Month: July 2016

Waiting…

For my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to join us as the next inhabitants of our family B&B.

It’s rough when you are leaving the city on a Saturday, as traffic is not your friend. It’s all good though: we haven’t had Joanna and Earl down here in over a year due to illnesses.We really are looking forward to having them down.

We usually cap off our Saturday night playing cards , having some drinks and snacks, and laughing hysterically!It’s a given that it’s rough start to Sunday morning.

#GOODTIMES

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Sorry, I can’t hear you…

So I bought a new Apple iPhone SE from Verizon, my carrier.

Usually I switch the phones off, and Jim now has my iPhone 6.What a hoot. I consider my self experienced with switching the phones over enough by now, so when issues came up, I bypassed Verizon and went straight to Apple.

Having worked customer service,and knowing my problem wasn’t going to be easily solved, I poured a glass of wine and pulled up a chair.Diana, a senior representative out of Oregon for Apple took her time and between the two of us, we solved our issues.

Thank God I bypassed Verizon: I’d probably still be on the phone. If you have any issues with me complaining about this, I used to work for Bell Telephone a long time ago, so I know the staffing issues.

Apple rocks!

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New Crop

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I went out this morning and in our jungle, I saw our first actual red Jersey tomato of the season. It’s about time!

We have harvested zucchini and cucumbers and now we have the best for last.I have missed my tomatoes on my grilled cheese, or even just a tomato sandwich on Italian bread with a little mayo.

All of the heat? Worth it to get these tomatoes ready!

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B&B

My cousin Rosemarie is coming today to spend a few days with us.

She lost her Mom a few years after my Mom passed,and is by herself in the city. As the Democratic National Convention is in town, it is hot out, and the city is crowded, I decided that getting out of Dodge was the thing for her to do.

We’ll be doing some swimming and sucking up air-conditioning and seeing some sites, as I think it’s been a while since she has been down this part of the state.
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If you are in a heat band in any city or town, please stay cool and hydrated and PLEASE KEEP YOUR FUR KIDS COOL TOO!

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Weather or Not

The radio in the car was playing the news channel in Philadelphia, roughly 94 miles from where we are at. As we went to Mass, they broadcast about storm cells going through the Philadelphia area, and were heading for the shore.

“Great- we’ll get rain and it’ll cool off a little.”


Storm clouds gathered over the bay.


There was lightning and thunder, but alas- no rain….

Just more heat!

Lucky Seven


Oh, what a life!

My little buddy, Kasia, is the big 7 today. As human parents say,”Where has the time gone.”

Kasia,Zosia and I went down to our neighbors in this heat, so the birthday girl could have her celebratory bone.


Let me tell you she wasn’t giving it up! Poor Zush was trolling around but Kasia had her mind set on one thing- her bone!

I want to thank both of my fellow dog moms, ironically both named Kathy/Kathi for taking my hand through the phone eight years ago and assuring me Zush would be ok, and a new baby sister would keep her young. That has all been true, and Kasia and Zush appear to love each other, albeit most of the time.The  rest of time, they have Mom as peacemaker.


I am truly blessed with my fur girls-as all dog mom’s say about theirs…

“THEY’RE THE BEST!”

Happy birthday my Kasia- Mom loves you!

Roomba,Anyone?


My husband likes to call our two-week old Roomba our “third dog.”

I don’t think so.

If you look at the picture above,the Roomba is on a small rug under Zush’s new bed.


This is how Kasia usually sleeps or rests.Zush is pretty much the same, but usually on her new bed.Hah! Now I have to sequester them, and I , like them,wait patiently for the Roomba to finish it’s job.

Many people have seen the videos of the cat on Roomba on You Tube. On behalf of Zusher and Kasia, we’ll happily guarantee that you’ll never see them riding on a Roomba.

Walking with Mom

Today, in this heat, I was shocked to see Zush ready to go out for a walk.

She went out, took care of business, turned and looked at me as to say ,”OK mom I’ve done my job let me go back in the house.”

