Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive.

Or as the great Walt Kelly had his character Porky Pine say to Pogo: ''Don't take life so serious, son. It ain't nohow permanent.''

Good TOPS, you two...

CynB, good news about Col.

Heidi, Maybe you could rig up a 'mister' for the alpacas...

Hi, Everyone!

CynB, I hope all of Col's follow-up appointments go well. It's wonderful news that his vision is continuing to improve, even if it isn't as fast as you and Col would like. Apparently it takes some time for the eye, nerves, and brain all to get back in synch. I'll keep that in mind in case hubby is ever in a similar position. The thing about all the appointment is that doctors all seem pleased with the progress Col is making and want to keep tabs on that. It would be awful if they weren't seeing progress and just wanted to give up on the follow-ups. Keep up the good work, Col!

Great and true TOPP, CynB!

Heidi, that's another great way of saying it. A lot of good philosophy can be found in comic strips.

Though I know next to nothing about alpacas, DOrA's idea of a 'mister' for them sounds interesting, as long as they don't get soaked once the have regrown their coats.

Thinking of everyone and sending healing energy, prayers, positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and
! Stay well and wear masks!

Didn't do much today, between the rain and the ear infection. It's really bad right now. I just did some weeding around the yard once the rain stopped.

Heidi, I'm so sorry to hear your ear infection is so bad right now. I'm proud of you for getting some weeding done in spite of it.

Quiet day here today. I hope everyone is well!

Thinking of everyone and sending healing energy, positive thoughts, prayers, , and {{{{{HUGS}}}}}! Stay well, Everyone! I'm off too bed.

Heidi, I'm so sorry to hear your ear infection is so bad right now. I'm proud of you for getting some weeding done in spite of it.

Quiet day here today. I hope everyone is well!

Thinking of everyone and sending healing energy, positive thoughts, prayers, , and {{{{{HUGS}}}}}! Stay well, Everyone! I'm off to bed.

I guess summer has finally arrived somewhere. The temperature is supposed to be in the high 80s and low to mid-90s for the next week. It's a good thing I have my hammock and a good supply of Corona.

I have found that if one lives in an area where overnight temperatures cool off, a box fan installed in a window in a room that is less often used, with a piece of cardboard to block any open area surrounding the fan, works well. Then leave the fan running overnight and open only the window(s) where you want a cool breeze. If the fan is installed to blow the air out, fan noise will be minimized and the area between the fan and the open window will cool nicely. It might even cool the whole house, depending upon the placement of the fan, and the location of the open window...

Got my errands run, and was about to go outside to do more weeding and mowing, when the rain started. The weather forecast said ZERO chance of rain today. Oh well.

We're on our 4th day of steady rain today. So unusual for July. It's winter here and we get most of our rainfall in summer. I'm so over it. It just feels cold and miserable all day. I like crisp clear cool winter days.
We had stuff planned like finishing cleaning up the garden, loading the trash onto the trailer and going to the tip. Not going to happen now.
Maybe next weekend, but probably not, Col will be on his prep for his colonoscopy and won't feel like doing anything like that, hehe!!

Anyway, I've got things I can do. I have just given my office a big spring (winter?) clean. Looks good except for my watercolour stuff. I have to try to sort that into some semblance of neatness.
I have too many projects on the go - I'm trying to do a watercolour of racing yachts.
And trying to finish a round mosaic table using blue and white Delft tiles of windmills. Been on this project for 4-5 years, made a mistake and just covered it up for at least 3 years. Uncovered it recently and instantly saw how to fix it so I'm 3/4 done now. Hope to finish within weeks, if I don't run out and need to order and wait for new tiles.
And I'm going to do some Fluid Art on some terra cotta pots for my daughter.
And, last but not least, I'm designing some mini murals to paint on the doors of my craft cabinet which is painted bright yellow. I've done my designs (tropical fruit and birds) on paper but want to get the other projects done first.

Speaking about tropical things, I just changed my avatar to a tropical sunset to set the tone.

I'm impressed, CynB. You're getting a LOT of creative things done!

Once the rain stopped, I did some weeding. I'm now wringing wet with sweat and back inside rehydrating.

Hi, Everyone!

DOrA, I'm sorry to hear that you're getting some of the heat and humidity other parts of the U.S. have been dealing with. Your idea using the box fan to pull in cooler temperatures at night is a good one. It reminds me of what we had to do growing up with no air conditioning. (We didn't have a hammock or Corona, though.)

