TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast and I actually got a lot of different things decided and taken care of today.  We decided that the Beast has gotten too old and too infirm to be doing some of the work we want done around here.  So, my room and the guest room are going to be getting new carpeting instead of laminate.  He’s just not capable of installing it without suffering for days and days afterward.  It’s not worth the pain it causes.

The Beast priced carpeting at Lowe’s.  He also was curious as to the variety they had (he wasn’t disappointed) so I will be going with him tomorrow to make choices and arrangements for the guest room to be done.  It will take 2-3 weeks for the carpeting to be delivered and installed and that works for us.  That room doesn’t need repainting but mine does.  I will be cleaning the humidity marks in the next couple of days and then we will start moving stuff out of here so the Beast can paint while I am gone.  I may even help him pull the carpeting up so it can be thrown away and save us over $100.  We can throw it in with Tara’s weekly trash pickup since they take everything and not just a special trash container.

We also decided to get a real pest control company in here to start taking care of our ant problem and the field mouse one that the Beast says we get in the garage.  I only thought that happened in winter but I guess not.  They are also going to treat the house property to prevent termites.  I’m not going to futz with that and what they use will be more effective.  I’ve been concerned about termites because of the fact that the crawlspace stays wet even during the hottest summer weather and there’s also an area underneath the deck that does, too.  The company pays for repairing any damages done by termites while they are treating it.  They inspected it today (no termites) and will start treating it on Thursday.  They have to notify the city that they are starting treatment due to the fact that they will be putting down whatever it is they use 14″ below the surface.  They will be treating the house for ants, spiders, wasps, etc. on either Monday or Tuesday.  I’m not sure which only because I let the Beast handle that part of it.  My mistake because his mind loses more information than it retains.  His memory seems to be getting more and more selective. 

I am a bit concerned because he will have to remember that Chewlee will be in HIS trust when I am gone.  I need to let the Princess know about that, too, so SHE remembers that.  Clearing out the rooms will allow us to throw away stuff that should have been thrown away years ago.  Also, the repainting in here will remove all traces of the cigarette smell especially with the added bonus of putting in new carpeting.  We are getting Stainmaster carpeting in here with a 15 year warranty.

Love you all.  Have a great weekend.  Do something fun….and outdoors.  The Princess, Johnnycakes and Chewlee are going kayaking tomorrow.  No rapids to make it exciting (not around here anyway) but it should still be fun for them.  Temps here are supposed to be 86-90 tomorrow and about the same on Sunday only with late night showers.  I hope to do a little shopping for my trip.  That’s coming up fast. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

There are times that Chewlee is so funny (from an adult point of view) that we just have to share them.  One example is from yesterday.  Chewlee has, for the past year, been very bad about eating vegetables and especially anything new.  She will wrinkle up her face, stick out her tongue and say, *Ewwww!  I don’t like that!*  Of course, this is usually something she has never tried so how does she know whether she will like it or not?

Yesterday, the Princess made a side dish of vegetables (zucchini, squash and onions).  Chewlee ate her baked chicken but had ignored the little bit of veggies put on her plate.  So the Princess told Chewlee that if she wanted to go to the gym with her mother, she had to eat some of her veggies.  Chewlee made an attempt to put a little bit in her mouth and was crying the whole time.  The veggies were half falling out of her mouth with the crying, snot was coming out of her nose…..I’m sure you’ve experienced something similar if you have kids.  Her mother, not the least bit impressed, told her she had to eat at least TWO mouthfuls.  She finally calmed down and finished eating the veggies.  She then told her mother…..*Mommy, if you had waited for me to calm down and not forced me, I would have eaten it and known I liked it then.  Next time, wait for me to calm down.* 

Today, while she was getting dressed to go to church with the Beast, she told him, *Grandpa, now that I am six, I think I can sit by myself at church.*  The Beast, ever clever, said to her, *Well, how about you sit by yourself and then I will sit by YOU?*  She thought about it for a bit and then said, *I will sit by someone, not you, and then you can sit by THEM and pretend you don’t know me.*  He had to come into my room to laugh so she wouldn’t see it because she was so serious telling him that.

He told me he let her choose a seat and then went to sit by her.  He left a seat open between them and put his Bible, songbook, etc. on it.  He then smiled at her and handed her a little book of paper with a pencil and whispered to her that she could take notes or draw if she wanted.  She smiled and said, *Thank you, sir!*  and that almost made him laugh out loud but he managed just to have a big smile.  He said he choked out a *You’re welcome* before he made himself look busy with his books.

