Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Lunch and Netflix with a friend today. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Tootin Toosday Fogfighter, Gerry, Connie and everyone who gets the chance to drop in later. I'm off on errands for the morning. But first I am enjoying my one cup of Wide Awake Double Dark Brew, with a bagel and knäckebröd. Wishing you a wonderful day too Gerry, Connie and Fogfighter.
Hope you all have a great day ahead!

Good afternoon, everyone.

It was a lovely morning and I had my coffee outside on the covered patio. Then I noticed that some leaves on the weeping acer over my pond had been eaten. On closer inspection, I saw that both of my ornamental acers are covered in white sticky goo, and one of them has been decimated, missing many leaves. This happened in about two days. So, I've sprayed them with my soap solution but one of the plants looks positively skeletal in places. Also, my hellebores are being eaten alive. If it's slugs, they will meet their maker next time they come to the base of the hellebores; I've set up a salt gauntlet. I have to say, in all my years of having a garden, I've never seen so may garden pest infestations.

I don't have a garden. I bought gardening gloves when I moved in this house 29 years ago but they never saw the outside. I do, however, have a bee hive of some sort hanging from the ceiling of the metal awning just outside my bedroom windows. I had noticed some bees going nuts out there several times when our neighbors were blowing off fireworks in their yard and then I noticed the hive. It looks like a coconut.

Oh, dear, oldbroad! That sounds more like a hornet's nest! They can be other colors or shapes...

Hornet's Nest Picture

Yes, they are hornets or wasps, not sure. Whatever, I don't like ANY bugs. At least we never got the cicadas here, so far not even the regular annual ones.

My two little wasp's nests got the boot early on before they caused any trouble. When Willow was a kitten she was chased off the third floor balcony and down two flights of stairs by a wasp before I managed to divert its attention and kill it with the handy-dandy tennis racquet bug zapper. Which reminds me, I need a new one.

Good Morning everyone. A few emergency rations of instant coffee and knäckebröd without lutefisk are available in the break room.

Hagatha: good plan to get a new bug zapper. Zap the bugs. At least those who come too close. Honey bees on the other hand are quite sweet, I think. Good luck with your hornets Oldbroad.

Over here about 20 Celsius outdoors. Mr Rain is expected to return briefly this afternoon. He's welcome.

Happy Wednesday Gameboomers

Good Morning Fogfighter and everyone. The Wide Awake Double Dark Brew ready...enjoy!

A beautiful day ahead here.

Hope you all have a relaxing summer day!

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Manicure and lunch with a friend today. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. The knäckebröd, coffee and bagels are a great start for my day. Chores and projects are on my docket for the day. Wishing you all a wonderful day.

Good Wednesday morning! Woke up at 5 am to a lovely thunderstorm. It just now stopped raining at 9:15.

Step-daughter and her SO arrived late yesterday for a week or so. They are staying at her aunt's house while they are on vacation. Hubby has a boatload of fish - crappie and bluegill - in the freezer, so we are going to do a fish fry for the 4th of July tomorrow. Petra is making her famous German bowl cake which is a yummy concoction of layers of ladyfingers cakes, black cherries, whipped cream, sour cream, vanilla pudding, sugar and cinnamon. I'm shredding a cabbage and making my cole slaw today because it's always better after a day in the refrigerator. Cheesy potatoes should round it out nicely!

Draclvr, your meals always sound so good. I consider myself to be diligent if I make myself a roast chicken and roast vegetables. These days that's about as detailed a meal as I can muster.

Off to Campbell River today to drop off donations and recycling and visit a friend for lunch. It's a gorgeous day for a drive.

We're expecting a heat wave next week. I guess I'll have to turn on the AC.

Good morning everyone. Another hot day today and I think storms are expected.

I used to love to cook but now (especially when I'm peeling/chopping onions) I am always wondering WHY I used to love to cook. These days I try to cook 2 times a week but it often takes a couple of days to make one meal. One day I take things out of the pantry, one day I peel/chop stuff, then I finally do the cooking part. The worst part is that nothing ever seems to have any flavor any more. A recipe calls for a clove of garlic. I'll put half a head of garlic and won't be able to even taste it. What's the point?

