I hope we've HAD our rain for a little while. (Five inches over the weekend and Monday.) Davey Tree was here at 8 a.m. to give haircuts to our big maple and two Japanese maples. They must be running a good profit with all the growth climate change has brought to northern Illinois.

I just ordered a dozen tins of loose black tea from Twinings -- 20% off, no taxes, and free shipping for over $50. We get three varieties: Prince of Wales, Lady Grey, and Darjeeling. It's a rare day DH and I don't have Teatime Matinee mid-afternoon.

Time to drag out 'the anaconda' (central vacuum hose) to vacuum the MBR and bath.

I'm being lazy and loving it (although a wee bit guilty). I am changing jobs and planned a 3 week break between jobs to completely disconnect from work mode. Reading, watching TV, scrap booking, lunch with friends and packing for a one week holiday out of the country next week. I'm lucky and I know it.

Marilyn Sue, I don't lead a very exciting life either. I was going to go to Goodwill today just to get out but it rained pretty hard this morning and the humidity and heat together is too much. I will probably read. I wish I liked to cook like you do however I think I will make a cheesecake. We need something good to eat.

I am being lazy. I broke a bone in my right foot yesterday, so I am trying to stay off of it as much as possible. I have crutches but have never used them before, so I am a little wobbly on them.

I am changing teams at work and that includes shift time and days of work. Moving to a 4 day work week. There was some snafu and I was not replaced on my exiting team. I spent yesterday which was supposed to be a day off texting for hours trying to figure out how to cover both teams. I am tired. Still unclear on when I am expected to work.

Kittywhiskers I hope your foot heals soon.

I am getting over my poison ivy and contemplating whether I should sell my house and go live in a beach apartment in Galveston far from any poison ivy.

If I did not cook around here, it would be pretty poor eating I am afraid. A person gets tired of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and milk at times, :)

Sue

I got up this morning and walked 3.5 miles and then biked 3.5 miles. Today my daughter turns 21 so me and my other daughter are driving to Kansas City this afternoon to spend today and tomorrow with the birthday girl.

I'll be keeping my grandkids for the weekend. Time to take them shopping for school clothes. They both wear uniforms so the shopping is easy. Except for shoes. My dear 10 year old grandson loves to con me into special expensive shoes that he just has to have. LOL.

Except for a day here and there, we've been away from home for a month in San Diego, the northern California coast and Lake Tahoe. Then there was the 4th of July which also kept us busy.

We had a lot of fun on those trips, but I am looking forward to some quiet days at home and in my studio, this week. Did all my household chores and laundry yesterday, so today is a "do whatever you want" day.

Hubby is making pastrami for the first time which ought to be interesting. Three days marinating in a brine in the refrigerator after which it goes into the smoker. Between the brisket and the bowl it's brining in, one entire shelf of the refrigerator is not available for use at the moment. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

My cleaning ladies are here today so I am trying to stay out of their way. I of course clean up before they get here lol my husband doesn't understand why I do that. I picked up stuff so it's easier to clean I think many people do that.

I haven't decided yet on what is going to be dinner. I might make it simple with chili cheese hotdogs. He loves them, I am OK with them occasionally.

I made a new recipe last night, baked cabbage. Not the Roasted kind. In a casserole dish with butter and olive oil and seasoning etc. It was a hit. We love cabbage. I can see adding potatoes and onions and other ingredients to it.

We had some serious rain here Sunday night and the water was rising! The atrium drain was stopped up, never had that happen before, and it was ankle deep in there. Hubby was out in the storm with a plunger trying to get it to drain. It finally did. We are supposed to get more rain today and tomorrow. We did need some... Some! Lol

Back to work today after a week of vacation time. 10 days that flew by. Work 4 days this week and 6 next. Not going to be fun.

Cleaning the house and yard work all week.

Yesterday DH went w/ me on my 8mile run/walk. They were filming a commercial on top of my route(Garden Of The Gods) with a disabled Olympic athlete and drones, police had us blocked off for awhile......got to see that. Rented the movie Beauty & The Beast. Pulled weeds in the little strip of lawn we have. Purchased tall pink Phlox(on sale $4 a gallon) and planted a grouping of 3.

