Yikes!

Yesterday it was really really really really really windy. So windy that what I thought were brown clouds in the sky were in reality dust clouds (think of those pictures of Oklahoma farms during the Dust Bowl days in the depression). It was so windy that I had to shut all the windows because I could taste the dirt that was blowing in. It was so windy that I heard a big C-R-A-C-K and looked out of the window just in time to see our tree falling down. Well, not quite all of the tree, but half of it!

This is our lovely tree BEFORE:

And this is AFTER:


And this is what our house looked like from the street:


Yes, there is a house behind all that tree.

I called Keith at work to give him the heads up so that he wouldn't have a heart attack when he came home and saw our yard full of tree, and he says he'll have to go buy a chain saw to chop it all up, and he needed a chain saw anyway because, well, doesn't every household need a chain saw?

While waiting for him to get home I had a brilliant idea. Why not call some tree guys to come and clean it all up for us? So, when he got home I started calling around and within about half an hour we had the foreman in our yard quoting us $400.00 to have his crew chop it all up, cut down the tree, remove the stump, and haul it all away. The tree was a goner, too dangerous to leave up. Well, $400.00 seemed like a reasonable price considering that it would have taken Keith the entire weekend to chop up all the tree branches, chop down the rest of the tree, and then figure out how to haul it all away, not to mention the dump fees and the gas to make dozens of trips to the dump.

So, about 15 minutes later, here comes a small truck with two guys who start chainsawing up the branches and piling them up.


And then along comes a HUGE truck.


That has a huge scooper thing in the middle of it.


That scoops everything up and dumps it in the truck. Cool! The little boy next door thought it was pretty cool, too.


And, then it was time to chop down the rest of the tree.

There it goes.


The tree is down. That's Keith supervising there.


More scooping.


And no more tree. Just a few stray leaves to remind us of what was.

The whole process took less than an hour.

So, goodbye tree, goodbye shade, and goodbye raking the leaves (not that I did that anyway, either Keith would rake them up or we'd just let the wind blow them down the street), and hello weird looking yard with a big empty spot.

Do It Yourself

I hate getting my hair cut. I hate sitting there waiting for my turn and I hate sitting in the chair getting my hair cut and I hate paying for someone to cut my hair. Never mind that we go to the cheapie in and out hair cutting place and it really doesn't cost that much, I just really hate it. So, I'll get my hair cut once, maybe twice every five years or so. The last time I got it cut I had them do bangs, which look fine but grow fast. I'm one of those people who will get sick of bangs hanging in my eyes and will go find some scissors and hack them off to get them out of my eyes. And then next time I go get my hair cut they will ask who the heck trimmed my bangs for me.

So, last night I was whining about my hair hanging in my eyes and Keith suggested using his little beard and sideburn trimmer thing, which I had never thought of for trimming bangs. I tried to do it myself but it is hard to trim your own bangs, especially when you have to take off your glasses to do it, which in turn means YOU CAN'T SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING!, so I asked Keith if he would try it. He did and my bangs look pretty good! A little short, but hey, they grow fast! And we saved the 10.00 it costs to get your bangs trimmed (tip included in that 10.00).

I felt like I was in one of those new Target commercials-the one where they show dad shaving the kids heads with his 13.00 handy dandy hair trimmer from Target.

Open Wide!

No, I didn't go to the dentist yesterday, that's not for another week or two. No, yesterday was my annual pap smear, which was supposed to be two months ago, but when procrastination gets ahold of you, it doesn't easily let go. After getting phone calls and reminders from the mammogram place telling me it's time for my annual mammogram which I already knew, I figured I'd better pick up that phone and make my appointment for the pap smear so that I could get the paperwork necessary for the mammogram, which I did, and which I called and made an appointment, which I'll go to next week.

We have new insurance this year and we chose the cheapest insurance which maybe covers the pap and mammogram, maybe not, who knows, so we did the cheapie pap smear/annual physical yesterday, kind of like a drive through pap smear or something, just the basics and no unnecessary testing or poking or whatever. And now this morning I am not having my coffee yet because I am going to go to the blood draw place as soon as it opens to get some vials of blood drawn out for a few tests. Fasting blood work tests. No coffee until I'm done with the blood being sucked out of my body. Five more minutes and I can leave for the blood draw place and then hopefully be the first one there and then come back home and HAVE SOME COFFEEEEEEEE!!

