Day 181 of 2018

Fifteen hours. 

Mom's place is finally empty. 

This is just a fraction of the stuff we moved to various locations. 

It has been a very long month of June.

If only now I could sleep for a month. 

Day 180 of 2018

Our regular visitor is back.

Day 179 of 2018

This is the way to start the day.

Day 178 of 2018

 So, this happened today. 

Luckily we were right in front of a store 

and were able to pull into the parking lot.  

After calling AAA for roadside assistance, 

we went inside, grabbed some snacks 

and laid out our Sesame Street blanket on the sidewalk outside the store. 

We sat down to wait.  

We enjoyed our impromptu picnic, texted family about the flat, 

saw a rainbow, took a few pictures 

and watched the temporary spare get installed on our car.  

Soon we were on our way none the worse for wear.

Day 177 of 2018

"Mexico"

Day 176 of 2018

Three things:

1.  From a very early age I have been obsessed with flattening out 

the foil wrappers from gum or candy. 

2.  I like to have an occasional Dove chocolate (or two). 

3.  I think the little quotes inside said candies are kind of fun.

Summary: 

I have flattened out this foil wrapper from a dark chocolate Dove Square

 in a manner which is not up to my normal standards but I'm ok with that today.  

I believe the little quote inside deserves consideration.

Day 175 of 2018

No wonder this machine at the post office never seems to work.

I'm so glad they added the sign. 

Obviously, we weren't the only ones that had trouble with it.

Day 174 of 2018

Big D and GB#3 stood up near the street. 

Something noisy had just passed by. 

I was told they were looking for green cars.

Day 173 of 2018

Mom and I sat outside near the raised bed gardens until it started to rain.

Day 172 of 2018

Although there are still things to move, 

I thought it might be helpful to remove some of the boxes 

that were moved yesterday.  

All of these empty boxes once held books.  

I have since broken them down.

Day 171 of 2018

Moving Mom begins.  

I think she will find that she has lamps to spare.

Day 170 of 2018

I am listening to another audio book borrowed through my local library's website.  

This one was recommended by an animal-loving friend.  

I listen while I am eating breakfast, driving somewhere, or in my studio.  

Anytime I can find a few minutes by myself, I am listening.  

This one's pretty good so far.

Speaking of this particular friend, here is the answer to the question

Where Am I? Or more specifically Why am I Downtown? 

It was the annual Strawberry Festival downtown on the circle 

AND it was my friend's birthday. 

In case you are new here, the birthday girl is on the left 

and I am the one in the hat.

Day 169 of 2018

Bunny in the backyard.

Day 168 of 2018

Happy Father's Day, Fireball.

 From an only child to the father of four, 

you could not have done it better. 

I could never fully express my gratitude for all you do so I will just say 

Thank You.

Day 167 of 2018

Well, she's back and this time she is chilling on top of the broken bird feeder.  

I can't say for sure it was her that broke it 

but I have a suspicion that it was someone in her clan, 

or maybe it was one of the raccoons. 

I really can't be sure.

Day 166 of 2018

Today was opening night for the summer of Symphony on the Prairie. 

The program was The Music of Star Wars.

It was a wonderful evening - 

great music, an evening with my best guy, sunset, fireworks,  

and an appearance by Mr. Moon and Venus. 

(far left in photo)

Day 165 of 2018

Where am I?

If you've been following for a while, 

you know that I am downtown on the circle. 

So I guess the bigger question is why am I downtown?

If you are on Instagram, you can go look there for the answer. 

If not, I will post a picture here in a couple days.

Day 164 of 2018

Fireball and the Sun Flare. 

Band name? First album?

Self-titled first album?

Day 163 of 2018

What a surprise to come home today to Happy Mail! 

Little E has sent me a mini postcard (not shown here) that is so cute and colorful

and a beautiful, super soft scarf she knit for me. 

It will be great when football season rolls around again.

GB#1 has picked a selection of her drawings to send to me.  

I think this is my favorite. 

It really does look exactly like what she describes. 

And last but not least they have sent me a school picture of GB#1 

looking way too grown up. 

Thank you, thank you. 

You made my day.

Day 162 of 2018

She came back. 

It's a better picture than yesterday, 

but maybe not as good as tomorrow. 

Maybe not literally tomorrow though.  

I have a busy day and I promise not to turn this into the hummingbird blog.

Day 161 of 2018

A much needed rain is falling.

In my quest to get the previous picture, 

I stood on a chair and opened the window with no screen 

for a clear view of the falling rain 

and lovely drips on my bird feeders.  

While standing on the chair with the window open and a clear path into my house, 

this little lady buzzed just a few feet from me.  

She then found her way back the other direction to the feeder.  

I was so stunned that I gasped and was not able to get a good clear photo.  

If you know hummingbirds, 

you know that they move very fast and my autofocus could not keep up, 

so please pardon the very fuzzy picture.  

I am encouraged that the birds are finding their way back to my feeders 

after the two year break.  

I am excited to try to capture the birds that come to visit, 

maybe with my camera set on manual focus.

Day 160 of 2018

When the kitchen floor begins to get slippery, 

it is wise to move the bubble dance party outside.

Day 159 of 2018

I am happy to be prepping for our "breakfast for dinner" tonight.

Day 158 of 2018

What is it? 

Well, I am not going to make you really guess 

because it is pretty obvious that it is ice cream but there is more to it than that.  

This is one of only two pictures I took today.  

Before I left the house today, I changed the lens on my camera 

with every intention of taking a picture of today's activities, 

but, as it sometimes happens to me, I get so wrapped up in what is happening 

that I forget to get my camera out and take a picture.  

I do feel sometimes it is better to be IN the moment 

rather than have the camera out to record the moment.  

So back to the picture.  

After getting home, making and eating dinner, 

Fireball and I decided to walk to the grocery store for dessert (the ice cream) 

and had to make sure it would survive the half mile return trip 

in our 90 degree weather.  

Enter the Packit Freezable lunch bag.  

It was just what we needed.  

The ice cream fit and was perfectly scoop-able when we arrived home.   

Day 157 of 2018

This time the joy is in my own back yard.

Day 156 of 2018

If you remember this puzzle I was given for Mother's Day, 

you can see that I am progressing right along. 

I can tell you though that puzzle number 25 took me a very long time. 

It consisted of twelve cats/three layers. 

Yesterday I was debating whether to skip number 25, move on 

and come back to it another time. 

Today I tried one more time and finally solved it 

so I got to move on after all. 

This is number 26 which consists of six cats/four layers 

and took me very little time. 

I feel better now.

Day 155 of 2018

For some reason I did not get the fountain running, any flowers planted 

or the bird feeders filled in the back yard last year. 

This year I have done all three.  

Fireball has helped me move the bird feeder station to a spot which will, 

hopefully, discourage raccoons from attempting the jump. 

This little squirrel was quite perplexed as she kept staring down at the bubbling 

fountain but did not attempt the jump.

Day 154 of 2018

I spied this lovely spot on our evening walk. 

As I am always looking for landscape ideas for our sad, overgrown yard,

I took note...and a few photos.

Day 153 of 2018

This day began with a water leak under the bathroom sink at 4:00 in the morning 

and ended with listening to part of an audiobook with Fireball. 

The rest of the day consisted of yard work, other outside projects, 

and trips to a couple stores to continue the work. 

One of the stops was the hardware store for plumbing supplies 

(remember the aforementioned leak?)

where we found this little glass bottle, tea candle holder.  

I was hoping to find two but only found one.  

Nevertheless, I am happy to have one.

Day 152 of 2018

These two.  My two guys. 

One of them is forty. 

Time:  it's a funny thing.