I got two extra days off work this week, today and tomorrow. It was quite unexpected; my contracted days for the 2025/26 school year were done last Friday. I go back on Wednesday, which is the first day of the 2026-27 term. I hadn't been paying attention, but my principal caught it and thank goodness! I'd have been working extra days for free otherwise.
It's too hot to do much of anything. At the moment it's just normal summertime heat and humidity, but later this week and next weekend we're supposed to be getting a record-setting heatwave. Thank goodness for a/c! I feel so sorry for all of you in Europe who are dealing with these kinds of temperatures without it. I think it's been cooling down a bit (at least in England) for some of you and I hope that continues.
Thanks to the heat I haven't been doing a lot of cooking, but I did finally get around to baking bread yesterday. Gregg and I agreed that these ended up being the best loaves I've ever made!
Practice is apparently paying off.
The garden continues to flounder. We finally got a few tomatoes (one Black Sea Man and three or four small Romas) and some peppers, but that's it. So disappointing! The other day Facebook showed me a photo I posted this time last year and it hurt my heart a little:
Tomorrow I'm hoping to go swimming at a friend's house. At our last book club she mentioned that the pool is cleaned and ready and issued an open invitation to the group to come over and swim anytime. If she's not busy tomorrow, I plan to take her up on it. Pool time is a real treat when it's this hot, and it will be good to see my friend (outside of book club) too.
Last Friday was our 20th wedding anniversary! I had the day off thanks to my awesome summer schedule at work (short days and Fridays off). Gregg and I spent the long weekend at home, hiding out from the heat. It was a record-setting weekend temperature-wise and going outside for much of anything was downright miserable. We tried to think of a couple of day trips to take, but nothing appealed to me enough to venture out when the temperatures were around 100 degrees with high humidity! It was a nice (if somewhat boring) few days at home. We've found a cottage we'd like to rent in Kitty Hawk, NC this fall, and if so then that will be our belated celebration. And we're still happy and proud of our milestone anniversary!
Besides estivating at home, not much is going on at the moment. I love my summer schedule, what with going in later, getting off early, and long weekends. It's awfully boring up there, though. Most days it's just me and the custodians, as the principal is on a leave for the month of June. What little work I have to do I've been stretching out to fill the time over the next few weeks, and I spend lots of time reading a book or listening to podcasts. I'm in no hurry for the slow-paced summer work hours to end, though. It's restful.
In garden news, this year's garden SUCKS. Several of my tomatoes have developed some sort of weird wilt that I can only assume is a virus, and the remaining ones are struggling to flower or set fruit. I'm guessing it's the wild temperature swings we've had combined with very, very little rain. We water daily during the worst of the heat, but hose water and rain water are very different things. Gardens just don't seem to thrive without rain. The cucumbers are pretty sad, too. We've gotten a few so far, but the numbers I'd hoped for to make pickles with just aren't happening. The peppers are doing okay but they're never my main focus. I do have to say that Mary's Rattlesnake beans are great, though, just like always! We're already getting more green beans that we know what to do with. Maybe I'll try her recipe for dilly beans, since I love pickles and it would keep them from going to waste.
Overall, the garden is turning out to be a big disappointment. I've started to think about planting a fall garden in September to make up for it. With food prices what they are I'd really like to supplement our diet with some fresh vegetables.
The one part of the garden that hasn't sucked: the roses! I'm so pleased with them.
What else is going on this summer? Not much. We're trying to figure out what to do with extra furniture that's left after getting the new bedroom stuff. The house is cluttered with it and needs a good cleaning to boot. Gregg and I agreed to work on all that this weekend. I have a few errands to run this morning: the farm stand (I'm still buying tomatoes and other veggies, sigh), the drugstore, the eye doctor (my glasses broke and I had to order new frames for the lenses), the bank, etc. etc. Errands and housework! Fun times! :)
So off to finish my coffee and begin. Have a good weekend, everyone, and thanks for stopping by!
This has been a nice summer so far. Since I go to work two hours later this time of year, I'm able to get up, start the coffee, and take a good walk with Gregg and the dogs. When we get back, I sit on the porch with a large mug of coffee and enjoy the birdfeeders and garden for a half hour or so before I have to hit the shower and get ready for work. It feels luxurious to have all that time in the morning!
