Is everyone getting ready for the weekend? I know some of you work - so the weekend has more meaning. For us retired gals - well, it is another day or two. They all seem the same and kind of run together. Shoot, many times I am not sure what day it really is!
I do basically the same things in the same order - 7 days a week. Throw a holiday in there - when the rest of the world has plans, or they are off work - and it messes me all up!!!! LOL
It is going to be HOT! The humidity is stupid!!!!! We have an air quality alert until Saturday evening due to the smoke from Canada. We have a heat advisory until Sat. evening as well. Today will be the hottest day of 2023 here, and tomorrow is promised to beat that. Well, aint that just grand? NOT
I go out early to feed the critters and Blackie - then check the garden and pick what is ready. I do go out from time to time and feed and water animals and then water the pots. So far the main garden is doing fine without watering from soaker hose. We keep getting nice afternoon showers about every other day.
Blackie is being a stinker - he knows when females are in heat and other males are around. He "thinks" he has to roam around like the 'other' boys!!! LOL (much to do about nothing)
It usually happens on the coldest days, the rainiest/stormiest days, and now the hottest ones. Crazy cat!
I did see him this morning over at the empty property across the alley - he just hasn't come for breakfast yet. He'll get hungry and thirsty and show up soon. He loves to worry his momma! Stinker!
Hope you all get some goodies from the gardens or maybe go to a farm market this weekend. Stay cool and hydrated. Make sure you all leave plenty of water out for any pets or for nature. The birds and squirrels need water too - and it tends to keep them away from the tomato plants!!!!!!
Have a wonderful weekend and hopefully you all get a nap in!!!!!!
Tomorrow I am only working until 10am so I'll be starting my weekend off early. I'm going to stop by the farmers market and then enjoy the weekend at home. I have a book that is calling my name. We have the same weather here and it is a bit brutal. We haven't had as much rain though and it doesn't sound like we're supposed to get any for a week or more. Enjoy your weekend!!
ReplyDeleteStart the weekend early - love it. Stay in, stay cool and just enjoy to the fullest!
DeleteSuper hot in SW Florida for so long now I've lost count! Yard work in the early mornings is best...but not too early (mosquitoes). Sadly, we cannot leave any kind of standing water out for wildlife, as it attracts the mosquitoes...there have been 7 or 8 cases of malaria in an area about an hour and a half north of me. New twist to mother nature!
ReplyDeleteOur Publix ad came out today (Aldi was yesterday) and I really need nothing except bananas for DH. Yea! I love grocery shopping as a rule, too, but I have become disenchanted as my larders are stocked and it seems the only specials involve junk foods!
I am not seeing any shortages in the stores now, unless I have just gotten used to it. I know some products have been dropped, maybe to make room for new items(?)
We do not have the smoke from Canada, but we have been having Saharan Dust off and on for a while. Just makes the sky hazy and also prevents the rain from falling---not good!
Am I sounding negative today? Not really---we are incredibly blessed and fortunately love our home. Staying in is not an issue :)
Sounds hot! I look like a brain damaged person when I go out in the evening to put foods up/or clean up area. I have long pants, socks and long sleeves - OR I get eaten alive. I understand.
DeleteGood - no shortages really here either that I notice.
Stay in and stay cool. Have a good weekend.
Our temps are going back up again starting today. No rain in sight, but possibly a thunderstorm (I'm not holding my breath) late this afternoon. Busy the rest of this week and weekend.
ReplyDeleteBeen watering my veggie pots early in the morning. Just yellow squash and beans now, plus the parsley and some flowers in pots.
My Blackie has been in a fight and has a nasty wound on his leg. It's getting better, no bad smell, and it is open, so no abcess. Whew. :) Cats... gotta love'em.
There is a neighborhood get-together on Saturday for a new neighbor family, a welcome party. Nice idea, glad somebody thought to do this, but I don't look forward to the big hike up the hill to the party in the afternnon heat. Hostess promised iced lemon water when I get there!
