ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

a little time away is restorative -- I need to keep reminding myself .... 

Friday night I mowed lawn until I couldn't see any longer -- the yard lights had came on and I was still cutting grass -- by the light of day I'm sure it looks raggy but the job got done 

we made it out here by 9:30 am -- with a truck load of stuff -- clothes, food, projects, weed whip & supplies .. all the normals -- donuts, milk, ice ... the important stuff

we had a pontoon ride after supper -- it was calm, quiet and gorgeous ...

here's the cabin as we were coming in for a "landing" .. the bank had been attached with my new weed whip -- the beast with the blade .. after Lee tweeked it a bit -- the weeds are flatter -- will get raked and hauled away and then out comes the round up .. 

these kids were fishing -- seriously fishing .. always fun to see them in action

coming around the corner from the shade to the sunset .. 

today -- I've been cutting fabric for a quilt -- bagging and marking

pieced a top from a roll of 6" kaffe fassett strips

finished my book

had another pontoon ride

and am no prepping for northern lights tonight 

(charging the devices :) )

 

uf da -- TGIF -- end of August

 

    End of the week, end of the month and according to some - the end of summer.   August has been the craziest month of months.  

This week: 
    monday was eye doctor, software training and lake sunset 
    tuesday was board meeting/ditch gig shit shows/school supply sorting
    wednesday was an ugly budget workshop
    thursday was birthday supper and an er trip
    today -- I'm overtired and crabby

Sickness and disease arrived 10 days ago and worked it's way thru to Mom -- after 2 1/2 hours of coughing and difficulty breathing I took her to er last night    ... er = doesn't mean fast service --  per the doctor -- the chest xrays took over an hour to get read --. so 4 hours after arriving -- she had a nebulizer treatment, a new rescue inhaler, 2 prescriptions and released to home -- even let her walk out ... less coughing, no gasping for air, sleep and better color 

Tuesday -- I helped with the school supply back pack program -- a fleet of volunteers sorted out and organized school supplies for 700 backpacks and Wednesday another fleet stuffed them and distributed them out to parents -- it was fun -- many hands make light work.  

the plan is lake time this weekend -- I was hoping to go today yet, but that won't be happening -- too much office chaos so far and .. I need to prep cook a few things and decide on the projects

my favorite quilting magazine arrived as did my etsy fabric -- so I think that is project #2 -- batik maple leaf blocks with w/white tonal backgrounds .. #1 is a turning twenty from my tula pink wild fat quarters .. #3 is hemming 3 pairs of pants.

I need to spend a couple of hours on the lawn mower too .. 'cause that shit never goes away ... 

Cheers to a healthier, calm, relaxing weekend!

sunset

 I heard on the news/weather yesterday -- that 8/25 was the last sunset after 8:00pm this year -- 8:01 -- so after supper I suggested we check out the cabin and the sunset.  Loaded up the technology and beverages and headed out ... 

This is not the picture from last night -- I downloaded it and lost it in the shuffle of a zillion pictures ... it was a nice night for sunsets.  and drove home in near darkness at 8:30 ... 

I made it thru the eye doctor appointment yesterday -- life is good.  Today is County Board meeting, Joint ditch hearings and stuffing backpacks with school supplies .. and the normal stuff.  Laundry began at 4:15am -- clean undergarments are always a priority.  

and fun ( or not so fun ) fact ... the next time the sun sets after 8:00 pm ... April 15th .. it's a safe bet I'm going to count down the days !

life as it is

this thing appeared this week

eradication is happening

ruby had a birthday on Thursday night -- I knew it was close on the homebound commute -- so after I finished mowing, I loaded up Mom (literally) -- we picked up ice cream treats at Mc D's ... seriously -- treats are expensive at Mc D's -- $8 for a sundae and a small frappe .. argh

we took a drive and when we ended up at home ... here's the odometer -- 11 years and 4 months later ... got gas on Friday .. it was dinging by the time I got to KTrip .. it starts dinging with 75 miles to go

this weeks adventures -- besides the stuffy head mess, 6 county gigs, yep 6.  a couple client meetings -- full lawn mowing and Friday night I started weed whipping with the beast.  the beast is heavy so i didn't get as much done as I had hoped.  it is a long overdue project

Since #2 now has my sniffles and cough the day was spent babysitting an 85 year old who just can't sit in her chair and behave.  I did manage 6 months of a farm clients data entry work .. no interruptions is good -- a lot can get done.  more tomorrow am and I will be caught up with that project.

