After going through the contents of my glove compartment box about 5x, opening up numerous maps to see if it could have fallen inside one, and no luck. I went back in the house and kept THINKING about it and where in the world it could be. Then i remembered how sometimes, when there was so much stuff jammed inside the glove box, some papers somehow fell into the crack BEHIND the glove box.

I went back to the car, figuring it was worth a check. I opened the box and reached my hand in behind it, pulling out first one (expired) coupon, then another, then another. I fished around and pulled out: MY REGISTRATION! Hooray. Saved myself $20 and potentially a whole lot more trouble.

It was a nice long 3-day weekend, with another one to look forward to coming up. I alternated between busting my butt working in the yard and the sweat dripping down my face and stinging my eyes, to enjoying the screened porch and reading a few mags like Vegetarian Times and a little cooking. Whipped up another blueberry/banana/yogurt smoothie.

Nothing really worth reporting, although the birds this time of year are really noisy. I watch with amusement as the baby birds, at this point nearly indistinguishable from the parents, sit in the branches of the dogwood tree where the sunflower seed tube feeder is and "shiver" their wings and squeak and squawk until the parents feed them, although they could easily get it themselves. I say "shiver" becus that's exactly how i can spot a baby begging for food....they shake all round with their wings. I guess in the bird world, that makes them adorable and endearing. Each year i notice which bird families have expanded. This year, it's nearly all of the locals, but i am seeing a lot of blue jay and titmouse babies.

The woodchuck is doing a number on my astilbe. He's still a little guy and seems to be livind behind a giant tangle of forsythia running along the back. I shoosh him from the porch when he gets too near the house as i don't want him to get any closer to my favorite plants, or, god forbid, down to the front yard where my veggie garden is.

the screened porch is a great spot to watch birds and other wildlife since it's usually darker in there and they can't see me.

Yesterday and today i picked a bunch of snap peas and enjoyed them in my meals. I see tiny green tomatoes on the plants and also tiny little zucchini. Yippee.

When i planted everything, it seemed like i had plenty of room but of course now things have grown huge and i can hardly walk around in there. Well, once the snap peas are spent, maybe another week or two, i can pull them out and make some more room to get around in.

The deer having been making their way to the side yard daily now becus small green apples are dropping from the apple tree. I berlieve it's the only remaining producing apple tree left. At one time i had 4 or 5, but one came down in a storm and 2 or 3 others are diseased and not doing well. However, i still have a few crabapples around, tho they too are diseased.

I pruned a lot of deadwood out of the snowball hydrangea treee and used my electric trimmer to trim back the 20 foot row of forsysthia, and also trimmed, while i had it out, 2 large spireas and 2 azaelas. Then i swept and raked all the trimmings, put them in the wheelbarrow and dumped most of it behind the toolshed.

I worked first thing in the am, around 8 am, until it got too hot to work, around 10:30, then went out around mid-day when it got cloudy and looked like a thunderstorm. Each time i'm careful to don my kneehigh rubber boots (tick prevention) and then i take them off before i step in the house.

A month or so ago my friend H. finally found a p/t job. She didn't want to work full time and i can't say i blame her. I believe she's about 65 now, but she has a lot of bills and takes care of her 95-year old mother, who lives with her. for a very long time she has been having problems with her mother, who has very high blood pressure but doesn't like to take her meds and when she doesn't, she gets paranoid and believes H. is trying to kill her. She won't eat the meals that H. makes becus she thinks H. is trying to poison her. Her mother has called 9-1-1- several times. It is a shame that at that age in life, she seems so unhappy and agitated. (She may have dementia as well.) She is much more manageable, H., says, when she takes her medication. I think the time may have come when she might need to consider putting her in a nursing home. I really don't know H. manages to be so even-keeled and calm about things.

I've been hearing firecrackers here and there, the big lead-up to the 4th. It's not something i especially look forward to; my cat doesn't like it and i feels orry for the wild animals out there in the woods.

Tomorrow is the 1-week mark since my spinal tap, so i need to call the doc's office and see if they have the results. The funny thing is, my only symptom, the headaches) have disasppeared, save for the a.m. before the spinal tap. But since 2 days before the spinal tap and except for that day, i haven't had headaches at all. I'm wondering if maybe the oral antibiotics actually did work or if this is just a temporary respite with the Lyme going underground, as it were, in my system. It is a relief not to have to deal with them and actually, i feel 100% fine. I sure do hope i don't have to do the IV meds. 3 weeks with a tube taped to your arm is one big pain. How can i garden? I'd get it dirty. How can i shower? (With that arm held up and away.) Just a pain to deal with and after a while that thing will start to get really sore in my arm. (I know, i've done this before with the MS.)

