Beverly:  I surely would not be able to move at 12,000 foot altitude.  Someone would have to carry me off the mountain. 

Waiting for a call for Don from the VA.  He does have tender loving care so we never complain. 

You should have heard the rant from a radio station - a guy who does stock reporting was stuck in traffic.  The Denver natives are up in arms over the heavy influx of people moving here.  1,000 per week - I have probably said this before because it is affecting safety services and just everyone's lifestyle.  Construction in former wetland areas - it is a Boom Town for sure.

We are going to buy a lot of bleach this morning to use on the deck first then power wash the deck so a grandson can come and put a fresh coat of stain on all.   I would rather work on my quilt.  A hailstorm damaged the stain a month ago. 

Mary Ann, lucky you.  Tis about 75 and it is only 9 a.m. here.


OOOOPS just checked and it is 81 already.

It's 12:30 here, and our outside thermometer says 75.  I hope it stays there . . . enough of that 100+ degree stuff for me!

Gee Marilyne, and I am so willing to share.  LOL

joan,  I remember very well, what the weather was like when I lived a summer in Pasco and Richland!  No ac back in those days.   The only thing we had to help us cool off, was the Columbia River!

Just so you appreciate your weather - It is 55 degrees here and I hear it raining.  When I went after the mail, the wind was blowing briskly.  And that is the reason we have 55 degrees.  Come on, it's the end of June, we shouldn't have that low temperature!  I may have to turn on the heat before the day is over.  Even the cat doesn't want to go out on the deck. 

Mary Ann

Carol, the Seattle natives and even some of the early California influx are complaining also about the traffic and influx of people.  My sister is the last of the family actually living there now.  She said an article in the Times said it now takes a minimum of almost two hours one way to commute to Seattle now regardless whether you live north, south, east or west of the downtown area!!  We moved to the Woodinville-Duvall area in 1970 when it was semi-rural and thankfully escaped from the whole area in 1986.

We were in rural Oklahoma for almost 20 years and unfortunately due to Claude's health problems, had to move to the DFW Metroplex to be near to the kids.  It is getting more crowded everyday particularly the north suburbs.

Where part of Seattle were you raised in?  I was raised in the Green Lake/Northgate area and went to Roosevelt High School. 

Mary

Hi everyone. We are suppose to have a partly cloudy to mostly cloudy day and will get up to around 90 degrees this afternoon.  I plan a very restful day today as still feeling weary.  I don't plan on going anywhere today as did get to Aldi's yesterday. 

Last evening when I went to brush my teeth my electric toothbrush bite the dust.  I changed the batteries but that didn't solve the problem so it is time to just get a new electric toothbrush.  I will order it from Amazon and probably have it tomorrow. I have folded a load of laundry that Pat did yesterday and put it away and emptied the dishwasher.  Pat fixed her own breakfast this morning and that was a help.  She seems to be feeling a lot better and not requiring as much help as she did for those many months.

Mary Ann, I have loved living in the South, first Georgia and now South Carolina in terms of the weather.  It winters are mild and we have A/C for the hot days.  If I could just take my garage along with me when I go out to keep the car from getting so hot as it sits in the sun.  I don't want much do I.    When Pat has scrambled eggs, about every other morning, we fix them with butter, green onions and fresh peppers (or frozen onions and peppers), bacon crumbles that we get at Costco that is real bacon crumbled up and then egg and two types of cheese.  It makes a satisfying meal. 

Joan, stay as cool as possible.

Carol, after all the horror stories about the VA care it is nice to read of good care of our Vets.  I think Lloyd has the same experience.  Hope you didn't overdo with your porch preparation. 

Marilyne, nice weather, not to hot and not too cold. Wish you could share some of that cooler with Joan and I as it would be appreciated. 

