Honey Do List Grows

I started making a list of things I have been putting off until cooler weather comes along.  It started out with just 3 things and has more than doubled in as many days.  Most of the things on the list will take multiple days of work.  So even though the list may be short (but it keeps growing) they will take some time to accomplish.  Hopefully we won't have as cold of a fall/winter as we have had the past two years.  That way I can get most of them done.  Number one on the list is to finish up painting the house.  Yes, it's been at least 3 years since I started but I don't have a lot left to do, it's just that the areas needing the paint are the hardest to do physically for my old wore out body.  Most will be high up on an extended ladder around 16'.  It will require many many ups and downs of the ladder.  But once it's done I should be good for a few years.  Then I will hire it done if it even needs it again in my lifetime.  I just don't want to fall off the ladder again being much older now, so I have to have a spotter and there is only one available...my lovely wife.

I still marvel at my laziness.  I never used to let things sit due to weather/heat/cod issues.  I was the type that if I had something that needed to be done it gone done in short order if I could afford it.  Age creeps up on us all and affects us all in different degrees.  I have an Uncle that is ten years older (pushing 80) and I know he can outwork me and most men half his age.  I feel older than he looks.

Mom's 90th Birthday Party went pretty well and she seemed pleased but tired early.  We went over Monday to set up her Life Alert we convinced her to get.  She was still pretty tired from the party and I could see some of the instructions were confusing her.  All the attention just wore her out evidently.  She seemed better later in the day but I could see she was spent before we left.

She is talking more and more about moving somewhere.  She will go with 'K' and my sister-in-law to look at some places.  So the ball is rolling but we still have some obstacles that are mostly things that really are no issue but to her they are huge.  She is saying it will take a year for her to move.  That may kill us all.

Happy Trails

Plumbers

Over the last couple weeks we had been experiencing water pipes knocking inside our walls when we would run water or flush.  Sometimes it was really bad.  So bad you would think they were going to rattle loose from their connections.  I have grown up with that happening a few times in other houses and was always told it was air in the lines.  I got on the www to see what I could do about that.  Drain the lines and let the water run for a bit.  After 3 tries it was still doing it to varying degrees.  Some info I read said to wait a couple weeks and it 'might' correct itself.  But it was pretty bad and things I read said it could cause leaks at connections plus 'K' was more worried than I was.  A call was placed and they showed up early on the same day.  When does that ever happen?  They diagnosed it pretty quickly.  A faulty PRV.  They got it changed out and also found a leak in the pipe next to it.  It took less than an hour for them to get it changed out and fix the leak.  No more knocking and 'K' is happy.  

That makes three times I have had a plumber out this year.  I haven't called a plumber out that many times in my entire life.  A water heater, a leaky supply line I couldn't get to and now this PRV.  The PRV cost me half of what another company would have charged me.  I didn't have to dig or bend over and stress my wore out back.  Plus I found a great plumbing company that is very close.  I hope I don't need them any time soon but I know I can rely on them if and when.  

OK, we're off to get the Granddaughter and groceries and probably Whataburger.

Happy Trails

90 Years Old

Today is my Mother's birthday.  Ninety years old.  We were planning to go see her but she has other plans with her sister and niece.  That's OK, we are having a birthday party for her on Saturday at my nephews home.  She is very healthy but she does have some issues with confusion and memory.  It is not just long term memory.  She has no trouble remembering people.  

She doesn't drive much anymore.  She probably shouldn't drive at all.  She mentioned to us the other day she didn't recognize where she was one day and kept driving until she got someplace she did recognize.  This was in an area she has been in most of her life.  But since she doesn't get out much and hasn't for years now that was understandable to me.  Things have grown and changed in her area, in fact all over town, to the point I don't recognize areas anymore.  I don't get lost since I am aware of where I am, it's just not like it was the last time I was there a few years ago.  However, I can see this being an issue in the future.  I am placing a device in her car that will allow me to see where it is.  Her living so far from us makes it even harder to stay on top of things.

