  And she is drinking a ton of water each day, something she never did before.

    Hopefully the vet will have answers.

    Finished trimming the front bushes today.  Started in May.  

    I was going t trim around the house, but I could not get my grass trimmer started. I may have flooded it.....maybe tomorrow it will start and I can trim around the house, culvert and gardens.

    Of the 11 free trees  Julia got me from the state, only 6 have survived.  In about 40 years they may be providing someone some shade.

    I will remember next year and do a better job with planting and watering them.  Remember, we don't plant trees for today, we plant them for the future.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

for the birds

 I have good bird news, and sad bird news

    Jackie and our morning help spotted a fine young specimen in the back yard this morning.

    It was slowly walking through the yard, frequently stopping.  It then moved to the green space behind our yard, where it continued to slowly walk.

    Unless somebody knows differently, we are calling it a Great Blue Heron.

    We had a couple show up last year, and maybe the year before.

    Friend Nadine was over today and she said long before our street had houses she would see them in the field.  She stayed and visited with Jackie while I went to PT.

    Herons typically hang around water but we don't have any water near us.  There are a couple of creeks, but  not close to our house.

    Their diet can include small mammals.  That makes me happy, because I hope they are hunting the ground squirrels around the house.

    That's the happy news.

    Now the sad news. 

    I took Beth out last night about 10:30 and there was a bird perched on our bird bath in my little front garden.  It was all huddled up and did not flinch when I approached it.

    Beth had to go out again later, and little birdie was still there.

    It was still there this morning, but instead of perching on the side it was floating in the water.

    Now I wonder if I should have put it in a box in the garage and put some water and seed in the box.  Oh well.

    Emily landed safely in Wyoming.  She  is going out there for a short break from work and life in Rochelle.

    I think I need a break too.

Peace and Love

    Especially Peace

Heron on patrol

It was all huddled up

Love this shirt!

huh!

 I had an eye exam today

    I go to 2 different eye doctors.  The one today is a retina specialist.  I go to him because I have a small hole in the retina in my right eye.

    It is not macular degeneration.  It mimics that, but generally does not get worse.

    But, I go every 6 months just to be sure the damage is not getting worse.

    Last night I was laying in bed.  We have a smoke detector on the ceiling.  It has a green light if it is working, a red light  if it needs a new battery.

    The room was completely dark,  I closed my left eye and stared at the slittle green light.  It moved!!  It was like a satellite going across the ceiling.

    But it did not move, because it is fastened to the ceiling.

    I repeated the process by closing the left eye and focusing with the right and it continued to move!

    When I told that to the good doc today he gave a very detailed medical explanation.  "Huh", he said, looking at me like I was a nut.  "That's interesting.  I have no idea what would cause that."

    I wonder if my eye just wanders in the dark, because it does not do that during the day.

    Another of life's puzzles.

    My eyes are still dilated, so everything is really bright.  Especially the computer screen.

    Last night I sat in front for a while and got bit.  Whatever it was, I began to itch like crazy while getting the eye exam.  I may have scrap[ed the skin off my leg.  

    I put on plenty of lotion when I got home.  On my leg.  On my ankle.   On my hand.

    And that is my life.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

pickled

 We made refrigerator pickles today

    That is exactly what they are.  You cook some juice, cut up cucumbers, sick stuff in a jar and add the juice.   Allow the pickles to cool ,then put them in the refrigerator.  After 4 hours, flip them upside down for the rest of the night.

    Feel free to follow my recipe.

    Yes, the kitchen was a mess,  Yes, I cleaned it up before I cooked supper.  Yes, I cleaned after I cooked supper.

    Here is a funny thing.  

    I went to take a nap in my porch chair today and actually was chilly!!!  In the shade, with the breeze,  I thought about getting a blanket, but my nap time was up.

    On to my bird feeder saga.

    Julia was over Saturday and we tried to put the new feeder up, but were missing a part.

    I looked for it, but could not find what we were missing.  But I did find the directions and guess what?   The missing part is not listed in the directions as a part!

    So I will try tomorrow to finish the installation.

    I do have an eye doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon.  My eyes will be dilated and vision will be an issue.  Julia is taking me so I won't be a risk on the road.

