The Beast went into a flurry of his idea of leaving a clean house today. It involves making sure the lawn is cut, edge and the area under the trees are all cleaned up. He also did all the glass doors AND the windows (inside and out) on the car. What did I do to help in this? Well, I always keep the guest room clean and I have already dusted and cleaned up the glass on the end and coffee tables, plus the glass in both bathrooms. I did the floors on Friday so all I have to do is dust mop it tomorrow. My contribution today was weeding my garden.

It needed doing because I have been remiss on that. I attacked it full force until I actually had my nails interfering and had to come into the house to cut them off. I talked to Bratfink for a bit after doing that and then headed out to finish up the job. When I finally got it done, I was shocked at the stack of weeds that I had pulled and thrown over to one side of the barn area. I came in and told the Beast to just leave it where it was and it will rot. Then, when we rototill the garden area this fall, it will all help loosen up the soil a bit. That damn clay is a real pain in the ass. I confess I didn't weed the entire area because I didn't use up the whole area for my garden. I told the Beast it was a waste of time and effort on my part since it wasn't needed. He could go into that area with the weed eater and do it in about 15 seconds, whereas it would take me hours.

I started checking out the fridge to see what needed throwing out. I wanted to get everything in order so I don't come back to something moving or growling at me when we get home. I pulled out the ham so we could finish cutting it up. I saved some for sandwiches and for breakfast and froze the rest up in small packets to be used in bean soups. It was a 9.5 lb ham so I have a lot of packets. I took the bone and made some split pea soup out of it since I figure we can take some with us. The inn has microwaves in the rooms. It turned out great so eat your hearts out!

Tomorrow will be a busy day because I have to pack, run up to Walmart to pick up a few things for the trip and for the *hikes* to the various falls. And then there's the dog food, of course. I keep jotting things down to make sure we don't forget them. It's so easy to do when there are things you can't pack until the last minute. *sigh*

Well, it's late and I must get my butt to bed. Love you all. Hope you have a wonderful day with the kind of weather you desire most. Here's the thought for the day: You should dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you dream of, and want to do.

The Princess dropped off Chewlee early this morning (Saturday) and Chewlee was obviously glad to see me and in need of some loving. She climbed in my lap and leaned back after grabbing my wrists and putting my arms around her. I turned on the SpongeBob Squarepants Marathon for her because she just loves it. Other than asking for some snacks (she is learning more and more words that I can understand now since she is in day care), she was pretty calm and undemanding. I have been working on teaching her *Pattycake* and we had fun with that. She's beginning to get the hang of it but I added tickles at the end and she giggled and laughed and wanted to do it over again......and again....and again. I guess I am a glutton for punishment.

Johnnycakes got here around 6pm to pick her up. He had been working on replacing his starter on his vehicle. He was laughing as he told me that he managed to turn a half hour job into a three day ordeal. I really like that guy. The baby was happy to see him but also a little torn at leaving me.

The Beast was on his computer looking up something for Johnnycakes (I thought) but it turns out that Johnnycakes was telling the Beast about another waterfall that we could visit by taking a short detour off our route to Tennessee. It turns out that it was one we had thought about going to several weeks ago but ended up going to another falls in the opposite direction. In fact, that was the falls where Baron fell into the river and almost drowned. We still don't know if he can swim or not. We had always thought that swimming came natural to dogs but it turns out that it isn't true. He's been in the water since but only up to his chest. He's very cautious when it comes to water these days but at least he isn't avoiding it.

The Beast showed me the falls site online and it looks very interesting. It's also not far off the road and the park it's in is very developed so it really shouldn't be a bad trip. We will have some time to kill since we can't check into our room at the inn in Tennessee until about 3pm or later. It all depends on whether or not it's been cleaned when we get there. They guarantee that it will absolutely be ready by 4:30pm. We figure we can visit the falls here in Alabama on our way and visit the state park before we check in so that we at least have an idea of what and where it all is located. The Beast can be fussy about the time of day he takes a picture so it might mean that we will go back to take a picture or two at a particular time of day on Wednesday.

