A Nation Of Lies

 I used to follow this YouTube Channel called Darling. You can access it here. Darling is a fine looking blonde female with a very sexy voice who likes to bad mouth YouTube's biggest con man, Sarasota Tim.You can access Sarasota Tim's YouTube channel by clicking here. I've been following both of these people for at least two years. Apparently, Sarasota Tim is a hustler who gives out such false retirement information that he unfortunately has more haters than followers. I watch both these characters for amusement. Nothing else. It doesn't take a genius to figure out Sarasota Tim is a hustler. He touts that he's a minimalist and is enjoying his retirement in a 25 foot RV while surviving on only $1700 a month Social Security income.

Yeah right!

Turns out he's really living with his long time girlfriend, Tammy, whose husband recently died (yes they were dating while she was still married) by getting run over by his own vehicle. Naturally the wife, I mean Tim's girlfriend, blonde douchebag, Tammy, inherited money and she and Tim have been living the good life while all the while the two portray themselves on YouTube as down-and-out struggling retirees, so can you please send them some money or buy them a cup of coffee so that they can continue to lie, cheat and steal! Whew! That was a long sentence.

The story doesn't end here. I was watching another YouTube video when I noticed the female voice on the other video sounded a lot like Darling's. Gee, that's odd thought I? I wonder if Darling does the voice overs on other YouTube videos as a means of making extra money? I won't bore you with the answer because there is no answer. Turns out Darling doesn't exist. It's an AI (Artificial Intelligence) make believe person (I can't even call it human but someone is pulling the strings) and the whole YouTube channel is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Darling doesn't exist. Which made me wonder, does Sarasota Tim even exist? What about Tammy? Maybe Tammy is really Darling? Or maybe I'm just going insane.

The falsehood doesn't stop there. Another YouTube channel I follow is a woman, Marie, who claims she is a homesteader. I've only been watching her for a few weeks. The other day she did a walk through her neighborhood and it turned out she lives in suburbia! All the houses on her block and around the corner looked the same. They were cookie cutter houses on plots 80' X 100' and the neighborhood couldn't be any more suburban than that! In order to be a true homesteader, as Marie proclaimed: 

A homestead is a property, typically a house and surrounding land, where the owner resides and strives for self-sufficiency, often through activities like gardening, raising livestock, and preserving food. It's a lifestyle choice focused on reducing reliance on external resources and increasing independence. 

Growing a bunch of herbs and tomatoes in pots in your backyard, doesn't make you a homesteader! 

Of which, the woman replied to me, it really wasn't her neighborhood. She was just walking there 

because she was walking there. Which confirmed, to me, that the woman was nothing more than a liar. 

And in that same moment I came to that realization, I asked myself, what if all the other people I view 

and follow are nothing more than bullshitters, playing make-believe and not telling nor projecting any truths? 

What if they were all in it for the bucks, the money, like Sarasota Tim?

And, let's take it another step forward and upward. We already know and confirm that much of the information we receive either through the airwaves, local news broadcast shows, cable news shows and print newspapers aren't telling us the true facts either! What if all those other people who are screaming and complaining that their rent is too high, they can't afford their groceries, they've given up on life and are living in tents? What if all of that information is false also? Truthfully, I don't know anyone who has been laid off. I do know my friends and neighbors have found groceries too high, but they have always been increasing. They either made changes to their budgets or increased their income. That's what we did. No biggie. So, where is all the fuss? Is TikTok and Generation X Y and Z just a bunch of liars too?

I don't know who to believe anymore. And I am sure you must feel the same way. We've been lied to for 4 years that J'Biden was 'as sharp as a tack'. Meanwhile the poor guy was buried inside the deepest realms of dementia. And he was running our country. Into the ground. Trump bombs Iran and proclaims he destroyed the nuclear holdings of Iran and the very next day the media proclaims 'not so fast'. Trump only set Iran back a few months. Plus Iran had ample time and lots of trucks to clear the area out of all the uranium. Tell me, who should or could we believe?