Thanks for all your kind comments to previous post. I haven't been posting that often, but I do feel like i have friends here.

So i'm guessing i was bit sometime in late March or early April, when the tick nymph is practically invisible, the size of a period in this post.

I didn't see the doc, at my physical, until i'd been having nearly daily headaches for about 3 weeks. I thought initially i was just staring at my computer screen too much. Then it was another week's wait for the blood test, which confirmed Lyme Disease, then another 2 days before getting the meds becus my doc didn't want to be bothered on a weekend, then 6.5 weeks on oral antibiotics, which did not stop the headaches.

Then i was referred to a neurologist who ordered a spinal tap which i had last week. (Not fun, let me assure you.) Now i'm waiting another week for the test results, which, if +, will mean another 3 weeks of daily IV antibiotics on an out-patient basis at my local hospital.

In the meantime, I've started a supplemental herbal treatment with 3 herbs which cost me about $120 for a 2 month supply. (I'll need more than that, but that's to get started.) I figure it can't hurt. It's what my sister used, the one who is anti-modern medicine, to cure herself of Lyme. I'm skeptical of that, but as i said, it can only help and i already have enough health issues that i don't need one more chronic problem.

All this s*** from one tiny tick.

Thing is, i can't imagine giving up gardening, and i already was doing plenty to protect myself (DEET spray, boots, hat, tick check, baths). However, I can do more to avoid the shady, brushy perimeters of my yard which is prime tick habitat, as opposed to the sunny lawn areas. I had been making great progress just clearning out lots of brush and tree branches that had accumulated over the years and didn't break down as much as i imagined it would/should. Anyway, in the process of clearing out tick habitat i got bit by a tick. Hmph.

In other news, i've had great success selling miscallenous items on Craig's List, which i think i've mentioned before. Thus far, i've sold:
* complete set of golf clubs
* Owl nest box
* arched wood garden bridge
* mini refrigerator

Still available are: sleeping bag, rollerblades, girl's ladybug beaded keepsake box, a tennis racket and handcrafted drum.

I noticed as i've been selling stuff that i seem to have collected a variety of sports equipment that was largely a waste of money. The golf clubs i bought mainly becus the man i was dating at the time played, but personally, i've been exposed to the game before and never really took to it. $200 wasted, but at least i got $100 from selling them.

The rollerblades i bought a decade ago, always thought it'd be so much fun to do once i practiced at it, as i loved rollerskating as a kid, but they've been sitting around collecting dust and as i approach 50 i think i should avoid injury-prone sports, and this would be one of them. $225, down the drain. The problem there is that you need to blade on asphalt that's in very good condition; the roads and parking lots around here are full of major cracks, which can send you flying.

Anyway, i'm kind of hooked on craig's list now. I just couldn't rev up the time or enthusiasm to learn the complexities of ebay, plus who has time to run to the PO to ship stuff? Craig's List is absolutely free, plus the buyer picks up. It couldn't be easier, and you can post pix. So i'm still mentally looking around my home for items i think could sell. I like to lighten my load; the less "stuff" i have around here, the better i feel.

My Albanian mason finished up my brick patio expansion in the backyard. It looks quite nice.



I still have to clean up back there, pulling weeds, putting in a few new perennials from elsewhere in the yard, then mulching. But you get the idea here. The pathway leading to the right connects to my main (original) patio behind the hitchen. So now you can walk from this end, from the screened porch, all the way to the kitchen end, and there's a nice square border around the dogwood tree.

He tried to talk me into redoing the original older section of the patio, which now looks quite worn out compared to the new section,but i simply can't afford it. He was a nice guy and i enjoy giving work to immigrants trying to buy into the American dream. Most of these tradesmen work very, very hard.

Today was a day off for me, thank God, i was in need of one, so i had the plumber come and fix the leaky toilet. Yeah, i broke down; killed me to pay someone to come and do that, but i'm inept. To make it more worth the cost of his visit, and to console myself after learning i'd have to have a spinal tap, i had picked up a new gorgeous kitchen faucet at Home Depot. Quite lovely brushed nickel finish. In fact, it's so lovely, i think i'll take a pic of it to show you....



