it's all in the flushing

pic for orientation

just to the left of the CC is our septic system ( or part of it ) 

I got home from watershed gig last night and I could hear beeping in the basement - constant beeping -- and it wasn't the co2 gizmo, it was a warning beep on the septic system holding tank -- ... -- and now the story gets weird

I got upstairs and asked Mom -- didn't you hear the beeping? -- ya, she says, you can hear it too? ... I called the hearing aid place and scheduled an appointment to get my hearing aid fixed .. it's been beeping for hours ... Ron is going to take me in the morning.  

WTH -- 

I can't make this shit up peeps .. really I can't 

the well/septic company is coming this morning -- to check the filter .. the alarm went off one other time and the float in the main tank was stuck and set off the alarms for the filter..

she cancelled the hearing aid appointment 

 

whew ...

yes, whew ... dodged the "software doesn't work Monday morning memo" ..

up and rolling with the new platform, in, computing, printing, scanning, life is okay

and it rained .. and hailed .. oh joy

I'm not sure exactly what I accomplished over the weekend -- but I seemed to be busy -- I did mow on Friday and Saturday night ... come to the office on Saturday for 5 hours .. got stuff done .. just stuff  -- yesterday we went to the cabin -- I surfed the internet and stared at the water .. Mom watched the Olympics .. and the question of the weekend .. Who in the hell would play water polo?  yikes ... and the mountain biking .. huh?  there's no way either one are "fun"   

 

TGIF ....

yes, peeps, I moved my desk (again) .. well, spun it a quarter turn so I look out the window and see the overgrown shrubs .. hopefully, soon to disappear shrubs 

how about that screen saver pix -- it's a bright one

I was a road warrior this week -- 2x to Nicollet, cabin (Thursday night supper) and New Ulm this morning ... and I think we're going to Lonsdale in the morning - Garfield Gardens, the daylily farm -- it's the last weekend they are open to the public -- we'll see how the weather and our tired bodies are doing in the morning  - otherwise I got projects ... I always have projects.  

I started mowing at 5:30 and by 7:30 had everything south of the field road mowed .. progress -- it wasn't too bad -- breezy .. deer supervising

the office basement still needs to be vacuumed -- once a decade ... and the cave needs to be cleaned. 

I still have 2 pieces of furniture to assemble -- it's only been a year -- why rush ..

it's a week of hot weather - indoor projects are okay 

 

and on July 22nd

 Marie finally planted the flower pots at the office -- pots of geraniums, gerberas and petunias.  I've lost it peeps, truly lost my mind.   And after planting -- I hauled a load of office weeds to the City compost heap.  Town weeds stay in town. 

I just gotta get stuff done around here.  Next up is the round flower beds that Brandon cleaned up/ wiped out 3 years ago -- he wanted to plant grass in 'em ... but in my flawed mind -- thought shrubs and perenials would be the best option.  Well, the weeds are going to become shrubs and flowers this month.  

argh.  plans.  time.  

weekends ...

weekends are never restful in my world ... It was a productive weekend however!  

Saturday -- made to to Mankato -- goodwill, Old Navy (returns and walk thru), Kohls -- why in the hell do they keep changing that store around -- good grief -- it took two laps and a bathroom pit stop to find the plus size .. WTH .. and the a/c wasn't working very well in there either -- lastly, Panera -- two salads to go ... 

got to the cabin with our Panera take out -- and the rest of the crew brought out the new fridge -- after it got "placed" and ran a couple of hours I scrubbed it out and moved over the fridge stuff -- 2 ketchups, 2 mustards, tossed the moldy cheese, tossed the outdated dressing ... argh

this morning I walked around the yard to scope out the blooms -- after shusshing the deer away from them ... a few zinnias and a few coneflowers .. 

we made it out to the cabin and Lee was mowing the lawn .. our "new" grass got its first mowing -- it's looking okay .. the cool wet June was good for grass growing -- now to keep it well watered and add more seed this fall ... there is hope yet .. 

and it rained out there -- it was a quiet couple of hours surfing the internet, reading my book and digesting all of the political things happening in our world today ... 

early supper and home for laundry and prepping for the work week ...

looking back at the memories .. today is the 15th anniversary of Grandma D's passing .. she always had a row of zinnias in her garden -- zinnias, marigolds, 4 o'clocks -- and I'm guessing she saved seed from year to year .. 

 

truth ...

this popped up on wastebook  -- absolute truth ... 

