Work, wellness and living life onthe path least traveled….

Dear Dairy Page 79…

Hello Diary..
Has been a busy week bringing the practical, tangible things indoors and outdoors up to the present, but for the most part am there.. now to start thinking about options the path least traveled may take (some with my guidance and input) for the future… 😀 has been a rainy day ( the entire weekend forecasted to be) as can be seen by the doves attempting to feed…

So after a somewhat leisurely day doing minor tasks and chores, have supper finished, dishes washed, nothing on TV at the moment, so thought I would do a quick blog… not only working on projects but on wellness also.. you are aware of my issue with my nails, Diary, but also have one with my hair, or lack of hair rather….thin hair in my family is common and I am no exception and the older I get, the thinner it gets..

Now, for then mental wellness.. I am not into bald, I don’t think bald is beautiful for me… 😀 the health wellness…being fair skinned I am a good candidate for skin cancer, I know several that are dealing with it, so hair would help in the prevention…
Letting what hair I have grow is not a option, after lengthy research opted out of the hairpiece and went for the wig and let my hair do what it may, keeping it trimmed…

Thanks to eBay and the Chinese, I can experiment and not have to put a second mortgage on the house… they are short, more like the Beatles look perhaps.. Some folks inquired about getting longer wigs but not sure it is me, maybe in the future, but bald is not.. I would be in style as Andre Rieu, Vangelis, Yanni and others have long hair,
There was a retired Marine Sgt. Maj. that had a pony tail the last time I went to the VA while back, who knows, but in any case not at the moment…I asked the Sgt. Maj. about the ponytail (he inquired about the nails and earrings.. 😀 ) and the both of us Marines agreed on one thing; “you will only get one shot at being you, don’t waste it”… 😀

So going to close now, just popped in to let you know I, and Bree (she is doing HER thing also), were still around while reflecting, a little dreaming perhaps, planning and living life on the path least traveled, will return again one day, Fate be willin’ and the creeks don’t rise..by the way, not moving south of the Mason Dixon line.. 😀

Leaving you with a few thoughts I have picked up along the way…

“Happiness is not determined by what’s happening around you, but rather what’s happening inside you. Most people depend on others to gain happiness, but the truth is, it always comes from within” Author Unknown

“You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.” Author Unknown

“Be happy. Be yourself. If others don’t like it, then let them be. Happiness is a choice, life isn’t about pleasing everybody”. Author Unknown

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain”. Author Unknown

“No one can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending” Maria Robinson

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time, you have exactly the same number of hours per day that where given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Theresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, etc.” H. Jackson Brown Jr.

And speaking of Andre, Yanni and Vangelis..

Gardening and exploring life on the path least traveled…

Dear Diary Page 78…

Dear Diary,

Been a busy week but have yard work and garden taken care of for one more year and ready for the next round of fall… 😀 waiting for the laundry to dry to finish the week so thought I would do a blog.. will be far and few inbetween in the future while Bree and I enjoy life and search for our destiny… after a day outdoors finishing up, got laundry started and then cleaned up myself… changed my nails and the girls talked me into trying the French look, they said it was the latest rage…thought I would give it a try…

While looking at the nails, some words from the Bellamy brothers song came to mind;
“He’s a old hippie
And not sure what to do,
Don’t fit in with the old
And too old for the new.”

To those words I add my own..

Not part of the old, nor part of the new
But somewhere in the middle, I fear,
Thoroughly enjoying every second of time
While playing it by ear….. 😀

That being said, changed plans about the Three Maidens and decided not to do them, maybe next year, so used the space for my green beans pole type…here is a before..

And after a mornings work, here is the after with beans planted…

Used some spare fencing I had up the poles and between the poles for support for the beans to climb on… while working in the area I noticed the onions were growing after some watering and good rains…

Tried something new this year for the tomatoes, a growing bag.. has handles should I need to move it, is porous so it will drain well and very durable, has 2 cu. ft of potting soil so the tomatoes should do well….

I will add support for the tomatoes later…. Next to the tomatoes are the “rat-tail” radish and they are growing with the warm weather..

And near by are the potatoes that I planted on Good Friday and they have surfaced and growing..

