i didn't have the heart to tell you Shad that it's 97* in the shade here! I'll send some heat your way!!! I t was great to talk to you and the alarm was another false alarm. i have been sitting here with Jen and we have been talking of tuscany!

Holly~ I was sweating just reading your post!

Happy Sunday! Last night I heard from the respiratory company. She was that determined to get me! I gave her my cel # so when the computer is on {24/7} she can still reach me. Weds or Thurs they will bring the sleep testing machine and show me how to tape at least 4 hours. Hope I can sleep with junk hanging off my head! lol
Going to clear out the bedroom and clean. Get an early start because it's supposed to be just as hot today! YIKES!
Have a peace filled day and enjoy.

Quiet and drizzly here so far. A very lazy weekend for all of us. DS is the only one who doesn't like it. Still getting up to 30C in the aft tho. sigh!

I hope you dont start talking about fire men in your sleep Mel!!

Got you beat with the heat Mel - heat index of 105 degrees plus today. I got up early, went in the yard to pull out my beat up and drowned tomato plants. Not good drainage where we planted them and they never recovered from the spring rains. Only 1 survived out of 6 of them. I'll know better next year.

Got up early yesterday too (6 am even). Went to breakfast and then we went to the botanic gardens out here. What a huge dissapointment. We had incredible gardens in Chicago. This one was more like walking through the forest area. A small sad rose garden in need of work but that was about it for flowers. We did see a huge hawk in the tree but DH forgot to pop the memory card in his camera. No memory card, no pics.

Getting the laundry done, picking up around the house and doing some sweaty yard work. Then I'm in the pool when the sun is overhead. After that it's meal planning and some grocery shopping.

Just poked my head in and figured I'd say hi. Will be back later to chat with y'all. Enjoy your Sunday.

Oh and Shad it sounds as if Sunday (the cat) doesn't much enjoy looking her "Sunday best" - sorry, I couldn't resist. I hope she realizes JUST how lucky she is!

Holly, you've changed your Avatar. How pretty!!!!

Kirsti, or anyone else for that matter - could someone please PM me with Bump's new address? Thank you kindly...

I'm off for a swim while the sun's still out.

hello to all,
Looks like we might get a shower today, although I'm not holding my breath. Radar shows spotty showers. It's hot.

I got a lot done this week end. All of my chores were finished except cleaning my bed room. I even got the out side chores done.

Mel - Sleep apnea. I hope you don't have this.

Happy--The botanical garden in Eureka Springs was pretty the last time I was there.

Hello to Shad and Holly. Shad need to send us some cooler weather.

I'm at work more later.

Happy~They are hollyhocks!!
Hi Ceejay!

I guess this is not the time to wish Mel sweet dreams. No dreams might be better. Hope the respiratory lady doesn't expire with the erotica or otherwise of Mels dreams.

Poor Happy - or rather poor Happy's tomatoes. Might I suggest that you spend the rest of the summer digging in fertiliser pellets and composty stuff to loosen, enrich and aerate the soil and then when it starts to cool down, bung in another tomato plant. It may be that although you have plenty of water - or so it seems - the heat may be too much. I know our tomatoes are not happy when the temps go over 30C (90F) and don't do so well - that is what the bugs will let you have. You may also find that it would be a good idea to plant a couple of potato or sweet potato plants to break up the clay pan a bit. They certainly worked wonders for my garden and you get the added benefit of some vege at the end of it. Sweet potato will run rampant across the bed putting down roots and growing tubers so you do have to watch that one. Potato will grow in clumps, you may need more than one.

Holly - 30C and raining - yuk. The humidity must be a bit much then. The Hollyhock avatar is very pretty. Love the colours in there.

Ceejay, hang in there, cooler weather is coming. Then we will all be able to whinge about the cold or heat as the season permits. September, October are nice months here. By November we are into storm season - except that hasn't hit for a couple of years and we are tinder dry and December - Jan are our worst months for heat and humidity - although Feb can be pretty awful at times as well.

Mel don't just talk about it, go to the website and have a look at it. Check out Pitigliano and San Gimignano and Siena and Florence. In fact I'll start you off with a website: http://www.initaly.com/regions/tuscany/tuscany.htm But don't just have a look at Tuscany, try Liguria, Umbria, Veneto, Lombardy etc etc.

Right it is back to work Monday and holy h*ll I have some work to do. They of course now need it yesterday and why haven't I done it. Well never say I am not up to the challenge. I'll work backwards, that way they will get it when they need it. Wish I was rich enough to tell them where to put it!!!

