just saying !

just letting this hang out here today .... 

 

Weather!

If my opinion counts for anything, am tired of summer storms.  Rain, wind, hail, more wind ... two nights in a row ....

This was Monday night -- and literally fell on/over the neighbors bedroom -- I have no doubt it was loud and crazy -- he thought it was lightening -- but no "burn" marks -- an oak.  A mighty oak limb .. 

Lee's been on the phone with insurance company, roofing company -- because hail.  The whole tree needs to come down -- it's just not stable when it's kitty wampus --- 

We're going to be known as "those neighbors" .. the ones that cut down every tree .. this will be #4 in 5 years .. 4 mature trees .. 

I caught lightening on the ring ... the 1:00am version was even more dramatic.

 

it was a weekend

posing the babe after baptism, food, a nap and a lot of ooohhinng and ahhhing 

she did very well in church - no tears until pictures ... then she was done 

fancy cookies, fancy flowers 

the watermelon was tasty -- although another day and it would be chicken food = chickens really like watermelon .. 

the cc and the sxs post bath -- both were filthy -- the golf cart got one also .. paper wasps were building a nest on the backside of the mirror .. wth.  paper wasps on a golf cart?  

all of the vehicles are under a roof .. the afternoon forecast was ugly and the real deal happening now isn't much better ... hail .. that crap is ugly

after the festivities we drove up to Lake Prairie and checked out the hail damaged corn -- really ugly up there .. it's got ears but no leaves left -- 10th grade biology memories -- need leaves to feed the leaves .. the science in life escapes me .. 

 

musings for a Saturday ...

I paid $12 for a watermelon at the food coop this morning - I can almost guarantee I never sold a watermelon for $12 .. need fruit for baptism tomorrow .. so hopefully the goofy thing tastes expensive.  Watermelon, cantelope, raspberries, strawberries, black berries and pineapple for fruit. 

I cruised the farmers market and picked up green beans, cukes, yukon gold taters, a green pepper and 3 ears of sweet corn.

you tube tells me the cc will perform this feat .. I've watched the 45 second video twice -- I'm headed out to hook up the power washer and well flip up the deck .. send prayers that it works when I'm done .. I just spent an hour mowing in really really wet grass --- it was throwing out water with the grass ... things aren't drying up very fast today ... 

can't wait for dry grass -- I've got an agenda and list of stuff to do .

 

 

this was last year ... she really needs a bath now ..

 

yeppers

the pix in the wastebook memories are always entertaining

just an old guy sitting in his tractor "hunting" -- supervised by a comfortable cat .. with the tractor lights on -- I think it was during the skunk episodes

last night on the trek home from Nicollet ... 

I (we) were on the backside of the storms .. it was simply stunning ... all the way home ... I kept stopping and taking pix .. this is one of the cooler ones ( the one actually in focus) ... 

one more crazy day  .... then I become a weekend warrior 

a mini family invasion

a retirement

yard work at home/cabin/office

baptism 

more hot weather 

I really just need to eat a meal at mealtimes -- other than breakfast .. the gas station water and skittles last night might not have been the best idea -- followed by a turkey/ham sandwich after the meeting 

 

memories - pix heavy

someone asked me the other day -- what is / was my favorite picture ..

above - when life was simpler 

16 years ago yesterday -- the number/date junkie in me tends to remember the significant moments -- -- seems like a lifetime ago and I suppose in many ways it is .. 

I have a pic that I think I took of Gram and Nick playing in the sandbox -- I can't find it here at the office but it is amid my favorite Gram pictures 

it's hot and horrid outside -- yesterday was two different sets of thunderstorms # 2 had hail -- a lot of hail .. we have a couple trees down at the farm .. not blocking roads -- the driveway is washed out -- geraniums got pruned .. it was 9:15 before I got home so -- and just after sunrise when I left this morning

more hail at the cabin -- I'm going to assume we have a lot of yard work out there -- the wastebook posts of the storm were dramatic .. hoping the roof survived -- if not -- grateful for insurance .. the camera shots have a lot of leaves/debris on the yard -- the pontoon is still tethered to the dock .. so ... it can aways be worse .. 

I took this the morning after she died -- it's a peaceful picture 

opportunities .. 

how green is our valley - more fog

daily still life from the office ... peonies -- doesn't get any better

post harvest tillage (JD with wheels)

inbound commute to work -- always the fog

sunset on 3rd .. 

harvest tillage -- newer model JD w/tracks and autosteer

our first night at the cabin .. 

 

summer weekends

I sewed !!!  I had a pile of charm packs and here's two of them  .. add a couple of borders, quilt it, bind it and it's ready for a new home .. the last time I sewed -- October ... at a mini retreat ... argh ..

