Cooler - overcast day

72º with overcast (almost rainy) skies and 79% humidity at 11:20 am Sunday.
Phyllis celebrated her 76th birthday yesterday.

Picked up some vegetables yesterday morning at Donwes Flea market  and then went to Costco in Pharr to get some $1.499 per gallon gas and I got a supply of Pickled Herring.  I also spared hardly any expense in buying her an all-beef hotdog and drink for $1.50 there for her Birthday Lunch.

Lines were controlled in entering Costco and instructions to get no closer than 6 feet to one another were issued.  I thought I was going to pick up our year's rebate on the Costco Card, but found I had to have

printed out an e-mail with a code on it to present to the service desk.  Was unable to get anything worked out on the phone there, so left and will try to find the e-mail gotten in February and print it out.

Work in progress -- cleaning tree leaves off the carport/Texas Room roof.




Audios -- LCM

Hot - and not doing much account COVID-19

This was the temperature yesterday early afternoon:

Now it is 91º at 12:45 pm on Wednesday.

Spent much of last two days trimming down the huge cactus at north corner of house.  Took some 17 trips with the trike to haul off.

Butterfly bush and Bougainvillea's.

Butterfly bush and Bougainvillea's.

Phyllis taking a break from working on her quilt.

A large bouquet of flowers.  I took it by the office and told the girls it was for them--they said nice, but no thank you.

Trimmings from the butterfly bush and the bougainvillea bush

This guy lives here full time - just retired.  Does a lot with flowers.

Just took this shot of myself to prove I am still alive.

Lots more people have left the park.  When rode the bike around the park about 5 times while ago I only saw one person--siting on his deck, in the whole park. I have been riding the bike, about 8 miles a day; only 5 miles so far today.  There was a good wind blowing, which helped with the heat.  Finally quit with the heat about noon, will go out after dark.



Here is an interesting (maybe) thing on use of coffee pot filters:

DID YOU KNOW THIS?

Coffee filters .... Who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing even the large ones.

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome... Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11.. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters..

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. It soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.

16. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.

17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.

18. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.

19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.

20. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies.. Saves on having extra bowls to wash.

21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.

23. Use them to sprout seeds.. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.

24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in phone book..

25. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.

Later, Lynn

Very quiet in Kenwood

67º right now at 10:00 am in Kenwood. 

Strange thing happened here early yesterday morning.  Through the night we got .85" of rain.  First measurable rain since early December.  Things almost instantly greened up!

This is  an aloe vera plant by the back door that has been there aat least 8 years and is now blooming.  One planted at the same time by the Texas Room is also blooming.

Got rambunctious yesterday afternoon and severely trimmed the big cactus tree at the northeast corner of our house.  Will take some time to pick up and haul off the pieces trimmed.  Also trimmed another plant.  Will take photos this afternoon when I am out there working on it.

 Have ridden the recumbent trike  between 8 and 9 miles each day the last several.  Park has a few people left, but most have headed north.


Lots and lots of empty spaces.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Who was the greatest financier in the Bible?    Noah. He was floating his stock while everyone else was in liquidation. What was the greatest female financier in the Bible?   Pharaoh's daughter. She went down to the bank of the Nile and drew out a little prophet. What kind of motor vehicles are in the Bible?   Jehovah drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden in a Fury.  David's Triumph was heard throughout the land.  Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible?   Samson. He brought the house down. What excuse did Adam give to his children as to why he no longer lived in Eden?  Your mother ate us out of house and home. Who is the greatest baby-sitter mentioned in the Bible?   David. He rocked Goliath to a very deep sleep. Which Bible character had no parents?Joshua, son of Nun.

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A husband stepped on one of those penny scales that tell you your fortune and weight and dropped in a coin. "Listen to this," he said to his wife, showing her a small, white card. "It says I'm energetic, bright, resourceful and a great lover." "Yeah," his wife nodded, "and it has your weight wrong, too!"