Mary, it seems that most large cities are bursting at the seams.  I lived close to Atlanta many years and the freeways are rush hour until in the early mornings it seems and the county in which we lived for about 30 years went from 100,000 people to around 800,000 plus with a school system having around 180,000 students.  This same pattern exited in other counties surrounding Atlanta. This is such a different pace of life here in the North Augusta, Augusta area.  I don't envy you dealing with traffic in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. 

Larry, I just saw something on the computer about the best places to live and the Grand Rapids area was included.  The area they included was several counties around Kent County and it gave a population of 1.4 million.  Actually GR itself is more like 200,000 but with the entire county it shoots up to more like 600,000.  And West Michigan is predicted to grow even more. 

You were busy yesterday, Larry, you deserve a break!  Tom puts fresh onion, colored peppers, grated cheese, canned mushrooms in his scrambled eggs and I think that is about all.  And the eggs are very tasty. 

We are still on the cool side today but warmer than yesterday.  But the sun is shining and supposed to do so all day - so it is a nice day for me.

I just looked at Grand Haven and there are whitecaps.  It is a bit early for the beach people or kites - maybe this afternoon.  Water temperature is 71 degrees which is warm.

Mary Ann

Mother Nature sent her dog and pony show thru here last night.  We had flash floods and wind damage throughout the Tri Cities..  I was lucky, saw it coming and prepared for it.  Lasted about 30 mins and then left.
Pics on Facebook

joan - Those were good pictures on Facebook.  The flooding is probably gone by now, and things are starting to dry out.

The weather has cooled down here, and I'm grateful!  Last week's extreme heat was too much for me! I think the temp only reached 75 today.  It's 8:30 here now, and the outdoor thermometer says 63, so it will drop into the low 50's tonight.

Larry - I was aware all winter, of how nice and temperate your weather was. It always seemed to be much more pleasant than here in Northern CA.  Now, I guess you will be dealing with humidity, and we will have the dry desert type heat.  Every area has a mixture of the good, and the not-so-good.

Mary Ann - Tom's scrambled eggs sound delicious, and Larry - yours do too!  I make plain old scrambled eggs . . . just eggs, scrambled in butter! LOL.  My dad used to scramble them with bacon or ham, sometimes mushrooms.  If we had any potatoes left over from the previous night, he would cut them up and add them to the egg mixture.

Marilyne, I would be delighted if we had just a week of 75 temps.  LOL  Summers are hot here as you know.

Our two day cool spell is almost over. It will get a little over 80 today and continue into the mid to high eights, maybe even hitting over 90 for the next week or 10 days.

I don't have anything in particular planned for today, but I will probably do a little more yard work before the heat arrives again.

Hi everyone. We are headed for another day weather wise like yesterday with a lot of clouds and a high temperature around 90 degrees.  Today is going to be a pretty busy one after a couple of quiet days.  This morning I am taking my PT Cruiser in to have the A/C repaired.  I don't use it very often but when I want to drive it I want it to be cool.  Pat will pick me up there and I will take her back to the Church for her crafts group and go on to coffee.  At 11:15 I have my doctor's appointment with the lung doctor related to the use of my CPAP machine.  Then I will pick up Pat and come home.  This evening Jennifer and Scott will be over for dinner and to spend the evening.

Mary Ann, I expect the areas around Augusta, including North Augusta just across the river from Augusta probably would be close to the 600,000 people. It sounds like there is recognition that you live in a very desirable place.  We don't use mushrooms in our scramble eggs although I know Pat would like them. 

Joan, that sounds like a terrible storm that hit your city.  Glad it didn't last too long. 

Marilyne, I guess we wouldn't appreciate the good weather days without some not so good.  I grew up in Missouri and always heard that you could have several different types of weather in the same day there.  The other day we had a little piece of left-over steak and so I cut it up and put it in Pat's scrambled eggs rather than the bacon.  She liked it. 

MarsGal, hope you don't overdo on that yard work but good to get it done before it gets too hot for you in your area.

