The State of Light Bulbs Today

Have you tried to purchase a light bulb recently?  It is quite an experience.

Due to the legislation for ecological reasons, many sizes, types, and brands are no longer available.  I understand this.  Saving the Earth is a good thing.

However..... when we remodeled our bathroom several years ago, new lighting was installed.  A new fixture over each sink.  Each fixture has three bulbs.  These are clear glass, 75 watt, normal size.  And evidently these were on the "hit list" and no longer available.  Since they were installed by our contractor, I have no idea where he got them.

As I spent some time yesterday in the bulb aisle of Lowe's, I found clear bulbs of either 200 watt or 25 watt.  And those were either huge bulbs or very small, or unique shapes.  I found that many standard bulbs simply are not for sale any longer.  Newer style bulbs are more expensive.  I finally found some 75 watt, eco-friendly, higher cost bulbs.  They don't match the originals in the lighting.  But we will have to switch over as they burn out.  Sigh.  The good news is that this new one is a lot brighter than the originals.  Progress.  Time moves on.

In other news, we are doing well.  We've had some more rain.  The temperatures are creeping back up to HOT.  Life is good.

Stay safe!

AAAAAHHHHHHH!

If anyone has heard a big collective sigh coming from our area it's because the temperature has cooled off.  We've had several storms and more rain.  Yesterday, for most of the day, the temperature was in the high 70's and low 80's.  Still very humid, but cooler.

We're doing okay here.  There are some more bits and pieces down in the yard from the last storm but clean-up will wait until it is drier out there.

It was raining earlier this morning and Golfer did not go to the course to play.  We went to breakfast instead.  Yum!  We recommend "The Lunch Bell" in City Center.

I've been going through some closets and drawers and cleaning some things out.  The whole ant episode set the clean-out mode into action.  I'll be calling DAV for a pick-up date on Monday.

I think I mentioned that we had to get new phones  for the house.  They've been working very well.  We like the feature that blocks all unidentified callers.  We have been getting a lot of robo calls and political and sales calls, so it's nice to quiet those.  All was going well until Golfer noticed that the living room phone was no longer charging.  Well!  @$#!%&*^!!!  One of our dear furry kids had chewed the wires.  No one has fessed up.  Golfer repaired the wire and everything is working again.  And while we were out for breakfast we stopped and bought some crinkly wire wrapping and put on it.

The laundry is calling for me, so I'd better go for now.    Stay safe!

Follow-up for Yesterday's Brief Post

Yesterday was exhausting and totally not what I had on my mental "to-do" list!

Everything was taken out of the pantry and inspected.  It was either thrown out right away or it was wiped off and set aside.  The shelves, walls, floor, etc. were sprayed with our kitty-safe insecticide.  When that was dry I scrubbed the shelves and walls and floor.  In the process of all this a gazillion bitsy ants met their fate.

When that was dry, I sprayed the insecticide again around the baseboard and door frame.  Then when that was dry I inspected again and deemed it safe to move the surviving items back into the pantry.

Evidently it is high ant season in our area.  When I called for our pest control company to come the first thing the lady said was, "ants, right?".  She said the soonest someone can get here is Thursday morning.  Hence, my full blown assault.

While all that drying was going on, I inspected and cleaned out all the cupboards. No ants found, but I cleaned out a bunch of things and have a donation pile started in the garage.  As I said it was an exhausting day. I checked things again this morning and so far, so good.  No sightings.

Bikini told us about new show on SyFy - "Dark Matter".  We found the first two episodes and watched them during the drying times.  Pretty good!  It is now on our recording schedule.

Today I am catching up on all the things I had planned to get to yesterday.  None of those are going to involve outside work.  It's supposed to be 101 here, and humid.

Gotta' go.  Stay safe!

!#%&**^!!* ANTS! AGAIN!

YUCK!

MORE LATER!

STAY SAFE!

So True!

Stay safe!

HOT!!!