After a lot of discussions today -- we just HAD to go to mankato for cat food and the mouse poison/bait Tractor supply smells -- too much animal stuff in there.  I then walked thru Old Navy -- sometimes it's good to see before ordering .. sometimes.  We went to Panera for supper -- it will be a cold day in hell before I return -- not clean -- out of bread -- a place that brags up it's bread is out of bread --- it was awful.  not going back

post Panera -- Uptown HyVee -- my mother on that motorized cart is very similar to a squirrel chasing acorns in an oak tree .. argh.  $130 later we had 4 large bags, 1 gallon of milk and an expensive watermelon.  Most of the specials were already sold out.  Squirrel wanted the cheap chicken -- none left, I scored the last two Mottsa Lottsa pizzas .. 

home is feeling might good about now ... I see an iced coffee and raspberries in my future.

 

ahhh chooooo

I cannot remember the last time I had a cold -- or major sniffles.

We left the cabin late Sunday afternoon, I jumped on the lawnmower to finish that project before the rain and sneezed the entire 2 hours .. I knew something was perking.  By the time I showered and ate -- the nose started to drip.  I got up with thunder/lightening/wind at 4:30 and moved to the recliner -- took the meds and slept until 7:30 . getting to the office two hours after normal was the pits...THE PITS -- my whole day was off ..

I was supposed to attend P/Z -- they had a quorum so I left .. home for a hot shower, more meds and laundry .. slept awful ( which is normal ) .. and back to work this morning -- loading up the drugs and off to the government center ... meetings this morning -- employee picnic to follow -- which I will probably miss .. sharing germs while serving food is never a good idea ...

in the meantime I'll keep whining about how awful i feel ... 

 

FF -- finally Friday

   Argh .. it's finally Friday ...

I've spent the last two nights surfing the internet for a quilt pattern.  Backstory -- will scrolling thru Instagram I saw a cool 1/2 square triangle quilt -- kind of modern looking -- large scale ... and because I and a zillion other weird people surf while contemplating life ( on the throne, yes, that throne) ... I didn't save it.  

I'm still looking for it. 

I'm going to have to wing it and do my own thing.  

Evidently weird weather is on the way -- I didn't pay attention until I received an alert for "extreme/high" heat this afternoon.  

and now it's Saturday morning -- thunderstorm raging ..
after all the rain this summer -- I still love the sound of a good pitter patter of rain .. although the 50 mph wind gusts kind of drown out the pitter patter

I managed to butcher the lawn again last night -- for some reason I felt the need to mow for a couple of hours last night - stayed with it until 8:00 it was hard to see the cut vs. uncut .. 

not sure if we're headed to the cabin for the balance of the weekend or staying home and working -- I'm leaning towards cabin and maybe a sewing project or two or three or four

or a homework project or two or three or four

lawn butcher

my new job title -- lawn butcher ... dang i last mowed Thursday and the crap had 6" of growth in a couple spots . the quack/crab grass is thicker than ever .. repeated mowings will do that .. but here I am -- smoke and all -- 4 1/2 hours last night ... another hour tonight and I should be done .. I mowed last night until I couldn't see .. 

 

Sunday musings

sorry overdosing on the effin bird posts 

one of the fair winners was a panoramic of downtown st peter .. i spied the old house ...

new fabric -- always ideas .

and a non zoomed shot of the pic -- it was really cool full sized .

I spent part of Friday at the fair -- commissioner lunch and then back for herdsmanship judging .. judging during the 102 heat index was awful .. not good for this aging Diva ...

at the lake today -- I got up at 4:30 -- read the papers and napped until 8:00 .. 

started laundry, tossed on clothes -- 

dumped off recycling, stopped at the office with regular garbage and emptied the dehumidifier -- 

then decided HyVee was a go -- there was only 5 cars in the lot -- 

spent $100 on groceries -- hit up the car wash and quick trip -- 

got home -- loaded up mom and food, back to quick trip for cabin milk and well, here we are -- it's supper time and we're perusing the cupboards deciding on supper -- I think it's pasta and jarred alfredo sauce with fresh veggies .. turkey on marble rye was lunch ... ice cream treats too 

it is gorgeous out here at the moment -- less humidity, nice breeze and really quiet ..

 

treats

Monday night treats ( a few days later ) ... I picked up mom from her Hokey Pokey meeting and since there were no cars in front of the ice cream shop - we just HAD to stop.

tasty stuff -- caramelious ?  

fair day -- commissioner luncheon at noon -- herdsmanship judging between 5 - 8 ... the night gig will be during the "heat advisory" and the demo derby .. damn good to be me ...

will be having ice cream for the trek home -- hello dairy barn :)

 

ruby!

 

how about a spot of Ruby love this morning -- we ( Ruby and I ) are headed to the metropolis of Gaylord, Minnesota  -- watershed planning ( always the water gig ) and rumor has it Gaylord has a fun new coffee shop -- might need to scope it out .. 

