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Post by Mini Mia on May 3, 2018 17:50:21 GMT -6
Phalon: Guess you need a second cell phone for a backup alarm.
moonglum: Glad nothing was taken. Hopefully they won't be back.
Rain, and more rain. Just what is needed around here. NOT!
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Post by Phalon on May 4, 2018 6:12:17 GMT -6
Urgh. Again with the lateness! Sleeping only for about an hour to an hour and a half at a time, I've pretty much become a nocturnal creature against my will, and am fighting it both mentally and physically.
And apparently, am losing the battle on both fronts.
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Post by Mini Mia on May 4, 2018 20:38:22 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on May 6, 2018 7:06:04 GMT -6
Thanks for re-posting. Did a bit of a background check on taking melatonin, and there is some question about its effectiveness and a few side-effects. I think I'll first try the apple cider vinegar twice a day for hot flashes remedy and see how that works.
I've always, ever since I can remember, had a problem adjusting to the time change - for weeks after daylight savings time starts, my sleep patterns are disrupted. I just about seem to get back to a normal schedule, then the nursery reopens, and I'm exhausted from the physical work required at the beginning of the season. The first few weeks back to work, I usually fall asleep too early to sleep through the entire night. This year, add nightly hot flashes into the mix, and it's been especially tough to get a decent night's sleep. I feel like if I can only get the hot flashes under control, everything else will fall into place!
Spring is here finally; there is no question about it. A week of consistent temperatures in the upper 50s and 60s, a dose of rain, and plenty of sun has made all the difference. Things seemed to come to life overnight! Little green leaves unfurling everywhere you turn; cherries and crabapples in bloom, and birds everywhere gathering materials to build their nests. The cardinals seem especially fond of ripping the peeling bark from our river birches, to carry away to wherever it is they've hidden their nests; the other morning, I watched two separate cardinal couples fly back and forth in different directions with strips of the paper-like bark in their beaks.
The little house finch nest in the basket above our mailbox is empty. When LX and The Boyfriend were here, I had him reach up and check to see if anything was in it; I wasn't sure since I found two of the chicks dead on the front porch earlier. None of us where able to reach it without getting a ladder, but the Boyfriend is 6'4", and had no problem. There were two fat fluffy feathered babies still in the nest - they both fledged last week. Today's chore - clean what they left behind on the siding! For two little things so small, they sure made a huge mess!
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Post by Mini Mia on May 6, 2018 18:09:05 GMT -6
I've started taking ACV three times a day. 2t of ACV in a glass of juice. Apple and Pineapple seem to work best, but I also add it to Grape as well. And I'm taking two 400IU of Vitamin E. Sometimes one in the morning and one in the evening, but other times I take both at the same time. I haven't added Vitamin C yet. The temps are still going up and down, but not below the 50s, and it gets up into the 80s every now and again.
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Post by Mini Mia on May 7, 2018 1:10:05 GMT -6
Got a little bit of rain, and you’ll never guess what happened. Click ... Click ... Beep ... Beep ... Lights flickering and quivering, and the bathroom outlet popped its button. Guess it had dried out, and that’s why they stopped. Now they’re back. Oh boy.
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Post by Phalon on May 8, 2018 4:56:39 GMT -6
I keep forgetting! I even set it out on the counter and wrote myself a note, but haven't done it yet.
Have you heard from the electric company yet? If not, I'd give them a "gentle reminder" - is 'get your @sses out here and fix it!!!' a gentle reminder?
Busy weekend. BP and Co. went to prom; she's gone every year she's been in high-school, and between her and LX's proms, because I work Saturdays, this is the first time I got to see everyone all dressed up (although LX and her friend came out to the nursery all decked out their senior year). The girls all went as a group this year, and since prom is all about the fashion, they were fashionably late and stopped by the house before leaving.
I bought a car - not a new car, but the newest vehicle I've had since I bought my Chevy S-10 brand new 30 years ago (which we still have, now with a "Historic" license plate). The "new" car is a 2016 Chevy Malibu with only 15,000 miles on it. I loaned my old car to LX indefinitely - her apartment lease is up in a month, she'll need a car to move and go to job interviews; I know she can't afford a car of her own - heck, she can barely afford the insurance! The "plan" is, once she starts her career and can afford to buy a vehicle of her own, I'll sell the one I loaned her. Have a feeling though, I'll end up just selling it to her for less than what I can sell it to someone else. It's what parents do.