She met one of the guys at the gym and he introduced himself and said to her, *What’s YOUR name and how old are you?*  She told him her name and then said, *I’m 14*.  He looked at her and said, *Funny but you don’t look 14.*  To that, Chewlee said, *Well, one day I WILL be 14*.  The Princess just shrugged and said to him, *She has a point there* and everyone laughed.

She was all dressed for church and I was horrified to see that she had the wedding band I bought from my daughter (who was going to pawn it) on.  It’s worth over $3000. and is NOT something I wanted to get lost.  I took it from her and she started to cry because she had lost her ring that I had given her a couple months ago.  Not expensive but she DID like it and today she wanted a ring to wear so she looked pretty. 

Where this kid gets her ideas, I am clueless.  I had to tell her that she never, ever went into my jewelry box and took a ring, necklace, nothing..without asking ME first!  She looked me right in the eye and said, *But you will tell me no, Grandma.  I already know that.*  To which I said, *Then don’t ask and don’t go into the jewelry box if you already know the answer.  When you get older and bigger, I will give you a ring of your own.  I promise.*  She hugged me and said, *Thank you, Grandma.  Which ring are you gonna give me?* and her eyes were really wide with interest.  I was glad the Beast came in and distracted her and she didn’t get back to that question again.  I know which ring I am going to give her but I would like it to be a surprise when the time comes.

I made split pea and ham soup tonight and Chewlee said, *Oh yuk!  Green soup!*  I told her it was a whole lot better than green eggs and ham.  She looked at me and said, *Can we talk about this in REAL LIFE, Grandma?*  I guess she didn’t get how funny that joke was to me.  I always liked Dr. Seuss. 

Well, time to get this posted.  Love you all.  Stay cool and safe.  Lots of dangerous storms were around today and more will be around tomorrow.  Pay attention to any and all warnings. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Princess decided to believe Chewlee so she had her bathing suit on when she went to school or else she had it in a bag she took with her.  It was wet when she got home today so they DID play in the sprinklers.  Chewlee told me that there were 16 of them and they were HIGH.  She had a lot of fun running in and out of them.  So much fun that she fell asleep on the bus coming home.  I had to walk up to the bus to help the bus driver get her up.  It was really funny.  He had this strange look on his face like he wasn’t sure what to do to wake her.  But I called her name and he gently shook her shoulder and she got up.  She had that *not quite awake and aware* look on her face so I held her close until she regained her total senses. 

The Princess wanted me to call as soon as Chewlee got here and I had called her when I saw the bus turn the corner.  She told me not to feed her because she had dinner ready.  When she got here, she asked Chewlee if she wanted to go to the gym with her.  Ha! Ha!  Chewlee LOVES to go with her.  That was a no brainer. 

The Beast got a bug up his butt and decided it was time to get new curtains in the house.  He was tired of the sheers.  The problem is that the stores around here just don’t carry much in the way of curtains.  But he was determined.  I let him go, knowing that if I really objected, he would back down and make it MY job then.

So far, we have new curtains in the guest room, our room and the living room (front) window.  He bought a selection of curtains for the kitchen window (three different patterns).  He has a valance that will work on the window over the sink since it’s the smallest window we have.  The Beast thought all the windows were the same size but he knows now that’s not true.  All he had to do was look at it.  Sheesh! 

It was an incredible 95 degrees earlier today.  But the humidity wasn’t bad.  The Beast was miserable but I spent some time outside, working on the garden (pulling weeds, checking for strawberries, etc.).  My radishes are getting really big and I wanted them to because I saw a program about how the Chinese prepare the huge radishes they grow.  I want to try it.  The Beast just shrugged his shoulders so he’s open to trying it.  I think we have some tomatoes ready to be picked and I will have green beans in a few more days.  The cucumber vines are climbing the trellis and the Beast’s squash looks great.  When I get back from Chicago, I’m definitely going to have to think about canning stuff.  But I’m ready for that.  I will probably need more Mason jars but they have them at all the stores around here.

Love you all.  Gonna get this posted early for a change.  Be careful in this heat.  Stay cool.  If you must be out and about, wear a good sun screen. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It was bad enough that Chewlee’s bus was late yesterday but the same shit happened today only no phone call to warn us about it.  When the Princess finally managed to get through to someone, she found out that this is probably going to go on all week because of the buses being late.  I gather the buses are being used for field trips for other schools so they don’t show up to take the kids home from Chewlee’s Summer Camp until 4pm.  That means she won’t get home until 5pm.