It's been HOT and HUMID around here lately.  This is not particularly news, but let's face the facts.  It is not even officially Summer yet!  One day the temperature was 99 and the humidity was around 50%.  Next day was still as hot and the humidity was 65%.  Our friends in Arizona would hate this.  One day Kirk, our MDX, said it was 114.  He had been sitting in the sun and obviously did not like it.  We got a message saying that due to the high heat one of his functions would not work on the tech package.   He was happier when we got him home to the garage.  Needless to say, I am not doing any yard work at this time except for the bare minimum.

I've been doing all the normal, routine stuff that needs doing around here.  Also tackled a couple other projects.  Errands have been done, groceries bought, life is good.

Nurse J made it home from Arizona okay, and has now taken the girls to Hershey Park for a couple days.

Bikini is in New York City for work, meetings and classes.  One class was learning to write better speeches.  The Instructors were former presidential speech writers.  Sounded interesting.

I took Finnigan to see Dr. W for his annual check-up.  He was very good, but  not happy.  Angus goes this Friday.  I'm sure he won't be happy either.

Golfer and I went to see "San Andreas".  We liked it and thought it was a good movie.  I love a good disaster movie!  Give me action and science fiction and not the "touchy feely" movies and I am happy.  Next on our list is "Jurassic World".  And there's a new Arnold movie coming - another "Terminator"!

A "cool front" came through last night.  I question that terminology.  But it's only supposed to be humid and in the 90's today.  :)

Golfer is doing well.  Everything back to normal.  So, as I said, life is good.

Stay safe!

Trying Out the New Chair

I found a Cutie Girl sized chair to match our deck and patio furniture.  Here she is trying it out with PaPa.

She did not sit long.  :)

Stay safe!

Some Things That Made Me Smile

A friend recently sent me an email titled "A Lesson on Stress".  It was pretty lengthy, but here are a couple of the items that made me smile.  I thought I'd follow-up the pet peeves with something more positive.  :)

Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Stay safe!

Pet Peeves

1.   People who are mean to children and animals.

2.   People who are inconsiderate and rude.

3.   People without manners.  This could be a long list.  But let me just condense this to some guidelines:  say "please", say "thank you!" - the lack of this one really upsets me.  Say "excuse me", and for Heaven's sake respond when someone talks to you!

4.   Robocalls.

5.   People who don't take care of their property and let their house and yard look like they've been abandoned.

6.   People who don't use their turn signals or who drive too close, and who ignore the yield and stop  signs.

7.   Trucks on the road when I am.  And yes, I know they have a job to do and are important.  I have my reasons.

8.   Younger people who think and act like older people don't have any importance or worth.  You could learn a lot.  How do you think they got to be old?????

9.   Networks that cancel our favorite shows.

10.  People in too big of a hurry.  Slow down.  Relax.  It won't kill you to put down your phone and acknowledge someone.

This could go on and on, but I'll stop here.  You get the drift.

Stay safe and have a good day.  Thank you!

Good News!

BeyB is officially a Senior!  And accepted into the nursing classes for her Senior year in addition to her regular classes.  She's happy and excited.  And she's going to be busy!

Bikini has several quilts in the Atlanta Quilt show and she got an honorable mention ribbon for one!  And has sold one at the consignment sale there.  Here's the ribbon winner:

Stay safe!

We May Need Naps

Golfer had a colonoscopy this morning.  As we all know, the prep is the worst of it.  The second round of liquid prep started at 3:30 a.m. and he stayed up.  I dozed a little off and on after that.  The good news is the doctor did not find anything he had to work on and no new issues.  Golfer is good for five years before the next one.  Since he's not supposed to do anything except rest for the remainder of the day, that is what we're doing.

We did stop at Starbucks on the way home and I went in to get coffee for us and a breakfast sandwich for him.  It was too early for lunch then.