Lots of running errands yesterday - I would have rather spent the day outside in the gorgeous weather, kind of on the coolish side with a lake breeze, but dang! compared to the winterish last week, it was heavenly!
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Post by Mini Mia on May 8, 2018 21:24:14 GMT -6
Yeah. I don't always get in 3 times a day. I thought breaking it down into 2t three times per day would work out, but I should probably do 1T twice per day. I don't happen to have apple or pineapple juice, and I just used up my grape juice. It doesn't go well with peach juice. The acid is too strong for it.
It was late in the evening, and I thought I'd have to leave a voicemail. It was okay when I got up the next day, and no more problems since then. But if it happens during business hours, I do intend to give them a call and see what they say.
Having a car is nice. Even when I never drove it off my road. It wasn't much fun when my Dad's car broke down and I had to walk to Mom's and back ... well, until she loaned me her car, after she bought another car. I guess I could have kept that car after she died, but I wanted a littler car because I thought I'd be able to maneuver it better when parking. But when I'm in the little car it doesn't feel so little ... and then I get out and see how much extra space there is at the end of the parking space and realize it is a small car. So, I could probably do just as well with a somewhat bigger car, but not bigger. I hope LX gets a lot of use out of her 'new' car. (My cousin bought that car, and my heart stopped when I saw it in the Church parking lot last Sunday. [He only just started coming to Church recently.] Took me a second to put two and two together. Duh. I guess the knocking in Mom's room had me more on edge than I realized? )
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Post by Phalon on May 13, 2018 7:52:30 GMT -6
The Malibu is a lot smaller than my Impala...and I really, really wanted another used Impala. We've been looking for a good used one all over West Michigan for more than a month; they just aren't available other than those that are too old or with too many miles on them for the price (there's one on a lot in town with over 222,000 miles on it). We had the dealers in town looking too; one called Hubs and said they just got a leased one turned in; Hubs went to look at it after work, and while the salesman he'd been talking to was showing it to him, another salesman came out and said he'd just sold it.
The new Impalas are a lot more than I wanted to spend, and I didn't want to finance anything. While we were at the dealer test driving the Malibu, I took a photo of a completely jet-black Impala even down to those see-through rims (I don't know what they're called), and texted it to the girls with the caption: "My brand-new Impala!" They ooohed and ahhhed over it; BP said she couldn't wait to test it out. My next photo was the sticker price: $36,000. My caption: "Only in my dreams."
The Malibu is a ton of fun to drive though...and is a lot more economical on gas than my 2007 Impala; a week's worth of gas for the Impala was just under $40. The Malibu costs the same to fill with gas, but after a week of driving I've still got almost half a tank left! I still haven't figured everything it does out yet; the dash is a touch screen, as well as it having a ton of buttons and knobs on the steering column. My reading for the next week should probably be the owner's manual!
Absolutely grueling week at work. Semi loads of plant shipments in that were supposed to arrive weeks ago, but have been delayed due to the unseasonably cold weather, all arrived back-to-back, and with the crews out everyday trying to catch up on their landscape jobs (also delayed due to the weather), that meant there was only store employees left to unload them - thousands and thousands of plants - while still taking care of customers in-between. And then the rains came, and with the rain, the temperature dropped to highs in the 40s, just in time for Mother's Day weekend - our second busiest weekend of the year. The cr@ppy weather didn't deter the customers; both parking lots were full, and there were cars parked on the shoulders on either side of the road. I don't recall ever being so physically tired, or ever looking so much toward a day off as I was late afternoon yesterday!
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Post by Phalon on May 15, 2018 6:09:28 GMT -6
Oh-my-gosh, the rain! I think we got four inches or more the past two days - 2 inches Sunday night, and another two yesterday and last night. Stormy too - lots of thunder and lightning to go along with the driving rain.
Periods of calm though - Sunday evening after she got off work, BP took me downtown for ice-cream and cappuccino for Mom's Day. The view from the top of the hill toward the Lake was a solid wall of fog. After our ice-cream (I had cappuccino ice-cream to go with my cappuccino drink!) we headed down to the beach - which literally could not be seen! There was no differentiating the water from the sky - it was solid fog. Beautifully eerie!