Mel, I seemed to have missed the part about the sleep testing machine. I was pre-tested for sleep apnea. Had to sleep all night with a gizmo on my finger - like the thing-ees they put on the tip of your figure in the hospital to measure blood pressure and the likes. This thing measured my oxygen intakes throughout the night. It wasn't that bad, I taped it to my finger as they suggested and since I sleep on my side, I just propped a bunch of pillows around me so I'd stay in one position. Was a little concerned about getting up for a middle of the night loo trip but I was able to sleep through it. Or are they talking about the C-pap? machine - the one that blows oxygen into your lungs? Sounds like that's it if they are talking about strapping something to your head. Hope it works out for you

Good on yah Ceejay getting all your chores done. Wish I could have said the same myself. Hope you got some rain, things bloom up out of nowhere but seem to always pass us by.

Hope you had a nice lazy weekend in the rain Holly.

Thank you for the tips on the garden Shad. From one tomatoe lover to another, I'm sure you can understand my dissapointment. I never gave thought to it being too hot for the plants. Temps are above the 90s most of the summer. I thought it could never get too hot for tomatoes. Knock on wood, plants have been pest free. In the fall, we will till the soil, add some peat moss to break it up and DH suggested some fertilizer (phewww manure) too. I like sweet potatoes but not enough to sustain a whole run away plant. Will have to look into the potato idea tho I shouldn't be eating those either. I thought potatoes liked sandy soil? Mine is clay. Hope you manage to pull a miracle out of your hat with the new request. I got too much done as planned last week which means total chaos and disruption are lurking around the corner.

Big yawns here, means it's time for some sleepy. Now that I got used to going to bed earlier, my body is looking for it. Not a bad thing, perhaps some day I can turn into one of you early to bed, early to rise folks.

Have a good night to those of us in the moon's shadow and a pleasant day to those in the sunshine, cool as it may be for now. And as always, hellos to the rest of the crew.

I LOST MY POST SO I WON'T DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.
HELLO TO ALL AND SEE YOU ALL TOMORROW. i SHOULD HAVE SAVED IT BUT WAS IN A RUSH TO GO TO THE MALL. ADIOS!!!

Happy--thought about you last night. Did you get any of the rain. We sure had a big thunder storm.

Mel--have you completed the sleep apnea test.

Holly--I like the new avatar.

Shad--Hello

Making myself go to the gym tonight. I think mainly this is the area of excising that I'm lacking. Bought myself a new pedometer. The old one died but it served its time well. This one is easier to program and I've matched the stride correctly this time also. Still need to set the clock on it.

My time today has been spent on a new method for balancing the books. The big boss has been wanting me to have a system ready if something were to happen to me, such as last fall with the foot operation. Things were a mess when I got back. Since the chemical drums are refilled periodically, the only way that I could come up with a simple method is to balance each refill. It's worked both times I've done it this way.

There goes the fire truck, guess I'd better make sure of the water situation.

Have a good day. I need to do to my 20 minute walk.

hi chicks ,i am so tired so ill apologise in advance for any mistakes i might make we ewre up really early today and i didnt get my obligatory afternoon nap so hence im now trying everything to stay awake till a descent hour or ill be up very early tomorrow and start the cycle all over again
the bathroom is now finished hubbys bil came and took andy for the border tiles and the wood to box in those pipes then dropped him off and came back when hed done boxing and tiled the wall it looks brill ,i know i moaned about the getting there but hubby was right for once it does look better boxed in
well the kids go back to school on wednesday and for once im organised {mostly }i just need pencils unfortunatly conners hearing aids have not managed to appear yet so ill have to phone the school and keep them up to speed.
tomorrow hubby is gonna deal with all the niggly wee things that need done ie.carpet strips flooring strips ,the hall lights and the loo roll holder and mirror and soap dish so more rooms been snagged and declared finished {till i change my mind again } i have the anti natal tomorrow at the midwives so ill come on tomorrow nigth and give you all an update !!!
right ladies im gonna love you all and leave you rest well play hard and work as little as possible
kirsty+wriggly bump
p.s happy is it my addie you want???

Yes Linus, your home address. Santa is coming early

The website is thwarting me and will not allow me to go to the advanced section with all the lovely play buttons :P I have developed an addiction to coffee since we moved here. It may have started with the large Tim Horton's coffee while driving up the road. I have like four cups a day and I didn't used to be a coffee drinker

I have been eating lots of tomato sandwiches with low fat mayonnaise and hot chili sauce :slurp: I blame Happy for that recent obsession Oh and Shad as well The neighbour across the street has been sharing her tomatoes with us, I bought some at the orchard the other day along with some crispy, tart summer apples :grin: Shame that those chocolate oreos go into the mix, I blame the kids for that gorging of 7 oreos with my coffee. They aren't even the yummy white goo filled ones I live to fight another day. Gentle hug to Mel. I liked your avatar so much Holly I went and retrieved mine from the journals, the fat cat is just tres moi Linus, congrats on getting the tiling finished and wow, your kids are starting school early aren't they? We don't begin here till the first week in September.

