My corner of my world...

Mornin, Mornin... I am not cheap, but I am certainly frugal with my monies when there is no need to be otherwise... I'd prefer to think that I am just careful in what I spend... If someone thinks I am cheap, so be it... LOL... 

That having been said, I have been struggling again with my little corner of the world in our home... I took over the living room long ago and put my computer between two HUGE windows so I could see out when I wanted to... 

Each time I get to workin' on my corner of my world, something comes up and stops me... It has a greater need and so I stop, get done whatever needs to be done, and once that is completed, go back to finishing off the reorganizing of my area... 

I have a computer desk that is quite a few years old now, but it never was built for the kind of storage I need... And it was certainly never designed to be a corner desk... I expanded the desktop part of it with a nice piece of 3/4" plywood... I must have carried that piece back out to the garage 10 times or more as I had to cut it to fit around a post in the computer desk... I didn't want to clean up the sawdust in the house, but in retrospect, I certainly could have done it much easier if I had!... Oh well... Not all of my ideas or ways of doing things are the best, but I just keep on trying!   :)

From time to time, I'd price new desks on the Internet and would just 'choke' on the price they are asking for them... I need space AND storage - not an easy combination... I do a TON of work on my computer and in my area... I like things organized and in easy reach... And I HATE searching for crap... 

And wherever I am, so are the dogs and they really like laying in the sunlight sunbathing in the mornings... So I couldn't get too far away from the Chihuahua penthouse idea or else they would be underfoot... But they did take over the shelf underneath my computer desk by my feet - I just gave up eventually and put doggie beds in there... (smile)... It is also a nice feeling to wiggle your toes in the belly of a soft Chi too, so it is a win-win all the way around... 

For a few weeks, I have been sitting at my desk and looking at my area since Paul's office is now done... He's got a really nice area to work in and I probably do 150% of the computer work he does here at home... I started thinking I was working in a dark, dingy store room, ya know?... I like open windows and breezes - I detest the AC being turned on - and finally I just gave in and realized I could put this off no longer... I needed to pick up this 'yoke' of getting my working area into shape that I liked and could live with... 

But how?... How to do this without having to pay out a gazillon dollars to get what I needed and wanted?... The more I thought about it, the more I realized that a desk is just a desk and I am a creative sort of person... I'm not unhappy with my computer desk now that the desktop has been expanded and I sit in a corner of two large windows... 

Two things kept nagging at me... My chair and storage... 

My computer chair was OK and probably better than other ones I have had... I wore the wheels out and my "fix" was not a good one... A good effort, but in the end, I made the area around the chair just too large to work with the set-up... Besides that, if I had to put in large amounts of time sitting in it, my back would just ache and ache until I could no longer 'out-think' the dull and annoying pain I was feeling... An hour or two was fine, but much more than that in one day and it would certainly ruin my mood and attitude!

Last week, I had finally decided on what I was going to do in here... I LOVE those steel open shelves that are in restaurants - know the kind I am talking about?... They are on wheels and you fix the shelves at the heights you want them to be by clipping the rubber stops around the poles... Costco has them for $84 and we bought two for the garage to store stuff... Certainly uncluttered and organized that area really fast... 

And I was thinking if I got two of them and intentionally left open the area around the window, I could built a 'picture window' of space to see out the window, but have the storage above for me and the shelves below for the Chihuahuas to sunbathe in...   Another win-win as far as I was concerned... 

So last Sunday, I engaged Desiree to go run errands with me, intent on getting two sets of those steel shelves and get this area organized this week... We had a few shopping errands to run, so we hopped into the truck and started off... While at Costco for the shelves, I sat down in this office chair and fell in love... Leather, it is made of that foam they make beds with - the memory foam?... And for a change, the lumbar support part actually fit me... Usually it is too high, or the seat is too wide, or my knees run short for the chairs are made for men moreso than women... 

I really 'choked' on the price - $179... No gimmicks, no internal back massage-rs, bells or whistles that you wind up to take you to the moon, etc... Just solid support and comfort in a size that fits my back and body well... I had not intended to purchase a new chair at this point, but there was only one left in the box and with Costco, you can just never tell when they are going to sell out on something you like... 