    I just dropped off 3 bags of yard waste at SK's house.  I thought I would ask another friend to take 2 bags tomorrow night for Tuesday pick up, but realized I may not be able to drive into town.

    There is always next week.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

aww shucks

 Baseball is a fickle sport

    Two nights in a row the Cubs have had a win in their back pocket.  Last night a .130 hitter bloops a 2 out single into center to score Seattle's winning run.  Tonight with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth and the Cubs leading 4-2.....double, single, home run.

    Dang that is frustrating.

    I took a vacation tonight.

    I spent the evening at a small lake, watching the flames from a little campfire.  I would hear the laughter of children playing on the beach.

    It was all very relaxing.

    Trouble is, I was on my front porch just imagining all of it.

    As I was imagining, I got bit twice by I assume mosquitoes.  Damn, that does itch!

    We had 1 inch in our rain gauge.  That is a lot of rain at one time.  In Rochelle a friend of Julia's had 2.5 inches, plus hail.  I did not see or hear hail.  

    I washed out Beth's new dog food container.  It is insect proof.  It holds 25 pounds of dog food.  I buy 25 pound bags.  Explain to me why there was a couple of pounds of dog food on the floor as I filled the container.

    And yes, I did try to stop but things did not go well.  Now I have dog food in 3 containers.

    The Chicago area last year had a record 273 warnings for severe storms or tornadoes.  This year there have been 330 warnings....and there is still time for more.  Records are made to be broken, I guess.

    And somewhere I read that Illinois leads the nation in the number of tornadoes this year.  Go figure.

    Politicians should be paying better attention.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

it was a dark and stormy night

 Snoopy got it right about tonight

    At least I think it was Snoopy.  If not, tell me so I know the truth!

    Fake news.

    I bought a half gallon of milk Wednesday.

    I drank some last night and it did not taste as good as it usually does.

    This morning I drank some of a small glass, and it did not taste right.  It did not smell right.  I did not drink a lot, just a couple of swallows.  

    That may explain my numerous trips to the bathroom and the  general feeling of nausea I have been experiencing today.  Or it may be something else., like my poor dietary choices.  In any case, I decided to toss it.  The milk.

    Unfortunately I did not buy milk on my daily trip to Wally World, so I had to go back this evening.  That was ok because we ordered take out from a local Mexican restaurant.  I had planned to order a take out margarita, but didn't want to take the chance of further upsetting the tummy.

    On my first trip, I bought a single onion.

    I put it on the self check out scale and it rang up $2.42 with a weight of 2 pounds.

    I hit the cancel button and did it again.  Same result.

    I called the help person over and asked how that could be correct.  She re-entered it and said I should be ok.  It registered $2.42 again.

    I called her over and again said that can't be right because this one onion does not weigh 2 pounds.  I told her I wasn't buying it, so we canceled the onion.

    I went back to the onions and found one with a zebra code. I scanned it and it came up 81 cents.  

    I went back to the lady and said there is something wrong with the store's system.  I am sure she took care of it right away.

    That's why you have to pay close attention!

    Gosh.....first high school football game of the season in Rochelle tonight.  It is thundering and lightning and I have no idea if they finished or not.

    It seems crazy to me for high school football to start so early.  I bet really good teams can play up to 15 games this year, counting the HS championship.  That to me is just way too many games for young people to endure.

    But what do I know.

    Not much.  You?

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

no zest

 Sometimes I can't find what I beed

    We have been making lemon cookies recently.  The recipe says they are Panera lemon cookies.  We loved those cookies, but they stopped making them.

    Jackie found a recipe and I follow the recipe.

    But, and there is always a big butt, the recipe calls for lemon zest.

    I have been using a McCormick spice called lemon peel, which should be the same as lemon zest.

    But I am out of the lemon peel.

    I bought a lemon and scraped the rind to get the teaspoon of zest.  But I tossed the rest of the lemon.  Now that I think about it, I wonder if I could have gotten a tablespoon of lemon juice from the lemon, because the recipe calls for that too.

    Anyway....went to Walmart, Hy-Vee and no lemon peel.  Last time I I found it at Woodman's in Rockford, but I don't want to drive up there just for. that.

    Maybe I will try squeezing the lemon and zesting it for the next batch.

    And that is all I have.

Peace and Love

    Especially Peace