And work barely feels like work right now. It's only 6 hours a day, and the only other people around are the principal and the custodians. There's not much to do. I've already put in work orders for summer classroom repairs, organized and prepared to fill the teachers' supply requests for next year, and cleaned up my desk and the files from this past year. Occasionally I answer the phone or fill a records request from another school. And that's about it! I listen to podcasts or music to help pass the time. I'm going to miss this laid-back pace (and the hours!) when school starts back. And having Fridays off is another great perk to working through the summer.
Well, not quite all the way through. Wednesday is my last day next week, and then I'm off until July 8th. Hooray!
Summer break means more time to spend in my garden!
Here are some pictures I took in it recently.
Here's one for the Marco fans out there. Pretty flowers, pretty bird.
Holy cow, it's been almost two weeks since I posted here! How are you all? How's your summer going?
It's hot here. Really, really hot. And humid.
My new job is still going well. I was off campus today for a meeting/training session with all the district bookkeepers and people from the finance department. We finished earlier than expected, so I got to come home and take a break for a couple of hours. Tonight is our school's open house/orientation event for parents and students, and I'll be going up there for a while to help out. The kiddos come back to school on Monday.
It's the first full week of my summer break, and I'm trying to concentrate on enjoying myself. I've already done plenty of reading, napping, and hanging out in the garden, and there's still a full month left. I'm trying to soak up every bit of relaxation possible during this pause between jobs, because once I go back to work, I'm going to have a steep learning curve to get over.
Thanks for all the concern about my finger (see last post). I'm happy to report I still have 10 of them despite my shenanigans with the knife! I never did go to the doctor. It seems to be healing okay, although it's still a pretty awful looking wound. There are no signs of infection, though, which is the main thing. I wash and rebandage it twice a day, and it's coming along better than I expected. Typing without the use of the one finger is difficult, though. This will probably be a short post!
The little party with my girlfriends went well. We had a load of good food, and I made punch that we mixed with champagne and sipped while sitting on the back porch. There's nothing like spending time catching up with old friends. :)
The Greek pasta salad I suffered (and nearly lost a finger!) for just prior to
mixing in feta cheese and chopped romaine lettuce. It was delicious, at least!
A very bad picture of really tasty food: ham and Swiss puff pastry roll ups, brushed with lots of butter and sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Desserts! Chocolate eclair cake made by Martina, pound cake made by me, and strawberries from the farm down the road.
Five Fruit Celebration Punch with cheap champagne for mixing. Yum! Fun!
Fairy lights on the porch after dark.
Oh, and we got a new roof the day before the party. It looks great! The crew did good work and repaired/painted trim in addition to the roof. So we're thousands of dollars poorer now, but our house is in good shape! :) It's going to take diligent saving for the rest of this year (at least) to make up for such a big expense, but at least we're happy with it.
So that's been my first week of summer break! I hope you all are well, and I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone.
It's ridiculously hot here today. Dangerously hot, as a matter of fact, especially if you add in the high humidity. Walking outside is like putting a steaming hot wet towel over your face and trying to breathe through it. All of the weather sites are putting out excessive heat warnings, as the heat index (which combines the actual temperature with the humidity to get a "real feel") will go as high as 108F today and for the rest of the week. A couple of days next week the actual temperature is supposed to reach 107F so who knows how high that heat index will be! It's unbearable. We're dealing with it by keeping the blinds drawn and the a/c set around 78F during the day, which feels super cool and comfortable considering how hot it is outside. When the temperature goes up past 100F we plan to move the thermostat up to 80F or even 82F. Although our unit is less than 3 years old, it's working hard on days like this and we're trying to lessen the strain on it. And let's not forget next month's power bill! It's going to be a scorcher just like temperatures.
I'm worried about my garden. I can water frequently, but I can't imagine my tomatoes setting much fruit with temperatures this high. It's frustrating to do so much work in a garden, only to be at the mercy of whatever Mother Nature decides to send. I looked into buying some shade cloth to drape over the trellis of the raised bed, but honestly, I've been feeling too bad to go out and shop for it--and I'm not sure how much good it would do anyway.