Desiree and I debated back and forth on it... She neither tried to talk me into it or out of it... The more I sat in it and thought about the past week of computer work and back pain I'd gone through, the more I realized that what price to be a bit more pain free?... Earlier that morning I had asked Desiree and Paul to carry his "throne" out onto the patio (now Desiree's "throne") and absolutely soaked it with water than enzyme cleaner after years of being inside the house, sat on, smoke absorbing, etc... So I did have room to do a bit of juggling around while it sat outside and dried out fully for a few days... 

OK - sold... Now to see if it would fit inside the cab of my truck as we had a few more stops to make... 

Desiree and I managed to get it into the truck - she more than I as she climbed into the cab backwards and pulled it in... The chair (still in the box) practically took up the entire back seat of The Beast, but we had it in there!... (We are Women - We are Strong... ).... 

The two sets of steel shelving are in the bed of the truck, so off we go to finish our errands (i.e. OMG Walmarts)... I attempted to park The Beast in a handicapped spot, but the pole is in the center of the parking spot and my mirrors can't see it... So Desiree sticks her head out of her window (and then most of her body) as she watches the pole while I am backing up... 

She tells me I have it, then I put The Beast into park and start getting ready to turn off the engine, grab my purse, thinking about all of this and how I am going to get it all off the truck, put together, etc...

As a matter of habit and not thinking, I automatically reach for the window buttons and push all four up and closed... To hear "DAUGHTER STUCK IN OPEN WINDOW~!!!" from Desiree as she is stuck hanging out the window and it is closing in on her belly... LOL... 

Desiree and I have had some really funny moments together - she's a great cohort to have in crimes for she has a quick and funny sense of humor... She's gonna miss me when I am gone and hopefully she tells the grandchildren all the funny stories (and none of my bad traits!!)...

Monday I spent tearing down my area of the world, and then slowly dragging in the steel shelves one by one with my handy dandy doiley, assembling the shelves and putting them in place, then rehooking up my computer, sorting out stuff, etc... 

I have my nice open space and can open the window to get in the breezes, everything is in easy reach and although it probably looks cluttered to someone else, it 'fits' me quite nice... The dogs have their pillows and doggie beds by the window and can sunbathe every morning --- or snooze in the afternoons if I am working on the computer... I use the bottom step of their doggie steps to lean back with and take a bit of the pressure off of my back at times... And amazingly enough, everything that is connected to my computer (except the sound which didn't work previously) once again works!... How about that??!!!... LOL... 

So this is where the Press is written and I do all of my computer work... I am finally a happy camper as to my working space and although it took me years to actually finish this to the point I liked it and it did what I needed it to do, it was well worth the time, sweat and energy to get it to this point...

Yesterday I worked on scanning stuff for the rescue for the better part of the day... And it was SO nice to have the window open and the breeze coming in...

SWEET, yes indeed!

As Always,

The Lady

Maybe one of my more crazier notions...

Mornin, Mornin... This might be one of my more crazier notions but here ya go...

In August we are coming up on 65 days since V-J day and with so many of our military still engaged overseas, why not take something iconic and use is at a "poster-child" image to push for world peace in our era?... Sorta/kinda a "Bring them home again" kind of notion...

While I understand the reasons for why our troops are in various locations around the world, even with an all-volunteer military --- AND major KUDOs to all who are serving, plus their family members who hold down the home front --- it would be nice to see the world more at peace in my lifetime...

I was thinking about this idea during my browse through the morning news - something I can only take so much of because it is so disheartening to see humans destroying other humans and their lives - and I stumbled across that iconic photograph of V-J Day in Times Square...

Both the sailor and the nurse are still alive --- or at least the people who claim to be these two in the photo... Life Magazine still has not resolved exactly who the sailor is I believe, but Edith Shain is generally believed to the nurse in the photo, trying to hold down her skirt... The 91-year old showed up Tuesday at a restaurant in San Francisco...

Now, wouldn't it be great if we could get these two people back together and stage this photograph again, updated with them but in the same stance and for a caption, ask the American public to 'bring them home again' in the upcoming year?...

There seems to still be a controversy over who the sailor is, but generally  Glen McDuffie is said to be that young man in the photograph... And it seems he readily will pony up and kiss a lady in the same pose when asked...

LOL...

