Mid-point Monday

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

We are crossing the midpoint of the month this week.

How are you doing with your goals for the month?

We'll also cross the midpoint of 2023 this month. Do you need to refocus on any goals for the year?

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Personally, I feel like I'm watching the water rise.

I am, literally in the spare bathtub. Left a bucket in there too long and a few days later noted it was overflowing. Emptied it and restarted with an empty bucket. Within 36 hours it was overflowing. BTW: I reported that dripping tap 7 (and 6 and 4, and 3, and 1) years ago. Originally it was only with the hot water tap and if you waited X hours after turning the tap off, you could then turn it the rest of the way and stop the drip. No longer. And now it is the cold water tap as well.

Outside it is an oppressive mix of rain clouds and smoke. The apartment remains shut up due to the air quality which is moderate risk or high low risk depending on when I look. I'm doing my SAD light again because I'm having real difficulties with this.

The apartment is not too warm (75) but stuffy because everything is closed up tight and air flow is limited to by the air filters and the fans. I could trigger the radiator fans by adjusting the thermostat and may do so to see if it helps or makes things worse.

Today is heavy housework day.

Today is also a meeting tonight. This is the first time I've ever attended in person and will meet my fellow board members (after being on the board of this group for over 18 months).

And I have some scheduling work to do.

After my post yesterday, I got the balcony windows and plexiglass cleaned (and did some of the windows on the inside but not all), put out the cushions that ds returned to me (I bought them, used, for me and didn't like them so gave them to ds for a garden swing he had rescued from garbage, and now that he's selling the trailer, he brought them back to me), set up the new bunk bed cot (Disc O Bed if you want to google what it looks like), and set up the new wagon to see if I like it (it isn't perfect but I think I've put too much time into this and it will do.) That meant I could get rid of all those boxes in the recycle and cleared up a lot of room.

I have noted the new position of the ficus tree in my apartment means I can't clean one of the living room windows. I can't decide if this is a plus or a minus!

We also booked appointments to get blinds for the windows that don't have them. Since no a/c is an ongoing problem, and new windows are 5 - 7 years away, I need to stop the solar gain in the apartment in order to keep it livable. So that's next Saturday to see our options at their shop and next Monday to have the windows all measured.

[CathyS]

Kathryn it's pouring rain here. No idea if there will be clear skies or smoky skies by the end of the day.

I've swept and washed the floors. It's been more than 1/2 hour and they aren't dry yet due to the humidity.

Dryer just buzzed, so I put the clean clothes away. There is a pile of wrinkly clothes on the back of a chair in the kitchen. I need to deal with those next. I've also emptied the dishwasher.

Dh has been sitting on a chair out in the garage watching the rain.

No idea what we will have for supper. We have cold salads. Maybe I will go and get chicken.

[Nancy]

I have been up a while walked in the cool of the morning.
I put the fans on and that helped. Mom used to put ice she froze in a can in front of the fans to cool it off, a damp towel might trap paritcles in the air if it's positioned in front of it, I have seen a hack with ice in water/soda bottles in front of fans as well. Glad I have shade here. I did my three laps around the yard and picked up a couple of thing and the weeds I left after pulling the other day pulled a few more weeds also for some stretching.

Had one cup of coffee so far.

Mowing is on my mind for later but right now it is two hrs. too early for that.
Partly cloudy here today. 63* / 85* F. today's temp. range.
T-storms in the p m so mowing needs to be a morning activity.

Before 8 a.m. I have over 3/4ths of my step goal done for today. WOW!
I did an extra block today it really made a difference!

[blessedw2]

were are considered by the weather people to be at almost drought conditions. We didn't have rain for a month. We had a drizzly rain and cool weather yesterday and today that gave us a bit of a reprieve but the animals around here are suffering by lack of water.

Wishing you a beautiful Monday!

[Lady Maverick]

Kathryn - Thank you for the start today and the timely reminder of mid-point in month & year. WOW! I hadn't thought about the midyear point.

We had an exciting start to my morning. I woke up to the sound of hail. I bolted out of bed and ran to the garden.....as if I could do a thing about the golf/tennis size hail falling & beating everything. It was like watching a wreck happen in slow motion. I couldn't stop watching the hail hit the ground or something and explode. It seemed to last forever but it was probably less than 5 minutes. When it stopped hailing, the ground was covered in large white ice balls which quickly melted in the 70+F temperature. Within about 30 minutes the only evidence that it hailed was the many pictures & videos and the ground covered in green leaves. The hail beat the trees and plants so badly that it stripped many of the leaves off. Two of the 7' tall tomato plants were leaning & about to topple over so I used bungee cords to anchor their metal cages to the support poles.

FB is full of friends posting pictures of their hail damage. House & vehicle windows busted. Big dents in vehicles. Almost everyone in this location had their roof replaced in 2020 (us included) due to hailstorm. I guess we will find out how damaged the 3 year old roofs are from this storm. When destructive storms like these happen, it results in many insurance claims and the insurance companies raise the rates.

[Ramblinrose]

LadyM...I had a very exciting morning here, but not for the same reason.

We have a family of Moorhens that we have been watching for over 9 weeks. We been feeding the very small bits of bread and Henrietta, The mama hen that I named, comes right up to our lanai screen door and screeches to let us know she is here. We've spent many hours over the past 9 weeks watching how her 7 chicks have been progressing, how the mama and daddy take the bread and feed their chicks and now they are big enough to come to get their own food.

