There's a street artist I follow on FB whose name is David Zinn, from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He does small scale work in chalk, incorporating things existing. His creatures are so cute and the idea mostly funny, it is a pleasure to see something new pop up. He also is on Instagram and You Tube.

You know, with all the tick talk (soon to be outlawed so they say, lol) I got to wondering. When are you guys expecting the double horde of cicadas? I'm steeling myself for those pictures. Who of you will get them?

I thought Rred was the queen of the cicadas?

Bob Seeger is on the radio… on a long and lonesome highway east of Omaha! That’s I80!
But I am not lonely…

We'll see ya soon! :)

Fortunately we are not in the path of the double brood cicada hatch this time around. I've been in one mass hatch here in the woods, and lord have mercy on everyone's ears! We have about 4 or 5 years before the next brood here emerges...

What a fun day Ladma!

Aaawww he looks very comfy on his road trip Fiss!

RRed, enjoy your meetup!

Oh, we were 15 minutes into our road-trip to the eye doctor and I got the call. She is sick to day and needs to reschedule us to next week. So we went back to the house and pulled weeds. Then repacked all the condo food we took to the house fridg & freezer, and brought to the new freezer. 9 pkgs of ground beef . 🙄 Not yo mention all the other meat. OH shops meat like we are going to starve. We had ham sandwiches for lunch. (7 pkgs) Then I went and got a pedicure. This weekend is our annual condo HOA meeting and cocktail party. I organize the ladies luncheon for Friday. 😎

What is it about ham…my hubs could eat it 3 meals a day…🤷🏻‍♀️..I shouldn’t complain since I no longer feel like cooking 3 times a day myself..but oddly I don’t really like ham ….i am a borderline vegetarian…and guess who really doesn’t eat any veggies but a simple salad?…

Ferg is such a a goode boye!

So fun catching up w Fiss and Beloved too!

I think it's so amazing - and terrific - when Houzz folks from all over the place find a way to actually meet up 'in real life'. I bet you had a really good time...

Btydrvn not a pig fan myself, gastronomically speaking. I think my years of collecting them has influenced me.

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Yaa for new fridges! Yaa for I80 being done with. Pretty sure I recall that stretch travelled in 1970. Seems to me it's cornfields all the way down instead of turtles. Infinity.

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Earth day celebration was a big success. Room was packed, gave away multiple buckets of cuttings, the black currant tea items (tea, Ribena, jelly on biscuits) was fun. Informative workshop on propagation of trees and shrubs, learned lots.

It is winter again here, unseasonably, with snow on top of flowering trees and pansies everywhere. The goats, and goat cheese, were great. No milking was involved. Yesterday took us into Switzerland for a few hours on the red Bernina Express Train, the highest and steepest Alpine crossing, and up a mountain on a gondola, where we could see very little due to the snow storm. Today we toured a vineyard for a sparkling wine tasting before lunch and are now settled into our hotel on Lake Iseo. This really is gorgeous country.

Backing up to my yesterday.... I went to a celeb. of life for one of my mom's best friends. The whole family was close with my family-- us kids were all the same age, etc-- and the matriarchs, our moms, were especially close.

S. was a woman of many talents and interests. One of her most special volunteer endeavors was a thing we have here called "Festival of Lights" -- a Christmas tree decorating "contest" where special interests decorate a giant Christmas tree, with a theme usually, to be auctioned off to area businesses (usually) for big bucks, which all go towards the children's hospital here.

It was always fun to go see the exhibition of trees to be auctioned off, and it was a huge fundraiser when the auction was over.

That was something she was especially proud of and involved in for many years.

So at this service, there were flowers, of course, but up front and center, was a fully decorated Christmas tree. One of her granddaughters, who is my DD's age, had made all these amazing ornaments commemorating her grammy's Tree of Lights connection. They were clear glass balls, filled with beach sand and little teeny seashells, because S.'s other passion was her Hilton Head beach house. So, a nice way to memorialize her, yeah? We were instructed to write a favorite memory of S on a cute card at a table by the tree, then take an ornament for ourselves.

I wrote a Christmas memory of S, and slipped a beachy ornament into my purse, and rushed home to pick up Otherhalf for dinner downtown.

Ten minutes before we left to meet Fiss, I noticed that the ornament had completely rolled upside down and emptied itself into my purse.

I did the best I could to get it all back inside the ornament, and vacuumed out the rest...

I could hear my mom and S laughing together at me all the way from Heaven...

Here’s the vineyard photo, which didn’t post.

I was imagining S vacuuming up that beach sand in Hilton Head, which I'm sure she did many many times... LOL

S had 3 kids, 7 grand kids and at least that many great grandkids...all of whom have GREAT names. It was fun seeing them all together again, one last time for me, probably...

Two of S's granddaughters (who are the daughters of my friend from that family, who is no longer with us...sadly...) are the spitting image of their mom. It's uncanny. I was so glad to get to see them again.