In-between the bouts of storms, a flock of rose-breasted grosbeaks have descended on both feeders. They are big, rounded birds in comparison to the finches, chickadees, nuthatches, and downy woodpeckers that are normally at the feeders - Hubs thought they were small ducks!
And it's certainly good weather for ducks - more rain this morning, and storms predicted for later today.
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Post by Mini Mia on May 15, 2018 22:08:24 GMT -6
It's supposed to rain a lot here as well. So far it appears to be fairly scattered. Last night's rainfall didn't seem to bring on any power surges. My sister and I walked to Mom's and back the other day, and I noticed a bright orange "OK" on the pavement in front of a light pole. I'm guessing it's from them narrowing down the cause. I'm hoping they found it, and that's why last night's rain didn't bring on any problems with the lights.
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Post by Phalon on May 17, 2018 4:58:31 GMT -6
Yesterday was like a gift - a beautiful gift of warmth and sunshine after all those cold and rainy days. Everything is so lush and green now, it's almost easy to forget how long the winter seem to last this year!
Hope that orange X on the pavement means your electric woes are soon to be forgotten too!
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Post by Mini Mia on May 17, 2018 16:55:57 GMT -6
My area hasn't gotten any of the rain yet. They seem to be small pockets of showers, so it's hit or miss. Calling for thunderstorms all next week, and this weekend. Don't know how much of it will cover my area. I'm just glad that so far, no more surges. I've mentioned the "OK" to several neighbors and they're all hoping those surges are done for.
It's more Summer here than Spring. My hot flashes aren't amused. I ran out of Grape Juice, so I stopped taking the ACV. I got some more yesterday, plus Apple Cranberry and Apple Juice. I forgot the Pineapple juice. With Grape, Apple Cranberry, and Apple; I should have enough for the AVC. I've never tried it in Apple Cranberry, but I'm hoping it goes well enough with it to drink it.
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Post by moonglum on May 18, 2018 12:56:28 GMT -6
Greenhouse Update
There is now a solid concrete floor to the greenhouse and tomato and pepper plants sprouting from seed. I've sown courgette (zuchini) as i love homegrown courgettes. Plans are afoot to cover a border with plum-coloured slate chippings and just have pot plants on it (Vox is sick of weeding).
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Post by Phalon on May 20, 2018 6:13:23 GMT -6
I'm currently, for about a week, in that lull that tricks you into thinking you're done with them...until the next time they come around. Problem is, after having them come on in the middle of the night for so long, I'm still waking up around 2:30 in the morning every night, and am wide awake for about an hour or so!
It sounds lovely, Moonglum....and looks lovely too; I saw that Vox posted a photo on Facebook. I love the greenhouse!
In the vegetable gardens we haven't planted our tomatoes yet, or lettuce. It's been way too wet and cold (we're still getting into the 40s at night) for tomatoes, and though the lettuce could have been planted weeks ago, I want to put more soil in the raised bed that the lettuce is grown in, and haven't gotten around to it yet. Elsewhere in the veggie gardens, the potatoes, green beans, and beets are coming up, and looking good. Hubs harvested the final picking of asparagus yesterday; we've been enjoying it for weeks, and are sad to see it done for the season.
Courgettes! Yes! I was talking with a co-worker the other day, and I can't remember what got us on the topic, but the conversation was about the difference in English names for food and what we, in America, call the same food. I tried to recall what you all call "that vegetable", but couldn't remember....I couldn't remember zucchini was the vegetable I was trying to remember either!
I'm with Vox....and I've got to get a handle on the weeding before it gets too out of control. I spend about an hour one evening this week, pulling maple seedlings out of my woodland garden - I had a whole bucket of what very well could be a thousand of the little buggers, looked up when the bucket was full, and saw a billion left to pull!
Won't get to it today though. Switched my days off to help out a co-worker, and dang, kind of regretting it now - working six days in a row this busy, busy time of year, is going to be tough! Luckily though, Sunday hours are only 10a-4p. Still, I'd better get moving...or I may not be able to get moving!
Later, Taters.
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Post by Mini Mia on May 20, 2018 19:42:07 GMT -6
I love those lulls. I wish they would last longer ... ... ... permanently.
We've been getting a number of storms. So far, no power surges. I'm hopeful.
