Monday August 10th 2026

Good morning!

Thanks for the condolences everyone.

I'm still staying at best friends while the air conditioning is out. My flight home was delayed a bit because the toilet wasn't working. Easy fix. Then after landing we sat an hour waiting on a gate. A really bad storm shut the airport down causing the airport to temporarily close. It was opened when we landed but there was a back log. My niece who wanted to leave earlier, was actually in the air when the shutdown occurred and circled Tampa many times before being able to land. They came close to diverting her to Orlando. Florida storms past quickly but sometimes can be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

This makes 100% of my many travel experiences with some kind of snag. Every. Damn. Time.

I came home to check on things and to get an Amazon package that was delivered while I was gone. It's 87 degrees inside. Ugh. I decided to make some oatmeal and a green smoothie since I haven't been eating the best.

Otherwise I'm going to to gym and keeping myself occupied best I can. Life goes on.

Whatever I said on Saturday that I said I was going to do on Sunday. I did not do, because I thought Sunday was Monday, but it wasn't! Imagine that! Did not go see that Matt Damon movie (which I spelled wrong anyway.) and today I went w/ S to take Wolfie to the vet, which was not at Petco like I thought, but up in Orange Park. I'm glad I went because the only trouble S has with walking is if he had to hold the dog and step off the curb on his way back to the car. But even not holding the dog, that one step off the curb could cause him to fall. He has a hard time getting that one step UP on the curb, too, so I do all the dog carrying. Has anyone ever noticed that whatever critter you carry in to the vet's office seems to be much heavier than they are at home? Anyway, I don't make a big deal of it, I hold the dog when we leave, then I just take a step down before he does and say, "Put your hand on my shoulder" and he does and then says 'thanks' and he doesn't fall. (whew.)

I didn't turn the laptop on at all yesterday. Tweety, I'm sorry to read about your mother passing. Seems it was good timing with hospice and all, at least.

I have not flown since 1987, and from everything I've been hearing since then, I hope I don't have to fly anytime in the future.

My sister and her husband are flying out to Michigan on Wednesday to go through my older brother's things and tie up any loose ends from his passing a while back. She has to take her husband with her because of his newly diagnosed Alzheimer's, he has very POOR memory retention and needs a lot of redirection, though he is amenable and agreeable, still, at least. This won't be an easy trip for her, though. She is the emotionally sensitive one in the family, and this whole trip and episode and all that she is responsible for is a big load to carry. I would just throw up my hands, if it was up to me, but I guess that is not an option right now, and why I am not doing anything except listening to her when we talk on the phone. I don't know how her physical problems are holding up, though. It sounds odd to say it this way, but I hope her 'innards' don't cramp up and/or prolapse during the flying and all the walking, etc. As Grampa used to say "CRIPES!"

We are having our usual afternoon thunderstorm. One thing they don't have right here is drought! The niece has been doing a 'jam-up job' of cleaning the lanai and the screen roof over it which had been collecting pine needles and leaves for I don't know HOW LONG! She just put on her bathing suit and climbed the ladder with the garden hose and a rake, and went to work on it. Plus she cleaned off the slate floor of the lanai when she got through. She came into the house at one point with pine needles and leaves stuck all the way up on her legs, past her knees!

Pretty much all I got done yesterday was taking a shower (MUCH NEEDED!) and doing a small laundry and gathering all the trash from the wastebaskets (3) in my room and bathroom. I have cottoned-on to the fact that when the trash is picked up on Friday, IF I don't get MY trash out into the bin by Sunday or Monday at the latest, there will be NO more room in the bin until the pickup on Friday! There are always several full 30 gal. trash bags 'waiting' for the next-next pickup day. I don't know how much more the cost of pickup would be if they had two trash bins, but I mentioned I would be willing to foot the cost. Since then I haven't heard a word about it, so maybe S doesn't want to deal with it, who knows! Probably the cost of an extra bin would be too prohibitive, this being Florida! And the trash pickups don't involve anything but the driver using that grabby-thing to heave the bin up and over the trucks side, into the rest of their collections. I know there are places that still have one driver and two people tossing trash into the truck, but they seem to be eliminating those kinds of jobs nowadays.

I remember the days when things in the grocery store jumped up from 89 cents, to a dollar and 89 cents; but now most everything seems to be OVER $5 at the lowest price. Even my bubblegum-habit is much more expensive than it used to be, and I only "chew'n'pop" in the evening! At least Tinker doesn't complain about it like hubby used to: "Will you stop snapping that gum? I can't hear the TV!" (That is why I try not to expose anyone to my obnoxious bubblegum habit. Worse than a teenager, I am, I think!)

Still streaming VERA on Britbox; I think it goes on for something like 13 seasons, and I am in Season 4. I looked up on line because it SEEMS to me like most of the murders on that show occurred on an Tuesday; and apparently I'm not the only one who has thought that was the case. They say it isn't, but really, how many times do you hear someone ask "What were you doing on Tuesday?" before some little bell rings in your head: "WHOT? Anutha Toozday murder?!" But it was also interesting to see what the actress looks like "in real life"..... like, she really isn't as dowdy as her character is!

Chatter-chatter>>>>> Probably will just hush my puppies for now. Later, y'all!

We enjoyed watching The Orville. I had forgotten about it, though.

These days Twin B has us watching "Rascal Does Not Dream..." when we all get together to watch something.

I was sure we would get a reasonable amount of rain Friday (all the signs were there) but nope, only a few drops.