So he took care of both things today; i also decided to get my oil tank filled up today. I have always done the fill-up for the coming winter during the dead of summer when prices drop, but in this economy, nothing works like it used to. I couldn't decide whether it'd be cheaper to get it now or perhaps wait til July/August. My gut told me do it now. So I got it at $4.24 a gallon for a grand total of $815. (The next day it jumped to $4.50 a gallon.) If i keep temps at about 62 in the house and wear sweaters, that will get me through about half the season. Depressing.

With these major expenditures, I declare that's the end of all MAJOR spending for the remainder of the year. No more major home improvements.

I had planned a few days kayaking with dad on the Jersey shore in mid-July, but my iv treatments may interfere with that, so i'll have to play it by ear. Thus far, i haven't scheduled any vacation time and i'm sorely in need of an extended break but more than that, i need to have FUN. That's rather hard to do when you're not married and not dating anyone. So i've been spending most of my weekends working in the garden/yard/veggie garden, reading, enjoying my porch and the cat. I still want to take my mom to a local botanical garden/musuem; we were to go today, but it's just too muggy/hot today. Aiming now for next Friday, which i also have off due to the holiday.

Thus far my teeny garden yielded 2 huge bowls of salad and a handful of snap peas. But things are really taking off now with tomatoes and zucchini(?) thriving in the heat. There are many more snap peas, but they're still small.


With prices rising as they are, I'm going to have to pull back from buying organics whenever possible. It's just too much. Having tallied up my month of June expenses a few days early today, I eyeballed a snapshot of my YTD. There are just 2 expense categories I'm happy about.

My average monthly electric bill YTD is just $65. And my car insurance is holding firm at $378 annually (9-yr-old car with no collision). Oh, and basic cable costs me just $16. Every other category seems to have spiked.

Food, of course, is a biggie. My average monthly food expenditures YTD are $231, pretty high for one person, no? Because i've kept track of my expenses for years, i can easily compare this to last year's monthly average. Turns out 2007 monthly average was $225, so i'm really not spending any more than last year at this point. That's a little surprising, though I have begun to favor the discount Latino supermarket rock bottom prices over S&S. It's an 18-minute drive compare dto 3 miles to S&S but i try to fit it in when i have other errands in that area, which is often.

Another expense category that makes me cringe is gasoline. Last year, when i worked a mile from home, my total spent on gas was $515. 2008 YTD i already spent $688, so my annual figure will be double last year's total. Sigh. I seriously research getting a scooter, but ruled it out since i could only use it on good weather days and not in winter. Plus, it would cost about $4,000 and i anticipate getting a new car in 2 or 3 years. That new car purchase will be a Prius or anything comparable that's on the market at that time, so at that point, the scooter woudl be redundant and so I'm not sure spending $4,000 to save $$ for just 2-3 years is worth it.

Here's another interesting comparison. I feel like i'm spending a lot on health insurance premiums and out of pocket expenses this year. I am paying more for my health plan, but i am getting better coverage, namely, dental and vision that i didn't have before.

Let's compare:
2007 total spent on premiums: $240
2007 total spent on out of pocket: $1,198

2008 (6 mths) YTD total spent on premiums: $408 (annual will be about $820
2008 (6 mths) YTD total spent on out of pocket: $696 (mostly the Lyme and new eyeglasses)

So my premiums are much higher this year than last, and total out of pocket remains to be seen. Aside from whatever remaining out of pocket i have to pay for the spinal tap and IV treatments, I don't foresee much more; all my usual checkups are done for the year except gyno.

Average monthly spent on clothing YTD: $69. I want to reduce that. Clothing costs a lot and is a waste of $ when i have so much in my closet.

I seem to have "lost" my car registration. I may have tossed it accidentally when i was "cleaning out" my glove compartment box which is always jammed with napkins, coupons and unused maps. I can either wait til i get the registration renewal in the mail next July 2009 and risk getting stopped by a cop, or pay $20 to get a registration duplicate by mail. Which would you do? I've become such a penny-pincher and I hate all unnecessary expenses.

Stop & Shop had a sale on pints of blueberries at .99 each (limit 2 per visit) but i managed to grab a total of 8 pints becus the season is short and i won't pay more than .99. I sometimes freeze the extras for use later in the season, but my freezer is packed. So i've been eating LOTS of blueberries in recent days. Today i made a blueberry/banana/yogurt smoothie. It was pretty good. And i had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. That was good too.

This has been a bad summer so far in terms of carpenter ants finding their way into my house. I've got protein-based and sweet-based ant poison you sprinkle around, mostly outside, but it's a waste to apply it if it's gonna rain soon, and this season seems we've had thunderstorms every other night. ants love that kind of weather. Damp, humid, hot. Carpenter ants are so disgusting. I'm afraid to walk barefoot in my house cus you never know where you might see one.