I let her go back into the house .I unleashed her and she went back into the air conditioning .I kept Kasia on a leash and decided the two of us would go for a morning walk .It wasn’t really all that bad yet heat wise and we did almost a mile.

So I guess this is strengthening my bond with Kasia. It’s just my heart hurts not bringing my BFF Zush.


Kasia happily sits for Mom-a new adventure.

Solo Player

If it was age, heat or what,Zush has not been in a good walking mood. I would assume that she is probably hurting, She goes out to take care of business and then turns me around to come back.
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The Kasia says to me,”Don’t be sad, Mom: I will walk with you.”

So After I hang our freshly washed sheets out on the line, Kas and I will be going out to get a little exercise in this heat.Zush, smart girl that she is, will stay on her new bed and in the air.

It’s just a little bittersweet not to take both my girls out.
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Historical Viewing


So history major that I was, of course I am going to watch the National Geographic channel shows on the 80’s and 90’s.

It’s remarkable that I am watching video , albeit again, of the Berlin Wall coming down, roughly 27 years ago. It’s enough to make me reach for my bifocals. Of course, the film of David Hasselhoff singing on New Years’Eve on the Berlin Wall, well, I’ll just skip that.

Time marches on: I am grateful to God I am still here!

Skunks,Part Deux

Zush got a reward for avoiding the skunk her sister tangled with.

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If you remember the skunk-related post, the attack was at midnight and I was the one cleaning Kasia in the bathroom.Well, despite the advice of the American Humane Association, she was somewhat clean, but essence of skunk went with her as she promptly went over to Zusher’s bed. Zush took it like a champ, even though I could read the look on Zusher’s face.

I took advantage of Amazon Prime day and got her a new bed: orthopedic mattress and soft sherpa cover.Both are washable, and my girl seems to love it.For now, I just police it and tell Kasia to go on the old bed.

Kids today!LOL
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Drowsy Day

We were good today.

Up early, walking the fur girls, shopping, and then the storm front came in.


Zush had the right idea: nap time . 

Kasia must have felt the front coming through, because she kept waking the two of us up last night. Sometimes she’s an alarm for Zush, so we get her out to tap a kidney. Sometimes , not often, there’s a lot of traffic out front.Sometimes the weather front is coming through… you can try to figure what’s up with the girl, but you’ll lose sleep over that.

So good-night from now drizzly Townbank. 

Sleep tight!

The Garden

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The above picture shows the fruits of Jim’s labor.

The frustrating thing is that he really was wanting to get some snow peas, but we can’t seem to grow them: the wind seems to snap the fine stems.Outside of that, we have cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes, with a harvest of cucumbers and zucchini so far. We are waiting for “our”Jersey tomatoes to ripen up.

One nice thing about being down here is the ability and the land to grow your own veggies.

Take That, Fit Bit!

When I awoke this morning, I got a treat.

A front moved through, and there was a breeze.

Well,as of 4:08PM, I have 13,800 steps.Despite the loss of the 5,000 steps yesterday,I managed to make it past 10,000.That was a little bit of a struggle, but I did it.

It came as a great surprise when I met up with a neighbor this morning after Mass, and we took Kasia with us for a three mile walk.We really breezed through it, even though I had guilt that I left Zush at home: I didn’t feel right leaving her back but I want her to be ok, so we are taking basic walks so she can take care of business.I am selfish and I want her around for as long as possible. Windows were open, fans were on, and I left her a treat, so she was good.

Now all I have to do is go shopping for new fit bit batteries to keep in the refrigerator….

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Reading the Fine Print


I got up this morning got myself dressed and his usual made sure I had my fit bit zip on.

What I didn’t realize was the battery symbol on the fit bit zip was flashing that it was running out of juice. I had taken the girls for their morning walk did things around the house and proceeded to go down to our local street fair which is called “Whale of a Day”, as in the 1600s our town of Townbank was a whaling community.


The problem was I had walked around 5100 steps then I realized the battery was going dead.What they don’t have in bold print, is that if you change an almost dead battery, YOU LOSE ALL THE STEPS YOU HAVE RECORDED ON YOUR ZIP.

