The power of suggestion – The back border of our yard has bushes and thick groundcover. There are ticks living there. Last weekend we were trimming and cleaning up. I wear full tick gear but I always seem to get one. The key is to find it before it gets comfy and attaches itself. You can’t always feel a tick walking on your body but sometimes you can. It’s very slight. For two days afterward, I was checking every body sensation I had. I made myself crazy. I also looked crazy checking the inside of my blouse in public! So far no ticks but it’s still early.
A milestone – On Thursday I posted my 1,000th blog post. Woo hoo! When I started I was sporadic, posting once or twice a week. Then I committed to posting four times a week with one post devoted to the cats and another to this random five concept. I don’t make myself crazy about it. I rarely check my statistics so the milestone snuck up on me. One of these days I want to put together a collection of my best posts (as defined by me!). Maybe. No pressure.
Rebooting appliances? – We have a finicky dishwasher. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. We have figured out that if we turn off the breaker for 5 minutes that will “reboot” it and all is good. The beloved husband talked to our local appliance store folks and was told that today’s appliances need “rebooting.” Who would have thought that?
A new blog – For you girly girls out there, Nancy Roman of the “not quite old” blog has started a new blog dedicated to makeup and all things girly. What’s different is that she offers a perspective for woman in their 60s and older. I don’t wear a lot of makeup but I like to cover up my age spots and put on a spot of color. I get frustrated buying something and then finding out it doesn’t work for me. She provides good suggestions along with an interesting narrative. She does good research (way more than I have the patience to do). You can find the blog here.
Speaking of beauty – Did you know you can get eyebrow wigs? They are glued on versions of natural eyebrows. They have been around for ages for cancer patients and people with alopecia but with the current focus on eyebrows (big and bushy again), are more widely worn. I can’t give you a review because that would be too much work for me but they are out there if you need them. (Consider this your public service announcement for the week!)
So how was your week?
If you find a middle aged woman reading a book in your back yard, no fears, it’;s just me enjoying the serenity. GORGEOUS!
Congrats on your milestone, that is a huge accomplishment.
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Thanks!
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My daughter-in-law has Lyme’s and I’m really uncomfortable with the fear of ticks. She went undiagnosed for way too long because Lyme’s is not common in California. Your lush green garden looks very inviting and gardeners are always in some peril from the critters that call our gardens their home! And congratulations on being so consistent with blog posting! 😊
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It’s common around here but the antibiotic makes me very sick. I won’t spray the yard because I have frogs, chipmunks, squirrels, birds and other critters that live here.
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Ticks – another reason to mandate very cold winters….which we haven’t had for a while.
The trouble with finding a tick is that then you just itch and feel crawling for hours!
Growing up at the farm we had multiple species of ticks: big grey cow ticks, regular sized brown ticks with a white spot and tiny “seed” ticks. As long as there were cows, horses around, ticks jumped on them, but when cattle were moved to give pastures down time, those ticks got hungry and UGH! Dad made a bamboo mat surrounded outdoor shower and mom made us strip off clothing and rinse off before coming in the house, then she draped clothing over the barbed wire fence before washing…and the ticks left. The memory of Deep Woods Off is strong in memory. (also UGH)
Congrats on your milestone. I always get a smile here
(and sorry for slow n response – several DIY projects in process…ditto on UGH again)
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Still scratching and I didn’t find a tick! Looking forward to a DIY post!
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Not sure how I missed this one, but congrats on the 1000 posts! – Marty
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Thanks!
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for tick repellent – heard peppermint oil keeps them away… and try a lint roller on your pants before walking into the house…
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Interesting….
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Thanks for the rebooting tip. Our microwave isn’t working, and now I wonder if all it needs is a swift kick in the breaker. Also, read about the eyebrow wigs and thought… wtf?! 😧
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What can I say? I bring you the latest trends no matter how odd.
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Never had ticks but I surely had bed bugs! Now I am forever feeling sensations of creepy crawlies on my skin and convinced it’s the dreaded bugs. Whenever I check into a hotel now I pull all the covers off the bed and check the corners of the mattress before I can sleep. So I know how you feel about the ticks!
When I was younger I sported eyebrows to compete with Frida Kahlo. I plucked the daylights out of those babies. Now, centuries later, I can only dream of those bushier days as I am applying mounds of eyebrow pencil to the bald spots… but eyebrow wigs are a step too far!
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I’ve never seen bed bugs but I worry about picking them up at a hotel. I did some minor plucking when I was young (last century) and after a while, they don’t grow back. All that’s good. Now some of the ones I want to grow in the right places have been retiring to my chin. They say the weather’s better there.
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Woo Hoo! Congrats on your 1000th post. Time for a tick-her tape parade!
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Can I trade that in for a mocha latte parade? Or maybe a Frappuccino?
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Ticks… they are just creepy! They sneak in the house by way of CH and they head straight for me!
Congratulations on your 1000th blog post! I am impressed by your commitment to blogging and I am happy you post because I so enjoy coming here to read.
