Day 192/365

About a year ago, when we were housing my son and his dog, we found the dog, one day, standing on our coffee table.  I have no idea why she would get up there, but she always did.  Animals are so strange, but so endearing.  She's a beautiful dog, and we loved having her stay with us, as well as my son, of course!!  : )

Day 191/365

My B/F found these blow up things and liked them so much he bought them and put them up in our front yard, along with some Christmas lights.  They're pretty cool.  There's a little motor in each of them, and they blow themselves up.  (Saves us from huffing and puffing and passing out!)  They're on a timer, so they blow up at a certain time, then the timer goes off, and they deflate at a certain time.  Pretty clever!

Day 190/365

This is a chair that is outside in my yard.  As you can see, it's covered in show.  I thought this was a kind of cool (ha ha) picture, so snapped it. 

Day 189/365

The manicure....a woman's best friend.  Even a grandbaby's best friend.  A first for this grandbaby.  Her birthday present.  We made a day of it, with lunch, then the mani.  I don't know about her, but I had a good time.

Day 188/365

My grandbaby taught me how to draw a rose.  Very simple.  She's brilliant!

Day 187/365

Takin' a break.  BRB

Day 186/365

Well, no more worries about the plants growing in my garden.  This heavy, wet showfall last night (and most of today) has no doubt taken care of that.  Feels like we're a bit more "on track" with the weather now.  Doesn't mean I like it.  Because I don't.

Day 185/365

With this crazy warm weather we've been having the past few weeks, my poor garden plants don't know if they're growing or going!  Some of my plants are still blooming, and these plants in the garden are getting new growth.  Poor things.  It's been a crazy month.

Day 184/365

Birthday fun continues.  Wall climbing.  This is just after the famous, fabulous chalk bag hand-off.  It went without a hitch, and no animals were injured in the process.  Yay!  After the wall, the party.  Retro 80s style.  Girls Rock!

Day 183/365

This is a memorial I saw set up on the side of the road.  I think it speaks for itself - Maximum 60.  One driver learned the hard way.  Speed limits are set for a reason.  Maximum 60

Day 182/365

Saw this fence in a yard, and it's what I want in my front yard.  I just love it.  I'd have flowers growing on both sides of it, so I could see all of them from my house.  Wonder if you can buy it pre-made.  Hope so.

Day 181/365

This is a Mini Mrs. Albee.  I got it from Avon for making President's Club.  It's kind of cute, but I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.  I'm not a real knick-knack type of person, and if I do have knick-knacks out, they have to mean something sentimental to me.  This doesn't.  Actually, I still have the bigger statue of Mrs. Albee, which is sitting in it's box in the basement.  Alas, that's where Mini Mrs. Albee will end up, too. 

Day 180/365

This is a new kind of hamburger bun.  Kinda strange.  Very flat, not puffy like a regular bun.  Not sure what I think of it, really.  It tastes okay, and certainly is easier to get into ones mouth.  It's just strange.  I have a hard time with strange. 

Day 179/365

We celebrated a certain family member's milestone birthday yesterday.  I think everyone had enough to eat and a good time.  I know I did.  Looking forward to the rest of the celebration next weekend, and possibly the weekend after that.  Love extended birthdays!!

Day 178/365

November is Poppy month.  When we remember the fallen soldiers who helped keep us free.  They gave our lives so we could live the life we do.  They're still giving their lives in Afghanistan.  Remember them.  Honor them.  Be proud of them.

Day 177/365

This is my neighbor's yard tonight (Hallowe'en for Christians, Samhain for pagans).  They really did it up.  They love Hallowe'en.  There were strobe lights, howls, ghost noises, and even the home owners were dressed up.  They're so much fun, these people.  I think next year we'll have to give them a run for their money.  Sadly, we only got 25 kids who came to the door for Hallowe'en.  Is it a dying tradition, do you think?  I hope not!

Day 176/365

This is Toby, my Toba Hawthorn tree.  Looking a little bare these days.  To be expected, since we're heading into winter.  If you look very closely, right where the roof of the white SUV is in the background, you can see a woodpecker holding on to Toby's skinny little trunk.  Surprisingly, this little woodpecker wasn't pecking Toby, it was pecking the wooden stake that is helping hold Toby straight!  I think the woodpecker may need glasses!!