Yesterday was an HRA gig -- I opted for virtual -- it was planned to be in and out in 15 minutes -- I'm not driving 40 minutes for a 15 minute or less gig .. well, the 15 minute gig got quite heated for a spell .. we all need to learn before we spew -- homework -- before spewing is appreciated by all of us.

I finished mowing last night -- 2 more hours .. had an incident going downhill behind the ditch lilies -- I got hung up on the electrical box -- downhill, slippery creepin charlie and too much speed.  left some skid marks ... at least I didn't knock out the power ... 

just another day on the farm

working on my weekend project list -- I have two lists one for hot muggy indoor projects and one for not hot and muggy outdoor projects .. projects never end 

such is life

tools

 every job needs the right tools ...

this is my new weed whip/brush cutter gizmo

i whine about spending money -- this was money well spent 

she sliced thru the 3' tall weeds at the office -- like buttering bread

until the battery died !!!   

downfall -- with the big battery it's kind of heavy to handle 

after the weed job -- I went home and spent another 3 hours on the lawn mower -- it never ends and I woke up to the pitter patter of rain this morning -- so mowing was probably a good idea .. more mowing  to finish up this evening and when the hot weather returns this weekend  -- the indoor projects will be calling 

I'm really going to need a vacation from the projects

until then I'll be a weed destroyer that constantly charges batteries -- both the gizmo and my own

old age moments

Monday -- and the weekly planner and "to do" list is laying on my desk at home .... might be a good reason to play hooky today -- wrong, I'm too responsible for that to happen on a Monday.

Less smoke this morning!  although it was dark(er) on the inbound at 6:00am.  Not ready for the darkness - never ready for the darkness.  

The entourage of stuff made it home from the lake yesterday -- I am a pack mule for said voyage -- 
   1 laundry basket of dirty clothes/towels/rugs
   1 ex-large 31 tote of food ( uneaten and leftovers
   1 large 31 tote of medical devices, drugs, books, snacks, misc
   1 large tote bag of technology - 1 laptop, 1 iPad,  1 tablet (mom's) chargers, and etc
              ( includes office homework)
   1 large bag of trash

Yesterday, was load up a trailer load of branches ( Lee brought out the trailer), rake leaves and branches and then assist with moving in the dock -- I volunteered to crank on the "come along" gizmo in lieu of standing in the lake and pushing on the dock.  Cranking also has it's pitfalls.  Dock got moved in .. pontoon got moved in ..  lake life.  

I started and finished a better book -- and surfed the www .. an airfryer is headed to daisy lane -- if the Pioneer Woman can cook with one so can we.   haaaaaahhhhaaaahhhhaaaaa

fabric argh

I've managed to waste away the day -- so far .. and the rest of the evening doesn't look promising .. I've surfed the internet, pulled weeds at the beach, cooked dinner, cooked supper, washed dishes and read a stupid book.

Why do we keep reading even if the book is dumb .. I kept hoping it would get better alas -- wrong.

I fell off the "buy no fabric" wagon this evening.  I caught Mom cutting her toenails with my fabric snips ( can't spell sicssors - never will ) .. in the aforementioned surfing -- there was fabric surfing - so I ordered her  a snips .. evidently the $30 snips is "perfect" .. and some sale fabric for myself 

and the true test of adulthood -- I ordered a new electric weed trimmer/whip with a "blade" attachment - and have proceeded to order a new electric blower -- same company with interchangeable batteries .. adulthood is $700 of weed whip/blade/battery and blower .. Home Depot delivers -- free delivery .. argh.  the the games begin.

 

T G I F

I've been pretty good avoiding the fabric lately -- clothes not so much -- I scored two tank swing dresses and used my Kohls cash .. I paid the shipping .. and they're fun prints ... 

I scored a pair of barrel jeans from Old Navy last week -- I've wanted to try a pair but the Mkto store never seems to have them in my large body size.  So I ordered a 1/2 price pair last week .. they are a nice pair of loose fitting heavyweight dark denim jeans.  

the proportions on them work pretty well for me - I was really surprised at the fit and weight of the denim -- I got lucky 

 

I'm actually yelling at myself.  all the time.  

Mowing is done, gas in Jeep, mom has her stuff packed for the lake -- I forgot my homework so will stop and pick it up on the outbound -- and find another sewing project .. or two or three ... I have a couple loads of laundry to knock out in the morning and pack up some food .. I restocked my reading materials this evening .. the iPad was running low on good reading :) 

such is life

remember -- all of us are idiots

but I'm an idiot in a good looking pair of jeans that fit my tush :)