What Did You do Today?

[spike]

Did butt tons of yard work today. Managed to get the tubs put away. Thank goodness for the Phew cause those suckers are heavy.

[pepperhead212]

I disconnected my drip irrigation system, and probably I'll take out my rain guage - probably not going to freeze any time soon, but they aren't really that necessary now, so I disconnected the hoses, and drained them as much as possible, and then cleaned out the filter as well as possible, removed the batteries, and everything is sitting on the deck rail, in the sun, drying out. Soon, I'll have to bring those plants indoors, as the temps are dropping to the low 40s, and possibly high 30s next week. I cleaned that shelf off a few weeks ago, and I'll get that ready for them. Sometimes I set them on my back porch, if just a couple very cold days are forecast; the curry tree will come inside, for sure.

My garlic just got delivered! I got a pound each of Music and Metechi, and I'll put some of my Estonian Red and Georgian Fire in, probably this weekend.

[paulf]

I have been changing oil and filters on our vehicles for more than fifty years and today I had to admit defeat. Toyota has made it so I am unable, safely, to get under my RAV 4 to drain the oil and replace the filter. The undercarriage is enclosed in a plastic sheet with an opening for the oil pan and filter. All this is just out of reach even with my large jack. The first two years were done for free by the dealer but from now on I will have to pay some oil change place or the dealer with a lift. At least my Chevy pick-up can be done at home. Drats!

[ladymarmalade]

Today we started to harvest the apple tree. It was a bumper year for our Empire apple! We have 20's forecasted for Sunday into Monday, so it's time to clear the tree. We've been enjoying the apples from it for about two weeks, and we've also had people out to pick a few times, but you'd never know! There are so many! As we were picking, DH looked at me and asked "What are we going to do when the other eight trees are producing this good?" Lol. I reminded him that they won't all ripen at the same time, but I don't know if that made it better. We at least have several years before they start really producing.

I kind of failed at my fall break week. I got very little done that was productive or on my to-do list. My classes start back up on Tuesday, so I guess I still have two days to make the most of it.

[bestofour]

Did a little yard work, planted pansy's, planted a row of radishes.

[spike]

Went to a birthday party for my little 9 year old Isabella. Lord have Mercy, the party was in a cabin at one of the parks. 15 little girls plus 3 little boys freaking out about girl cooties . . . I had mercifully forgotten how screechy little girls can be. I think screams and giggles are still bouncing around my skull. So much cake, ice cream and soda! Kids were running amok about 6 inches off the ground from all the sugar. I got so many hugs that my cheeks hurt from smiling! Been a good day!

[spike]

Today the old man is out from under foot. He is driving down to Mansfield to spend the day with the boy! I shall clean like a mad woman while he is gone. He has this uncanny act of being able to be exactly in my way at every given moment. WOO HOO on the hunt for dust bunnies!!

[paulf]

Today is garden clean-up day since the low tonight is scheduled to be 21 F. We are picking all the nice looking flowers for decorations and maybe bring a few more plants inside. Most are in that will be saved but there are always a few more plants that may make it through the winter. WINTER...how I dislike the season even though I know all about down time and the necessity for rest and rebirth, yada, yada, yada. At least the cold here helps kill or reduce the pathogens and pests.

[Laura_in_FL]

Oct 15, 2022 15:12:38 GMT -5 paulf said:

I have been changing oil and filters on our vehicles for more than fifty years and today I had to admit defeat. Toyota has made it so I am unable, safely, to get under my RAV 4 to drain the oil and replace the filter. The undercarriage is enclosed in a plastic sheet with an opening for the oil pan and filter. All this is just out of reach even with my large jack. The first two years were done for free by the dealer but from now on I will have to pay some oil change place or the dealer with a lift. At least my Chevy pick-up can be done at home. Drats!

Wait'll you see what a full-service oil change costs these days. Yikes!