Today will be the equivalent of a rainy day for me; too hot to venture outside with temps up to 94 forecast, and humid. I'm not minding too much. I've got 3 ceiling fans a-whirring and I'm spending the day as follows:

1. hand washing a few delicate tops in the sink, the kind of thing i never get to

2. catching up on reading

3. maybe i'll whip up a risotto for lunch

4. watching my Netflix movie, Maxed Out, about excess credit card usage. The documentary came about as a result of a lawsuit the Ohio state attorney general brought against Citibank and a sandwich shop which got students on college campuses to sign up for credit cards by enticing them with free food. The suit was dropped against the sandwich chain in exchange for their cooperation in making the film. I learned about this as i was researching a story on aggressive credit card marketing tactics on college campuses. It was never something that was done when i was in school in the late 70s/early 80s, but it apparently really got to be a big thing by the late 80s and from what i've read, every major university has "affinity" relationships with credit issuers where the credit card companies pay big bucks to the schools (a great source of revenue for budget-trapped schools) in exchange for exclusive rights to market to college students. It's really an invasion of students' privacy, as the schools hand over their complete contact information.

Last night i pulled up 3/4 of my little lettuce plants. I figured the heat would make them bolt so i might as well enjoy them now and give more room to the heat-loving veggies which are suddenly growing with great vigor. So i had a great organic lettuce salad with cherry tomoatoes and cucumber slices. I will pull the remaining lettuce today and repeat same. I finally got around with throwing a bag full of grass clippings around the veggie plants as a mulch. If i see a problem with slugs developing, i guess i'll have to remove it, but otherwise, these plants will dry up quickly.

Guess what? If you read my post of 2 or 3 days ago of the baby bluebirds up and atom, out of the box, and of my relief that i could reclaim my front yard without disturbing them, well, they're baaaaaccckkk. I don't know if it's the same adult pair or a different pair, but i saw a bluebird going in and out of the box; i didn't have my binoculars with me, but it appeared it could be building a new nest, as i had obligingly cleaned out the former. Well, god bless 'em. May the world be filled with bluebirds.

They're calling for temps int he 90s all this week, and tomorrow will be the worst at 97 (with humidity, feel like 105!). I'm wearing shorts to the office tomorrow. I feel a little funny doing so, but the guys have been wearing baggy denim shorts and t-shirts for a few weeks now. I will try to dress a bit neater than that, but shorts it will be!

Rising oil prices have been on my mind. If you're not regularly thinking about it, I wouldn't understand why unless you're very wealthy.

The problem is my 48-mile daily commute (RT). I've looked into our local Metro Pool, which matches up people who want to drive together, www.nuride.com, the trains, even buying a scooter. Working from home right now is not an option, though i plan to re-request it again at my 6-month review. The trains and scooter aren't practical for me and i couldn't find a rider through the 1st 2 programs.

Then I spoke with my neighbor who lives behind me (the ones whose dog was killed by coyotes). I spoke with the wife, L., whose husband S. commutes in daily to the same city I do, but he's about 2 miles north of where i go on the same highway. His hours are a little different; he gets out a 1/2 hour later than i do. (When my summer hours end, he'll also have to be at work a 1/2 hour earlier than me.)

She said she'd talk to him and have him call me if he was interested. That was last weekend and i was disappointed that he never called. Then i ran into her today walking her Shepherd and a new golden retriever puppy she got. She mentioned that her husband was "open to it" and just hadn't had a chance to call me back yet. I'm psyched!!!

My proposal to him will be that we share rides 4 days a week; he drives 2, i drive 2. (Downside: we'd have to allow an extra 10 minutes for him to drop me off on days he drives.) And since i get out of work 30 minutes before him and becus i love walking and fitting in exercise, i would make it a habit to begin walking north on the secondary (4 lanes) highway we both work on. I'm not sure what point i could reach in 30 minutes, but once i tried it that could be our predetermined pickup spot when it was his turn to drive. It would shave a little bit off his drive. It's a very busy roadway filled with offices, retail, gas stations, etc.

And as for me dropping him off and picking him up, it wouldn't be a problem at all since his office is on my way. So i'm really hoping he calls and we can work something out. Though even doing this, we'd both only cut 2 days worth of driving from our costs each week. Well, hey, that's actually a 40% savings, so it IS significant. I would JUMP to do that becus i see no other way to cut my gas expenses. He and his wife both drive gas guzzlers so it could help him even more.