Heidi, it's good you got your errands done before the rain came.So much for zero chance of rain. So glad you got some weeding done after the rain, but it seems like the heat & humidity put a stop to the weeding and a start to cooling off and rehydrating.

CynB, that sounds like quite a bit of rain. Too bad it kept you and Col from doing garden cleanup and a trip to the tip with trash. I would tend to agree with you that Col might not be interested in doing it next weekend while doing the colonoscopy prep. But it sounds like you were able to put some time into cleaning/straightening/orgnizing your office and art materials. Sounds like you have plenty of projects either started or planned to keep you busy when you can't be outside due to inclement weather.

I like your tropical sunset avatar, CynB!

I really need to get to bed. Thinking of everyone and sending much healing energy, positive thoughts, , prayers, and {{{{{HUGS}}}}}. Take care and stay well!

Our rain has finally gone overnight, replaced by strong coastal winds. Since we are only about 5kms inland we are feeling and hearing them here. It's not yet dawn but the wind is howling outside, and without cloud cover it's a lot cooler this morning.

All these years of being on Sudoku,com (13 years), I still have to be reminded to select a 'comment type' every single day!! Doh!

I was outside weeding my gardens some more (they'd gotten pretty bad), with the sun beating down and sweat pouring into my eyes so I couldn't see straight. So I came back inside to cool off and rehydrate before starting up the lawn mower. Within 10 minutes, it completely clouded over, and I just heard a loud rumble of thunder. So much for mowing today, unless the rain passes by without leaving any behind. At least the garden in front of the house is starting to look pretty good.
And, while weeding around the fish pond on Friday, I spotted a whole school of baby koi!!! I've counted about 20 of them. They're only an inch long right now, but they can swim FAST.
Rats... the sky just opened up and it's pouring down. The only good thing is that I don't have to water the lantana in the pots on my back patio now.

I'm also glad I got all the feeding done in the barn, so I don't have to go out again. The radar shows that it's going to rain hard for a few hours.

Haven't gotten any more predators in my trap for days now. The count stands at 4 big raccoons and 13 opossums of various ages. I'm going to keep the trap set all summer long, but check it daily in case Raleigh, my cat, gets caught in it.

CynB, sorry about your colder and windy day! At least the rain has stopped!

How many times have I forgotten to change the comment type to General Chat?!

Heidi, hooray for getting more weeding done and the animals fed before the rain came. Even better, hooray for the baby koi!

I'm nearly asleep, so sending healing energy, prayers, positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and

Heidi, I'm interested in what you say about having lantana in pots! It is considered a noxious weed here. I can remember having lantana in our back yard when I was a kid but Dad had to dig it up and dump it.
I just did a bit of research on it as follows:
Lantana is the 'Jekyll and Hyde of plants' because it's reviled in warmer, wetter parts of world, where it invades pastures and forests and is poisonous to stock, but in cool, temperate parts of the world it forms quite an attractive shrub.

If I lived where you did, I probably wouldn't have lantana. But here it's lovely in pots. I have a few color mutations. I have 2 of the wild colored orange and yellows, 1 red and orange and 1 pink and lavender. They make a pretty display on the patio. They also are under control.

FINALLY got the lawn mowed between rains. I hate doing it when it's slightly damp because it leaves wet clumps and a few tire marks. But the alternative is to let the grass get way too tall.
My back is sore from all the weeding I've been doing. It'll heal.

I was just doing some weeding around my fish pond after mowing the lawn. (I spotted a half dozen weeds I missed on Friday) I noticed what looked like a coconut sized pile of dead leaves in the nandina next to the pond and reached to remove it. The next thing I knew I was covered in an angry swarm of wasps. (Of course I was wearing shorts and a sleeveless top.) I’ve been stung all over, but the worst sting is on the tip of my nose. I’m going to wait until dark, put on my night vision headlight, and spray those b@stards with wasp and hornet killer.

Last year, I thought it would be a good idea to take out a basket ball size, hornets nest with a 12ga. I should have backed off a little further. The result? A 3'' hole instead of obliterating the whole thing. And, yeah, they were mad. I returned the next morning, early, just before sunrise, while it was still cool, with my can of wasp and hornet killer, to finish the job...

If it doesn't cool off in the next half hour or so, the hound and I may not take our evening ''stroll''.

Got em!!! Revenge is sweet.

