Category: Weather

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Green Issues

I figure that we need to go as “green” as we all can possibly become these days. I’ve been told that there are website hosting companies that are doing what they can in order to become environmentally friendly, which I think is pretty darn cool. I’ve always been a recycling freak. I grew up with parents from the “hippie” generation and recycling has always been something that just came naturally due to their generation and their lifestyles.

There is so much more to being “green” than recycling, but it is something that we all can do and should be doing as much as possible. Where I live our taxes pay for our trash removal and recycling pick-ups. They provide us with the bins, one for plastic and glass, the other one for paper.

Each week all we need to do is place the containers on the curbside and the truck comes and picks them up and hauls them away. The only way that they can make it any easier would be to provide a person to stand in the corner of the kitchen or garage and separate and dispose of the items, and that just isn’t realistic now is it.

So I don’t understand why there aren’t more blue bins on the curb on recycling day. It really irks me to know that people are just to darn lazy to make such a small effort that would make such a difference to us all in the end.

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Dad, My Handy Man

At some point I will take the time and look for some new exterior shutters for the place. Each time my parents come over my father points out what a difference a pair of exterior shutters would make for the front of the house. He has even offered to look around for and with me when I’m ready to commit, so that would be cool.

My father has always been handy around the house and the yard, so any time he wants to give me a hand around the place, I’m all for it!

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Thinking Now of Robotic Pool Cleaners

Instead of getting an entire filtration system for my in ground pool in the back yard, I thought about purchasing one of those robotic pool cleaners to do all the major work for me. I found some really nice, top of the line pool cleaners online, for an affordable price, and there are so many options to fit your individual needs for such a hard job to keep up with. Thankfully today’s technology goes the extra mile and can do most, if not all, the dirty, grimy work for us. So happy to have found a pool cleaner to do just that for me, so I can just worry about laying back and enjoying a nice sunny day in my squeaky clean pool, with no worries.

These cold winter months don’t do a thing for me, so just thinking about my back yard pool has got me in a better mood, although that mood will quickly disappear as soon as I step outside into the cold later this afternoon.

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Amazing Waters

Having family in England has its good points for sure.  I love to visit them and one of the best things about that is they know all of the coolest places to visit.  Places that I would never be able to find on my own for sure.  They know how much I love anything to do with water and aquariums so my cousin took me to work with him to show me the new custom built aquarium his bosses had installed when they did the major upgrade of the main lobby.  It was absolutely gorgeous.

I stood there for hours just taking in all that was in that amazing aquarium.  I have to admit it was almost like being in the ocean in a submarine or scuba diving.  Taking in each and every inch of that amazing sea habitat took me what seemed hours.  The detail was in it was beyond anything I had ever seen before.  I did notice that there was small plaque that told who had made it for them and when I got home I looked up their web site out of curiosity.  Yes I was thinking along the lines of possibly using them myself some day.  I don’t know how or for what but there’s nothing I admire more than exceptional workmanship and I was looking at it for sure in that aquarium.

Once I got home, I decided to take a trip to a local zoo and they had this amazing seal habitat.  I had heard that they were looking for seal pools display solutions since their old one was exactly that, old.  I would not be surprised at all if they didn’t contact the same company for their new habitat.  You can’t deny the great workmanship and the new one is amazing too.

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California Fires

The fires that are once again taking place in California are devastating to all concerned. California is so broke that they are having a difficult time providing for their citizens much less being able to afford fighting these horrible fires. I feel for the fire fighters that must be suffering terribly with the hot temperatures in California and with the heat of the fires on top of it must be hell.

Every year this happens and every year I wonder when the fires won’t have anything left to burn. It must be a scary place to live and work.

up in smoke out west
California Fires at a Glance

 

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Summer Dresses

All my friends have started wearing summer dresses. I think that must be a new trend. My BFF looked totally stunning this afternoon in a pretty blue and white polka dot sundress with a fitted waist and a full skirt. I have always liked to wear shorts during the summer, but I have to admit that the dresses look a lot more feminine. They are nice and cool, too.

Maybe I’ll have to go to Kohl’s Department Store and try on a few dresses to see if this is something I can do, too. I do love my shorts, but the idea of a soft, swirly dress is suddenly very appealing.

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Do You Want to Be A Mermaid or a Whale?

Recently, in a large city in Australia, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.

It said, “This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?” A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern,

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.) They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia , the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia . Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don’t exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them … where is IT? Therefore, they don’t have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store? The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

P..S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren’t heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨

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TGIF

TGIF, what is there left to say. It’s been a long week and I’m looking forward to the week end, although I’ll be spending a good amount of it outside trying to take care of the yard. It is beginning to grow like crazy and I need to keep it from getting out of control to where I will most likely just throw my hands up in the air and be done with it all. That would suck considering how much time and energy I put into the planting, weeding, clearing, feeding, raking and of course the watering that I have done all on my own this year.

yard work
Lawn Care
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Spring Cleaning Time Again. . .

I mean really how hard can it be to get on your computer and go to the Google search and type in “cost of professional carpet cleaning austintexas” or “discount carpet cleaning services austin texas” or something of that nature in order for my aging aunt to get her carpets  thoroughly cleaned.  That way one of us doesn’t have to make the long drive to her place and use her very old and broken down do it yourself carpet cleaner that she has had for years, and should have thrown out ages ago in an effort to help her with her spring cleaning that she goes all out for each and every spring.

It didn’t use to be that big of a deal when more of us still lived locally or at least in the same state. But as most families have, folks have been moving further and further away as time goes by. But now that it is just a small handful and life is keeping everyone busy as bees trying to work as many jobs as they can find in these tough economic times that we have found ourselves in the middle of for way too long now.

So now we are trying to get my aunt to start using her computer more. For the most part she just uses it for emails and sending photos to friends and family. She knows her way around the keyboard and can type a million words a minute but as far as using it for researching anything or anyone is still something that she needs work and help with. Which is another task that one of needs to take by the horns with her as well, God Bless her.