8-18-17 - Donuts and Clear Skies

Old Cowgirl

Old Cowgirl

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Well, clear skies for a little while. When I got up at five (woke up at 4:00) the sky was clear. I went out on the deck for a few minutes and gazed upon a beautiful moon sliver and a bright star to the left of it, both in the lower eastern sky. Shortly, the moon became fuzzy with clouds and I saw lightning in the very far distance to the north. Yesterday it showed all of our rain to be gone beginning today but now we're back to the small chances off and on.

From last night's posts, I hope Squirrel made it through the storms without any problems.

Noel, what a relief to finally get your tires. Their neglect with the e-mail is inexcusable but at least you got a discount.

Robin, that woodpecker is a little stinker! My sister used to have other birds getting her hummingbird nectar but I've never had that happen.

Yesterday I saw one hummer briefly. Only one I've seen in a while.

Have a good day all. I have to get some breakfast NOW!
 
Good morning. We are still overcast here, but not as bad as yesterday. Our high yesterday was 68*......by Sunday, they say it will be 84! LOL. Don't know if we will see the sun at all, unless this all clears up.

Hummers are truly in a feeding frenzy, and yes, I am guessing they will begin wending their way south, soon. Usually up here, it is by Labor Day, they are done. Once or twice, we had one or two hang around til mid/late Sept. but heard that is bad for them, to take down the feeders, which encourages them to move on. LOL. But majority just suddenly are gone. Weird.

Woodpeckers attack trees all the time. Used to have a big ol owl sit outside the window here, did a good job on any mice or other little varmits that would show up. But, no idea where he went, but long gone.
 
Friday!!! :)

Good Morning. As I watch the sun rise it is lovely outside here. The blue heavens streaked with gold, amber and a slight rosy glow. Birds are beginning to bath, chirp and sing. Hopefully I will fall back asleep in a few minutes.

Yes, it is a relief to have 4 new tires finally on my car. And I think Walmart should have given me a higher discount, but I fought for what I got and will definitely take it!

Sorta just gonna do light errands today before the weekend officially begins this evening [at our home]. We are back to 109F projections the coming week, so much outdoor yard work needs to be completed this weekend. I am mentally dreaming of many trips northward into the cooler, drier, and green forests!!

OC: your morning description of pre-dawn was beautiful. Hope your day matches your morning.

Poirot: Gotta love owls: majestic, quiet, and huge bug eaters! Enjoy the last of your hummies before they take flight for warmer climes. I also hope your Friday is a relaxing one.

Take care everyone. I will try to check in through errands - and later - with each of you. Let's make this coming weekend a fun one!:clap:
 
Good Morning Everyone,

We had a great Girl Scout meeting last night. Took a mini hike along the river, but planned to take a normal hike at a local nature preserve for an upcoming meeting. We couldn't go too far as all the girls were wearing sandals and 1 was wearing a skirt. Each girl also picked an ingredient to bring to make some trail mix, from a list of things they suggested. It's going to be a little weird, but I think it should be pretty good. We'll have granola, sunflower seeds, craisins, banana chips, M&M's and beef jerky. We have a girl in the troop who's allergic to nuts, that's why we don't have peanuts in the mix.

Noel - so very happy for you that you finally got your tires replaced.

RS - I hope you're safe and able to check in soon.

OC - what a beautiful way to start the day. Wish I had a nice deck to sit on in the morning.

Poirot - hope you get some sunshine today. It's cloudy and blustery here too. Okay, that phrase makes me feel like I'm ready a Winnie the Pooh story.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
 
Manda, even a mini hike along a river sounds fun. Our river banks have such thick brushy growth, even Daniel Boone would have a hard time blazing a trail. The places where we can get through it to the water are limited. The girls' trail mix sounds pretty good. The beef jerky will add an interesting touch.

Poirot, I was surprised to see our low got down to 68* this morning. It would be chilly for a high this time of year. Enjoy your hummingbirds while you can. Sounds like it won't be for long.

Noel, I hope you were able to get that nap. That's what I'm wanting to do right now. Don't know if I can but I may try.
 
Morning all.

Such a busy day today. Mr. Gus has a hair appointment. Yes, I actually could do it, but for the moment, it isn't a financial drain so I pay someone to give him the haircut.

The "orb" did arrive yesterday and it is beautiful. I think my stepmother will be pleased.

TCSJR orb.jpg

Noel - enjoy your tires and hopefully a nap.

OC - I hope you have a good day and maybe a small nap.