It only seems like yesterday when I was casting around for a new home for us all. Here we are again on page 21. Soon I will have to begin to check out the real estate windows for the next home.

On Saturday the world heard (those that wanted to listen anyway) of the death of a man by the name of David Lange, former Prime Minister of New Zealand. Mr Lange was the man responsible for declaring New Zealand a nuclear free zone and standing up to the might of the US Defence Force in the steadfast refusal to allow ships into NZ which were carrying nuclear arms. The US Navy refused to comfirm or deny the presence or absence of such weaponry on board and NZ then pulled out of the ANZUS treaty and became persona non gratis to the US and Australian governments. Ha Ha, we are still alive and well and contributing to the rest of the world. He also was at the head of the good ship NZ when the Rainbow Warrior was sunk by the French in Auckland Harbour - an act of terrorism against a small minority IMHO. He was responsible for the blow out that lil ole NZ had with the French over the jailing of the perpetrators. He certainly did not back down when faced with domination by a larger aggressor.
David Lange was a brilliant orator - I don't know if you ever heard or saw the debate at the Oxford University Union in England where he argued against the subject "nuclear weapons are morally indefensible" against the US Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell. Why am I going on about David Lange. Well as a Prime Minister you had to admire him. He did what he said he was going to do, something sadly lacking in our politicians today. He rode a bit roughshod over people and was exceedingly blunt. Some of his quotes are admirable: These are the ones that I remember best:
To retiring US ambassador H Monroe Browne who owned a racehorse called Lacka Reason. In his farewell comments to the Ambassador Lange said:
You are the only ambassador in the world to race a horse named after your country's foreign policy.
Comment on some of his political colleagues:
If you took the glasses off some of them, they would be rendered dumb.
He had a love/ hate relationship with journalists:
on seeing a machine labelled media steriliser during a hospital visit, he said - Have that sent to my office immediately.
And to a journalist who was trying for some 'in depth' info on a so-called racial movement in a small town called Ruatoria and apparently Mr Lange had changed the subject. The journalist said " Prime Minister can I go back to Ruatoria for a moment". The Prime Minister said "Certainly, goodbye.
This may seem like a bit of a political speech and no doubt I am breaching policy not to talk politics, but I admired the man. He has been in failing health for quite some time, diabetes, grangrene, blood disorder etc etc. So now he is at peace. Goodbye Mr Lange.

I'm cold and I don't feel well. Yesterday I had a vienna coffee from downstairs. The cream sat heavily in the gut for the rest of the day and I got a large headache and just wanted to sleep. Went home and got some dinner, that didn't fix it. Sat in front of the telly to watch the travel show - they were showing interesting journeys such as the Fairytale highway in Germany and the Fall Drive in northern US States and Canada's train ride through the Rockies. There was also a segment on walking the clifftops in Italy which I wanted to see. Guess which bits I slept through? Got up, went to bed, slept through until 4.30 this morning and now have a runny nose and a cough. Yuk, yuk, yuk.

Happy - I've had plenty of disappointments with tomatoes. I still don't think I have found the correct variety for the climate yet, but I am getting there. Some of the tomatoes I have had off the bushes have been a bit tasteless but they have grown well. Maybe more liquid seaweed or fish stuff.
My soil is clay too - at least some very deficient sandy stuff on top of a clay pan. I used to try breaking up the clay pan but all I achieved doing that was mud in the wet and dust in the dry. So I built up the garden beds and imported soil from the nursery and added compost and dynamic lifter pellets. It is now getting much better and deeper than it was and the worms have returned, however I think I may have too much of one mineral or trace element as the leafy bits grow like mad and race off to seed too quickly. Still whatever I am doing seems okay as I am getting crops to eat all the time and the roses seem to like it.

Ceejay, good on you for going to the gym. I've been a bit slack this week. It's so hard when it is cold and dark in the morning to get up and get moving. I will go tonight and tomorrow (public holiday tomorrow) so that will get me moving again.

Linus - sorry to hear that you are worn out. Try to get some rest before this baby arrives - mind you, you have been so active during the pregnancy it is no wonder the baby is wriggly and squirming. It will probably be another hyper baby when it is born as well.

Mel - sorry you lost your post. It happens from time to time. Sweet dreams buddy.

Better go do some work. I get paid to actually do something other than talk to you all.