Got it done

The good was Lord willing, the creek didn’t rise, and the yard got done yesterday. At least the back section did. Before starting I decided to charge 2 batteries just in case. Good thing I did as it took both batteries to finish the job.

It even felt like I’d slipped into the ‘Twilight Zone’ for a while. Usually, I’m aware of my surroundings and who’s around me when doing chores like the lawn, yet I didn’t this time. Turned around and almost bumped into a giant of a young man who had to stand around 6 foot 3 and weigh in at around 280 pounds. This guy looked like he could scare off bears!

So I said hello and set the trimmer on the trash bin to work on the string. Again, when I turned around this guy was watching me work on the trimmer a few feet away. Popped in another battery and went to do the side yard and felt this guy following me. Sure enough, when I turned around he was right there. Just stood there watching me use the trimmer.

About this time it hit me, this guy wasn’t a threat, he was just slow. When I finished the side yard I took the battery out and placed the trimmer back in the garage. When I turned around the young man was gone. I guess he got some entertainment for the day and I was blessed not to have a heart attack when I noticed him. If I was still drinking I’d have tied one on. But the yard looks a lot better and that’s what I was after.

Enjoy our Saturday. Now for another cup of coffee.

Good intentions

There is a lot of speculation as to the origin of ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’, but whoever first said it got things right. Had the idea to get up early, do a post, run errands, then trim the lawn where it’s getting a little fuzzy.

Couldn’t get to sleep so I overslept, when I did get up it was on the run with so many things to do today, and everything is behind schedule. We did get the groceries and my smokes, things got put away, and now have time for this post.

But what threw me a curve was the lawn, or the trimmer I was going to use to trim it. Silly me, I thought the battery was charged and ready to run so I checked the trimmer to ensure it had enough line to do the job. Grabbed the battery and checked it only to find out it had not been charged recently. So it’s on the charger.

With the old gas trimmer, if we were out of gas, a trip to the nearby gas station would have it up and running in 10 minutes. With the cordless version, I’m still waiting on the battery an hour and a half later. Progress? If it wasn’t such a hassle to start the gas-powered version the first time of the season, I’d still be using it.

So now we play the game we call ‘will we finish before the rain?’. Time will tell if we win that game or not. At any rate, enjoy our Friday; just don’t make plans. Now for coffee while I watch the charger.

You’re welcome

There was no super early post this morning as I put the time to better use. Went to bed early and solved one of the world’s biggest problems. Think about it, in this time of inflation, unrest, and a general malaise an idea came to me to end all these problems; make the world a happier place, and solve all the worries that bother us now.

During this time of ever rising prices and a supply shortage this idea would put a smile on the face of all who see, and use it. The world doesn’t need a Biden 2024 t-shirt, more rainbow flags, a new pope, or less violence. It only needs my new invention, patent pending. No, the world needs a robotic brick and we’ll explain why.

This remote controlled brick would not only glide over any surface but also fly, and we’ll call it ‘Bob’. The possibilities are endless. Want to end war as we know it? Send in Bob. The enemy would be so busy dodging flying bricks they wouldn’t have time to shoot. Oil shortage? Bob runs on batteries and could zip over to the local store and pick up your six pack using no gas.

Worried about climate change. Bob is climate friendly and puts no greenhouse gases into our air! The possibilities are endless. Don’t like doing yard work? Just hook Bob up to your riding mower and turn it into a giant remote controlled lawn trimming machine. And how about during boring speeches or declarations or war? Just use Bob and a few passes over the heads of the people and said speeches would be forgotten.

I could go on but I don’t like to brag. You can thank me later. Enjoy our Thursday as it’s here anyway. Now for some coffee and Corn Pops.

Some creatures

Yesterday there were some creatures stirring about and we manage to get a few pictures to document the event. Didn’t put the long lens on the camera as it gets heavy if too many Kodak moments arrive around the same time. So here are few we did get with the shorter lens.

