I have been busy between home and camp. Especially since it is summer and we have the added yard work. We bought the camp last July. All winter we were busy getting the inside the way we want it and this spring getting the outside the way we want it. We are only home on weekend and those are busy with watching 2 of our grands and taking them places. This weekend I have to get my pumpkin seeds planted and go to a dance recital. Then we are taking the grands up to camp for the week. The closest town is having a festival all week. I have to make something for a pot luck dinner on Monday and the bake sale on Friday. The following weekend we celebrated my hubby's birthday and father's day. The next two weekends after that are birthday parties. Then the weekend after that is 3 days of activities for a family reunion at our camp. Busy, busy.

Yard work and mowing.

Tilling, fertilizing, planting, weeding, thinning, mulching, composting, cultivating, de-bugging, harvesting, canning, freezing, & eating (my favorite ;-)

It's been an especially busy week. We're nearing completion of a garden project, just need to spread a (literal) ton of pea gravel then add plants. Yay!

Not so much fun: my dad's Assisted Living director called and said it's time to move him to their Memory Care area. He's still quite mobile, walking is good exercise for him, and the family had a tracker device on his rollator, so no one was too concerned as long as he stayed on campus. But Monday morning, in the space of 8 minutes he made it out a side door and a quarter mile up the road to a grocery store! An off-duty staff member saw him in the parking lot, and was able to persuade him to let her drive him back. That simply can't happen again. So we had a flurry of planning, how to move him from his 2-room unit, to a single room unit in MC, with a minimum of disruption. Stressful to family, staff of course have seen this process many times before and gave us useful advice and assistance. Mischief managed yesterday, and we left him happily sitting in his new room, content that "his stuff" was all where he could see it and easily get to it. I don't expect Dad will like it when he realizes the door to the world outside his "neighborhood" is always locked (to him) ... but I do trust the staff to deal kindly with that.

Teeing up, driving, walking, into the rough , walking, out of the rough, walking, chipping, walking, sinking. ⛳️ walking.

I have had a slow week. I didn't even go out of the house all week other than doing a curbside grocery pick up. I have a handyman doing some work for me so wanted to be around for questions etc. He'll be back on Monday for at least another 3-4 days and this is getting expensive ! It all needs to be done because I have put off maintenance for too long. If it stops raining I will go to the center of the community tonight where there will be live music, food trucks and people to visit with.

I have been keeping busy with getting things organized for the family reunion on my husbands side. His sister who did all that stuff suddenly passed away 2 days before the 2019 reunion, so naturally it was chaos at the time. We went ahead and had the reunion then. That is what she would have wanted. There was no reunion in 2020. Most of what was in her possession for getting things together for each years get together somehow fell into my possession. However there are some things that were passed on to others and I have been trying to track things down to make sure we have what we need at the park 100 miles away on the big day. Do we need table ware, who gets the ice, what about charcoal for the grill, etc, etc?

The hardest thing I am dealing with is a kids type of Chinese auction and games with prizes for kids. The age range this year is 23 kids from age 2 to 18. I have very little contact with kids so I am pretty much at a loss as to what kids are into these days, especially the older ones. I am keeping the price range for things at under $10.00 each item. It has been keeping me awake at night.

I'm now "driving" 20 minutes to a lower altitude to go running.

Then 75% of the trees & shrubs I planted last year didn't make it through the winter. I dug up 5 Junipers, 4 Aspen, a Plum tree & a Cherry tree & returned them, for the 1 year warranty. I need to move some day lilies to an area where the soil is better & I water more.

Just turned on the sprinkler systems for 3 of the rental houses. The one tenant wants to plant a privet hedge, but never goes outside & is afraid of bees. I'd have to put a sprinkler zone in. I talked her out of it. Another renter loves the house, doesn't want to pay for water. Another renter, chain smokers, yuck!.....wants air conditioning and didn't have the combo for the shed .....where there's a window AC unit. Also "not" using the dog run for the dog. Neither of these wives work, go to school or have children. What do they do ALL day?

