Cleaning split units and all mini-splits set me back $311.00 this year. I’ve yet to get a bill from the pool man.
Perry the Pool Man says it’s clean and ready to go except for one thing…
It’s only 74°. SEVENTY-FOUR! More than a week of 90° days upcoming should push the water to (hopefully) a more respectable temp.
Mayo Clinic says a comfortable pool temperature for adults is 85°F to 89°F. Swimming for fitness, cooler temperatures of 78°F to 84°F are recommended.
We’re currently in the competitive swimming zone. 🥶
Water temps in the mid-70’s are preferred for competitive swimming and training. But it’s not like that’s possible in an above ground pool, so waiting until it warms up is the only option.
Even lap swimmers wouldn’t want to jump in here — but Dharma would!
Ole’ Dharma might be a little slow to get up and down anymore, but she’d LOVE to take a dive. If not for the gate dividing the decks, we wouldn’t be able to keep her out of the pool. The challenge for Dharma isn’t getting in, I just don’t know how we’d manage to get her out.
Now you know: In the Vietnamese version of Cinderella, the end has her boil her stepsister to death. She turns what remains of her into sauce and sends it to her stepmother to eat. The stepmother enjoyed it so much that she ate it all. Then she found the skull and died of shock. (Oh my!)
Katie rolled in over the weekend from her new home in Tennessee. She came bearing gifts — not that just seeing her wouldn’t be enough. I sure do miss her even though we Facetime a few times a week.
This trip, she brought a strawberry scented candle made by McCall’s Country Canning — and a pink pineapple.
Not gonna’ lie, my southern Indiana self had never even HEARD of a pink pineapple. If you’ve been eating these things for years, please raise your hand so I feel even more like an oblivious hillbilly.
Where do these come from?
Pink pineapples are known as “pinkglow” and are grown in Costa Rica by Del Monte. Grown on a select farm in the south-central region of the country, they are sweeter and less acidic. Each pineapple is harvested by hand and it took Del Monte 15-years to fully develop the fruit. Just one set Katie back right at $13 bucks.
For the record… it was amazing. It also made a sticky mess on the counter as we stood over it slurping the juicy goodness. 🙂
And then we ate s’mores.
After gas station pizza, we also broke out the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate candy bars. (The pink pineapple was better.)
If I wasn’t thrilled with the ole’ barndo I’d be looking for a place in Tennessee. Now it wouldn’t be just to live closer to Katie — I want more pink pineapples!
Now you know: Ted Cassidy, who played Lurch on The Addams family, skipped 3 grades. But due to his size he played varsity football and basketball as a freshman in high school, despite being 11-years old.
My Nanny was born in 1911 and lived a whole lot of years before she passed in 2009. It’s seems unimaginable that she’s been gone now almost 15-years. She passed down many things, but the old time sayings she shared are stuck in my brain forever.
Old time sayings are passed down by each generation.
Not only did I hear these adages from my Nanny, but Mom heard and repeated them too. Keeping tradition, I’m sure my son has heard many of them come out of my mouth.
The one I most remember from Nanny was the tidbit of wisdom she gave as I was going through a divorce and Ben was barely 4. I was struggling and worrying how I would get by without my home and even less than I had when I graduated.
She said:
It’s a poor ole’ hen that can’t scratch for one little chicken.
The saying that came to mind yesterday; however, wasn’t that one. It was another old saying that I believe 110%:
A man can work from sun to sun but a woman’s work is never done.
Of course, that was in my head as I mowed, weedeated, push mowed, cleaned the pool, moved outdoor furniture, and about a bajillion other things. 😉
I was able to take a few breaks…
I kept at it throughout the day stopping only a few times for a cold drink.
As the sun was sinking in the sky, I still had items on my ‘to do’ list. Because you know… a woman’s work is NEVER done. 🙂
Now you know: The 1915 graduating class at West Point is called “the class the stars fell on” because 59 of 164 graduates attained the rank of general.
My favorite brother’s birthday is on election day (November 4th). Mine is on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th). My pap-pa’s birthday is on Memorial Day – today, May 30th. Although in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act — making Memorial Day the last Monday in May — I still remember May 30th. And I remember my Pap-pa.
Time is a crazy thing, isn’t it?
Pap-pa died in 1982. Sheesh… that’s been like… forever ago. I still think of him often. The older I get, the more I think about him. When I’m mowing in the hot sun 500 times every week, I often have a thought creep in of what caused his death.
Pap-pa had a heart attack while doing yardwork at his home in good ole’ C’ville. Maybe that thought is him out there somewhere telling me to take a break. But probably not. 😉
Switching gears… have y’all seen the Hoosier janitor that got a golden buzzer on AGT?
I’ve watched it like 10 times and I just love this guy — Richard Goodall. His first flight ever and he sings, “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Reading a bit more, the school he works at (and lives near) is in a pretty poor part of the city of Terre Haute. You go, Richard! ❤️
Now you know: In 1824, the Indiana General Assembly established Allen County, and the 1830s brought about the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal in Fort Wayne. This famous canal earned Fort Wayne the nickname “Summit City” because it was the highest point above sea level along the entire canal route.
Honeysuckle vines cover the ditch across the road from the barndo. They look great and save mowing. That’s a win/win. Right?
We have them at the edge of the woods here, and I’ve tried to get a start, but at this rate I’ll be dead long before there’s enough growth to cover one square foot. 🙄
In the meantime, I keep grabbing a few clippings…
Vines in water never, ever root and none of the info found online sounds easy. Pin the shoot 6-9″… mix seeds with compost and place in refrigerator for 12 weeks… blah blah blah.
The only instructions I didn’t skim over are as follows:
Bend a stem to the ground or a container of potting mix. Nick the stem about 9 inches below the tip. Bury this portion of the stem leaving the tip above the ground and the stem attached to the parent plant. Roots will form on the buried portion.
Maybe I’ll try this after retirement when things aren’t so hectic. 😉
Now you know: Between August 21-23, 1924, all radios in the United States went quiet for five minutes on the hour, every hour. This was done in order to listen for radio signals or messages from Martians, but none were detected.