Then, dinner with Fiss and Beloved, then this morning... I had an early morning emergency dental appointment. That dang broken tooth.

During that, the soundtrack was spot on. You've all heard my musings at the "dental soundtrack" but today was just perfection...

"Another One Bites the Dust." For real, that one played.

Then, "Big Shot" (Billy Joel) I was losing my mind trying not to laugh when the words, "You had to be a big shot, did you?" and "You had to have the WHITE HOT SPOT LIGHT..." OMG

I think that is the best match for the dental experience I ever have heard! I had JUST HAD the big shot of novocaine, for sure, and the white hot spotlight, too!

Honorable mentions also giving me dental vibes that played during my visit: "Dirty Work" (Steely Dan) and "Blinded by the Light" (Manfred Mann's Earth Band)

I have two shiny, smooth new crowns, because I was already numb for the broken one, and the next one over was gonna need one someday anyhow... but hey! They make them while you wait now! It was all over in two hours and I don't have any temps to go back to replace. Nice.

I was, as they say, an expensive date this morning. LOL

My refrigerator supposed to come this afternoon so I can't wait to get the kitchen back in order have to let it sit for 24 hours before you put food in it but it won't last 21 years the average refrigerator these days last between 7 and 12 so it's going to be some pretty junk I guess thank goodness I have an old washing machine in the shed and an old dryer in the garage that time will come for those two I just need a knob for the washer got to look one up someday

The good old days when clients' lasted a long time and furnaces do our roof is 20 years old on the sunroom I bet it's time to replace that too but where are we going to get all this money!

Happy, I am glad I'm not the only one who would keep an old school W/D set "just in case." Good thinking!

Julia, those photos are gorgeous. The train one, tho, gave me a bit of vertigo...it looks like it's leaning a bit into that turn! (I realize it's the way the train's top is peaked.) LOL What a cool trip!

Expensive day here as well. The tree cabling crew is suiting up for their climb.

Lol on the ornament…exactly the sort of thing that I would do. Bet they were laughing…

Crowns while you wait. Wow. That’s impressive.

Julie, I also was a little bit concerned about that train😵‍💫

Lia, I was amazed. The dentist waved some kind of newfangled, cool wand thingie in my mouth all around the stumps of teeth left after he ground off the bad stuff... then took a couple photos with a teeny endoscopy camera too...and left me lounging in the chair. And, in one hour on the nose, he had two crowns, ready made (3-D Printed??) and ready to glue in. They fit perfectly, and are the permanent crowns.

I've never gotten a crown without a temporary one first, and a second visit required. Saving time has to save money, right? LOL

Wow, I wish my dentist had that!

I learned quite a bit about cabling fir trees that are over 100 feet tall today. They don't just throw a cable around it and call it good. Oh, no.

So two guys went up the two adjacent trees to about 80' or so. Two more helpers on the ground. What is done is to drill a hole ALL THE WAY THROUGH each tree. Then, a special rod is hammered into that hole. 3/8" special cable is threaded through the rods, running between the two trees. At each end, special hardware is installed at each tree.

Over time, as the tree grows it grows over and covers the hardware, incorporating it into the tree. Best practice is to have it inspected once a year from here on out.

After hearing about our leaking irrigation, the tree guys were suspicious that sodden ground in the area may have caused the tree to tip a bit. Soggy ground plus high wind is the primary cause for giant firs to topple. Our big storm earlier in the year may have been the culprit.

We should know tomorrow if the leak is perhaps over by the tree. Hoping the leak detection company has quick success finding it.

So, as a daughter/granddaughter/more distant relative of the industrial timber complex that is the PNW, answer me this...

Do these two trees forevermore wear some sort of tag or identification indicating that they contain a steel cable within?

I am thinking of future sawmillers, who want to save their equipment from certain ruination.

Our own sawmills around here won't take any urban trees at all for the specific reason that somewhere in there there may be even just a nail or screw, let alone some monolithic steel cable running through both carcasses.

An 80' high cable running thru both trees sounds expensive to inspect annually, too. Wow what an operation.

Makes my 18" titanium rod at approx 3' off the ground seem so insignificant. ROFL

Go big or go home, rred.

Whenever we sell this place, we will be leaving extensive landscape information to the trove of documents we already have. Everyone who has lived here has kept great records. OH has kept SPREADSHEETS of everything since 1994 when we moved in. I even have the original blueprints of the house construction in 1978.

Having experience with both cabled trees and one visit crowns I think I can answer both questions. Ducky will have to correct me if I’m wrong about the trees. (And Rred if the dental procedure has been updated since my last crown.) There is a cable tying the two trees together so it’s obvious that the tree has metal in it even if somehow the bolts gets covered with bark. You will always see the cable between the trees. As far as the crown, my dentist has had that feature for a number of years. (We tell people that we must use the most expensive dentist around.) a block of whatever the tooth is made of is placed in the machine and your tooth gets laser carved to specification.