Day 175/365

Sea food linguine.  Made it from scratch.  It tasted okay, but was dry.  It called for muscles or clams or something or both, but I can't eat that stuff, it makes me gag.  So I put lots of shrimp in.  I like trying different things, though, and always learn something from making them.  Next time, I would add some cream or something to make it not so dry.  There was no cream called for in the recipe, which I thought was strange.  I thought it should have had some cream in it.  Still, it was good and filling, and I'd definitely try it again.

Day 174/365

Grandbaby, this one's for you.  No photo, but I'm blogging.  Just to let you know I'm still here, alive and kicking.  It's hard to define a picture for every day, but I'll continue to try.  Look for one tomorrow.  Promise.

Day 173/365

This is a baby bunny.  I was going to get into Luke when I saw this little guy.  I tried to get him to go into our yard so I could feed him and make sure he was safe, but he just kept going under Luke and staying there.  I didn't want to start Luke, because it would scare the poor little thing.  Finally, he hopped away down the alley.  Sure hope he's safe.

Day 172/365

This is an absolutely gorgeous house in Mount Royal.  I'm in love with it.  Can't imagine how much it would cost, but I'd love to be able to afford something like that.  Sigh.......

Day 171/365

Finally, Stephen King is back with this book.  It's a winner.  Loved it.

Day 170/365

Found these beauties in our grass.  They're like little gnome houses or something.  I think they're cute.  Unfortunately, they got mowed down shortly after this picture was taken.  Hope the little gnomes got out okay......

Day 169/365

I found this lethargic little guy on my back porch.  He wasn't interested in moving anywhere.  Don't know what happened to him.  He was gone about an hour later.  Hope he was able to fly away to somewhere safe.

Day 168/365

A very sweet co-worker went home to Korea, and brought this shower scrub mitt back for me.  As is usually the case, the translation from a foreign language to English left much to be desired.  On the back of this package, this is what was written:

Characteristics

* Quickly remove dirt, and the promotion of skin metabolism, maintain healthy skin.

* To promote good blood circulation and restore skin’s youthful vigor.

* Viscose containing 100% natural fiber made from plants, will enable the skin very comfortable.

Proper Use

* Will be immersed in bath water after the bath towel sets in the hands of.

* This product when used for a variety of shower liquid soap and so on Cleaning products.

* After the use of dry preservation.

Still, it was very sweet of her to think of me and bring this all the way back from Korea.

Day 167/365

My homemade brocolli soup.  Very tasty.  Easy to make, too.  I highly recommend it.

Day 166/365

One of my poppies this summer.  I call her Audrey III.  Feed me, Seymour!!!!  Hahahahahaaaa!  Great movie.

Day 165/365

Got this little rock at a dollar store.  I think it's terribly sweet.  We also got a matching bird feeder, which the birds seem to love.  We'll be putting both in the shed for winter, so we can bring them out again in the spring.  I like little things like this that kind of dress up the yard.

Day 164/365

This beauty is Twizzler.  He's our new kitten.  He's 3 1/2 months old.  When Benny died in June, I was heart broken beyond belief, and swore I'd never get another cat.  And, if it hadn't been for our remaining cat, Bean, I wouldn't have.  But I think Bean's been lonely since Benny died, so I figured we'd get Twizzler for him.  So far, Bean has done nothing but hiss at poor T, but I don't think that'll last long.  His nose is just out of joint about another cat, but he'll be fine in a day or two.  T just cowers from Bean, keeps his distance, and has otherwise become quite settled in his new home.  We got him through ARF (Animal Rescue Foundation), of which I'm a volunteer.  If you want a cat or a dog, you can contact them.  We did, and look at our beautiful kitten.

Day 163/365

Went to Cross Iron Mills mall just north of the city.  It's the newest mall, around Balzac.  Really quite nice.  I love the sports store there.  I always forget the name - Pro Bass??  It's fascinating.  If you go - take your camera.  The mall has a lot of stores in it.  They've done a nice job.  Too bad it's so far away from where I live.  Takes too long to get there.  Sigh.

Day 162/365

This is a pic of my calla lily.  I adore calla lilies.  Finally bought one for myself this year.  It's pink.  Of course!  I live in a pink fluffy world!  This hasn't been turned into a black and white.  I took it without a flash, and with the cloudy sky as the background.  This is the result.  The cool thing about these lilies is that, after you water them, they ooze a drop of water from the tip of their flower.  All the flowers do it.  It can be so beautiful. 