Getting off topic a bit, the last few times I have opened Facebook I have seen some posts about hacking… I did have issues with Facebook some time back and deleted my account ( I have family members that have had issues also) but decided to come back and give it another chance… should it happen again, I will be gone, no coming back!!!..also I am not actively sending out friend requests and as I mentioned early, my visits in Facebook, and blogs, will become far and few inbetween in the future… there is a life outside of Facebook and Bree and I will be part of it and enjoying it… 😀

That being said, should one get a strange post or request from me in Facebook, proceed with caution…. 😀

And THAT being said, 😀 , Bree’s nap is over, laundry is ready to fold so it is time to close, bring the week to a end and take a que from Willie Nelson and Bree and I get on the path least traveled again…. 😀

But we shall return again one day, never fear.. Fate be willin’ and the creeks don’t rise…

A zip-a-de-doo-dah week on the path least traveled…

Dear Diary Page 77…

Dear Diary,

A busy past few days to be had, a major improvement in the weather, decided to take advantage and do some outdoor work, sooooooooooooo..… with the tulips and daylilies signaling it was time to enjoy the spring..

Took a picture of the bird feeder and what makes this picture different from the rest, wait for it………………………………………………………………………… the window is open!!!..:D

HI HO, HI HO outdoors Bree and I were to go, singing..

Ventured to the north end first, worked on some weather instruments, moved a smile pile of leaves and decided to move to the south side… Bree made one last look around before leaving…

Decided to spend the time in the backyard.. had done the mowing last week, now working with leaves, etc.. removed the netting and got the pond pump running with the waterfall to recycle the water for the fish (there are 7 goldfish between 2 and 3 inches)…

Then got the flowing bird bath up and running, the big birds use it because it is the right depth for them…

Then decided to start spreading leaves…

they are environmental friendly, Bree friendly (Bree is allergic to the chemicals in purchased mulch), cheap, natural, controls weeds, I won’t have to burn and the neighbors dealing with the smoke……..

When finished, the left over leaves will go into the compost bin, and after a nice rain, will have a nice carpet of leaves for Bree to travel on…her own backyard with a touch of Yellowstone I (no buffalo roaming nor antelope playing, perhaps next year… 😀 )….decided to stop, can work on it more next week, weather permitting, Inspector Bree made one final walk through to make sure it met her approval…

Had a bite of lunch, took a short walk, Bree went to her den to take a nap and I finished the day and here I am but getting ready to leave shortly… going to give it a rest, not do much tomorrow but turn a old computer into a microscope… that is another story… 😀 going to leave with two thoughts…

“Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow remains a mystery, today is a gift. Greet it with open arms, a open heart, a open mind and a smile. Enjoy it because it won’t come again. I do not dwell in the past very often, too much in the future waiting for me…” (Larry “Dutch“ Woller penned 6-7-2008)

““I gave all those, all races, gender and religion, from all countries that perished in the Towers a time in thought and remembrance…but now it is time to move on, not live in the shadows of 9/11….. I cannot change the past, but can help determine the future… I cannot help the dead but I can the living..” (Larry “Dutch” Woller 9/11/2002)

And so it goes on the path least traveled, busy days ahead enjoying life, feeling the sunshine, gazing at the skies and wondering what destiny has in store…but I shall return again one day, not sure when or where, Fate be willin’ and the creeks don’t rise…

Now it is time to relax, perhaps listen to Rachmaninoff and quietly ponder the next second and what it might bring… 😀

Busy living life and chasing destiny on the path least traveled….

Dear Diary Page 75…

Dear Diary,

A cold rainy day today, had a period of sleet again earlier this morning…

And while I am typing this, Bree is on the day bed charging her batteries..getting ready for the adventure down the path.. “neither rain, nor hail, nor gloom of night”.. 😀

The weather may change later in the week and spring may finally arrive!.. it will be a busy week next week with tasks, projects and appointments, so will not be here online very much.. have a lot of yard work and garden work to do, along with smelling the roses from time to time..in fact, spent this rainy morning preparing supper for the rest of the week…

I did straighten the plates up a tad bit after I took the picture.. 😀 the rest are on plates and in the freezer, wrapped tight.. All I need to do is pop them in the micro when ready…also I made another batch of snacks…

It is a combination of cheerios, rice (or wheat) checks and peanuts ( as less of salt as possible) mixed together..I use that for a snack instead of cookies, donuts, etc…

Over the past few days, while browsing Facebook, I have seen friends posting the various “adult” beverages they like.. well, while helping in the battle against cancer, I put indulging in “adult” beverages on the back burner so to speak.. in fact, have not had any for 3 years now and I can say that I do not miss it, can get through the day or task without it.. and will probably continue as I have been doing.. also it saves me money, it is not going down the drain, literally.. 😀 HOWEVER, would I be ask, I agree with Tom T, Hall on the favorite “adult” beverage …. 😀

Sooooooooooooo, will be closing shortly, like everyone else, on a journey to find out what destiny has waiting.. some say the answer is in the wind, others say only time knows, Enya says it’s in the rain….