Tomorrow I have to try and find the plastic container for the dry dog food that I usually send along with the Beast. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen it in a while and I have a feeling it's been left behind on his last trip. That would make two containers that his brother now has and another thing I have to pick up at Walmart when I run up to pick up a few things.

Thursday we will be heading to Gatlinburg and we have a list of motels right on the main drag (441) that allow pets. The one thing we have learned is to look before we just arbitrarily pick one out and make reservations. It shouldn't be too hard to find one with a vacancy during the week and we will only need it for one night anyway. We want to be GONE before the weekend people start checking in. We learned that the hard way when we went to that area last year. Even the traffic becomes unbearable. Dollywood is the big attraction in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area and it's getting down to the wire for the kids to go back to school. A lot of parents and grandparents are taking the weekends and heading for the area as their treat for the kids. Dollywood is for the young and the young-at-heart. The rides are really neat and there are a lot of water rides to help keep you cool. For the rest of us, there are some really neat and unique shops to spend the day browsing through. Oh, and the food is interesting and good. The funnel cakes are wonderful and the Creamery ice cream shop is incredible. If you should go, be sure and spend some time watching the glass blower. He demonstrates his trade and creates several different things at various times during the day. I watched him make some absolutely gorgeous wine glasses that were special ordered by a customer. Breathtaking! The whole process was very interesting to watch.

I read a letter today that was written earlier this month by a Latin American writer that I am not familiar with but a friend is a fan and sent it to me. It seems he is retiring from writing due to lymphatic cancer. The letter was a kind of farewell to his friends and fans. I found a part of it that says something I really believe. He tells in his letter all the things that he has learned in life and the things he has discovered that he wants to pass along to those he is leaving behind. It will be my *thought for the day*. The writer's name is Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

"Keep always close to you, your dear ones, and tell them how much you need them and love and take care of them. Take time to say, "I am sorry", "forgive me", "please", "thank you" and all the nice and lovely words you know."

I love you all. Thank you for reading this poor blog of mine.

As soon as I reminded the Beast that he had his appointment with the skin doctor on Monday, he decided that Tuesday would be a good day to set off on our *adventure*. That meant making reservations at Fall Creek Falls Inn at the state park. Their website showed a special summer price that I was told expired on July 2nd and wouldn't start up again until August 2nd. I argued that it didn't show that anywhere on their banner and it ended up my sending them the link to the web page (when they typed it in, it kept saying page unavailable they said). It turned out that you were supposed to click on the banner and it brought you to another site with all the state parks offering the *summer special* AND the dates that it applied. I informed them that they should add a notation that says to click for dates and the day manager told me she would definitely bring that up to the web page supervisor for the state park.

Anyway, we did get a deal over the normal price and made our reservations for Tuesday and Wednesday. After that, we are heading to Gatlinburg for a day or two, depending on what we feel like by then. I know I want to do some shopping at some of the cute stores there that we saw when we were there last. By the time we got there, I was more hungry than curious and then anxious to get back to our cabin before dark. I only got to window shop on the way to the TGI Friday's restaurant where we ate. This time I WILL get to go inside and look around.

We also plan on taking the skyway ride they have because so many people have said it's spectacular. You have a choice, too. You can go one one that looks like a cable car or one that is made for two to four people (I think) that isn't as enclosed. Neither the Beast nor I suffer from a fear of heights (or at least we didn't before we got to be old people..) and it would make it easier to take some pictures if we aren't all closed in. The Beast is curious to see if it goes over some falls like we heard it does and, if so, how to find them. I think they are just off the loop that runs around the area and along the edge of the mountain that goes between the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge area. I am sure the Beast will be online doing his research to see if he can locate it.

Like anything the Beast is interested in, he becomes obsessed and starts researching/reading/watching/doing until he can drive a sane person over the edge. I am, of course, his sounding board and he has to tell me or show me everything. He expects me to find it all just as interesting as he does at the time. I don't even try. I usually just keep on doing what I am doing. He will often follow me around, talking the whole time, while I am doing other things. If I am playing on Pogo, I keep playing whatever game it is and grunt from time-to-time. I find that it's better to do that than to say something like *Booooorrrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg!!!* because that just ticks him off and he becomes a bear.

