Merry Christmas

I wish you all a very merry Christmas…

Happy Christmas Eve

Wishing everyone a happy, merry, safe Christmas wherever you are this season. We are home alone with each other, and there is nothing wrong with that . The turkey is ready to go on the BBQ tomorrow with all the fixins. So looking forward to enjoying Christmas day with my sweetheart.

Merry Christmas to All

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, fall has finally arrived in the desert southwest, we are still in the 90’s but they keep promising lower temps. We have already had a dusting of snow on the tops of the mountains, up over 8000: feet. So that was a promising start to the fall/winter season. However since then, it feels more like summer than fall. I will quit whining but really!!!

I have been absent from here for no other reason than stress on life! I miss my kids, I miss going to a store without thinking I may bring home the virus. and now with covid increasing at this time. well I could go on and on and on. I am sharing that this is the reason I have not been on here. I don’t have a lot of nice things to say. But I will try!

Life is the same, we have been working hard on the yard, I hired a landscape company to come clean up the big plants and trees full of mistletoe, its a type of it and it kills the trees quickly. Its nice to see the yard cleaned up. My cousin who moved to Phoenix this year, came down and I showed her some of the big nurseries in town and sent her home with several pots of aloe and cactus. So my deck is looking a little better, not so cluttered.

This is what out agaves looked like when they were all cleaned up. I could here them thanking us. LOL

My sister just sent me my birthday box, and I was able to open all my presents early, it was such a special birthday, she started with a not, that said this was from everyone. Well I assumed she meant her kids, lol, however what it ended meaning was from all the family that has passed. I got a couch couch quilt made from blocks my late sister had made and my sister finished it up, I alos got a rock painted by my brother, and then she sent me a wooden box that my parents always had on there bedroom dresser full of this and that, it also contained my fathers leather wallet which was still full of everything he carried in it for at years, like 30. It is full of pictures of all the grandkids when they were little and other fun items. Even an old Sizzler restaurant Senior Card, LOL my parents loved a good bargain and when we lived in Petaluma Ca. they had a local one near them, they ate out there at least once a week if not more. LOL that sure brought back memories. She also made me a pillow from a sweatshirt I bought my mom when I was in our home town Chewelah Washington and the collar she added was from my late sister. So I was a very heart felt birthday, I appreciated it so much. She previously made me a pillow from one of my fathers shirt, even left the piece of gum in the pocket. LOLSO I am surrounded with love from my family, live and those that have left us. I love it.

Well I am rambling, be safe over this holiday season, looks like we have a vaccine in the very near future but it will take a good year for everyone to be vaccinated before we can start getting back to some sense of normalcy.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

Welcome to Fall

Harvest moons, cooler weather, finally, Christmas in all the stores I have been in. I am thinking they are in a hurry to get onto 2021. LOL

Life in the desert southwest has been good. We broke the record for most days over 100′ this year. Today is only the second day under 100 since, well forever it felt like. LOL Our night temps are dropping in the high 50’s so getting up early to start cleaning up all the cactus that didn’t make it. Seems like we lost several agaves if not from heat then from a beetle that bores into them and lays eggs. I have been trying to treat them but some of my agaves are 6′ across and make it impossible to get close, plus the snakes live under them in the heat, so I keep my distance.

Voted today, that felt good. Not sure what to say about whats going on in Washington, but its scary for sure.

Husband is doing great, dog is happy the days are getting cooler, were able to get out and play ball.

Really not alot going on. Same thing every day!.

so hope everyone is doing well, staying healthy and getting ready for the season change.

later…

Just reread the start of my last post, that was the last time we saw any monsoon storms. Crazy warm to hot hear this summer.

Not a lot going on in my area of the world, the virus is still trying to take over the state, its hot, we are looking into getting a new HVAC, so dealing with that, Amazing at the difference in prices, lol, we will make a decision this next weekend after we get several estimates. Chika is not a very happy border collie, its to hot to run outside and running in the house is not as fun, so looking for new ways to keep her busy. Still hiding out at home, getting my but beat in cards, lol you would think my house would be spotless, lol but its not.