Murders and Stabbings and Shootings-Oh My!

Welcome to Bakersfield. Where there are more murders per capita that the City of New York. Seriously.

We watch our local news most evenings (because we are old and boring and need something to do while eating dinner) and every night there is news of at least one stabbing or shooting or another dead body found somewhere. Disturbing, but unfortunately, seeing murders and stabbings and shootings on the news EVERY NIGHT causes you to become a little de-sensitized and just kind of go 'yeah what else is new? '

So, the other night we were watching the oh so serious reporter giving us the news of yet another shooting on one of the streets of Bakersfield, then they cut away from the reporter to a video of said street in which you saw the ICE CREAM TRUCK merrily driving along with the ice cream truck music happily playing away. I'm sorry, but we couldn't help but laugh at the video despite the seriousness of the story. And then, they showed the video of the ice cream truck AGAIN at the end of the story!

I guess it was to show that life does indeed go on.

Cookies That Help You Go Poop

Have you noticed the plethora of foods that 'help promote digestive health' these days? Yogurt, cheese, granola bars, all this stuff with extra fiber and whatever to promote the good bacteria in your guts and help get all that food out of your guts with nice healthy regular bowel movements.
I guess we're all constipated and need all the help we can get. Either that or it's just the latest food fad.

We were shopping in Target the other night for our regular-regular, get it?-toilet paper-toilet paper, get it?-and other such crap-crap, get it?-and came across these cookies that help you go poop. Cookies? I'm there!!


They had two flavors, orange zest and dark chocolate something. We chose the orange zest with green tea extract. The box promises that they are low in saturated fat, a good source of fiber, and with 10g of whole grain per serving. But would they taste like nuts and twigs and sawdust like other healthy wholesome cookies do? They come in a single serving pouch (so you don't eat the whole box and end up on the toilet for a few hours, I guess) and are cracker sized and heart shaped. They taste pretty good and have a little nip to them, kind of like a ginger snap, but they don't taste like ginger, and are very crunchy. Not bad at all.

I'd never heard of the company that makes these, although the package says they've been in business since 1905. I read the box a little closer to find out that it is a Canadian company with four plants in Canada and an office in Tennessee.

We also bought a new Pepperidge Farm cookie, Tim Tam Chocolate Creme Sandwich Cookies-Australia's Favorite Cookie. These have no food value or fiber or anything good for you in them, but damn do these cookies taste good!!

Retail Woes

I've noticed a big slowdown in internet sales for me, and a lot of other etsy sellers are wondering about no or slow sales, too. We're not the only ones. The big department store Mervyns is closing its doors, and a big shoe store chain here in town is also going out of business. One of the local Starbucks clone drive through coffee stops abruptly closed recently, leaving all of its employees standing outside the doors with no final paychecks. Yesterday while riding through the shopping center on my way to Michaels I noticed big going out of business signs on the local Linens and Things. Yikes!

I'll really start worrying if The Dollar Store and Walmart go out of business!

The government thinks that if they give us another 'economic stimulus' check, it will help the economy turn around with people running out to buy a bunch of stuff with their extra few hundred dollars. It didn't work the last time, so while I'll take that check and run right to the bank with it, I don't think most Americans will do anything with it other than pay some bills or just fritter it away stocking up on groceries. A check every once in a while is not going to turn around anything, those people who are on unemployment will thank you for the extra money today, but it's not going to give them a job to sustain them tomorrow. No, smart people will put that money in the bank so that they have a little help paying their high heating bills this winter, or maybe get some much needed dental or medical work done, or buy a new interview suit so they can go on endless job interviews in the hopes of finding a job, any job.

What The ?

I'm listening to Bob and Tom on the radio this morning and our local news comes on with the weather report. First off, it is the middle of October right now. Cool air, the leaves turning, pumpkins, sweaters, that morning crispness in the air, right?

Not here. Today it is going to be in the 80's with a 'warming trend' this week, with temps in the mid 90's by the middle of the week. What the heck???