If Edith is in California and Glenn is in Texas, wouldn't it be great to get both back to Times Square in New York and recreate this scene, updating for today's generation?... Without a doubt, Times Square has changed dramatically but if it would take something in everyone's minds eye to inspire them to get the majority of our military back home, wouldn't it be worth it???

Our kids of this generation aren't as dramatically affected as those who went through the two world wars... It seems that the more it happens, the more we seem to accept the craziness of countries fighting and killing each others peoples... Most of us will never ever forget 9/11 here in this country, but every country around the world has some kind of "9/11" where innocents were killed on their soil for some global or political cause...

If each country took an iconic image, recreated and updated it for today's times, it might just have a dramatic effect on the upcoming generations who are calloused to the point dying doesn't have as much of a spiritual or emotional impact on them...

Something to think about on Earth Day, huh?... Saving the planet for future generations by not repeating the carnage of our past...

As Always,

The Lady

C-F life... or we have too much crap in our lives...

Mornin... Mornin... Every time I write about this topic, I get numerous emails and comments, so I believe many people struggle with this - the need to get rid of crap... Or the implementation of the K-I-S-S principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid)... :)...

And when we lose our battles?... We run the chance of ending up on a reality TV show about hoarders... LOL...

Not to make light of this psychological battle for I can SO understand some of the underlying causes --- an inability to decide what is valuable and what is not, then having the courage to get rid of it --- a CONSTANT bombardment of us from every aspect of our lives - incoming mail (snail and email), bills and papers, the need to keep receipts because most things don't do what they promise they will and a refund requires a receipt --- the IRS' regulations for holding onto receipts and papers --- incoming sales circulars and catalogs --- our backgrounds that were bred into us ("Don't be WASTEFUL")...

And then our lifestyles where we work SO hard each day so when we come home, we want to relax and not deal with more of the crap that invades our personal space at work and throughout life... I get it... I understand it... But it still drives me to distraction...

I think I already wrote in a previous Press about getting a NeatWorks scanner and using it... I have been struggling the past 10 days or so to get all of the bank statements, receipts and other assorted paperwork scanned and organized... It has been a challenge - of that there is no doubt...

But in my mind, the jury is 'in' on this challenge - it is worth the money, sweat and tears... The more I can scan and keep in a digital format, the less I will have to sift through from here on out in the future... And if I am diligent and stay organized, this new habit I am teaching myself will pay off big time... I touch something once to scan it, and I don't have to touch it again... I am finally looking forward to NEXT tax season... ... NOT... But not dreading it as much!

At least 30 years ago or more, I read something that had a profound effect upon me... It was during my American Express training and the point was that 99.99% is just not good enough... The piece pointed out where that .01% of someone not giving 100% could prove to be terribly wrong, if not fatal... I referred to this many times along the last 30 years and although I KNOW I would not have thrown that piece of paper away, I couldn't locate it... I searched on the Internet and didn't find it, although I searched several times in the past 10 years...

Going through some old papers a few weeks ago, I found it... I was in the midst of sorting what needed to be scanned and what could be trashed... Although it was just one piece of paper and 30 years lost, it was a major reality check to me why I should be teaching myself new habits and releasing the old ones... When I die, are my loved ones left behind going to search through each and every item of mine?... Of course not - they'll be thrown away for the most part... And added to the vast amount of stuff being loaded into landfills to pollute our planet even more... The great stuff along with the mundane and useless stuff...

I no longer wonder why we as a civilization have 'forgotten' some of the great things... (i.e. why we don't know how the pyramids were built... or that heart surgery was performed in the Amazon by native Indians centuries ago...)... It is because every civilization and its peoples get overwhelmed with CRAP on a day to day basis!...

Think about it... I'll sit and wait for you... :)

This morning when I opened up Thunderbird (the companion to FireFox that retrieves all of the email from any email addy), it gave me the notice of "1136 unread messages"... OMG... Facts are, I know there are even more that I have previously read and am storing for one reason or another...

Something has GOTTA give or I will NEVER have a free hour to just relax and enjoy life... LOL... As I waited for my computer to completely boot up, I started thinking about this... And decided that what didn't need to be digital simply needed to go... i.e. as in wearing out the DELETE button on my keyboard... :)

I put an external drive on my computer a few weeks back - to be used simply for storage purposes and realized it was 4 times more space than my computer's drive is... Things that simply too important to lose are backed up automatically each day with Carbonite and it is WELL worth the $5.00 a month for peace of mind ~~~ the websites, documents, etc...