Poirot - I can't imagine migrating hummingbirds. We have them all year, and thieving woodpeckers too.

Manda - amazing; we are going to have a hike today and the kids wear sandals. Oh well, it worked out, and sounded like fun. The trail mix does sound interesting.

Happy Friday.
 
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Robin - the orb is beautiful. I confess, that even Gena wore sandals, but I knew it was a short hike last night and we can't find her sneakers, so it was sandals or barefoot for her. We'll be buying new ones for school before we go on the long hike.

OC - We're blessed to have several trails that run along the river here in town and several lakes an streams nearby too, so hiking near water never seems to be an issue. However, the goose droppings make it a little bit of a challenge.

Side note, we have 1 sneaker, but 1 is missing since bagging everything up for the bed bugs. I know it's in a bag somewhere, it's just a matter of which black trash bag it ended up in. I'm so sick of living out of trash bags, but we want to make sure we're bug free before we get all the "rewashed" clean stuff put away, and wash the rest.
 
Hello everyone. I haven't received a call from GM yet, so I'm still waiting to see what can be done about my car. I believe I mentioned it had less than 40,000 miles on it. Not much less, but the service department claims they didn't even drive it. Now, the odometer is not working and stuck on 40,022 miles. Here's the funny thing. I've been going over everything and the statement I got when I picked up my car says "Miles In: 40022; Miles Out 40025." Heck, it is still reading 40,022 and I drove it home and to WalMart since Monday. What's with that?? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Old Cowgirl said:
I went out on the deck for a few minutes and gazed upon a beautiful moon sliver and a bright star to the left of it, both in the lower eastern sky.
Click to expand...

That is Venus next to the waning moon. The August 21st moon is a Black Moon. New moons are full, too, we just can't usually see them because they are directly in front of the sun. The eclipse will let us see the moon as black.

robinsnest said:
thieving woodpeckers
Click to expand...

:rotfl: Those sapsuckers!
 
I'm mad. My granddaughter has been attending Camp Dart Lo this week for Camp Fire Girls Day Camp. Wednesday they were to stay overnight and camp out under the stars. Ember wanted to do this but her mom thought age 6 too young. So she talked to the counselors and was promised if Ember wanted to come home she could call, no problem.

So yesterday, my daughter went to pick her up at 4:30 and asked Em why she was in the clothes she wore Tuesday. She told her in front of the counselors "all my clothes and jammies were missing from my backpack". The counselors had no answers Em then told her they were made to go swimming at 8:30, so when she went to bed under the stars, her hair was wet and she had nothing to sleep in.

My daughter had brought a thick blanket to go with the sleeping bag but she was not allowed to use it. Ember only weighs 32 pounds and has no meat on her at all. She told her mom in front of the counselors she was freezing and crying and they told me to suck it up and she wasn't going to call her mommy.

My daughter talked to the head of the camp and she offered to return her $225.00. Nicolle said I'm not concerned about the money, I want whoever is responsible to be held accountable. They said they were sorry.
 
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Wow, Shan, I'd be hopping mad too. Now when my son, a high school kid, went on a camping trip and packed a plate and a fork as eating utensils, being told to suck it up fit. He had a written list of stuff to bring and chose to KNOW more than the staff. But a wee 6 year old? That is cruel.
 
Summer time again. The sun is out and in the 80s. Feels warmer. I got my hair done this
morning so I will be doing beetle patrol only once today. I just came in after mowing part of
my yard. I wanted to get the gas out. I mowed longer than I thought I would. Looks
like a pop up storm may occur later.

Shan, sorry to hear about Ember's experience at the camp. I would have had them go to
each girl and empty out all their backpacks.

robin, the orb is beautiful.

manda, sounds like a good meeting with the mini hike. You have to let us know how the trail mix tastes.

kt, I hope you hear from GM soon. Maybe you should try social media :)

I hope everyone has a good rest of the day and evening.
 
OC - I hope you got your nap in. I love to watch a good lightning storm from my deck also.

Poirot - I can't get a hummer to come to my feeder to save my soul, but the woodpeckers are plentiful.

Noel I hope you also get a nap. So glad you finally got your tires.

Manda - sounds like the girls had a great time. I think today's kids do everything in sandals or flip flops.

Robin - your orb is gorgeous.

KT - The mileage tracking is funny but not. I used to swear our mechanic would take my Envoy for a trip when he had it until I finally remembered to take the mileage down. Sure enough, he was. Good luck. 40,000 miles is not much mileage.