I am going to check out the link to the new blog, thanks for sharing it.
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Perhaps CH should get those tick drops they put on dogs! 🙂
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LOL! I think that is a great idea. He doesn’t believe in using any tick prevention even though there is a spray bottle of OFF on the window ledge on the way out the porch door. Kind of like men not asking for directions kind of thinking… 😀
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When I go out to work on the shrubs or beds, I always wear long pants with old sneakers and spray everything with Deep Woods and I still can get a tick. I’m too neurotic about them to not be careful. A bad case of Lyme disease is really bad.
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I know about the Lyme all too well. I have a friend from Wales on FB and Lyme disease has given her chronic issues and made her life miserable. She stays upbeat but it is so hard for her.
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Reaching 1000 posts is a show of dedication, congrats. 🙂 Your yard looks great. I have never encountered a tick, (knocking on wood) and hope I never do. Our daughter has Alopecia, I’ll mention these brow wigs to her, even though she’s probably already heard of them. She pencils on eyebrows sometimes but most of the time she goes natural.
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Thanks. I’ve have enjoyed blogging a lot. No ticks? So lucky! As crazy as it sounds, those brow wigs looked very natural and lasted a while or so the article said.
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I just picture big caterpillar looking things. 🙂
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More parallel experiences for us, Kate! My husband and I had an episode last week with a tick that snuck into our house and had great fun munching on our legs (leaving a series of little ‘welts’ to prove it). Go you for having proper tick gear!!
Congratulations on your 1000th post. That seems miraculous to me (…I am about two weeks away from hitting my 100th and am not even sure how I managed to write that many)!
BTW – I would definitely buy a collection of your best posts. Sign me up!
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Thanks for your vote of confidence! When I started blogging, I never thought I’d last this long. My intent was to have a quasi-professional blog (and we see how fast that flew out the window). I expected to maintain a “working” connection to my profession but I’ve found that it’s the time to do what I really want.
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Congrats on 1,000 posts!
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Thanks!
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Congrats on the 1000th post! Did you celebrate with a frappe from Starbucks?:)
I too have thought of making a collection of my best posts.
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Thanks. I didn’t have a frappe but I had 2 lattes (yes 2! it was double points day!).
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Good for you! 🙂
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Congrats on the 1,000th post milestone! That is very impressive.
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Thanks! I was stunned. It snuck up on me.
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Eyebrow wigs!!!! I never did get used to the over-plucked fashion on other faces. My face out-lived it by not participating. I couldn’t be bothered, and now my eyebrows have faded into oblivion, along with my hair, making me almost invisible. I like invisibility. I can be ANNE-nonymous. There is no way I’d volunteer for a Brooke Shields look, that is, if her name is still synonymous with thick brows.
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I’ve never been a plucker but I never had unibrows either. Mine are thinning out but they’ll do. If I want more I put on a brow filler. I can see how someone without any may be interested though. I like my routines simple.
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Congratulations on your 1000th post. That’s a lot of writing. So great!!!
I do know someone who lost her brows having chemo…I don’t recall her wearing false ones, but perhaps they weren’t made as yet.
Love the photo of your yard. Looks very palatial. 🙂
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Thanks. When the gate is closed I think it looks like a cemetery but it keeps the deer out. The chemo they did a decade or two ago did zap all the hair. I think now they can pick and chose chemicals that don’t.
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Sigh…I like the gate. It’s very Astoresque…:)
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It took me a while to figure out that word…but I did! Thanks. Everything is lush right now. Love it.
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They had gates like that at all their homes. Lush is a great word.
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Let’s just say I might actually need the eyebrows but I would never get any–LOL!
Haven’t worn makeup for years, but her website gives me the urge to play. 🙂
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When I worked I wore makeup every day. Not a lot but to even the skin tone and highlight the eyes. Now I don’t wear it everyday and when I want to, my stuff is old or dried out. I’ve been looking at foundation to find something that’s easy and natural looking.
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It went from winter to summer around here overnight. I really don’t like weather that whipsaws like that.
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Me too. We went from a high of 59 to a high of 92 in less than 48 hours. Bad for me and bad for the plants.
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Congrats on 1000! I know my computer likes a good restart once in a while but I never thought about the microwave or other appliances. Interesting. Happy Sunday to you.
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I learn something new every day!
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My eyebrows have thinned as I’ve aged but I don’t believe I’ll go as far as eyebrow wigs yet. I’ll just keep my bangs long until I reach that point! Interesting though…~Elle
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I thought it was crazy until I realized that people who have had chemo or have alopecia would appreciate it.
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That’s a good thought Kate.
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Congratulations on the 1,000 Posts! You have a great blog here.
Ticks, they cause my eye to twitch like Chief Inspector Dreyfus of the Pink Panther movies. Let me notice one flea on me at someone’s home, and for two days I feel like something is crawling.