On occasion, he actually does say something that interests me or has something interesting to show me so the effort is NOT all in vain. But, I am looking forward to this upcoming adventure of ours. The falls area is handicapped accessible and the path is paved all the way to the overlook. It may not be a *wild* adventure but I am so past those these days. Give me whatever comforts there are, thank you very much!

I get Chewlee early in the morning so I will get this posted and get my end of the day cleanup done and the dishwasher started so it's done before I go to bed. I always worry about it leaking or something and no one being up or here when it happens. A goofy quirk, I know but there are worse ones. Funny that it doesn't bother me when it's the washer.

Love you all. Have a great day and I hope it's the weather that you are hoping you get. I know some of you need rain, others want sunshine instead. Me? I want sunshine because I have to weed the garden tomorrow so Chewlee will be having a good day out in the sunshine, too. I just hope Baron is up to it.

My thought for the day is this: It is true that we don't know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don't know what we have been missing until it arrives.

There are some days when the Beast doesn't get a lot of email from his email buddies (yes, he does have them ) and there's not enough news that interests him. On those days, he starts Google-ing. Today he started checking out other state parks in Tennessee and one site caught his eye that he went to check out. I forget which one it was but....it had an interesting statement it made AND a link. It said, *Click here for link to enter GPS coordinates into your Garmin. It specifically said *Garmin* and that is what caught his eye.

So, of course, he clicked on it and what did he find but a site that actually gave you the GPS coordinates for every state (and I think National) Park in the USA by state. I know! I was surprised, too. So the Beast explored the Garmin to find out how to enter the coordinates (and he found it) and he could actually enter the coordinates for the specific falls that he was interested in taking pictures of on our upcoming trip.

Of course, I could foresee problems with this because we do NOT have a four-wheel vehicle and I could see us bouncing all over the car seat while it guided us to the falls through the various forests. However, it DID say that it would take us to the nearest embarking point and then the actual trails to the falls. *Phew* The good part about it is that it will be able to tell us how long a walk from where you park to the actual falls so we can make a decision on whether or not we want to make that trip.

The checks we were were waiting for arrived today and the Beast ran down immediately to deposit one in our checking account and the other in savings. That is our *seed fund* for the trip next week which will probably take place on Tuesday since the Beast must see his skin doctor on Monday. That means that *I* will be packing us up while he is gone and we will be going to bed early on Monday most likely so we can leave early. Even though the state park isn't all that far from us and should only take us about 2-1/2 hours, I know the Beast. He's always eager to go and start his *adventure*. I told him he'd better get the darn backpack for the dog since we were taking him with us so he could be useful. I refuse to carry the Beast's camera equipment but I do feel sorry for him when he's carrying it. At least the dog could carry the tripod (very compact) and some water for us at the very least.

I just hope the doctor doesn't do too much *burning* of the Beast's skin cancers this time. He really needs to space it out a bit more. Personally, I think this dermatologist is a bit on the brutal side but he was the only one that would take on a new patient in less than four months when the Beast really needed to see one after we moved from Florida. I think I know why he had room for another patient but that's neither here nor there now.

Today we had the terrible *3's*...heat, humidity and rain so it was AC on all day long. I really hate that because it makes me feel a bit claustrophobic when the Beast closes the front and back doors. It cuts down the light even more than the rain clouds. I'm more of a sun person so the rain is depressing enough. Don't you just hate those days when you need to turn on your lights inside the house to do chores?

It's that time of night for me and I want to get this posted for those of you that are reading it shortly after it posts every night (and thank you for that!). Love you all and I wish you a wonderful, bright and sunny day and a few laughs. Be sure to expose your teeth to the sun since it's good for you. I also understand that it's good for the facial muscles, too, and I am all about being good to THEM (even though it's a little late for me...LOL).

The thought for today is: The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.

