July 2014 ......

Beech, I have a battery tender that should keep the battery charged through the winter. Of course, it works a lot better if one actually uses it. I didn't bother to plug it in before winter started; now I'm paying for it.

Mine doesn't have a kick starter, so if it dies for any reason I'm out of luck.

We are all off to the zoo this morning for the benefit of the kids, not-quite-2 and 10. It's going to be warm and HUMID today. Fun, huh.

I am glad that no one got hammered by the hurricane, once it left our coast it sure got bigger fast even stronger than they predicted Hope everyone is enjoying your week
Here we are hot and humid cloudy, still dreaming of finding a better place to live my medical insurance is changing my primary care physician again, they have changed me at least 3 times in as many years, some day it will happen

We spent a very large part of the day at the Ft. Wayne Children's Zoo. Nice little zoo, but it was a hot humid day to be there.
Came home, grabbed a sandwich and headed for the water. Soaked and cooled in the lake for well over an hour. Ahhhh. Much better.

CB
I doubt the guy's insurance will pay much. Except for the t.v., most of the electronic gadgets he ran into are old enough that the insurance may pay nothing to replace them. They worked, we just tend to hang onto things a long time. They had better pay for the wall re-build! It is a royal pain dealing with this.

BEECH
I am very impressed with you and ELLEN and your scooters! I am a big chicken concerning motorbikes, although riding a regular bike does not bother me.
Yep, I am still on the "Fast" diet. It isn't a bit fast, but does work for me. I try to do it on Mondays and Wednesdays, although sometimes I only do it one day a week. It is that second day that causes the weight loss. Only one day will maintain my weight, but I won't lose anything that week. The rest of the week, I eat whatever I want. I want to lose about 10 more pounds, which may take another year. When I get there, then I will just do it once a week forever more....

SUNNY
That isn't very nice that they keep changing your doctors. How are you doing these days?

ELLEN
I love going to zoos. I bet you had fun!


Donnie went back to work today. He probably got more rest than he has at home lately! He chiseled more of the broken blocks out this evening. He finally figured out how to remove the dangerous ones safely. The guys at work accused him of making this up, LOL. They couldn't believe we had two trucks run into our yard in one week. Me neither...  

TRUDY
We have been using a sprinkler to water our yard. It is turning brown. We never water our yard! Everyone is complaining about the gardens and hayfields not growing. How is it in PA?

ARK: We haven't had much rain, we have had WIND and lots of it. I thought the poor tomatoes were going to be blow outta the ground the other day. We had a couple torrential down pours last week but nothing since. Picked, shelled and froze peas yesterday. The garden is doing well, after a very late start. Our neighbor brought us dinner last night made from the cabbage we gave them, pigs in the blanket and a banana cream desert. YUMMMMMMMMM I'm going to make some pigs myself and freeze them today. Gotta use the last head of cabbage.

It's a quiet week here for a change. I'm going to sit around and enjoy it. Got the results from my bone density tests yesterday and it was GOOD. I'm still rejoicing over that news, no worrying about breaking my bones.

Love & prayers for all...

Fortunately, TRUDY, I'm very dense myself!          

Big rains & wind here in AZ mtns, temp 46 this morning……sunny this A M, rain this P M…………
BIG answer to many prayers up here……………….

POURING, 52…………..Big hail storm about 2 hrs ago………………No damage………………Fireplace on.
Peace.

Ark...did u get estimate on the damaged wall? I am still in awe that it all happened.

It is HOT Here. whewwww.

Not doing much...playing with the cutest puppies ever....no, not prejudiced, they really are!

Who knows what this is? Ever used one? Own one?

Looks like an apple peeler……………..my g mother had one…………I've not used one by myself as I was too young.  I picked apples out of a basket and handed them up.

I don't know what it is, but I think Graymare is right.

I think GRAYMARE is right. Or it is part of a Borg in Star Trek...  


CB
Nope, we haven't gotten the estimate yet. The accessor guy they sent looked to be fresh out of school and didn't seem to know much. When we built this house, Donnie was the contractor on record. He will be on this repair, too, but the insurance guy can't seem to wrap his brain around that and wants to send all the paperwork to the contractor and not the home owner. We are going to probably get our insurance people to act on our behalf. In Virginia, you can be the contractor of your own house as long as it passes building inspections without being a licensed building contractor.

I rode Ivan yesterday after a two week break. He must have been in a riding mood, he was really a fun ride! He has been cozying up to me all week. I think he missed our riding time. Lori was here giving lessons. She had me round penning Areion, which did not go as well as my Ivan ride. Areion is extremely sensitive to any changes to routine and didn't like how I was different from Lori. I have to work on being minimalistic with my cues to her. I also round penned Ivan, who did everything I asked. Areion and I will have to work on it.

Something a little different for your musical enjoyment.

After writing the no rain comment, I must eat my words. Not only did we have a torrential storm but lost power for 24 hours. Thank God for the generator. What an inconvenience not having power is. Had to move everything out of the porch fridge and extra freezer and jam it into the ones connected to the generator. Then had to rearrange the kitchen and move everything back once the power was restored. We had to grill everything and eat on the patio. So glad we don't live in the"good old days". How spoiled are we??? There are still people without power. I made coffee and George took it to the neighbors on the ATV and he went to help Mark hook up his generator that he bought awhile ago and never bothered to hook up. Things are back to normal around here and the garden survived the storm.