One more thought: he's so tall i hope his head wouldn't hit the ceiling of my Honda. He might not like that.

Blistering heat today. Not sure what i'll do with the day besides my a.m. eye doc appointment. Maybe I'll try to continue piecing together that cabinet that R. helped me with yesterday. And maybe I should pick most of the tiny lettuce i've got since this heat will make it bolt (turn bitter) for sure.

To help everyone on the east coast stay cool today, picture this:



(That's my toolshed you see in the nor'easter of '06.)

Today was my 1st of 6 Summer Fridays....

Last night after getting home, i gazed upon the long and overgrown front lawn and wondered what was going on with the bluebirds, as i hadn't seen any activity for 2 days. I decided to venture a look. I was a little anxious about doing so. Those babies which are born first have a better survival rate than eggs that hatch a day or two later, as the biggest gaping mouth gets the most worms.

Sometimes,sadly, a baby bird will starve to death. I found that to be the case once with a wren nest that had been built in a hanging flower basket by my front door. When they finally vacated, i took the pot down and sadly discovered one dead baby bird.

Another problem that can affect the mortality rate of baby songbirds is blowfly larvae. The blowfly lays its eggs in the bottom of the box, underneath the nest, and the larvae crawl up and attach themselves to the legs of the baby birds. They are parasitic and can weaken or even kill the babies. My bluebird guide, written by a local bluebird fan, instructs you to dust the box with Rototene within 2 days after the eggs hatch; this will kill the larvae. I just couldn't bring myself to disturb the nest at all.

But...here's the good news....I stepped to the side of the nestbox just in case something flew out suddenly. Then i gingerly lifted up the front door of the box and was very relieved to find nothing there. Everyone had successfully fledged. In fact, the white pine needle nest was so clean and tidy, you might think no birds were ever there; not an eggshell to be found. They were there, though, becus you could hear the babies chirping all at once when the parents brought food. And, there was quite a lot of white bird poop on the side walls of the nest box, leading me to think it must've gotten very crowded in there as the birds grew.

Although i had hoped to see a bevy of bluebirds in the yard learning how to catch insects from their parents, I'm glad they all made it out alive. Just wondering where they went, is all.

So last night i mowed about half the lawn, and i finished it up this afternoon. Now i can spend as much time in my veggie garden as i want, and i don't have to worry when the neighbor's cat comes to greet me. However, i did promptly clean out the box and clean out that poop; sometimes, bluebirds will nest a 2nd time in a season, and if they return, they will be welcomed with plenty of meal worms from the bait and tackle shop.

I had a nice visit this morning with my friend R., who after years of biopsies that indicated nothing, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He is 60. He had a bunch of tests that showed the cancer has not spread elsewhere in his body, so that is very heartening news. He still has to have radiation, and wants to go with a new technique of delivering radiation, but the insurance company is balking at paying for it (why the f*** do we pay for insurance if we can't count on it when we need it?)so his treatment will be DELAYED until the hospital and insurer come to terms. IDIOTS.

R. has invited me to join him for a 6-day trip to southern Utah in October. Well, sort of invited me. You see, he'd gotten the tickets (earned thru rewards and frequent flyer miles) and scheduled the trip while he was still with his wife. Now, they're divorcing, for the 2nd time. Becus he still cares about her, he's asked her to go 1st, and let me know that; i guess she hasn't given a definitive answer yet but i don't know why she has to think about it. It's sort of messing with his head when she comes to visit and play with the dog they bought jointly. He still has feelings for her; she'll give him a hug but clearly she wants out of the marriage. Meanwhile, she's wracked up $18K in credit card debt.

But anyway, I'm thinking, i would like to go on this trip. I've known R. for over 20 years now; we dated seriously when we 1st met. It's strictly platonic now; we'd have separate rooms. He can be very difficult to get along with becus he has a very controlling nature. But i have wanted to go to the string of nat'l parks in southern Utah for many years...Bryce Canyon, Arches National Park, Zion.... I was there when i was about 5 years old.

I was just wondering the other day, after hearing on the news how expensive flying has become, if i would ever travel again as i did in my 30s. It's something i've really wanted to do but i haven't always had someone to go with.

R. offered me a ticket for $100; when i said i thought that was a very, very reasonable price, he explained he didn't actually have to buy the tickets and said maybe he would charge me $200! (Well, i'm sure i can get him to agree to $150 and it'd still be a good deal for me.) We'd split all other costs down the middle.