Hello, Mother Nature? Have you just given up on us all with our disregard for the environment and our stubbornness in building houses and cities in areas not intended for houses and cities and just said the heck with all of you, I'm doing whatever I feel like these days? I'll send hurricanes whenever and wherever I want, and wildfires to you who choose to build in the middle of dry brush, and I'll flood the midwest while roasting those of you who live in the southwest, and maybe I'll send some killer blizzards your way again this winter. You're all such idiots anyway and don't care about how you've been wasting all my resources and driving all your gas guzzlers across my fragile surface and throwing trash all over the place and causing me to have hot flashes every day and my polar ice caps are melting, so the heck with all of you, I GIVE UP!!! Just be prepared to face my wrath and never know what to wear each day, because no matter how you dress or what you plan for, I'm going to do the exact opposite of what you expect the weather to be. MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Fake Rain and Fake Grass

Yesterday morning we woke up to cloudy skies-very unusual in these parts! Clouds mean rain maybe? Blessed wet rain that will wash my car and nurture my parched lawn and trees?


Yes, it rained. See, can you see the raindrops on the sidewalk? All five of them?

No, wait, there's six of them there-see those dark spots? Rain!

Today, we went to the Home and Garden show at the fairgrounds. If we had an extra 20 or 30 thousand dollars we could have spent it real easily today, on things like a new sunroom, new blinds, new flooring, an actual manufactured house that we got to tour-think triple wide mobile home with a huge front porch. I was ready to trade this house in for that one right on the spot, it was so nice inside. But the best thing we found was the fake lawn that you can have installed for you at about the same price as carpeting. They had like five different varieties of 'grass' you could choose from, and I dare anyone to be able to tell the difference from the real thing. They even gave us a sample.


Look how green and lush that 'grass' is, especially on the backdrop of our real lawn. The real lawn that is always in need of water, fertilizer, and mowing, and the real lawn that if you don't water, fertilize, and mow it, causes letters to be sent to you from the homeowners association about the neglected state of your lawn.

The cats thought it was real, too, and tried to eat it.

What's NPR and more middle aged stuff

NPR is National Public Radio. Not that I listen to it, but Keith does, for shows like Car Talk and other informative educational radio shows.

Here's another middle aged thing. We both have sleep issues with Keith not sleeping well and me sleeping okay but having a hard time getting to sleep in the first place. We have a queen sized bed but it is just not big enough (because we are such fat asses maybe) and was a cheap bed to begin with so we wake up with all sorts of middle aged aches and pains. We tried one of those memory foam mattress toppers but that made the bed even taller and harder to get in and it slid around on the bed and made the sheets not fit right. Have you ever tried to get rid of one of those huge foam bed toppers? Impossible. You can't even give it away, because who wants this used foam topper that is probably full of dead skin cells and cat dander anyway? No, you have to cut it up into pieces small enough to fit into your trash can, and you have to do it in small stages so you don't fill up your trash can all at once so that you still have room for the real trash until trash day.

So, we actually discussed that when and if we can afford to replace this bed, we will each get our OWN bed. Kind of like Lucy and Ricky with the twin beds with nightstand in between. I'm kind of liking this idea. No other body in the bed with you nudging you when you snore, or kicking you, or hogging all the blankets, or throwing off all the blankets because they're too hot, or tossing and turning because they can't sleep. Hmmm...not a bad idea. Heck, maybe even separate rooms! Well, if we had another room, anyway.

Middle Aged?

What is the new middle age? According to Hollywood standards, you should look young, thin, wrinkle free, and fashionable at all ages, but hey, in real life, we don't all have personal trainers, personal shoppers, personal chefs, personal plastic surgeons, and personal assistants to coordinate all of the aspects of our lives. So, what's middle age these days?

Forty? Fifty? Sixty? Is fifty really the new thirty? Hmm...

Well, here are a few signs of middle age, just in case you are not sure if you qualify.

You buy those blue jeans with the elastic back waist and the tummy control panel in front.
You still go out to dinner, but you like to get there at about 5:30 to avoid the crowds.
If you forget your reading glasses at said dinner, you have to hold the menu out at arms length to be able to read it.
If you did remember your glasses, they are either bifocals or trifocals.
You don't have an ipod and wouldn't know how to use one if you did.
You do not understand why anyone needs to text message.
The only blackberry you have is that jam you bought at the farmer's market.
You just don't get why kids want to wear their pants down around their thighs.
You find yourself muttering 'these kids today!' on a daily basis.
You enjoy listening to NPR
Loud music makes you cringe
At the newstand, you choose Newsweek instead of a fashion magazine.
You turn on the TV at 6:30 PM to catch Brian Williams on the Nightly News. Every night.
Your nightcap is metamucil.
On Saturday nights you can't stay up long enough to watch Saturday Night Live.
You look for the fiber content in all the foods you buy.
You need one of those daily pill organizers so you remember to take them all.