Had nice lunch with my cousin yesterday. She's nearly 90 and it's great to see her. We ate catfish at the local fish place, yum yum yum.
Now time for me to go to work, guess they have something for me to do. Good for this old lady to get out and be useful. :D
Stay cool y'all!
MaryB
Stay cool - it is a scorcher.
DeleteOh I hope your Blackie is doing OK. Bummer - them scampers get into some fixes.
Party sounds nice. That is kind to do to welcome someone.
Glad you get out and do things - feels good. You do great!
Have an enjoyable weekend.
Yes, it sure has been HOT. Fascinating bit of info... according to the data collected (and published) by the EPA from a 100+ year tracking re. heat wave indexes, the decade of the 1930s had as much as 4 X higher heat wave indexes in the lower 48 states!! Did not know that. Was amazed by the graph. Remember, no air conditioning then. How on earth did our ancestors make it through those summers?
ReplyDeleteI remind myself it will be fall before we know it, and then winter when we all get tired of the cold and snow. LOL!
Yesterday was our oldest son's birthday. 36. He'll be here with his friend on Sunday. I'm so grateful they're coming out of their way for a brief visit on their way to the National Parks in Utah. It will be a very happy weekend for this momma.
Hubs did run out to Safeway last night to try and get the two best deals (pork chops and seedless grapes). No great surprise, they'd sold out of the pork chops at 67 cents lb. We'd somehow forgotten a loaf of bread at Walmart the other day, so he used coupons for that and a couple of other items.
Stay cool and have a nice weekend, everyone! --Elise
In the much larger look at the climate (eons), we are actually in a global cooling period according to geological studies, though that is small comfort on a hot and humid day. Having grown up in Kansas with no a/c and with temps regularly over 100F for days at a time, I think our ancestors fared better because they were used to the heat all the time. Houses were more open to catch the breeze (sleeping porches, open windows, etc.) Chores were done very early in the day if possible. Now with air conditioned stores and offices it is harder to transition from a/c to heat. I sure wouldn't want to go back to no a/c, though. Tens of thousands of people in Europe die every summer from the heat.
Delete--Frances in the Trailer Park
Elis - fun facts! I heard something like that on the news the other day.
DeleteHope you have a wonderful visit with your son and hus friend. It will be a fun weekend for sure.
Have a wondeerful one.
Frances - more fun facts. I know we had no AC as a kid and the bedrooms were attic rooms. Oh it was hot. We would sleep on living room floor or daddy out on the porch - no worries back then. There never was whole house AC in the house - just window AC up till mom passed in 2001. Pretty amazing what we all got used to back then. I do love my AC today!
DeleteI've read a few excellent novels that deal with the Dust Bowl years in America. Tough years. Hot ones, too.
DeleteThank you both for sharing your own memories... not of those years, of course, but of others. And yes, Frances, I saw a documentary some years ago that said the same.
--Elise
Very high heat and humidity through Sat. for us. Received 3/10 in. of rain last night and added to the rain barrels. Scattered t-storms today. Sat. is supposed to be a rain day, too. Then blessed relief comes Sun.- Tues. I have the a/c on already just to take the humidity down. It didn't get below 75F last night (or below 80F in the house).
ReplyDeleteHusband has PT this afternoon. I will go to the local grocery for a couple of things early tomorrow morning. Other than that we will be staying in. I got my walking in early this morning, then blanched and froze some zucchini. Had planned to make zucchini bread but not in this heat. Yesterday we read and watched movies all afternoon. Mowing, laundry, and catching up on housework planned for the cooler weather next week.
--Frances in the hot and muggy Trailer Park
Your weather forecast sounds exactly like ours!
DeleteStaying in is the best policy. Sounds like you have a good plan. Don't blame you on not baking. Same here - cooler temps next week will get some things done.
Stay cool and have a lovely weekend.
