06/24/19, Monday

1. Within Range: one over
2. General Wellbeing: 8.5 on SS
3. 10,000+ Steps: 8497
4. Fitness: yard work
5. Self-Care: meditating
6. Fun: yard work
7. I learned/relearned: Get up and move...be your own sun !!
8. Intentions: Seek balance & relax, rejuvenate, & recalibrate !!

Devon and Diane...thanks for your puppy digging insights/suggestions. We got chicken wire down over the smoothed out former digging spots and unblocked his initial favorite spot under the stairs up into the playhouse. Two days of upper 70's and sun enabled us to fill the puppy pool and active water play took care of the mud we couldn't brush or hand wash out. Thursday through Sunday is our FROG (Forest River Owners Group) rally in Gettysburg so we are super excited to learn exciting new things ! Dave... I hadn't considered brushing ! Because of the PTSD, there is some tactile defensiveness. He can quickly flash back to being still on his back in those rice paddies and having snakes crawl over him and not being able to move a muscle. Based on the whole SI idea, I did try deep compression on the shoulders which seemed to help a bit. Thanks !! We are rocking the gardens ! Cici, I know exactly what you mean about initially not knowing which part of the BF bush is alive (when it would be SO easy to prune) and ending up having to cut out the dead sticks. Kudos to you !

Yesterday was power washing and beach day! I got the two front porches and the outdoor shower clean, though I was a mess afterwards. BUT when I turned the water on to the shower one of the pipes had burst over the winter. That happens every few years. So now we can't use it until a plumber fixes it. But the beach was beautiful though cool at the end of the afternoon when the wind shifted to come in from the still very cool water. Today I want to power wash the deck, then only the screen porch remains for later in the week. Hopefully my hands and body will hold out for the deck cleanup. They are still aching from yesterday. I need to find an easy way to keep the trigger on as my hands cramp up terribly.

DH was happy all day yesterday until 11:45 pm when he started wandering and was mean and nasty about taking some sleeping pills. It took me a long time to get back to sleep but now he is still still in bed at 9 am. The gate we were using to contain him is too low and he can step over it, so now I'm going to try a room divider which will look like a wall to him. It seems like I am constantly spending time and money on products to keep him safe and dry. But today is a beautiful sunny day and we have a social meeting with other dementia affected families at 1, so hopefully it will be a good day.

Have a marvelous Monday!

Argh! A plague of biting flies has descended upon us. It happens after it warms up after a lot of rain. This is really bad though. They are stable flies. They bite your lower legs and ankles by ripping your skin and sucking the blood. Gross right?! So it hurts! And bug spray doesn?t keep them away. They swarm the dogs by the hundreds and bite their noses. Poor babies. The bites itch and swell like mosquito bites, but that dies down in about an hour. Yuck. I?m staying inside today and working on a puzzle.

My eating could be a lot better...

Diane, being crawled over by snakes and not being able to move? No wonder he has PTSD!!

Liz, it's amazing how much manual labor hurts your hands, isn't it? Mine still ache from all the gardening.

The deck before and after washing (1/3 of the deck took 1.25 hours). BTW, the clamps used to hold towels on chaise lounges work great as power washer trigger holders.

Good Monday Morning, all y'all!

I had a good sleep last night. My back is a sensitive little **** and gets sore every time I sleep away on a different bed. It was happy to be back in its own bed again. LOL, but it's true!

Weight is up 1.4 to 265.7 this morning. That is negligible in my mind. After 3 days of less than. stellar eating, but portions kept in check, that's pretty okay in my book.

I took a pic yesterday that bothered me so much I couldn't post it on FB or here yesterday. BUT, it is ending up being a good incentive to eat in a healthy manner moving forward.

Today is back to reality day. I have to get the Motor Home smog checked today (3rd time's a charm, right?), then need to start working on the garage and deciding what to do with our extra furniture. Some I want to keep, some I don't. The stuff I don't want to keep is going to be the problem! How to get rid of it??? Some is really give away stuff, but items my TV Armoire or my Pottery Barn velvet slip covered sofa are really nice furniture that I'd like to sell. I will figure it out.

The Subaru proved to be a great little travel car. It was very comfortable and we did not lack for room. The gas mileage was also much superior to the Toyota Sienna minivan.

Liz - I can't believe how dirty your deck gets over just a single winter. `The power washing brings it back to new!

Diane O. - DC & PTSD - scary... not an easy thing to manage, I'm sure. Hope the FROG time is made to order!

BB - Little Charlotte's photo shoot results are spectacular! I hope you post my favorite picture here for all to see.

Diane S. - Sounds like your carpentry projects are coming to a close. Glad you are happy with the end results.

DD - I'm glad Mexico City has been wonderful. I'm taking a page from your playbook and focusing on whole, natural foods. Hoping that my restriction kicks in to high gear that way. I have to say, though, that my sleeve sure did come in handy over the wedding weekend. I think I ate maybe a 1/4 of what Ron consumed at meals.

Ceci - Biting flies suck! Been there, hate them! Keep Ferg protected! How is the boy?

I think another cup of coffee and getting on with the day is what I need!

Edit: Here is the pic that bothered me so terribly. I decided, though, this is me right now and even though I may have seen with knee jerk reaction "The Fat Man", I am me doing the best I can and hot damn, I really have nothing about which to feel shame. So, here's the pic.... (Please note, I'm trying to "hide" behind the little tree. Yes, I did that on purpose. What we do to try and camouflage....)

This was when he went out for a potty break. It's like a plague.

Other than not being able to lay outside, he seems to be doing fine. He sleeps a lot, but he's exploring the yard (when there are no flies) and enjoying his surroundings.

******* biting flies need to leave Ferg alone!

Poor guy.

And his mama too!

Greetings Summery People

158 today. PPP (poor potty performance) is one issue. Had to walk the dogs up and down the street today as the painter is now actually painting the deck. Its a color called Blue Heron that looks good with the lavender and grey house. Painter had suggested a really dark color but not for me. Liz, I can see why you felt compelled to power wash your deck. Ours doesn't get like that - no clue why we are so lucky. Hope DH will settle down.

My SIL had her hip replaced today. It went fine. But her recovery will be slow as she could barely walk a block as it was. So wish she had done VSG when it was possible.

OceanD, glad you solved the mud pots issue. I was going to suggest a wading pool but you have that covered. Sometimes I wish our yard was a giant rock garden. Neighbors did that in their front and its pretty nice. They are about 100 years old.

Yuck Cecily, biting flies!!! I would leave town. Mosquitoes and such are the main reason I don't do much outdoor stuff. Oooh puzzle sounds fun. Love those. Painter discovered a bumble bee nest in a fern by the deck. Not the stinging kind but he said the fern was shaking! We had no clue it was there.

Peps that's a great picture of you and I am glad you posted. You look great and don't forget it.

And BB the FB pictures of Charlotte are adorable. So nice they take great baby pictures these days. You will be so glad you have them.

Well off to make some eggs. Then check out the kiln contents.

Diane S

Back in Minnesota, where summer may arrive after all. The forecast, though rainy, will be in the 80s. Maybe even 90! Not a lot to say. Spent most of the day traveling, everything was uneventful, in fact, we landed a half hour ahead of schedule. Shout out to Delta : ) Weighing for the first time in a week tomorrow morning. Even though my eating in Mexico City seemed good, I'm bracing myself for the water retention of traveling.