Mom and I came out to the lake -- and midway thru the day -- she say's ... we should spend the night -- back home we went to feed the cats and retrieve her drugs ... in the meantime -- I busted out a project

my trusty - all metal 1994 bernina -still stitching -- a lot of rattles but still stitching -- I've left it out here since we bought the place .. needs to be used more

sunset -- the most sun we saw all day -- and at 10:00 fireworks began -- on 3 sides of us .. it was buggy so I watched from the porch -- thru the trees -- it was a nice treat 

next up -- dishes, vac'ing and a shower !  later today -- mowing, weed pulling and some more sewing -- project #2 is midway thru ... 

it is a good weekend to be me ..

good for the mind and soul

 

fix it friday

fix it friday is my new mantra for Fridays -- and well, I got some things finalized -- seems like a lot of little bits and pieces of "stuff" that all need to be finished. 

and then late in the day -- my effinbirds peeps posted this -- seemed fitting for me - the ultimate procrastinator -- inherently all of us have things we don't like to do .. and then keep ignoring them until they explode or we get a grip on our shit.

Thursday I was the productive Diva -- 3 1/2 hours of lawn mowing after I got home -- serious lawn mowing -- I didn't want to spend the entire weekend bonding with the cc (country clipper - the lawnmower) ... I even managed to saw down trees at the office this morning -- me chainsaw was charged and buzzing -- the trees might have been holding up the fence -- time will tell ... 

so 10 days ago or so -- County Board had "official" pictures taken by a pro -- yep, I'm the mafia diva of the bunch -- I really don't like having my picture taken and I wasn't feeling perky that morning -- not sure where my glass are - ( in the pocket ) or on the top of my head .... and my favorite necklace is under the crossed arms -- we were standing in the middle of the parking lot -- it's not a bad pix ..

not sure what's up for the weekend -- less work more mowing a spot of techy stuff 

not making a whole lot of plans 

life without a plan 

interesting

 

 

Still life shots

the cabin cameras were popping off during the lightening -- it was kind of cool

just another day on third street all the "things" 

box of raspberries ( on sale at the Food Coop :),  $5 off coupon, and a tub of hand lotion, eye drops, lip glass and anti itch cream for the gnat bites ... 

just everyday life necessities

no new pix this week -- these were from 7/15/2009 -- part of the 48,000 pix I copied from one computer to another .. nice looking watermelon patch eh..  almost weed free ... 

it was a rough summer -- gardening was good for the mind

and my red Rhino .. miss this one .. it was a runner 

and today's project list

1.  laundry

2.  dishes

3.  lake time

     a.  chopped tall weeds - lets hope I avoided the poison ivy

     b.  cleaned cottonwood crap from the screens

     c.  chopped more weeds -- see a:

4.  sweep garage #1 

5.  gas in Mustang

            car had a line -- and appeared to be broke down . lots of things happening

6.  vac'd out Jeep and Mustang

7.  and here I am .. a few thousand steps later 

I have clothes planned for the week ... and I need a spot of meal prep for tomorrow .. and grease up my sunburnt body .. hoping I avoided the poison ivy -- I looked down and was standing in it while hacking at a tallish tree .. the bank at the cabin is giving us all heartburn .. weeds, brush, poison ivy and a scattering of ditch lilies, hosta, yuccas, daylilies and sedums.  It's been a 5 year problem.  

Will hit the car wash on the inbound tomorrow -- Ruby really needs a bath -- she's been sitting for a week -- needs miles too ... all of them need to be detailed ... soon.

 

today's list of accomplishments

 been busy .. or it feels like busy

1.  file room vac'd, cleaned up, crap tossed out
        it is the forgotten space and it accumulates "stuff"
2.  rest of the office vac'd
3.  curtains hung in my office -- upside down and mismatched panels
4.  plants watered
5.  some weeds pulled -- not many
6.  some actual work done
7.  an hour of scanning -- always scanning
     new server hooked to www and upgraded ..
     thru out a bunch of crap
     
8.  6.5 hour of farm lawnmowing -- 
            the grass is short(er) ... all of it got mowed
            the cc burned thru 7 gallons of gas ---
            had an ice cream break and a supper break
9.  I've had a shower and am now planning my next project(s)

  I really need to get the vehicles cleaned out .. the lawnmower, golf cart and sxs need a bath too 

  It was actually a pretty nice day out -- the smoke wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be ... the breeze kept the bugs away -- I managed to wipe out 2 snakes and one rabbit -- and the latest crop of mushrooms .. 

  Next up --- laundry and surfing the internet !!! I should be sewing -- but my right hand is the lawn mower joystick hand and it's got the shakes -- 

  I'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow -- I have homework, the porch and vehicles await me -- as does the lake -- the lake might win.  