Day 161/365

Went to a training sessison at work for MS Office 2010.  It was a 1 day course, and it was packed, trying to cram about 6 programs into our heads - Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Publisher, Word, probably one more.  It was so much information, I'm sure I forgot most of it as soon as I walked out the door.  But it was interesting, and I was glad I was able to take it.  We get the programs at work loaded onto our computers next week.  Can't wait!

Day 160/365

If you look closely at the center of this photo, you can see where the leaves are in a small pile.  Yesterday, one of my grandbabies raked up the leaves in our back yard for us.  Today....well....you can see that the pile is hardly noticeable because of all the new leaves that have fallen from the tree in the yard next door.  We did appreciate grandbaby's efforts, though.  I think it's strange that so many leaves have fallen, but they're still green!  This has been a very strange year for weather.

Day 159/365

This is what my truck looks like when he doesn't have a license plate on him.  Why doesn't he have a license plate on him? Because some RAT BASTARD (sorry Grandbaby) stole it!!!!  I drove Luke to work today, went for gas at lunch time, and saw that his plate was missing!  The plate I've had ever since I bought Luke in 1997!  I was SO ticked off!!  I drove him back to work, then had a friend take me to AMA after work, where I bought a new license plate.  Then I took a cab back to work, taped the new plate in Luke's back window, and drove home.  Then I went to my B/F's parents house, and his dad bolted my new plate on.  Thank you, BS.  It's been a very expensive and tiring day.  Hope this never happens again.  You can bet I'll be checking on my plate from now on before I drive anywhere.  I don't know when it went missing, so I could have been driving for at least a week without it.  I hope whoever took it doesn't use it in some criminal activity.  Rotten bastards (sorry Grandbaby).

Day 158/365

Brought in my poor begonias.  They've been through heck (children read this blog) this "summer" - and I use that word very loosely.  Between all the rain and hail these poor things have seen, it's a wonder there's anything left of them.  Now there's a risk of frost at night.  No, I think they've had enough, and can now be pampered in the house.  And I googled them, and they're not poisonous to cats.  Although Bean has been very interested in them, and even went so far as to eat some of the flower.  He threw it up pretty quick, though.  Let's hope that teaches him a lesson!!

Day 157/365

Went to Bowness Health Foods this summer and picked up some bags of herbs.  The prices are good, and they have a great variety of them.  It's hard to find stores like this, and I really appreciate this one.

Day 156/365

Oh happy day, it was mammogram day for me.  Such joy in Mudville.  Actually, it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.  I don't mind them, and I only have to go every 2 years.  This is the squishing beast.  Looks worse than it is.  The good news is that everything is A-Ok, and I'm good for 2 more years.  :-)

Day 155/365

Even in this terrible, cold, wet weather, there are still small beauties to be found.  For example, this blade of grass in my graveled driveway.  Little drops of water, just sitting on the leaf.  I thought it was incredibly beautiful.  I don't think my small point and shoot camera did it justice.  I think my SLR would have been better at capturing the beauty of this little wonder.  But, not wanting to lose the image altogether, I snapped it, so I could share with whoever wants to look at it.  So, enjoy!

Day 154/365

A friend of mine is clearing out her bookshelves because she's moving to another city.  Fortunately for me, I was in the right place at the right time, and she unloaded a bunch of her books on me.  Oh, happy, happy me!  I'll be kept very happy and content for the next while, as I make my way through all these beautiful books. 

Day 153/365

Got this new vase from Avon for making the President's Club.  I can always use a new vase.  And it's not too bad looking, either.  A nice little perk from Avon.  Thank you, Avon!

Day 152/365

Can you believe that my flowers are still blooming??  With all the lousey weather we've had this summer, I've pretty much given up on gardening.  My poor flowers have been drowned, and torn apart by hail, and yet this little day lily has just bloomed.  Nature really is amazing.  My Morden roses that I bought this summer are blooming again, too.  I'm just so surprised at the resilience of plants.  It makes me so happy to see these beautiful bright colors in my garden on gloomy days.

Day 151/365

My son recently had a birthday.  My baby son.  We celebrated with this ice cream cake from DQ.  Who doesn't like DQ ice cream cake?!  When he blew out all the candles, I was afraid the smoke detector was going to go off!!  Fortunately, though, it didn't.  Whew!!  I think we'll have to cut down on the candles from now on.  It was a bit much.  But fun, none the less.  Happy birthday, baby son!!