The only good part of it is that Chewlee gets home tired.  But when 4pm came and went today, I was beginning to panic.  By the time it was 4:45pm, I called the Princess and told her I was going to call the police if we didn’t get ahold of anyone quickly.  I went in the house to try to find a phone number for the transportation department for the schools here.  The Princess finally got ahold of someone and got the answer we were looking for.  Sure enough, Chewlee got home just before 5pm, none the worse for wear but hungry.  Her mother got here less than an hour later to pick her up.  Chewlee was eating some chips and salsa at the time and didn’t stop eating.  Her mother joined in the snack and pronounced the salsa some of the best she’s had.

Chewlee announced that she had to wear her bathing suit under her clothes tomorrow because they were going to play in the *big* sprinklers (whatever that means).  The Princess said she didn’t know whether or not to believe her since they didn’t send a note home.  I told her that they didn’t send a note home about the museum trip either and she had to agree about that part. 

Now that they are doing more than just coloring or writing outside with chalk, Chewlee is having more fun at school.  She said she had to wear shorts and her gym shoes today because they were going to be playing games outside.  I think she’s started to learn how to play hopscotch, too.  She showed me her boo-boo on her knee where someone pushed her down and they weren’t supposed to use their hands!  I gather they were playing soccer at the time.  But Chewlee likes being included (what kid doesn’t?) in the games so she kind of passed it off as minor.

The Beast is definitely losing it.  He went to Lowes for two items.  Two.  He gets there, finds the first item then goes blank.  He calls me to find out what the second item was that he was supposed to get.  I tell him and he has a *duh* moment.  I laughed almost until he got home.  He’s got all the window AC units installed and it suddenly occurred to him that he might not be strong enough to remove them when winter hits here.  I told him that someone around here must know a handyman that we could hire if such a thing happened.  He looked horrified at that idea but at least it’s an idea planted.

It was 91 today when I checked on it.  It could have been higher but I really don’t care.  It felt great to me, even the sweaty part…LOL.  How was your day?  Love you all.  Stay cool or at least comfortable. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It sounds to me like today was the most fun Chewlee has had at Summer Camp so far.  They went to a museum and I think it was an *interactive* one.  She said there was a dinosaur skeleton there that asked for it’s bone back.  She said it was really funny and fun!  I just know that they got back late and then they had to reload the buses properly so the drivers had the kids on their own routes.  So, instead of getting here around 3:30 or so, Chewlee didn’t get here until almost 5pm.  I was frantic at 4pm when she hadn’t shown up but stayed outside for an extra 10 minutes….then I called the Princess and she tells me that the school had called her and said they were late getting the kids on the buses so they would be late.  And she never thought to call ME?  I’m the after school caregiver and she doesn’t even think that *I* might be worried sick?  Sheesh.  And there is no way that I would have thought they would be over an hour late!

At least I got to talk to the driver and tell him that he should pick up Chewlee every Tuesday HERE.  He wrote it down on his schedule and then broke the news to me.  He will be picking her up right around 6am…maybe a little earlier.  I looked at him in disbelief but…what can you do?  It means an early bedtime for Chewlee and me since I will have to get her up at 5am.  I’m glad it’s just for a few weeks.o

It was 88 degrees outside today and 78% humidity even with the sprinkles we had earlier in the day.  It’s 78 degrees right now and the heat index is at 80.  I’m glad the Beast put the AC unit in the window of the guest room.  I have it cooling down the room now.  I’m ready to tuck Chewlee in, take my shower and then join her in bed.  She wants to go to school tomorrow because she was told they would be playing outside most of the day.  I have some good lotion I will put on her in the morning that will protect her most of the day, I hope.

Love you all.  It’s past our bedtime here.  Be good.  Stay safe and cool!

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Chewlee spent the weekend with her paternal grandfather.  Usually, after spending even two days with him, she comes home and it takes us a week or more to get her attitude adjusted.  This time, it wasn’t as bad as usual because she got to go swimming and she showed him just how good she had become.