Hoping the PT went well, Frances. It will be GOOD when things cool down! --Elise
DeleteI'm much like you, and if it weren't for my phone/laptop/Google assistant, I'd rarely know the day of the week, let alone the date. I always say, everyday is Friday and the weekend never ends since I retired.
ReplyDeleteOur heat wave was short-lived, just three days of a heat advisory, and it has been cooling down nicely overnight. It reached 28C (82F) yesterday, but because I'd cooled the house off the night prior, the a/c didn't even kick in until late afternoon.
Thankfully, our air quality has also improved - I guess due to the smoke moving south. The fire season is still well underway, so I expect we'll have more smoke in the coming days and weeks.
Enjoy your weekend!
Funny how unimportant the days and date is once you retire!
DeleteGlad your heat is done for now. It is yucky! I have heard they are no where close to having fires out - such a shame for all involved.
Take care and enjoy!
The pups get plenty of water though I notice that I'm not drinking enough water at work and also at home, these days. We were talking about it at work yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThis weekend, I'm on shift for three short hours on Saturday morning and then I'm done until I go back Monday. Plans are to finish the shed outside. Paint it if no rain and get the rest of the sides repaired. Also, some down time to write, read, draw and play.
And sip hot tea ...
Must be cooler there - can't imagine doing that work in the heat - let alone sipping hot tea!
DeleteJust don't over do. Drink those fluids.
Have a good one.
We got all of 1/4" of rain yesterday, despite the rolls of thunder and black skies. So, I watered all of my containers and deck planters heavily. I've picked 4 tomatoes so far and all have had blossom end rot, likely due to the heavy heavy rains we had shortly after I planted the starts. There are plenty of other tomatoes on the vine, so I'm hopeful that the later ones will be ok. Peppers are coming on nicely, one is almost ready for picking. Lots of flowers on the pickle cucumbers, but still no cukes. Lettuces and herbs are still going. As for the weekend, my younger sister is coming for the weekend, arriving mid-day tomorrow. This is our annual "yarn crawl" week, where our locally owned knitting and crochet shops hold special sales and offer a give-away basket. She, my daughter, and I are going to "crawl" to many of the shops, including the one where we take our crochet classes. Should be a fun couple of days, not only for the shopping excursion, but for the family time. In preparation, I have zucchini bread in the oven. Yum!
ReplyDeleteSorry about the tomatoes - it seems the first ones do that sometimes. My lettuce is way done.
DeleteOh what a fun weekend that will be. You girls will have a blast. I love the family planned get togethers like that. Such fun.
Have a great time!!!!
Hmm, I think I've known some fellas like Black ie.
ReplyDeleteIt is super muggy. We put green beans in the canner and while it was doing its thing went out to pick beans. Doing another canner after the pressure goes down. Cooked a few for lunch, roasted some beets which I will skin and cut up with butter, salt and pepper with balsamic vinegar. Found a recipe for scalped potatoes and turnips. Watermelon and cantaloupe for dessert again.
Stay in where its cool! I think it will cool down some in a few days.
LOL - yeah me too - all time and fluff and no game!!!!!
DeleteOh the muggy meter is ridiculous. Feels like you are breathing water.
Canning would not be my planned activity in this heat!!! You go gal. Yes, it is supposed to get better after Saturday. Here's hoping.
Stay cool and have a good one.
Well Blackie needs his entertainment. I look forward to Sunday as I usually take a nap.
ReplyDeleteI guess he does. He hangs out here 99% of the time - so I am sure he gets bored!!!!
DeleteENJOY the nap to pieces!!!!!!! Have a good one.
It's been incredibly hot and humid here in south central Pa. We've been harvesting the gardens early in the morning and blanching and freezing the produce before breakfast. I baked some new to me recipes:gluten free zucchini bread using oat flour, made by grinding up the oats in the blender. I made 2 dozen, and zucchini scones with cranberries and chocolate chips for hubs. That recipe was on the King Arthur site. He declared it a winner. The original called for dried cherries but I didn't have any so I used dried cranberries instead. Instead of lemon zest I used orange zest and glazed with an orange glaze. Also made up 8 containers of cream of zucchini soup base. Also froze 5 quarts of green beans and 4 pints of chard and 4 quarts of shredded zucchini to be used over the winter. I think we'll be taking it easy this weekend, reading, crafting, watching movies. The heat index is supposed to be over 100 degrees. The only time I think we'll venture out is to water the garden. Cookie
ReplyDeleteYou have been busy and very creative. Love it! Love your substitutions. Smart.