But what about emails that you keep?... Because of the code they are written in and where they come from, you just can't hit 'save' and the entire email is kept... This has been a problem in the past for me... I have tried only having one email addy (this was a disaster as too much came through that I had to manually sort out)... And I have tried having numerous email addys (which has worked out) but each email addy has sub-categories or issues, so it becomes a monster eventually... And if you have to save something?  You have several places to look for it...

Last year I started using PDF995 and ended up buying it after liking the free product... This morning I tried it on emails that needed to be archived and saved for one reason or another and it works - WELL... Kept the email addy in place in case I need to use that again without adding it to my address book, kept the email intact with the date, etc... I saved the pdf files on the external drive with the belief if one system failed, the chances that both systems fail is remote and highly unlikely... It is the best I can do, ya know?

So I continue on my quest for a "C-F" life... (CRAP-free)... I vow to not print out another thing unless I absolutely have to, and maybe I will save some trees before I die... If not, I will save myself some time searching for things - and the computer will search for it instead of me shifting through printed sheets piling up at my computer!...

A year from now on the next Earth Day there lies the possibility I will achieve personally what we as a family have in trash recycling - a reduction by 75% of what is going into the landfills!

As Always (with tongue-in-cheek),

The Lady

New kicks... I like them (although I hated the price...)

Mornin, Mornin... I am probably the world's worst at believing in new marketing of products... I've been taken in SO many times by trying new products, that I have gotten REALLY gun-shy about trying new things... 

Having said that, I have been watching and reading about a new tennis shoe (Skechers Shape-Ups) for months... Not because of a fad or trend, but because several online friends told me they bought them and they saw a 'marked decrease' in pain after wearing them...

The price tag choked me - I'm the first one to admit that!... 

A few months ago, I did the tests for how I stand and walk - I walk hard on my heels and that just makes it harder on my spine... Because of the back damage, I tend to work my right knee harder and can not 'sit straight'... I tell you all of this simply as part of the 'back story' to today's Press... 

The other part is that we work adoptions every Saturday on hard concrete at the pet store... It is an 8-hour day at least for me and between walking the dogs, setting up, standing as we talk to people, etc. I usually get worn out about midway through... By the end of adoptions and on the way home, I can't think the pain is so bad... I have a high pain tolerance level (or so my doctor tells me), but when the pain gets to about an 8 or 9, I can't 'think out' past the hurt, ya know?...  Two weeks ago, I am driving home from adoptions and I am just 'that close' to tears from the pain... Not common for me, because I bull-doze through pain episodes... I realized I was actually dreading arriving home because I would have do a lot of walking until I had reached the point of actually sitting down and relaxing several hours later...

Once this thought hit me and I realized just how much I was hurting, I considered getting out of rescue all together... The more I thought about that idea, the more I realized I needed to do something different... And despite the high ticket price of the Skechers, I might have to bite the bullet and try them... 

Desiree and I made a date to go check them out on Friday night... She stayed with the Sketchers brand...
Now, I didn't buy the Skechers brand, but another (Fila) on Friday night with Desiree... Desiree liked the look, so those are the ones she got...

I got the Fila brand 'Shape-N-Tone'... Same concept (but in black, not in pink as shown here)...  Same concept, but $40 cheaper at our local store...

Some lady came up and told us she'd gotten the LA Gear brand, but same concept, for she has had knee surgery and they really worked for her...

I did cringe inwardly at the price tags at the store, but what price freedom, ya know?... If pain is stopping me (or trying to stop me) from the things I love in life, what is the true cost?...

Still suspect, I did take a back-up pair of shoes with me to adoptions on Saturday just in case the shoes didn't do what they were marketed to do... And for a change, the marketing ploy is accurate (what a concept) - You can see a video at YouTube about how the shoes work...

But basically, I immediately noticed that I tended to walk straighter and not land as hard on my heels when walking... You tend to 'roll' from heel to toe, and I also noticed that Desiree is walking differently in hers as well... She tends to walk heavy-footed almost like a duck normally... She's been complaining about back pain and her feet hurting her at the end of the day as well now that she's working full time...