================

Later, Lynn

Hot

86º at 6:15 pm, was 90º at 2 pm here in La Feria, TX on this Thursday.  Wind now down to 24 mph out the south - was 26 mph at noon. Some rain finally forecast for this Saturday.

Though I didn't see it, must have been an ice storm today!


All is well in the Valley.
L

Windy Wendsday

83º with winds gusting to 26 mph here in La Feria, TX at 2:00 pm Wednesday.

Went to practice for Men of A-Chord barbershop chorus  in McAllen yesterday.

Went to Walmart for groceries in Harlingen and found many shelves empty.

We have set up tables and chairs under the patio cover of our neighbors, Ardel and Marion Finken, for a last pot luck supper tonight.  Going to use common sense about not shaking hands, using plastic gloves to serve the food rather than have everybody pick up the spoons in each dish, and avoiding really close contact.  Don't expect over 20 people, but will see.  Using up the last of the pop from the rec hall; just put it on ice in some insulated carriers.

All for now, Lynn

Trying times

80º with 74% humidity at 12:40 pm on Monday 3-16-20

 Click on photos to enlarge.

Since the public buildings on the property are all closed, due to the Coronavirus, so we had choir practice on our patio Friday. 

Sunday we had church services on our patio and chairs set to the west on the grass.

These photos were all taken from my position in the choir section, against the house.

These are the postings on the doors of the rec hall and the indoor swimming pool.  City officials requested that the building with the laundromat, toilets and showers be opened.  All gatherings now are outdoors at someone's place.

This sign was over the urinal in a unisex restroom in the pool room that our Barbershop Chorus warmed up a couple weeks ago.  Unique sign.

 We have the trailer plugged in so can run the refrigerator and freezer to keep some food in until we head home.  With all the restrictions on gatherings, etc. we will not be traveling, with the trailer, very soon.  Hope things settle down regarding the Carnivorous.

Last Friday I spent 4 or 5 hours helping Carl Pingleton load his car so he could go to near St. Louis.  He returned Saturday night, with some medical problems.  He has dementia and is very troubled.  I finally got him to have a serious conversation with one of his sons there and they decided that Carl should sty down here for 30 days, until the Carnivorous settles down.  One of the park residents who stays here 12 months a year is trying to get him into a health facility.

Sunday afternoon Phyllis & I helped him get some of his stuff back in the house.  He is not stable at this point.

The tomato plants have been "standing still" for at least the last 3 weeks.  Sprayed many times for the white flies that seemed to be bothering them.

I finally took out the four plants in the big tubs this morning.  There are some tomatoes set on the smaller plants, but they have not changed in the three weeks.  Will give them a little more time.





Our daughter was going to fly down here from Columbus, OH to help Phyllis celebrate her birthday a week from this Saturday, but she is now declining to fly and hoping to get flight credit which can be used later.  She had bought the tickets some five weeks ago before this Carnivorous thing.  Son was going to drive down, but that is now cancelled, also.

At least 4 RV units pulled out this weekend, a little earlier than planned, and several more are leaving this week, heading north.  We will wait, not leaving before March 30th, and maybe later.

 GROANER'S CORNER:((   On a bus trip to Canada a group of American Seniors stopped at a cheese farm, a young guide led them through the process of cheese making, explaining that goats milk was used.  She showed the group a lovely hillside where many goats were grazing.  "These", she explained, "are the older goats put out to pasture when they no longer produce."  She then asked, "What do you do in America with your old goats?"  A spry old gentleman answered, "They send us on bus tours."
======================

Three trees & a woodpecker

     Two tall trees, a birch and a beech, are growing in the woods.  A small tree begins to grow between them, and the beech says to the birch, “Is that a son of a beech or a son of a birch?”

     The Birch says he cannot tell, but just then a woodpecker lands on the sapling.

     The birch says, “Woodpecker, you are a tree expert.  Can you tell if that is a son of a beech or a son of a birch?”

     The woodpecker takes a taste of the small tree and replies, “It is neither a son of a beech nor a son of a birch.  It is, however, the best piece of ash I have ever poked my pecker into”

 
Lynn