Ship Full O’ Pirates

We haven’t had measurable rain for 473 years.  Seems like.

Can’t say that any more.

We’ve had 4 hard rains today.

The ground is so dry that it just soaks right in as soon as the rain slows down.

I hope our resident toad had time to crawl out from under the sidewalk, because it’s all underwater now.

Maybe the “lawn” will green up and fill in a bit now.

This garden always fills right up.  It’s about 5 inches deep in places.

So far the street hasn’t started filling up.

What?  You mean y’all don’t have a mud boot on your roof?

People need flashlights!

So we have a great big flash light with a great big battery and a spare battery.

Now, when I wanted to use this flashlight today to look in the mouth of one of my Pirates, it wouldn’t work right.

Specifically, it wouldn’t stay on unless aimed straight down.  What’s the deal?

Enter Mr Fix-it!  Seriously, The Cap’n loves figuring things out and “handling it.”  And he’s pretty good at it too.  So I let him.  One less thing for me to deal with.  That works for me.

But the real tip is what he did.  The big flashlight is pretty simple and straight forward in its construction.  The big cavernous part was just too deep for the battery to make a good connection at the top.  So he added a little padding in the bottom of the cavern.

A sheet of paper folded up.

And trimmed to fit.

And jammed down in the cavern.

Which raises the battery up enough to make a good connection with all the pertinent bits in the top dealie.

Are you keeping up with all my tech-talk here?

And now we have portable light at any angle we please.

Works for me!

And don’t ever forget…

There’s a giveaway!  Actually there are two giveaways this month running “concurrently.”  (”Sorry” I can’t help myself.  That blog really “tickled” my funny bone.)

You should click here and then here to enter both of my giveaways this month.  Read the rules on each one, please.  They’re not difficult, but read ‘em and follow the rules.  I’ll be revving up the random number generator on the last day of this month or the first day of next month.

And there will be another giveaway next month.  So, if ya like getting free stuff you should look in my right sidebar and subscribe via email or in a reader.  Personally, I read blogs using bloglines, so convenient.

My great friend KimC at “Life” in a Shoe showed me this “hilarious” blog.

I thought I would “steal” one of the images over there so I could whet your “appetite” for their blog.

Appetite or no, I think I’ll “pass” on these beets!

I love this kind of humor.  Makes me feel so “smart!”  Works for me!

Check it out and come back and laugh “with” me.

When you look at my yard, the whole thing at once, it ain’t pretty.  Not by any stretch.  But, I have a Pirate who can see the beautiful bits, here and there.  And he has devoted almost all of his free time to learning to use my new camera.  He takes pictures of everything.  All the time.

All of his diligence is paying off.  He is coming up with some very good photos.  If I had made him wait until I could learn it first, so that I could then teach him, well, you wouldn’t be lookin’ at the few pretty flowers I have in my yard for a long time ever.

And the folks at Picnik let us dress ‘em up so cute.  Really, you should go try this out.  It’s very simple.  Works for me!

These Sweet Williams have been in my garden for over 3 years.  So much for annuals.

If you knew how long it’s been since we had any real, measurable rain, you’d be as amazed as I am that there’s any life out there at all.

And here they come to end all the loveliness, unless we can catch ‘em all and have another Nature Study Lesson.

My talented photographer is The Cap’n.  He did a great job!

If you live here long enough, you will have allergies.  That’s what my allergist tells me and it’s what I have observed, with very few exceptions.

I suffer horribly.  Wait.  Let’s change that to the past tense.  I used to suffer horribly.  That is, until I got fed up with getting sinus infections, one after the other, all autumn and winter long.  Ugh! Yuk! I hate it!

I have known about the cure for some time now.  I just am that stubborn.  And the cure is a little more involved than popping a little red pill twice a day.  But, last autumn, I finally decided to get on board and commit myself to the cure.

I am not going to dole out advice here.  I am just gonna tell you what worked for me.  Actually, I’m not even gonna tell you.  I’ll just give you a little vid to watch, then I’ll tell you where to get the supplies.