I came home early and finished mowing the freaking grass -- 6 hours -- over 2 days .. it can turn brown and shrivel up anytime now .. chopped weeds at the office today too. loaded dirt into my flower pots and am finally ready to plant - it's life 

the 16 doctor appointments (and more to come), running a business, the elected gig, keeping up with the mowing and all the other crap in my life, haven't left a lot of time to plant flowers .. hoping to find some deals tomorrow when running errands in Mankato .. ( returns, exchanges, thrift shop drop off, Sam's club and possibly the grocery store ) - sorry for the whining sometimes life is overwhelming 

and my next project -- stabilize/reinforce the stitching around our new flag .. 

the memories are fierce tonight .. really fierce 

but it good to have fierce memories -- at least I think so ... 

 

reflections

Mom and I went to the cabin for supper Wednesday night -- it was a beautiful evening -- the weather has been kinda wonky all summer and I've been trying to get out there either Tue, Wed or Thur nights for supper and the evening .. sunset is always spectacular.

We still have a no wake restriction so crazy boat traffic is gone :)  and I don't miss it ... the lake is receding so this weekend we'll have some beach work ... the sand is covered with gunk - but there is still some sand there.  Our new grass needs to be mowed too .. and the plastic mesh pulled up ... it will be a good weather working weekend. 

Mom had a doctor appointment in New Prague yesterday. Mayo in it's wonky wisdom has one doctor that specializes in sleep disorders in Minnesota and he's based out of  New Prague .. wth.  I didn't like him.  Arrogant.  Next up is the overnight sleep study -- in 10 days .. and our next appointment with Dr. Dare  ... is November 29th - virtual -- because he's "always busy."   Needless to say, I wasn't impressed.  

I'm starting my weekend project list ...  I mowed 4 1/2 hours yesterday at the farm .. so that's done ... and technology seems to be crippling the world to day -- so I might have to move my body to the lawn chair on the deck and read.  -- no, there will be laundry and garage cleaning first.

 

the process

while surfing my "old" quilting magazines -- I spied a quilt I'd like to recreate.

I've been collecting kona solids for decades .. (and cherrywoods)

it's time to cut

the Excel spreadsheet is my pattern grid - I live and die by spreadsheets

I've since edited it to 21 ... so it will be 21 2.5" strips x 2 (mirrored from the center)

I've been collecting orange solids and prints for a while .. those colors of fall ... from the Diva who now purchases her pumpkins ... 

there might be more than one quilt before I'm done ...

and before I'm done I need to CLEAN my cave desk .. it is loaded with unnecessary shit.

 

90' and 100' heat index

 what does one do on a scorcher of a day ...

  laundry -- it never goes away
  construct furniture - cube units
  vac the porch
  roomba the living room, kitchen and now bedroom
  garbage - round up all the garbage
  surf the internet
  read the book

Missouri Star had this jelly roll as the daily deal -- it's purty.  My new obsession/addiction is watching all their YouTube videos -- seriously .. I'm working my way thru them.  A couple weeks ago, they had a pattern sale $3 each .. I needed seven.  Prepping supper and a pan of bars .. after this and that I'll head to the cave to sew -- or hem the 5 pairs of pants that need hemming .  I hate hemming, I am tempted to take them to Nutters to be hemmed.  

I did a spot of internet shopping.  Why is it so difficult to find nice mid weight decent cotton t shirts -- t shirts that last more than a season .. and well affordable t shirts.  In the aforementioned furniture construction - I managed to purge another bag of clothes and found my missing box of shoes ... ya, who loses a box of sandals and summer flats.  Moi.  

My other shopping is Amazon -- prime days and deals - haven't found anything yet.  

I mowed Friday night and went back at it yesterday, because mowing the lawn at 88' is appropriate.  Nice little tanning action -- the bugs weren't too awful -- gnats now .. it is groomed and we're good for the week -- need to chop the office lawn tomorrow and keep working on the freaking weeds.  Better living thru cancer causing chemicals.

        

It's been a week?

Ruby II showed up in my wastebook memories -- the day we got 2" of rain in 20 minutes -- in town between the DQ and Arby's weird shit

someone drove off the road into the lake !  before the beer.  

It's been kind of a weird week -- I think I got a lot of projects done, but seemed to be spinning my wheels all week long.  I had to sign checks for TDS yesterday, so I grabbed Mom, drove to Mkto and signed the checks and then we went to the cabin for supper.  It was warm and sticky out there -- we were home by 7 -- and I hopped on the lawnmower until 9 -- the bugs weren't too atrocious so I stayed with it until I ran out of gas.  Our lovely Rachael weed whipped yesterday.  The weed whip and I don't get along very well.  