If i did the trip my way, i'd hike and photograph every day. But R. is not a hiker and it's partly his sedentary lifestyle and poor diet that contributed to his prostate cancer, IMO. So traveling with him could be very frustrating for me, Ms. Outdoorswoman, becus i know i wouldn't be able to do all the things i'd want to do on that kind of vacation. It would be an exercise in patience and compromise, that's for sure. I know R. pretty well. We are fast friends, but polar opposites in many ways. He is a diehard Republican; I will always be a liberal. We are both frugal, but he is too extreme to the point of exasperation. I like to physically challenge myself on my vacations, eat good meals (mostly vegetarian) and stay at a nice inn; he would rather drive through a park in a car, only eats pizza and burgers and would rather save $ by staying at a Motel 6. Sigh.

But i'm feeling a little perturbed to be sort of put in a waiting pattern. I don't mind him telling me i'm his "backup" person in case his ex-to-be says no. But i don't think it's fair to keep me waiting all summer and not being able to plan on it or not. I have a feeling he would just keep it open with her in the hope she'd eventually say yes, and i have a feeling she'd delay telling him anything becus I don't know, that's just the way she is, not cutting the cord completely and continuing to string him along.

So i think i'm going to ask him to give her a month, say, end of July, to make up up her mind and that i would like to know by that time whether i'm going or not. I think that's a reasonable thing to ask. If he can't agree to that, i don't think i'll consider it anymore.

On an entirely different note, my mother has had a string of successes lately with her art. I think i mentioned here before she's exhibiting now at the company I work for, and several of my coworkers have complimented her work. Tonight she told me she won Best in Show at the local Arts Society in my town. It's a $500 cash prize. Nice going, Mom.

Here's some of her work. She works in a LOT of different genres, though all contemporary.






This a mural on my living room wall.



So when R. visited with me today, he took pity on the "assembly required" cabinet that lay in a hundred pieces on my living room floor. It sat like that for over 2 months now; i got stuck early on trying to figure out how to attach a metal slider to a drawer in the cabinet. He helped me finish the drawer and that alone took an hour. I'm eternally grateful for that. He had the dog with him in his car, so we went to Starbucks and then just sat in the car and talked.

Afterwards, i made a trip to the dump (with yet another pile of sticks and cut up branches), Stop N Shop and ok i spent about $55 on 3 summer tops and a pair of shorts at TJ Maxx. The guys at my office are already wearing shorts, so while i often freeze there with the super-efficient AC, i want to wear shorts too!

My best friend at work is a real sweetheart of a guy who went out of his way to help me get settled when i first started the job, and how i sit next to him. We have the same job so we talk all the time and commiserate. I was so surprised to learn he's a former actor; he freelanced, and stopped doing it when he got married and started a family, but as recently as 2006 he was in a variety of shows including Law and Order and a number of movies. He mostly played cops and detectives. He's got that kind of 'look.'

After my success selling a refrigerator, I've re-posted an Indian drum (still no luck) and a sleeping bag used once in Alaska as well as a women's set of golf clubs. Just things around here i really have no use for. I had a few people who tried to talk me down in $ for the drum but i know i had a fair price on a very unique item already, so i'd just as soon keep if i don't get the $ i wanted.

Had to go back to the doctor Wednesday as my pretty much daily headaches are still with me, after 4.5 weeks on antibiotics. They were a little concerned i was still having headaches, as they said that Doxycyclin is the "gold standard" in treatment for Lyme Disease. But they said some people take a little longer than 3 weeks. So I'm continuing for 2 more weeks on them. If i still have headaches after that, they're going to send me to a neurologist. Uh-oh. I really hope these meds work.

Tomorrow i'm seeing a new optometrist and am anxious to get new lenses for my glasses, whether i need a new prescription or not. Both lenses somehow got major scratches right smack in the center, and i'm tired of viewing the world in a slightly blurry manner. I really liked my other optometrist, but he is no longer accepting the vision plan i got with the new job. I've checked out the benefits of both my vision plan and the dental plan and for the small $4 per paycheck deduction taken every 2 weeks, it's really worth the cost. A dental visit and cleaning here runs about $125, which is more than my annual payments. There's no deductible on routine cleanings, so the whole thing should be free.

