Feels Like Summer

We splurged and bought some wispy, pink flowers for along the front sidewalk. They're supposed to be hardy for our Minnesota winters, but we shall see. (A couple of years ago, we bought some Forever and Ever Hydrangeas and they ended up not living up to their name.) We also decided to split some of the Hosta I planted years ago along side the garage to use with the new flowers. I think they'll work out well!

The Fourth of July Holiday weekend is coming up, and it looks like it will just be the two of us celebrating. If we don't go up north, it might be fun to take a walk around Lake Harriet and grill some No Name Steaks. Maybe make root beer floats. If we do decide to watch some fireworks, we'll just drive down to the little beach close by as it won't be as crowded as elsewhere.

And, I'm hoping to hear more news from Katie soon about her flight home to visit. It seems like forever since I've seen her, and I can't wait to hug her again.  :)

Wordless Wednesday

Remnants of the Past

We've been helping Mom and Dad clear out their old house so it can be sold. What a surprise it was to find old drawings of mine from fifty years ago! I'm working on clearing out my own house in the quest for a more simple life and I really didn't want to add more things to keep, but a photo is a very good thing.

I guess I was proud to be a brownie scout. And I loved my beagle, Ranger.

Update

I guess the kitties are feeling pretty relaxed in the house these days. We haven't been forcing them to be together all at the same time, but that's okay because I think four cats together in the kitchen at once would probably drive me nuts.

Jessie is sleeping more and it can take hours for her to eat. So far she does eventually eat, but usually only for Bruce. The process is exhausting. She doesn't seem to be in pain, but I've heard that dogs don't always show when they are. I hope she isn't, anyway. She still comes to my side of the bed to greet me in the morning and will give me a kiss when I lean toward her. Although she is changing, she is still so sweet.

We finally finished getting things back into the storage room, so the family room is back! That was a huge accomplishment, and will add peace and calm to the home. I don't think either one of us does well with chaos all around.

And here is a picture of the beautiful beans I used to make soup with. I added some bacon that needed to be used up, plus some Italian style diced tomatoes. I've been trying to make up a big pot of some sort of soup weekly, and it's been working well for lunches.

And … Katie is coming home for a visit soon, but more about that later.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh, Okay

The company that Bruce worked for was sold, and as of last Thursday, he is out of a job. I suppose it wasn't totally unexpected, just not expected to happen so soon. I'm a little surprised that we're not in a state of panic, but maybe as life goes on, we learn that not everything has to be a crisis. He'll look for another, but we told each other that this can be a practice run for when we do retire.

We went up to the lake for a night, and went fishing. Bruce caught a nice sized walleye and sunny that I pan fried for our lunch, along with a salad loaded with goodies. Later on, I caught a nice sized perch and large mouth bass. We didn't keep those, but it was fun to catch them all the same.

Jessie is giving us a harder time about eating. She is looking more frail these days, and I wonder if she is trying to tell us that her time with us is running out. But then sometimes, she'll try to chase after a squirrel.

So many things to just wait on, I guess.

Taking Care of Things

We spent some time decluttering and organizing parts of the house this weekend, and it felt really good.

We finished one of the bedrooms and would like to get through another, plus move back stuff that landed from the storage room into the family room last weekend when we got water in the basement. I think things are drying out down there, but I'm a little nervous that it's not completely dry under the carpet at the bottom of the stairs. We've had the fan blowing over the area, and today I turned on the dehumidifier. I'm even thinking I might sprinkle some baking soda over the carpet and vacuum it up after it sits for awhile. Just for good measure.

It's been warm and humid this week, and we've been missing our whole house fan that died last year. It seems too early to turn on the air conditioner, but moving air is nice. We decided to try a small window fan in our bedroom, and it's working well. The sound of a fan is comforting to me, too, so maybe I'll be able to sleep better while it's on.

After the rooms are done, we'll think about planting something like hosta along the front sidewalk. All my baby zinnias that I planted from seed have been eaten by bunnies. I like bunnies, but that was frustrating. Hosta would be nice, too, as they'll come up every year.

It's good to take care of things!

Start Of Summer

Jake was home for about a week before having to move back into the dorm for his summer job. He'll come home most weekends which is nice because, well, I do love having him around. Later on in August, he'll fly to China to work on a research project. What a guy. 💗