Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

Every day is a new beginning. Tafe a deep breath, smile and start again.

Oh darnit, that should say 'take' a deep breath!!

Sorry, I haven't been around for quite a few days, I had a busy week.
Col is on 2 weeks off work from Friday just gone. We don't have any real plans thanks to Covid, we could end up back in lockdown any day, so we are taking the opportunity to tidy up the yard and garden which has been sadly lacking any attention in recent months. We'll also do some day trips and lunches/dinners out, even catching up with some people. As long as his mind is off work.
Heidi, I hope your back is feeling much better now. Take care.
Hi to Julie, good to see you calling in,
And thanks DorA for your humour, nice to have a smile or a laugh whenever possible.

Thanks for a great TOPP, CynB! Well done! I apologize for leaving the last post on the bottom of page 444 and not realizing or warning everyone that the TOPP was approaching.

It's time for me to get to bed. Sending {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing energy, positive thoughts, prayers, and to All!

The back is still bad.... about an 8 on a scale of 1-10. That's still better than the 9 to 9.5 that I was feeling. In my scale, 10 is actually blacking out from the pain. I didn't quite hit that, but came close. I'm able to walk a little bit, for a few minutes, without a cane now. I seriously regret cancelling the epidural which had been scheduled for tomorrow. I had been feeling great until 4 days ago. I'm heading back to bed with the heating pad now.

Some wise, some funny, some too close for comfort!

My doctor asked if anyone in my family suffered from mental illness.. I said, 'No, we all seem to enjoy it.'

I thought growing older would take longer.

My bucket list: keep breathing.

Camping: where you spend a small fortune to live like a homeless person.

Just once, I want a username and password prompt to say, 'Close enough..'

Being an adult is the dumbest thing I have ever done.

Heidi, I hope you'll be able to reschedule that epidural in a timely manner! I'm so sorry your back got worse after you canceled your shot!

Thank you, DOrA, for another light-hearted list! I sure enjoy them. And, yes, many of them hit awfully close to home!

Thinking of Everyone and sending , prayers, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing energy and positive thoughts for all! Take care, Everyone!

Caught yet another opossum in the barn! I'm shocked at the massive numbers I've had invade. I lost count, but I estimate it has to be over 30 that I've killed in the past year.

Mike's ancient cow has been euthanized. She was in such severe pain from her arthritis that it was painful to watch her try to walk. But she knew something was up and made it difficult for us. Even in her advanced level of pain, she did not want to give up on life. I'm going to miss her. She had a noble personality.

Heidi, it seems that the opossums have decided your barn is opossum heaven. You certainly need to remain diligent!

The ancient cow apparently had a strong will to live. There must have been something very special in her life that inspired her! At least her pain has ended.

Thinking of Everyone and sending healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, prayers, positive thoughts, and ! Stay healthy!

We're keeping busy with lots to do and appointments to keep. I hope everyone is well! Thinking of Everyone and sending {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, , prayers, positive thoughts, and healing energy for each of you! Take care!

I was able to go to the feed store today to get more senior horse feed. Big improvement.

I just got a call from our water company. They had a major break in the line and our water has been contaminated. We're under a boil water advisory for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, I have a large supply of bottled water for drinking.

I'm so glad you're feeling better, Heidi! And I bet your senior horses are too! There will be enough feed for them, at least for a while.

That's great planning, to have a good supply of bottled water for drinking! I hope it will last long enough while repairs are made to the water line.

Thinking of Everyone and sending healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, , positive thoughts, and prayers for each of you and those you love!

Just got the all-clear call on our water. The 2 county-wide boil water advisory is over.

Heidi, Well that was nice and quick to get your water all-clear since the first advisory made it sound like maybe weeks. That's good.
I would be in big trouble if that happened to me. I never buy bottled water. Last year when we went on our Western Qld adventure, I bought a slab of bottled water, as well as taking a big can of it for the car. Advice is always to have water if you're travelling lonely desolate roads. We used about 4 of them. Brought the rest home. The family have taken a few now and then. A year later there are still 6 (out of 24) left.
Col's on 2 weeks annual leave. Last week was busy tying up loose ends and tidying up the overgrown garden (still a work in progress) but this week we will go away for 2 or 3 days, just for a small break. Probably up in the mountains around Toowoomba. Nice place, the Carnival of Flowers is held in September but they'll all still look good.