Today, we drove from Des Moines to Cleveland. The morning was okay, but messy rainy weather for Indiana and Ohio. A very long day. We lunched in Peru, Illinois…at a wee gem of a farm to table cafe.
Peru, Illinois is the home of the West Clox factory, there is now a museum. Which we did not visit, because, well, time and dog. Tonight we are at the Kimpton in Cleveland. They are my favorite dog friendly boutique hotel chain. No extra charge for the dog! And they served our late dinner to us in the lobby, at a real table, to accommodate said dog. Beloved grew up in the greater Cleveland area, so he feels very comfortable here. We’re probably not cool enough for this hotel, we think we saw a Cleveland Cavalier in the lobby. Across the street is the Metropolitan 9, another restored hotel…we shall stroll through the lobby there. Our fancy iron and glass doors in our dining room were “leftovers” from that project…the artist is from Chagrin Falls. Sam, are you still in Savannah?

Regarding local timber…that’s why you have a metal detector!

If anyone ever wants to take these trees out, they'll have to go through the city arborist for approval. They have to be a clear immediate danger for that to happen. Years ago we received a notice our lot had been designated as "urban forest" and that info is on file with ye olde governmental entities. Sam, you are right. You can see the cable between the trees. If you have really good vision and the ability to squint. I can't see the darn thing.

Yeah, we have to deal with the “urban forest” nonsense in Aspen. And by that I mean, we all love trees, duh. But when they are dead, why do I have to pay a permit fee to remove it? And, their requirements for replanting are ridonkulous…..yes, if I cut down a tree, fair enough I should replace it….but a tree for a tree, not replanting the same girth (which means ten new trees to replace one old one)trees, like people, grow up, get bigger, then die. There is still only room for one tree! We also have trees touching our condo, which is a fire danger.

I'm not used to the fridge yet I think there's someone standing behind me cuz I'm used to my white one well this one's stainless steel and it's shiny on the doors and that nice fingerprint free stuff on the sides I'll see if I have a pic

After years of living in Aspen.. I can agree …nothing is easy there..or even makes sense …necessarily…but. I credit most of that to the property values…and heavy population density…here in our spot we really take measures to preserve our big trees …to avoid them falling on our own house…🙈..but really to allow them to thrive until they are too old to save…we have been here for 30 years…so all the trees close enough to the house are closely monitored and attended to…

Nice fridge!

Well, it’s still raining. After yesterday’s loooong day, we slept in a little, had a real breakfast, and meandered through the town of Hudson, where Beloved, and his father before him, grew up. His Mom grew up on a farm in Streetsboro, the next town over. We’ll get to Hudson NY tonight, and then have an easy day upta Maine tomorrow.

Hey, Fiss. Maybe next time?

Our U.S. postal service has been terrible with lots of missing items, mail theft, etc. (currently being investigated by the Feds) so in January I began using online banking for paying bills. According to my bank statements all was fine through March. On April 3 that account was hacked (I was unaware) and by the time I received a phone call from the bank on Monday (April 22) almost six figures had been withdrawn (yep, you read that right). So many withdrawals for $4,999. Apparently more banking supervision kicks in when you withdraw $5,000. Have spent hours on Monday and yesterday working with terrific bank personnel who were digging into it like detectives. We closed that account, opened a new one, and they are working to retrieve the funds. Today I have a ton of printed material to take to the Fraud folks at the local police department. Hasn't been fun but the bank people have been great. Now I'm hesitant to use online banking. Always something...

jay, that's awful. Hope the bank can get your funds back. Since you have an online account, I'd suggest signing in often to check things. Also, you should be able to set up alerts online to email/text you of things of your choosing such as withdrawals, deposits etc.

Jay what a mess. I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with this. It is horrible and unacceptable what these new technologies enable the wrong bad people to get their hands on. Hopefully this gets resolved for you. Stay on them! I’m not sure what’s really safe anymore unfortunately :(.

Oh, Jay, how horrible! I'm sure everything will be resolved, but still very worrisome.

Ugh!! Thankfully your bankers are being so helpful and the money will reappear in your account soon. I need to check my alerts. I know I have them set up for my credit card.

Jay, that’s terrible! We have alerts set for $250. Yes we get a lot of alerts for valid things at that low threshold, but I feel safer.

To describe our setting …we are surrounded by pines and oaks that are 100 ft tall..or more…many close enough to the house to crush it🙁

Sorry.above post somehow got delayed in posting😦

Jay..so sorry for your mess… we were advised to open a separate account for our monthly auto pays…with social.sec.check auto deposit…since it is non interest bearing we occasionally withdraw excess cash …for other cash expenses…like yard workers..and an occasional lunch at a nice restaurant

We all say we have alerts, but do we have alerts for electronic withdrawals or just for credit card transactions? I’m feeling the need to check into that.

sam, we have both banking alerts and credit card alerts.

Just checked. We only have for credit cards so we will have to get banking.

Just set it up. Phew.