An assisted living facility is in the very near future.  She and my Dad did that once a few years ago and it was a fiasco.  So she has very definite opinions that make it difficult for us.  Same as last time.  We hope to move her nearer my brother and I if we can get her to understand why her choices aren't the best.  

There is much much more I could say and I may have said too much already.  I start writing and things come out that maybe shouldn't.  To me they complete the story and I don't quite know how to put it all down without intruding on her privacy.  Just know this is more complicated than it sounds here.  But the sooner we get her somewhere the better IMO.  

My Garden and Something for you to Read

We woke up to the end of a rain shower surprisingly.  It delayed my walk with the pups about an hour.  I checked the gauge when I got back, only 0.20.  The results sure looked like more than that.  But we did a get another 0.50 a day or two earlier.  Not near what we need but it sure helps and I am thankful.  

The garden is crazy.  All I have are tomato plants now.  They are not producing a lot but I get one or two every day or so.  That's great.  The plants themselves are doing much too well.  There is so much foliage there isn't enough sunlight getting in and then there is the heat, so production suffers.  Most everyone I know has already pulled theirs out.  I will let mine go into Fall and I'll hope to harvest more then.  I will probably have to prune a bunch.  This is how they look now:

That's a little over 7' at the tallest.  

On to something else.  This should give you something to think about.  I think the writer hits it out of the park.  Please take a little time to read this article in the American Spectator by Melissa McCarthy.  https://spectator.org/does-donald-trump-have-jeffrey-epstein-client-list/

Happy Trails

The Wild Life

Actually just wildlife.  We have an abundance of wildlife in our neighborhood.  There are Whitetail Deer, Gray Fox, Raccoons, Ringtail Cats, Possums, Coyotes and numerous birds including birds of prey, Great Owls, various hawks.  These are the ones that I have actually seen.  Others here have taken and posted photos of Bobcats, Mountain Lions and porcupines.  Sorry no Chupacabras yet.  Oh and at least one wild Turkey many years ago in my back yard, beautiful.  

We live next to the Camp Bullis military facility.  It is huge and has many acres of undeveloped land that harbor a lot of this wildlife.  I am not sure how they get through that fence though.  

Deer are the most dense.  We could do without a few hundred and you most likely wouldn't see much of a difference.  As beautiful and fun to watch as they are they do present their own problems.  They will eat everything you have growing.  If you want a lush yard with lots of shrubs and flowers it will be a battle.  The deer will win.  Even the deer proof stuff gets eaten during years like this.  Then you feel sorry for them so you feed them 'deer' corn.  FYI, deer corn is just corn.  It's not formulated especially for deer.  They love it, yes.  But it is basically just candy to them.  It attracts them and you get to see them and feel good about helping the deer when they are hungry because, 'well gee, they were here first'.  Well guess what, you aren't helping them at all.  They get no nutritional value from corn.  You also make them less fearful of humans.  This is dangerous for the deer.  You'll have to think bout that, I won't spell that out for you here.  They also leave us a lot of presents in the yard.  You can't walk around out there watthour stepping in it if you're not careful.  With the yard as dead as it is now, it really shows up.  Taller grass at least hides it.  Luckily there is no smell most of the time.  Sometimes it's not so great.

This morning I found this little one, just born last night or this morning.  Can barely walk yet.  Don't ask how I know.

We have also had some issues with hawks in the trees in our yard.  They perch there and wait.  The feathers of their victims are there for us to see.  There were at least 3 running together when I saw them first.  Probably an adult and two young ones.  One was huge.  So we have to go outside with the dogs so they don't become a quick easy meal every time they want out.  I have no doubt that the big hawk could carry off Abby at 12 lbs.  Maybe not but I'm not ready to live with the idea she got eaten by anything.

