Oh, what misery, Joy.  I am so sorry.

Joy, it's certainly true that when your feet aren't happy, YOU aren't happy.  I hope you can eventually find something.

MaryPage, your Elizabeth is certainly talented.  It's good to know she has persevered through the years, and keeps studying - doing what "lights her fire".

Sharon, good for you for having a do-nothing day.  Take care of YOU.

jane, I hope your creakies aren't too bad with the oncoming rain.

They tell us that we'll have rain this weekend, but with near record high temps today (87 predicted).  I hope we get the rain.  Unlike Texas and the Plains, we needs it here.  Another quiet day here today. 

Landscapers came this morning, pulled up seedlings from the trees and put down fresh hardwood mulch.  It looks so nice, now.  We're just not able to do that kind of thing anymore.  They'll be back with a plan for upgrading the south side of the house, and then the landscaping upgrades will be finished. 

I went out and got more thistle seed and a different feeder.  They tore holes in the sock and the Farm Store was out of those, anyway.  So, I got a cheap plastic one that will be fine for the season. 

They're "coating" the state highway in front of our house and what a mess.  One lane of traffic and they go along and blow out the cracks, put in the sealer and then follow with a sand truck.  The traffic is backed up downtown for blocks.

jane

Hi everyone. We are in for more rain and severe weather temp in the 80s.  I too have trouble with my feet hurting and burning. I just ordered me a pair of heavenly soles to put in my shoes. Hope t helps  nothing new in my part of the world walked 8 miles this week...trying to walk 2 miles a day. Have a great weekend as we say goodbye to April and hello May.  Darlene

Jane. Now is that the Black Coating they are putting on? the stuff that goes on hot.
That is one good thing that clears up my sinus good.  Dont see it use to much now. Maybe if they are doing a little patching.

Marathon for the 5K just got started. They are afraid that for the big one tomorrow. there could be storms again like last year.  Hope not.  People come so far to run it.

No, it's not asphalt...at least not yet.  This is a black thing that looks like the tar of the old days...they go along and with an airhose blow out the cracks and then fill with this black goop, and then cover it with sand.  They do one lane at a time...hence the big backup since only one lane is in use and they need a "pilot car" to lead the traffic and people at each intersection  to keep traffic from going the wrong way.

The bunion is here to stay.  Just searching for shoes that
circumvent it, and that is hard to do.
Temperature today is predicted for 80.  I'm not eager for
summer to appear
JOY

Good morning, Gals.  I've been to Publix to get a beautiful hydrangea plant to take to Ms Frances this evening. Her party is at 5:00.  I also picked up a few items I forgot on my order, then I dropped off some cleaning and am back home.  John left early for Morganton for a special tournament that he qualified for. If his team wins, they will go to Wash. DC for nationals. It would be so exciting for him if that happens.

I'm sorry so many of you are in the difficult-to-fit shoe spot. I am too.  There is a new brand out called Vionics that has a built-in orthotic. That might help some of you. The Walking Company has comfortable shoes for people with problem feet also.  Joy, I don't know the answer for the bunions other than choosing a style that is roomy and comes up over the bunion a ways. I have a small one and can't wear a low cut shoe that comes across it.

Jane, hope they get your street finished quickly. Can you get out?  Nice that the landscaper is there to do all the stuff you can't. I like the finch sock best. I've thrown out a number of the others. The way they are designed, the food at the bottom gets wet and goes bad and not many finches can eat at once.

Mary, when are you and Margaret leaving for the east coast?  That sounds like a lot of fun.  Hope you and I both get some rain!  It's overcast, but I have my doubts if we'll get much.

Hi Mary Page, Marilyn, Darlene, Joy, Jeanne, and whoever else pops in.  Sharon

Marilyn, I thought of you just now when I was checking my telly watching plans via my local paper's TV schedule for this last day of April 2016.  ANIMAL PLANET is featuring hours and hours of My Cat From Hell starting at five this evening.  You wouldn't think there would be that many felines from that portion of the universe, now would you!  He! He!

