To all who celebrate – May you have wonderful Easter. When I was young there were a lot of traditions surrounding this holiday. It started with Good Friday services, food blessed on Holy Saturday and a new spring outfit with patent leather shoes for Easter Mass. Somehow I always felt holier with new patent shoes. (Ok, I was a materialistic kid!)
A toxic error? – This week a lawn service got addresses mixed up and put a batch of chemicals on our lawn. I have a pond and a garden and am very meticulous about chemicals. What’s the point of eating organic if we are breathing stuff in our own yard? It took a day to get a response with a list of what was spread. #dumbasserror
Sneaks – Men shop differently. Once every two years the beloved husband and I go to the local department store with coupons to buy the same exact sneaker. He wears them all the time (except for funerals when he wears his funeral shoes). He doesn’t look at different colors or designs. For 20 years — the same ones!! Shopping with him is easy and there is a pizza lunch for my efforts.
The ant invasion – After spending their cold winter outside, the local ants have decided that our home is the place for spring break. The cat feeding areas are the choice spots. Good food, hiding places, pond-front view. I hear a mariachi band is scheduled. Can’t get any better than that!
Let’s get physical – It’s been a wonderful week. The garden is dug and ready for stuff. The pond spring start-up has commenced. Frogs and fish are happy. I love working outside. At the end of the day you feel really good. Physical work sweat doesn’t smell so bad either (she says hopefully).
So how was your week?
I can’t believe you are able to get the same shoes for your husband. I always find things I love and then they change or discontinue them!
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They do for women but it seems not for men. I can still buy a standard white Reebok sneaker that I wore in the 80s. I don’t because they have such beautiful sneakers for women these days. Women like change. I would like them to not change underwear though. Every time I go to replenish, my favs are gone. I have to muddle through a few to find a new favorite.
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My husband wears the same exact tennis shoes as well. Has for years. I find it both convenient and puzzling as well. I have five different pairs of tennis shoes and would have ten more if I had the room in my closet.
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I don’t understand it. My husband has under 10 pair of shoes. Mine are as numerous as the stars in the sky. I have to pack away the “off-season” ones because there isn’t room in my 60 pair rack.
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Merrell’s are great sneaks. They last a long time.
Can’t believe the lawn people got the wrong home. Someone is in a bit of trouble I would suspect.
You’re right about working outside and feeling it the next day. I love this time of year..:)
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He loves his Merrells. They start out as the “good shoes” for picnics and such. Slowly they go down the chain. After they are really old, they are the yard shoes. If he could, he’d wear them to funerals and be done with it all.
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I have the same chain for sneakers and then I have 2-3 pair that I use for yard shoes.
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The last ditch for the truly worn out ones (just prior to tossing) is applying the black coating on the driveway! That’s kind of like a funeral for sneakers.
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I love your line, “Somehow I always felt holier with new patent shoes..” Hope you had a grand Easter with lots of sunshine and goodies.
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It was a good Easter but without truly great weather. It’s early but it’s over with. Now onto spring. Dressing up has always given me confidence whether in the business world or just a kid going to church.
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Wandering back by. Oh, I wish companies would always have a style I like available – been spending the morning looking at Keen website trying to find a replacement pair…ugh.
Horrid about the lawn chemicals – the companies aren’t very responsive if there’s a problem – especially if you aren’t the paying customer only an irritated/concerned neighbor who may have suffered harm. Had to deal with that, too. Pretty sure getting blasted by chemicals in the face is what gave the Bouvier cancer shortly after. Wish they would ban the lawn companies we can live with weeds and the lakes/streams downstream would be in such better shape.
Patent leather shoes as a kid! I always hoped my foot would grow outgrow the fall’s black ones so I could get new white ones for Easter…or at least white sandals.
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Lawn — if it was up to me we’d have goats — no mowing, no chemicals! Poor pup. I am sure the increases in pet cancer have a lot to do with chemicals. People too. DDT was sprayed in the fields in back of our house when I was a kid. Shoes — I remember the year “bone” colored patent leather shoes came in. Had to have them! It was so exciting. I was an easy kid. Give me nice shoes and I was happy.
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I’d love to visit your pond. I’m so sorry about the chemicals. #dumbasses
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It’s really a small pond — 6′ x 11′ but it has a lot of life.
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I bet! I would love to have a pond!
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They are not as difficult as you think.
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Hubby is the skimmer person. We have fountains and a pool. And he used to have fish tanks. That would have to be his job because I believe in his jobs and my jobs and I am all for giving him more jobs and me less.
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I would be out of my mind with that “error.” Hope you had a nice Easter enjoying that pie!
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Yes at first we were but there is nothing to be done. My husband checked with someone we work with to see if we should be watering it down. You can’t take it back.
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No ants yet in the Florida Panhandle. Probably because they can’t swim. We’ve had rain for 4 days now… Hope you had a wonderful Easter Day Kate! ~Elle
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It was good. Could have been warmer but I’m not complaining.
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I loved new patent leather shoes too! Happy belated Easter to you! All OK here.
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I love shiny!
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Ants and spring break. Kate, are you sure you don’t live in Fort Lauderdale? 😀
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Let’s see….cold and rainy….yep, I’m sure.
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LOL!
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:)! Sneakers and funeral shoes – you gotta love a man who only needs two pairs of shoes!
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Well…he does have boat shoes (but no boat) and loafers too.