I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, not a minute too soon. I'm still struggling with a cough and shortness of breath and just generally feeling bad. I did have one good day when I felt normal again--this past Sunday, which happened to be our 16th wedding anniversary! I'm grateful that, for whatever reason, I felt good all day. Good enough to work outside for several hours, cook a nice meal, and drink a bottle of champagne after supper. We had fun. But I paid for it yesterday, when I woke up feeling worse than ever. I wonder if being outside for a long time (and possibly inhaling allergens) made things worse? If so, there's no danger of me repeating that mistake anytime soon. Not with temperatures this high!
Thank goodness for my appointment tomorrow. I'm tired of feeling bad. It's not been a great start to summer vacation, and I need this break to relax from the work stress of last year before the new year begins. I also have a trip to look forward to with my girlfriends in early July, and if I'm this asthmatic I won't be able to enjoy myself. If the trip were today I wouldn't even feel like going at all. So I hope the doctor can help me.
How is the weather where you live? I saw on Cro's blog that the temperatures in France at the moment are just as bad as here, and I know that the Midwest states are experiencing a terrible heat wave, too. Every summer I find myself daydreaming about moving well north of here.
Poppy has discovered the joy of draping herself over one of the a/c vents.
It was a nice long weekend here. We got some work done in the yard and garden, spent extra time with Marco on the porch, took George for nice walks around the neighborhood, and grilled out on Sunday. Later that night lots of our neighbors blew up fireworks, and for the first time it made George nervous. We stayed inside with him, watching tv with the volume up a bit. Downton Abbey has come to Netflix so we've been watching a few episodes every night recently.
Our 4th of July feast from the grill. Hotdogs, sausages, sweet corn (grilled in the husk), tomatoes and cucumbers from my garden, and potatoes grilled with rosemary, parsley, sea salt, and olive oil. Obviously this was enough food for two or three meals!
The ornamental pomegranate is blooming. Isn't that a lovely shade of orange? The miniature roses are finishing up a second flush of blooms, too.
We've finally harvested a couple of German Queen tomatoes. They're meaty with a full tomato flavor and very few seeds. Definitely a variety to consider again for next year!
The Mr. Stripey tomatoes are starting to ripen. We haven't tasted this one, yet. It won't be long.
And before this month is out, we'll be eating our own cantaloupes. I'm ridiculously excited about it!
I can hardly believe it's already the first of July. The summer is flying by, which makes me a little bit sad. It will be over and done before we know it.
One of our neighbors put out this Pride flag at the beginning of June. It makes us smile every time we walk past their house with George. We don't know the people that live there, but we'd probably be friends.
I'm supposed to go back to work on the 26th, and guess what? I got a summons for jury duty on that day! I've never had jury duty despite being registered to vote since I was 18 years old. From what I understand, I'll appear in court that day and the attorneys will decide whether or not they want me to serve. So I might or might not end up missing more than the first day of school.
If I end up missing the first week, that's fine by me. The students don't come back until August 2nd, so most of that first week in the office will be spent helping with all the last minute registrations and answering hundreds of phone calls. Not a fun time. And for the first time I'm apprehensive about going back to work this year; some serious problems had developed that didn't get resolved before we left for the summer. I need to have a meeting with the principal early on so we can work some things out. The stress was starting to get to me at the end of last year. I didn't even realize how stressed out I was until I had a couple of weeks off and saw what a difference it's made.
But enough about that! I still have three and a half weeks off before I have to worry about going back to work. I'm really enjoying my summer and trying make the most of it. Speaking of which, here's the master of finding a moment of zen on a summer's day:
Cooler weather and rain swept into the area on Monday. After more than a week with everything baking in the hot summer sun from dawn to dusk and a mild drought still in effect, it was a very welcome relief. So far this summer I've learned that water from a hose can't compete with a good drenching rain for making a garden happy. Watering will keep the plants alive during the hottest part of summer, but rain makes them thrive. I'm beginning to harvest the earliest tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, parsley, and basil. The indeterminate heirloom tomatoes and the cantaloupes are coming along nicely. Then there's all the flowers I planted as a living mulch, the marigolds and nasturtiums. They're blooming like mad.
Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa cardui) and marigold blossoms.
I've been spending a great deal of time outdoors these days, even when it's hot. It's a pleasure to be off work and enjoying the garden, the porch, and the neighborhood at my leisure. This morning when we were out walking George one of our neighbor's cats came out to be petted. She's sensible enough to wait for Gregg to walk on ahead with George before trotting over to say hi. (George can't be trusted around cats, unfortunately). She's a sweet little creature.