I called this feral cat and told him he better come closer and eat. This was his response. Either someone we don’t know about is putting out food, or this is one independent cat. He didn’t come around the food all day either.

This feral cat was chasing something. Never found out it what she was chasing was real or imagined but she did keep after something. Her look almost says ‘I could have gotten it.’

We had another new visitor to the bird seed and since we don’t know what kind of bird this is we’ll look it up in the field guide. Just have a feeling it may not be listed as a native Iowa bird.

This robin was hopping around like it had a sore foot. We know robins hop around a lot, but they usually use both legs to do so. At least this one posed for a picture.

Later, a house finch with an attitude showed up and dared us to take his picture. Not sure what might happen now that we did but the deed is done. This guy was noisy as well.

Finally, after some looking around we found this wood pecker about half a block away. We do know he was pecking the hell of this tree, yet we still managed to get a shot of him between pecks. This guy was busy. We’ll look for him again as he is fine looking specimen.

Enjoy our Wednesday as we shall. Now for some coffee.

Crinkly day

If you’re wondering what a crinkly day is like we’ll try to explain. It’s when just getting out of bed sounds like pouring milk over a certain breakfast cereal and doesn’t get any better. Every time I moved there were sound effects and my left leg gave out on me twice. And that was in the first hour I was up yesterday.

Since there was no sneaking up on wildlife as they could hear me before seeing me. Getting older is a part of it, but I’ve had doctors look at my leg for years. They came up with involuntary tremors. I knew that much before going in, just wanted to know why! It does get old when your leg folds up like a cheap card table though.

We didn’t get any pictures so we’ll try to get some today. Have a feeling today is going to be a decent day as there was no noise when I got up. So there may be some dancing in the car when we get from a doctors appointment today. Don’t think us oldfarts can ever be pain free, but it’s nice to catch a break once in while and run with it.

So enjoy our Tuesday while we still can. Now for some coffee.

Weekend pics

For part of the weekend, the sky looked like this. Almost as if the sky couldn’t make up its mind if it wanted all clouds, or all blue. The wind was helping out in pushing the clouds into a fast dance across the sky. At times it looked almost like a wake behind a ship at sea.

Another sky picture, and no it’s not black and white. Turned into a great day if you didn’t have your heart set on a blue sky. We even saw our first butterfly of the year to boot! Got to love a weekend like that.

The tulips are almost done for the year while still putting on a colorful show. The pollen has been floating around and not helping our allergies either. But the bees and butterflies are happy so we’ll keep using the allergy medicine until it’s over.

This house finch had all the bird seed to himself for a while. That gave him an attitude, at least until he flew away. One of the feral cats even caught a mouse right below this guy and he didn’t even flinch.

This cardinal was near some bushes and thought he couldn’t be seen. We’ll give him an ‘E’ for effort. He’s just the wrong color to blend in with all the green, but he does do a good twig imitation.

Not all the critters were being serious as shown in this picture. The feral cat gave me the raspberry when he saw the camera aimed at him. Everybody’s a critic. That’s what we saw this weekend. Enjoy our Monday as it’s here anyway. Now for some coffee.

Sunday snicker

Three couples are waiting to enter the Pearly Gates.
St. Peter tells them, “I can tell how a man lived his life based upon the name of his wife. First couple, please step forward.”

So, the first couple steps forward and St. Peter asks the guy, “What is your wife’s name?” The guy says, “Her name is Penny.”

St. Peter gives a disapproving look and says, “Your wife has the name of a unit of currency which means you sir have lived a life worshiping money and only caring about wealth. You are denied entrance.”

So, the first couple walks away and the second couple steps forward. St. Peter asks the husband of the second couple, “What is your wife’s name?”

The man says, “My wife’s name is Brandy.” At this, St. Peter shakes his head and says, “Brandy is a liqour which is an alcoholic drink which means you sir have lived a life as a drunkard and succumbed to the bottle far too often. You are denied entrance.”