She dived in the water without her *floaties* on and swam underwater across the pool.  She even swam in the deeper water both holding her breath underwater and then swimming like a big girl on top.  All without her floaties and she was so proud of herself.  When he dropped her off, he verified her story and said that was why he took her to the Water Park.  He said he stayed close…just in case she got herself into trouble.  She even went down one of the water slides a couple times.  All-in-all, she had a good time there.

Her grandfather bought her an Ipad and opened an account for her so that she can call him on Skype when she wants to.  She showed me that she has access to different movies, even Godzilla!  I saw about five or six internet apps she has but, know what?  She was underwhelmed by it all.  The Princess said he thinks that SHE keeps Chewlee from talking to him on Skype on Sunday but Chewlee hasn’t wanted to talk to him in a couple months.  In reality, I think that after going to church and then going to Birdie’s house until around 7:30pm, she’s too damn tired to want to talk to him.  But he will discover that soon enough.

But Chewlee loved going to the water park.  It was all she talked about for about an hour after he dropped her off at the house.  Then she got involved with playing with little Sammie and avoiding the rain we had here today.  She went to the store with the Beast twice and even bought herself some gum that she is keeping here at my house.  She will be spending tomorrow night here and I don’t know what we have to do about the bus on Tuesday morning.  I’m hoping that the Princess sends a note with Chewlee for the bus driver who DOES know where we live.  He drops her off here almost every day.  During the regular school year, he picked her up from here every Tuesday and Wednesday morning, too.   But since it looks like Chewlee will be spending every Monday night here, it’s the least the Princess can do is let him know that.  It’s not fair that the Beast has to get up that early to take her to the school.  That’s where Summer Camp is held.

It was hot today but we got tons of rain this afternoon.  According to the weather people, the next week will show us with little rain but temperatures in the 90′s.  The Beast was unhappy about that but knew *I* was happy.  I love the heat.  It’s 70 degrees outside right now and the humidity is 100%!   Fun, fun, fun!  It won’t be great tomorrow but I’ll survive.  I still know how to turn a hose into a cooling *rain* on my head and body.

Love you all.  Keep cool. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Bratfink reminded me of something today that I said I would talk about.  It was about Class Action Suits.  Over the years, I’ve received letters about some company or other being sued for some kind of liability or other.  You are sent the letter due to information the attorneys involved having been given a list of names that included yours.  All you have to do to be included in the suit, if you want to participate, is provide receipts, or information, or dates.  There’s always something required.  Like me and many others, you read it, figure it’s a kind of scam that only the lawyers will benefit from and you throw away the letter.

About a year ago, I received such a letter but this time I was in just the right frame of mind.  I was really pissed at the company involved for extorting money from me.  It claimed to be a regular insurance company for people like me that needed affordable insurance but had a pre-existing medical condition.  Although the premium was high, I didn’t dare not have any until my Medicare kicked in.  After paying for this *insurance* for almost a year, I finally had a couple medical bills that were submitted for my regular doctor, an expensive blood test and an MRI.  They paid $0. and it had nothing to do with any deductible because the papers I had received from them raved over the fact that they didn’t have one, just a copayment.  I ended up having to pay for them all on top of the payment I was having taken out of my checking account regularly each month.

I ended up having to write a letter to the Insurance Commission showing a CC to my bank and hand-carrying the letter down to my bank to get them to stop paying that money out every month.  So, when I received the letter regarding the class action, I took the time to fill out the information and I sent along a copy of the letter I was forced to give to my bank to stop the financial drain.  I sent it off and promptly forgot about it.  I was just happy to see that the company was going to be forced to pay attorneys fees at the very least.

A year passes and I receive this letter and it seems kind of long (longer than 8.5X11) but I start to read it and my eyes widen and I unfold the very bottom and….it’s a check!  The amount was for over $2,000. and I almost choked.  It didn’t repay everything that was spent but it sure as hell was way more than I ever thought I would get back.

So, the next time you get one of those letters regarding a class action case, take a few minutes and see what you need to do to take part in the suit.  The only other case I remember getting anything from was from another suit involving an insurance company.  But that one only got us some stocks that were pretty much worthless for years…well, they were only worth about a dime each when we first got them.  Years later (around 12 or so), they were worth about a dollar each.  Not a whole lot for that particular company and the crap they pulled on us but it was slightly better than nothing at all.

