ROUGH WEEK IN THE WORLD

There is always trouble in the world. It doesn't matter what year, month or day or time, trouble is lurking. Doesn't matter who you are either.

The world lost McMahon this week. I remember watching him for many years, some of those with a black and white TV set. Funny man. Good sidekick. Sorry he's gone.

Then we lost Farrah. Maybe not the finest actress ever, but you have to admit she was pretty and had great hair. And Golfer still has the cup with the copy of her famous poster on it up in the cupboard! I'm sorry she had to suffer for so long.

Then we lost Michael. The man had talent. Our daughters watched his music videos and listened to his music. There was even a "Michael Jackson Day" at Nurse J's Middle School! The students dressed up and played his music. I don't think they do things like that now. He shared his talent from a very early age. It is sad that his last years have been so very troubled. BeyB had a lot of questions about Michael; mainly why didn't he ever look the same. I answered her the best I could.

Add to these losses the other troubles and pains in the world and it's been a so-so week.

It's hot and humid and Summer is in full force here in Virginia. I've made it to the outdoor pool a couple times and enjoyed it.

Life goes on. Stay safe.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, GOLFER!

I LOVE YOU! It's been a wonderful forty-two years and I look forward to us having many, many more. You are my soulmate and best friend. I love you forever. G. XO

Hey, all!

Seems like it was another busy week, but there wasn't really anything too unusual going on. Golfer and I are fine. He's out . . . . . . . playing golf. I'm hoping they get their round finished before rain starts again. Seems like it's rained every day for forever around here.

Things have been busy at the church office with preparations for Rev. C's Sabbatical. He's going to be gone for three months.

I got out and yanked up a big bag full of weeds this morning. All the rain has really encouraged the weeds to grow. Does anyone know of anything that will stop Devil's Tongue from spreading? While I enjoy the orange flowers cascading down the wall, I could do without the vines taking over the back of the yard! Most of that bag of weeds was Devil Tongue sprouts and vines.

We are into the "triple H's" here in Virginia - hot, humid and hazy. I think the heat index is over 100 today.

I was just outside with the man from a fencing company. We've been getting estimates. Have to decide what we want to do now. And then if we decide to move ahead with getting fence, we have to fill out and submit all the forms and paperwork for the ARB.

Well, I just wanted to say "hey" to everyone. Stay safe!

AND SOME VACATION PICTURES!

This was taken from the hotel balcony. If I had a zoom lens you would be able to see Bikini, Brief, Boxer, Bloomer and Golfer on the beach trying to fly a kite!

The second picture is at the kiddie pool where we seemed to start out each day!

The last picture is at the water park at the hotel. That's Boxer trying to get Granpa Golfer to go faster in the water!

Good times were had by all!

OOPS!!

I have just realized that I have not posted anything since the last day of vacation! And it's not for lack of things going on!

So. We got home okay. The furry kids were fine; well taken care of by Lisa. Then there was laundry to do, errands to run, mail to pick up, bills to pay, groceries to buy, cleaning to do, yard work to do, jobs to go to, and on and on.

Golfer had to move into a new office in a new building. Same job, just new place. I helped a little with that.

We replaced our mailbox. That involved priming and painting the post white before the new box went on. It's an ARB approved PVC white one that supposedly will never need painting or upkeep. We'll see.

We also got a new bird feeder. It's made of recycled man-made material and it also is supposed to be low maintenance. Again, we'll see. The birds and squirrels like the new feeder; it passed inspection!

I have appointments set to get estimates on wooden privacy fence for the back yard. We are tired of dog poo in the yard when we have indoor cats. In the interest of having decent relationships with the neighbors, we are considering putting up a fence. The homeowners' office says we could file an anonymous complaint about the free running dogs and mess. But it wouldn't take too much brain power to figure out who the anonymous complainer was since we're the only ones affected. I've decided we have to pick our battles. And I love peace.

BeyB fell on the playground, bruised her face and broke her glasses. She's fine now and glasses are fixed. Nurse J has been sick and she is better. Nurse J also celebrated a birthday. A belated "Happy" to her! Since she was recovering and on antibiotics we did not do any celebrating, just dropped off gifts. CableGuy is fine.

Boxer finished Safety Camp and is now attending swim camp. Bikini says it is a great success and he likes it but it wears him out! Bloomer is doing well in her "big girl bed". She likes having room for more animals at night. Bikini has had an eye infection but she is doing okay now and getting to wear her contacts again. Brief is fine.

Work has been busy for both of us. There is also no lack of things that need doing around the house.

We are happy that we have finally had a mimosa tree live long enough to bloom!

More later! Stay safe!

VACATION IS WINDING DOWN

Well, it's Saturday. Golfer just left for the last day of the tournament. Yesterday had been a pretty good round for him. But because some players got rained out due to the frequent small storms that were going through here, all of yesterday's scores were thrown out. I hope today is good one! The guys look forward to this tournament a lot and it's always nice if they have a good time.

It's been a good week - visiting with Bikini and Brief and the kids, lots of pool and beach time, visiting with friends, dining out at good places........ I'll be going down to the lobby soon to book our reservations for next year. The new owner of the Ocean Dunes will give us the same rate if we book before we leave. This is a convenient location and we all like it. The suites and rooms aren't real "plush" and fancy, but the price is right.

So, tomorrow morning we'll head home. I'm sure our furry kids will be happy to see us. They've been in good care with Lisa looking after them. We'll have a flurry of catching up with the laundry, a little cleaning and some yardwork and then it's back to work. That's what makes us appreciate vacation!

More later. Stay safe!

SOME HIGHLIGHTS..........

Vacation is going well, good times are being had, fun is exhausting!

Bikini, Brief, Boxer and Bloomer left for home this morning. They had to get back in time for the end-of-the-year program for Boxer's school. It was great seeing them! The kids were wonderfully well behaved. A couple high points were Boxer doing his "shark swim" face down in the water with his arms behind and above his back like fins. Cute! And Bloomer wanting to go feel (feed) the ducks. We got there and Bikini gave her a quarter for the duck/fish food dispensing machine and before she could get more instructions out of her mouth Bloomer threw the quarter in the water for the ducks! I guess she figured they could shop for themselves!

We want to send a "thinking of you" out to BeyB who had some dental work done this week. She's had some permanent teeth come in where no baby teeth came out and things were getting crowded. Had to have a couple teeth pulled. Nurse J says she's doing well though. She also had a teensy cavity repair and some teeth sealing. Hopefully, next year they will all be able to join us at the beach for a couple days, too.

As for me, I've had lots of sun sitting time and water time. Today I did a little shopping and also did the laundry. We had packed for the week thinking we would have washers and dryers available as usual. But out of three washers and three dryers in the building, only one washer works. So I found a very nice laundromat and loaded up the stuff and got it all done at once. Also got some reading done while I was waiting!

Dinner tonight is with our friends at a great Italian restaurant we discovered while we were here the last time. The guys have had a couple rain delays today in the tournament, but they should be back in time for our reservations. If not, we'll change the time. No worry.

So for now, take care and stay safe!