I do all of these things, so yes, your fifties are middle age, no matter what some just turning fifty year old Hollywood star says.

My Eggs are Getting Scrambled

If you read the etsy forums, which I like to do at least once a day, just in case there is some drama or actual advice, you will frequently see sellers advising others to 'not keep all your eggs in one basket'. Meaning, you should find other avenues for selling your craft, don't just rely on etsy as your main venue.

Well, we've retired from the craft show circuit and don't miss it one bit. The packing, driving, setting up, extreme boredom of sitting there all day, too cold or too hot weather, wind that threatens to carry your ez-up into the next state, having to use porta potties all day, then packing everything up and hauling it all back home again. They were fun for a while, but being able to sell from your home while in your pajamas (or even naked, for that matter) beats the heck out of ever doing another craft show.

So, where else to spread those eggs around? And how many baskets should I have them in?

There have been quite a few handmade sites popping up around the internet after the success of etsy, but which ones do you decide to give a try? I tried Lov.li.com last year, sold a few items, but the site just never seemed to go anywhere, and the programming errors never seemed to warrant fixing by the site administrators. When you see a site that has a lot of google ads, you know that the ads are the reason for the site, not the sellers and buyers.

Madeitmyself.com is a California site that has been in the works for a few years but is still in the start-up beta stage. It's free to list so far and if you have a question or problem, the forum administrator answers it as soon as possible. They've been doing some local TV news shows in an effort to get the word out, but the site doesn't have a whole lot of traffic yet. Since it doesn't cost me anything to list, I'm going to give this one at least 6 months to a year to see how it goes.

Same with icraft.com. I signed up this spring, and I get free listings for a year, so a year is what I'll try. The site is very professional and easy to use, and no bugs or errors that I've come across.

Shophandmade.com is another new site. It's a little confusing to use at first and has a weird fee system that is sponsored by some craft magazines. Not a lot of traffic yet, but they are advertising as a direct competitor of etsy, looking for sellers that are tired of being buried by the thousands of items listed on etsy every minute. I'm going to give that one at least 6 months, too.

Handmadefuzion.com is one that was started by an etsy seller as competition for etsy, but I think so far all they have are etsy sellers, no buyers. The appearance of the site is very start up looking with small pictures and the usual listing and selling fees. I have a few things listed there, but your listings show up in odd places, like way back on page 2 or 3 on a newly listed item. I don't see this site as going very far, it's just not that nice looking or special. Part of the draw for sellers is supposed to be the social side of the site with blogs and your page and all that stuff that to me is a waste of time. I didn't bother with that part of the site.

Then there is dawanda.com, a site based in Germany that's really starting to take off in Europe. There are some etsy sellers that are doing pretty well over there. I had started a shop on dawanda last year, but didn't see any action and really didn't have time for it, and ended up closing it. I'm giving it one more try with my geelizzieabroad shop there, and we'll see what happens. The only problem is that you have to list your things in 3 languages, but they don't want you to use an online translator and list in french or german unless you have some knowledge of the language. So, only the english speakers will see my products. It's free to list, though.

And, then there is lollishops.com, another site started by an etsy seller and dedicated to the frou frou girly cute stuff. This site is juried and has a social side to it, but is not open yet, so while I've been accepted, I have yet to see how it's going to work out and the fees are still undecided. I was on the social site but got tired of the constant emails and closed my page on there. I'm just not into the social let's all be friends check out my myspace page and my facebook page kind of stuff.

So, I'm on etsy, madeitmyself, icraft, dawanda, handmadefuzion, and shophandmade. And soon to be on lollishops. I've got baskets of eggs all over the place, and I have to be really careful that they don't all crack and then all I'll have is a big omelette.

Another Pleasant Saturday

We had another fun day today, although tiring because we are so old and out of shape and walked a lot, but...fun anyway. (Keith is taking a nap as I'm typing this).

Today was the semi-annual Peddler's Fair, which I've blogged about before, and which is held at the outdoor Kern County Museum.