Still trying to empty my parents' house. It's a large house with 3 generations of stuff and paper from family and the business. What slows me down is the days when I walk in the door, look around, and just cry or stare. My brother came out to go through the "camera closet" (as oppressed to the darkroom) for things he wants to keep, and we took those to the storage unit.

Having medical tests, seeing Doctors, telephone appointment with Doctors, going for tests. Hopefully this will all be over soon in the next few weeks and I will just need a yearly examination and CT scan. Going for 2nd Covid vaccination next week

Igmd, start a new post. I bet you will get plenty of ideas for kids games.

Watering and feeding my flower beds and pots. We are desperately in need of rain. Weather

has been in the 90's for a couple of weeks now, and no rain yet. Cleaned out my fridge

and freezer and pantry cupboards. Washing winter bedspreads and blankets. (I'm like the joke posted the other day...about starting

a grocery list and jumping from chore to chore). And then out to water again.

Not much besides work. I keep trying to get my garden planted but it rains every day. I could've done some of it yesterday afternoon, in between the rain but my daughter and I went to lunch. Did some laundry and dishes and then it began to pour rain again.

At work today but hoping tomorrow I can finish planting everything.

My strawberries are bigger than they were last year (second year plants) but the slugs and chipmunks were getting most of them. I sprayed them in between rain showers with an organic spray, hoping to save some. I'm sure it has all washed off now.

Learning to cope with my new diabetes.

We're in a heat wave, so watering like crazy. I've been cleaning inside since it's really too hot outside. We also have a new dog. The neighbor passed away and we took her dog, who was a regular visitor anyway so it's been a pretty easy transition.

We finally went through my storage area in the basement and while it took a few weeks: brought it all to the second hand store. Now I know how the people on Hoarders feel when giving up their belongings. Man, that was hard! But I did it. I've been colouring, crocheting, piddling around the house and the yard. I do have a job interview next week and am 99.9% sure I have the job (same company, different location and I've met the manager before). While it's only for 2 or 3 days a week, I'm hoping it gives me more energy to do more around the house. Today I am going to use outdoor varnish on a couple of indoor glider chairs we use outside on our front deck. The paint is chipping off because of the weather. Then bringing my husband for his second Pfizer shot this afternoon. It's going to be hot for the next few days (in Canadian standards that is: about 28C today and 30C tomorrow) so we will be watering the grass really well even though we've just had a lot of rain last week. I fertilized a few weeks ago and while it's coming in nice and green, I have several bald spots because of dandelions that we have been digging out (now that flowers are actually growing in gardens I can dig out the dandelions: I keep them for the bees), and a few days ago put a crap load more grass seed down to choke out any other weeds. So now I have to keep the grass wet so the seeds grow. It's a vicious cycle I tell ya!

I am doing more than I have in the past two years but seem to have more empty time especially in the evenings when I use my computer. Normally that time has been games and puzzles which would take all evening. Now two hours and I am done.

Am finally cleaning my parents old glassware to take most of it to some type of thrift store if they will take it. Las time I attempted the two places I tried to get rid of it at told me they were no longer accepting old glassware of any type. Yesterday I found two boxes of various sizes of drinking glasses from our move in 1993. Why they were with the other stuff who knows. Then the question is why did we want or need so many shapes and sizes. The thing that struck me about the glasses was the size of what used to be normal to serve things like ice tea vs. current sized glasses.

Igmd, you might want to consider some gift cards for the kids. My grands love Five Below and there is something for everyone. McDonalds gift cards, even dollar store gift cards are fun.

Walking on beach, sewing a bit, crocheting a bit, swimming in pool a lot. Little cooking, sitting on porch watching cooling waves ,a lot. That about does it for me.

It's been all Real Estate here for months. Our Maui vacation rental condo sold with five good offers the first day it was listed. We'd hired someone to spiff it up with more modern furnishings, and it photographed so well that we were asking ourselves why we were selling! THAT changed to 'no regrets' when our cleaner went in to prepare for the buyer's final walkthrough before closing and found the ceilings and walls saturated. Our upstairs neighor's fridge water line had ruptured after they 'checked' on it. A crew came in to remediate the damage. Our Realtor suggested giving our buyer a credit to do the replacement work to her taste. Insurance reimbursed us. We eventually closed a week late. Goodbye, already!