So, the second couple walks away. But before the third couple steps forward, the husband looks at his wife and says, “We might as well just leave now, Fanny. There’s no way they’re letting us in.”

Rainy days

Thursday this robin was all over the neighborhood. Friday he must have stayed in his den and out of the rain. We had rain, thunder and lightening, with wind gusts. Early in the morning the TV, internet, and phone all went out and didn’t come back from a short break.

Turned out, due to vandalism 44,000 customers were without service for anywhere from 2 to 8 hours. At least I could make instant coffee on the stove. Before the service was restored, we left to go to the hospital so the wife could have labs done, then to the grocery store so I could get sticker shock. And yes, it was raining the whole time.

So we came home and I unloaded the groceries and after we put the groceries away we noticed we still didn’t have phone, internet, and TV. The wife came up with the great idea to take a nap and I agreed. Sure enough, when we woke up the TV was going and everything else worked like it should. That’s when the thunder and high winds started.

We were hoping it didn’t knock out the power as we don’t have a generator since the last one went to generator Heaven. We’ll be looking for a replacement soon, perhaps even a whole house generator. Turns out we didn’t lose power and dodged the bullet this time. During all this the feral cats were trying to catch some birds who were trying to eat the seeds we put out.

Later I went out to see if I could catch sight of any meteors from the meteor shower, and I did. Just one blazing across the sky but I saw it. All in all a great day and we didn’t even get that wet. Enjoy our Saturday as we will. Now for some coffee before I lay down.

Some pics

The day started out with some dew on the grass while the sun was shining. It didn’t get hot, but it did get warm and soon the dew was gone, then the critters started showing up.

This little black squirrel found the sunflower seeds and was having a feast. If he wasn’t so small we would have chased him off. He kept an eye on me while enjoying his breakfast until he had his fill and moved on.

This little critter was bouncing all over the place making it hard to get a decent shot. This one was among the best so we decided to share it. Not sure what kind of bird this is but he needs to cut back on this coffee drinking.

Caught this robin as he was coming in for a landing next to the telephone pole. This guy was energetic also and was all over the place. Sure did some impressive flying around the obstacles in his way. We thought this picture had enough color in it share also.

This cat must drink decaf. He looked like a spectator at a tennis match trying to keep up with the birds flying around him. He just has that look that says he’s outgunned and won’t be having bird for lunch. Good looking cat anyway.

Later we looked to the west and saw this. Yes, the sun was going to bed for the day and we won’t see him again until tomorrow. If it doesn’t rain all day. Last night and tonight is the meteor shower and best seen between 9 pm and 2 am. We heard up to 20 meteors per hour may be seen.

Enjoy our Friday before the weekend is gone. Now for a cup of coffee.

Glad it’s over

Yesterday the wife had a doctors appointment before her physical therapy. On paper there was enough time to see the doctor and still make her therapy, if things went alright. They did not. First said doctor kept us waiting for over a half hour past the appointment time. Then we found out the oxygen tank was getting low and the clinic didn’t have any to help the wife out.

Since it was a good 45 minute round trip to get a tank from home we thought things would be alright. The nurse came and got us, took us back to a room, and we thought things had started going our way. Nope, just a hitch in the giddy up. Once the doctor came in it became apparent that she used to watch reruns of ‘House’ as a child.

On the wifes first visit, said doctor came up with some rare disease that she was sure the wife had. She did not. We thought no more about it until this visit. Yes, doc again came up with another disease that the wife showed no symptoms of even though the doc kept looking for them. The appointment didn’t take long and we thought we might make it home without running out of oxygen.

Then the doctor wanted one lab test and the said lab was located in the same building. When that was done we left and came home where the oxygen tank emptied before we got out of the car. Once inside with the oxygen concentrator on the wife was feeling better. And that is why I dislike going to see a doctor.

Enjoy our Thursday as that means Friday is only a dream away. Now for some coffee.