I don't normally come out and support new products very frequently... But I have tell you - I really love them so far... Saturday evening I got home and although it was a long day, I could actually function without being in pain for the remainder of the night... And although I was expecting to be stiff and sore from the new muscles the shoes were causing me to use, I didn't experience this either...

Our store didn't carry a wide selection of sizes and colors, but you can order them online in a much wider selection... They do have sandals, but I tried one style on in the store and didn't think that much of it... Maybe it needs the closed shoe to work as well... Dunno...

Desiree practically went skipping to work this morning in hers... When your feet hurt, the world seems pretty overwhelming at times... So hopefully she'll come home tonight still in a GREAT mood!....

As Always,

The Lady

Every new household needs a few things we didn't use to...

Mornin, Mornin... It used to be when someone was setting up their new household, some things were pretty 'standard'... Broom, dust pan and brush, pots, pans, dishes, linens, etc... We used that old school list when we began Desiree's 'hope chest' that Mr. Bill bought for her... She's stocked to begin housekeeping on her own one day... 

But the older I get, the more I realize that old stand-by list of 'gotta haves' to set up housekeeping is severely outdated... There are just certain items that I could not operate without... LOL.... (And yes, you knew it was coming - that 'LadyLogic' ramblin...)

Take for example, zip ties... I have created more items around the house with zip ties... I have made doggie couches with the wire grids used for book cases and zip ties... They hold up pretty good in the weather too... We have a secondary fence of tomato fencing across the wrought iron fence that separates the backyard from the pool as well - and it is attached with zip ties... When the overhead covering for the patio starting coming undone (due to poor carpenter workmanship from the contractor), I was up on a ladder with the MEGA zip ties, fastening it back up again... PVC piping hanging around the patio covering framework got the zip tie 'save' as well... LOL... I use them for just about everything and now keep a cutter and set of pliers in the box of zip ties for quick repairs...

A rechargeable screw driver - every woman needs one!  I'm serious!... LOL... Desiree already started her own tool box and this is an item that needs to get in there... If I had to put chores on a list and wait for Paul to have the time to do them, it might take forever... And although this is not the brand of screwdriver I have, mine has seen me through MANY projects throughout the years...

Another thing everyone needs to start up housekeeping is the old stand-by - DUCT tape!... Not just the gray duct tape, but the clear version as well... I have fixed (and created) a wealth of items around the house with a little creativity and duct tape!

And I can't tell you how many times I have used my yellow handled box cutter... Desiree has a pink handled one in her tool box... I personally prefer the one that allows you to break off the tip and get a sharper blade right behind it (scored?)... I have a big one in the kitchen and a small one that is in my computer credenza (why do they package everything in that hard plastic any more???!!!)...

And my favorite thing to have I can't even describe, although I am sure the guys will know what I am talking about... It is screws with little caps on them and go easily into wood because of the tips... I buy them by the box in different sizes and have fixed many things...  There is something about having that screw and washer thingy together that has solved many of my problems trying to repair things (or make new ones)... For sure as God made green apples, I will pick the wrong screw out and the hole is too large and/or the screw won't work right... That washer thingy on these particular screws have saved my bacon many times!

Eons ago when I set up housekeeping, I didn't even think of these kinds of items, but not a week goes by that I don't use one of these things now... I never intended to be so handy with tools when I was Desiree's age, but then again, the more I can do and get done, the less there is for Paul to do eventually so I guess it all works out at the end of the day...

Two items I have added recently to my 'gotta haves' is a shredder and a NeatWorks scanner... I hate the amount of paper we have to store to do our taxes, run a household, etc... Somehow I feel that if I am putting the shredded clippings in a bag and then into the recycle container, I am helping just a small bit in saving this planet from total trash dumping and landfills...

I have to admit - the NeatDesk scanner was expensive... When I sat and seriously considered how to start scanning all the receipts, documents, etc. so they could eventually be shredded and not having to be stored, I debated with myself for months over this purchase... A flatbed scanner just doesn't handle the volume of a normal home if you are serious about getting rid of the huge amount of paper you have to store all the time...

I have GREAT plans for this scanner and once I get the day-to-day stuff scanned and digitally stored, I'd like to start scanning things (like knitting instructions, etc.) that I can't find when I am looking for them later... But for today and now, I have finally taught myself Quicken and the software for the NeatDesk and am digging through this year's paper... This ole brain is difficult to get moving when I have to learn so much NEW stuff... ...

