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My first attempt at braiding garlic. This is month long cured hardneck garlic from my raised beds. Not the prettiest, but it’s my first time and I understand braiding hardneck garlic is more difficult. The third (and last) braid came out the best, in my opinion. There is definitely plenty of room for improvement. No place to hang these, so for now they’ll reside in the garage.

Getting closer to the BER months! I hate to wish my life away. The older I get, the faster it already goes. But, I can't wait!

My two year old artichoke transplant I put into my raised bed in March is thriving. I already harvested the main flower in mid-June, and we enjoyed it steamed with dinner. Even this first flower was on the small side for us, so I decided to allow the side shoots to all bloom and attract pollinators to the bed. The first one is now blooming, although I hope to get all eight side shoots to bloom at the same time.

I am! I got the account back on Thursday afternoon. No contact from Meta letting me know I could sign back in; I just took a chance, as I had been doing about three times a day since getting locked out. Once logged in, I received a push notification from Meta saying they found nothing that went against their Community Standards, so I still have no idea what caused the lock out to begin with.

School started here on the 1st. Wife and daughter weren’t happy. One attends and the other one teaches. Well to be fair my wife started back a week ago to get the classroom setup and all the planning and meetings.

Crazy that I’m looking forward to the lower 80’s temp this weekend. Yesterday I was taking my daughter to marching band practice, car said 113 when we got in, it had been sitting out in the sun all day so didn’t think much of it outside of the leather was stupid hot. Figured it would drop a ton once we were driving. Yeah, never got below 100-102. Heck no that’s way too hot.

Checking in because I’m not sure if I have or not. Hopefully I haven’t missed a month it has been crazy

I always try to come up with something to say each month instead of just checking in... but I really have nothing to say. The weather has been a lot nicer lately (who knew it could reach highs in the mid to upper 70s the first week of August). Making some progress on a few projects, but still procrastinating more than I should, maybe I can knock a few more out and motivate me to finish some more.

Happy August!

Happy August! We are cooled down to lows in the low 60s, highs in the upper 70s/low 80s, which is perfect...hoodies at night, shorts/swimsuits during the day, welcome to the midwest It's too bad the air quality is horrible due to the Canadian wildfires. Last night was a very hazy sunset. Hockey tryouts this month, the same week that school starts, let the emotional disregulation begin! DH's birthday is this month, and our state fair. This year is flying by!

Hopefully August is a little cooler than July was. I’m dreading seeing our electric bill for the month.

Today is the Big Day!

It is supposed to be really hot here this week. I hope everyone stays cool and safe!!!

And here we are almost done with July... I'm excited for Costco Scan n Go -- I hope that pans out. Also disappointed with a prime week. Also not excited about the tariffs upping all the prices on items I've been watching.

Another month, and the weather just makes it hard to do anything. Its either severe storms or blistering heat. Luckily a few trips I've had to make have all gone without a hitch. Prime Week has passed and I was disappointed to not find much that I really wanted. Then again, my wish list is pretty small right now. At least that gives me hope that Black Friday might have the deals I'm seeking.

Aw, thank you! He is driving across the country with his girlfriend, so no parents required, lol and His girlfriend has been attending culinary school, so she is planning to get a job as a cook, which means we have no idea if she will be able to get vacation when he has school breaks, so we have no idea when we will see him again once he leaves, which is definitely depressing. And with our daughter traveling the world all winter, we will be mostly empty nesters a couple of years earlier than one would typically expect Ugh. But another time, if we're able to get out there!

I’ve had the original Lazy Susan Revolution on my wish list as a holiday gift for my landlady for several years now. She enjoys when I cook festive meals such as Passover, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. But she always kids about us having to circle the table in order to fill our plates before sitting. If this product actually works as advertised, I’m hoping her days of complaining about this particular thing will be in the past. Not a huge price break, but enough for me to purchase it.

Checking in for July from sunny Oahu! Our vacation is going wayyy too fast but we’re trying to enjoy every minute of it. Last year my best friend from high school and her husband were hoping to come here with us but that’s when her husband’s cancer returned. Unfortunately he passed away in April but we were able to talk her into joining us this year, sort of a bittersweet trip. This is a photo I took this morning while we were parasailing.

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Welcome August! Looking forward to a busy month ending with a trip to Chicago to see Oasis. It's been years since I've flown anywhere or seen Belugas

August is a busy one here. My 40(!) year class reunion, a road trip to Oklahoma & Arkansas then a quick trip to Denver for a show at Red Rocks. Praying for some good weather.

Here for August!!! Looking forward to this heat breaking...it's currently 117 degrees just outside of phoenix!!!