Larry, I get get away with more time out in the yard when I mow, but when I pull weeds, rake or cut downed branches up into manageable pieces for the recycle people, I can only do about a half hour before my back complains. Today, I only had a little to finish up breaking down and bagging twigs and such. I also did a little more weeding. Now I can spend the rest of the afternoon reading. I want to finish up a book before tomorrow so I can take it back to the library. Thursday is my volunteer day.

Good afternoon, Marilyn when I got up this AM, it was 60, suppose to go to 70.  Joan, I wish I could send you some of this weather. but here on easter Long Island we are between the L.I. Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.
Larry , i fix my eggs with Swiss cheese, my mother use vegetables .  Yesterday I made French toast, have not made that in a long time. I also add a little bisqit to the egg mix.  gives them more body. By the way I am also worried about Patricia, I sent her and /email yesterday.

MarsGal, I wish I could get out like I use to and work on the yard. I just found out my lawn man broke his leg.  He is going to send his son to mow.  Eight weeks ago, the lady that cleans for me fell and broke her foot.  Now these are all, what I call young people.

Gloria de - I've also been thinking about Patricia, and hope that she is okay?  Maybe she's having computer troubles?

I said last night that I usually scramble my eggs with just plain eggs, which is true.  However, If I have an extra avocado around that is just right, I'll slice or dice, and scramble it with the egg mixture.  That's also a very popular item at most of the diners and any place that serves breakfast.

We haven't heard from Mary Ann or wjoan, yet today?   

Marilyne, I rarely check in every day.  Usually only when I have news of some sort to share.

Marilyn, I'm here and I was here earlier and had nothing to say!  I did just finish my lunch (2:30 pm here); Tom went to Subway and brought back two halves for our lunches.  We don't get the same stuff on our sandwiches. 

I'm working on revising my trust and found out I had not revised it after Norm died and now I have to take Terry off it too.  We had lunch with Terry's wife yesterday and she's got to work with her trust but also her folks', both of whom are in the early stages of Alz's.  Jan thought revising things would be easier than what it is and she has questions she can't answer.  I told her to call me and we'd talk it over and maybe come up with a suitable answer.  Eventually she will end up with a lawyer but does want to have some preliminary work done.  That's kind of what I'm doing too but I am revising amounts because of Terry's death.  The money doesn't automatically roll over to the deceased person's family but goes back into my estate.  Gets kind of tricky at times.  It was so simple when my dad died because there were just Norm and me.

Mary Ann

Hi everyone. We are starting off with a nice warm morning but expect to have another cloudy day.  However, the temperatures are suppose to stay in the high 80's this afternoon.  I had a good day yesterday as I felt better than I had the two previous days in terms of having some energy.  Everything worked out well with the timing yesterday morning and was in an out of the doctor's office in about 30 minutes.  After I picked Pat up at the Church we stopped at Chik-Fil-A for lunch.  I did leave my PT Cruiser at the garage and told them I wasn't in a hurry to get it as don't use it very much.  They thanked me saying they were slammed with people getting ready for the 4th of July holiday.  I expect a lot of people would take Monday off from work and add it to the weekend for a nice 4 hour holiday.  Today I will pick up my friend and we will go to coffee, then I will take him home and right now plan on going back to the Church for the Wisdom group, which I missed the last couple of weeks.  That will pretty much be it for today. 

MarsGal, it sounds like you enjoy your time in your yard even when you need to limit it to save your back.  Do you volunteer at the library?  I always thought that would be a neat thing to do.  Hope you got your book finished. 

deAngel, I have never cared for French toast.  My mother used to fix it sometimes when we were growing up.  I was also thinking about Patricia this morning realizing it has been a few days since she posted.  I do hope she is OK. Unusual that both your lawn man and your cleaning lady would have broken bones in such a short time span. 

Marilyne, I don't think serving avocado with eggs has caught on here in the South as have never seen it on the menu. 

Joan, you don't need news to check it as we just want to know you are OK and a quick post tells us that. 