The turnout of vendors was a little less than in the spring, and a lot of them had the same old stuff as last time, some had just plain old junk and I wondered how they would even make back the rather expensive booth fee selling just plain old junk. But I found a few magazines and books for pendants, and this sign, which we debated about while we went around the show, and then decided to go back and get. If I had decided not to get this I know I would have gone home and been mad at myself for not buying it. As it was, the other sign that the vendor had for a toss game was gone when we got back. He had a couple of big white and aqua motel vacancy signs that we were really tempted by, too, and now I'm sorry I didn't grab one.

Here is the sign. It's pretty big, about 2x3', and I'm assuming it came from a carnival game booth.

And, I found this chick and bunny salt and pepper set, which I know isn't vintage or anything, but was cute and cheap.

And this little half of a salt and pepper set.


And then, we were hungry and didn't want show food, so we went to the Five and Dime Antique Mall and had some diner food and shopped a little there, too, where I found this little duck on sale for only $2.00!


Not that I need ducks or bunnies or fawns, but it's been a long time since I bought any of this kind of stuff, and the price and the cuteness were right!

The Birds and the Bees and the Kangaroos

Have you ever taken young children to the zoo and inadvertently seen animals doing animal things that raised questions and comments from said young children? Such as the time we were at the zoo and overheard an excited child screaming out 'Look the elephant is PEEING!!!' as the elephant was indeed peeing like a firehose?

Because peeing and pooping are oh so hilarious to young children?

Well, imagine the questions raised by this young child as he was innocently trying to feed the kangaroos at the local petting zoo?

This story comes from the comedian Tim Bedore's website at:
http://www.vaguebuttrue.com

WARNING-NOT SAFE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN TO VIEW UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO HAVE 'THAT TALK' TODAY!!

Petting Zoo Closed

Sacramento, CALIFORNIA- Keller Petting Zoo has been forced to close due to horny kangaroos. Owner Bob Keller pleaded with city officials to wait until he could do the necessary surgeries on his male kangaroos but pressure from parents groups prevailed.

They're just playing leapfrog, honey, yeah, that's it, leapfrog!

Junk Just Junk

I used to enjoy shopping the local thrift and junk stores when we lived in Ventura. People seemed to donate pretty good junk in that town, and you'd always find some treasure in those stores. My best find was a 1940's wedding cake topper for $1.00.

But, here in Bakersfield, you just don't find the good junk, all you find is just plain old junk junk. Maybe it's the difference between living in a coastal more upscale trendy type of town and living in a roughneck oilfield down home country redneck just plain folks town, but the people here never donate anything good to the thrift stores, it's just plain old junk.

I went into the new Goodwill 'superstore' that is behind the huge shopping center nearby and was assaulted by unusable junk. Ick. Nasty shoes that were dirty and scuffed, half used bottles of lotion, unidentifiable plastic kitchen junk, threadbare clothes, really ugly dinnerware that was priced at more than it originally cost at walmart, half burned candles, and on and on. Ick.

It's not just the local Goodwill, it's every thrift store I've been to here in this town. They're all ick.

People, when you donate your junk to the Goodwill, and I'm all for donating your junk, please please make sure it's usable junk, not just the stuff that won't fit into your trash can! Nobody wants your half used shampoo or nasty old socks or underwear! Nobody! Throw that crap away!

Anyone Need a Baby Gift ?

I was browsing on etsy the other day using the pounce feature, which is a fun way to shop. You can choose to browse by sellers who have recently had a sale or new sellers with no sales yet. The sellers who have just had a sale is a little more interesting and also gives you a look at what is actually selling on etsy. (lots of supplies for one thing.)

Anyway, it's fun to look, and while browsing I came across the cutest baby hats ever! Part of what makes them so cute is the adorable baby that is modeling the hats of course!

These hats and a lot more are from http://Artology.etsy.com

The apple of your eye:


And for your little cupcake:



Aren't these the cutest ever! Makes you kind of hope that if you ordered a hat, the baby would come with it!

Now That The Weather is Cooling Off

We finally got a ceiling fan for our bedroom. We were shopping at walmart yesterday morning for the usual laundry soap and cleaning products when Keith got distracted by the ceiling fan aisle. We have looked at fans and talked about fans and thought about fans ever since we moved into this house, but never got one for the bedroom. I told him that if he picked one out, he had to install it same day, no putting it in the garage for a year first like he did with the living room fan.

So, he found one he liked AND GOT IT INSTALLED!! IN ONE DAY!!

With a little help from Mimi.