I've only left home in the past week to go to the farmer's market or to the grocery store. Yesterday I cleaned and organized my pantry, tossing expired foods (thankfully there wasn't much of that) and rearranging stuff nearing it's expiration date so that it's closer to hand. I'm thinking about buying some bulk fruits and vegetables at the market (things I don't grow, like peaches and sweet corn) and then freezing and canning them for winter use. Everything is so good right now, at the peak of the season, and the prices are as affordable as they're going to get. I haven't canned anything in years, but I have all the equipment I need to do so. Having all this free time helps.
Today I mowed the lawn to surprise my husband. I can't wait until he gets home from work and sees it! We got a new mower this summer and it's much easier to use than the old one, plus our yard is small. It felt good to be working (and even sweating) outdoors. I've lost a few pounds from the extra exercise and I'm getting very brown from the sun. So far it's been an excellent summer.
I just got into an argument with somebody looking to troll a friend's post on Facebook. You'd think I'd know better by now. I did have the slight satisfaction of pissing off a young white guy so much he said I needed to have a look "at what the bible says about women attempting to educate men!" and I nearly spit out my drink when I burst out laughing.
So. That was rather nice.
Anyway, how have you all been? It's been a long empty week here at Casa de Sparrow without much to recommend it. Covid-19 cases are still rising alarmingly in this state. Things are so bad all of a sudden that there's talk about schools not opening after all in August. I can't help but fret for my job. Gregg is working more hours at the pet store to make up some of his lost income. I worry about him being exposed to the public, but who knows when his maintenance jobs will come back. Three of the best paying ones are in nursing homes and there's no end in sight for those places being under quarantine. Of course with a significant chunk of his income being gone, we're having to tighten the purse strings. Which is fine, but it's getting a little old. So many of the things I need/want to do around the house require money, even in small amounts, and I'm trying really hard to strictly limit unnecessary spending. I shouldn't complain. I know that some of it is just sheer boredom and a desire for escape of one sort or another. I've also been drinking more than usual, just to relieve the tedium of the long evenings. (I know I need to be careful with that, and I am). Have you been turning to drink, or food, or anything else, during these strange times?
As for food, I'm lucky that I haven't been overeating all these months. I've been doing a LOT of cooking and even baking, but I find that the more work I do in the kitchen, the more easily satisfied I am with small portions and just having a "taste" here and there. And the fresh produce from the farmer's market has been a daily part of every meal I make.
This was my dinner the other night. Fried yellow squash along with fresh cucumber and tomato slices, sprinkled liberally with sea salt and, in the case of the cucumbers, apple cider vinegar. Not the healthiest way to eat the squash, but absolutely delicious.
And here was dessert: cherry cobbler.
This was taken when it was still bubbling hot, straight from the oven. It was so rich, I only had a small portion.
So that's been my week, friends. Cooking, sitting around, a lot of reading (maybe I should do some book reviews here) and a lot of waiting to see what's going to happen in this state with the virus situation. This is not the summer I was hoping to have! Tell me how things are going with you.
The full "Strawberry Moon" rising over my neighborhood Wednesday night.
Another weekend is almost at an end. Sundays have lost some of their depressing feel now that we've been at home for so many weeks. The days all just seem to run together lately.
My husband is going back to work full time this coming week. I'm really uneasy about it. Positive Covid-19 cases are rising at a higher rate than ever in this state, but at some point I guess we have to try to resume a more normal life (with new precautions). After all, the virus isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I'm just going to have to deal with my anxiety about it all and hope for the best. Gregg promised me he'll be careful--standing several feet away from others, trying to avoid touching his face, frequent handwashing. Aside from his one risk factor, he's in good health, and if he should get sick he is assured of getting the very best care possible. The friend that undoubtedly saved his life when he had cancer is the very best pulmonologist in this area, and I know that he would do everything in his power to help if we needed him. So that's some comfort, too.
Our 14th wedding anniversary is coming up next week, on Friday. Since Fridays are one of Gregg's normal days off, we'll be able to spend it together, at least. Obviously with the virus out there we won't be going anywhere to celebrate. I'm hoping that next year we can rent a cottage somewhere on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We haven't been up there in years and years, since before we were married. It's beautiful and we've been wanting to go back and have a vacation there again. Maybe next year we can manage it.