[Laura_in_FL]

Oct 15, 2022 22:18:48 GMT -5 spike said:

Went to a birthday party for my little 9 year old Isabella. Lord have Mercy, the party was in a cabin at one of the parks. 15 little girls plus 3 little boys freaking out about girl cooties . . . I had mercifully forgotten how screechy little girls can be. I think screams and giggles are still bouncing around my skull. So much cake, ice cream and soda! Kids were running amok about 6 inches off the ground from all the sugar. I got so many hugs that my cheeks hurt from smiling! Been a good day!

When my kids were young and we did birthday parties or I chaperoned field trips in early elementary school, I learned to take ibuprofen beforehand, because a headache from all of the screeching was pretty much inevitable! That way the headache wouldn't develop (or at it least wouldn't get bad) so I could enjoy myself and remain pleasant to the kids.

[mgulfcoastguy]

Screeching kids, watch me get up and leave.

[mgulfcoastguy]

Oct 16, 2022 13:27:58 GMT -5 Laura_in_FL said:

Oct 15, 2022 15:12:38 GMT -5 paulf said:

I have been changing oil and filters on our vehicles for more than fifty years and today I had to admit defeat. Toyota has made it so I am unable, safely, to get under my RAV 4 to drain the oil and replace the filter. The undercarriage is enclosed in a plastic sheet with an opening for the oil pan and filter. All this is just out of reach even with my large jack. The first two years were done for free by the dealer but from now on I will have to pay some oil change place or the dealer with a lift. At least my Chevy pick-up can be done at home. Drats!

Wait'll you see what a full-service oil change costs these days. Yikes!

Nothing new with Toyota. My 1991 pickup had the oil filter surrounded by a half dozen hoses. I had to use a special filter attachment for a socket wrench with a 6 inch extension. That allowed me to get approximately 1/8 turn per try. Then the oil filter was also placed so that it was impossible to remove without spilling oil on the motor and my arm. I haven't changed oil in a car for about 25 years. Of course for the last 1 1/2 year I haven't needed to change :oil, spark plugs, or anything else though tires should be needed early next year.

[Laura_in_FL]

DH used to do all of our oil changes, but as time went on it became more and more of a hassle to find a place to take the old oil, and he finally gave it up as not being worth the hassle.

[brownrexx]

We went to our cabin in Western PA this past weekend and it was beautiful. It is 125 miles west of home and in the mountains. The leaves had all turned beautiful colors and were starting to fall. The weather was beautiful but tonight and through tomorrow there is a freeze watch.

I totally forgot to take my garlic cloves and plant them. I grow them there because the Allium Leaf miner has not made it to that county. We will go back in about 2 weeks so I will have to plant them then. I am going to get them ready today so that I don't forget again.

Deer eat mostly everything else that I have ever planted there but they do not bother my garlic.

I do enjoy seeing the deer so I mostly do not plant things there except for the garlic.

[september]

brownrexx , our Minnesota deer are either less discriminating, or better gourmets ... they will nip off the tops of my walking onions and garlic before the snow is totally gone.  It grows back, but especially the garlic is set back and I quit growing it. Not like they're starving since I'm surrounded by brush and trees. I disconnected my electric fence yesterday, and noticed they had already jumped over it for their fall feeding frenzy. Most of the pole bean vines and lettuce gone to seed were gone, and the pile of overripe cucumber discards was mostly eaten or scattered. The fence was still intact, sometimes they rip it down on their way out. It's only two strands of wire and not that high, but it keeps them out all summer until about the time the leaves fall.

The weather has been so cold and windy that I have not wanted to work outside. No sun other than a brief peep for almost a week, so the fall gloom is here too.   Still have a lot to do -- including washing windows which I noticed are ridiculously dirty this fall. Supposed to warm up for the weekend, so maybe then. The dock service crew came with their barge to take out the dock and boat lift, can't believe how fast they work. All piled up on the lawn in about 20 minutes.