The nice thing about this particular check was that I was told I had to cash it before the end of July, 2013 or it would bounce because that particular account would be closed after August 1.  So, when I went out to lunch with Tara last week, I cashed the check.  The Beast knows nothing about it and I don’t feel guilty since it came out of my SS money.  Besides, he spent a damn fortune on all the crap he’s bought during the past 8 years.  He’s spent over $50,000. on stuff we really didn’t/don’t need.  So I have the money put aside (aka hidden) for things I might want/need in the future.

And a footnote on a totally different thing…..after all the rain we’ve had the past week, our garden has taken off.  The tomato plants are almost all over 6 ft. tall and we have tomatoes on them.  The Beast brought in our first green pepper to my shock.  My radishes are really big now, the Beast’s squash plants have flowered and are starting their development.  The cucumber plants have almost tripled in size and have climbed the trellis nicely.  My bush beans are huge and the Beast says we will not put them around the tomato plants next year.  They are much bigger than we remember them being and taller, too.  The jalapeno pepper plants look like they’re going to be very productive for us.  I will have to can and freeze some of them once they get to a larger size.

We had a nice day today and we are supposed to have another nice day tomorrow.  I will have to get outside and pick any strawberries we have tomorrow because then we are due for more rainy weather for the next couple of days.  Hope you have nice weather going for you, wherever you live.

Love you all.  Have a great Sunday. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I woke up during the night with a godawful cough and it didn’t feel like a cold.  I was coughing so damn hard that my muscles in my side and tummy areas were SORE by this morning.  I kept expecting to start coughing up blood or something but I didn’t even cough up phlegm.  What gives with that?  The Beast claims he did that, too, after he quit smoking but I really don’t remember that.  However, since I spend more time in HERE (my computer room) than in THERE (our bedroom), I really may have just left the room once the coughing started so I could sleep.

Most of the day, however, I didn’t seem to do much coughing.  Not that I didn’t do ANY.  It just seemed like it started at the oddest times.  Sometimes after I seemed to talk more than usual.  Or when I was more active.   I felt like I wanted to cough out a lung or something but that just might have been because of the sore muscles in my sides.  I had a few people that I play some games with online tell me they went through the same thing when THEY quit smoking…said it started about a week or so after and that works out for me.  It’s Day 7 here for me.  I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Chewlee at first seemed a bit depressed when she got here after Summer Camp.  I asked her what was the matter and she just said, *Nothing*.  When I reminded her that she would see her other Papa today, she just said, *I know.*  It turned out that she was unhappy because it was raining when she got here and she wanted to ride her bike.  She is so happy about being able to ride it with no training wheels.  The Princess hasn’t taken the training wheels off her bike at home and that makes Chewlee very unhappy.  She says her daddy doesn’t believe she can ride her bike without them *really good* so he won’t take them off.  I go outside and watch her (to make sure she doesn’t ride it somewhere she’s not supposed to go) and I’ve noticed how her skills have improved over the past two weeks.  She has a lot to be proud of since she really and truly taught herself how to balance and ride that bike without any help from anyone.  I felt bad about not being able to help her out but I was going to give it a try on the weekend.  But she jumped the gun on me/us and started riding it after only two days from the day the Beast took them off.

Chewlee finally got excited about seeing her other Papa close to the time I told her it should be almost time for her mommy to come and get her.  She wanted to show him her haircut and she had me put her hair in pigtails.  This was AFTER she had spent about 10 minutes brushing her hair.  Then on went her head band (the pink one wrapped in grosgrain ribbon with a bow).  Just as she left with her mother to meet up with him at a local restaurant, she popped on her sunglasses.  She took a quick look in the mirror and she was finally ready to go. 

Looks like our rain is over for a while now.  The forecast for tomorrow is clear and sunny plus heat around 85+.  Guess I will make some sweet tea for us in the morning.  Gonna head for bed in an hour or two.  My muscles in my mid-section hurt.  I feel like I should be lying down already but I don’t want to wake up at 3 or 4am and screw up my days and nights again.

It’s taken me weeks to get my body back on a good circadian rhythm again.  Well, I am going to stop and get this posted.  I need to take a shower before bedtime.  Love you all.  Have a great weekend.  Hopefully, we will all be dry…for a while, anyway. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I’m sure by now you are tired of hearing about my quitting smoking.  I apologize but it helps me to tell you and how I am dealing with different things.  It ISN’T easy to quit.  I’ve been smoking for over 50 years and I have to admit, I am quitting mostly because I want to possibly avoid major health problems but…..how much can I avoid after 50 years?  I really wonder about that.