Folks, I'm a breast cancer survivor. I have more important things to concentrate on and worry about than what the news is or what a YouTuber is doing. From this second on, I have shut down the news. I will not listen to it anymore. I don't care if a nuclear bomb is coming my way. Most of those doing podcasts, TikTok, YouTube etc. etc are probably lying just to get clicks. I am just going to concentrate on keeping myself well, living my best life, enjoying whatever life I have left to live on this crazy planet and that is the end of that! Stick a fork in me. I'm done. I have had enough!

This is me during my chemo days. I've been in remission for a few months after 1.5 years of treatment.
I don't give a rat's ass what the heck is going on in the world anymore.
I'm done with infusions. I'm done with cancer drugs.
My only concern would be can my pharmacy still keep getting my pills?
If not, so be it.
I'm done.

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

Let The Summer meals Begin! News From My Garden.

 Today was the first day we could finally eat my freshly grown Mesclun salad! I started them from seed. I also have spinach growing but we'll have that combo later on in the week. We didn't have any tomatoes with our salad yet BUT I did put in some chopped red onion, sliced artichoke hearts, feta cheese and Kalamata olives. I made my own fresh vinaigrette salad dressing and we sat down to a great summertime meal (IMHO). The olive oil is a super Aldi find! It's pure Sicilian oil for only $9.99 a bottle. The balsamic vinegar, also from Italy, was a holiday gift to us from a neighbor.

I bought this really beautiful salad bowl (Only $3 from Italy with the authentic markings on the back of the plate) from Goodwill a few months ago. I knew it would be just perfect for salad time!

I had some leftover pesto sauce in the freezer (left over from last summer) and hubby made a huge dish of bowtie pasta. We ate half now (hot) and later on (cold), as a late night snack, from the fridge. That's the great thing about my home made pesto. We can eat it hot or cold. Either way, it's delicious.

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

It's Called 'Survival' For A Reason.

 The current cost-of-living crisis is (finally) hitting the upper middle and upper elite classes. For some, this might be the first time they have had to economize. To say they are inexperienced would be an oxymoron. You just don't wake up one day and say "Oh goodie. I'm going to be frugal today." Most of them, not all of them, of course, don't know what the heck they are doing. I'm seeing formerly upper middle class folks announce, once they go over their new budgets, that they can only spend between $25 to $30 a week on groceries. That, my people, is a huge decline, in my opinion, from what they were used to. The biggest fault, is seeing them try to maintain their old form of lifestyle on a $30 allotment. Ain't gonna happen. But if you want a good laugh, I implore you to seek out these wanna-bees and watch when a light bulb goes off in their heads when they realize they can no longer parlay filet mignon and must now stretch their beef intake with boiled lentils. Classic.

Case in point, this particular woman, who touts being a homemaker for thirty-three years. She started her initial week of economizing under her new $25 weekly food shopping budget determined to make her own yogurt, as a means of saving money. First up, she bought a gallon of organic milk. At her fave grocery store, however, upon seeing that the expiration date of said milk was the next day, she opted for 2 half-gallons of organic milk, that had a longer lasting expiration date. (Note to self: if you're making yogurt, it's OK to use near-to-expiration dated milk or even sour milk for that matter. But I digress.)

The cost of a gallon of organic milk at her local grocer was $6.49. But because she bought two half-gallons instead @$4.29 ea., the cost of her re-calculated gallon came to $8.58. Throw in another $1.99 to buy a smallish vanilla flavored yogurt, as a starter and her total starting out to 'save' money was $10.57. She made her 'budget' yogurt in her InstaPot and ran the electricity for 8 hours. After which, she did NOT make yogurt. Why? You can't make yogurt with a vanilla starter. That item contains sugar and sugar doesn't ferment as well as a plain yogurt would have. So, we have a fail.

So, what did she do?

Rather than face the fact that her attempt at saving money was a fail she threw in the rest of the vanilla flavored yogurt (the first attempt, she only used 2 tablespoons as the recipe directed) and ran the InstaPot for another 6 to 8 hours. Ka-ching! And voila! She had yogurt, which she fed to her 3 hungry teenagers, along with her home made granola. (Don't even get me started on her home-made, money-saving, 'granola')

So, for a total of $10.57 PLUS the cost of at least 14 hours of electricity to run the Insta-Pot, this clueless woman made a half-gallon (64 ounces) of organic, plain yogurt. Note to self: the money she spent to make this homemade yogurt cost her 42.2% of her weekly budget. Hope hubby likes yogurt for dinner when he gets home tonight after a long day of working and commuting.