    

geekyness

pretty zinnias

geekyness is my word of the day -- or was my word of the day on Thursday ... my home desktop computer has been well, dying a slow death.  Tuesday night was clean the basement night ( 2 hours and 3 bags of trash).  I fired it up and it was not a pleasant experience -- the upgrades from microsoft were an issue and it's old(er).  so it's Amazon prime week and I went computer shopping -- at one point - I had Amazon, Best Buy, Office Depot and New Egg tabs all open and price shopping -- Amazon was the winner -- and it got delivered yesterday -- I found docs from the old computer - December of 2018 -- it's had a good life :)  I did briefly think about just using either my cheep laptop or the surface pro -- but I need "screens" and keyboards and --- 

I was able to back up all the pictures (48,000) and documents to an external drive before the old one got disconnected .. and by 9:15 last night the new one was up and perking along -- I have access to the VPN's, One Drive, Google, Outlook is rolling emails in ... I just have to move the 48,000 pictures and other documents over .. there was one trip to the office for "stuff" -- hdmi cables for the monitors -- old monitors don't chat with new computers and vice versa -- so one monitor is waiting for a convertor  -- I had anticipated a frustrating night -- whew -- 

Next up is tackling the new server at the office -- the paid computer geek hasn't finished the gig -- maybe this weekend if it's raining .. 

Headed to Gaylord for ditch stuff this morning -- sitting here watching law enforcement -- seems to be an accident at the Broadway/Minn Ave intersection -- 

Weekend project list: need me lists 

1) mow at farm 

2) weed whip 

3) sweep garages

4) vac out vehicles

5) wash vehicles

6) gas in Ruby

7) ebay pile -- 

        get it photographed/etc

        start listing

8) finish quarterly payroll reports

9) finish tax returns

10) vac office -- pull weeds

11)

 

Miss M

Miss M was not liking the wind and raindrops hitting her in the face ... the pontoon ride is a whole new experience in the "rain" .. it was raining on one side of the lake only .. and zip as soon as we landed and tied down it was done .. weird stuff 

great grandma and great aunt shelley did not share their towels with the rest of us either .. we got wet 

Miss M was in her swimsuit -- needless to say -- swimming didn't happen until Sunday afternoon ... after the rain it was time for ice cream.

just another jewel from effinbirds ... 

 

7/4/25 picture overload

picture heavy -- it was a good night for fireworks -- they were in front of us, behind us and to the left of us ... everyone was shooting .. the "official" show was across the lake from us .. it was good 

it's always good 

we dashed home after the show and took showers to get the bug spray off of us .. about 9:30 the critters came out and were a little hangry.

wind blew fierce at 3:00am and rain 

hoping the front moves thru soon -- lower temps/humidity would be nice(r)

I was trying to get the flag, the boats and the people and not have a fuzzy night shot .. somewhat successful :)  .. the bay in front of us fills up with boats -- lots of pontoons etc .. lots ..

the chrysanthemum fireworks are my favorite ..

 

thursday

and the gem of the day 

( I'm sharing the nice(r) ones )

so today's drama ... 3 weeks ago I ordered a dehumidifier on Az -- none available locally and I hate menards .. 

yesterday, I checked on it and it was to be delivered today ... 

get to the office this morning and email from Amazon -- it's going to be August 12 -- do I still want it .. well, I need one from somewhere ..

 ya ... hopped on the menards webpage -- selected dehumidifier and then cancelled Amazon one .. 

got the text message it was ready, 

hopped in Ruby and headed out ..

 my shortcut to menards had a train blocking the road .. eventually I got to menards and picked it up .. it's perking along doing it's thing in the office basement ..

the rain, the humidity is not good for old musty basements -- the back room literally smells like there's a dead body somewhere -- the basement doesn't smell .. driving me nuts .. 

the forecast is hot, sticky

that damn bird is attacking the patio door tonight -- i've hired a hit squad .. let's hope he's gone soon.

 

Hump Day

 

   The day has started out entertaining .. I had my t-shirt dress on --- backwards.  Only the dress -- the undergarments were fine.  

   Well, that start to the day screams "Marie needs a vacation / time off / time out / break"  

    And that isn't going to happen today or tomorrow .. 

    Another 2 hours on the lawnmower last night -- need at least 3 more to have a "mowing free" weekend.  

this is NOT my fabric stash .. or sewing room ...

I follow a wastebook group on "sewing / quilting room organization" .. 

 holy smokes ------- these peeps are a) organized, b) crazy, c) wealthy  .... a lot of them have quilting shacks .. or converted double garages for their studios .. seriously .. and the fabric collection ... yikes .. I mean seriously -- this collection of fabric took some serious $$$$$$

ain't she pretty though!