[Laura_in_FL]

I almost went out to the new property to meet the demolition crew this morning. But the foreman called in sick so that was postponed.

[brownrexx]

september, I wonder if the fact that you have more snow makes a difference? I only plant my garlic now so the snow is usually gone before my garlic has much growth. My garlic is planted on the south side of the cabin so it is nice and warm there and the snow melts quickly in that bed.

Or it could be that your deer have just learned that garlic tastes good and my deer have not figured it out yet!

Just this weekend we discovered that the canna lilies that DH planted a couple of months ago were all chewed up about half gone.

I also have a bed of bee balm that they are not supposed to like because of the strong, herbal smell of the leaves but a month ago I noticed that the flowers and a lot of the leaves were all eaten off. This past weekend there was no obvious damage so I guess that they like to vary their diet and were eating something else (maybe the cannas?). Deer are fickle creatures but will eat almost anything I think.

[Laura_in_FL]

Change of plans again - the demo company found a replacement foreman, so my demo is going on. I talked to the new foreman by phone (he was already on-site) and went through what they are supposed to be getting rid of, and saving. He said it was straightforward, saw where we had marked the kumquat trees to save, and said I don't need to go out there to walk it through with him.

We probably didn't even lose much work time, because it rained earlier this morning, and the skies only cleared up shortly before I spoke to the new foreman.

[brownrexx]

Oct 17, 2022 11:05:49 GMT -5 Laura_in_FL said:

I talked to the new foreman by phone (he was already on-site)

Smart to check with him before the work is done and they possibly remove something that you wanted. It is kind of difficult to UNcut a tree!

[spike]

Took a drive to look at all the trees strutting their fall finery!! Was pelted with little frozen balls falling from the sky.

[brownrexx]

Oct 17, 2022 16:18:37 GMT -5 spike said:

Was pelted with little frozen balls falling from the sky.

I know that it's coming so I decided that today would be tomato plant clean up day. First I picked all blushing fruits and then some decent green ones for frying. I had 17 plants in cages and I had to drag the cages from the garden and clean off all dead leaves before storing them. I don't disinfect the cages, I just clean them off and let they stand outside through the winter.

All of the plants had to be pulled up and transported to the dumping area at the edge of the woods. By the time I got this done I was VERY tired. Somehow it is so much more fun to get everything out and set it up than it is to put it away.

In a couple of weeks I will talk DH into roto tilling for me and I will cover the gardens with a layer of straw but first I need to buy the straw.

[mgulfcoastguy]

Oct 17, 2022 11:05:49 GMT -5 Laura_in_FL said:

Change of plans again - the demo company found a replacement foreman, so my demo is going on. I talked to the new foreman by phone (he was already on-site) and went through what they are supposed to be getting rid of, and saving. He said it was straightforward, saw where we had marked the kumquat trees to save, and said I don't need to go out there to walk it through with him.

We probably didn't even lose much work time, because it rained earlier this morning, and the skies only cleared up shortly before I spoke to the new foreman.

Hopefully you or the contractor had already called in a 811 locate for underground utilities.

[mgulfcoastguy]

Turned the heater on today. I won't really need it until tonight so this is a trial run. All of the pomegranates have been picked. I haven't tried one yet, I think that they keep very well on a shelf .

[spike]

So yesterday, hubs took the day off and we drove around looking at the beautiful leaves. Everything was wonderful until we got home. I sneezed. Just a sneeze turned into a full blown head cold. I am miserable. Yeah boo hoo give me a tissue. Sadly as I am down, the bro is freaking out. One of his cats didn't come home last night.

mgulfcoastguy, I am dying to know how they taste!!

[brownrexx]

Sorry spike, I HATE colds and luckily have not had one in over 2 years.

After being on again, off again about the Covid booster we decided to just do it and got it this morning. No side effects so far, just a little soreness in our arms.