The weather here continues to be nice. It's been humid and we've had lots of rain, but the pounding heat we usually have by now hasn't really shown up. The highs this coming week don't even hit 90F. Gardenias and magnolia flowers are blooming all around the neighborhood. Our Crepe Myrtle trees are just beginning to flower, too. It's a nice time of year (when it isn't too hot).
What's this time of year like where you live? Are you getting back to "normal" yet or are you still staying at home and trying to avoid Coronavirus? How is your summer going so far?
I took George to the vet this morning for the swollen spots that appeared on his legs and chest over the weekend. They think he's had an allergic reaction to something or other, and that it's not too serious. He got two different steroid shots and a 10 day supply of an antibiotic to take care of any infection that may be settling in to the sores that formed on the oldest spots. I was seriously relieved! It was also time for his 6 month heartworm prevention shot, too, and altogether the visit cost almost $200. That's in addition to the $30 allergy shot Ginger got Friday morning. These dogs are breaking the bank!
Actually, it's not just the dogs. I swear we've been hemorrhaging money all summer long, for one minor crisis after another. It's been stressing me out to no end, and as hard as I've tried to not spend any unnecessary money this summer it's not made much difference. We can barely keep up with all the extra expenses and in order to avoid tapping into our savings I've had to watch every dime and postpone paying some bills (like the ridiculous amount of money I still owe the dentist). I hate it.
Last night when Gregg and I sat down and had one of our bi-monthly household financial meetings, we discovered that several of his aquarium clients have been falling behind in paying him for his work, and what's worse, falling behind in reimbursing him for supplies that he bought for them out of his own pocket. In a couple of cases it's just due to the time of year; he has accounts at several schools and typically the bookkeepers are off for the month of July. Usually he will get a couple of bigger checks at the end of August once the financial people are back at work, and that's fine. But in two cases it's sheer carelessness and he intends to have a talk with the financial people at both places. They both owe him 2 or 3 months worth of back pay as well as money for the supplies he's been buying for them. Thank goodness he keeps good records. The delayed money will come in very handy....hopefully soon.
In addition to being stressed out about money, I've been a low mood for other reasons. There's been a lot of family stress and drama this year. It started, of course, with losing my beloved mother in law before Christmas. After that, Gregg had a few health scares over the next several months that turned out to be nothing (thank goodness!) but he's had to have a ton of extra tests and scans to make sure that the cancer hasn't returned. Then my grandma died at the start of the summer. Regular readers here will know that her will left some bad feelings and resentments in the family that are just starting to subside. Then two weeks ago I got the news that a former coworker of mine, a woman in her mid 60s that I worked closely with for years, had died suddenly in her sleep at the end of June. She had had a lot of health problems, but it still shook me to find out that she had died like that, too young. And THEN, on top of everything else, I found out the other day that my mom's sister, my aunt Shirley, has had a terrible accident. She was at home alone (and suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis and slight dementia) and she fell. When she fell, a large television fell on top of her, breaking her leg and pinning her to the floor. She laid there for 5 hours before her husband got home from work and found her, and the circulation had been cut off from her leg for so long that they ended up having to amputate it. Isn't that just awful? I wasn't close to this aunt; in fact, I'm certain I haven't seen or spoken to her in at least 20 years. She and her husband were not kind to my grandparents, which is why there was a rift between her and my mom (and why I didn't care that she dropped out of my life long ago) but I still feel terrible for what she's going through.
Every where I turn right now, it seems there's death and dying and illness and injury. Or the threat of those things. Are the planets aligned oddly this summer or something? And come to think of it, why is everyone so angry all the time? Gregg had a large woman threaten to "knock you on your ass!" yesterday for asking her child to stop banging on the glass of a fish tank! And I can't even talk about the political situation these days, it makes me feel even more hopeless. Talk about ugliness! And the awful heat outside is just the icing on the cake.
I hate to say it, but I'll be glad to see the end of this summer. As hard as I've tried to be happy and grateful for all the time off, I just haven't been able to enjoy this one. I'm going to work two days this week (Wednesday and Thursday, registration days) and then next Monday is my first official day back. I can't wait. This summer was a bust.