For once, I have purchased something that I felt I got my money's worth and does what it is supposed to do... What a concept!

As Always,

The Lady

Hand Sanitizers....

Mornin, Mornin... I am procrastinating here this morning... I SHOULD be doing something else, but I struggled throughout the afternoon and evening with it yesterday, so I'm trying to build up my courage to tackle it again (scanning receipts and 3 months of bank reconciliations for two bank accounts... YUCK)....

A few years, Desiree got into this kick of hand sanitizers and at first, drove me nuts about the whole topic...  Then I started paying attention to where everyone's hands go, how much we'd get sick in the fall and winter, etc. and she got me hooked on the idea...

After getting through a winter without me catching anyone else's ugly mugglies, I realized Des was onto something here and I became much more committed to the constant use of hand sanitizers... 

Threw out the sponges that winter at the kitchen sink after reading about the number of germies that hang out in there... Major YUCK~!!!

I got some micro-fiber cloths accidentally at the store one day and I was totally hooked on using them instead of the terry cloth cloths I had been using for years and years!!!... Cleans faster and less elbow-grease, you can almost dry any surface once you have gotten them wet and they are much more absorbent than paper towels any time... Easily thrown in the wash, I am on my second giant-size package of them now... Eventually they do wear out and don't clean or absorb as well as they did initially, but only after a ton of use... I'm sold on them... And use them for just about any kind of chore that needs to be done...

And along the way of life and every day conversations, Desiree inserts ideas about this and that regarding the use of hand sanitizer... Now she has me using it on the faucets and door knobs around the house... Periodically, I pick up my purse and wipe the bottom of that down after the news report on how many germs hang out on the bottom of your purse... And I also wipe down my computer keyboard with the stuff after reading about how many germies live on your desk and keyboard... LOL...

I believe (???) I am a scrubber by nature... When I pay attention to this fact, it seems I must be cleaning and scrubbing something at least 10 times a day... Maybe it is just my kitchen counter, but I am mentally better when things are cleaned up and put away... I can handle chaos when I'm in the middle of a project, but as I'm pushing to the close of my day, a messy kitchen counter is an ABSOLUTE given irritant to my 'pleasing personality'... :)...

A few months ago, I got a BAD 'paper cut' on my hand and it took forever to heal... My doc had told me years ago that with the high level of blood thinners I am on, I can count on it taking three times the length of time for me to heal than a normal person... So I decided to test out that fact and actually marked down the date of the cut and when it was finally healed and no longer kept breaking open again... It was on a joint and it took 19 days...

Hmmmm....

I debated about that fact inside my head for awhile... If I am being so extra careful about the amount of germs that my hands are in, why does it take so long to heal even with the blood thinners?... At first, I bought a box of those disposable gloves that everyone uses in the doctors offices... They didn't work that well because if I was actually scrubbing something, at times the water would drain into and inside the top of the gloves...

I was watching a show from the 60s on the History Channel one day and it showed a lady in her apron, pulling on her "Playtex Living Gloves" before she got ready to do her dishes... I had actually forgotten about them and wondered if they were even still made...I had never really used them, but had seen old TV shows where the woman of the house faithfully put on her gloves before she was scrubbing or doing dishes...

The next trip to the grocery store, I picked up a pair and once home, I was surprised at how easy it was to work in them... They really do fit well (I use the mediums in purple - the knock off gloves are garbage and really don't work that well as I learned eventually)...

The hardest part was to retrain myself to put them on before I stuck my hands in water, detergents, etc... I have to admit - this was pretty tough and probably the hardest part of all of this...

I noticed that cuts healed up faster once I got really good about teaching myself this new habit... And then that got me to wondering how many germies I was putting inside of myself prior to the habit... Could this explain some of the days when you just feel like yuck and wonder if you are coming down with something ~~~ could you be fighting off mild infections you yourself accidentally infected yourself with through a cut on your hands, even with a Band-aid?

I actually like this gloves better than my gardening gloves... I find that I am more efficient at some many things if I have them on - I HATE dirt and yuck underneath my fingernails and am probably a bit compulsive about it occurring...