We had our morning coffee out on the deck this morning and started talking about our trip to some state park near Chattanooga that we plan on taking some time during the next week or two. This brought up the fact that we could actually take Baron with us into a state park but couldn't at the National park that we also want to visit.

Originally, this wouldn't even have come under discussion because we had planned on leaving the dog at the vet's for the two days we planned to be gone. Once we found the National park that we wanted to see and found out how close it was to the state park, we kind of changed our plans. Add the fact that the vet is having her doggy *park* area re-done (which means the dogs are confined to their individual kennels except while being walked) and even *I* can't be that cruel to Baron.

We found the main lodge at the state park will take dogs for just $10 a night extra so all we were concerned about was what to do with Baron the day we planned on spending at the National park. So the Beast decides to test his Google skills and actually finds a *doggy day care* near the state park and just a few miles from the lodge. I kid you not! The name of the place....get this...is *Puppy Le Paw*. What's cute is, with their accents, when you call the number, it sounds like they are saying *Pepe le Pew*. ROFLMAO!!!!!

It's definitely cheap enough ($10 for up to 10 hours plus you supply their food but that is to avoid any *digestive* discomforts during travel) and you can drop them off as early as 6am. Although why anyone would want to be up that early while vacationing is beyond me. They have a kennel that is in air conditioning and a doggy door to the outside run. The run is covered over so the dogs are protected from both sun and rain. If they don't have a lot of dogs, they often let the dogs just run around the shop but I doubt they would allow Baron to do that. Especially since he hasn't *quite* gotten over jumping up on people in excitement. He's large enough to cause an injury albeit in complete innocence. I will certainly warn them against that even though he would love it.

We will be going during the week since the kids are still out of school and we found that these places tend to be very packed on weekends. Plus, I DO have to babysit Chewlee on every Saturday this month since her day care does not have Saturday hours and the Princess is scheduled to work. She gets her schedule for a whole month at a time so we can plan these things out ahead of time.

We had to wait for a bit to take the trip because we put out a lot more money this month than we had planned. There's this bill called Homeowners Insurance that we forgot was due this month. We actually thought it was due NEXT month since that was when we had closed on the house (we thought) but it turns out the house we are selling to our niece closed then so we ended up paying for both insurance bills this month. *sigh* I am now keeping a list tacked up over our bill box that lists the months our truck, auto and house insurance bills need to be paid. It just makes it so much easier. We are still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that our spendable income just isn't what it used to be since we retired. I guess everyone has the same problems and it could be worse. Some people don't even get as much as we do.

Nothing exciting happened here today. It was just the normal, run of the mill type day that we all have. We are supposed to be having some thunderstorms and high winds here tonight but it's another 50/50 chance so flip a coin and we shall see what we shall see. I'm planning an early bedtime since I slept awful last night and woke up early when the dog actually turned over and fell off our bed. He had to sneak up on the side of me and was stretched out. When he went to turn over in his sleep, he plopped down to the floor and made a hell of a noise. I got up to make sure he hadn't really hurt himself (it sounded THAT bad) but he shook himself and went to the couch to curl up for the rest of the night.

Love you all. Have a great day and try to laugh a little today. It's good for the soul and what ails you. Smile often; it's good for the facial muscles.

Here's today's thought to ponder: The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can't go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures and heartaches.

It's funny but I really don't know if you could call our little area a true subdivision the way you think of it. There is no builder that owns the lots and is offering different size homes and floor plans. A father and son developed this area, divided up the land into lots, got it all approved by the county, built the *circle* and paved it and then put the lots up for sale. So far, for the 7 homes built here along our circle, there have been four different builders. The three homes built by one of them are easily identified due to their similarity. Unfortunately, ours is one of them. It seems the only reason WE got it brand new without having to buy land and then find a builder is because the person that ordered the house built ended up not being able to qualify for the loan needed. *sigh*

If we had ordered the house built (and knew we would end up living here full time), we would have gotten one a bit larger and with a full porch/deck around at least three sides of the house. But what did we know at the time? It was there and we bought it.

