Good morning everyone....we are having a partly sunny day with April showers later....our daffies are lovely and on the way our....the hyacinths are blossoming and being that this is only our second summer here don't remember what else was here....we will see.....anxious to start the veggie garden but it is  too soon....hope everyone has a wonderful smoke free day....

Dear friends ~

Brrr...cold here by the lake.  Already in the high 30's and a freeze warning in effect.  Just went out to cover the lilac bush (in buds) and all of my favorite, the forget-me-nots with dish towels.  Hopefully, the wind will not be a problem tonight.

Trying to tackle the gym every other day.  Did the treadmill and bike there yesterday.  Today, the bike here for 30 minutes (3.5 miles)  Guess I'm slow..

Hi to all ~ Keep the Faith ~  I think it is wonderful you are exercising and staying fit, Ernie.  I try to take the least amount of rx I can get away with!   Our booster shots this Friday.  I will feel better when I have it for the plane ride at the end of the month.

Susan

Hi Paul,

So you reside in or near New York City ~  That must be an exciting way of life.  I've visited twice ~ once when I was a teenager and my Grandfather was sailing to Europe on either the Queen Elizabeth or the Queen Mary.  We took a tour of the ship before he departed.   And once, in the 1970's.  Overwhelmed, quite frankly at the tall skyscrapers....spoken, I guess, like a girl from Ohio :-).  We did visit Mama Leone's (not sure of the spelling) and saw Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway.  Have never been back.

How are you doing with your quit?   Sometimes, I know it is not easy.  Try and avoid people and places that would be triggers.  Not always easy......

Susan

Hi Miss Kitty ~

Yes, it is always fun to see what is popping up in the Spring.  Right now, I have forget-me-nots everywhere.  Of course, I "scatter" all of the dried seeds in the fall from the plants.  It's my favorite plant!  I need to have Jim's help to dig out some of the green & white hostas which can be troublesome.  Always a joy to see the rebirth of flowers.  Feeding the birds.....the squirrels....the ducks and the chipmunks.  Have resorted to Discount Drug Mart for bird feed....they are eating me out of house and home....

Enjoy the weather...we have a freeze warning here!   Susan

Dear Jerthie,

A career in cosmetics ~ I'll take a recommendation for a good "line" eraser other than fillers or Botox?  Lol   So many on the market........

I'm a bit discouraged today as I made my Mother's recipe for Pumpkin Bread, using Almond Flour.  This is for a friend who must have Gluten Free.  At any rate, I grabbed Super Fine Almond Flour and what can only be described as a "fatal disaster".   The bread was mushy and would not set up.  I ended up throwing it all out.  Any suggestions?   I think the "super fine" Almond Flour just didn't get it!  Well, even in our later years we have cooking disasters.

Now making a good old fashioned pot roast.  Jim wants gravy (I don't eat that) so on we go......

Stay warm.  It's cold down here!   Susan

Susan...

You could use skincare with retinol to help with lines and wrinkles!  A serum before moisturizer at night also helps, as does sunscreen in the morning after moisturizer.  A good night of rest also goes a long way!

Almond flour would result in mushiness... I learned that the hard way too.  I am not sure what to replace that with.  I don't bake enough TO know.  Pot roast and gravy.... Oh yummy!

Cold here today but expecting warmth in the next few days with sun!  Good day all.

Good morning Kitty, Susan, Paul, Jerthie, and all.  Another cold morning but starting to warm up today.  We

have sun and not so much north wind today.  And nicer tomorrow.  I've about finished preparing the garden

tractor for it's grass cutting season.  I ordered a new air filter element, it's 10 to 15 years old.  I already cleaned

out the carburetor with carb spray and could use the old one until the new one arrives.  Sharpened the blades

this Spring, looks like I skipped it last year, they were marred up terrible.  Will have to sharpen daughter's tractor

blades also because I'm certain I skipped hers.  I better check if I have an engine oil filter for her tractor this morn.

My tractor is a 1996 with a 2 cylinder Kohler engine.  I'm getting quite a few holes in my mower deck.  I was welding

them but there are many now.  My daughter had the same model with a similar deck, might see about using that

one in a couple years.  I gave her a John Deere garden tractor I bought in a moving sale because her Craftsman tractor

was getting to hard to keep running.  Think her mower deck was still good.  It's twilight outside at 5:30 AM, Summer is

going to win the weather battle soon.  My deck will work until the mandrels that hold the blades weaken. 

I'm lucky I'm a man sometimes, don't care to much about wrinkles.  I would have liked to keep my hair for a few more

years because of the looks and the precancerous spots I get even though I almost always remember a hat when out

now.  The nurse told me last week it's partly because we didn't wear hats in the sun when we were young.  I really liked

my long hair when I was young, didn't want to cover it up.  Most did in the 70s.  I see lots of older males that still have hair.