This morning, Desiree and I were talking about the hand sanitizer topic and my habit of wiping down faucet handles with the stuff periodically... She admits to me that she probably is a bit obsessive compulsive about all of this... Now she tells me~~!!!!...

Should I admit that before I take off my Playtex Living Gloves after a chore, I use the hand santitizer stuff on them to keep germies from growing on them?... Naw, don't think I will do that... ...

As Always,

The Lady

Look, Mom... an alien has invaded our backyard!

"Look, Mom... it is an alien who has come to visit us...."  Naw... it is really Princess trying to kiss the camera...

But the tree is gone - or at least most of it is... LOL... Paul got his chainsaw back from the shop and without any prodding from me the other night, asked if I wanted to 'cut some wood'...
(which really means he cut down the trunk as I cleaned up the small branches, raked, swept up the twigs, etc....)  :)   Works for me!

I have a pile of sawdust around the base of it the dogs are loving to dig through and Paul's chainsaw is back to the shop for they put on the wrong chain (OMG)... Don't ask me how he managed to get it all down with the wrong chain, but he did!... And there must be 1/4 of a cord of wood piled up for burning later in the fireplace as well!... What a deal!

Paul was up on that huge ladder (the same one we used to paint the outside of the house with) and 'topped' all the large branches off of it until we had just the main trunk left behind...  By that point, both of us were already bushed~!!!... That was a LOT of work already... Between his chainsaw and my 'handy-dandy' Black & Decker portable saw, we had already cleaned up all the branches and had a second recycle barrel full of stuff that couldn't easily been burnt!

I love this photo - it's that look of 'Sooo... now what do I do' that I know so well from Paul... LOL... I have seen it hundreds of times in almost 13 years as I've drawn him into some of my projects~!!!...

Once he finally figured out what he was going to do next, he got on it and the sawdust was REALLY flying~!!!













And I love this photo too... I can just hear Paul saying, "ENOUGH already" - one of his common expressions!... I think (?) by this time he was already annoyed by the number of photos I was taking, but this is recording our own personal history, ya know?

Once he really got after it, the tree was truly dead all the way down through the trunk (so I feel redeemed on my judgment call about the project... WHEW~!!!)...  For once one of my hair-brained ideas and projects didn't blow up on my face!

And, by this time of the evening, I had to switch on the camera flash to take a photo... So you can tell just how long it took both of us to get this tree down to the ground and cleaned up...

Yesterday morning, it was a reality check when I went outside for the first time... It truly is like when you first get a new, radical haircut and pass by a mirror accidentially... The visual makes you do a double take and then you realize that you got a haircut, ya know?... The backyard looked a bit naked and exposed to be truthful...

But, I already had another umbrella bought and sitting on the patio table along with the umbrella stand in the floor of my truck, so I was prepared...

A few years ago, the city removed a HUGE tree from the street below and that provided a lot of shade to the back yard along with the shade this apricot tree provided when it was still alive... Between the two of them, we never had a lot of thick grass below and around the apricot tree, but we always had a lot of shade... Once the city tree came down, I immediately noticed how much the back of the house 'baked' in the hot afternoon sun... And as the number of apricot leaves diminished each year, the back yard continued to bake even more...

However, I do love umbrellas... The nice big, wide ones about 7' or more across... I can control the amount of sun an area gets (or not) even if it means keeping tabs on how much wind we have on any given day... I tend to do that anyway because I really try to avoid turning on the AC all the time to keep the bills down... And where the house sits on the side of the ridge, if I am paying attention and opening and closing the right windows, doors, etc. I can get a great breeze moving throughout the house on practically 90% of the time in hot weather...

I tend to take my breaks throughout the day in the backyard - it has become my sanctuary of sorts... Especially as the evening winds down, the dogs engage in a game of 'catch me' and I enjoy this part of my life immensely... My only regret (and it is a VERY small one) is that when I went from the laptop to the desktop computer, I lost the freedom of working out back there... But this is indeed a small price to pay for a huge amount of serenity IMHO...

Anyway, I guess we could be singing, "Ding... dong... the tree is down... The dead tree, the dead tree is down" now... It was an amazing amount of hard work and months of me thinking about this needing to be done... Now to work on getting a thick lawn of great grass to enjoy in its place!

As Always,
The Lady