You used a 12 gs on a wasp nest, DOrA???? Why?

It's late & I'm falling asleep, so just dropping by to send healing energy, positive thoughts, prayers, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and

Seemed like a good plan at the time... It was too high to reach and some of the inhabitants had already ''nailed me'' while I was mowing the trail under the nest, AND as you said ''revenge is sweet''.

Had another thunderstorm during the night. The lawn looks so good right now after the fresh mowing yesterday. The place looks better than it has in years. Mike the Vet planted a flower garden below my farm sign next to the road and it REALLY looks sharp. It's a riot of color right now.

My nose is still red and swollen!

Greetings to All! I'm dragging again tonight, so off to bed. Sending , healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, and prayers to Everyone! Good Night and stay well!

The wasp sting on my shoulder decided to act up last night. It swelled up to the size of half a ping/pong ball (cut in half) and started hurting pretty badly. It kept me awake. I took some more Benadryl™ orally and rubbed more Benadryl™ gel on the area and took anti-inflammatories, and the pain eased up. It's funny that the worst of the reaction in that spot started over 24 hours after being stung. I'm continuing with the meds.

I want to spray some herbicide on the driveway, but it looks like it's going to rain again. It's a 100% chance of rain tomorrow, so I'm going to enjoy taking it easy for a bit. I do need to get busy weeding the fenceline around the lawn, though. That hasn't been done since before I had the pneumonia. It looks bad, especially now that it's looking so good around the house where I've been weeding.

It is so infuriating that despite our state and it's people taking good care with Covid restrictions and rules, we were almost leading our normal lives - until yesterday! It was revealed that two 19yo girls flew to Brisbane from Melbourne, via Sydney, lied on the entry passes and for 8 days have been spreading their Covid germs around. So we are all on high alert while we wait to see what the spread is. Already, later yesterday, a friend of theirs who hadn't traveled with them, tested positive.
Stupid girls!!
Both my kids live near to the main area that they were spreading their germs, and their kids visit, and they visit us - so unbeknown to us and thousands of families like us, we may have been spreading germs and/or becoming infected unwillingly and unknowingly.
I am more than furious, as are most people.
But, then, our stupid Brisbane newspaper, a Murdoch one, decided to actually name and shame the girls. Maybe they needed to be but there will now be vigilantes looking for them. I don't believe violence will help. What a mess!

Oh lord. All it takes are 1 or 2 fools, and all H3LL breaks loose again. And then they add fool to the fire.

Agree CynB about the 2 girls (although there are now 3 of them) Stories are different, one is they flew to Melbourne to attend a secret party (which I believe is probably true as the Sudanese here are constantly flouting our laws and in Brisbane it seems) and the other was to steal some designer handbags. The way it was broadcast to all how they returned home is ridiculous - should have been kept quiet as there will be copycats. At least they are in hospital under guard now and I hope our pathetic system throws a soft sided book at them . It is time we woke up and handed out decent sentences.
You sound like you have been very busy Heidi - hope the ear infection is getting better. Great you have some newbies in the pond and had to smile at the thought of the alpacas loving the water spray. Would have loved to have seen that
Today it was announced all of our state, Victoria, is in lockdown (not just the Melbourne area) and the rural areas are included to wearing masks as from next Sunday night. Wish this had been done at the start, New Zealand had the right idea. We have so many idiots who don't believe any restrictions are necessary.
Read about the dreadful stats from the U.S.A. - just appalling.
My brother had the first of 3 ops yesterday - 4 stents in his heart, next week a valve and a month later his liver. He sounds so much better to speak too, just wish we could visit.
Take care everyone (you too Julie - you sound like you are running on empty)..
(Also smiled at the vision of DorA with her gun and the wasp nest - way to go girl)

Good news about your brother, Midge! I hope the other surgeries go as well, and he ends up with a long and healthy life after this ordeal.

New Zealand should be the role model for the world on how to handle an epidemic correctly. It can still work if everybody starts over and follows their lead. Unfortunately, here in the USA, we have too many morons who think (?) that because they bought their way into power, they know more than experts.... so they won't listen to scientists. Things are going to continue getting worse here. Which is why I'm staying in lockdown.

Midge, those girls weren't Sudanese, by the looks of their botoxed faces they are of Asian origin, and by the sound of the restaurants they went to and the area they lived in. Although one did go to an African Supermarket (but so does my daughter)! However I don't believe the race card comes into this. Stupid people come in all ethnicities