DeleteHeat index over 200 here as well. Actual tomorrow is supposed to be like 97. UGH
Please take it easy this weekend. Sounds like you can use a break.
Stay cool and have a good one.
Hello my friend! I don't envy you with the high humidity combined with the heat. We have a very dry heat here and our fire season is in full swing unfortunately. We have had a few days with smoke, but nothing like you are experiencing there. Crossing my fingers that it stays that way because every Summer we seem to have a few weeks of smoke filled skies that make everything and everyone miserable. To end on a very positive note....naps are amazing and I am taking more of them myself! ;)
ReplyDeleteThe humidity is awful. Be happy you don't have that. Fire season is just so scary.
DeleteNaps are pretty cool. I used to never nap - now I do often!
Have a great weekend.
Schools mostly broke up for the summer break last Friday and we have had rain on and off this week and the evenings have been getting cooler. I visited a friend yesterday who I have not actually seen since Covid. We had a few hours of chatter at her house and she sent me home with 5 murder/mystery books by various authors, so that could be my weekend sorted, lol.
ReplyDeleteFather in law picked a huge container of black berries yesterday which I have washed and frozen.
We have vouchers for tea, scones, jam and cream at a venue 3 miles away so will either go this afternoon or tomorrow. My hubbie has a motocross event to go to Sunday, so that's our weekend.
Hope you have a good weekend Cheryl and your boy does not go wandering too far.
Our schools are going back. They only get short breaks several times a year.
DeleteHow neat that you got to visit with your friend.
The blackberries sound good. Hope you get lots of goodies with the vouchers.
Have a fun weekend!!!!
Children and young people up to 16 get six weeks off during the summer. College and Uni students get slightly longer.
DeleteI am avoiding the heat by staying indoors. 😂 it’s 76 degrees in the house with only the fan running right now. I’ll take it. 😊
ReplyDeleteYep - that sounds like a good plan! The humidity is nuts. We have rain right now - keeping the temps down.
DeleteHave a nice weekend.
Finally got a decent amount of rain last night. More than just a sneeze. That should help with nearby fires. Hot, humid day ahead, but I'm grateful for the rain. --Elise
ReplyDeleteYAY - how wonderful. I sure hope it helps. We are having a rainy morning here. Keeping the temps down a bit at the moment.
DeleteStay cool - and have a good one.
The solar company is from the Phoenix area where one worker said the temps have been 119. He's glad to be here today. Very cloudy today and much, much cooler. Prayers for their safety dealing with electric wires, as we could get more rain today. --Elise
DeleteAs Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, said in Downton Abbey - What's a weekend? Years ago, a friend & I were rained out from a quad trip. We were planning another date, looking at weekends. Why are we just looking at Fri & Sat? What about Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs & Fri? We laughed. It sunk in that we were retired.
ReplyDeleteLOL - yep - I understand that!!!!!! That is funny. Things are much less crowded on other days.
DeleteBeng retired has advantages.
Have a good one.
Mona, that's my husband's favorite Downton Abbey quote. Now that we're retired, it's the way we live. Without the household staff or the big estate. LOL! --Elise
DeleteIt is very hot here, yesterday we did get some good wind coming through and that was wonderful. I'm trying to stay in the shade when walking. Filled our birdbath yesterday, refreshing it. Making sure waters outside for chicks and fur angels are refreshed too.
ReplyDeleteI love that meme! I can relate, I love my routines! lol
My husband tells me when he was a little boy in a Catholic school in late 50s and early 60s, there was no a/c and the nuns wore the traditional uniform. Can you imagine? Long black robes with the long black head covering? We're in the south here.
