It rained softly and steadily all night. No wind, no lightning and thunder. ~~ Weather was/is so serious, the Houston NBC television station continued local news in the time-frame for NBC Today Show.
Monthly Archives: May 2015
Life’s all about my garden !!
On the left, a picture from exactly one year ago.
The obsession has not dimmed!!
See why I like to elevate my planters and plant stands??
—
—
Furthermore, I’d be wading around–ankle deep in mud–if I didn’t have the cement blocks for a patio!!
The Green Thing
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”
That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they actually were “recycled.”
But they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power did the drying. Kids often got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for them. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a plastic bottle or cup every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying new pens, and they replaced the blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn’t have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from a satellite 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But they didn’t have the green thing back then!
More “rain” pictures
—
The power was out for about one hour. I went to the CARE Center for coffee and conversation. Prior to power outage, I turned off the computer and TV. Raining very hard right now (10 o’clock) but no lightning and thunder so I won’t turn off the computer. ~~ We can anticipate a week of this type of weather.
—
On a “lighter” vein…
…yesterday I climbed the ladder to hang patio lights from my awning. While arranging, and re-arranging, I came across the lights, washed them, and decided I’d “stay in motion” and hang them. I’m getting a head start on Memorial Day and Independence Day. 🙂
Nineteen months and counting
MONTHS @ CARE,
approximately five hundred seventy days!!
Ball Park figures: Thirteen thousand six hundred hours (13,600) or eight hundred twenty-one thousand minutes (821,000).
Rather than celebrate Mother’s Day, I celebrate the decision to make Escapees CARE my final home. (I hope and pray I never go to a convalescent home.) CARE is a “caring” community tolerant of our frailties as we face our sunset years.
Here is a story–less than twenty-four hours old. CARE residents and many guests enjoyed a “Tea” yesterday afternoon. Many lingered in the Dining Room for additional socializing. One young lady guest had previously promised to visit my garden BUT could not locate her truck and RV keys. We searched the Dining Room, emptied the trash can, phoned folks that had already departed. The young lady **did** visit my garden and then we went back to search again!!
About six o’clock there was a knock on my door and the joyful announcement “I found the keys.” One CARE resident absent-mindedly put the keys in her pocket and just did not “feel” them. The resident was an active member of the “search team” and believed she had checked her pockets.
CARE residents have physical limitations but we look out for one another–and have staff to turn to.
(Folks are tolerant of one old lady devoted to the birds, with fifty planters in her yard, and amused that an eighty-year-old lady laid eighty cement paving blocks for a greatly appreciated patio. Irrelevant, and undesirable [for them], but an acceptable peculiarity.)
Where’s Mother ??
Yesterday, my backyard neighbor asked if I could do anything to help two baby birds at the foot of her steps. Frankly, I did not have a suggestion. This morning, washing dishes, I saw the babies from my kitchen window. I’m grateful they are off the ground. Poor babies!! Will they survive??
Yippes, feels like a sauna !!
It’s only early May and the heat and humidity is miserable!!
What will we experience in July and August?? Yes, I have the air-conditioner “on” but obviously need to “tweak” it to a lower number.
I’m leaving in a couple of minutes for a Mother’s Day Tea at the CARE Center. “Tea” and a fashion show. I’ll need a sweater because the CARE Center temperature resembles a walk-in freezer!!
“Tea” social was very enjoyable.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
Jade Helm: As a Texas resident, I’m concerned!! Check this very interesting article titled Jade Helm double take.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, the saying goes. And the media’s desperate attempt to smear all those speculating about Jade Helm is a thick blanket of suffocating smoke. As I watch this story unfold, I can’t help but think this is going to be yet another example where the same media condemning everyone of being a “conspiracy theorist” comes out a few years later and reports those same theories as fact.
Learn more: ….
What do you think??
The Internet has many links; here is another point of view.
No news Thursday !!
Yesterday, no access to the Internet–so no blog message. The outage was somewhere beyond CARE and the RV Park.
Almost the entire day (yesterday) was spent in my yard. Lots accomplished but I won’t list them all. I’m not sure how I ended up repairing wind chimes. One project led to another, and another, and eventually I picked up shelved chimes and yard decorations. Psychologically, I guess it is the need to complete projects: “A place for everything and everything it its place.”
Today, activities in the CARE Center. Nothing accomplished at home. Currently (4:20), very humid, eighty-six degrees; cloudy and probably more rain before end of the day. Weatherman said official high for Livingston was eighty-seven degrees but “felt like ninety-three” due to humidity. I may need to turn on the A/C for the first time?!
I thought about giving this blog the title: Doing…, doing…, done. I see the end of my yard projects. Soon I can limit my activity to watering, and watching the plants grow.
Postscript, Friday, May 8, 2015, 7:30 AM: OK, OK, three pictures of repaired yard decorations. ~~ Finally, the wrought-metal poles and Shepherd’s Hooks have a location. Gratefully, the area to the left of the storage building has very few “to do” items. ~~ “Yes, I admit my yard is cluttered!!“
Three Quarters & Counting 