This morning Sweetie witnessed two rather large herons attack the Moorhens family as they were feeding in the lake reeds near our home. Eventually the hens family came over to our property to get away from them Sweetie said when the heron were attacking the Moorhens it was so noise that people walking by stopped to see what the commotion was.

I got home from class and after he told me what had happened I looked outside and could see the rather large herons over in the reeds. Have to say I've never seen the two of them together before. Next thing I know the hens are on our side property and the herons are not far behind. Sweetie called me outside so I could see them and he was worried about another fight occurring.

I walked towards the herons so I could see them better and what a surprise was waiting for me. There between these two herons were 4 little black fuzz balls. It was a family of chicks and they looked to be a day old! I wanted to get closer so I could get a better picture but on of the herons let me know that wasn't a very good idea so I backed away The herons stand at least 2 feet and they have very long and sharp pointy beaks they use to stick in the lake's mud and hunt for clams. I sure didn't want to tangle with that.

BTW LadyM...The Thursday night before my son was married in Frisco, TX, My nephew and his friends went to see some game...A hail storm came through and completely demolished their rental car and all the other cars in the parking lot. Same size hail as yours, and my son's roof received some damage, but not as bad as some of his neighbors. The hail even broke many windows as well.

Harmony...you asked about the plastic sheeting I used for my pantry. Got to say after I cut it all down to size and placed it in my pantry, I really loved it. However the next morning when I open my pantry door, the chemical odor from the plastic sheeting was so strong it almost knocked me over. I put a very large fan in my pantry thinking this would help get rid of the odor and let it run for over 24 hours. Yesterday the smell was almost as bad. I didn't have any opened food inside my pantry so I wasn't too worried about that, but the smell was overpowering.

I researched how to get rid of the smell and discovered that China uses some extremely strong chemicals to make this plastic and many people are complaining about it. So much so that some people have tossed theirs. However I have over $100 dollars invested in my sheeting and didn't want to do that if I could avoid it. I was thinking of doing what others had done like leaving the sheeting out in the sun for a few days or washing them with vinegar, but people didn't have much success with that. After further research I read that soaking the plastic in a tub full of baking soda helped. I have plenty of baking soda because thats what I used as fabric softer for my laundry.

I filled up my tub with hot water and added at least 6 cups of baking soda. Then after I unloaded my pantry again, I put my 60+ feet of cut up plastic in it to soak. Almost immediately the smell, at least in the tub was gone. I haven't removed the plastic yet to day to see how it smells after I dry it, but will as soon as I finish this. However even without the plastic being in my pantry, it still stinks...not nearly as bad,, so I have a fan going on it it now.

After lunch I am headed to Kolh's to takes some A mozon returns., and after that am headed to the grocery store.

My new little family hasn't moved from the edge of the lake by my house. They sure are cutie pies, but I'm only gonna watch them from a distance.

I too am thinking about Dee and her family and sending prayers of healing and comfort.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

(((LadyM))) I hope your roof survives. I'm sorry for the losses in your garden.

I did s2s and stripped the bed so the sheets are finished in the washer now.

I turned the radiator fans on in the bedroom to get more airflow while I was in there and an hour later they were blowing cold air so it looks like they fixed the a/c. For now.

The apartment has cooled any but it feels better with the air flow (all radiator fans are on now.)

I've been trying to make a buying decision about the folding wagon. I ended up buying two and decided to keep the better of them. There were two flaws with it. First, it didn't stand independently. Secondly, it just folded 'flat' (front to back) so you end up with a rectangle, instead of both directions (like a pack-N-play travel crib) so you end up with a square. The rectangle takes up way more room in my car.

I finally opened both up side-by-side and realized I could get it to stand if I turned it upside down. So one problem solved. Then I took them both down to the car and loaded them both in. It can stand on its side in the back of the car but will fall over when accelerating so I'll have to bungee cord it in place. But that is easy enough. It also fits on the floor of the back seat and since dgs2 is rear facing in his car seat it doesn't take up his leg room.

So I'll keep the 'better' one. This one also can take 300lbs of load and fits where our folding cart for groceries goes, so it is conceivable it will replace both the stroller and the folding cart thus freeing up more room in the apartment. Although we love the cart so much, we intend to keep it for now.

I'm happy that 1. I made a decision, and 2. with the decision. It will also hold our cooler or the car seats (both at once) - currently these things are moved precariously balanced on the top of the cart since they don't fit inside. So it will be much more useful to us than the cart. It also holds 3x as much weight as the cart.

Now to get going on the housework since the heat of the apartment is no longer an excuse to avoid working!

[Nancy]

K in C thanks for that info. I have been considering some thing for yard work as my wheel burrow is shot! I never thought of looking for a heavy duty one and found some yea! New ideas helps. Cool one instock that holds 260 lbs will be over 3 x what my metal wagon can take!

Yesterday I watched the chosen and have been enjoying it I'd never seen it before.

[Harriet]

blessed! Although it is helpful to know about your weather and really too bad to hear about the animals outdoors suffering, we are interested in you and how you are! Take care

Oh, LadyM, how scary - glad it was over quickly.

Ramblin', what a drama! I have never seen two herons together, despite the evidence that they must do so.