Meanwhile, at the same store, this inexperienced woman, could have bought a 32 ounce of organic, plain yogurt for $4.99 (two 32 oz tubs equals 64 ounces, which is a half-gallon, at a cost of $9.98. I can't calculate in the cost of electricity because I don't know her rate. But 8 hours on InstaPot cooking time will cost ya!).

Or, as I suggested to this woman (who immediately pooh-poohed me, after all, WTF would I know? Right? I've only been frugal since the 1970s.) She could have gone to Aldi (which I know there is one by her residence) and purchased plain, whole milk yogurt, 32 ounce for only $2.85 (double that for a half-gallon and the total price is $5.70.) That's only 2% of her total weekly budget! BIG DIFFERENCE. Note to self: when you are on an extreme budget, as this woman is, $25 a week means NO ORGANIC FOR YOU! The milk today is already milked from non-treated cows and does NOT contain any rBST. Aldi's milk ( dairy products) come with The Farmers Pledge that all is good and healthy inside their products.

These economic times folks, as most of us already know are dangerous, scary and for some desperate. It's already been proven that you can't save any food shopping money at Walmart (they upped their products due to the tariffs) or Target (some people insist Target sells fair-priced foods. I disagree.). You have to shop for food at low cost markets (NOT the Dollar Store, as they sell mostly crap). We are most fortunate that the German food market, Aldi, has graced our American shores and are selling to us Americans, a plethora of top quality foods at super low prices. Aldi has a unique selling method which keeps their products priced very low. In my opinion, now, the best way to keep your grocery prices down is to shop at Aldi. In addition, rummage through your local grocery store flyers and balance your food shopping with loss-leader supplementing. I've been shopping at Aldi and thank the good Lord above, my family and I haven't had to suffer food denigration for the last 10-17 years. Aldi got us through the 2008 collapse and Aldi is certainly getting us through to this day.

Don't believe me? Dave Ramsey (international financial genius) just recently endorsed Aldi! Dave gave his own daughter, Rachel and a co-worker, George, a challenge. He gave each of them $100 and told them to shop exclusively at Aldi and feed their families for a week. Ramsey's daughter has 2 kids and a husband. The co-worker lives alone (but has a girlfriend). Both came out well under $100 and they bought whatever they wanted. 

You can see the challenge: (click here or view below)

Aldi is currently opening up 225 more stores in 2025 (click here for the info) throughout America. If you need to locate an Aldi store near you, click here to get to their website. Always remember to read the ingredients. be on the lookout for seed oils, high fructose corn syrup and food dyes. Aldi is good but sometimes you will find a toxic, carcinogen ingredient but I don't blame Aldi. They do their best to bring us good quality, organic and healthy foods. It's the sign of the times. Just be alert.

The other thing I would suggest is, from now on, when you go food shopping, bring a calculator with you. Most cell phones have the app already loaded. Saving money today requires simple math (addition, subtraction and division). Look at the unit pricing also. Sometimes buying a smaller package saves you more money than buying the larger size. BTW: a gallon of Aldi regular whole milk is $2.78.

Good luck. Happy shopping. I only wish my readers the best. Try to find proven savers (like me) who have enough experience to help you save grocery money. And please don't ask me who this moronic yogurt lady was. I'd like to forget her. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make the animal drink. 

FYI: last night, hubby and I had two Aldi products for dinner: I roasted Brussel Sprouts ($2.29) with olive oil and garlic (Aldi has superior olive oil imported directly from Sicily) and BBQed chicken ($1.79 a pound!) I made a healthy dinner for the two of us for under $10 bucks!! With leftovers for lunch the next day!

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

No Peaches For You! The Peach Nazi Has Spoken.