You can buy these pots at the health food store.  They even have ‘em at Walgreens now.  I paid $15 for mine. The salt I use is just a rounded ¼ teaspoon of sea salt.

If you have small children, buy the plastic pot.  The ceramic ones shatter very nicely in the sink.

I used mine faithfully, all autumn and didn’t have any sinus trouble, didn’t even need a tissue once.  Then I got over-confident and laid off for a few days in  April and promptly came down with a sinus infection.  Stubborn lady that I am, I didn’t go to the doctor for it, but I did immediately start using my neti pot twice a day, and that cleared it right up.

The Pirates also have allergies.  But when I  suggested the neti pot you’d think I’d told them to walk the plank.  I must say, the effect is somewhat the same.  Of course, with one you end up in Davy Jones’ locker, and the other can save you from intense facial pain.  Either way you’re gonna have salt-water up yer nose.

See note at bottom.

I got a pretty fair number of positive comments about my Smooth Young Feet ala The Ped Egg.  So, I thought,  “Why not talk about my feet some more?”  Who knew there was so much blog fodder just sittin’ there on the end of my legs?

Now, I don’t want to  to be gross or disgusting, but, sometimes my feet itch.  There, I said it, for all the world to read.  I get athlete’s foot.

Which sounds like it should be a good thing.  I should be very speedy and fit.  Right?   I have the feet of an athlete!

No.  Just itchy feet.

And since my knee injury I have been wearing tennis shoes all the time.  Of course, the sensible shoes aggravate the nastiness.  So lately the itching has been a big deal.

The only cure for this I have ever tried comes in a spray can at the pharmacy.  Here’s the problem.  I hate using aerosol cans and I hate using harsh chemicals on my skin, my families skin, human skin, anything!

So every morning as I’m spraying this toxic waste all over my feet, I’m thinking to myself, “There’s got to be a more natural way to deal with this!”

I finally had a Eureka! moment.  Tea Tree Oil.  And I just so happened to have some in my bathroom.  I had read all over the internet about tea tree oil being used for all manor of skin problems, both bacterial and fungal.  So I gave it a whirl.

My athlete’s foot condition cleared right up.  All I did was to rub some tea tree oil on the offending parts of my feet.  It even felt nice going on.  No fumes to gag me.  No guilt over the nasty chemicals absorbing into my central nervous system.  Umm, and no more itchy feet.  Works for me!

Alert reader Elizabeth pointed out that tea tree oil is not for use during pregnancy or nursing.  If this means you, do your research first.  Maybe there is another natural option that is safe during these times.  I would guess that my spray-can-fog should be off limits too.

If you wanna learn more about tea tree oil click here.

What do you tell your children when they have a headache?  I tell mine to drink a full glass of water and then, if it still hurts to come back and talk to me.  Unless they are sick, they never have to come back.  My children’s headaches (not that they get many) are almost always due to slight dehydration, because they’re having too much fun to interrupt themselves with getting a glass of water.

My headaches, on the other hand, require a different approach.  I suffer migraines.  Frequently.  So I try not to use drastic measures to treat them.

My favorite, non-medical way to treat a migraine is with a cup of herbal tea.  Not just any sort of tea.  Peppermint tea.  Yummy stuff.  I make a double cup.  Meaning I put 2 tea bags in my mug.  Almost always leaves me headache free.  And minty fresh to boot!  My favorite is Celestial Seasonings.  Actually, I buy no other brand of tea.

Works for me!

So, I’ve been feeling a little grouchy lately.  So, guess what I did?

I gave The Princess a makeover.  Not that she needed it, she’s lovely no matter what.  And I’m not just sayin’ that ‘cuz she’s my baby and I’m her mama.  See for yourself.

But, I needed to do something different and fun.  And I needed a quick way to make somebody say, “You’re the best mom in the whole world!”  So, I gave her bangs a super over-due trim.

We painted finger nails.

And toenails.

And we knocked back some serious chocolate!

Now we all feel better!

Chocolate always works for me!