[september]

brownrexx , I got my Covid booster today too! But not where I planned to. I had an eye appointment at the clinic building across the street from my doctor's building, so I thought I would save myself a trip into town by combining the two. I emailed my doctor's office yesterday to make sure I could stop by for his nurse to give me the shot and they answered yes. Since I don't have a real appointment, I expect to wait a bit til they work me in between patients. Well, I sat there for over an hour, I could see a lot of the staff were leaving for their lunch breaks, and few new patients coming in. There were four receptionists when I checked in, and the one I used had left. I told one of the two left that I was leaving without the shot. She offered to go in back and see about finding a nurse to do it, but by that time I was so crabby that I needed to leave. Other times, I've only had to wait 10-15 minutes for a free nurse to show up. I'm wondering if the receptionist was new and never got me entered into the system properly, so they didn't know I was there? She wasn't a very good listener and had trouble understanding I also needed to schedule an annual physical for next April. So the upshot was that since I had to go to pick up some new prescription eye drops at my local pharmacy, I had the booster shot there instead, with about a 15 minute wait. Unfortunately they were out of the high dose Flu vaccine which I also wanted, but I can call them and check on that next week. I don't expect any side effects from the booster, nothing last time.

[brownrexx]

september, every time I go to CVS they ask if I want the booster and there seems to be no wait but we wanted to get it through the doctor's office so that is got entered in our medical records. The last time we used a drugstore I had to scan the card and sent it to my doctor's office through the portal.

I wonder how you feel today? The last time DH had no after effects but last night we both had the sore arm. My arm is still sore this morning and I am scheduled for a new water class at the gym which uses weights. I think that I will pick some little ones. Water weights do not have an actual weight. They look like dumbells but with rings of foam at the ends. They provide resistance as they are pushed through the water. The wider foam provides more resistance.

I would never get a flu shot at the same time. If you have a bad reaction, you would not know which shot caused it. Secondly since I get the sore arm the next day, I would not want 2 sore arms at the same time and I feel that it's better for our bodies to only have one antigen to react to at a time.

We plan on getting our flu shots in a few weeks. Flu does not start happening around here until about Christmas. The effectiveness of the flu shots wanes over time so we like to get it closer to when the flu shows up.

[spike]

brownrexx, september, Are you guys talking about the 3rd shot? We have gotten the first 2 but not the 3rd yet. Now for our first 2 we had Moderna. Does it matter which one you get or do we need to stick with Moderna? Neither of the first two caused us any reactions other than a slightly sore arm for a couple of days.

Time to whine: This head cold is kicking my arse. Not happy.

[brownrexx]

spike , We had the Moderna shots to start and then got the Moderna booster (3rd shot) several months later. The shot I got yesterday was the 4th shot (2nd booster) that contains the new variants. We will probably be getting it once a year from now on.

It is not required to stick with the same manufacturer for the shots but I just wanted to so we took Moderna. 

I scheduled our flu shots for next month.

[september]

spike , I've been sticking with Pfizer since that's what I started with and have had little to no reaction. I had the first two about a month apart back in Feb & March of 2021, the third one in Oct 2021, then the first booster in May this year, and now the second newer bivalent booster just now in October. So five total pokes! There were some comments that switching brands might give you some additional protection, but nothing definite. My arm isn't even sore today, I think I may have had a little soreness with the very first shot and some lethargy, but nothing for the rest of them. I'm glad I had them because when I did get Covid, it was mild, only lasted a couple of days and I did not have any after effects.

brownrexx , I had both flu and Covid shots together last October, one in each arm, and did not have any problems, so was all set to do both again this year.   I think eventually the drugstore uploads their records to the state database, and then it does filter over to the health care providers.   I know my shingles vaccine through the drugstore eventually got to my clinics online chart record. My doctor actually told me to get it there because it was cheaper than getting it at the clinic.  There is a link on MyChart to see if the state has the record yet, but also an option to upload the information yourself off your vaccination sticker.