busy with life...

It's been busy lately... what with DH's Bell's Palsy, 2 birthdays, Covid boosters, and company coming. I guess this is a good thing... to be busy with life. 

DH's Bell's Palsy is pretty much over and done. Both our birthdays were celebrated quietly but happily, got our 2nd Covid boosters Monday. DH is fine, me - not so much - extremely tired and achy Tuesday, but fine on Wednesday.

My Brother and Sister-in-law are coming for a weekend visit in  August, so we are getting our guest room ready. Haven't had any visitors in over 2 years, so there's a little preparation to do. We actually went out and bought a bedroom set for that room... (have been meaning to do this for a while, just had put it on the back burner).  

Didn't realize that with all the other supply problems going on... that getting a bedroom set bought and delivered before October was going to be difficult. We must have checked 5 different furniture stores before finding one that could actually deliver this week. I'll post a pic once things are set up and ready.

Oldest son hurt his back recently. He, wife, dog, and bunny spent a weekend in an RV on a lake on the 4th. While boating in the lake, Winston (their Golden Doodle) unexpectedly jumped into the water and surprised everyone (including himself since he's never been swimming before). He did have on a doggie life jacket, so when he popped up again, son grabbed him with one arm and pulled him back inside the boat. Winston weighs about 80 lbs, so the next day, son realized that he must have twisted his back doing this as he could hardly move or walk. It's gotten better now - thank goodness.  

Youngest son and his family are going off to Florida for a few days this month. I'm looking forward to pictures of granddaughter on the beach! 

And I just learned that our daughter will be coming here in September. I'm excited about that - as we haven't be able to get together much at all during the pandemic. Oh, and I have a video of her young bunnies. She lets the older ones run loose on the property, but she keeps the young ones together to get them people friendly in order to find homes for them. 

Also as mentioned in other blogs, her animals take well to each other. The chickens accept the bunnies in their area... and recently they couldn't find their large tortoise. He had climbed out of his area and was found snuggled up with one of the hens in the doghouse. Yes, they also have a dog, a Great Dane (Moose)  and 2 horses (Tootsie and Hemi).

tortoise and chicken in dog house

close up of tortoise and chicken

There are also things going on that are not so good too... but I find it best not to dwell on that. 2 of my cousins in New Orleans have just been diagnosed with Covid, another is suffering with 'long term Covid' from contacting it last year. I think the new variant is extremely contagious and spreading very fast. It may or may not be one that puts you in the hospital, but to be honest, I don't want to take that chance. 

As for the heat here, we were 109 F ...and even if we get a day or so of the 90's, it looks like we're in for a triple digit summer. (It's strange as when you open the front door, the heat hits you - never really noticed that before). They are opening places all over for the  homeless and bringing water and fans to those that may need it. It makes me wonder - if this is Climate Change, we're probably in for more of this as time goes on.

And now for the good news of the day:

My first Black Swallowtail emerged out of Chrysalis today!

Isn't she beautiful? I took her outside and let her crawl onto a bush. She sat there and dried her wings and I took a few pics. Then I went inside for a little while, then came out to check on her. She must have been waiting for me as she suddenly took off on her first flight just then... flying around high in circles above me before landing on a branch of a tree. I told her she was beautiful and how wonderful her wings worked.  She took off again even higher and flew into our neighbor's yard. Hope she has a wonderful first day! 

This is a short video I took while her wings were drying. Thanks for letting me share this with you. It's these little things that make life worth-while when the world seems to be in shambles...

Hugs my friends,

Rian

(remember: sometimes you have to click twice on the videos for them to play!) 

my 77th birthday week... late post

Lemon Icebox pie

No big plans for the double 7's... since Monday was the 4th and I didn't want to get a cake (I had just made that Lemon Icebox pie for the 4th)... and DH's birthday is next week and he's sure to want a cake! (we didn't need a pie and 2 cakes) DH is borderline diabetic and that would be a bit much. 

But we did splurge and had 3 small filet mignon's with loaded baked potatoes and green beans. I don't buy much red meat ever, so this was a nice change. And even though, they were small, they were delicious.

But I did get flowers and balloons and a few gifts from the kids:

the roses in this arrangement were gorgeous

Granddaughter made the card!