Have a great day Cheryl! Oh, we saw a good movie, 'The Farmer's Daughter'. It has Joseph Cotten, Loretta Young and Ethel Barrymore (good quality there...yes indeedie) I slept through bits and pieces but hubs said it was excellent. I saw enough off and on, (twice) haha...to see it was a wonderful movie, it's one of those feeling true blue American from the old school, doing the right thing movies. It's on youtube with no commercials by a youtuber named DK, it's the one of his youtube channels called something like: DK III. He's got some real treasures on there too. ~Amelia
Glad you had a refreshing breeze. We are getting some rain today (unexpected) and it is keeping temps down at the moment.
DeleteI always saw the nuns at my doctors office when I was young - thought it looked so hot!!!
Sounds like a neat movie. Seems like I saw that years ago.
Good old fashioned shows - love!
Have a good one!
Amelia, I went to Catholic school in the 1960s and early 1970s. The nuns still wore habits then. Theirs were white with black, head to toe, with black leather ankle boots and huge, wooden rosaries attached to a belt at their waists. Air conditioning was already a thing then. Thankfully!
DeleteThank you for the tip about old movies via You Tube. I've always been an old movie fan and have joked I was born in the wrong era. LOL! --Elise
Wouldn't you know it, workers from the solar company showed up very early this morning, unannounced, while I was still in pjs. They claim the job will be finished today and we'll (finally) have battery back up to the house in the event of blackouts. Woo-hoo!
ReplyDeleteHubs just went to get donuts for them. We'll be w/o power when they have to hook up the wiring to the house. I'll get frozen broth in the fridge beforehand. IF it works out to be done, all 5 workers will go home with a 1/2 pint jar of strawberry preserves, too.
--Elise
YAY - hopefully they get it done. I am sure they have run into PJ's before!!!!!
DeleteVery kind of you to give them a gift!
DONE. We now have what was contracted in the 1st place.
Delete:-D
Cheryl, I'm with you! I may walk to the car, but only to go from house to some other indoor place :) I will water the plants, but only after 8:00 p.m. when the temp has dropped to 90 :) Call me when it's October!
ReplyDeleteIt didn't get quite as hot as hot temp wise as predicted - but the humidity is crazy. We had storms come through and that held things back a bit - then the sun came out! WOWZA it is muggy. I am not wishing for winter - but a bit cooler please! LOL
DeleteIt has been cooler here the last couple of days, which is absolutely wonderful in my books.
ReplyDeleteLike you the weekend is just another two days to me, except I call my youngest brother every Saturday as with his schizophrenia things need to be done on schedule or he panics.
God bless.
Cooler will be nice. Look forward to it.
DeleteHow nice of you to call him. Schedules are very important in many lives.
Have a great one.
I've been leaving a bowl of fresh water by the rain barrel for the cats that roam to my house from next door. I'm the treat lady I guess. It is cooler this morning here, I hope your cooler too.
ReplyDeleteGood for you!
DeleteWe had a big storm come through this morning and it cooled it a bit. Humidity is starting to fall some - that is wonderful.
Have a nice weekend
OT... Explanation of the 13 Month Solar Project
ReplyDelete--The "Why" began before we bought land; there's a power plant near Holbrook (AZ) that is being shut down. The state is negotiating with Mexico to get power. Phoenix has been exploding in growth and with older power plants in the state closing it's a serious issue. We always knew we'd want/need solar power, in addition to propane.
--The "How" is interesting. While staying with our son last year, the power went out a few times. Also, we were unprepared for the heat at this high of an elevation. A sales rep from Bright Home Energy was going door to door. Our son's house has a tin roof and his property has many pine trees (too much shade for solar), but we were there and had him meet us where our house was in final stages before move-in. Plenty of sun. The company offered to throw in central air conditioning free with a contract.
