Life moves along quickly

I've been feeling myself growing older quickly these past few years.  If I stop to study my face in the mirror or look closely at my skin or even see pictures of myself, it's a reminder that I'm no spring chicken anymore.  I've been sorting through my  photo boxes all morning, trying ever so hard to thin down the collection even a little bit.  I probably discarded half a dozen but I'm going to do the "Joyce" section next and I'm sure I'll find some ding-a-ling photos that need to go to Mr. Trash Can.

I made sections for Catie, Hunter, Maddie, and The Twins as well as categories for each of my siblings, cousins, aunts & uncles, friends, classmates, and various places like PT, PA, Sequim, Hadlock, the mill, animals, flowers, funerals, and Old photos.  I could spend a week and still not be done.  Anyhow, I love looking at how the twins have grown.

Hunter is here today. He came over to weedeat around the outside edges of the yards and to mow the two sides.  For some reason, they are growing and green while the front and back lawns are brown and mostly just dandelions.  He's in the back bedroom practicing on his saxophone right now as him and Maddie intend to join the band when they attend junior high next month.  Maddie is also going to sign up for cross country.

Got an interesting email about using solar lights from Rose Johnson today.

I have a friend who used her solar lights inside at night when her current was off during the hurricane. She stuck them in a jar or bottle and said they gave off plenty of 'free light'. She put one in each room and would put them back outside in the daytime and bring them in at night as long as the current was off. They are safe to use and cheaper than batteries. Bring in a solar light one night and test it.

Due to a thunderstorm, we lost power for about 5 hours. We were scrambling around in the darkness, looking for matches, candles, flashlights, etc. We looked outside, and noticed our solar lights shining brightly all around our patio, stairs, dock, etc. They were beautiful. My wife walked outside, and brought several of the solar lights inside.

We stuck the solar light pipes into plastic drink bottles containers and they made the nicest, brightest, safest, lighting you could ever imagine.

We put one in the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, etc. There was plenty of light. There are all types of solar lights available. We bought ours at Harbor Freight. We put them all around our yard. They look nice and they do not attract flying bugs like the outdoor lights around our doorway.

The lights we have fit into the small (20 oz.) water bottles and they also fit into most of the larger liter bottles. If you need a weight in the plastic bottle to keep them from tipping over, you can put a few of the pretty colorful "flat marbles" that they put in aquariums, and vases. (you can also use sand, aquarium gravel, etc., whatever you have available).

The lights we have were perfect inside our home. They burn all night long if you need them.

The next day, you just take your solar lights back outside and they will instantly recharge and be ready for you to use again any time you need them.

Perfect for power outages, hurricanes, etc.

Looks like we're getting new people on the street. A large moving van is parked two houses down. Hunter and I went by (me on my bike and him on his scooter) to see what we could see. I think it's another young couple with young kids.  Sometimes I miss living in a 50+ neighborhood.  I rode my bike to the end of the street and returned a container to Yvonne. She had given me a bowl of homemade soup. We're going to go to the fair on Saturday morning.

I saw this on Facebook recently and think I'm going to try it out.

Mix 1/2 c. salt, 1/2 c. flour, and "about" 1/4 c. water. Knead, roll out, and make an impression in dough with your foot or hand. Bake at 200 for 3 hours and use as a lawn stone outside.

Well, time to make a sandwich for lunch. I posted a short blog on my Town Kid Leader blog this morning.