Still glum weather out of doors, with temps in the fifties.  Brrrr!  But not raining just now, and a humongous regatta going on out on bay waters.  I am hoping so hard for our sunniest and balmiest sort of day for MaryZ coming by next Saturday.

Cold, windy, and very wet here...not a day to be outside.  High today in the 40s! 

The finches seem to like the cheap feeder I bought 4 perchs at the bottom, so if there's seed, they can get it, and the rain doesn't soak and mold the seed like the sock.  I suspect a squirrel was the one tearing holes in the sock, so we moved the shepherd's hook a bit.

I took everything out of our spice pantry, wiped down the shelves and re-arranged what I didn't discard as out of date.  We seem to be very big on smoked paprika!! 

I also went through the pantry out behind the kitchen.  That was pretty easy, as we'd gone through it last fall and gotten rid of a lot of stuff.  It was now a matter of getting soups, broths, etc. together.  I tossed out a couple things we'd missed last fall.  It feels good to have closets and pantries cleaned out and rearranged.  I need, now, to start washing upstairs curtains. 

We also got a list of the fraud charges and I've gone through those.  They have one on there that was ours, but there's about $250.00 worth they haven't noted yet.  I'll take my lists and go to the bank on Monday.  She can see a screen that gives more info than I get, and she gets info from them quicker than I do.

Did you see that article about people who "churn" credit cards for the "rewards"?  They take trips and get free hotels, etc. by constantly taking out new cards. One guy had something like 42 cards.  Credit card companies must make so much money on the interest people pay who don't pay off their cards every month that they allow this.  And I was comcerned about the $700.00+ of fraud on ours.  I guess that's peanuts to them, if they let individuals have thousands and thousands of dollars in "perks."


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-27/inside-the-risky-jet-setting-world-of-credit-card-churning

Good Grief!  I never cease to be amazed!

The White House Correspondents Dinner is on both CNN and C-Span 1 right now and for most of the evening.  Should be a blast.

Happy May Day!

It's a cold, windy and wet one here again. 


Have a blessed Sunday.

Dark and wet here.  The cold and damp reach dripping fingers right down to my old bones.
Regardless, the weather frees Chip up to take me to Home Depot to look for a few items.  He had a double header baseball game scheduled for today (he umpires), but that has been canceled.
So off we go in the relentless raindrops.  Oh well; we won't melt!

Lightning, thunder, and rain since early morn.
JOY

Continuing with the weather report - we had fog this morning, and now it's intermittent cloud cover.  We did have some thunder and widely scattered showers.  We did get one here, which made all our flowers happy.

Nothing going on today - the laundry is done and the newspaper has been read.  No telling what I'll do this afternoon - maybe some knitting and some TV and maybe even a nap.  8^)

Seems we are all getting the same weather.  Storms and Cold. At least 17000 runners still ran in the Marathon here yesterday. They were all soaking wet. Bet a few with colds later.
Never did my plumber come to finish the job.  Hope tomorrow.
All I did was read and took a little nap. Finished the book. "The Japanese LOver"  was very good.
Today I suppose will be doing the same. At least have 3 good TV shows coming on tonight.

It is a nice sunny day here on the Oregon Coast, the temp is supposed to get up to 75°. I'm ready for church and waiting for Keith to finish getting ready.

Hi Gals,  I had a miserable time trying to sleep last night, finally drifted off about 3 AM. Bunny woke me to be fed at 8. I took care of her and then since I had had so little sleep and it was still pouring outside, I went back to bed until 10.  We had the most horrible thunder storms last night and into the morning. I just checked my rain gauge. It was clear full, 5.5 inches!!! There may have been more that overflowed.  We were -5" till then, so I guess we are now slightly above normal! The bad part though is that when you get so much at once it doesn't sink in, just runs off into the sewers. I'm glad though that we got it.  It started about 4:30 with an intense burst of rain for about 10 mins, then quit until about 7:00, so I was able to get over to Ms Frances with my hydrangea plant without getting soaked. It was raining lightly when I left there and then about a half hour later the really bad storm started. It sounded like hail, but couldn't see any on the ground. I guess it was just the wind-driven sheets of water hitting things that made it sound like that.  Bunny came up and layed on my chest till the worst was ov