Tomorrow we are off to the Lebanon Veteran Hospital to have a bingo for the vets. Our Purple Heart Chapter has 3 bingos a year, the vets are going to be disappointed, we are not allowed to purchase gifts for the bingo any longer, due to another chapter stealing the money from their chapter and can only give out canteen books for the hospital. How sad people would steal from the injured veterans. They are being prosocuted for the theft of the money.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Love & prayers for all...

Ok....on our news last night they told us of wicthita falls having severe drought and they r now recycling the toilet water....I'm sorry....I don't think I could do it and. lots felt same way....someit didn't phase. there is just something about using everyone's toilet water no matter how much it is treated...! y'all enjoy ur morning coffee or tea now ya heah!!

We r getting hotterr....this morning at 7 it was 74 and humidity of 79%....ewwwww....

Am off to grocery store....lter taters

Trudy, glad ur power is back on and have fun at bingo

CB, here in my part of AZ our irrigation water is all recycled water…………………..of course it's not for drinking.

TRUDY, seriously?  I can hardly think of anyone stealing from hospitalized vets………There again, I'm left shaking my head.

ARK, I've told your good neighbor story to quite a few people and they laugh and don't believe it….Til I've showed your pics to them…………….still shaking my head over that one…….what are the chances?
I'm sure it will all eventually work out but I'm sure one huge hassle!

Rain here in the mtns daily right now……….things are greening up and we're all more secure due to the fire risk reduction.  On the bad side, in the areas where the fires did occur, the flooding risks are now very high.

God bless.  Prayers for ALL.

Graymare, this was for drinking and cooking....I just can't get my peabrain around the idea of it

Grocery shopping done, puppy shots in cooler, horse grain in trunk, a quick stop at wal mart and then home....such an exciting life I lead, eh?

Oh CB……..YUK YUK YUK.  Have they gone crazy out there?  Glad you're stocked up and settled in for now………….Enjoy.  I'm sure your puppies will sell right off!

After almost two weeks, all the troops have gone home and all is back to normal. My relatives are sooo good about cleaning everything up, I have nothing to do. Dishes are all done. Sheets are changed. All the lawn chairs and water toys are put away. A really good time was had by all the 8 of us who were here for the whole time and 11 more who were here for a day.

See yuk was what I was say and blahhhhh, and making some lemon sour faces....I just don't think I could do it....we r alright affter rain we got here for now....I do not want to live in w. falls....no, no, no. just thinking about it makes me wig out, yuk.

Ellen, sounds like everone had a great time, and that's what its all about.

Well, I need to come up with something for dinner....

Graymare, that's not really stocked up, just a weeks worth...and we get to do it again. lol

Sweet dreams y'all

ELLEN:
 You are a trooper!  And a party girl   .  I would be exhausted!  Glad you had a great time!


Well, I finally have access to my computer.  We have cleared away the loose rubble and now have the broken, but still standing, parts to remove on the wall.  I have some photos to post of the unforeseen house renovation project we have going on....  

Here we have the guilty truck the morning after it hit our t.v. room wall:



You will note the nose of our red truck on the left side of the photo.  It was still sitting in our yard a week after it had been hit in our driveway.  Both trucks were hauled off the morning of these photos, leaving a very empty yard.

Here we have a blurry photo of what our t.v. room looked like after the truck pushed everything into the couch, including the t.v. and concrete wall:

 

It is much worse looking inside than it was outside.  You can see my computer screen squished behind the entertainment equipment stand where I couldn't get to it for awhile.

Same view after rubble was cleared from floor:






Here is the state of the room today.  Donnie has removed much of the broken wall and window, and has the roof supported with jack stands.  A tarp and some thin plywood is all that keeps the weather out right now.  Most of the wall going to the corner will have to be removed and replaced, also.  We will be replacing the window with a larger one and reinforcing the wall in case we have any other unexpected  truck visitors in the future.

Guardian angel on ur shoulders...all 3 of you. I would have huge boulders in the shape. of sleeping angels placed on the topside...keep any other visiting vehicles from comin acalling!

Went yard saling this morning and just veggin watching a movie ...puppies asleep at my feet....

Hope foops have a great weekend

WOW ark what a mess that is and it seems like you and donnie .... so far ..... get to do the work. I would check into that I think. Seems you should have some help from insurance or at least get paid to do iit. Hope your luck changes PDQ.

I'm thinking that some nice deeply set concrete pillars along the road would be a good idea. What a colossal mess! You've done well to get so much of it cleaned up and ready to rebuild.
I'm with Carol. Get the insurance company to pay for a contractor to do the work for you.
I guess this will be an opportunity to put in extra insulation along that wall, as well as a new window. With a bigger new window, you might have a chance to see them coming next time.   
Is your truck going to be repaired, or is it considered a total?
Boy, I'd sure hate to have to pay your neighbor's new insurance premiums after this.