Whatever the dreams and wishes, may it be…

Sooooooooooooo, it is down the path we will venture, not sure when will return but to return one day we will, Fate be willin’ and the creeks don’t rise…

Sleet, celery, carrots and door locks on the path least traveled..

Dear Diary Page 74…

Hello Diary..

Days work done, not much on TV so thought I would stop in and leave a few thoughts, bringing you up to speed.. had a buy few days in spite of the weather.. had Plan A for indoors and Plan B for outdoors and stayed with Plan A for the most part..rain, windy and winter has not left yet…cold, wet, windy and rainy today, even got a bit of sleet…

Below freezing tonight, Friday, cold tomorrow, thunderstorms Sunday and Monday… that being said, going with Plan A, decided on catching up with the cooking yesterday and today, it looked like Rachel Ray was in the kitchen… 😀 ..

Were multi-tasking making pork tips in the toaster oven and popcorn chicken in the T-Fal cooker at the same time, had Bree and Andre Rieu setting the pace…

Managed to finish the pork and chicken, put the pieces on cookie sheets and froze them overnight and now have a gallon bag of pork tips and popcorn chicken, can use however much I wish..

Also made some homemade vegetable soup and it was cooking while I were dealing with the rest.. Have a gallon of soup and this weekend will put it in individual portions and freeze it..

Did some errands this morning, ventured to the grocery and decided to make some homemade chicken noodle soup… returned home and started the chicken thighs, without the skin…

A short while ago I took the thighs out, separated the meat from the bone and cleaned the gristle, fat, etc, chopped up the chicken and put the chicken and bone in the pot… will add the veggies and noodles tomorrow to finish…

Purchased some fresh celery and baby carrots to use in the soup, that which I did not use, I froze to avoid spoilage.. put the carrots on a cookie sheet and in the freezer…

I blanched the celery to preserve it better..

Then, like the carrots, on a cookie sheet and in the freezer..

The celery and carrots won’t thaw out crunchy, but will still have color and flavor and good for stews, soups, salsa, etc…

Soooooooooooooo, that about takes care of the cooking for a time, now hope the weather will improve and can venture outdoors… will play the weekend by ear, plan for next week..

As a side note, while at the grocery came across the “group” discussing the restroom issues that seem to be making the news, primarily south of the Mason Dixon line at the moment.. Don’t have any issue here, have two bathrooms, neither is marked; Male, Female or Ya’ll come.. It is first come first served…and if one has a issue with privacy, both doors have a 20th century innovation called a “lock” a basically simple device, however, should one be part of the percentage of America whose hat size is higher than their IQ, there are instructions, with pictures, on how to use the lock on the door..and should one still have a issue and find themselves lock in, can always hollar “help”, and one can read the library I have well stocked (it is also a back-up should I inadvertently run out of TP… sure do miss those Sears catalogs… ) until someone comes to unlock the door… the last two pubs I visited a few years back didn’t make any difference what was on the door… 😀

And so it goes on the path least traveled, just trying to keep it simple… 😀 better go now and finish the day, prepare for the tomorrows and whatever the tomorrows may bring…but Bree and I shall return again one day, Fate be willin’ and the creeks don’t rise..

As always, the venture down the path least traveled is a sentimental one..

Busy, busy, busy on the path least traveled

Dear Diary Page 73…

Hello Diary…

Thought I would stop in and share some thoughts after a acitve couple of days..with the remainder of this week looking not too pleasant outdoors, worked as much as I could outdoors and preparing for more activities outdoors.. so Monday, while it was still a bit cold to be out, decided to get all the evening meals at the ready for me and Bree for the week, won’t have to do anything but pop them in the micro…

The reason Bree has one more plate than I do, is Friday is my designated day not to cook supper, so it is TV dinner day, using Marie Callenders.. also I plan on doing some needed cooking that day ..I put back in the freezer that which is needed and can get out when ready…

Also got my watercolor table set up to be used later, can paint while watching the goings on outdoors along with Bree.. 😀

After that decided to go to the garden nursery nearby and got some onion sets( both for slicing and green onions) and seed cups….