When all the heavy equipment was dropped off here the other day, we expected that they were here to mow the remaining lots (which is quite a bit of area). Some of the equipment actually DID mow the grasses but others went to three other lots to begin digging and leveling. Two lots have the drain fields dug out and are waiting for the septic tank and drain lines to be installed. The third lot has quite a bit more done.

The lines are up outlining the outside of the house and the bricks were delivered that will form the crawl space. The driveway is delineated and scraped. It should provide some interesting entertainment for us in the coming weeks.

It is going to be strange to have three new neighbors all at once. It kind of makes me feel like we are getting a bit too crowded. I'm grateful that we own the lot next to us. I really don't like homes that are crowded in together like you find in most cities. I know some of them are beautiful (and I spent my vacation at my sister-in-law's beautiful home in an upper class subdivision) but they are very close together. At least here the lots are large enough that we will not have that feeling that you can sneeze and your next door neighbor will be saying *God bless you!*

We have discussed building another house on our lot next door once Tara obtains a normal mortgage but that is still a couple years in the future. We also have talked about looking for a small cabin near a state park somewhere in the Smokies. We could manage something like that by using our IRA's and our stocks. It would require a small mortgage, more than likely since we wouldn't want to use up all our savings but that is only if we found something before Tara pays off the loan to us. I am opting for building a house on our lot next door since we could actually build the house we REALLY want and rent out or sell this one. Renting it out (as long as we are next door) would probably be the smartest thing but that is for the future. Who knows what THAT holds for us?

My only problem with the way the Beast wants to build a house is that HE wants US to do the finish work inside the house. I know!!! What the hell is he thinking at our age and our endurance. We just are not young people any more. We WOULD have some help from both Johnnycakes (who used to work on new houses and installed flooring) and a neighbor/friend that is a cabinet maker. His work is beautiful but we really haven't asked about his prices....LOL.

Bratfink was complaining that the Beast is always taking pictures of things that nobody sees so today I made the Beast send her some of them. People DO see them and, in fact, both my niece and granddaughter have some of his finished products hanging in their homes. What SHE meant was that SHE never gets to see them. Well, now she can't say that any more. She now has some of his pictures of the waterfalls here in Alabama that the Beast has taken. She said she was surprised at how beautiful it was in Alabama. It's what I was trying to tell her and others. It really IS a beautiful state.

Time to get this posted. Love you all. I hope your day is all you could wish for or at least is not too bad if you get some of the rain and winds expected in some areas. Don't forget if you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.

The thought for today is: You should dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you dream of, and want to do.

The weatherman had been predicting thunderstorms on Sunday and on the nightly news, it showed the storms had pretty much passed us by. So I want to know......WHERE IN THE HELL DID THE STORM COME FROM THAT WOKE ME UP OUT OF A SOUND SLEEP?

It's those sudden storms that come out of nowhere that are often the most severe. This one was laden with lightning and high winds. It also seems to have had a hidden tornado or two. The tornadoes did not hit nearby, thankfully, but it did damage some homes further north. It seems the lightning was the most dangerous thing about this storm front as well as the wind. It was truly noisy and frightening to the people who were not expecting it (like me!). When it finally passed, wouldn't you know that we would suddenly lose power. I was grateful that it only lasted a little over an hour because the crews were out and many of the affected areas were known. It was downed trees that caused it. I have to say that our crews here are really FAST in restoring power.

We were lucky and had no damage here from the winds. We did, however, have the back of our house just plastered with maple tree leaves! I know! It was almost funny. I noticed the leaves all over the deck first when I walked outside to get better reception on my cell phone. When I sat down, I glanced over and was just stunned to see the leaves. It was funny because we don't have any maple trees close to the house. They are several hundred feet away! But it was just as funny to watch them slowly peel themselves off the house and gently glide down to the ground. By the time my talking with Buttmunch was over, there only a few left.