JS - my daughter did put it on Facebook, which neither one us ever do, but this one deserved it. When they called back with the apology, she asked about the clothes. Seems they found them in the office.
 
Hi everyone. My vision is starting to slowly come back after my visit to the retinal specialist this morning. I still can't look at the screen for long, and I had to up the magnification to 300X.

The doc did not do the tomography (to see how deep the cancer is) because he discovered that my retina is now forming a capsule around the cancer to segregate it. (This is rare, but good.) He didn't want to disturb the process by inserting the needle with the dye. I go back in February for another exam to see if the capsule worked. If not, he will do the tomography in preparation for sending me to Pittsburgh to have a retinal oncologist implant radiation seeds. He echoed my eye doctor that I'm very lucky that this has not affected my vision. Well, that's a no brainer. :rolleyes:

robinsnest - the orb is beautiful! Are part of your Dad's ashes incorporated in the glass or inside of it?

Shanrick - What a horrible thing for them to do to Ember. This is bullying! Yep, done by older "counselors" for their own pleasure. Make sure that all parents know by continuing to following up on social media. Demand a public disclosure and firing of those responsible. Even if volunteers, they need to never be allowed to work or attend this or any other camp again. In Pennsylvania, that is a mandatory reportable offense for child abuse .
 
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Oh my goodness, Squirrel, I had no idea you were dealing with cancer in your eye! I figured you had a hemorrhage or tear on the retina. This strikes a chord with me. My dad had cancer in his eye when he was in his 60s or maybe around 70, I forget now. I don't know if it was the same kind as yours. They called it "ocular lymphoma." We took him for radiation treatments for weeks. It sounds hopeful that yours has formed the capsule. The human body does some remarkable things to try to protect itself. I pray you will have a good outcome with all of this.

Shan, it just breaks ones heart to see a beloved little one mistreated. It is sad hearing about it when we don't even know them personally. I'm so sorry about all that happened to Ember, when the whole point of such an outing was supposed to be a good time. This brings back memories of when my son broke his wrist in school early in the day in 3rd grade and they didn't even let us know about it. They kept him there all day and sent him on the long, bumpy bus ride home that afternoon. The minute he walked in the door his dad and I both knew it was broken. I've broken both my wrists and I know how much it hurts. What they did was inexcusable. In both Ember's case and ours, it's hard to believe people who are in charge of children's well being can be so neglectful or even nasty.

Kt, I was counting on you to tell me what I saw in the sky this morning. You'd think by now I'd remember but I probably never will. I seem to have a mental block about things like that. I guessed it was maybe Venus or Mars but I always get them mixed up. Interesting about the black moon. I wish I had tried to get some glasses to watch the eclipse but I've seen them before so it isn't too important. It won't be a full one here anyway.

Kat, I wonder if there is any end to those awful beetles!

Robin, I hope Mr. Gus is satisfied with his new haircut. :)

Manda, trails along rivers and lakes sounds so beautiful to me. My friend in Michigan is always telling me about going places like that. Makes me wonder why I like it here so much, with our rough and rugged terrain. My kids wonder why I like it too. Too many things to battle. I guess it is just home to me.
 
Snow is pretty to look at, especially in rural areas, with pine trees, fields where no one walks, or rides a snowmobile, etc.

It is definitely not nice to walk in, drive in, shovel, deal with in drifts, slush, and all the nasty stuff that comes along.
 
Snow, to me, is beautiful anywhere and anytime!! Rain brings mud, floods and many people never complain about rain like snow. Snow is freshness, silent beauty, hydrating fauna and floral, and blanketing the earth in quietness. If, like my originating extended family, you think I am odd, then that is your opinion. I am used to it but have never changed. My soul never tires of snow or cold.
 
redsquirrel said:
robinsnest - the orb is beautiful! Are part of your Dad's ashes incorporated in the glass or inside of it?
Click to expand...

Yes, the "white" band is ash. And it's sort of mixed in with the blue a bit too. It is actually very cool to look at. Tomorrow I give it to my stepmom. I wanted to get it to her for their anniversary, 42 years on Sunday, so it will be a day early.

Old Cowgirl said:
Robin, I hope Mr. Gus is satisfied with his new haircut. :)
Click to expand...

I believe he does. He looks spiffy and is currently sound asleep in his bed by my desk. I've changed the direction of the fan to blow a bit on him to keep him cool. Not that he is pampered or anything.:rotfl:
 
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