This is a view of the north side of my house. What you see is just a walkway connecting back yard to front yard. Doesn't look like much (The Jungle is the fenced in area to left) but the big achievement here was pulling out (by hand) a well established bed of pachysandra along the house. I'm sure it was planted here about 30 years ago by some well-meaning owner who figured it was maintenance-free and stayed green in winter, which is true, but it's also a haven for mice and moles, carpenter ants and ticks because it's a moist environment that stays damp, perfect for ants and ticks, my nemeses. I'm still on meds for Lyme Disease. So anyway, it was a lot of work, and then i mulched. There are a number of lovely ferns there which you really can't see here. The tall shrubs on the right side look overgrown, i know, but they are rhododendrons and mt. laurel which are great in bloom.

I read so much about the economy, personal finances and money management daily; it's part of my job. (I haven't said too much about the website I write for, since when it launches in another month or so, it will feature my byline on stories as well as my photo, so i've been a bit conflicted about sharing all about that as i'd essentially lose my anonymity here if i share the URL.)

I try to apply as much as i can from these articles to my own life. For instance, I've read with interest about how many people are selling off personal possessions as a way to raise cash. I decided i should try to do the same. I've learned (the hard way) that once you convert money into material objects, it's very difficult to convert those possessions back into money. If you do sell them, you'll never get full value. So i try these days to be more careful to begin with before parting with cash.

I've tried tag sales in the recent past, but honestly, you can sit out there all day long and make maybe $100 or a little more. I don't like to haggle, so i priced my things very cheaply to start with and was privately annoyed that 1) people still wanted to haggle anyway and 2) lower prices didn't seem to move stuff any quicker.

I don't have time to learn the ins and outs of eBay, popular as it is, and having to package and ship every item out, with an extra trip to the post office, doesn't appeal to me.

So i recommend Craig's List. It's FREE, for one thing, and i only sell to those locally who can pick up.

When i had my surgery 2 summers ago, my then boyfriend very generously and somehwat impuulsively bought me a half fridge. It was a Magic Chef, stood about 3 feet high. I wasn't supposed to do the stairs much, so i pretty much lived on the 2nd floor of my home for 3 weeks, and yes, that Magic Chef came in handy after we stocked it with food and drinks. It was quite a nice appliance, with a stainless steel front door. He got it on sale for about $100.

But that fridge has sat in my spare bedroom these last few years, and T. and I aren't together anymore. The fridge isn't too heavy, but its bulky size meant i wasn't going to try to carry the thing down my narrow staircase. I really had no use for it and i kept it unplugged so i wouldn't waste electricity.

So that was the first item i posted on Craig's List, with a photo. I sold it yesterday to someone right here in town for just $65, a very good price considering i used it exactly 3 weeks. It was a little bothersome to have to deal with 3 others who expressed interest, made plans to come and then i heard nothing. That just goes with the territory, i guess. So it worked, IMO, much better than eBay with its shipping costs, or even a classified ad in the local newspaper, which would have cost me $5 or $7. Success!

I also posted a native American Indian drum i have. It has a beautiful sound.



I like it, and still like native American Indian pottery and other things, for example, but i really don't use the drum. Actually, i used it for a time as a coffee table after putting a round piece of glass on top of it. I had one guy who wanted it but he's about an hour drive, so we kind of left it open that the next time he's in my area kind of thing. But i think i'll repost that drum again, since postings expire after a week.

I've been mulling over what else i could post on Craig's List. Obviously junky stuff is not going to do well, and of course a picture is essential. But anyway, i can't tell you how satisfying it was to pocket $65 cash (enough to pay my electric bill for a month) and gain more space in the spare bedroom.


This is just a view of the backyard, which i liked becus it captures the beauitful red maple in the background, the rhodi in bloom.


I started another price book for groceries at FOUR area stores i shop at. It's all out of order, though, so today i plan to organize it by food type. I'm not sure how useful it will be, or for how long, since prices seem to be continuing their upward trajectory.


This (white) viburnum in bloom is what i consider my biggest success story as far as planting go. I bought it, mail order, as a 2 foot high stick and as you can see, it's now about 12 feet high and as wide. It's spectacular in bloom and then it gets these berries which are so relished by the birds they're picked off before they even ripen.

Yesterday was a nice mix of relaxation and a bit of work. Since i get up now for work at 5:50 a.m., i'm used to an early start, and lately i've gotten into the habit of getting out the door by 8 a.m. to run my errands while crowds are still light. So i did my grocery shopping, gassed up the car for another week ($4.19 a gallon) and returned some DVDs at the library. That was my ONE single trip i'm allowing myself per weekend.