I did get the guest room cleaned up but still haven't remade the bed. I figure I will do that tomorrow. I'm getting as bad as the Beast in thinking *one thing accomplished per day* is not such a bad goal to have. That was partly due to my having to go up to *Cheap Mart* (as Bratfink calls it) to do some much needed shopping. I really hate shopping these days just because it seems everything went up in price when gas went over $3. a gallon and none of it came down in price when it got cheaper. I love coffee but I buy a stronger blend so I use less of it due to the price of it these days. It helps to stretch the shopping dollar a bit. I am doing more and more food stretching things these days and liking it less and less. It does make me shop less often until I am almost out of food to prepare.

The Beast's *job of the day* was spraying his trees for pests. The Japanese beetles are out in great numbers and I have no clue what other pests are there but today was the end of the line for them. Once that was accomplished, he went online to play Hearts on Pogo. He had a good time cussing and swearing at the stupidity of the people playing the game who have no clue how to properly play it on Pogo. It's just a wee bit different than normal and they are just clueless. He returns to try to find new players every day so he must be having some fun since he hasn't stopped playing the game.

That was my Monday. Tonight they say some small (30%) chance of scattered showers but nothing like last night's/this mornings storm. Thank goodness. I'm really tired and need some more sleep. Naps only help a little but at least I didn't have the dog slowly creeping up and pushing me aside. He's been sleeping on his mat on the floor when we first go to bed. Once we are sound asleep, he creeps up on the bed and starts taking it over....and I mean that literally.

Have a great day today. May no storms darken your day. Love you all and wish you only the best of times. Condolences to a friend that lost his mother since I understand how painful that can be. Even after almost 24 years, I still miss her and feel sad that she never got to see her great-grandchildren and this great-granddaughter that I so love and enjoy. You move on but you never forget.

The thought for today is: There are moments in life when you miss someone -- a parent, a spouse, a friend, a child -- so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real, so that once they are around you appreciate them more.

Peace reigned at Brat Farm today. No phone calls early in the morning. No TV sounds even though the Beast got up a couple hours before I did. Even the dog slept in and wasn't in need of an early morning bathroom call. When I got up, I poured my coffee and went outside to enjoy the sound of the birds and watched the hummingbirds zipping around the back yard and the feeders.

I did very little and just relaxed. I ate when I felt like it, napped when I felt like it and even the Beast did very little since it looked like rain early in the day. The weatherman said storms in the afternoon so he had no plans on taking out the boat, either. That's what we told the Princess when she called in inquire about it. Somehow, even she didn't seem disappointed. I think she wanted a day to relax, too.

I played my games on Pogo. I chatted for a bit with Bratfink about this and that until SHE went to take her nap. I DID make dinner (Italian beef sandwiches) which was yummy and filling. I even made a peach cobbler (Mrs. Smith's) that the Beast had brought home. It was a bit disappointing but you can't expect it to be as good as homemade. I'm partial to my own.

I showered and changed out of one pair of jammies to jump into another pair. It was a totally self-indulgent day from my standpoint but what the heck. Don't we all need to do that from time-to-time? I even made myself a drink and sipped it slowly to savor the flavor since I don't drink much these days. I brought home a bottle of vodka and some mudslide from the reunion (I bought them from Bratfink's cheap liquor store...and it was cheaper than I would pay for it here in Alabama). I still have most of both of them. It was THAT good a day....LOL.

The Beast DID go out and mow the backyard and most of the front. He was trying to beat the rain and he managed to do that. He couldn't have done it without his trusty John Deere. He always, always has to accomplish SOMETHING every day or he feels he is showing his age and health. I don't argue with him or try to persuade him not to do something except spending money. And we all know how successful I am on THAT.

The only thing close to excitement here was when the next door neighbor came over to chat about her newly expanded deck that her dad and boyfriend did during the week. I guess they have decided that they will keep the house since it hasn't attracted any buyers. I'm not surprised because there was nothing really done to the house and they had it priced up too high from my point of view. Especially in THIS market. Most of the homes here didn't get into the inflated prices of other areas of the country so it hasn't suffered as much as far as movement. But the agents all know when a house is over-priced and don't bother to show it to customers. You don't waste their time or yours.

