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https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/giants-legend-willie-mays-dies-at-93-005517007.html

Willie Mays, the iconic Hall of Fame center fielder who is known as the greatest all-around baseball player of all time, died Tuesday, the San Francisco Giants announced. He was 93 years old.

He was 93

Bkmk

The way people react to animal abuse, maybe Trump should bring up the SS reports that FJB (he of ‘good character’) kicks & punches his dog (who then bites agents).

https://www.judicialwatch.org/biden-abuses-his-dogs/

The moderators would shut this down in a hurry.

That leaves our corporations largely being led by the human equivalent of sheep

Men with a handshake like a sweaty marshmallow ... 16 years working for a large corporation so I had plenty of handshaking experience.

James Madison’s home ‘Montpelier’ was being renovated some years ago. On the grounds were trails through a ‘Landmark Forest’ and our Appalachian Trail maintainer crew was asked to come & do some trail repair for them. After we finished, we were given free admission & a tour of the place, which was a nice thank you for our work.

During the house tour, the archeologists told us about finding pack rat nests in the walls of the house. The items in the nests were very interesting because depending on when the rats were taking items, some went back to the early years (house built by Madison’s father in 1760) prior to the Revolution, through the 1800’s, Civil War Era, & into the 1900’s when the Duponts owned the place. The pack rats preserved some historical items in their nests :-)

These days, instead of being mummified, Jill can have FJB freeze dried ... very lifelike appearance.

https://www.secondlifefreezedry.com/freeze-dry-process/

Juiced to the max for sure. One of these days they might overdo it .... or it won’t work. They’re playing ‘Russian Roulette (no pun intended with the ‘Russian’). Way back when, the word was his public appearances are so scary for the ‘staff’ that some of them can’t watch, for fear FJB will run off the rails big time.

Having been around several family/friends with dementia & seeing them as they spiraled toward the ‘end’, things can change in a hurry ... like one day not eating, responding to people, etc. Propping FJB up in those circumstances, should they occur, is going to be a real ‘trick’ .... one thing is for SURE ... his condition will not be improving.

“Somebody” did not water anything the 10 days I was gone. Grrrr. The gorgeous hydrangeas I transplanted spring before last, that are loaded with blooms, were in total ‘collapse’. I gave the 2 of them 15 gallons of water last night (measured in a 5 gallon bucket) & this morning, they have perked up, thank goodness.

This morning, so I didn’t have to carry a heavy bucket, I measured how long it took to fill a 5 gallon bucket - 2 minutes. All the plants in the beds mostly under the roof overhang, where they don’t get a lot of rain, got 5 gallons: boxwoods, lavender, & a couple of echinaceas. The large pots with hostas got watered as well. The hostas outside of the beds are going to be left for ‘somebody’ to water, if it even happens. They are blooming & the deer ate off most of the blooms last night & have started munching on the leaves. I will likely do a deep watering once a week, maybe twice when the temps are in the 90’s (like this coming week - may be 100 next Saturday). The hydrangeas may need watering more often.

The herb garden looks like it’s doing ok - I took my hose to the other house (now I’m wondering ‘why’ since I have nothing planted there!) so I will use mom’s house & give the herbs a good soaking. I will probably bring my hose back.

We may be taking a day trip this coming Wednesday to NC - mom has some old HS friends that have been trying to get together for a while. If that trip happens, I will be turning around Thursday evening for a trip to the other house to meet a furniture delivery truck on Friday, then cutting grass Sat/Sun. If we don’t go to NC this Wednesday, we’ll likely be going Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. I am getting tired of the back/forth, but see no end to it until maybe this Fall. I did manage to stay 10 days this last trip & worked on that slab project, getting grass cut, etc.

The slab project is finished in that the 4 big ones are in place & I am happy with them, but I want to extend the ‘paving’ out to the side and I need options from this house to take to the other house, specifically paving stones (the kind you can buy at the store) I have used in my soon-to-be-abandoned garden. The double wash tub that I am using for a planter needs to go as well so I can figure out where I want it - it’s rusting badly & needs some paint. The original color is silver & I would like that again, but it will be in full sun at the back of the shop & I might need sunglasses to look at it ... maybe another color? I will be painting with Rustoleum (rust stopping primer, then paint). I did miss one dahlia tuber in the old bed last fall & it came up & has bloomed - really pretty, can’t wait to have some next year (my niece is saving me some Kelvin Floodlight (dinner plate) tubers from her plants this year. :-)

My brother (& wife) put up bird feeders next to their patio. She is an interior designer so the feeders are the ‘cute’ type - look like little cottages. My brother has been amazed at the lengths he’s had to go to in order to keep the squirrels out of the feeders. Now, they congregate under the feeders for dropped seeds.

