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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

test time

Good morning.
Sunday was a wet dreary day. Misty rain off and on all day.
So I worked on a couple of little projects.
I made an extra connector for the tow vehicle of the mo-ho.
The single plug goes into the mo-ho, and the other two are for the car, and the dolly.
We like to have a spare on hand in case we are all ready to go and the lights don't work.
I also managed to get the portable gas grill that we take on trips cleaned.
Before and after.
This is a great little grill that's large enough to cook a bunch of stuff with a top grill rack, and small enough to fold and put in a bay. We've had this grill for 8 years now.
Monday, after our usual running around, I mowed the yard while Craig did his usual bookwork and laundry. It was another cold dreary day, but at least, no rain. It's been very cold these last few days for this time of year.
And this morning, Craig goes in for blood work. Time to see if all his changes have made a difference.
If you haven't been following, Craig was diagnosed 5 weeks ago as being pre-diabetic. With much discussion, his doctor told him he needed to do these 4 following things.
1. Eat breakfast and lunch every day, no skipping meals.
2. A 20 minute brisk walk 4-5 times a week.
3. Cut back on the alcohol.  
4. Cut back on late night snacking, especially chips.
Well, he's been a model patient. He's discovered by eating 3 meals a day, he's not hungry in the evening. He's been walking 5-7 times a week, and cut back his alcohol intake. He's even lost some weight!
So now, this morning, blood tests will tell if he's done enough. I think he has. We'll see. He should get the results back in a couple of days. I'll let you all know how he did.  :-)

Sunday, July 28, 2013

a low surgar experience and the last, I promise

Good morning.
We finished our busy week in the Salon, and we even managed to get in our walk both days after work, despite the threat of rain.
It's cooled down here considerably, with morning temps in the low 50's and today's high reaching only 70. Crazy weather for this time of year.
It's currently raining this morning, so not sure if we will be able to get our walk in today.
I did just get back from cleaning the Salon, and if the rain lingers, I have enough house cleaning to do.
And I promise, these are the last day lily pics from the yard I'm going to share with you.   :-)







I just love all the variations! Did I mention I have nearly 50 different varieties?   :-)
And now, back to work.
 I had a customer on Thursday that comes from out of town and stays with here sister when she gets her hair done. I gave her a perm. Well, I got it permed, cut, dried and curled. She gave me a check, I said see you next time, and went to put something away. I returned to find her still in my chair, her feet kinda swinging back and forth. I said, "Do I have the chair too high? Let me lower it for you."  I lowered it, and said again, "see you next time", and went and put away some stuff, I turned around, and she's still sitting in my chair! She's an older lady so I said, "do you need help getting up?"
I helped her up from the chair. She grasped my hand pretty tight, and I walked her toward the door.
She seemed a bit dazed and confused, and I suddenly realized something was wrong. I knew she was diabetic, and figured she must be having an episode of some sort. I sat her down, and asked if she had anything to eat in her purse. Craig has a customer he's done for years who's diabetic, and he's told Craig if he ever starts acting funny, stick a piece of candy bar in his mouth. He always carries one with him. I found some mints in her purse and gave her one. I asked Craig to call her sister. I wasn't sure if she was having an diabetic episode or maybe a stroke. I've never seen anyone having a diabetic episode before. I was going to call 911 when Craig got a hold of her sister, and confirmed, the symptoms I described were a sugar issue, and she'd be right there.
The customer just sat in  the chair, just kind of dazed looking. I continued with other customers, as I was now behind schedule. Her sister arrived, checked her sugar, and gave her some special mint thing she had. After about 15 minutes, she seemed back to normal, thanking me for helping her. She showed me the funny mint things she keeps in her purse, should it happen again on a future visit.
I was happy she was okay.
And I want to say to everyone. If you have a health condition, you need to let people you see know what to do when the unexpected happens.
If her sister hadn't been a customer, we would have called 911 and possibly caused her undue medical expenses when all she had to do was say, if I start acting funny, pop one of these mint things in my mouth.
But everything turned out okay.
So that was my excitement for the week.
Now time to go.

Friday, July 26, 2013

growing pains

Good morning.
It's been another crazy busy week, though Friday and Saturday look a bit less hectic.
We had some storms roll through late Tuesday morning. Fortunately, it was after our power walk.
And besides our busy week, Craig also managed to find time Thursday for a walk. Today and tomorrow being shorter days, we should be able to fit a walk in also.
Before we mowed Tuesday, I took these pics.....

You can see the lawn littered with pieces of bark. They come from a London Plane tree we planted nearly 20 years ago. It's related to the American Sycamore, but has a better overall shape.
The bark peels off the upper branches each summer as the tree 'grows', and the branches expand.
Craig wanted this tree for the beautiful mottled bark it gets as it ages. He just didn't realize what transpires to achieve this look.
But it does have a nice branching for very good shade. If you don't mind a mess on your grass for about a month.   :-)
Fortunately, our mulching mower pulverizes it and you wouldn't even know it happened, until it starts dropping more.
Now time to get going.
Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

a really nice weekend

Good morning.
It's been a great weekend! Beautiful temps, and sunny. Sunday and Monday, we opted for biking instead of our power walk. Lansing has an extensive river trail system that goes from the south side of town through downtown, out by Potter Park Zoo, and over to Michigan State University in East Lansing.
I also managed to do some more waxing on the mo-ho and one of the cars.
Our next mo-ho trip isn't until August. It seems like it's been an eternity since our last trip. Soo looking forward to it.  :-)
Now here's some pics of flowers currently blooming in the yard that aren't day lilies...  :-)
Queen of the Prairie, and blue Phlox.