Today hasn't been too busy. I retired in June 30, so I am really enjoying not having to go to work early in the morning. Today I walked with 2 of my neighbors at 7. Sometimes there are 4 of us but one had the farrier coming at 7:30. Then I did a few yard chores and picked some tomatoes before I had to come in to shower. Had lunch with a friend and we sat and talked for quite a while. Made a run to the farmer's market for some peaches and corn. Was tempted by some strawberry jam made by the nearby Amish but resisted. We will have the corn tonight with some grilled pork chops and green beans. I am currently catching up with email and doing this and going to read for a while. It's too hot to work outside this afternoon. May take a nap.

I was busy cleaning out some kitchen cabinets and dresser drawers yesterday & I will get back to that later.

Coolish and rainy today. Just as well, since I need to be indoors to finish sewing a coat for a granddaughter that she will use as a costume. I purchased a pattern and adapted it to her specifications, after first making a test garment. It has taken much longer than I had expected it would, but since I am so familiar with the pattern now, I might sew one for myself (non-costume version!)

Yesterday I played bridge (I won....$5.00) YEAH.. Than i ran some errands. Today I played golf. My team came in 3rd and I got closest to the pin on one of the two par threes in contention. YEAH again. After golf we had a luncheon, business meeting. Doing one load of wash tonight. Tomorrow I'm taking a friend to a doctor's appointment.....follow up to surgery she had last week and cannot drive. An hour and a half round trip plus the visit will cover a good part of tomorrow. Thursday I have golf, Thursday night Mexican Train and Friday golf. Saturday and Sunday I'm going to paint my porch chairs. Next week more of the same.

Nothing special planned. Too darned hot to do much more than necessary. I go Saturday to Houston to pick up a truck load of salvage pet food for my pigs and coons and anything good for my dogs and cats.

Val's summer sore is finally better, so keeping it bandaged. He got in the pond today. Not good. I need to order a case of the bandages. At 12.95 each, it is running into a lot of money. He goes back to the vet on Monday.

The missus has gone to Illinois to visit family and friends. I am here with the cat. Oh joy!

I will have to spend Saturday morning cleaning up the confetti and taking out the empty bottles. It happens only once a year, I gotta enjoy when I can!

Nothing much. Visited the farm pond today and caught 7 of these frisky large mouth bass. It's a lot of work! Tagged and released all seven.

Big bass Brushworks!

Been cooking today. I made chicken salad and zucchini bread. Cut up a huge watermelon and boy is it good. Love having it in the frig and grab a piece from time to time. Tomorrow I will go into the church to work. We are getting ready for a garage sale in a couple weeks. Need to do some weeding since all the rain. I guess we will see.

PK, I have an 8 year old fishing buddy and I'm teaching him how to lure in the big ones. His eyes were as big as the bass yesterday.His only complaint was, "this casting, reeling and twitching is a lot of work, Papa."

Who needs live bait? We're using a 2" rubber minnow dressed in bluegill colors.

Today we're scouting an abandoned stone quarry pond that was stocked in 2013 but never developed for opening to the public. According to owner's knowledge, it's never been fished. May be a waste of time or a gold mine. Abandoned ponds usually have an abundance of bait fish and surface bugs which leads to over-fed, lazy game fish. We'll see.

Brush my mother was a wonderful fisher person. She spent much time at Raystown Pa where she kept her camper. She had a stunning boat a red Skeeter. She was featured a number of times in fishing magazines, wish I could find where my step dad put those. Your large mouth bass brings back lovely memories.

Our week started with Saturday and 2 car cruises. Morning cruise with just Studebakers and 'orphan' cars. Just 19 cars in attendance. Rain in the forecast and it did rain, big time. Later Saturday another cruise, weather perfect with nearly 1000 cars in attendance.

Sunday, another cruise, this one about 300 cars, on a weather perfect day. Ate little else other than 'junk' food at the cruises both days.

Monday and Tuesday, and so far today have meant dodging rain showers. Spent a lot of time on a puzzle, as well as a short run to grocery store yesterday where I forgot one of the two main reasons for going there. Oh well, we will just have to get along without the romaine in the salad! Had a "balanced" dinner last night with the help of V8.

Supposed to be a rain free afternoon today, so hope to get out to pull some weeds while the pulling is easy.