We were expecting major thunderstorms all day, but they didn't actually arrive til after dark. I read my Kiplinger's and Money, made a yummy garlic shrimp and orzo over salad greens and that's about it. I had fenced off a portion of my strawberry patch to ward off woodchucks. (I've seen a baby in my yard twice now.) But i realize the numerous chipmunks, cute as buttons, are the ones who will really do a number on the berries. You know, one bite out of each. So me thinks i need yet MORe fencing to try to keep them out; maybe i'll try my netting and just drape it over the berries, but i think chipmunks could gnaw through that.

The veggie garden's coming along nicely with no signs of critter intrusions. The peas are growing well tho i still don't think they've flowered yet. They all got a slow start as we had some cold weeks there for a while.

The baby bluebirds hatched a while back, not sure exactly when, but i watch as both parents fly to and from the box to feed them. According to a little booklet i have from a local bluebird expert, each baby needs to be fed 40x daily. I'm just a little concerned becus i don't see nearly enough activity (40 x 4 eggs - 160 daily feedings) to back that up, so i hope they're all well. The bluebird expert i mentioned instructs you to be regularly checking the box to monitor when the eggs hatch, to dust the bottom with Rototene to kill blow fly larvae which are parasitic and attach themselves to the legs of the tiny bluebirds, sometimes even killling them, but i just can't bring myself to do that. I'm always afraid i'm bothering them too much, and i know last time i mowed the parents were divebombing me, obviously upset i was so close to the box.

So i decided not to mow my front lawn again until the babies fledge. that's supposed to take a total of 2-3 weeks, depending on food supply, and of course i don't know exactly when they hatched, but it's been at least 1.5 weeks now, if not 2. I'm fighting the urge to mow as the lawn is getting long.

So, the local woodchuck population seems to be thriving. Which is ironic, since last week my neighbor who lives behind me up on the hill had thier Golden Retriever killed by a coyote. Yes, a golden retriever, an 85 pound dog which was with their German Shepherd.

She called me and other neighbors to warn them to keep their pets inside. She'd let them out at 6:15 a.m. before work and only the German Shepherd returned. They found the body not 15 feet from their house, in a wooded area.

They called local animal control and the state, all of which have a more or less hands off policy about wildlife; learn to live with them, basically, which, tragic as this story was, i kind of agree with. Dogs shouldn't be allowed to roam freely, or cats either, IMO. My sister, who keeps chickens, has had her share of problems with packs of roaming "pet" dogs that killed her chickens just for fun. And cats, as natural predators, really do a number on the sonbgird population, baby rabbits or anything small enough to kill.

So my neighbor called the press, and 2 papers featured prominent stories. According to the paper, coyotoes don't hunt in packs, so it surprised me even more to think that a single coyote could kill such a large dog. I'm wondering if it was perhaps a mother defending pups or a territorial thing. Also, the dog, if it spotted the coyote in the distance, would likely have gone running toward it as you know how interested dogs are in meeting other dogs. The coyote could have attacked then.

Summer Fridays have arrived at my office. So now thru end of August I'll work 8 a.m. to 5:30 pm, a long day. My full lunch hour is now 30 minutes as well, but in return I'll gt 6 of the 12 Fridays this summer off. And on thos alternate Fridays I do work, I can expec to get out a little early, like 3 or 4 pm, so it's really not bad at all.

Come fall, as the days get shorter, we'll go back to our 8:30 to 5:30 pm routine and full hour lunches.

On Friday, when i left work around 3:45 p.m., i stopped at a bike shop to pick up my Trek hybrid mountain bike. I hadn't used it much in the past few years and it needed a new back tire, new front brakes and general cleaning/greasing. That cost me $118. Steep. But in my quest to save money on fuel, I really like the idea of trying to use my bike more, not for exercise, tho that's a bonus, but for simple transportation. That's really hard to do where i live because there are many hills everywhere you go and lots of traffic and busy roads. So where can i go on my bicycle, from a practical standpoint? Well, i did make one pleasant trip, about 15 minutes one way on a fairly safe road to the bait and tackle shop to get grubs for the bluebirds, but that's not a trip i'll regularly make. I can also peddle to the library rather than walking; that's a 10-minute bike ride. Also within range and relative safety is an over-priced supermarket i don't frequent and the bank. they are supposed to start building a new supermarket across the street from the other one. I haven't seen any activity there at all tho they reported a while ago in the local papers they planned to open this fall. I wonder if the current economy/tight credit is affecting their timetable. I hope not. This is an unusual family-owned supermarket and would be the third in the area. I haven't shopped at their other stores more than a few times, but their prices seem "decent," or perhaps comparable to Stop N Shop if you look for the specials, so i would shop there before i went to Big Y.