 Boo hoo. All this rain we have been having over the last month or so has completely destroyed my one and only peach tree! Many of the peaches have fallen off the tree. The excessive water and flooding has ruined my peach tree's roots and I am saddened to report, there might not be any peaches this year! There are still a few peaches holding on but it doesn't look promising.

The same goes for my tomato plants. The ones I started from seed didn't grow much. So, I purchased four beefsteak tomatoe starters and even those four haven't grown much over the last few weeks. If I'm suffering with my peaches and my tomatoes, I'm certain many of the local farmers up here must be suffering also. It may look like we will have to pay a fortune if we want local (or imported) tomatoes and peaches. (A few years ago) I bought 4 peaches from a local farm and paid $25 for the privilege! Thus, that is why and how I have my own peach tree now. Oh well.

There are tons of baby peaches that have fallen to the ground

here's a close-up of the baby peaches

My tree is still holding onto some peaches, but there isn't much hope.

My flower beds are loaded with fallen baby peaches.

The grounds all around the peach tree have fallen baby peaches. 

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

Happy Father's Day

I made it a top priority for hubby and I to spend the day out this Father's Day. We haven't been out together in ages. First up, we went out for lunch at a new pizza joint that opened up here recently (I think last year?) The parking lot is always full. We always said we'd like to try it, each time we passed by. But we never did. Today we did. We had a regular 14 inch pizza ($15), a great big bowl (we shared this) of Greek Salad ($14). I had a cup of tea (free refills @$3)) to go with my meal. With tip and tax, it came to $38. Not too, too bad for a day/night out (considering we haven't been out together in years....but I think I said that already)

After lunch, we went to a local movie theater (independently owned) and price for a movie, before 6PM, for a senior citizen was $6. Still not bad! They had the recliner seats available and being the movie we were seeing was almost 3 hours long, we paid the extra $1.50 each and for a total of $15 my husband and I had an awesome Father's Day! BTW, the movie was terrific. We both enjoy Tom Cruise. Note: however, to fully enjoy Mission Impossible 8, you have to watch Mission Impossible 7, which is streaming for free on many channels (Prime Video for us). The beginning of the movie did a lot of flash back to MI7 which I thought was a time waster. But once the film got into the actual story line, it was very awesome.

The movie is about how AI can take over the nuclear armory of all the earth's nations. We used to laugh at preposterous things like that. But today, with the rapid expansion of AI, I didn't find the concept quite funny any more. Slight biblical undertones, protests, the rise of AI, the world on the cusp of World War III.......sound familiar? A definite go-see movie.

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

Saturday Night Dinner

Chicken thighs seem to be all the rage right now. Many of the classic cooking shows I watch are now showing many, many new ways the inexpensive, chicken thigh (both boneless and skinless in addition to bone-in) can be prepared for either our lunch or dinner table. One of my current cooking show favorites is a YouTube entry called 'Allrecipes'. Many of their recipes are easy and super healthy.  Since my husband loves, loves, loves chicken thighs (he says they are very juicy and tender) one of the Allrecipes chicken thigh videos caught my eye.

Especially when I saw this delicious Asian concoction: Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs.

 

You can watch the video online by clicking here. Or if you have the time, you can watch the video right here on my blog. The episode has four chicken thigh recipes but it starts off with the Honey Garlic version.

I prepared my own Asian Honey Garlic chicken thighs, as per the Allrecipe instruction but I also included in our dinner menu a spinach salad (click here for that recipe) with homemade dressing. For dessert, a double scoop butter pecan, waffle ice cream cone. Hubby had vanilla.

Trust me. An Asian chicken thigh is in there, sitting on a bed of Jasmine rice.

DELISH!! 

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

Community Senior Picnic

 Every early summer, our community, sponsors a Senior Outdoor Picnic. The first 400 seniors to respond get free admittance and from the looks of this years' attendance, we hit that number. I think there is a $6 (six dollar) charge if you are under 62 but everyone else is free. There's music, good food, good friends and the representatives (i.e. local politicians) let us seniors know about all the wonderful benefits we seniors get to enjoy in our community. Free rides to and from our medical appointments, free food, free transportation, free energy programs (i.e. heat and air conditioning) free home repairs (such as the installation of ramps for those elderly in a wheel chair who can no longer walk up their front home stairs). The list goes on and on. There are a lot of seniors in our neighborhood and I couldn't be happier. My husband and I have been going to these annual picnics for years. We always have a good time. We enjoy meeting our neighbors, making new friends and finding out what is new and available in our community.