It's a sunny, hot and humid day here.  The grass is green, the hydrangeas are blooming in multi colors, the lilies are about to bloom.  Life is good.  We just heard from the garden center.  They are finally coming next week to replace the dying azalea they planted for us last Fall.  I had asked them to bring another one to plant out front by the driveway to replace the one that did not survive the Winter, too.  I told the lady to just send us the bill.  She said they will bring both Encore azaleas next week and won't charge us for the second one since it took so long for them to get the dead one replaced.  I was surprised and thanked her!

We have had our cordless house phones for quite a few years and it seems they are suddenly dying off.  A few weeks ago one of them started beeping and the battery was dead.  We always keep them on the chargers, so I checked it out and the charger definitely did not work.  So I moved them around and put another one in that spot.  Yesterday we discovered another did the same thing.  We've ordered new phones.

Better go see if Golfer is napping.  He's in his recliner in front of the TV.  :)

Stay safe!

Happy Birthday, Nurse J!

Love you!  xo

Pretty Flowers

Our friend, Elaine, has a gorgeous flower arrangement at her front door in Myrtle Beach.  She also has a lovely yard and many, many  beautiful flowers outside.  I asked where she got the arrangement and she took me to the store.  These are not just the usual silk flowers.  They look and feel like real flowers.  The only thing missing is the scent!  Elaine helped me pick out the right blooms to make an arrangement.

It took me a while to find just the right "vase" for a large arrangement.  But I finally did and I got ready to be artistic.   I had fun!  I think they look good.

And while I was at it, I made a small arrangement for the kitchen table.

I have told the furry kids to leave everything alone and not to touch.  We'll see how that works out.

Stay safe!

My Eyes! My Eyes! What Is That Bright Light??

Hurray!  We've had some sun!  And some outside activity!

I finally got Kirk to the car wash and he is all nice and clean inside and out.  Then I tackled some yard clean-up.  Got a bag full of stuff I picked up, pulled up, trimmed off, etc.  It looks better  now, and I am happier.  Golfer did the rest of the yard work today, mowing, trimming, and edging, and also cleaned the garage floor.  My next project out there will be to scrub the porch and do the windows.

But not today.  Today was furry kid nail trimming and combing and brushing.  As usual I got three of the four done.  :)   Will do Cecil soon.  Then there was vacuuming and meal prep and clean-up, and a trip to the "Y".  And some flower arranging.  Look for more on that later.

Having the sun out brings memories of the beach.  So here's me on our balcony in Garden City, SC.

Stay safe!

Wet and Soggy

Well.  We are certainly making up for all the beautiful beach vacation weather we had last week.  It has been raining off and on all week here.  Sometimes we've had heavy rain with thunder and lightening.  Everything is wet and soggy.  I need some sun.

Other than the yard work which we haven't even been able to start,  we're caught up after being away.  When we can get outside to do some work, there are weeds, tall grass, some trimming, and some window washing to do.  Oh, and Kirk (the MDX) still needs a good cleaning.

Because of the rain, there has been no golf this week.  Golfer has been busy though, we went and bought a new computer.  After the Best Buy/Lenovo fiasco, we went to a local company, Cyber Exchange.  It's owned by a woman who employs very nice, smart, rather geeky young men.  The ones we dealt with were long on patience and took the time to explain things and answer questions.  They build the computers there and we could have had one custom built for us, but there was one there we liked so we got it.  Golfer has been busy all week getting it set up and loading all our favorite things on it.  The printer works just fine now.  And because Golfer set things up to work wirelessly we can now print from our laptops and phones, too!

Nurse J has a work trip to Arizona coming up.  BeyB has an orientation for the nursing classes she will start her Senior year.  Congratulations, BeyB!   She has exams next week.  Cutie Girl is as busy as ever.  She's started giving the cutest hugs!

Bikini is getting ready for a big quilt show.  She has three of her quilts accepted for judging.  Good luck!  We know all her quilts are beautiful.  Boxer and Bloomer have been to swim camp this week.  Everyone is busy.

That's about it around here.  Stay safe!