Day 150/365

What a sweet car!  This is a real beauty.  Someone parked it across the street from our house, and I just had to take a picture of it.  This was back in the days when a car was actually a CAR!  Not the little bubbles we drive now.  I spit on the bubbles we drive now - ptoo, ptoo!!  I do miss the days of these old gas guzzlers.  This was a sweet ride.  We used to have one, and you could get half the neighborhood into it.  Too bad those days are gone.  *sigh*

Day 149/365

My newest ring from Avon - where else?  Isn't he adorable?  A little alligator/crocodile.  I never could tell the difference.  One's snout is rounded, one's snout is long and pointed.  But I could never remember which was which.  But aside from that, I think this little guy is just SO cute!  I like him better than my turtle ring, and I really like the turtle ring.  This crocogator even has little sharp teeth in his mouth.  When the sun hits him, there are sparkles everywhere!!  And, as we all know, I LOVE sparkles!!  :)

Day 148/365

Flowers from my B/F.  He gave me a dozen the weekend before this past one, then added another dozen this past weekend.  I stuffed them all into one vase, and got a nice, full bunch.  They're beautiful.  This is how roses should be given to a woman.

Day 147/365

The moon 2 nights ago.  It was just coming over the roof tops, and was catching the glow of the B.C. fires.  It was just too beautiful not to get a photo of. 

Day 146/365

Major hail storm this afternoon.  Came down in buckets.  It got so dark, the street lights came on!  If you look closely in this picture, especially where the street light pole is, you can see the hail as it bounces back up.  I was glad to be able to capture those bounces on camera.  After the storm, it looked like it had snowed.  There were drifts of hail against the fences.  Fortunately, my b/f was on top of things, and put my poor, previously battered begonias in the shed, so they survived this monster.  Happy, happy.  All in all, it was a hell of a storm, with thunder, lightening, black clouds, rain and hail.  Everything a storm should be.  Next time, I'd like to do it without the hail, though.  :-)

Day 145/365

This picture was taken by one of my grandbabies.  It shows how smokey it is here from the forest fires in B.C.  It's been like this for 3 days now.  I heard that it's worse in Edmonton.  Another good reason not to live there.  Don't know when this smoke will end.  Makes it hard to breathe.  There's an advisory out for people with lung issues.  They're urging people to stay inside as much as possible and keep the windows closed.  Lucky for us, we have an air filter in the house, which helps keep the inside air a bit cleaner.

Day 144/365

The fires in B.C. have sent their smoke to us in Alberta.  It's hard to breathe, and there's a constant haze in the sky, as well as the stink of the smoke.  It's hard on the lungs.  This is a picture taken of the moon last night (August 19), which is glowing red from the fires.  It's amazing how something several hundred miles away can affect us so much.  I'd hate to be in B.C. right now.  It must be horrific.  This shot was taken with a 300 mm lens. 

Day 143/365

These are the condos outside my gym in Braeside.  A few weeks ago, when we had that monsoon blow through here, this parking lot was a couple of feet under water.  My gym flooded, and the condos you see in this picture also flooded.  You can see the waterline on the garage doors.  The parking lot is still a mess.  Last time I was there, though, some sort of paving crew was in the parking lot.  Maybe they're taking the huge dip out of the parking lot, so the water doesn't pool??  Have no idea.  Ironically, when I was looking to buy a place, I actually looked at buying one of these condos.  As it turned out, I didn't like the layout of the living room, so didn't buy one.  Good thing!

Day 142/365

Another pic from last weekend when we went looking for Lake MacGregor.  This is the sign at the town limits of Blackie, Alberta.  It's a beautiful sign, lots of detail.  I am impressed with the amount of work that went into making it.  We were taking back roads, and found our way to Blackie.  We drove through town twice, and only saw 4 children out playing the second time we drove through, but no one else.  Kind of like a Stephen King book.  It was such a small town, but very peaceful.  It had a restaurant, a food store, and that was about it.  The library and fire hall were in the same building and the sign said "Blackie Library & Fire Hall".  It amused me.

Day 141/365

We went to Vulcan last weekend.  I've passed by it many, many times, but have never stopped to look at the USS Starship Enterprise.  I'm a Trekkie, an original from the '60s, so it was great to finally stop and check it out.  It was pretty cool!