It's just one of the many, many reasons why, hopefully, we will never, ever move away.

The event takes place on the fairgrounds under two tents.

There's always a 50/50 raffle. If you win, you get 50% of the money collected!

We meet our local police officials.

There are several booths open to talk about local opportunities.

Hubby with some of our newfound friends and neighbors.

Excellent entertainment & music!

Self-serve food: beef or turkey burgers, fresh salad, baked beans & watermelon.

Happy neighbors! Happy food!

As you can see, turn out was great!

Our neighborhood is home to so many retirees!!

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

After Twenty-Three Years, Time For Some Home Maintenance.

 We moved into this brand new, custom-built home on June 1, 2002. That was twenty-two years ago! My oh my, how time flies! The first five years we lived here we put in bamboo flooring, built front, side and back decks, finished the second floor (two bedrooms and a full bathroom with French-styled claw tub!) and did tons of land clearing and landscaping (3.5 total acres, only 2 acres have been cleared. the rest is forest). Now, a simple walk around the home and we figured it is time to tackle some of the necessary upkeep.

The first two remodeling/upkeep we are tacking are our front and side doors. We did the side door first. It needed to be repaired and replaced as soon as possible due to some water intrusion. My husband normally does all the refurbishing himself but this time he hired the expertise of a contractor since hubby's door repair experience was minimal. The contractor charged $800 for the replacement work and hubby subbed as his assistant (another way to save money).  

Our side door originally was fashioned after an old farm door with lots of windows. We always felt that was a security risk because one of the window rows was so close to the doorhandles, all a criminal had to do was break the glass, slip his/her hand in and unlock and open the door. Not a good thing! We installed a door with higher windows, dead lock bolts and a security system.

Viola':

Our front door is next. That door has absolutely NO windows, so it was very dark in the interior entranceway since there was no light coming in. We're replacing it with the same kind of side door, plus a little deck work (hubby's replacing some of the boards that rotted out) deadbolts and a full security camera system. Both these new fangled doors don't need storm doors as they are air tight and block out the cold (and heat) effectively. Another savings! Contractor is still charging us the same $800. We bought both doors from Lowe's ($600 each) and used their free, no fee, 6 month payment payback plan. We're keeping the door colors the same. I am really looking forward to having some sunlight grace my interior entranceway! Finally! We're going to re-sell both doors at either a yard sale or through MarketPlace. Maybe donate them. We don't throw anything away anymore. What we don't need anymore, there is surely someone else who does. Grand total to repair and replace front and side doors (including primer, paint, locks and some parts) an easy $3,000 (before tariffs). Gulp. Add in another $300 for security and you can see why home maintenance is a many, splendid, expensive thing!

My husband and I walked around our home's exterior and interior and made a list of the projects that need to be updated and done. We prioritized what we want to accomplish (and afford) this year. We've got some update interior painting to do, a bit of spackling. Some floor molding needs another coat of paint. Once the new front door is installed I'm considering having our bamboo floors buffed and polished. The wear and tear those poor bamboo panels have endured over these past twenty-three years (two grandkids, three dogs) clearly show their age. They need a little bit of tender loving care. Next year, first thing on that list is replacing some of the floor boards on our back deck. Over the summer, I spend most of my time on the back deck, reading a book, under an umbrella. Some of the boards warped. I just want those replaced. Hubby wants to replace the entire floor of the back deck. We'll see. Funds permitting. 

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

Going Back To Italy To Say Goodbye To My Family.

 My sister and I are planning a trip back to Italy, back to the homeland of our father, so that I can see my Italian family one last time and say goodbye to them. Our father is from a small Italian fishing seaport village along the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Why he ever left there and came to America is a puzzlement to me still to this day. My Italian Aunt and Uncle have since passed but I still remain friends and in touch with all my Italian cousins. The last time I saw everyone was in 2007. They are very excited that my sister and I will once again be returning. It will be a happy time. But it will also be a sad time. They all know that I have cancer and my days on this earth are numbered.

