Random 5+ for August 11, 2024 – Deer, luck of the draw, remembrances, food, backlog

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This is Lily our resident deer at our last house. She liked to take selfies on our wildlife camera.

Deer here! – My morning Starbucks trip takes me through a large wooded area that’s part of a golf course. It’s a haven for deer. You don’t see many during the summer months when the golf course is active. This morning, despite golfers being out, I saw seven – a singleton, and two different groups. Yesterday I saw a doe with her two fawns (OMG! So cute!). You don’t see this kind of activity until the fall. Seems like everything is early this year.

Planning? – Yesterday was a gorgeous Saturday. So was the Saturday two weeks ago. Last Saturday, the day of our family reunion, it rained and was hot, muggy and yucky. I don’t know how we picked the bad Saturday sandwiched between two beautiful ones.

Last year’s reunion

Speaking of the reunion – We didn’t take our camera and tripod for the annual photo and we heard about it. I told my 94-year-old brother that he will have to live another year to be sure he’s in the picture. Urns don’t photograph well.

Getting old – A friend was telling me that her eating and drinking habits have changed as she’s gotten older. Mine sure have. So has the beloved husband’s. I don’t make as much food as I used to and when I go out, I never finish a meal. My alcohol consumption has really gone down. I never was a big drinker but sometimes I don’t finish one. I saw a box of beautiful peaches, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to eat them all. I’ve gotten to the point where I buy small containers of pre-cut fruit because things go bad before I can finish them. The beloved husband doesn’t eat fruit except for bananas (which in my mind doesn’t count!). If you had told me this 20 years ago, I would have laughed at you. I could easily finish a case of oranges in a week!

Getting back to normal (or as normal as we get) – With the bath renovation done except for small things, I’ve been dealing with the stuff that sat on my desk for two months. Yesterday I saw that my credit card was updated and needed to be activated. I don’t know how I missed that but fortunately the old one hadn’t expired yet. (Note to self: Don’t do projects that suck your energy during tax season or you are in deep doodoo!)

A bonus extra one —  Happy birthday Dad! This week is my dad’s birthday. He would have been well over 100. He’s been gone a long time  but I still miss him.

So how was your week?

57 thoughts on “Random 5+ for August 11, 2024 – Deer, luck of the draw, remembrances, food, backlog”

    • It’s a wildlife camera we put up to see who was dumping the water lilies in the pond. She must have seen the red light blink when it took her picture in the pond so she went up close to investigate!

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  2. I like the family reunion photo. Everyone looks happy and healthy. As for catching up on paperwork, digital and real, I wish you the best getting it organized in a way that makes sense to you.

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  3. Sorry I’m reading this late…it’s a great Random 5

    Between the photo of your Dad and Lily the deer, I’m very moved. Both black and white, which for me trumps color any day.

    100 he would have been? I see him celebrating in the ether happy as can be thinking of his beloved daughter Kate. Hey, it’s that writer in me that never sleeps.

    The family reunion shot also, very impressive. 🙂

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  4. We never stop missing those we love that have passed. Nice reunion 2023 photo. Sorry the weather didn’t cooperate. I wish I could say I eat less. I froze our peaches because we had a lot of them and I am too lazy to jar them anymore.

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    • I haven’t canned in 30 years. Since my husband doesn’t eat fruit I don’t bother freezing either except for strawberries. There is no way I can eat a whole quart so I will freeze half to use on ice cream. Yum! Around reunion time every year I get very nostalgic. My aunt and uncle who had a farm (long gone) used to have a summer reunion and it was so much fun for kids. I wish I could be there for just one day with my mom and dad.

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  5. That’s a sweet photo of your dad. Also a very good picture of last year’s family reunion. Every family has to have someone who insists on the group photo. My older grandson shies away from photos even though he’s quite handsome. He lines up for the family photos though.

    It seems to me that I eat about the same amount as I did when I was younger. I can’t guarantee I’m remembering correctly though.

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    • A startling difference for me was potatoes. I used to buy them in a 5 lb. bag. Nowadays they will go bad. For a meal we each eat one where I used to make 5 to share. Then I started to notice we split one chicken breast where I made two. A one lb. meatloaf gives us two meals. This is all a lot less. Some relatives didn’t like their picture taken but we had a discussion about documenting for when some of us aren’t here anymore. I wish I had more pictures of my parents and aunts and uncles.