I am on a 28 day challenge, fasting 16-8 I fast from 5p to 9a and then do the calorie counting from 9a to 5p. I basically fast anywhere from 12 to 16 normally, but this is keeping the night eating under control. Isn’t a big change really, well the night eating, but its time I stop doing that!! scale is dropping down so I am happy about that. Now if I started exercising too, it would be beneficial. I am just finishing my first week and don’t feel deprived of anything. LOL

Hope this finds everyone, safe, healthy and happy.

Monsoon was such a nice relief to the heat!! Love the rolling thunder that goes on and on and the nonstop lightening. And then the down pours of buckets of water, pooling here and there and trying to find anywhere to drain off to. Sure is amazing. We had a good couple days. It was only 72 out this morning, HOTTUB weather!! Yeah. Bnnes and joints sure feel better. Been in a few times since the monsoon brought cooler weather. However it is leaving us this morning for temperatures back up in the triple digits. Hopefully not for long!!

Not much else happening in our part of the world. Staying home as our state has lost its mind and gathered, partied and just plain out forgot we were in a pandemic!! At least we are under a mandatory face mask order. I have gone back to shopping at 6am and stocking up so I only have to go once a month. Our freezer is stocked and I generally only going for fruit, veg and dairy. I am certainly restless these days. I told my husband we are going for a drive, have a picnic and then return home. LOL he wasn’t sure he was up to that, but I am going nevertheless.

I miss seeing my kids. My son and his girlfriend are camping 2+ weeks as they drive from California to Minnesota for school. They have reported that all the National Parks are packed with tourist, and no one is social distancing, and many without mask. So they just keep moving through and stay where there are no people. I am a little jealous that they are out on the road, but sleeping on a blowup mattress in a tent, well those days were over for me years ago, LOL not that I am spoiled, but I am!! LOL My daughter and her husband are enjoying there time at home, both are working from the house, he works for the county and does go out to work sites to keep up on what’s going on in his projects. They have been remodeling there home and are finally on the last stretch, they have one bathroom and the kitchen to do. The kitchen is demo-ed out to the studs and I am excited to see the finished product. I have been able to see all the materials they picked out, its going to be beautiful. Wish I could go see it in person!! Someday!

We play a lot of cards, and I have been starting projects that end up sitting on the dining room table, LOL I have a quilt to finish, a whale picture I stared half way done, some clothes that need mending, and a couple cupboard’s that could use organizing. I also have several plants that need to go into new pots and some new pots that need new plants. LOL So I really can’t bitch about nothing to do!! I did get 2 loads of laundry done and flipped my mattress yesterday, lol that was something at least. LOL

Hope your staying safe and getting through this trying time. Nice to see out idiot president finally admit that we have a problem!! But that’s not saying much for him. I say don’t forget to vote this year. We need a change from all the lies, bulling and all the crap going on in Washington. I try not to be political but my goodness its hard to keep your cool when its thrown in your face. Part of the reason Arizona is in the state its in, well it is the reason were one of the “red” states that is in serious trouble is because our governor can’t kiss the presidents ass enough!! Not only did we open when we still have cases going up, he opened everything as fast as possible. The CDC guidelines were never met, not one!! Then letting him come and hold a rally in Phoenix, no masks, no social distancing, I can’t believe how many people put themselves in danger to listen to him tout at how wonderful he is! Well I had better stop as I just had to erase what I was writing next. LOL You can tell I am not a an of the asshole in the Whitehouse!!!

Oh well we all have our own opinions, not that mine is right, but really!!!!!

Have a good end of July, catch you in August….

Hard to believe its the middle of the month. I was making an appointment for a recall for out Toyota and I put it on the wrong week, LOL When I went to double check the date, I realized that it was written in on the previous week. That’s what I get for sitting at home all the time, there is no need to know what day or time it is. We have missed garbage pick up more than once. LOL

Monsoon season is up on us. We had a really good down pour a couple days ago. Man did the yard need it. I could hear the saguaros sucking up the water as fast as they could. Been a hot spring and early summer. I just heard the weather man say the temps are coming down to a more normal number.

I am sorry to say our state is out of control in regards to the covid virus. We have a really idiot for a governor. Sorry, but he is!! There is still not a state wide mask order, it goes by county. Sad, just sad!