Mary Ann, are wells expensive to probate in Michigan.  Since we moved to South Carolina to review our wills and to see about a trust but were advised that probate in South Carolina is relatively quick and inexpensive process.  We will leave basically everything to each other and then ultimately to our son.  This is based on an assumption we will have anything left. 

Larry, it has been so long since I worked with a probated will (Dad in 1970) that I have forgotten what it cost.  I went to a trust in 1998 because I heard that does not have to be probated.  It cost me a few hundreds to revise my original trust, but I made revisions.  I'm not sorry I did it that way.  I like to say this will be my last revision, but who knows! 

It is the start of a nice day.  I think I heard rain overnight but radar shows the rain is east of us.  Maybe more tomorrow. 

I know a lot of people like avocados, but I am not one of them.  Since they grow mostly on the west coast, I think they are more popular there.  Avocados with scrambled eggs doesn't sound appetizing to me.  I'll take Tom's many vegetables as they're colorful and tasty.

Lots of whitecaps on Lake Michigan.

Mary Ann

Good morning everyone from a bright, blue, gorgeous Interior! We are expecting plus eighties today and have been running lows in the high sixties with generally at least one-afternoon rain or thundershower. Lots of unusual humidity this summer as well.

I have been out due to needing a new warrantied hard drive for my laptop, (It seems to be going around?); getting my desktop refitted with the new monitor and adjusting the desktop's last year's model of W10 and updates along with a two-day antivirus sweep.

I spent the baby's memorial service helping to babysit the remaining triplets as I would not be good at the service. People crying at Hallmark commercials are stoics compared to me and I didn't want to take away from the solemnity of the service.

I also have run into several snafus dealing with money and paperwork, not my errors, but it led to some headaches. And last but not least we had another water shut off for three hours due to the seemingly never-ending water pipe and electrical line re doing.

I had my semi-annual apartment inspection yesterday and after a full building maintenance inspection on 7/13, we are good for another year. We have had intercom inspection, and repair, fire extinguishers inspection, and change out, and needed a part for the building's water due to outside construction as well as a building-wide lightbulb style change. It has been an extremely stressful time.

The trust set up by my parents was supposed to be fairly easy, fast acting and secure. It wasn't. Probate took three years, extensive legal fees and two court appearances simply for detail work. The trust was set up that if my Dad died first, all monies were set in a trust for my mother who was in a home with Alzheimer's. My older sister and I were in charge of legwork and paperwork, quite an education in itself! After both of them died, it was to be evenly split between the children. After my father's death, probate froze all funds no matter what for those three years. We were incredibly lucky that the nursing home deferred thousands in payments unconditionally for those three years. I think we were all very cynical after that.

About avocado toast and added to eggs, it is very common here and often served in bowl meals with rice, meat and or vegetables. I often spread it on toast and place a fried egg on top or fix that in muffin tins. I have never tried it in scrambled eggs, however. I often use leftovers in scrambled eggs to make a quick and easy dinner.

Gloria, I never received your email? I was able to check emails on my phone but my replies were stressful and uncoordinated on that tiny digital keyboard so replies were out.

Patricia, it was good to see your post and know you are OK.  Your problems seemed to cover the waterfront, no one size fits all. 

Mary Ann

Patricia - Good to have you back with us.  I hope all of those annoying issues will soon settle down for you.  I’m happy to hear that Alaskans also enjoy avocados! It’s probably an acquired taste, and a matter of learning when the avocado is ready to eat.  Unfortunately, many have a sticker on them that says “ready when soft”.  Wrong!  By the time they are what most people think of as soft, they usually have developed black spots, a strong taste, and a mushy texture. Not good.

For those of you, like me, who are supposed to eat a high percentage of potassium every day, avocados have a much higher content than bananas.  Also figs, dates and apricots are higher.  All grown in California, so difficult to ship fresh.