--The "Contract" had to be for ground mount so as not to void the 30 yr. warranty on the roof. We had a perfect spot for the panels on the back 1/2 acre, behind some evergreens (invisible to the street), and opted for a back up Tesla battery to the house in case of power outages. The solar itself has to be wired to the electric pole and provides power to the electric grid for Navapache power, giving us a super low bill. Contracting with BHE meant locking in a zero interest month-to-month, low bill for 20 years with full 20 yr. warranty on everything... panels, battery, you name it. We signed in June 2022.
--The "You've GOT to be Kidding Me!" began. Problems and delays extended through 2022 and into 2023. The system was finally installed this past March (between snowstorms), BUT they wired everything--including the Tesla battery--to the power pole, giving us no back up to the house in a power outage. It was suggested we get a whole house propane generator. Um.. no.
--The "Finally!" happened this week, after much back and forth and their workers making several trips out to take measurements, analyze and figure out how to do what was originally contracted, staying in code and without having to redo the whole project. More trenching, more pipes, more wires and an outdoor breaker box added, the Tesla battery will now power the critical-power-need areas of the house if there's any outage. Brown outs happen often. Black outs happen occasionally. We're now covered.
--The "Lessons/Thoughts" from this experience many. America's infrastructure is old and becoming unreliable. The shift to *green* means many older power plants that require fossil fuels are being put to rest without immediate replacement. Those in rural areas are affected most. Solar companies--especially newer ones--have been enticed by govt. subsidies (in the billions) to expand rapidly. Rapid expansion means they've become stretched very thin; mistakes are common. The on the ground workers aren't to blame. They do what they're told by the big bosses who drag their feet being overwhelmed.
--Would I do it again, knowing what we know now? Yes. We can run the a/c without worry of a high bill. The back up to the house means I won't lose all the food in the freezers and fridge, Hubs' medication (has to be refrigerated) will be safe, we can use our cpaps at night w/o worry, will be able to cook and have heat (both propane + the pellet stove, yet need electric power to run), and function fine in an area power outage. In my opinion only, AZ getting power from Mexico is going to be dicey at best. Almost certainly costly. Cities will take priority for that power. Those of us in the boonies are best served to be as self-sufficient as possible.
Hope you don't mind my sharing, but some may be considering their options. Including solar. Maybe this will help you decide what's truly best for YOU. --Elise
Thank you for sharing your story. Very interesting and worth knowing for those who are rural like that. Quite an adventure for sure. As I was reading - my first thought was the old adage - if it sounds too good to be true - but it all worked out. Happy for you!!!!
DeleteHubster wanted hash browns for breakfast (I asked last night). So, I went to the grocery store at 0700 while cool and uncrowded ;-) I've been running out of pantry basics so it's all stocked up! And I made his pan of hashbrown casserole so he's set for at least 6 meals. Yes, I know I'm lucky to have him with me after 43 years....so many new widows in my life since December. Hugs to all of ya'll!!
ReplyDeleteDinner will be simple. I pulled a bit of cooked gr beef, black beans and enchilada sauce from the freezer. I'll make 4 enchiladas for dinner alongside fresh corn on the cob from our CSA this week. YUM! (I split a can of enchilada sauce when I open it and freeze half for later on).
Sourdough bread was purchased and will be Sunday french toast. Yum!
I've swept the patio, (I think) I saved a juvenile hawk being attacked by a murder of crows by walking toward the crying noise. It flew off after a few minutes after the crows scattered.
No big plans for the weekend....or the week for that matter. Isn't that the joy of being retired and keeping an empty calendar? Do what I want, when I want, IF I want :-)
Happy weekend all!
Yes mam - that is the joy of retirement.
DeleteYou are lucky and he is lucky to have you!
Nice that you fix him just what he wants - I am sure that is much appreciated. It all sounds yummy!
That is amazing that the crows went after a hawk - young or not. All I see are HUGE ones around here. If I didn't know better, at times I would think eagle - they are just huge. I shoo them off - I just don't like them around.
Enjoy this quiet and simple weekend.