Oh Annette! That is so beautiful. All the purple-lilac colors in the Fuchsia flowers and your house create a cool and welcoming place. Can I come sit under your pergola with you? It is just gorgeous! That's what I want. I just love all those Fuchsia baskets. That is dazzling! What else do you have growing around that area and along the path to your house? The temps here today were only in the low 80s, but it was very humid and muggy, so it felt hotter than it actually was. Then the clouds rolled in - huge, billowing, dark thunder heads that boiled up high into the atmosphere. I love watching them build like that. The sky grew very dark, like dusk, and it suddenly poured down heavy and hard. Wow! Glad I set those five gallon buckets out on the patio to catch some of that rain. I use it to water my house plants. Beautiful image. Post more, if you please? ~Annie

Sounds like you had a busy day! I must not have read the post about the bruise on your face, but hope you are feeling okay! I expected to be overwhelmed today at work. I work at a University and this is finals week. We don't ask our student workers to come in because we know they need to study. And I'm in a two person office and my co-worker is out on vacation. So besides it being normally busy and me being short handed there were a few projects that got dumped on me. Too many details to write but lets just say these projects involved a charity donation so I was okay with the extra work. However, a student who was gathering information for me to key into the computer really dragged her heels getting me the stuff. She was supposed to have it to me last week, when I had student help and my co-worker to handle walk in customers while I did the computer work for the charity. I even e-mailed and telephoned this student and asked her to drop off what she had (75%) and I'd work on that while she got the other 25% together. Long story short, she dropped off the stuff today while I was swamped with Monday morning reports and things I couldn't have possibly done last week. Short handed I was tempted to tell her that she missed her deadline. But the charity involved is St. Jude's so I really want to put forth the effort so they can get as big a donation as possible. But it's lots of extra work for me, I now have to backspace over todays date and type in a date from last week...may not sound like much to you but it is over 1,000 names & numbers that I have to do this to. So far I've got about 200 done so it won't be wrapped up today. Okay, my breaks over...back to the real work in hopes that I'll wrap it up tomorrow!

On the early news they were talking that there were a lot of accidents and the roads are very slick around here. I decided to go out and have breakfast before the lunatics (or rest of them) get on the roads. It's definitely slick out there. It's hanging around freezing and slushy so it doesn't splash off the road - it maintains a layer of slush between the tires and the road. I needed to bring the garbage, recycling and lawn waste carts back up too and wasn't about to risk tripping so I did it from the vehicle. Then figured I'd better get some gas for the blower if this does accumulate and might as well have breakfast. All that's done. I'm back inside, it's coming down pretty good. Kind of pretty actually. Cat is unusually cuddly. She's glad she doesn't have to fend for herself outside anymore methinks. (She was initially a stray, then got into an abusive house.) So I have heat (which I didn't have last week....) groceries, full tank of gas in the vehicle, gas for the blower if it accumulates and I have to get out and I'm plopped down ready to watch it. Maybe I'll put up the tree and lights. Or watch some movies. Or both. I'm just proud of myself that I got so much done the days it was so nice even though I'm paying for it now, painwise. So I'll spend some time on the computer, maybe bake some more, cook something... Chili? Stew? BTW, Phyllis & Dottie, I'm not going to be selfish! I'm sending some snow your way too! Enjoy! BTW, this is the "heart attack" snow too. Heavy, slushy stuff. And the wind is blowing too, 17 mph, gusting to 26 mph right now. You know it's windy when it can blow the heavy slush stuff around! And check this out: Having trouble making out the scenery? That's because it's a slush covered camera! LOL I'm hunkered down for a while anyway... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! :D

Mikey your hilarious no sloppy Joe's for me anymore when I know I have to take public transit. Yippee you finally got rain you must have been excited I bet you were outside playing and jumping around in all the puddles just like we did when we were young . Mikey very hot and dry no rain here since the last big storm's about 3 weeks ago and Temps have been in the 90's the grass is yellow now . Mikey very excited about the GH do you know anyone that will put it up lol . Have you been getting this intense heat I know you just love it Sugar hates it instead of a half hour walk it's 5 minute walk until it cools off . Hope that your mom and dad and Bo are all doing fine . Have you had your vacation yet ? We are keeping a couple of weeks in September for the move . Take care my friend. Hoby that's crazy , we had a hail storm like that a couple of years ago but thank goodness it was in early October and all my ttrees were already inside the GH . I sure hope your weather improves wait a minute we Canadians know that both east and western Canada can't have nice weather at the same time I take that back lol. The pool is now a hot tub not very refreshing but it does help just a little bit if there's a nice breeze . Hobby it's not your fault we grow the tree's for the fruit and Meyers produce like crazy it will come back fast . I love Meyers they always have fruit at different stages of ripeness and flowers at the same time always something to watch with this tree. Pic of my Meyer yesterday evening. Brian