Rebooting appliances. That is something they like to hide in the back of an instruction booklet, or paper that most of us toss out. Especially men, we don’t need any instructions. Very small power fluctuations, from a blink, or a brown out can sometimes confuse electronics. I had a laptop AC adapter stop working after a thunderstorm. I unplugged it from the wall and let it on the desk while I searched Ebay for a replacement. Just for giggles, just before ordering, I plugged it in the wall and the laptop, and it was working again.
Eyebrow wig, I won’t need one. Michelle picks on me every few months if I don’t bush-hog them. I wish I could get that hair on the top to grow as well.
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Touchy appliances! Too bad you can’t move hair around! I wouldn’t mind moving my chin hairs to my eyebrows!
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Congratulations on your 1000th post, Kate!! That’s quite an accomplishment. Here’s to the next 1000..:)
Never heard of having to reboot an appliance but new technology can be a delicate issue..:)
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Ron’s explanation of small power fluctuations may be it. We almost replaced our dishwasher but it’s a good one and washes just fine.
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I wasn’t aware of rebooting appliances, on computers, copies and printers…interesting.
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Ron’s explanation of small power fluctuations on a touchy motherboard may be the reason. Not so interesting when you have a full load. Initially I would empty and wash by hand. Now we go down and turn the breaker off for 5 minutes and life is good.
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Eyebrow wigs? Who knew?
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I didn’t either. I saw the tutorial on how to put them on. They last for a while so it’s not like fake eyelashes.
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My eyebrows are so pale blonde, maybe I could use one! I’m going to check these things out!
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The power of suggestion! Mention bugs to me and I’m sure they are crawling in my hair.
Even though SoCal hardly has any.
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It’s been almost a week and I’m still scratching and checking. Several years ago I had to do a round of antibiotics for Lyme disease (just in case). The specific antibiotic they use for the disease made me sick…for 10 days! Now I am vigilant. Neurotically vigilant.
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I would be, too. You know, they made a vaccine for Lyme disease almost two decades ago. But it came out about the time the anti-vaxxer issue took off, and the human study had some complications that the anti-vaxxers exploited. So now you can vaccinate your dog, but not yourself against Lyme disease.
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Well that’s stupid! For some people (thinking of the 30-something son of a work associate) it is a devastating disease.
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Absolutely. Very frustrating. Just like the opposition to the HPV vaccine, which would prevent terminal cancer in so many young women/ mothers. My oncologist sister gets livid about those anti-vaxxers especially.
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I thought that movement was dying out. I had every vaccine that was available to me (including the old people pneumonia and shingles shots). My husband had polio in his family (not him but 3 cousins) and it’s a bad and long-term disease. My mother had me first in line for that (it was the 50s when it was at it’s peak and no one knew what caused/spread it). If I could get HPV vaccine I would. It also causes mouth cancer. I have two acquaintances with it and it’s a brutal and debilitating treatment. Bravo for your sister!
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Hate ticks…occupational hazard. Nasty little things.
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Especially with dogs. When Jake (old cat) was alive, he went outside and routinely brought in friends. He had to be checked at the door. He’s black so that was fun. They didn’t attach to him (he was medicated) but would ride in looking for us humans. So easy to munch on — no fur, no feathers, only soft skin easily accessible.
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I was pet sitting a dog recently who wasn’t on tick/flea meds yet, and got lots of ticks. Got her going on the preventatives right away. I think I took five ticks off me in two days. Ick!
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I’m surprised a dog person wouldn’dt use meds regularly. I have no outdoor cats at this point and between my husband and I, we’ve picked off about 4 so far this year. I use flea/tick stuff on my cats because they go into the screened porch. Not so much a tick issue but fleas will come in. I haven’t had flea issues without Jake but when he was around I had a bad infestation in early May. I hadn’t yet treated them all because it was early but the fleas didn’t know that. Never again!
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Lots of dog folks use the meds seasonally, but many didn’t think about how warm the winter was this year and how early the “season” started! I use them year-round.
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I use the flea stuff May through September and usually that’s good. With no cat outdoors it’s easier but I’m still vigilant. Any infestation is a pain.
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Up and down, though we got to see my Mum which was important to me and have also been up to check on the boat and run the engine. Maggie has settled down wonderfully, though she is a little subdued at the moment down to two days of bad weather which has flared up her rheumatism so we have given her a mini dose of anti inflammatory medication for such occurrences. I’ve also got myself a check up with the breast clinic. Not that there’s a problem, but I just want to make sure everything is progressing as it should, especially as my follow up isn’t scheduled until November.
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Looking forward to hearing is there is any interest in your boat. Perspective buyers? Transition is always unsettling. Yay for Maggie. Maybe she like houses better than boats, at least in her older age.
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Interest yes, but no offers yet, but it has only been a few weeks. Could be something in the boats/house thing for Maggie, especially as her night vision isn’t so good now. Would still like to know what the beep was that I heard sometimes around the same time she was restless. Hubby didn’t hear it, and no-one had anything on low batteries. It’s a mystery.
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