Now, the sun is out and it's supposed to get to 80 today.  I hope you all have a nice day and that it clears off for those with rain.  Sharon

At least our rain seems to have stopped.  Still no sunshine.  I don't think I will even bother to get dressed and go out today.  Just hope the coming week will warm up.  My furnace is still clicking on

Sunny and warm in Texas.   At least where I live. CC

Good Morning from Oregon, the day is beautiful and shirt sleeve weather. It is going to be a great day and blessed day. I just finished writing a couple of ches for the bills that have already come in, I try to get them paid within a few days of arrival. I write them Keith signs them for the household bills. As for m y personal bills I pay them all on the 3rd every month.

I am also doing some laundry this m ornin g, I have to was all the bedding and pillows off the bed in the spare room, some of them smell like mildew to me and I want everything fresh and clean with Gilbert and family arrive. Gilbert is a bit of a germ-a-phobe so I don't want to hear any complaints it will be their first time visiting here they are having some financial difficulty so I am sending the a couple of hundred  to make sure they get here for the wedding.

Our pastor is on vacation for a week and hardly anyone showed up for church yesterday I think there may have bee n about 12 members there. The Sunday School teacher  gave the  sermon.

Where is everyone?  We've received nearly 8" of rain since Sat!  Still overcast and a chance for more today and tomorrow.  Enough already!

I've got some computer problems, so may not be on line for a day or two. Not sure.

Marilyn, our pastor was gone Sunday too, but was with the confirmands at a retreat. Another pastor who is part time took her place.  However, I didn't go due to lack of sleep and storms.

Molly, did you get as much rain as we have?  It seemed that it was the SW of Charlotte and far north that got the most.

I hope everyone is okay and just busy.  Sharon

We had about an inch of rain yesterday and overnight from our scattered showers.  The flowers are very happy - and we didn't have enough to cause any problems.

I had my semi-annual teeth cleaning this morning - something that always feels good to me.  No problems found - so that's good, too.  On the other side of the ledger, my knee has started hurting again.  I guess the cortisone shot only lasted a week.  8^(  .  Now to get to the packing.  Margaret will be coming in early tomorrow morning and we'll head out.

Happy Tuesday, Buddies!

SHARON - Yes, in response to your inquiry RE the recent rain!  The past 3 days we've had heavy thunder, lightening and torrential rain late in the afternoon and into the evening past midnight!  Really LOUD and BRIGHT - almost like having a Hollywood Light crew inside the house!

Yesterday, my dear neighbors came over earlier in the afternoon with two pots of beautiful Blue plants.  The fellow brought a thin plastic tiny pole to put in the ground and attached the beautiful Irish plant to it so it would not tip over or tear from it's base.  How thoughtful!  His wife had the two containers of Blue plants and was kneeling down on the ground under my dining room windows to plant them when the first ENORMOUS lightening and thunder appeared right over my house.  I told both of them to "GO HOME!  RIGHT NOW!  RUN!" and they did.  I shouted "we can do the planting another day!" (She came back earlier this morning to resume the planting.)

I also headed for my porch door, came in and closed all the blinds.  We've had that kind of afternoon and evening weather for the past few days, but have not lot electricity, thanks God!

This weekend is the Church's annual Plant Sale, which I plan to visit briefly and see if anything really attracts me.  I haven't bought anything in a couple of years and tend to purchase my items from a professional shop.  But I usually make a $ contribution.

I haven't heard from Mohamed in a few days as he is away from his new apartment and visiting family and long-time friends in Giza (his family's home).  When we talked a few days ago before he traveled, he was so exhausted from the stress of moving to a new apartment, I encouraged him to rest.  Sure hope he can do so for a couple of days before he has to begin doing all the paper-work for the end of semester student grades. Hope all enjoy the week!

After a week of rain, we now have warmer temps and sunshine.  It feels wonderful. The grass and flowers sure liked all that rain, though.