Hooray for clean water!

CynB, I hope you and Col enjoy his annual leave, including a few days away! Have fun!

Thinking off Everyone and sending prayers, positive thoughts, healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and for Everyone! Take care and stay well!

I burned the brush/junk pile 2 days ago. I'd let Robert and his father throw some old furniture on it, so I've spent the past 2 days out playing in the ashes with a powerful magnet, pulling up nails, screws, bolts, staples and all sorts of other hardware. I've filled a 5 gallon bucket with small pieces of metal already, and I suspect that there's more. The chickens are having fun helping, digging around in the ashes and uncovering stuff for me. I did discover that a Garter Snake had been caught in the fire... just at the edge, so he was intact but dead.

The powerful magnet would seem to be a necessity to go through the ashes of the brush/junk pile. We recently had a new roof put on our house. The company had severe large and powerful magnets which they dragged in the dirt near the house and found a lot of metal debris. We were glad to see them, as we worried about the lawn mower kicking up nails.

Thinking of Everyone and sending , healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thought, and prayers.

I was at the post office,
when I see a blonde woman
shouting into an envelope.

I asked, ''What are you doing?''

The blonde replied,
''Sending a voice mail.''

Tee-hee, Clever one, DOrA

I'm about to doze off at the computer, so willl say, Good Night. Sending healing energy, positive thoughts, prayers, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and to All!

Aging Gracefully Barbie ~ Finally, a Barbie we can relate to!

Bifocal Barbie -
Comes with her own set of blended-lens fashion frames in six wild colors (half-frames too!), neck chain and large-print editions of Vogue and Martha Stewart Living.

Hang on and check back -

There are quite a few....

I've got a pain management appointment in the morning. I have to leave home at 7 AM.

I can't believe how much feed the alpacas are going through. They've tripled their intake! I'm suspecting that this means that they are all pregnant. Plus, they won't let Hunter get too near them any more, and are rejecting his advances. With luck, that means 7 new babies in early summer.

I'll be attending a big National Alpaca and Llama show on November 6th. I'll be taking all my fleeces with me in hopes of finding a buyer. I have them stored in 36 gallon clear bags, and those are inside clear plastic totes. There are conformation classes, fleece classes (on the animal) and performance classes, as well as fleece judging (already sheared fleeces) and spinning demonstrations.There must be someone there to either buy my fleeces or who knows the best place to sell them.

Keep 'em coming, please, DOrA!

Heidi, an exciting thought that you may have that many babies next summer!

Have fun at the National Alpaca and Llama show. I hope you find someone who will be thrilled to buy most or all of your fleeces! But don't get 'fleeced.'

I'm headed to bed. Thinking of Everyone and sending , positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing energy, and prayers for Everyone!

Got to the hospital this morning after a hairy drive through pea soup fog and lots of school buses, only to discover that they'd changed my appointment to tomorrow morning, and forgot to tell me. Oh, well. I've been going to Pain Management for 21 years and this is the first time this has happened. I can cut them some slack.

I would like to find a regular buyer for my fleeces. They're valuable. Alpaca fleeces vary in price by quality of crimp. The poorest quality fleece starts at $100, and the price goes up pretty high. Usually, the younger the alpaca, the tighter the crimp, so my light fawn female, Barbie, has the poorest quality fleece and my medium gray and white female Ginnie has the best fleece. Hunter and Noel (I won't have fleeces from them until next Spring) have fleeces comparable to Ginnie's. Hunter's may be the best.

Aging Gracefully Barbie ~ Finally, a Barbie we can relate to!


Hot Flash Barbie -
Press Barbie's bellybutton and watch her face turn beet red while tiny drops of perspiration appear on her forehead. Comes with hand-held fan and tiny tissues.

Did you hear that 90 year old William Shatner (Star Trek's Captain Kirk) went up into the lowest levels of space today in an 11 minute flight? It was just long enough to experience weightlessness. He is now the oldest man to ever travel to space.