Chewlee’s other grandfather is coming up from Florida tomorrow (he lives in the panhandle) to spend a few days with her.  Chewlee was all excited because he will be at a hotel/motel WITH A POOL and she will be having a sleepover.  She wanted me to call her mother to find out if she was going to have a sleepover with me but, when her mother got here to pick her up, she told Chewlee about her other grandfather and that thought went right out the window.  I know why.  Her paternal grandfather truly spoils her and what kid doesn’t love that?

Today the Beast and I put together several hanging baskets that are now hung along the eave of the barn.  Then the Beast and Chewlee added more flowers to *her* flower bed out front.  It was cute seeing the two of them digging in the dirt and then putting the flowers in and patting the dirt all around them.  The Beast let her water them so she was happy.

I’m still working on clearing out my closet.  Tara came by today after she had gone to see the doctor about all the pain she’s been in for the past few weeks.  He set up an appointment for her to have an MRI on Monday (which I told her she would probably need a couple weeks back).  BUT…she found out that the pain pills I had given her worked wonderful for her as long as she took one with food.  She said it gives her 12 hours of relief so she can work.   When she tried a chiropractor, she didn’t think about the fact that they can’t write prescriptions.  Everything he gave her was OTC and it sucked.  He was sure that some manipulations and some physical therapy would cure her.  Then he came up with the fact that she probably had something more serious going on and she should get an MRI.  That pissed her off that she wasted all this time with him so she went to see a real doctor.  He didn’t prescribe any pain pills for her but he did give her sleeping pills so she can sleep all night.  That was the other problem she had because of the pain.  She would go to bed and only get about six hours sleep before the pain woke her up (she didn’t take a pain pill at bedtime) and she wanted desperately to get another couple hours sleep before she had to deal with her day.

I’ll let you know how that goes with her as I find out.  In the meantime, I need to get back to bed myself.  Love you all.  Be good and have a great Friday plus a fantastic weekend. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I’ve managed 5 days of no smoking and not too much of using the electronic cigarette.  Everyone tries to tell me the worst is over.  I don’t know about that because I still keep reaching for a cigarette every once in a while.  Then I tell myself that this shall pass and that I will stop reaching.  That is sometimes when I reach for the electronic cigarette and often I just hold it.  It’s not as satisfying as a real cigarette but I really do want to quit smoking.  Especially when I realized how nasty my clothes smelled.

Today I finally couldn’t stand it and I wanted to go through that closet and get rid of the clothes that are too small for me.  So I grabbed a spray bottle of Odor Eliminator and sprayed the hell out of the clothes and some of the things that are folded on the shelf in there.  I let it dry and it really did help.  I could finally get in there and get some things cleared out.  I made up a big bag full of clothes for Goodwill.  I have a bunch of winter clothes that need to be packed away and put out in the cottage that I separated out so that only summer clothes are in the closet now. 

I have to go through the stuff on the shelves now and get that sorted out.   I know there’s stuff up there that needs to be thrown out.  It’s going to take me a couple days to get everything out of there and sorted.  The Beast claims he is going to finish up the cottage and put some shelves up so the blankets and comforters can be neatly put together.  I need to get another big container to put my winter clothes in.  I told the Beast that I have a container up in the attic that has sheets, pillowcases and some decorative items that we should probably get down once the cottage is ready.  We have several of these large containers in there that we can stack in some kind of order so we make it easy on ourselves when we want to find things.

It rained really hard today and the Beast took the opportunity to dig out some bushes he wanted to get rid of while the ground was soft.  We got a warning that we had *dangerous thunderstorms* headed into our area and, trust me, they sounded scary as they moved through.  There was lightning galore but off in the distance and not close.  They could have included tornadoes but I haven’t seen the local news yet tonight so I have no idea if any actually developed.

My rose bush out back has two different color roses on it so far.  There are pink and yellow roses so I guess it’s been playing around.  It started out just yellow roses but I DO have a pink rose bush out in front only it’s just got buds on it right now so someone else must have a pink rose bush around here.  It looks pretty but I haven’t checked to see if they smell pretty or not.  The original ones did.

The Beast went and picked up some more flowers from Lowe’s and filled my hanging baskets.  He got them hung up around the yard and on the porch of the cottage.  He’s going to fill the one I hang from the front porch tomorrow since the flowers didn’t come up for me this year. 

Gonna get this posted and get ready for bed.  Love you all and keep safe and cool.