I'm not sure what the weekend will bring .. the hot humid crappy weather might keep me indoors -- the farm basement needs a serious cleaning -- the office basement needs a couple of hours of shop vac'ing .. there isn't much down there so vac'ing is all that happens - suck up the cobwebs and spider poop.  

The plan is to have the front room and my office floors refinished, new carpet in the "green room" and hall -- and a full interior paint job.   I'm going to be there a while so it might as well be nice(r).  Well, floor jobs mean relocating all the furniture shit, and there is a lot of shit to move/purge/toss/re-home.  

 

summer in a pix

these flying bombs are my downfall this spring/summer -- I can't wait for frost to destroy these vile creatures .. I'm chewed from head to toes ... chemicals only work for so long -- 

tonight's lawn mowing adventure should be entertaining.  long pants, long sleeves, mesh bug hat -- and a lot of chemicals .. and 90' -- adventures in grass cutting continue

snapped this from the camera's last night .. damn those lake sunsets are the bomb. 

 

productivity vs. procratination

good vs. evil

productivity vs. procrastination

Lately it seems that I bounce between uber productive and literally getting nothing done.  Nada, Nothing, no measurable output.  It's bad.  Up, down and bouncing around.

Yesterday -- I finished 8 hours of projects in 3 hours and got 1/2 the office lawn mowed.   Today, well today, I had a long board meeting (ditch shit), lunch with Jack (grease from Patricks) and finally got to my desk, where truly, nothing got finished or started.  The scissor wizard cut my hair -- short hair is good in hot weather.  

Homework and I arrived home and I've knocked out 5 sets of quarterly payroll reports and two loads of laundry in 2 hours.  

Need to find that balance between the pro's .. 

Hot sticky weather might lead to indoor projects -- basement purging - mine and others, office basement vac'ing (hazmat suit needed) -- work - work.  Maybe a spot of sewing/mending/donating fabric -- all that kind of stuff.  And -- there is always the lawn mowing ... damn grass keeps growing.

 

Happy 6th of July!

oopps I forgot to post after I reviewed the draft ... argh.

and well, I'm sure the grammer/spelling fairy didn't edit it while it was sitting out there waiting to post ... ... 

actually I took most of these on the 3rd of July -- it was a nice day/afternoon so after I left the office, I grabbed Mom, McDonalds and headed for the lake for supper and sun.

It was a beautiful sunset -- we don't always stay that late -- but she was watching something on TV and seemed to be entranced by it .. I just enjoyed the sunset.

screenshots from the 5th

It was kind of soggy on the 4th -- it was an indoor kind of day ... I had brought work along and streamed tv while purging crap from our vpn storage .. it's been downloaded to earth and cloud storage is expensive over time ... yesterday I went to work -- all day -- then mowed for 5 hours .. 

I quit mowing when the lawnmower tires got wet.  It was getting buggy and dark -- most of it got chopped,  I think a couple more hours will finish it up.  Need to go to office and mow there next.  It's getting out of control quickly.

 

argh

 I decided I needed to tackle one weird project a day.  A couple weeks and all the weirdness would be gone.  Yesterday's project -- swap out the printer in the cave for a printer from the office .. and this weekend lug out cave printer to cabin.  Easy peasy - just a lot of moving bulky printers.

45 minutes after the swap out at home -- I finally got it to print.  I had the darn usb cable plugged into the wrong freaking port.  

Seriously -- old age has taught me to buy identical printers for every spot in life.  Same toner, same parts, same everything.  Same PORTS to plug things into.  

Argh.

It prints now.  The printer at home had 200,000 images on it .. she was a workhorse -- so she gets to spend retirement at the cabin -- the printer from Kevin's office had 9900 .. barely broke in!  I switched to laser printers at workstations 7/8 years ago .. the toner cartridges cost more than the printers -- but they have been really dependable printers -- generally we print to the copier -- but when at home, or when printing specialty items (checks, W2's etc ) it's nice to have a local printer .. 

Monday was a software issue -- my desk, the surface pro and the cheep home laptop wouldn't talk to one drive .. well $200 later and another MS license they do .. not sure why access suddenly vanished but it did .. MS holds us hostage.  

Today, well today might be entertaining too ...

toodles

M