We're planning to go sometime in September. The weather will still be good. We will be staying at the home of my father. He left his half share of the Italian property to his sister, who in turn my cousins  inherited upon my uncle's death. They turned the home into a classic AirBNB and let my sister and I know it is available to us whenever we decide to go.

I'm seeing my oncologist this month who in turn will be running tests to see if I am still in remission. I am also seeing my breast surgeon in August who will also run her own tests to make sure I am cancer free. The only hesitation I have in booking this return trip to Italy would be if my cancer comes back. I will have to start chemo infusions again and I don't think I could survive a two-three week international trip once I start undergoing cancer treatments again. I'll probably book the trip anyway BUT take out insurance if for some reason I may have to either postpone, reschedule or cancel the trip altogether.

It is written in my will that upon my death I am to be cremated and my ashes are to be spread in the Adriatic Sea of the village of my father. I first came to this town when I was 16 years old. My parents sent me there for the summer and I spent the most enchanting adventure there in Italy, with my aunt (Zia Elsa) and my amazing Italian cousins (Stephano, Rafaella and Laura). Again, I ask myself, why did my father ever leave this gorgeous place?

Once the summer is officially over in August, the village quiets down and the beaches are endless.

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

Rain. Rain. Go Away.

We haven't had a dry weekend here, in upstate New York, since November 2024!!

Yes, you are correct. The weather in New York State has been particularly gloomy over the past few months, with many areas struggling to have a dry weekend since November 2024. The last dry weekend for some major locations like Syracuse, Albany, and Saranac Lake was November 16-17, 2024. This means that the last few months have been characterized by a significant amount of rain or snow, impacting weekend activities. 

Our community pool has been open for two weeks already and no one has been there once due to this never ending rain! What's a person to do? 

This is my view from my office window. This is what I look at most of the time. Pouring rain!

Other than going to the movies, I am so tempted to just hop on a plane and head towards the sun. Any sun. Any where. The only thing appreciating this rain is my lawn and my garden. Everything is so green. But I'm craving yellow. Oh well.

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.

 

Garden Update June 6, 2025

 Here's a status report on my little vegetable (and fruit) garden. Not everything grew from seed. My tomatoes just came up BUT they will never be ready for a late August or early September harvest. So I had to buy two beefsteak tomato and two San Marzano tomato startlings to add to the garden so that we'll have tomatoes in time. The seedlings are barely visible. Next year I will start those in May, inside my house, in containers.

Ditto for my eggplant and green/red peppers. The seedlings are up BUT they will never come to harvest in time. I bought two eggplant startlings and two green/red pepper startlings (in addition to what I already planted.

The cucumber and zucchini are doing really well! As is the spinach and mesclun salad mix (in oval plant base). The peas and the green beans are doing super well (in the white planter pots against the fence, to be used as a trellis for the climbing plants). 

The peach tree is doing super well also. BUT if hubby doesn't cover the tree with the netting I purchased, I'm afraid my peach tree will meet the same demise as last summer: the squirrels and the birds ate every last peach! Hopefully, he can get to it this week.

The peach tree must have over 100 peaches on it!

Here's a close up of the little darlings.

As you can see, we are going to have lots of peaches this year.

In the front are 4 beefsteak tomatoes. In the back are 2 San Marzano. In the center is basil and parsley.

This raised bed contains cucumbers and zucchini.

In the front is the eggplant. In the back are the green peppers.

Center contains baby spinach. Circumference is mesclun salad leaves.

Long shot of garden. White planters along back fence are peas and green beans.

In the front wooden planters are pollinators I started from seed. Another full view of our peach tree.

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and get my next posts as soon as I hit 'publish'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. 

YOU MAY NEED AMAZON RIGHT ABOUT NOW. Want to join Amazon or simply purchase some of the products I use and tout about? Click here for the link. Happy responsible shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.