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I have two large pieces of furniture in my house whose sole purpose is to store my husband’s various footwear: running shoes (10 pairs), soccer shoes, work shoes (4 pairs), ball shoes, hiking shoes, hiking boots (3 pairs), rubber boots, special bike shoes (2), snowboarding boots, skiing boots, cross-country skiing shoes, inline skates, rubber fishing boots, sandals, toe sandals, and crocs (3 pairs).
But (!) no loafers, no funeral shoes, and no boat shoes.
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Holy cow! He has almost as many shoes as I do (and I don’t hike, play ball, ski, fish or skate!)
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Cat food seems to be a magnet for the ants. We seldom use lawn chemicals unless ants show up. Then hubby puts some down just around the foundation of the house and it seems to help. The little buggers haven’t shown up yet ~ it’s still too cold for them here.
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We use grass fertilizer and if there’s a problem grub control. We haven’t had to do anything major around the house except for ants at the back door. I have no idea where they are coming in but yes they do like cat food.
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So what was in the lawn chemicals? Seriously, that IS a dumbass error.
What do you do to deter the ants?
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Lawn — fertilizer and crabgrass weed control. I haven’t figured out how to deter ants yet except to relocate the cat food. Last year I sprayed Raid around the door frame bottom. I did that this year and they were back in the next day. It could be that the spray isn’t potent anymore. I am investigating a borax treatment.
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Let me know what works!
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Your shoe story reminded me of a recent shopping trip I went on with my husband. He needed new gym shorts. In the first store I took him to, it seemed like he touched every pair of shorts, then decided none were right. At the second store, he again started to look at all the shorts… then he found the same make and model of his old pair… and he happily bought them (even though they, of course, were just about the only ones not on sale). Me? I’d want something new and different… and hopefully on sale. I remember the ants coming inside and going after my cat’s food. I found that putting the food bowl on top of a dish of water (creating a moat the ants couldn’t cross) worked pretty well.
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I have to figure out a moat dish to use but that sounds like a simple solution. My husband bikes and he tends to buy the same biking shorts every few years too.
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Tis the season. When everyone else is going outside to plant things and listen to birds sing and all that other crap, I am crawling back in to my climate controlled home. I’ll be back out in the fall.
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I know you aren’t a fan of summer. I am so sorry. It’s really quite wonderful. Maybe Alaska?
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Yep, been there in August. It was freezing! I loved it. Scandinavia was nice in the summer too. Russia. The usual spots. 🙂
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Weird, just weird!
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Oh, the arguments you could have saved me in my previous marriage with this post. My ex, bless her, used to buy new sneakers twice a year! There was nothing I could do to convince her that that wasn’t necessary. She complained the arches had worn down (she was not a runner or did *any* kind of exercise). I would buy my pair every two-three years depending on how they looked, but she would religiously buy a new pair every six months. I should have bought stock in Nike.
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If you do any running or intensive sports they tell you to replace them every 6 months. At that rate, mine will last a lifetime.
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As hers should have too!
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🙂
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Happy Easter, Kate! I’ve already begun to battle the ants…I refuse to let them take over this spring and summer.
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If you find a good solution let me know.
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Happy Easter to you and your love ones, cats, frogs, critters…. included.
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and to you and your extended family too.
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My week was wonderful. I spent it with my sis and bro I’m law in Myrtle Beach. Weather was great..we did new things and shopped the bargains. I was treated like royalty. Now today I am back home..and my eldest son and his wife are hosting Easter dinner. Doesn’t get any better. Coming to you from my hot tub..watching the birds and enjoying the sunshine here in Newcastle Ontario.
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Hope it’s warmer there! Cold and dreary here after a delightful week. Myrtle Beach is a treat! Our New Jersey shore is too cold yet. Soon though.
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My week was wonderful. I spent it with my sis and bro I’m law in Myrtle Beach. Weather was great..we did new things and shopped the bargains. I was treated like royalty. Now today I am back home..and my eldest son and his wife are hosting Easter dinner. Doesn’t get any better. Coming to you from my hot tub..watching the birds and enjoying the sunshine here in Newcastle Ontario.
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I love the ants…have always admired how tenacious they can be, and with your new patio furniture, can you blame them for visiting?
My mother used to throw hot water on them. I remember weeping as a kid watching them run for their lives.
It’s great your Hubs has a uni…what the movies refer to as a uniform…at least from the heel down.
Hooray, your pond is in progress. That means it will be a Random 5 feature for a while, Frogs mating. Means there’s hope for me.
And a Happy Easter to you too. 🙂
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I don’t what to do with the ants as they are in the house. I wouldn’t throw hot water on them and I’m not wild about bug spray. The cats have a way of stepping in stuff and I’m sure they would step in the bug spray. I can send them your way. Wonder if they need a subway pass.
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I could take them to the park, then leave them there. 🙂
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Are the ants in the park friendly? You know there are these stories about New Yorkers…..
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I don’t really know, but it’s worth a try.
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Any ants that come in here head straight for Tigger’s food bowl. In a long straight line. With a tiny oompah band to keep them in time.
Glad you feel well grounded after your yardwork.
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Yes. Hazel is the only cat whose food is on the floor. She has temporarily been relocated to the dining room. She’s not happy about that but adjusting. Morgan has eaten a few of them but there are just too many for her to handle.
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What shoe company has made the same sneakers for 20 years? That’s impressive!
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Merrell although Reebok still makes a sneaker that I wore in the 80s.
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Happy Easter to you and Dan…
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Thanks! Have a great but dreary Sunday.
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Happy Easter Kate. Sad to say I am sick in bed with a bad sore throat. But I will celebrate the day with hubby and a cup of tea!
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Hope you feel better soon.
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