2 Fred Gwynne's today

Thought I'd post a couple of Fred's pictures today as they're tied in with each other.

a man held up a bank

and spent two years in the pen

Called the doctor this morning to see if it's okay to just take one pill a night instead of trying to work myself up to six a night.  The cramps eased up remarkably after the second night so I guess they're doing the trick.  It's such a relief.

I'm having a fairly relaxing day so far.  Very thankful the heat spell is over.  I spent a couple hours working on my book, but as usual, I was  easily distracted as one memory or another would spark my curiosity and I'd have to go online to see what I could find.  I'm up to the Kirkland days and they're a lot easier for me to remember.  Partly because I have a few diary notes to jog my memory. Most aren't worth a darn but they're better than nothing. I printed off 11 pages so I can refer to them easier than having to stick a disk in each time.

I lived in Kirkland for five years.  A fun period in my life. 1968-1973.  I love Google Maps.  I just pulled up my Kirkland address and printed off a picture of how the house looks now.  I went back to the neighborhood a couple times over the years to take a picture as it always fascinates me to see the changes taking place.  Here's some time change photos...

 this is how the house looked when we were leaving in June of '73. For the first couple years or so, we didn't even have grass planted in the sloping area in front of the garage.

 I don't remember if the blue house was before or after the brown house but both places look so different from our yellow. It was brand new when we moved in. Always hated the sloping driveway.



This was from the Google maps page today. Wasn't as clear as I would have liked but I was able to scroll all up and down the street.  I like this retaining wall the present owners built. Wish I could see the backyard. It was small and ugly when we lived there. And the freeway was close.

I went out on the deck to tidy up the flower pots a bit by snipping off dead flowers. A cute little green frog was underneath one leaf and scared me half to death.  Decided I would garden another day.

I had a note from Ebay this morning that Hunter sold another car part and paypal had deposited money in my account.  I had to print off a UPS label (thank God they had easy directions) and Wayne will come by to pick it up later so he can mail the fender off.  Hunter sold $273 worth but has to reimburse me the postage costs as he listed it with free shipping. 

I was wearing crocs and sandals and no shoes part of the time during our heat spell and now my feet are uncomfortable back in their sensible and heavier sneaker shoes.  Am tempted to take my shoes off altogether as it feels like my feet have swollen but I don't suppose that would be a good idea.  I hope most of the body parts are in a healthy state come Saturday when I'm walking around the county fair for a couple of hours.  I'm taking a walking stick this time as I think it's easier strolling around on the uneven grounds. Looking forward to the picnic at Port Ludlow afterwards.  I sent out reminder postcards this morning to the half dozen who don't have computers.

Wayne had to go back to work this morning so I drove over to pick up Sammy at 8 a.m.  He was sure excited to see me.  Wayne will head back out to the KOA camp after work to help Jenni and the kids pack up to come home.  I walked out in the front yard this morning and noticed the dandelions are coming on strong again. Damn weeds!  Seems like weeds are the best things I grow.  All the weeding I did on the curbside dirt area did little good. I suppose I should have gone the extra mile and laid down black plastic and bark but I didn't have the energy or money.  All that horsehair grass is returning.

I pulled a few dandelions that were especially high and took them to the backyard to put in the trash.
Noticed all my red flowers that I had transplanted from the front because the deer were eating them aren't doing too well. In fact, they may be dead.  I don't understand why. I'm pretty sure we dug the holes deep enough and I used new dirt.  Kept them watered too.  I wonder if the heat did it. 

Probably my doing since the same flowers that I kept in pots on my porch are okay.

I'm definitely hiring a professional gardener when my numbers come in with the lotto.

Off to the kitchen now.  Quilt squares await their turn to be sewn to one another.  Glad the Olympics are on to track events now. I was bored with water and sand volleyball.  Swimming was getting boring too.  Enjoyed watching the girls gymnastics but I do get annoyed with the U.S. commentators who are obviously biased.  Which is okay except when one of our girls falls on her butt and they continue to say she has a chance for  gold and start to nitpick at the other country's entrants. Keep your stupid opinions to yourself and let us make up our own mind who deserves a medal.