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Post by Mini Mia on May 22, 2018 22:47:34 GMT -6
CranApple works well with Apple Cider Vinegar. I've been putting 2T in one glass and getting it over with. I've only been doing it a couple of times, so not long enough to see any change.
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Post by Phalon on May 23, 2018 6:12:10 GMT -6
I just drink it with water....when I drink it. HA! I've only drank it twice recently.
Another foggy, wet one here this morning. I love the lake fog!!! I can do without so much rain though - we've had nine inches in the last ten days! It's been chilly too - Sunday afternoon was so chilly you could see your breath.
Later, Taters - off to work. Though I've been running late mornings, guess what?! I seem to have broken that years-long cycle of being 10 minutes behind schedule - I haven't been late once to work this season.
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Post by Mini Mia on May 23, 2018 19:47:57 GMT -6
I have a hard time taking things that don't taste good to me. It takes me up to 30 minutes to an hour to take liquid NyQuil/DayQuil. I now take the pills instead. So, I put the ACV in a juice that it doesn't ruin the flavor of. In Grape, Pineapple, Apple, and CranApple juice, it has a sharp bite to it, but it doesn't add a disgusting taste to it. Vitamins C & E work too, and I need to also add that to my daily routine.
They're calling for lots of rain here, though it's mostly scattered/isolated. The flood waters have receded, and I'm hoping the rain doesn't cause overflowing again. The pond is so full my b-i-l noticed the fish were pouring out onto the ground where the water was overflowing. He put up a net to catch them. Last year we had Blue Gill put in. This year we had Catfish and Bass put in. The guy said we could fish in it, but we would have to toss them back in. Next year we are to just toss them onto the bank. I guess they'll still be too small to cook, but the pond will be populated enough that it would be best to keep down the numbers.
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Post by Phalon on May 24, 2018 6:12:02 GMT -6
I'm more of a take-the-BandAid-and-rip-it-off get-it-over-and-done in one fell swoop kind of person. Aside from the smell, which is decidedly too vinegary, the apple-cider vinegar water tastes sort of like hard apple cider to me, and I drink the glass all at once.
Or your BIL can use them in his garden. When we were kids and went fishing with Dad, he'd always keep the carp or catfish and the guts from anything we caught and ate, to bury in the garden. Dad grew the most beautiful tomatoes ever! Fish emulsion, btw, is one of our best selling fertilizers for organic gardening.
Beautiful morning here! Gotta run.
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Post by Mini Mia on May 24, 2018 21:20:30 GMT -6
I will have to remember to tell my BIL that. Although, he might not like it "bringing all the cats to the garden." I gotta go pick up my guest for this weekend tomorrow. She's been having problems with the voices in her head, so it should make for an interesting visit. I really wish they could come up with better meds for mental illness. Or some kind of cure.
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Post by Phalon on May 26, 2018 5:15:37 GMT -6
That's why you bury them!!!
A lot of the problem comes from a lack of funding (which was proposed to be reduced again; I don't know if the proposed cuts went through or not, though). Another issue, I think - and this is just my opinion based on what I've read in the news - that there is a problem with how we view mental illness. It seems that often times when someone does something immoral, criminal, or deviant, mental illness is brought up as a possible reason. In some cases it is true (like the young man who shot his parents at the college LX went to; he was diagnosed as having schizophrenia). Other times, it seems people are just looking for an excuse as to why someone would do such a thing - this does a real disservice to people who actually suffer a mental illness, because it skews how society as a whole views the mentally ill.
I hope your visit with your friend is uneventful in the best way.
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Post by Mini Mia on May 26, 2018 20:10:36 GMT -6
I was watching a crime show once, and a young woman with real mental illness was murdered. It was stated that the mentally ill are more often murdered than they commit murder. And a book on crime I have stated that if they show no signs of violence in their youth, then they’re less likely to be aggressive and violent when adults.
My guest has paranoid schizophrenia, and the voices in her head are more prone to attack her and have her feel like she’s being attacked by others. She was telling me she was going to call the cops on her neighbors, because they were making mean remarks towards her through the wall of her apartment. I told her to record them as proof, because the cops can’t really help if there isn’t proof, and wouldn’t like their time being wasted. Another reason is that if no voices are recorded she’d know it wasn’t real.