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  7. Despite repeated trips to Lake Erie Metropark to see a fawn or two, I only saw one and it was not the spindly-legged, spotted Bambi I was hoping for. This one still had its spots, but was pretty big. The weather has been a piece of work … getting all the pieces to mesh together just doesn’t seem to happen. Yesterday and today were clear, sunny, low humidity and refreshingly cooler (yay) but … the winds were gusting to 25 mph. By 10:00 a.m. I expected to be whisked away like Dorothy and Toto.

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  8. Glad you got to see the deer out – they are so beautiful, though they are just heck on the garden 🙂 Sorry the weather was terrible for your family reunion – maybe you can all have a redo? With bonus photo!

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  9. Hi, Kate – I have been in a long-time habit of buying food in small quanities. It does mean that I need to shop more frequently. But it is very helpful with me not having to waste food or to eat too many leftovers (which are never my favourite)! 😀

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    • We are like that too now. I will buy freezable packages of meats but everything else is small quantities and not too many choices. Italian leftovers are great but there are so many others that don’t taste the same.

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  10. Bon anniversaire to your papa! It’s always weird thinking of how old parents would be. In a few years I will be the same age my dad was when he died, and that just blows my tiny mind.

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  11. We’ve had muntjac deer in our road three times I know of since we’ve been here. We get badgers too, and the foxes are back after a two year absence. Canada geese visit gardens and it’s good to hear the owl again. Nature on our doorstep, but we still miss the boat!

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  12. I’m laughing at your not counting bananas as eating fruit. My wife says the same thing to me because it’s literally the only fruit I eat on a regular basis. Yesterday I bought *one* plum because she doesn’t like them, and I know I’ll only want one. 😆 – Marty

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  13. Loved this photo of your reunion in 2023! I missed your post for 2024… we were hunkered down trying to stay out of Debby’s broad a$$ of a path. My eating habits have definitely changed. I’m thinking as I have gotten older my stomach learned how to say no. I have been loving tuna forever and now my stomach says NO. I miss it too. Is it just me?…canned tuna is gross. I miss my tuna salad and tuna casserole. I hear you about your Dad—I miss my Mom, she’s been gone since 1987. She was 71. Her birthday was last month. We have our memories and pictures are treasures. Too bad about the bad weather for the reunion… there is just soemthing about reunions outside on a beautiful day!

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    • I don’t have the appetite and I also like different things. There are some foods, like cheesecake, that I loved when I was young. Not anymore. I’ve also taken more to chocolate than when I was young. I still don’t eat much candy but a good chocolate cake or brownies are wonderful! My mom died in 1986 but my dad died in 1958. I was just a kid.

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  14. I always thought deer were cute until they started eating everything in sight in my yard. 🙂 Sorry you got that muggy weekend in between but glad you could get together. A lot of times when we eat out, we order an appetizer because we know we can’t finish a meal and it doesn’t reheat well. At home, I make a lot less food, well, except for dessert. Dessert is a necessity, along with fruit of all kinds. 🙂

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  17. Deer……love watching them. We have woods everywhere around here and see deer all the time. I get sad when I see “a” deer…….alone and when there’s a batch of them in a clump – like 7 or 8 including a baby or two it makes me happy for days. I know you are thrilled to only have “touching up” things to do for the new and improved bathroom – that and the kitchen were quite LOOOOOONG projects to have to live through. I’m sure now that the agony of worker bees in and out and out and in for days on end is fading – it was worth it! Family reunions must be fun – neither my husband nor I had enough family for a reunion. I would like to have been a part of something like that though………………

    Hugs, Pam (and Teddy)

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    • When I was a kid we had huge reunions. Mom was one of 8 and dad was one of 6. Lots of cousins. Now it’s just my brother and nieces and nephews but that’s ok. I have enough keeping up with them.

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  18. It’s great that you manage to gather (and photograph) extended family together every year . . . through good weather and bad.

    Good luck catching up on the paperwork (and digital work).

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    • So am I. It wasn’t good walking weather for weeks unless you wanted to walk at 5 a.m. and even that was iffy. I’m just sorry our reunion didn’t have great weather. People left early and there were some people I didn’t get to chat with.

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