Larry, I do a few hours a week at the library, mostly pulling books that patrons order and shelving those that come back. I enjoy it, but it can be a bit hard on my back what with the bending and crouching to get to the lower shelves.

Patricia, it is good to see you up and "running again."

This afternoon I need to do some kitty box maintenance and get the trash ready to take out early in the morning. Other than that, I am not planning on doing much else.

At the moment it is 86 out, and I just now saw a fly that must have come in with me so I am off on the small game hunt with my trusty fly swatter.

Thanks for the welcome back messages everyone!

Dealing with the government is never easy or simple. Two farm produce senior benefits checks were returned as they spelled my name with two Zs and they had to reissue them. That is only one out of four issues.

I came home with Farrah's treats this afternoon and while she has been greeting each of my returns in vain hopes, this time she barely stirred. But when I brought out that squat jar with the orange lid, she ran over calling "Win-win!" I unscrewed the lid and when I peeled back the protective paper, I swear her eyes crossed... Also, I am not a real fan of tuna, but she has become so and when I opened the can, she jumped to her dish in readiness, so she had a good day.

The bears have been out only a couple of weeks but there have already been four attacks and two fatalities, one being a sixteen-year-old brought down from behind during an all-terrain race. Two of the attacks were mothers with cubs and one attack occurred with two bikers and one being dragged off the bike and attacked. The uninjured biker sprayed the bear with bear spray and called for help while using his shirt to stop the bleeding. He said staying with his friend, hearing the mother and cubs, close by, were the longest minutes of his life. No one knows why so many attacks so soon but as /Fish & Game says, that they are wild animals and we are taking more and more of their territories.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1PRFC_enUS682US694&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=alaskan+bear+attacks+2017

Edit:

Carol, we have three large, weighing over a ton or more, animals in the Interior. Besides moose, there are wood bison and musk oxen. I don't know how they compare to moose in the lower 48 or in Sweden. I actually wasn't aware of Swedish moose so will have to look them up.

Interior Alaskan Moose; "Male Alaska moose can stand over 2.1 m (6.9 ft) at the shoulder, and weigh over 1,400 lb (635 kg). The antlers on average have a span of 1.8 m (5.9 ft). Female Alaska moose stand on average 1.8 m (5.9 ft) at the shoulder and can weigh close to 478 kg (1,054 lb). Moose are the most sought after big game animal in Alaska. Hunters report harvesting over 7,000 of Alaska's estimated 175,000 moose each year."

Wood Bison;  "Wood bison are the lesser-known and larger cousins of plains bison, the kind that once roamed the continental U.S. (and still do, in isolated areas). Wood bison are native to Alaska and Canada. A fully-grown wood bison bull will often weigh 2,250 pounds, as compared to the 1,900-pound bodies of the smaller plains bulls."

Musk Oxen;  "The Musk Ox (Ovibos moschatus) are large cattle-like animals that are part of the Bovidae family. They can be found on the treeless tundra from Alaska east through northern Canada to Greenland. Their name is derived from the strong musky smell of the bulls that is omitted during the mating season in summer. The musky smell is used to attract females during breeding. The Musk Ox is a huge hoofed mammal with a heavy bony plate across the forehead. The Musk Ox, along with Yaks of Central Asia, have the longest fur of any other animal. They have an insulated woolly undercoat and some of the hairs in the outer coat are almost 100 centimetres long. Their coats are thick and dark brown hair in colour and hang almost to the ground.

Musk Oxen have a stocky build and a pronounced shoulder hump. These bulky animals can stay in the Arctic all year round, surviving temperatures of -70 degrees centigrade. With its long, shaggy outer coat, the Musk Ox is well protected from the bitterly cold winds of the Arctic Tundra.

Adult Musk Ox measure around 1.9 â€" 2.3 metres (6.25 â€" 7.5 feet) in length from head to rump and weigh 200 â€" 410 kilograms (440 â€" 900 pounds). Musk Ox stand around 1.2 metres (3 feet 11.2 inches) high at the shoulder. Males are larger than females. Their huge size means they have very few natural predators. However, young Musk Ox are vulnerable to predators especially when newborn. Both male and female Musk Ox have broad, curling horns.

