Wednesday August 12th 2026

Good morning!

Joe, seems like work has been tough for you lately. When is the "side project" done?

Stars, when you get that room finally cleaned I would stick to a schedule. "Monday I dust", "Tuesday I vacuum" "Wendy I clean the bathroom" "Thursday I wash sheets", etc. Doing a little bit every day keeps things clean and organized. Yeah right.

Not sure where you live stars but the drought map does say that part of the state is in a drought either moderate or severe. Even though it rains we are still behind. My county remains split in two with the half I live in "extreme drought". The weather man swears the drought will end this fall and Winter due to El Niño. Hope he's correct.

It took many hours for the house to cool down. Like 10 hours. I left the house at 85 degrees and went to have lunch and watch some TV at best friends and come home it was still 85. It wasn't until after sunset it started to cool off. Sometime through the night it reached 78 which is what I had it set on and it shut off. I moved it to 80 which is where I keep it and I'm waiting to see if it cuts back on. There was a moment I turned it off to change the filter and it took what I thought was an unusual time to turn back on. So we'll see. Oh wait, it just came on. I guess I can relax that it's fixed. For a while I when it stayed 85 all day I wondered.

Yesterday later afternoon I mowed the grass just to work off some tension. Even at 6:00 it was 93 with "feels like" 108. Good thing I'm hardy when it comes to heat.

My favorite doctor went to another practice that takes Humana medicare patients and it's a busy practice. Our hospital case managers don't like Humana much for various reasons, probably because the doc is the gatekeeper and a lot of things much go through them. By the time I retire at the end of next year, I probably will get a supplement that my current doctor takes if I'm still with her, if not I'll consider Humana and see if he's still in practice.

I had a good experience with Nationwide pet insurance. When SlowBro needed a $1500 dental procedure for an abscess they paid in full. The only thing is you pay it first and they pay you back. My employer has pet insurance through MetLife but with Waffles being so old, I decided not to get it as they charge more as they age. There is also "care credit" that the emergency vet uses which is a credit card for pet emergencies.

I talked to my father yesterday. He took care of the final arrangements with the funeral home on Monday and mom will be cremated and sent to her final resting place at a military cemetery later this week. He and my sister will go see it on Friday. I'll go next time I'm up. Mom specifically said no funeral. I think when dad is laid to rest bedside her because he's a military war vet there will be a standard ceremony if we want.

Hi. Routine Wednesday--> volunteered at demo garden, then lunch at the grocery store. I buy a premade salad, dh get a wrap and chips. I regretted my salad choice. It was labeled citrus garden salad and consisted of mixed greens, a few blueberries, sliced almonds feta cheese and an orange juice based dressing. It was disappointing. I came home and fell asleep so the day was mostly shot. I need to make a shopping list for our camp trip. I plan to make some food ahead as there is limited room to prepare food and a tiny sink to wash up. I am going to make spaghetti sauce and brine and precook some chicken breasts for teriyaki chicken and alfredo. We'll like eat out a few times because we'll be near the coast and dh likes fresh seafood.

Maybe because we are in a rural area, most providers take most insurance, so neither dh had to consider switching providers. Pharmacies are challenging. We try to avoid the big chains and go to local pharms, but sometimes they just can't get the meds.

My dad didn't want a funeral, but we had a big get-together, which he would have loved. He and mom had plots already, so that part was simple.

I'm the which-ever day of the week child that 'works hard for a living", I think .... or the one that slacks off endlessly. I still have unpacked boxes piled around the room. ☹️

Joe, what have you named your cat?

We had a tremendous thunderstorm here this afternoon, and something got hit with lightning; I don't know what or where, but it was pretty close. The two big dogs of the nieces who stay out in the back yard and on the lanai practically screamed with fright, so the cats had to be put in one room to let the big dogs in 'til they calmed down. I know Tinker and I each jumped about six inches off the bed when that thunder+lightning slammed so hard and sharply LOUD!