Aging Gracefully Barbie - that's about right, DOrA!

Heidi, you're very understanding, but it's still frustrating hat they changed your appointment.

I hope you find a buyer who will regularly buy the fleeces, Heidi!

William Shatner traveling into space - that's about as likely as Aging Gracefully Barbie, except that it's true.

Thinking of Everyone and sending along a boatload of healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, prayers, and ! Take care, Everyone!

Today is supposed to be our last day of summer-like weather for the year. Then nice cool temps in the 60's are to set in, with nighttime lows in the upper 40's. Delightful!

My appointment went well this morning. My next epidural is November 1st, and next office consult is Dec. 7th.

I've got a problem. I caught a skunk in the trap in the barn. I don't want it spraying in there. If I shoot it, it's anal sacs will relax and release spray. I'm about to attempt approaching it with a dark colored sheet in front of me to hide me from the skunk, then drop the sheet over the trap. I'm hoping I can then open the door, latch it open, then run out of there before the skunk sees me. I was sprayed once before, 40 years ago, and don't want to go through that again.

Mission Accomplished!!! The skunk was released without it spraying.

Aging Gracefully Barbie ~ Finally, a Barbie we can relate to!


Facial Hair Barbie -
As Barbie's hormone levels shift, see her whiskers grow. Available with teensy tweezers and magnifying mirror.

Good job releasing the skunk without getting sprayed, Heidi!

Facial Hair Barbie is a clever one, DOrA!

I'm falling asleep, so need to call it a night. Thinking of Everyone and sending prayers, positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing energy, and ! Good Night, All!

DorA. those ageing Barbie jokes are too close for comfort!
Heidi, hope your Pain Management went well. Glad you were successful with the skunk!!
Hi Julie, thanks for the hugs and positive thoughts. Same back to you.
We're back from our 3 days in the mountains - visited some museums, National Parks, the town where my Dad was stationed at the end of WW2 (at the Air Base), met my nephew for an Italian meal one night, experienced dense fog in the afternoon and severe storms at night when our car was safely garaged under cover, phew. All in all, an enjoyable few days.
But we are always glad to get back to the comfort of home. The worst of it is that Col goes back to work on Monday. More stress, just when he's relaxed and happy. That's life, I guess.

So do I stop with the ''Barbie'' jokes?

DOrA, we'll keep reading & enjoying the Barbie jokes, if you'll keep sharing them!

CynB. so glad you had a chance to 'get away' & enjoy yourselves!

Thinking of everyone & sending , healing energy, positive thoughts, prayers, and {{{{{HUGS}}}}} to All!

Aging Gracefully Barbie ~ Finally, a Barbie we can relate to!


Flabby Arms Barbie -
Hide Barbie's droopy triceps with these new, roomier-sleeved gowns. Good news on the tummy front, too -- knickers with tummy-support panels are included.

DOrA, these 'Aging Gracefully' Barbies hit a bit too close to home. Maybe that means that many (or should I say SOME) of us are also 'aging gracefully.'

Temperatures have been in the 40's to 50's overnight the last few days, and in the 50's to 60's during the day. I think fall/autumn is officially here. The air conditioner has been shut down for the season, and the furnace is now on. (Temperature ini the house have been in the 60's, and we've pulled out the sweatshirts to wear inside the house.

Thinking of Everyone and sending positive thoughts, prayers, healing energy, , and {{{{{HUGS}}}}} for each of you!

We're also having nighttime temperatures in the 40's here. And the daytime highs are in the low to mid 60's. I'm enjoying being able to wear long sleeve tops and light sweaters now.

After the heavy rain of 2 days ago, the ground is finally getting dry enough to mow the lawn. I'll be doing that in an hour or so.
I noticed that the cows damaged a gate post into the holding area. Fortunately, I have a LOT of replacement fence posts. I'll work on replacing the post this week, since it will mean digging a new post hole.... or 2. I may add some reinforcement to that section of fence. A bunch of years ago, my idiot ex drove his tractor into the gate post there, destroying it, and he and a friend repalaced the post and section of fence with something inadequate. I've been wanting to redo it right, and now is my chance.