Hi everyone. We had some heavy rains during the night and it is currently raining with good opportunities for more throughout the day. 

This is the day for the housekeeper and we plan on eating out later this afternoon for our main meal and then picking up the PT Cruiser.  The repairs cost a lot more than I expected, around $900, but the car should be in good shape with the A/C problem fixed and a problem with the radiator also repaired.  I also had them do an oil change.  Needless to say I was shocked when he told me the amount.  I think this is a sound car and all cars require periodic maintenance and it is certainly less expensive than replacing it. I may watch some golf later this afternoon.

Mary Ann, I think my folks spent about $1,600 to have their trust prepared and then Dad had to get all of the assets titled in the name of the trust.  It saved the estate several thousands of dollars in probate costs and delays in settling the estate. 

Patricia, I am happy to see your postings although certainly sorry to read of all of hassles you have experienced in the last few days.  I hope things will now settle down for you.  Glad your hard drive was warrantied.  However, they sure have come down in price.It sounds like you make Farrah's day when you came home with treats.  Obviously your families experience with the trust your folks had was not a good experience.  I wonder if most care facilities would be so patient for payment?

Marilyne, the figs, dates and apricots I would go for but sure woulnd't want to have to eat avocado.  I do eat it once in a while when we eat Mexican food. 

MarsGal, that bending to pick books off the lower shelf and re-shelving books is not an easy task.  Do you do a lot of reading?  I have switched to audiobooks as it is easier on my eyes.  I have always loved to read and to visit the library.  However, our library has a great service called Hoopla that is an online service to download e-books and audio books so haven't been to the library in a long time. Did you happen to see the 60 minutes program last Sunday about the use of the IBM Watson computers to aid doctors.  It is so sophisticated that it can keep up with the 8,000 new research papers released about every week.  It has also stored and analyzed the literature of the past.  It can take the test results the doctor's have, analyze them and suggest best alternatives for treatment. 

Patricia, those bear attacks would be very frightening if one is walking in the wilds or I guess even around the edges of towns.  Very interesting information on the moose, musk oxen and wood bison.  Those are huge animals.   

Mornin all.  Made me some guacamole <sp> the other day and it was pretty good.  Decided to have  some more this week so will have Dan pick up a couple of avocados for me today. Other than that nothing else is new.

Larry, reading is my main passion in life (except for my two cats). I read most all genres, but have been doing a Science Fiction marathon of sorts for the last two years at least. The last notable SciFi I read was Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark. Thoe narrator is a 35 year old high-functioning autistic person who is offered (almost coerced) an experimental treatment to cure it. In this near future, babies are already being cured, but that particular treatment couldn't be used on adults. The story has lots of vignettes showing the challenges an autistic person has trying to "fit in" with the rest of us and having to deal with prejudice. He questions how the cure may affect his special gifts, his relationships with others, will he remember his life as an autistic or will the memories be gone, will he, in fact, become a different person entirely after the treatment.

Patricia, bears are becoming more of a problem in this area. They just caught and relocated a black bear over 400lbs. that was previously caught only a few months ago (less than two if I recall correctly). They relocated him up in one of the northern-tier counties. He had been tagged the first time, so they were able to track his route back. While some of the problem is because of development encroaching into previously forested or farm lands and with it easy pickings from bird feeders and garbage cans, there have also been fewer bear hunters for the last few years.

I just saw a trailer for The Greatest Showman which will be released around Christmas. It is a musical film about P. T. Barnum. My sister ought to like that. She likes broadway and musicals. For my part, I am waiting for Valerian and The City of A Thousand  Planets. which will be out July 28.

At 11AM, it is 83 degrees out. I expect it to get up over 90 today and for the next few days.