His squirrel numbers are increasing ... a neighbor told him about squirrels chewing wires on cars, etc. He is really ‘spooked’ about that & borrowed one of my squirrelinator traps last weekend. So far, he’s caught 2 & relocated them to a park 5 miles away. I told him he’s going to end up with more than the 4 he thinks he has, plus gray squirrels are territorial & as he removes squirrels, more will filter in & replace them.

Using the ‘squirrelinator’, I have trapped as many as 36 in a year under my bird feeders & over 60 in total. Best bait is a cracker smeared with peanut butter & sprinkled with sunflower seeds (black oil). I am sending him the picture you posted - he may laugh.

The two vets who helped me with an elderly, ailing horse (she was 29 - I had her 20 years), sent me a condolence card with this quote in it - just substitute cat and/or dog for 'horse' & the general sentiment still applies, the first 2 sentences in particular. I still have the card from those vets from 1995 - it meant a lot to get it from them - the last 2-3 weeks they made several trips out to the barn, even at night, & were there when my horse & I needed them - very compassionate.

My condolences on the loss of your sweet cat.

We who choose to surround ourselves with lives more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan. The life of a horse, often half our own, seems endless until one day. That day has come and gone for me, and I am once again within a somewhat smaller circle." - Irving Townsend "The Once Again Prince"

Progress is SLOW ... I had all 4 slabs set, but the ground sloped off so bad I had to use a lot of shims on 2 for them to work ... big no no on trail rock work because shims can shift. I decided to buy some dirt & build up where the ground sloped off, which was the right way to do it. The first 2 slabs against the foundation are good so I had to wrangle the 2 on the end back off, get dirt down, try to level it off, & reset the rocks. The last rock is 24" x 30" instead of 30" x 30" so I will have to close that gap. I intend to extend the stone to the right with some smaller pieces, so that will give me an opportunity to close the gap.

Three down, one to go! I must say that stepping out of the door on the big slabs is a world of difference & a real pleasure after what was there before!

A reminder of "before":

PS - I will be forever grateful for the 'shingles' tip!! No grass will grow between these slabs!

Bkmk

Rock slabs are off the trailer & I am still in one piece - no slipping/falling on the ramp.

I have 4 slabs & of course one of the “bloody” slabs has to be an oddball ... 24” x 30” rather than 30” square. I will figure something out - I have some smaller pieces & may be able to jigsaw a solution.

Do you have a dealer in the area who sells (& maybe services) Cub Cadets? I find if I take a picture with my phone of a broken part and/or where the part goes (on anything), I usually get “oh, that’s a xxx”). I have also emailed pictures before regarding parts & if you can get a real person, that works well. Good luck!

That’s what my brother suggested for the strip next to the road & the bank - wildflowers :-)

Mom just bought a Zero Turn for the place to make mowing ‘easier’ on me so letting the grass grow is not an option. The post about letting it grow for round bales was tongue-in-cheek.

Why am I busting my you-know-what cutting grass? I should just let it grow & the neighboring farmers will take care of it!

I am glad you enjoy the 'backyard' pictures. Check these out - FRONT yard pictures from May 28. Brightest rainbow I have ever seen (it was a 'double' too) - my camera phone doesn'tdo it justice. Nature is just 'the best' and our mountain setting makes it even more scenic.

With no tender ears around, I was saying worse than 'bloody'! I did get the root cut off flush with the foundation - took a while to find the right tool, then I finally had to resort to sitting on a small stool because it took a a good bit of time to saw through it - awkward angle. Anyway, root is gone so today I can start laying rock slabs, right?

Well, maybe not. Sunshine is giving way to storm clouds & there is some rain on radar. It may turn into an afternoon for indoor projects.

Why is nothing ever easy?? And I thought I would finish this project today ... ha ha ha!