Our omelet for the puppies and I is about the only cooking I do.  Long time ago I baked chocolate chip cookies but just as

well I let it go because it's very not good for diabetics.  As close as I got to baking bread. 

I got fooled along with many others.  I bought a 2 Terabyte external ssd drive case thinking it was a drive itself.  It was a

deceptive description.  So I have to order it again.  I didn't give a good review, along with others, so fewer will get fooled in

the future. 

Wife's flowers are coming up.  I'm spreading potting soil, from the flower pots she is retiring in the pool area, on the bare

spots in the lawn from all the excavating I did building drainage ditches.  The puppies are being terrible on the elongated

rectangular pots that she usually uses around the pool.  Probably be back next year.  My older daughter started the pool

area flowers when she worked at a greenhouse in the Spring every year for some years. 

I love pot roast and gravy but should be only a once a year thing for me, very hard to burn off the calories.  I can se big meals

on the scales and my glucose blood tests I do. 

I get my birdseed at Agway, a little cheaper than Tractor Supply.  Think it's a 50 pound bag.  We just get sunflower seeds.  Wife

says the smaller seeds were just pushed out of the way, from before I got involved in it.  I try to scare away the black birds and

squirrels, they scare away the smaller birds and eat too much.  I caught about 7 chipmunks and moved them down the road about

half a mile last year, haven't gotten into that yet this Spring.  It seems like you have one or two chipmunks when you really have 10

or 20. 

Hope you all have the sunshine today and enjoy the day.  But wear a hat for me. 

Ernie

Wife's flowers around the pool.

Flowers are so pretty....we wouldn't be able to leave them out yet....some nights it is warm enough but mostly no.....all is well so far....very windy here today...gusts up to 35 mph......and only 41 degrees......no agenda....lay low.....no stress that way...,.,.

Good morning Kitty and all.  That 2nd post down that picture, I fixed it last year so doesn't lean in like it is

in the photo.  Was a fair amount of work to remove the concrete from underground and get it straight and

deep enough.  That's why took me years to get around to it.  After this morning and Saturday morning it's

supposed to be in the 40s every morning.  30 right now and will dip a little before dawn.  Wife thinks that

we won't have as many plants on the ground this year because of the pups.

We had pizza with my older daughter and her family last eve.  We had more than usual trouble getting the

dogs to be civil with each other.  Maybe after they start getting walks will be easier.  I got a flat tire on the

way to get the pizza.  Think I was watching oncoming traffic and hit a branch in the road with a tire that was

already damaged.  Measuring the tread I'm not out much.  Ordered a tire and have to go to the garage for

inspection anyway in May.  My daughter came by and parked in the lane so traffic had to go out around,

while I changed the tire.  Wasn't sure the tire would stay up after I pumped it up because it's been sitting

around for 15 years and never used.  I turned around and came home, daughter picked up the pizza.

Probably won't use my Baja until I get the tire replaced.

Looked around in the amplifier I got for 2 meters with an ohmmeter, for a short circuit, because it tripped 

it's circuit breaker last time I powered it on.  Looks like I found a circuit almost shorted to ground.  Think

it might be the old relay I had to work on.  Was avoiding getting a new one because they're getting $75 for

them, were half of that just 7 years ago, huge mark up.  That's like the way cars go up in price, rare other

things do.  Haven't isolated the short to that relay yet, just suspicious.  Had to end my day early to exercise

before everyone got here for our pizza get together.  I was thinking the tube went bad so it's much cheaper

if it's this relay, new price for a tube is $800.

Puppies tore a solar light string in half out by the pool so I brought the two halves into the house and cut

the one light out and soldered the halves together.  We put them up high for now, later we will put them

back down on the large plant my wife has out there.  After the pups settle down. 

Have a good day all, here the north wind subsides a little more each day and it gets warmer. 

Ernie

Puppies at rest.  Much bigger now.

Good morning, all,

Slowly Spring is coming. I hear lots of complaints from neighbors and friends that it's not warm enough yet. I like this weather, easier to jog in. It gets very humid in NYC so I can wait for that.

Susan, my quit continues. I think because I went through this before it helps that I know much of what to expect. I know it does get easier.

I grew up in the borough of The Bronx. So, NYC is home and what I am familiar with.  I think wherever you grow up is what seems normal. I live in downtown Manhattan, a block from Wall Street. When I was younger this was entirely a financial district. Nobody lived down here, and it emptied out after work. After 9/11, many of the banks moved to Jersey City, or other boroughs. The buildings converted to residential apartments. So currently it's mostly residential, which still seems a bit odd to me. When I moved down here in 2008 there weren't many families, but the city built schools, parks, and dog runs so there are lots of families now. I like it, many of the streets are closed off so good for walking. Not good if you have a car or for delivery trucks.   

Enjoy the day,

Paul