Anyway, I hope you each have a good day!

Hagatha, after my second husband died and I was by myself, I seldom cooked. Dinner most nights was a bowl of cold cereal or crackers and cheese. Maybe once a month I would actually cook something.

That sounds miserable, oldbroad. Someone I know lost her sense of smell and taste after several bouts of COVID. It's been 2 years since she could taste anything - she says it's really awful.

I know what you mean. Oldbroad. I plan to make a good vegetarian chilli but then the thought of chopping onions just seems like too much and a month later i end up throwing the onion into the compost bin. For me it's all about roasting things with loads of spices like smoked paprika and ancho pepper and cumin, and maybe some garlic. At least that way it isn't just plain chicken and plain vegetables and adding the spices only takes a minute or two. Two large chicken breasts will feed me four dinners.

Good Morning Fogfighter, Connie, soot, Draclvr, hagatha , oldbroad and everyone. Wide Awake Double Dark Brew is ready to start your day.

Oldbroad there are a lot of frozen varieties of veggies including chopped onion, a mix of peppers and onions, and many more that you can use in recipes without chopping or cutting...just toss them in with whatever you are making...easy and delicious! Hagatha look for frozen veggies you can use like the chopped onion and you won't have to throw any away.

Enjoy your day everyone!

Gerry

Good morning Gerry!

I have bought the frozen ones on occasion but that sometimes presents other problems (like if they sit in there too long). Also, since my freezer doesn't work, I share my brothers and his is pretty small. My grocery store sells a lot of already cut up fresh veggies also but when I compare the prices I don't want to buy them. Also, they rot quicker when they're already cut. One thing I find very convenient for some things though, is already shredded carrots.

Drac, the weird thing is that it is only some of the things I really enjoyed that I can no longer taste, such as the fresh garlic, fresh basil, fresh mint, and fresh cilantro. Even the dried herbs and spices don't seem to do much for me anymore but I haven't actually lost my taste buds or my sense of smell. I just don't really get it.

I think it's time for me to so I'll see you all tomorrow. Not looking forward to all the noise. I wish the fireworks were all nice and quiet and pretty like the ones on the GB logo!

Have a great day everybody!

Good morning everyone. The DDWAB coffee makes wonders.

Independence day is not a thing over here but I understand it's big in America.
Today, instead of knäckebröd, I'll throw in a few bags of Hershey's Kisses for emergency use until the real celebrations begin.

Happy July 4th Gameboomers!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Happy 4th of July. We're going to have a after 4th Bar B Que on Sat. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Connie, Fogfighter, Gerry, OldBroad, Hagatha, Draclvr and everyone else who gets the chance to pop in for coffee, treats and Hershey's Kisses. I'll be preping ribs and grilling today...and hoping for a quiet evening too! Take care everyone and stay out of trees!
Happy 4th of July

Good Thursday morning! Since I made my cole slaw and put together the loaded cauliflower and cheesy potato casseroles yesterday, all I have to do is put them in the oven this afternoon. Hubby will fry the fish and onion rings. So I have plenty of time to sit here and enjoy my DDWAB this morning.

I think yesterday was one of the most miserable days ever! It wasn't that hot, but the humidity was higher than the temperature - like 89%. It felt like you were breathing under water. We've had about 4 inches of rain, but places around here have had more and there is a lot of flooding.

Apparently we're in for a scorcher this weekend. It's very dry here. I'm going to deep-root water my trees and shrubs over the next week or two in advance of watering restrictions.

We've had rain in our forecast every day for a few weeks now but haven't gotten much at all. I was kind of hoping for some today before these fireworks started up because it is pretty dry out there. No such luck. Those bees are really going nuts outside my window because of the noise. They don't exactly look like wasps or hornets so I'm not really sure what they are.

Good news everyone!

There are a few emergency rations of instant coffee and knäckebröd available in the break room.

Over here the temperature is decent 18 celsius. Ms Cloud and Mrs Sun are visiting but no Mr Rain. He may arrive tomorrow evening.

Happy Friday Gameboomers