Bee Balm and Soapwort.

And another planting of Blue Angel Hosta.
So we're enjoying one of our nicest weekends of the summer, and I have one more day!   :-)

Sunday, July 21, 2013

And even more daylillies!

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon as usual. It's a beautiful cool 56 out this morning.
As expected, it was a very busy week in the Salon.
Thanks for the e-mails and comments on the front door color. I'm liking the new color also, and hope to do the other door this weekend.
Craig made a tasty dinner for Saturday.
 Open faced chicken meatball sandwiches! Really good! And really easy! Check out the recipe here.
We had them with my homemade coleslaw, which you can get here.
And I'm going to bore you with yet, some more day lilies I have blooming...





I promise, this is the last of these I'll post.  :-)
Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Friday, July 19, 2013

we're having a heat wave

Good morning.
It's been a hellishly hot week with temps in  the upper 90's and nights in the mid 70's. A good week to be working inside.
But a front is expected today and tonight that will bring our daytime temps back into the 70's. Looks like a real nice weekend coming up.   :-)
We haven't walked the last couple of days due to the heat and long work days, but hope to get back to it this weekend. The rest of my work week looks busy as well.
And here's some more day lilies I have blooming right now...




The flower beds are looking a bit ragged, with all this heat, but I've been watering like as fiend to help them as much as I can.
Now time to get to work.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

which one do you like?

Good morning.
We've been suffering through a mini heat wave as temps have climbed into the 90's the last couple of days with 2 more days also forecast.
Despite the heat and humidity, we've managed to get in our morning power walks.
Yesterday, I washed the Kia and Hyundai with plans to wax at last one of them, but even with a chamois, I couldn't get them to dry. It was just way to humid with a dew point of 73.   :-\
I did paint one of our entrance doors.
Our house, built in 1953 was constructed of what they called 'school house brick'.
Apparently, numerous schools built during that period used this brick.
Anyway, I thought that the color Craig had on them were too purple based for the brick, like the pic below, so I talked him into a different red, one with a more orange base, like above.
Looking at the house from a distance, which one do you prefer?

And for dinner, we made a complete meal on the grill.
Grilled baked potato, pork cutlets, grilled onions, peppers and zucchini.It was easy and tasty! And the recipe is over here.
So not a whole lot done over the weekend, but a nice weekend none the less.
Oh, and a bonus with our new lifestyle changes. I've cut my blood pressure meds in half, and Craig looks like he may be able to stop his altogether!  Not to mention, we've both lost a few pounds. Who knew just a couple small changes could make quite a bit difference!
Now time for another work week.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Almost like new! Well kinda.

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon. I did it today instead of Sunday, as I sealed the driveway Sunday morning instead. The reason I do the driveway on Sunday is we live on a very busy 55mph road, and the only day there is considerably less traffic is Sunday morning. Even then I have to be careful out near the road, as drivers won't even move over as they pass.  :-@
So here it is....
I think it's good for another year.   :-)
Even the bad areas with crack filler and sealer don't look too bad, if you don't look too close. :-)
And I saw this little guy a few days ago crossing the driveway. It was a little larger than my hand.
After sealing the driveway, I took my shower, got Craig up and did our walk.
Back home we did pretty much our usual Sunday routine, Craig did bookwork and laundry, and I worked in the yard. Didn't get a lot done. Had to take lots of breaks due to near 90 and humid. This whole week looks to be the same.


Sunday, July 14, 2013

it was a very long week

Good morning.
It was a very busy week in the Salon, and I worked late Friday and Saturday.
On top of that, we also got our power walk in on Thur. Fri. and Sat.
Then Saturday, after work, and our walk, I went over to a customers house to set-up his new printer.
So it was a very long week!
And on top of all that, this morning, I just finished sealing the driveway. Used about 3 1/2,  five gallon buckets of sealer. I'll take a pic when the sun is right.   :-)
Today, after our walk, I think I'll take it easy. Maybe wash and wax a car, but that will be about it.
The gardens are coming into full bloom and here's a few more pics....





Since I sealed the driveway this morning, I'll have to go in to the Salon tomorrow morning to clean.
But today, it's going to be sunny and hot, and  I think I'll just mellow out.   :-)

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

house repairs and flowers

Good morning.
 Well, Monday was mostly a wash-out. Scattered rain off and on. We did manage to get our power walk in and our usual grocery, bank and post office run done.
I also measured the trim for the patio door, and we had extra trim lying around, so in the garage, I cut and stained the boards.
Tuesday was very nice with mostly sun and 80's although very humid, and it did rain around dinner time. We got another walk in and back home I ripped out the old trim on the patio door, installed the new trim and caulked it.

 As you can see, the color doesn't match the existing. Obviously it's faded over the years, so that will be another weekend project. I also polished the mo-ho wheels, and did a bunch of weeding and trimming.
Here's just a few pics of the day lilies that have started to bloom.





I must have over 50 varieties. I'll try not to bore you by posting all of them.   ;-)
For dinner, it was chicken thighs on the grill with grill roasted veggies, (onions, mushrooms, red pepper, and summer squash) and a side of long grain wild rice. Managed to get it done and in the house before the rain started.
And again, another work week. It's looking real busy this week with an extra long day on Thursday, as I have a 7:45 dental cleaning appointment before work.
Also, it looks like our rainy weather is finally going to end for a while. It's forecast for sun for the next 5 days! Hopefully, I'll get the driveway sealed this next weekend, finally.  Since our RV trips have taken a hit due to that unexpected expensive repair, at least we're getting some extra stuff done around the house.
Now time to get going.