It's late now and I am heading for bed. Love you all. Have a great day. Tomorrow (or today to you) it's back to the old grind. I have clothes to wash, a guest room to strip and re-do, etc., etc. Even though one retires, you never retire from EVERYTHING..

Here's the thought for today: Happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt, all those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of all the people who have touched their lives.

The girls were excited when they got up this morning. This is the very longest Taytay has been away from home and she was glad to be heading back there. I think a lot of it was because we didn't spoil her by letting her leave her stuff all over and clean up after her. She was finally starting to get better about it when it was time for her to leave...doesn't that just figure?

I sent the anti-nausea medication home with the girls since they are the ones that need it. It would just get old and have to be thrown out here. My son, Markus, showed up about 11:30am (earlier than expected). I made some lunch up (he told me NOT to make a big lunch) so I made some *hamburger garbage* up that we eat with pita bread. It's been a favorite with my kids and grandkids and is easy and quick. It's just browned hamburger meat, green pepper and onions (I sometimes throw in fresh cut mushrooms). I warm and cut pita bread in half and fill. The kids add stuff at times like grated cheese, taco sauce, even ketchup or mustard. One daughter liked to add chopped fresh tomatoes. I sometimes throw in some jalapenos or chopped green chilies. It's very versatile but is good just the way it is with some salt and pepper.

I made up 4# of hamburger and I think there might be enough left for just one more pita half. I guess it tasted pretty good to everyone since their mother makes a LOT of meatless meals since she is a vegetarian. My son is a definite carnivore and will make meals himself so that he can get his meat intake. He is, however, thinking about doing more vegetarian meals because of his weight gain. He's starting to realize he had better start taking care of himself NOW or suffer for it later.

That reminds me of an old joke. One man is at the drug store picking up all his prescriptions and he says to the pharmacist, *IF I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.* It's not that it's funny of itself, but it is so very true....LOL.

My granddaughter, Taytay, was looking at my prescriptions and asked me what they were all for. I told her and she said to me, *Wow, you have a lot of things wrong with you, don't you grandma?* I explained that three of the five that I take are only temporary but the other two I will have to take for a long time (my diabetes medication and the neuropathy medication). She came over, hugged me and patted my shoulder in a kid's sympathy and said, *I hope I don't have to take any when I get older. I don't like taking medications.* Out of the mouth of babes. I told her if she took good care of herself, she just might get lucky.

Shortly after my son, grandson and the girls left, the Princess got off work and picked up Chewlee. Chewlee had only been up from her late nap for about an hour and was outside with the Beast and I, playing some game with the dog that involved them running from the steps to the deck to the fence and back. It helps wear them out so who cares why they do it. They were having fun. As soon as she saw her mother, she was on the deck (she had been heading up the steps anyway) and giving us hugs and kisses and saying, *Bye-bye? Bye-bye?*

The house had been quiet after the girls left but it got REALLY quiet after Chewlee was gone. The Beast and I looked at each other and laughed then headed to lay down for a nap. We both needed one.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are supposed to be going out on the boat again with the Princess, Chewlee and Johnnycakes but we have a 50% chance of showers. If we don't get a chance then, we will be going out next weekend instead. Heck, we will probably do both if we can. Tara was hoping that she, her dad and brother could join us and, if they can, *I* am staying home. It's not that it will be any sacrifice on my part, it's that the boat can only hold so many. I can go out any time and I do so love my time alone at home.

Time to slide this down the intertubes and get it posted. Love you all and I hope you have a great Sunday. Take care and don't forget to smile.

My thought for today is: The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Today was the girls last day here at BratFarm and it started off normally. Then Tonto called to invite them to go fishing with him for a couple hours while he bombed the house for fleas. The girls were more than eager to go so they got ready and the Beast dropped them off around 11am.

Meantime, I took the opportunity to dust mop the Pergo floors and damp mop them again. It's so nice and easy to do when you don't have a man around to screw things up by walking on the wet floors because he *didn't notice*. I also started washing the girls stuff so that they wouldn't have any dirty clothes to pack up and take home. When I got to the drying part of that, my dryer refused to start up. Figures, doesn't it? I took the clothes out and laid them on the railings of the deck to dry so the Beast could work on the dryer and see if it was anything he could fix.