The proceeds went into a 1031 escrow, from which we have to identify another property by July 2 and close on it by November. I've looked at dozens of multi-family units in Chicago online, and our DS, who will be managing, has seen several in person. We contracted for one, then changed our minds in time to lose nothing. Yesterday we bought another unit and will see it with the home inspector next Wednesday. (DS has toured it.) The seller is to replace kitchen appliances in all three units and has ordered a new coin-operated washer and dryer, all to be included in the price at closing, but not available to be installed until after that. They are also putting in a laundry sink/faucet, at my request. Lots to see to, including insurance, tenant leases, etc. We also have some money left over, from which DS will buy one or two spaces in parking garages to rent out. (Many apartment renters or condo owners don't want to buy parking spaces, but prefer to rent them...from us, I hope!)

I had an MRI done and will be having a consult with a neurologist at the end of June to see about surgery for my spinal stenosis. I have a lot of back pain, whether from L-2/L-3/L-4 or my right hip -- IDK for sure. (My left hip replacement was perfect from the get-go; right one...never. Both are about 18 years old.) I cope with Tylenol-4 three times a day. I continue to do well with monthly infusions for the multiple myeloma. I am so lucky to have a wonderful -- and healthy! -- DH to pamper me!

Our DGS has put two beehives in our backyard to see if they like suburban living better than they did his city yard -- two colonies failed to over-winter. So...we have *entertainment* watching the bees! Now we've contracted to have our exterior trim painted by fall -- they say they'll throw a tarp over the hives and 'paint fast'! Oh, and we've also just gotten some fencing repaired from water damage last winter. Never a dull moment.

Nothing. It's too hot to do anything but bare minimum. I hate this time of year! I've been working a lot because for some reason my coworkers like to take vacation this time of year, so lots of overtime for me filling in for them. Other than that, nothing extra. I lay around like a lump in the air conditioning and wait for fall.

For those struggling, you have my sympathy.

I'm lucky to have dd3 here for a long visit. She did manage to get both shots--she's the one with the needle phobia-- with dd1's dog on her lap in a drive-thru. Since she didn't know how long it would take her to get appointments, she is staying for an extra-long time, working from here. It's wonderful having her home, finally. Lots of cooking by dh and me, which we think is fun since she enjoys the fruits of the labor so much. Nothing exciting, but yesterday dd1 and her dh finally decided my dh and I can remove our masks when we visit with our granddaughter. What a thrill to play with her, truly face-to-face. Hoping to see all 'kids' next weekend. I've also been walking once a week at a lake park with a friend. We both delight in seeing the birds.

We've been busy painting the siding and front porch on our home in CT. It looks soooo much better and I'm a happy camper. I've planted my vegetable garden again...this time green peppers, 3 different types of tomatoes, eggplant, yellow squash, lettuce. Also, many plants have been added to the landscape and it's fun watching things thrive and bloom. I loove gardening. We have been venturing out more in the last month. It feels kind of odd to see so many people without masks, but nice to feel like we are getting back to more normal circumstances. All in all, our first month back has been one of many pleasures, visiting, enjoying the weather, listening to church bells ringing, birds singing. All very joyful for me.

Helping my son and daughter in law with their new born and 2 year old. That's about all I can manage at the moment.

Planting and replanting flowers that some creature keeps eating down to the ground. I'm with amylou, I hate summer and cannot wait till fall. The mid-90s for a week just drained me and our part of PA is in a drought and counties all around get rain but we are missed so much watering. I'm still hiking my four miles on the trail every day and meeting some great thru-hikers and talking to them. Today a kid from Tennessee wanted my email so I could read his trail blog. I'm on week seven since I severely lacerated my leg so I've been going to a wound center and it's putting a crimp in my style. No water events for me and talking a bath with one leg over the side ain't fun.

My niece and nephew are with me for the month of June. This weekend I had a garage sale and it was sooooo hot. But I made some good money. Then I took my nephew on a driving lesson.