I've been to the grocery and we walked this morning, and I got some more washed curtains hung, so the upstairs curtains are all fresh and clean.  Not planning much else for today...time to sit back and read for a bit.

jane

Jane, you are so good about getting your spring cleaning all done. I've done some and had my cleaning girl do some things, but cleaning out drawers is still on my list.

Molly, it sounds like we got about the same thing regarding the storms. I'm glad you didn't lose power.  Our lines are all underground, so unless a transformer blows or something like that, we don't lose it.

I have some bad news to pass on.  Sue called me this AM. She is in the hospital with a fractured sacrum!!  She was on a ladder trying to clean out gutters when she fell. Fortunately, her neighbor was out in his yard and heard her call out for help. He and his wife called the ambulance and got her to the hospital.  She is in the hospital rehab and still in a lot of pain and will need lots of therapy. She has lots of friends and church people visiting, etc but has no idea how long she will be there.  Why she didn't ask Tim to do the gutters or hire someone to, I have no idea.  Anyway, she asked that you all keep her in your prayers or good thoughts for a good and quick recovery.

Mary, I don't know when you're leaving, but do have a good trip and give Mary Page a hug from all of us. Glad the teeth cleaning was good and no problems.

Marilyn, you're really staying busy getting ready for the wedding.

Hi to everyone I didn't mention.  Have a good, sunny day!  Sharon

Sherry Thank you for then update on Sue, Thank goodness she had your phone number. Yes we are staying busy getting ready. We still. have to go get the license and we are still car shopping. I have to Therapy dog visits today,  this afternoon we are going to visit at the Memory Care Center. This morning we visit the Baycrest living and rehab facility just not too far around the corner a couple of blocks from here. Tomorrow it is the hospital in the afternoon.

I have been doling to cleaning that  really needed to be done on my kitchen counter, trying to get sall the clutter either tossed out or put away. Keith has a habit of laying things down and not putting them away. So the counter had tools etc  laying around.

Oh, my word! I'm so glad Sue's neighbors were out and heard her.  I hope they can help with her pain...and thank heavens Tim is close by.

It sounds as if things are falling into place, Marilyn.

Sharon...thanks for the word about our Sue.  We don't do ladders anymore here.  A one step indoor step stool is the limit for us.  Neither of us is steady enough anymore. 

I tried to walk this morning, but the north wind was too much and I quit soon after starting.  Allergies are bad with the wind, too.

MaryPage...the Fresh Market that just opened a year and a half ago in Cedar Rapids is closing.  We're not surprised. The market, after about the first month, had none of the fish they'd had the first month, the aisles were dark as they didn't replace burned out bulbs, etc.  The paper said they were closing their other Iowa store, too...14 altogether. 

I'm off for bridge and lunch.  Tomorrow is a long day in Iowa City for Ray's Dental College appt. so I may not be in in the morning.

jane

Jane, I am so very sorry to hear that about Fresh Market.  It is one of my all time favorite stores, and I would be crushed to hear that we will lose ours here in Annapolis Harbor Center.  Must have not had enough money behind the endeavor.  Bummer!

Sharon, that is terrible about Sue.  I would be more than happy, indeed I would be tickled, to call her.  Ask her if she wants her number given out.  I just checked my address book, and I have her address alright, but no phone numbers.

Himself made me swear before he died that I would get up on NO ladders, no step ladders, and no stools or chairs after he was gone.  I wait and get someone to help me.  He was right, you know;  but then he almost always was. 

Chip and I are just back from spending a couple of hours or so at the Laundromat.  Rugs and comforters and bedspreads and mattress covers are all washed to a fair thee well!  Now back to getting stuff transferred over to my new computer.  I really, really like it;  so many new and useful bells and whistles.  Windows 10, and all.

Goodness. Bad news on Sue.  I use to be bad on doing things like that. climbing on roofs. Cleaning things up high. Just decided 2 years ago after friend got hurt that time to stop. It is hard getting workers to do many things I know.  Right now getting plumbing is my problem but will sit back until I get all the things that need doing this Spring until I find someone. Just not worth taking the risks.   
I am sure now that Sue will get well taken care of . Back home soon. If like my kids.  Will get a good talking to by her boys and family.