Abby trying to boss me around:

Abby not happy I am trying to ignore her

Then there is the family of foxes I have seen the last month.  They have been seen playing in the front yard.  They are probably the ones marking the top rail of the fence with their scat.  Probably at taunt to the dogs barking at them.

Sorry no hawk photos they are too keen of eyesight for me to get close enough.

This is getting long so I will stop today.

Happy Trails

Lot of Things Running Through My Noggin

We have been cleaning house all morning.  We had been slacking lately and there were dog fur balls every where.  We could have made another dog.  Still have some to do but lunch slowed everything down.  Not sure what the rest of the day will hold for us.

As for the dogs, they have gotten to the point they really like each other and will play quite a bit.  Abby holds her own for the most part but is smaller, not as fast nor strong enough to hold off Snickers.  She will finally get enough and hide out if not jump in our laps.  She is feeling confident enough with us she tries to boss my around lol.  We took her to the groomer last week.  It wasn't near as expensive as I thought it might be for such a little furball.  So we will try to make it a regular thing.  They remove a lot of the undercoat on her (she is a double coated dog) and that helps keep the shedding down.  

My mother will have an arteriogram tomorrow.  She has been having some weird things happen with her hands and finger.  They turn blue.  The doctor is concerned but no real diagnosis yet.  He did mention one thing that was concerning.  Mom didn't hear him and we are glad for that.  We don't want her to have any additional concerns until there is something to be concerned about.  Her anxiety might really increase with that info.  We will just wait for the results.

I am very confused by this fight inflation bill the dems are pushing through.  (I'm not really)  How does spending more money you don't have fight inflation?  All they say is, it will but can't explain it.  There is a lot of pork in there too, a huge portion of it going to green energy.  If green energy is so great, why can't it support itself?  I have no issue having it supplement our energy grid but if you have to fund it to keep it going and especially at the expense of the rest of the 'reliable' grid it's just insanity.  Obviously legislators have their hand in someone's pocket.  Yes, I'm looking at you Manchin.  But he's not the only one, there are a lot of local and state legislators that do it too.  Yes, this is a very simple view of it.  I am aware it gets much more complicated but only in a bad way.  You and I are paying the price.  

'K' is telling me she thinks we need a generator.  I don't know if she has thought it out at all or any details.  We discussed it a while back.  I have never used a generator or ever really been around them other than seeing a few construction guys using them to power saws etc.  I've learned a little about the conventional generator versus an invertor generator.  But still am pretty ignorant about them.  I do have some friends that have gotten either a whole house generator or have a potable one that can be used to power most thing in their house.  Thanks to some of y'all I know about the dual or tri fuel ones that are available.  Ugh.  I keep putting it off.  I may regret this.

Happy Trails

Blood Work Results

Finally got blood work results from my recent doc visits.  First off, no detectable cancer.  Always glad to hear that.  This makes the eight year since finding my cancer.  The Urologist says 2 more years of monitoring.  That will be great, one less doctor appointment.  He also moved me out to one a year instead of every 6 months for checks.  I am certainly blessed.  

As for the regular doctor visit.  My diabetes blood work wasn't near as good as I wanted it.  The last 6 months I have struggled with blood sugar numbers.  It's been worse since COVID.  From way too low to way to high.  For those that know what A1C is, my latest was 6.4.  The doctor was very happy with that.  Me, not so much.  I was 5.9 last time.  That's a significant change.  The doc doesn't like it below 6.0.  To much risk of low blood sugar which can be fatal.  I watch it pretty close and can detect the signs and make adjustments.  My preference is to be below 6.0 due to my diabetic neuropathy.  It keeps it at bay.  With the bouts I have had with it, I would rather take a low blood sugar risk than live with neuropathy 24/7.  The lower my A1C is the less I feel it.  But I have to keep it there for a period of time to notice any effects lessening.

K and I are headed out for drive, despite gas prices.  No idea where to, just get in and go and see where we wind up.  It won't be long, maybe a couple hours.  We just need to get out.

Happy Trails