ALL

OF

THEM…for that day that, at least.

So technically I have wrapped up the day with 10,221 steps, when I should have roughly 15,700 steps. I spent time on the phone with Alex from FitBit but, no luck in that.

Walker with FitBit beware!

It’s So Hot…..


….that even after the morning walk, the three of us were panting.82 degrees at 9am is more than we are used to.

Gatorade has become the beverage of choice,with water a close second.The girls and I manage 4 walks a day, although Zush gets short ones-I don’t want to stress her out from the heat.Hell, I don’t want to stress me out from the heat.

Hopefully we are looking for a front to come through, and maybe we’ll get some relief! Sure, there might be a thunderstorm or two, but we’ll get through it!

Yes it is July.

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By the amount of perspiration coming out of me and the fur girls, all I can say is I am thankful we are out of the city.I hate to imagine what the humidity is up in the city,

We get up,I take my medicine and then give Zush her medicine. Then we go out for a slight walk.Again, as I mentioned earlier in the post about Zush and her boyfriend,I let her lead the way.We don’t do too much,and then we come back and I do some chores and the girls veg.

As for me, I went to the pool Tuesday and got some exercising in.Now, with the humidity so high, well, I am able to get my 10,000 steps in and wait for another hazy, hot and humid day to go by and the time to pull my fall sweaters out!
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It’s been a long dog’s night

….or day, as it would happen for the next few days.

I managed to go to the pool for a few hours yesterday, but with the National Weather Service air quality warning even for down here, I am going to keep Zush on shortest walks possible.Kasia might be a little longer, but not much. I love the gals and don’t want them getting sick.

The FitBit zip might have to take a hit, because I need to be ok too. It’ll be water for us all, cool salads or sandwich for Jim and just keeping fur girls cool.

If you have elderly neighbors, look in on them in this heat wave. NEVER leave anyone: human or canine, locked up in a hot car. Try to find someplace cool if you have no air conditioning.


Thanks, from Kasia,Zushie & yours truly.

True Love?

 …or just waking up?

 This is Kale, a mastiff mix who also is the love of Zushie’s life.

Ok, maybe I am exaggerating .He is her best male doggy friend.

Whatever.

Well, normally I lead to walk in the morning and we try to do a mile depending on the humidity and we did pretty good. Not today though -Zush had her own ideas.

Instead of going our normal route such took us down the shady street and over another street which I knew meant boyfriend!

We went and looked for Kale and much to our chagrin he didn’t appear to be out.I said “Oh well we’ll see him another day and then proceeded to travel about 5 feet

Kale was playing hard to get we turned around and heard him calling out for Zush and so the two buddies got a chance to meet up today.


Whatever it takes to make my Zush smile!

Not Quite a 4th


It’s only the 3rd of July, but most of the homes here,as I like to call, Amity, look like this picture of my neighbor’s house;that is, all decked out in red, white and blue.

Here’s hoping you and your families are happy, blessed, and safe this weekend. Please keep in mind, somehow, maybe your neighbor like me, had pups who hate fireworks. Go see your community fireworks or shoot yours away from pup homes. We thank you!

It’s Here…

We actually were treated to a little bit of a breeze today, and what a welcome surprise that was! I actually was able to walk my girls down to the beach.

The girls were looking at the water wondering if they should go in. They really haven’t had a chance to be at the bay since I started working.

Tomorrow will be rough. I will shut all the windows and put the air-conditioner on and put the tv on as loud as possible in order to save my girls from the”F” word-fireworks!

Dueling Movies

Jim and I went out tonight to see the sequel to Independence Day. It was the first 3-D movie that we saw together.

I have to admit 3-D glasses have come a long way.The effects in this movie were pretty awesome and suspect that it’ll gather up some awards come Oscar time.

Now we are back home and I was watching a Ron Howard/ Brian Glazer film rerun of the movie “Rush”, which was about the rivalry between Nicky Lauda and James Hunt: they were both formula one racing drivers in 1976.

Looks like a movie weekend is in store; not that there’s anything wrong with that…lol