Okay I have to stop, or I will get on a roll and won’t be able to stop bitching and you will all see the really ugly side of me. LOL

No new news, just hanging out at home, staying away from everyone.

later gators

Hope everyone had a safe, fun fourth of July! We spent the day inside enjoying the air conditioner. LOL Having a really warm summer, monsoon seems to have forgotten that its in season in Tucson. LOL Gonna get hotter before it gets better I am afraid. We have been trying to work on the yard, but that ends up mostly watering. To hot to plant my new pots on the rock pile in the front yard. I have made a couple benches out of old wood, almost finished, waiting on some rope to get here. Been cleaning out closets and organizing. So that feels good to be decluttering. Finding things I forgot I still had, LOL, kinda like Christmas in July. Feel for the border collie, to hot to play outside, been getting new toys through amazon for her, keeps me busy throwing them in the house. We also play chase me around and around. We also hid her toys and she finds them, then she shakes the hell out of them for hiding from her. LOL Anyway she keeps us moving on these hot days.

The strawberry full moon was certainly bright here. Not sure who took this, but it was big. My entire yard was lite up most of the night.

Well not much else happening, having some electrical around the outside brought up to code, and were going to have the shop and garage done the same this upcoming week. So that feels good that we know its up to code and safe. Also got all the led lights restrung on the deck, so we have some nice mood lighting. To hot to get into a mood on the deck, lol but come winter who knows!! lol

Well I am off here the 5 o’clock news is coming on, gotta see what’s happening in the world. We went over 100K corona viruses in our state, its completely out of control here!! Extremely scary.

Stay safe, wear a mask and keep smiling.

I am back and its only been a couple weeks, LOL

Been getting up and working in the yard, mostly watering since the heat showed up early this year.

We had a double pond/waterfall out front, we hired a landscape company to come in and remove it. The previous owners had just put it in and was going to have fish?? in it, I am not sure how without shade, pretty sure they would of cooked in the heat. so its been removed and we shoved all the rocks that they had around the sides of it into a big pile and I have bought 3 big pots to plant in the fall. That kept us busy for several days, in fact my husband is still dealing with the electrical wires that was hooked up to run the pump for the water. Here are some pictures of the removal and we are still fixing it up, I will post a picture when we are completely done. We are removing old cactus and an orleandar that is dying, we have already cut it down but due to a fire across town up on Catalina Mountain we are staying in out of the smoky air. here is how it looked, ugly huh!! 2ns and 3rd pictures are them removing it, and last picture is the rocks all piled in the holes left but the fiberglass ponds. There were several boulders and we had them put them down the edge of the driveway. I think it looks better just in a pile of rocks than with the ponds. We did find a nice rat nest, lol and he was a big one that went scooting away, lol he didn’t look at all amused! There was also a really big lizard, over 12 inches long and pretty big around the belly, they said it was an iguana. I hope he comes back.

We also used the pavers that were around the edge of the pond to fill in under the palo verde tree. The previous owners had lots of small cactus planted around the bottom of the tree, however I was constantly battling with moles, or harris squirrels diggiing up under the roots and eating them. I was loosing the war, so I dug up the cactus that still had a chance, there on the deck in pots, and we put down the pavers surrounded by rock. We left the 2 saguaros and a hedge hog cactus and one other on at the base of the tree as they were all in good condition.

This single cactus on the right was one of the survivors now on my deck, and this is the hedge hog is full bloom this las year.

The fire I was talking about is called The Big Horn Fire, its was started by lightening a few weeks ago and its burning up in the mountain areas that are extremely hard to get to. They have had no loss of homes or buildings and the first fireman was hurt yesterday, he is in the hospital. There are over 960 men work on the fire. It had been extremely windy so we have been lucky with the smoke factor, not lucky for the firefighters, we are about miles to the closest area of the fire. The wind stopped the night before I went shopping and I took these pictures on my way into town.

This is why we are trying to stay inside and out of the contaminated air.

Hope this finds everyone doing well. Our Covid #’s are rising and I just heard that Trump feels he has the need to come see his border wall and do a rally in Phoenix. Wouldn’t you think that a normal thinking President would stay away and respect the need for social distancing since our #’s have increased over 18 thousand since last Monday, thats one week!! I really should stop before I say some think that I shouldn’t. He really is an AssHat!!

On that note, have a great week.