Booney

Flowers and critters made me think of this gif of these sweet kittens that I saw recently - wanted to share it here.

I'm Blush On.

I took Cipro for UTIs without any problems for years. Then all of a sudden I developed a reaction. I got a couple of red blotches on my legs. At first, I didn't make the connection to Cipro. The next time I took it a year or two later, I got a few more, larger red blotches on my arms and legs. I told my doctor about it and she decided I shouldn't take the drug anymore just in case the next time it would produce a more severe reaction.

Oh @Cricket, my heart goes out to you and Joe for all the challenges you're experiencing. Thanks for keeping us updated. Thankfully he's home, and I hope the new pup is providing some smiles in the midst of all the difficulties. I know many of us here have said it, but I'll say it again - we're here for you whenever you need to talk, vent, whatever. I continue to send positive thoughts and prayers your way.

My great niece adds glitter too - and little colored foam pellets and other things. She adds a couple of drops of dye to color the slime, and she loves to combine colors. She had this huge jug of Elmer's because you have to use a decent amount to make a batch of slime. Stores apparently have a hard time keeping enough Elmer's in stock.

On a lighter note, when Mr. Booney and I were in the Atlanta area recently visiting my sister and BIL, nephew and great-niece where there too from L.A. Great-niece will soon be 9 years old, and she's lots of fun. All the young kids are into making "slime" these days, and great-niece is no exception. So Mr. Booney and I became experts at making slime! It's a mixture of Elmer's glue, water and borax, and there are thousands of YouTube videos on how to make the stuff. (And apparently sales for Elmer's Glue are skyrocketing!) I guess it's a strange activity, to be sure, but certainly better than the endless video games that most kids spend their time on these days. It was fun, actually!

I saw a heartwarming story on the news yesterday about a golden retriever named Storm who jumped into the water to save a drowning fawn. What an amazing dog! Here's a link to the story and video. I saw another story with an update on the fawn - it's in stable condition, but will need several months of care and then, if able, will be released back into the wild. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/07/18/this-video-of-a-dog-saving-a-drowning-baby-deer-is-the-sweetest-thing-youll-see-all-day/?utm_term=.91aaa98bfbaf

I saw a news story within the last year or so about a banquet facility that went belly up and closed suddenly, leaving impending weddings in the lurch. Unfortunately, anything can happen. I thought about eloping! In the end, Mr. Booney and I wanted our family and friends there to share and celebrate the day with us. I'm glad we did it the way we did. When you get to this ripe old age, you realize that the people in your life are what it's all about.

I felt so badly for the brides when I saw that story. Our local ABC affiliate showed the Cherry Hill, NJ store in their news story, and the shop staff there did hand women (some? all? hard to tell) waiting outside the store their dresses that were paid for. Having recently experienced buying a wedding dress - ordering, waiting for it to come in, fittings, and the overall outlay of $$$ - I can't imagine being a few weeks away from your wedding and having that happen. Reading more about the Alfred Angelo closing online, I saw that some recent brides have offered their dresses for free to any women who are ending up without a dress because of the closings.

Lol!! I never even noticed that when I typed it!

@Cricket, there's not much more that I can say that others haven't already said, but I'm glad Joe made it through the surgeries, that they got all of the tumor, and that he can fart again. ?Time to take a breath. Please keep us posted as his recovery progresses. I'll continue to send positive thoughts your way.

Me too! That's why I was so awed by these ladies. They've got way more guts than I do! Good luck today, @Cricket. Hope all goes well with Joe's surgery. I'll be thinking about you two.

Maybe so, but I like these two ladies' spirit and sense of adventure! They didn't want to settle for the open car window. They jumped out of a plane - at 84 and 85. I think that's pretty awesome.

I just saw a great story on the news about two women in their 80's - one is 84, the other is 85 - who went skydiving for the first time. They trained for months, and they did each do the jump attached to a trained guide. I think they're awesome and far braver than me! They said they didn't have any profound message about the experience, just that they "wanted to do it." One of them said she would do it again because "I liked feeling the wind in my hair." So cool!

Deer are a major problem in my Philadelphia suburb too. I have many hostas, which the deer love. I've had good luck with Liquid Fence. You spray it on everything you want to keep the deer away from. It smells terrible, but it works if you spray it regularly. We do it once a week. Supposedly after a few weeks you only have to do it once a month, but we continue to spray it weekly. So far, it's mostly kept the deer away. There was a little bit of nibbling when the hostas and other plants first started coming up out of the ground, but not much since. It might be worth a try.

Oh my gosh, @Cricket - how adorable! I just want to scoop him up and cuddle him!

So sorry about the Bradford Pear, @Cricket. They're beautiful trees. I had one in the yard many years ago that I also lost in a storm. The trunk cracked about 6 feet up from the ground and the rest of the tree - about 25 feet of it - fell over at that crack. Fortunately it fell away from the house. Bummer about your tree falling on your power lines. I hope your birds made it. I second @ennui's comment about it being a good thing that they found Joe's blood clot. Hopefully he'll be able to have his surgery on schedule. One step at a time...

My sister and BIL live outside of Atlanta and kudzu is everywhere there. They've managed to keep it out of their yard though.

It's been a while since I did mine, but I think this is what I did. Go to your profile. To do that, go to the top of this page and on the right, you'll see your screen name and current avatar. Click on that to take you to your profile. On your profile page you'll see a picture of your current avatar. In the lower left of that picture is a little white box. Click on that box and you can upload a photo to be your new avatar. If anyone has more more/better instructions, feel free to add to this or correct me!

Planting something different there is a good idea, @Coffeecup. A rose bush might be nice. That sounds like a great spot for your maple tree!

Lovely! Except Brooke isn't babbling in that photo...?

Well, my redbud tree is gone (sniff, sniff). The tree company came today and said it couldn't be saved because too many major roots had been severed. They will come back with another piece of equipment to grind the stump. I'm not going to do anything until the fall. I have 5 other large trees on the front lawn, so I'm going to live with the empty space where the redbud was for a couple of months to see how I feel about it. If I do decide to plant another tree, I'll do so in the fall when it's cooler and conditions are better for planting.

Here are a couple I'd like to see - A beautiful garden on a sunny day, flowers swaying in the breeze, with butterflies and birds gliding by. A forest scene, all deep green, with a babbling brook.

I have a similar group. After my first husband died, I met a lovely group of widows and widowers through grief counseling, and when I was ready to crawl out my hole and start living again, I began going out on the weekends with this group. It was mostly women, but a couple of men too. We nicknamed ourselves "Club W" (W for Widowed). We went out every weekend - to dinner, brunch, movies, concerts, little day trips, weekend trips, all kinds of things. Anywhere from 10 - 16 of us would go on these outings. Fast forward almost 5 years later and many changes have happened within the group. I got remarried (as you all know!), another member is engaged, another is in a long-term relationship, and one of the widows and one of the widowers fell in love and are now living together. We all have remained close and still get together on a regular basis with our significant others included. I know no matter what additional changes the group experiences, we'll be friends for life because we share a special bond. As Martha Stewart would say, it's a good thing!

@Cricket - I'm so sorry to hear about your medical bills. It's scary to get sick today, even with insurance. Maybe you can work something out with the hospital. See if they have a patient advocate - he/she might be able to help. Or your doctor's office might have some suggestions. Most larger doctor's office have an insurance specialist on staff. It might be worth checking. @Cricket and @Friedbaloney - Unfortunately I don't think the tree can be saved. A couple of the biggest roots were severed from the base of the tree when it fell. I'll wait and see what the tree company says, but it looks like it's a goner.