We took another 3 boxes of books to Half Price Books this morning. And I'm getting ready to fill the boxes up again. DH and Grandson brought down more old furniture and stuff from upstairs that we will be either giving away or donating to the Salvation Army. I'm hoping to clear out the 2nd upstairs bedroom which has become a 'catch all' and put in a new bedroom set - so that there's a guest room again.

 

Mom moved in with us in 1994 and she had the entire upstairs for her things (2 bedrooms, bath, sitting area, etc. - previously our 2 sons area). When she passed in 2008 (at 94), we emptied it out and only replaced a bedroom set in one of the bedrooms - which Grandson now has. The other bedroom became a dumping ground. But that's about to change...

Temp was 106 F yesterday and supposed to be 107 today. Not planning to be outside much... except to gather more parsley for the caterpillars we're raising. They eat it up as fast as I bring it in.

I really need to get my 2nd Covid booster soon. DH will have to ask the doctor this week if he should wait because of the Bell's Palsy. I imagine he should wait a few weeks, but perhaps I'll go ahead and get mine. We have company coming to visit in August and I know it's possible to feel unwell for a day or two after the booster... so I'd like to get that over and done way before they come. 

Afraid this isn't a very interesting post... just life at our house. Oh, I should mention that we haven't seen One Eye (the old one-eyed feral cat) in a while. He usually spent a lot of time sleeping (and eating) in our yard. But he was getting pretty thin and sleeping a lot - so we wonder if he has left us for good. We wouldn't be surprised as we thought he was going to die over a year ago when he turned up all beaten up and the one-eye missing. He slept in the cat bed on the front porch every day and only got up to eat. But he eventually recovered and hung around. He wouldn't let us get too close, but he would come when I called him and throw him little treats (he loved bits of chicken or salmon).

It's Saturday... have a good weekend! Enjoy, but stay out of the heat! (and maybe put water outside for the critters?)

My mom & dad 

old pic (1952) of my mom middle, her 2 sisters and my cousins 
(I'm the one in front of my mom with the doll..)

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

(Didn't get to post this during my birthday week... so held it off until DH's birthday which is today!)

Black Swallowtail caterpillars... and old books

 

Caterpillar 1 - oldest, largest

Caterpillar 2 in small round vase

The Black Swallowtail nursery has begun! It amazes me how much 

they grow in one day... and already there are 2 more on the parsley, but they are very tiny and I will wait a bit before moving them.

Update on DH's Bell's Palsy:  He's doing much better. Eye and face seem normal, but meds working havoc on his stomach. Switched from Preds to antibiotics and doing somewhat better.

I can't believe it's July already. Seems like the time flies by lately. We didn't see granddaughter this week due to DH's condition and apparently she was home with a sore throat this week - so probably for the best. 

We're in the process of getting rid of  almost 54 years of book collecting...

We took 3 boxes last week and will take another 3 this week... and probably at least make another 2 trips after that.  Our kids aren't big readers.... they read, but not at the rate we do. And I just can't throw away books... they're too precious. So we're giving them to both Half Price Books and to any neighbors (by putting them outside on the curb).  

I do use Kindle and read on my iPhone, but still read (and re-read) hard backs and paperbacks. I've been told that due to the Pandemic, that a lot of places weren't taking any more books, puzzles, or games. Apparently the last few years of isolating caused a deluge of these things... that now  need to find new homes.  But our disposal has nothing to do with the Pandemic - and more to do with de-cluttering and downsizing due to age.

By the way, do you wordle?  DH and I do... which is strange as much as I love words, I don't like crossword puzzles, but do like wordle! I'm so  glad it's only a once a day thing. Both of us sometime during the day go to wordlenyt and play. So sometime during the day one of us with pass by and hold up 3 - 6 fingers to let the other know how they did. It's kind of fun...  

Ok, it's Friday and the 4th of July weekend! Have fun friends... and stay safe! I'm not a big fan of fireworks, but do love to watch "Independence Day" on TV! (and my birthday is July 6th - so the 4th has always been my birthday weekend - and perhaps 77 is something to celebrate - 2 lucky numbers, yes?)

Hugs (virtual),

Rian 

 

Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit!

July 1, 2022 - Rabbit, Rabbit, White Rabbit!