The Beast initially thought it was a bad motor from the sound of the dryer when you tried to turn it on. It was a kind of *humming* noise. I figured he was the expert on that and let him do his thing. He finally traced it down to a relay that is normally closed and opens once the drum starts up and the motor then builds up speed and is also responsible for the blower that dries the clothes inside the drum. Here was the problem: there was something like some lint, dirt or even hair that had gotten trapped in the relay and needed to be removed or blown out. It needed that to be done with the dryer running so the relay would be open. The Beast actually moved the drum by hand when I *started* it and then he blew it out with his compressor. It took two tries but it was finally accomplished. I now have my dryer back.

About the time he got that done, Tonto called to let me know they were back at his house. He also informed me that Taytay seems to have a magic touch when it comes to fishing. It seems like every time she cast out, she caught a fish. And she really can cast a line WAY out, too. She caught.......are you ready for this?.....a total of 14 fish, mostly bass. It included several big ones (keepers) that Tonto claimed as his own. (Is that why there is the term *Indian giver*?) I said, *Well, it's your rods and your bait*. Besides, the girls don't really eat fish. I know! It surprised me, too.

Tonto feels that Taytay needs to be encouraged in her fishing and even should enter some of the fishing competitions they have for kids. He feels she would be a shoo-in to win them. I just have no clue if they have those up in Tennessee. I know we have them here, locally, because of our lake. It's huge and they even have national competitions for adults here every year. I am talking BIG MONEY competitions. But they have savings bond competitions for the kids (and even some pre-paid Visa ones) as well as the normal trophy ones for them that are sponsored by local businesses.

Poor Tonto had only caught two and Pinky got one. Tonto complained that he was spending more time baiting the girls hooks than fishing and they would have to start baiting their own. I never DID find out if they managed that or not but Tonto was fine once he had all the fish that were of legal size to take home with him. Tara should be happy about that because she loves fish and they haven't had bass in a while. Tonto usually brings home catfish which they also love.

I found out that Pinky is going to be Brownie shortly after she returns home. I figure it will happen once her mother's back is better and before school starts on the 14th of August. I found that I really didn't notice the pink hair after a while because she is a nice kid and kind of fun to talk with. She loves her anime and hopes to be able to do something with it as an adult. She's just not sure WHAT but there is a college in Texas that has a great program for both that and acting (which she also loves). She will probably be in her school play again this year (her sophomore year). She thinks she understands why a lot of actors and actresses prefer plays on Broadway to movies. Especially since they don't always film them in continuity like the movie is shown.

Pinky packed up their backpacks tonight before they went to bed and kept out the clothes they will wear tomorrow. The hugs and kisses I got tonight from them is very different from the ones when they first came here to visit. It just shows that I was right in bringing them home with me on my way back from Chicago. We needed this time together to get acquainted again. I don't expect my son here until after noon. He will be able to visit us for a bit before heading home. I plan on a nice lunch for him and my grandson (as well as US, of course). It will probably be pork chops and mashed potatoes with gravy and some mixed veggies. It's something I know my son and grandson love.

The Princess stopped by for a bit with Chewlee to say goodbye to the girls since she works tomorrow. She might show up for lunch if the store isn't too busy but I am not counting on it. Johnnycakes will be dropping off the baby once she wakes up and he feeds her, I think. If not, she will be dropping her off early. She said she hadn't talked to Johnnycakes about it but I am figuring I will have her tomorrow (and every Saturday this month since day care isn't open and she had her schedule for the whole month). It seems everyone works on Fridays and Saturdays because it is the busiest two days of the week for them.

I am tired so I am going to post this and get ready for bed. I have some cleaning up of the mess the Beast made of the kitchen earlier today when he made his buttermilk pancakes. *sigh* Have a great day and I hope you have good weather, too. We are having a heat wave for the next few days. Love you all and I will close with this thought for the day:

It is true that we don't know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don't know what we have been missing until it arrives.