She checked out the box to make sure all the parts were in there.

Then she got tired and fell asleep on the fan blades.


We have fan!!

I think we both slept a lot better last night-no throwing the covers off because it was too hot and then waking up and searching for the covers because it was too cold, which is what we usually do all night long.

It's also 'whisper quiet' as it claimed on the box!

All We Got Was a Little Spit

The clouds above just spat on us a little today. You know, the kind of drizzly sprinkles that you can barely feel, let alone wash your oh so dirty car for you. Sunny skies now. Sigh...

It's Downright Chilly This Morning

After months of hot hot hot weather and big air conditioning bills, we have a cold front moving through today. We are told that we have a chance of rain and 70 degree temps for the weekend. Three days ago it was 96 degrees. There are clouds in the sky and you can smell that delicious rain smell-my most favorite scent in the world is the first rain on the sidewalks smell. I'm told it's actually the smell of water hitting dirt and oil, but for me there is nothing like it.

For those of you who live where rain is a nuisance and annoyance, here in central California the average rainfall is a mere 6 inches a year, and this past rainy season we were below average by about 3 inches. We live in a freaking desert here, folks. We haven't seen rain in about 130 days, not since May when it rained for about 3 minutes.

This is a fast moving windy cold front, it will be gone in a day or two, with temps back up into the high 80's next week, so I'm going to sit by my window all day smelling that fresh rain is coming air. The air quality, which is usually ranked in the try not to breathe or go outside range is actually going to be good, mainly because the wind is blowing it all away-where it goes I don't know, but at least it's leaving here for a little while.

For those of you who also think this is a small miracle, here is a picture of CLOUDS! RAIN CLOUDS! WITH WATER IN THEM!

The Candidates Debate

Well, I was pleasantly surprised by the debate last night. I actually like Sarah Palin after watching it. She certainly did her homework and was well prepared for the whole thing and came off as a pretty likeable person. But if I never hear the words 'maverick' or 'joe six pack american' again I won't be too upset. I'm still not going to vote for her, but I have a new respect for her after watching last night. She may not be as dumb as we all thought.

Politics and Ickiness

I've been feeling icky this week, nothing specific, just general achy body parts when I get out of bed and kind of an upset stomach. General malaise I think it's called. Either that or I'm just feeling my age more and my bones are all creaky or something. I have no ambition to do much of anything this week, either. I'm waiting on a new rheostat for my soldering iron hoping that being able to control the temp will result in smoother soldering. But, since sales are so slow, I'm having a hard time getting excited about making stuff, new rheostat or not. Sigh...

Tonight is tortilla soup night at Spencers. But it's also the VP candidates debate at 6pm here on the west coast. So, I told Keith that if we go for soup we have to go really early (like early bird special early, you know, 4pm or so) so that we can be home by 6. I am so looking forward to watching this debate, solely for the entertainment value. I can't wait for Sarah Palin to start talking!!! I saw a little of her interview with Katie Couric and was dumbstruck. So was Katie Couric. Katie had that deer trapped in the headlight stupefied wtf look on her face while listening to Sarah. Like there should have been a comic book thought bubble above Katie's head filled with a big WTF???. I'm not that political of a person, but this is one heck of a ride this year!

I also have to go buy some toilet paper tonight. I don't feel like riding the bike over to walmart and then having to ride back with the jumbo pack of toilet paper balanced on the bike, thank you very much. I went to Target last night for cat food and paper towels and thought 'hmm, maybe I should get some toilet paper while I'm here, but no, I think we just bought some, so I'll wait on that'. And then of course, after I get home I realize there is only one roll of toilet paper left that I'm hoping will last until Keith gets home with the car. Hoping.

Isn't It Supposed to Be Fall?

Why is it still 96 degrees outside on October 1st? What the heck?

We were teased with a little bit of fall nip in the morning air a few weeks ago and had two days where I actually turned off the air conditioner and opened up the windows to let the foul polluted Bakersfield breezes in. But then the heat returned and the temps were back up in the high 90's again. Fooled ya!

We are promised some relief later this week with the temps cooling down and then all of a sudden getting quite chilly for this area, down into the 70's by Sunday. I can't wait. We are both totally sick of hot weather, especially poor Keith who has to work outside all day. Soon we'll be breaking out the long underwear and jackets and then we'll start complaining about how cold we are. I'm really looking forward to it!