It's been ridiculously hot here in South Carolina. Temperatures up to 100F with heat indexes of up to 110F have made it nearly impossible to do anything outdoors. I've been staying at home in the A/C with the blinds drawn against the relentless heat. The dogs have been staying inside every day from around noon until bedtime. Ginger has decided that she loves being inside and has a favorite spot picked out in one of the bedrooms right beside an A/C vent. She and George have both been good as gold while inside; they mostly lie around all day and nap. I think they both appreciate getting to escape the heat. We've been giving Marco time out of his cage in the morning before the dogs come in, and then again at night when they go out (and maybe once or twice during the day when I make the dogs go outside for a few minutes to give them opportunities to pee and poop). Since I dare not leave the dogs (especially George) alone in the house, I've been stuck at home during the worst heat of the day so I can keep an eye on them.
Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be about 10 degrees cooler, which is a good thing, because I have things I need to do during the day. Hopefully it will be safe to leave the dogs out in the garage with their fans going and plenty of water. They also have access to our fenced back yard, which is full of trees and very shady, so they should be fine.
I've been assigned as a Guardian to a new child, a little boy that just turned a year old this month. I'm going to meet him and the grandparents he's living with on Wednesday afternoon. His mother has addiction issues and wasn't caring for him properly, and so the grandparents had to step in and take him when he was a week old. Little B. showed some signs of opioid withdrawal at birth, but from all accounts is doing well now in the care of his relatives. The mother has supervised visits, but wants full custody back, so this case will likely be heard in court several times. Hence the need for a GAL for the child. I spoke to his grandmother this morning, to set up a time to visit, and she was pleasant and polite and (most importantly) receptive to my role as her grandson's Guardian. I'm not dreading this first visit as much as I've dreaded others in the past, partly because the grandmother assured me that little B. is a delightful toddler and "you're going to love him!" With that kind of positive attitude, I think this woman (and hopefully, her husband) will be easy to work with.
Speaking of children, I'm planning to go see Marla and the baby tomorrow! It's hard to believe that little Carsen is already five weeks old. She's the sweetest baby; she's always asleep when I go to see her, and she smiles in her sleep.
A photo Marla texted me just this morning.
I have a long list of chores I'd like to accomplish this week, before the beginning of July. July will be devoted to continuing the process of paring down our possessions in preparation for moving. I've already worked my way through our bookshelves, but that's the tip of the iceberg. Our garage is cluttered, our closets are stuffed full of old clothes and junk, and we even have a whole "junk room" filled with all kinds of things that need to be either organized, repaired, donated, or tossed. I always keep the door to that room closed because it's so shameful looking inside! Now that I have all this time on my hands, there's no excuse for it. Especially when we plan to buy a house before the year is out and will be packing up to move.
On the diet front, I've doubled down on my healthier eating habits and calorie counting--and it's working! I'm now down 17 pounds despite not walking nearly enough in the past week due to the heat. My clothes are getting looser and I'm feeling really good. I think the fact that I'm limiting sugar and junk food is making my skin better, too. The eczema on my knees is completely gone, and while my right ankle still has itchy patches, my left one has almost cleared up, too. The only two things that have really changed are my diet and the amount of water that I drink. So that's a good bonus, too.
I'm finishing up June in a good way on all fronts, and I'm looking forward to July and making more progress on my goals. Do you have any goals you're working toward this summer? If so, I'd love to hear about it!
Well, the worst of the summer heat is finally arriving this week. We're supposed to have highs of around 98F (36.67C) every day, with high humidity. It's miserable outside.
A screenshot of our local forecast for this week.
I had to force Ginger to come inside today. She's never liked being in the house, and would stay out in the garage and backyard no matter the weather if we allowed it. I think it's because she grew up in the country, with lots of land to roam on. She actually prefers being an outside dog. I had to put her leash on her to make her come in the house this morning. It's just too hot for her to be outside, and the small portable A/C unit we used in the garage for the last two years isn't very effective, plus it costs a small fortune to run. We've decided that during the worst heat of the day, both the dogs will just have to come in. George loves it. He'd happily stay indoors forever if we let him. I would love it, but it's not possible. Not only is he a destructive chewer and we fear for our furniture, but Marco has to live here and deserves plenty of time out of his cage each day. Neither of the dogs have ever taken much notice of him, but we dare not let him out while they're inside. Marco would boldly go right up to them both if given a chance. The dogs might not pay him any attention, but he loves them. When they're in the house he chatters away, calling them both by name and saying things like "Good dog!" "Ginger, c'mere...George, c'mere!" and "Hey baby!" I think it's exciting for him when the dogs come inside.