Satine100, I have already considered the gift cards. $10 cards from Walmart and Sheetz are what I am using for the winners of the games. Sheetz, if you aren't familiar with it, is a gas station that has lots of snack food, hot sandwiches, etc. even a few toys and gas for the driving kids. There are abundant locations in PA and Ohio where all the family comes from. The winners will be given their choice of which card.

Five Below in near by to me so I have shopped there and picked up several things. The older kids are the hard part, so I am still hunting.

lgmd_gaz, check out McFee.com for fun and funny little gifts. They have a lot of things under $10, although you will have to pay postage.

I just finished some preliminary testing for an Alzheimer's research study. My mom had it, and I feel strongly that I want to help, even if it's just being a volunteer research subject. This visit involved a few memory tests and they collected seven vials of my blood. Next few visits will be more intensive memory and co-ordination tests, plus an MRI. I participated in an Alzheimer's study ten years ago and they did a lumbar puncture, which I won't do again. (I've never been to Sweden, but my spinal fluid went there!) The researchers are grateful for my help plus they pay me a couple of hundred dollars -- so win/win. And if this helps lead to a better treatment or a cure, then it's a big win!

Reading and killing cockroaches. Entire complex has them. They are spraying tomorrow but it will never

Spring is always a busy time around our place. Gardening keeps me busy, and this year has been so nice up until recently with really good weather for working outside. And of course i also volunteer at our Botanical Garden greenhouse 1-2 mornings a week.

We have also begun to travel a bit. Two weeks ago we celebrated DH’s birthday with a short trip and this week we have been in Kentucky with 3 other couples. Today we are driving home. We spent our time touring distilleries, went to the Ark, Churchill Downs, the Louisville Slugger factory, a candy factory and ate lots of good food. I will be on a salad and water diet this week! it was so much fun though and absolutely worth it.

I just spent 2 hours on chat and phone with Amazon and Audible. Apparently someone somehow used my credit card/bank info to buy Audible. They're refunding my money but now I have to notify my bank and get a new card. Found out that it wasn't just this month but also last month. I never noticed the charge last month.

Volunteering giving COVID vaccinations. most recently many kids 12-15 years old.💉

I just got back from a Horse Expo. I rode on Friday morning and left from there to drive up. attended the Expo on Saturday. Met a lot of interesting people from all over, did some networking and did some shopping for the place I ride at. There were way to many vendors with more bling than substance but I managed to find some quality bits and leatherwork. Saw some nice demos. I enjoyed the ones by the less known horsemen and their actual riding/teaching than the more famous so called whisperers. Drove back this morning directly to the ranch to make my Sunday ride. I didn't feel tired until I got home. Laid my head down and that was all I remember before waking up a few hours later.

I'm on a new horse now, a taller very pretty darker red mare. I feel invigorated with the challenge. She's very nice and well mannered but definitely the most sensitive horse I have ridden thus far. Requires utmost lightness and can go from zero to sixty if one doesn't take care. It's definitely leg off with this one. LOL Today was my third time riding her and she has a lovely trot. We did some very nice transitions. We also went out on the trail for a bit. She is very curious and alert to her surroundings but doesn't seem at all spooky thus far. She has only been ridden by "experienced" riders. Not a schooler, so her focus is definitely on her rider. I am enjoying the ability to put my knowledge into action with a more advanced horse.

Recently I found some old friends of ours online and we have had fun reconnecting and catching up on our lives. They were from DH's side when we met and he has been having some lengthy phone conversations with one of them. Last time we were together we were in our twenties. Lost contact after marriages etc.

It's beach weather. Things are opening up and I plan to have a busy summer. It was so nice to have a weekend away and be normal.

Second to youngest sister had a stroke 2 weeks ago and is struggling a bit to come back. She had a stroke on the right side and it is having some effects mentally but not so much physically. She is in hospital as they are trying to stabilize her then off to therapy. She hates it and also won't eat. That is a common trait of a person with a stroke on the right side. Not sure what to do because they will stick a feeding tube up her nose if she doesn't eat.

Quit my last cleaning job and won't go back to cleaning anymore so I'm at loose ends work wise except for the dog walking.