Yesterday she kept tell me people were calling her names. I told her I didn’t hear them, and that not everyone is going to like us, and that it was their problem if they didn’t, not ours. She should let it go and not let it upset her. I can usually calm her down, but others don’t have the patience to deal with her voices and paranoia. They act like she has a choice and is just acting up in a childish manner. That’s what I don’t get with these people. They know someone has a legit mental illness, and yet expect them to take control of it. They expect them to know the difference between real and unreal stuff going on in their head. And I fear for her when dealing with others who either don’t know she’s mentally ill, or those who do and fear her enough to hurt her when they feel she’s acting ‘crazy’ and out to hurt them.
And she has a temper, so sometimes I do fear the mental illness might cause her to do harm. But she’s never been violent with me, so odds are she never will. And the last few years her doctors have had her on really good meds and she’s been more mellow and less explosive. Her meds are another reason I fear for her. Crazy addicts who know she has all those drugs in her house. I think she’s in more danger from others, than she is from herself, or others from her.
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Post by Phalon on May 27, 2018 6:54:43 GMT -6
I've read a lot recently that supports this, mostly in response to school mass shootings and some politicians' quick response to blame it all on mental illnesses and preach for better mental health care as a solution to prevent the shootings. We definitely need better health care in this country, but here's a good article why labeling shooters as being mentally ill isn't going to solve anything, and the harm it can do to people with real mental illnesses: www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/insight-therapy/201803/improved-mental-health-care-won-t-prevent-mass-shootingsI think that may be one worry you can cross off your list, Joxie. I believe (but am not for certain) that the medications - antipsychotic drugs - used to treat illnesses like schizophrenia are the same medications used to treat drug addictions. A drug addict is not going to want those drugs to feed their addictions. It's really gotten warm here these last few days - instant summer. Kalamazoo, east of here, and Grand Rapids, to the north, both got near or into the 90s yesterday; both are inland cities and 90-plus degree temperatures are supposed to continue throughout this next week. We, along the lakeshore, stayed in the 70s with a nice cooling breeze yesterday, and the forecast calls for temperatures in the 70s and low 80s this week. Ahhhh...one of those times when the Lake Effect is welcomed! Interesting little creatures have been sighted at the nursery, up near the store, these past few days, to the delight of our customers (and us too!). A litter of squirrels has been running around - three babies, one silver, one mostly white, and one pure white!
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Post by Phalon on May 28, 2018 7:02:59 GMT -6
I worked out in the yard until mid-afternoon yesterday, until it got too uncomfortable - the forecasters were wrong; it got close to 90 degrees here (hot flashes returned with a vengeance, even after being inside with the air conditioning. Blah!). Still so much to do out there!
Plan for today is to get more outside work done early, get some much needed stuff done inside after it gets too hot outside, somehow find time to go to the grocery store, and then head to a Memorial Day party by 3pm. HA! We'll see how much actually gets done!
Enjoy the day!
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Post by Mini Mia on May 29, 2018 0:11:13 GMT -6
I hope that's true. Though it probably won't stop me worrying. There were a couple of incidences, but I got her to brush it off. A couple of times she thought she heard people calling her names and making fun of her. I didn't see or hear any of it, so I'm pretty sure it was just in her head. I just let her know that not everyone is going to like us, and that is their problem, not hers ... and to try not to let it hurt. We did some "Shake It Off" dancing. (Taylor Swift)
It rained a few times. I timed it right and didn't get caught driving in anything harder than light sprinkles. I knew it was a matter of time before I'd have to drive in the rain. I did some Google searches to learn the best way to go about it. Still, I'm hoping I continue to drive in it as little as possible. Got more rain heading my way. And it's definitely Summer here now.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 6, 2019 2:14:30 GMT -6
_I_ know it isn't Spring. _YOU_ know it isn't Spring. But the _SPRING FROGS_ don't seem to know or care that it isn't Spring, _yet_. Grrrrrrrr. I hate the cold, but I'd rather it stuck around until Spring were actually here.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 27, 2019 23:37:37 GMT -6
The spring frogs seem to not want to go back into hibernation. I'm not going to get excited though. Last year we had Winter until May, and then it jumped to Summer.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 4, 2019 6:36:33 GMT -6
Nope. Wrong thread. Definitely nothing spring-like around here.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 9, 2019 5:08:27 GMT -6
We're getting severe weather today. Thunderstorms, strong winds, possible tornadoes. 65F.
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