The worst part of this heat wave is that it's so hard to go outside and exercise. I did go swimming at a friend's house yesterday, which felt great. If I wasn't trying to save money this summer I'd get a membership at a pool so that I could swim every day. Maybe next summer.
Speaking of exercise....I'd like to brag a little. I'm down 14 pounds as of this morning! I've been seriously working at changing my eating habits and exercising more since early May, and after a slow start, the weight is finally starting to come off. Gregg and I both had appointments with a new family doctor last week, and I really liked her. I discussed the steps I was taking to lose the excess weight (technically I'm classified as obese in the BMI chart so there was no question that I need to make some changes) and she thought I was doing a good job on my own, but offered to help monitor my progress and support me in the process. Of course I said yes! She gave me plenty of literature about good meal planning, made some common sense suggestions about daily calorie targets, and will be doing blood work this week to check my blood sugar, cholesterol, thyroid and liver function, etc. I'm really excited to finally have a doctor I feel comfortable with and supported by. I'll be weighing in with her monthly. I think that with slow, steady progress I should be in the normal BMI range by the end of the year. That's my goal, anyway.
In order to get the exercise I need while it's so hot, I'm going to have to get creative. I have a couple of friends with pools, and also friends who like to go and walk in the air conditioned mall when it's too hot to be outside. I've been invited to join them whenever I like. Of course, Gregg and I will continue to walk the dogs in the late evening after it cools off enough to be tolerable. It won't actually be pleasant again until late September at least, though.
Speaking of the summer, I leave you with these thoughts.....have a great day, everyone!
A friend I grew up and went to high school with shared this on my Facebook page recently. It brought back a lot of memories.
My girlfriends and I always listened to WAVE 104.1 FM which was the Rock radio station out of Myrtle Beach, SC. I'll never forget how the DJs would announce (every 30 minutes) "Time to turn....so you don't burn!" and we would flip over so we would tan evenly. We only wanted to tan when we were teenagers and never gave a thought to possible sun damage to our skin. And the lemon juice or Sun In for your hair? Yeah, we did that. My hair had gone from my childhood "dirty blonde" to light brown by that time, and it was easy to achieve the much-sought after sun streaked look.
God, that feels like a thousand years ago. Another lifetime. These days, I sit outside in the sun for a few minutes now and again (with sunscreen and a hat to protect my face) for purposes of getting some vitamin D. I only expose my arms and legs and I strictly limit the amount of time I spend doing it. My teenage self would have wept to know it was going to come to that! Sunbathing was a real pleasure back then and I miss it.
I've decided that summer is my least favorite season. It's just awful here in South Carolina.
I know that many parts of the country are having unusually high temperatures, and even parts of the UK are experiencing an unusual heat wave, but it's downright miserable here. Not only are temperatures in the upper 90s every single day, but the humidity is so bad (especially after it rains) that walking outside is like walking into a steam bath. It gets hard to breathe.
Another issue this year in this area are the pests. Thanks to a mild (almost non-existent) winter and a whole lot of rain, mosquitoes, ticks, and snakes are having a bonanza year. On the way to grandma's last week I listened to a local NPR segment about how this is the worst year for ticks we've ever had. Not only that, but they're carrying a new disease that's as bad as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme, and all three diseases are being reported in high numbers all up and down the East coast. Our veterinarian has been warning the community about the number of snake bites that he's seen in dogs lately, and how frequent poisonous snake sightings have become. I can't stand the thought of a snake--I screamed like a child the last time I saw one--and I dare not take our dogs anywhere where they might be lurking. Copperheads are particularly bad in this area.
The weeds and poison ivy and quick-growing vines that have sharp thorns are taking over our fences and the sides of the house. The more evil the plant, the more it seems to love this awful summer heat and humidity. Our yard looks like crap. And who wants to do more than mow the grass in weather like this? Not us. We're considering hiring a yard crew to come for the rest of the summer just for the sake of comfort. It's probably not a bad way to blow some money.
How do you feel about summertime? I hope that for most of my readers it's a better experience than what I've described here!
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