OG:  Interesting that your house cleaner is off to Mexico - I'm assuming the Gulf side?  Hope the antibiotics sort out J's mouth.  I could visualize those rows of hungry birds.  I tossed out some nuts this afternoon to a dove that was peering through the patio window, but the crows got there first followed by the scrub jay, which seems not to be intimidated by anything, including the squirrel that showed up to investigate.  The crows definitely gave the squirrel a wide berth though.

Lindybird:   Death by Duvet. That's hysterical.  They aren't as popular here as in the UK, etc.  My pet peeve re bedding is trying to figure out how to fold fitted sheets...  Got some sheets a while back that had 'Top' and 'Bottom' on the appropriate edges - save a lot of flapping around....

Rusty: Hurray for such a great vacation, although too bad you went all round the houses to get home.  I imagine you didn't have any time to emjoy Paris beyond the airport. And as OG said, those three weeks seemed to zoom by.   When I saw your post I was thinking you'd only been gone a week.

AQ:  I found that men take a long time to come to their senses.  But to leave your daughter with three kiddies?  And I'm assuming you're doing more granny duty?  What a strain you guys are under right now.  Hugs from here.

Rosy: Will your OH get physical therapy now?  I remember when my sister was so ill it was difficult to plan even simple things like lunch because the carers' schedule was so variable.  Did you have any trouble finding carers?

Well the Prescott house should be on the market in about a week.  Granddaughter is there now with Ms. D before they ffy to Wisconin.  They left just before 4 this morning and got there right about noon so made very good time.  I left Prescott Valley Wednesday morning just before 10 thinking I'd to the Palm Springs area around 4:30-5 but no.  Some 30 minutes west of Blythe I got a flat tire, which was disconcerting to say the least because there's nothing between Blythe and Indio/Palm Springs except desert and it was 108F!  It took the Auto Club contractor an hour to reach me - I was in the car with lots of water, the  engine running and the a/c going, but it was strange because the freeway was busy and everyone was whizzing by at 75+ mph. Half an hour into the wait, the Highway Patrol spotted me and stuck around until the Auto Club showed up.   The worst part was having to drive from near Blythe all the way to the Palm Springs area in the blistering heat at 50mph on the rinky-dink spare.  It all ended okay, although I had to buy a new tire.   Was so nice to finally get home.

Must stop blathering now .....

Have a good Sunday everyone.    And thank you Diane; hope the weather doesn't get too awful.

Mmmm, I personally think some  very bad guys have it in for Indiana , Diane. My heart  goes out to you and all the wildlife that will be needing lots of water. I suppose 'they' will blame it on so called climate change. I won't stand on my soap box..I shall certainly be thinking about you a great deal - I simply cannot take high temperatures any more.  When I go walking in my local countryside I need my UV umbrella with me to carry shade for my entire body or I quickly become poorly. And that's over here !!!  where summer temperatures rarely get above 80 F.

I shall send cold thoughts constantly  towards Indiana .

What a good idea labelling sheets top and bottom.  I spend ages trying to work it out.  

Hello – on Sunday.

Update on J: he is quite poorly but able to eat chosen items and we are making him drink plenty.  The first night was horrendous and he woke us screaming in the morning.  He is sleeping reasonably well at night now, and is being quite co-operative during the day.

Replies to end of last week:

AQ – what a load you have to bear with family troubles.  I hope you can get some time to think of yourself.  Any chance of respite care for your OH?

RUSTY – sorry you had a disrupted homeward journey from Finland – but glad you eventually arrived home safely.  I am sure you will be needing a break now to recover from your holiday!

LINDA – we had a mostly dry day Saturday after having heavy rain down our chimney on Friday evening!  More heavy rain in showers this morning after E-E had been outside sowing latest row of salad and carrots.  No hail, and no thunder but the air has been quite uncomfortable. We didn’t go to church – J not up to it and I didn’t want to support the visiting preacher who was so rude to me a month ago!  She did apologise at the time, and I did mean my forgiveness, but didn’t feel strong enough to see her again yet.  I thought the King looked worse at the ceremony yesterday than he has been before – looked rather blue – I hope he isn’t doing too much.

ROSY – good to see that your OH is making progress with walking about – I seem to remember he has poor health normally.  You will find you have time to spare, organising your days without carers coming in – but do take care and get some rest yourself.

DIANE – thanks for the new day and week.  I wonder whether we might get some lasting summer after the solstice – it hasn’t been very bad here but is so unpredictable.  Take care in your heat and humidity – good to hear you are getting a fan.

ANNETTE – sorry about the difficult journey home with tyre trouble – glad you won’t be doing that run any more – always worried me to think of you driving it alone in that terrain!

DIBNLIB – my mother used to label tops and bottoms of sheets – very neat embroidery as with everything she did!

 Must stop or this will be too long for folks to read - also, I have to start on magazine this week as I shall be slow with a sore arm.

OG:  Hope J continues to improve - what a way to wake you up!   Re my drive home, every time I went through that area I'd think 'I'd hate to break down out here.'    It's patrolled and there's lots of traffic, but the desert is a hostile place where you wouldn't survive long without water.

Thank you Diane for starting us off. I too would not be looking forward to that kind of weather. I hope it is not as bad as anticipated.

Annette - that sound like a nightmare. What an awful place to have a flat tyre. You sound to have kept calm and it is good that the Highway Patrol found you. 
OG - so sorry J is having a bad time with his tooth. It must be worrying and stressful. I can’t believe the magazine had come round again already. 
Lindy - I hope you and your OH are doing OK.

I have had a very busy couple of days. I did 3 loads of washing and managed to get them all dried outside. Tomorrow is ironing day!!! I naturally had to go grocery shopping. Tescos had moved everything round. I was very confused especially as I was still very tired. Today I have tackled the garden. I have cut both lawns which were like hayfields. They looks a lot better. I went to the garden centre and spent a fortune. Cosmos are now planted under the front window and I have planted up 2 pots for the back. I overestimated what I needed so tomorrow, I have 2 more pots to plant up. 

After the ironing tomorrow , I am going to meet up with my sister for lunch at a big Marks and Spencer’s which is about halfway between the two of us. 

To keep you going, here is one of my favourite puffin photos from Hornoya and island off the north Norway coast. You can get so near to them. It is magical. 

Magical indeed, Rusty - I've never seen one close up. 

Annette- How scary, breaking down where you'd least like to.  At least someone came to see if you were alright. I'm glad all was OK in the end. Phew! I'm also glad you won't be doing it again.

OG - Poor J, he is going through the mill. Hopefully he will be alright. You sound busy. We've been putting in our summer bedding plants & I've still got two hanging baskets to do. I just buy random plants which I like, and jam them in and it a seems to work out OK in spite of not being properly planned. The colours co ordinate because I buy mostly pink, blue and white, with a touch of lilac.

AQ - You will be tired I think if your daughter needs Grandma help and you're already busy with your OH. What a bind. And such a shame you're not nearer to each other. Keep on going.{HUGS}

Tomorrow is my OHs exploratory op. He has to be there for 7.30am and its about 45 mins away!! So an early start in the morning. I will leave him there & come home for breakfast, then wait for a call to fetch him later. I've plenty of ironing to keep me busy!

We will be hoping for a pronouncement on what ails him.

Lindybird:  Not a fun day for you guys tomorrow;  will hold positive thoughts for you.

Rusty:  I had to lay down and take a nap after reading about your day! Enjoy lunch at M&S.