Returned home and got the new mower out of the box and assembled and it is at the ready…

With doing needed chores, that pretty much took care of Monday.. Woke up this morning, the bird baths were froze over, so stayed indoors till it warmed up… being a fair skinned individual and not wishing to flirt with skin cancer, got a couple of wide brim hats at the ready..

Then got my nails back to normal for now…

The girls I order the nails from (eBay) for the last 2 years or so, know that I am not overly fond of painting my nails but they think I need a change from time to time so they sent me some samples already painted…

How cool is that!.. that ought to get the local AARP (which I am not a member of) to talking… 😀 got nails taken care of, outdoors the wind was light so decided to plant the onions so out I went..got the onions planted for slicing and some for green onions (I stagger the planting of green onions so they don’t all come up at the same time) and then got the onions covered with netting to keep the squirrels from digging in the soil and the robins from thinking the new stems are worms and pull the sets out of the ground…they will do that and had one put in an appearance about 20 minutes after I finished… 😀

Got that done but not without Brees supervision… 😀

Moved back indoors and with the possibility of thunderstorms tomorrow, decided to do Wednesday’s maintenance work today.. did a load of laundry, then decided to run the vac, with Bree’s supervision, of course.. 😀

Finished the vac, then decided to sweep and mop the bath and kitchen, again, with Bree’s supervision…

Had reached a point where decided to stop, more or less caught up…outdoors will have to wait till next week, I expect, and for the weather to decide on winter or spring..may see some snow Friday…and, Diary, will close with leaving some thoughts for the day;

“ I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.” Gerry Spence

“A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks, he becomes.” Mahatma Gandhi

“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” Kahlil Gibran

“I have learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.” Maya Angelou

“Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportional to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I will recall that piece of knowledge and use it better.” Mark van Doren

And so it goes on the path least traveled, trying to grow old gracefully while staying healthy and enjoying life and all that life puts in front of me… and speaking of life, it is calling (and Bree is at the back door wanting to chase the light) so better go see what they want… 😀 will return again one day, Fate be willin’ and the creeks don’t rise…

As my mother-in-law would always say “ I never say Goodbye because it sounds too much like forever”… 😀

Wind, sparrows, milk and a taste of winter on the path least traveled…

Dear Diary Page 72…

Hello Diary..

Thought I would pop in briefly, main reason was I have moved the keyboard to see if it is more comfortable typing, and to share a few thoughts… so far so good, just need to get use to it.. 😀

The wind has been terrible today, a few more mph in speed and it would be the same as a Category 1 hurricane… the sparrows and other birds were making good use of the brushpiles, you can see some of the sparrows tucked in…

More limbs down, I’m afraid, Bree’s work is never done!… 😀 and speaking of limbs, this one came down a short time ago, two houses down…

Bree and I believe we will let the city deal with that one… the sunny sky can be deceiving as the temperature is 43 degrees and 40 mph winds…quite cold outdoors… and speaking of Bree, put up a gate temporarily where the damage storm door was, so I don’t have to worry about her getting out when I open the door…

Not sure what I will replace it with, have some maintenance to do first anyway, also managed to get the evap pan up and running…

Like the gate, will work on it some more, making it look a little more presentable when the weather becomes more pleasant to work outdoors..but it works fine and I can start recording data.. while preparing for spring storms and talking with my daughter, Kim, about ordering food online, last week I came across this milk on Amazon…

Out of curiosity, I ordered 3 quart.. it is 2%, which is what I drink, and with the way it is processed, it will last up to 7 months sitting on the shelf, room temperature, and 7 days in the fridge when opened.. It is real milk and it doesn’t taste any different than what I buy at the IGA…a bit expensive to be using on a daily basis, compared to say Wal-Mart, but could come in handy during emergencies, etc.. have opened one quart, will leave the other two in the fridge for now…

That is about all I have to share today (is that cheering I hear???.. 😀 )… prepared for the freeze tonight, will have a relaxing day tomorrow to plan for the week, may be busy one coming up, weather permitting…
So, will close for now, but Bree and I will return one day while traveling down the path least traveled, Fate be willin’, the creeks don’t rise and the four winds don’t blow us away…

Gave Andre and Yanni a break today, and listened instead, while doing chores and tasks, to a wee Irish lass from Ireland, one of my favorite singers, Enya.. this song was on the album, Amarantine I believe, recorded in 2002 when I first heard it and one of my favorite songs…