My wife used to complain about our $200 electric bills. Then we lost power for eight days, "Still think $6 a day is too much to pay for electricity?" Perspective.

Happy August! Got a Fall weather preview today and for the next couple days. Woke up this morning to temps at 64 with a nice breeze which is a welcome relief and enduring 90+ temps and high humidity for the past several days!

94 degrees here today. Hot day for the first day of school! Sunday it's expected to be high of 73.

I got lucky - i was in Omaha a few weeks ago for a conference, and managed to be there after the first heat dome, and before the next 90 degree day. Wooooooo.

Meanwhile, it's the coldest summer in a long time here in this part of CA. Man, these low to mid 70s have been just awful.

DANG Ours is a little over $200 and I thought that was bad.

I was disappointed in the prime week sales too. The weather is hot one day and raining and cold the next. I'm still hoping for sunny days in the 70s.

Ooo… Seattle! If you have time when you bring your son here, if you’re helping him move in, let me know if you want to grab lunch or a coffee. I would love to meet up.

Happy July! Slow month here, with my luger still away for the summer, and my oldest in Philly, working in an internship. August will be crazy. We move the oldest from his sublet back to his Temple dorm for his senior year, and his third year as an RA on the 9th. Then I head up to Lake Placid on the 12th for a few days, to bring Kendall back on the 16th. And my youngest boy, who moves to Seattle in September for school, is getting his wisdom teeth out on the 22nd. Something for everyone, lol. And school starts for Kendall on the 25th, so she'll be super happy about that, lol. Anyway, this month's pic is courtesy of Kendall's BFF teammate's mom, who is visiting them from WI this week. The team is off on Sundays and Mondays, but Kendall and Breckan aren't letting moss grow under their feet, so while their Candidate Team teammates are doing wheels training (K and B are training up with the Jr. National Team for the summer, so their time commitments are different from their teammates), they are there to help the coaches. And I'll add a video that came up in my Timehop yesterday from just 4 years ago, to show the difference in Kendall's size, because she was tiny then, and didn't even weigh enough to get to the end of the start track, and now she's almost 5'6", and no longer the smallest on the team. export_2430501910654336240.mp4

Me too.

Yes! I really enjoy just reading this thread

I was going to wait until next Sunday, the 13th, to harvest my garlic in my raised bed at Marymoor Community Garden on the Eastside of Seattle, but it looks like we’ll get some rain this week. We’ve been dry for awhile, so I went ahead and did it today. [ 3 elephant garlic 12 large garlic 17 medium garlic 12 baby garlic 1 rotted head 1 spring garlic 49 total heads of garlic harvested from a 6’x3’ raised bed inter planted with 8 tomato plants, calendula, sweet basil, Thai Holy basil, and an asparagus crown.

I have a new grandson, who is 8 years old (He's my son's girlfriend's son, but he's mine now). Last year was his first holiday experience with my family. He was talking about how much I decorate for Christmas, and someone mentioned to him that I don't decorate at all for Halloween. The child was appalled. LOL. So, this year, I will be decorating for Halloween. I'm having to start from scratch so I've been looking for the best deals I can find. My plan is to get a hodgepodge of stuff and let him help me put it where he thinks it should go .

Happy birth month to someone, Happy birth month to someone, Happy birth month to someone, Happy birth month tooooo... um, too... er, hmm... I must be a year older cuz my memory is going... oh, wait! That's right... ME!

I've had too many friends lose someone they love the first half of this year (hubby for two of them, mom for one, grandma for another), so goodbye, first half of 2025. It's been a rough one. Got my buddy in town from Indiana this week. We're hitting The Henry Ford/Greenfield Village for Salute to America, Cedar Point for a couple days, Frankenmuth (because Frankenmuth) and she'll get a day of rest before I send her back home thoroughly exhausted and needing a vacation from her vacation. LOL (The cats are enjoying having an extra "staff member" around.) In garden news, my lettuces (romaine and red/green leaf) have grown beautifully, my dill has created a forest and I am now in harvest mode on all those. Still to come are cucumbers (hopefully), celery, and brussels. Maybe this year I can finally make dill pickles using my own dang cukes. LOL Hope my GD fam is doing well as we enter these hot summer months.

Ours hit $640

For the 1st time since I bought this place in 1988, my electric bill was over $200. Stupid electric rate increases coupled with a heat dome it’s been “feels like” 95-100° way too much this month.

Wll, I’m in Facebook jail, no reason given. I suspect it has to do with me sharing my tattoo art, but I don’t know for certain. I filed an appeal. We’ll see how long it takes for me to get my account back, if I do.

Summer vacation complete and back to school is coming at us quickly.

Happy July!