Up around 5:45 AM working on Spanish.

OYB!

Love my girls!

Moana breakfast.

Sometimes things are cheaper at Walmart, other times on Amazon. Depends from week to week. Weird.

Español!

Still working on pollenating the Venus Fly Traps. After growing these plants for over fifty years, it’s the first time I’ve ever really tried to do that.

After spending a couple of hours on the phone with teams and my Mom this morning, I think I have a time figured out to go to Texas with Jessi and the grandgirls. I’ll figure out the tickets tomorrow. I have to change them around on Southwest, but there’s no charge to do that.

Girls like to do artsy stuff.

Also worked on getting a new tire for my bike. Talked with my bike guys and did research on Amazon.

Girls like Playdough too. I’m never crazy about them mixing the colors. They are rarely happy with the results later.

I gave them each some of my clear putty.

They want to grow out their bangs, which drives me crazy. I’m getting some styler for them so it’ll keep it out of their eyes. Everly is afraid it might sting.

Kathy was glad to see them.

Talked to Kathy’s breathing doctor’s office. I hate it when they say what the insurance will cover and then suddenly it doesn’t. This was nearly $400 for an appointment that lasted less than fifteen minutes.

Adelante!

Took the girls to the park. We didn’t stay a long time, just getting too hot already.

I usually get my gas at Walmart where I get a discount. The gas station part was completely closed. Have no idea what was going on. Ended up going to the Shell station. QT was a full dime more expensive. That’s really unusual.

Went to the Post Office to get stamps. The machine was acting wonky. Finally got them though.

Set up the water sprinkler thing from the Dollar Tree for the girls to play in. It wasn’t very good. What a surprise, right?

Miles came to pick up the girls in his new car. Looks great!

Kathy’s truck has been having a problem with the windows not rolling down. We dropped it over this afternoon so get the switch replaced. It’ll cost about $400. Ouch.

I’m finding Eric Barker’s book “Plays well with Others” very interesting.

Did well in the Duolingo Leagues last week. Came in #3. Not easy! I’m in the Final round this week. I hope to come in #3 again. The top two people are outrageous, but I think I can beat all the other thirty.

OYB!

You may have guessed I love plants. And flowers! Even though my shrubs and bushes flower prolifically, they don’t flower all year long. So I decided to give them some help and attached some silk flowers to the bushes in strategic places. What do yo think? I’m going to add some more pink Baby’s Breath to the Azaleas soon.

Español!

I’m pretty excited that by using the Ecosia search engine I’ve already planted 19 trees! Wow! I’ve really been promoting this on Facebook. I hope YOU will change from stupid Google to something that can really help the planet. Promise you won’t be able to tell the difference and you Do NOT get tracked.

From time to time I get notified by Duolingo that a suggestion I made for an improvement of the course was accepted.

Storm blew through this afternoon.

Dropped off another squirrel. I keep them covered with a towel so they stay calm.

Cleaned out some of the drainage pipes. I need to get up on the roof and clear the gutters too, but I need them to dry out some more.

I released Verbal Surgery “Just Adjust.” So good. So helpful!

I watched the first two episodes of Obi-Wan this evening. So good.

Back to getting up early tomorrow! Looking forward to having my girls around again. Heart!

Seventy years. That’s really something.

I know I have several windows and doors that leak air. I’ll have to do some research on how to fix them.

I’m going to remember this.

From Eric Barkers new book “Plays Well With Others.”

OYB!

Español!

Watered my plants. A lot of my orchids are blooming.

With the warmer weather, I need to redo the water in the hummingbird feeders once a week, otherwise they start to ferment. I saw both the male and female hummingbird at my window feeder today. Makes me so happy.

I moved one of my feeders over one set of trees. Now I can see two of them from my spot on the front porch. It’s good to have them somewhat separated.

Raked and swept off the rug outside more door.

Redid my Saint Francis shrine.

Went to the Dollar Tree to get some silk flowers. I’m going to put them in the bushes near my front porch. Add a little color, even if it’s fake color.

Also picked up a paint brush. I’m trying to pollenate the Venus Fly Trap flowers so I can get seeds and try to grow them. Never done that before.

Harry!

Produced my newsletter. Wrote it and did the labels. Did everything but put the stamps on. I ran out of them and the machine at the Post Office was out of order.

Had a fun chat with my buddy Anthony. We talked about the old days. Sent him a couple of pictures.

We also talked about Bald Eagle nests.

I’m really enjoying this book and learning a lot.

Had a good talk with my Mom last night about the possible changing of our plans for our trip to Texas. May have to cut it short by a day or so, or change the entire trip till July.

I’ve been looking forward to my trip to the Atlanta Carnivorous Gardens for about a month now, ever since I read about it.

I liked Kirk a lot. He was a super nice and very interesting guy. He gave me some good ideas about taking care of my carnivorous plants. I can always get better!

We talked a lot about Venus Fly Traps. He showed me his method of pollenating them.

He had a fantastic collection of Sarucenia pitcher plants. Most of them were not for sale, however.

Español!

OYB!

I pumped up my bike tire, but it went flat again overnight. Bad luck. I’ll need to take it over to my bike guys next week.

Adelante!

Rained about 1″.

Kathy and I picked up her sister Ann from the Hospital and helped her pick up her car. Glad she’s doing better.

Beautiful weather.

Jessi and I did some research on disability lawyers to see if she can get some help.

Harry!

Picked up the groceries this evening.

I thought this was cool. The different shapes a drop of water forms depending on the resonant frequency of a tone.

I’m always learning English words too!

Palabras! Español!

OYB!

After I’d made the flight plans for Texas, I discovered that I’d made a mistake on when our team from Savannah was coming. Fortunately, it’s not hard to change the times on Southwest. I’m checking to see if Ashley can cover the day I’m not there first, however.

I thought I’d missed a delivery by Walmart. Turned out they mailed it instead of bringing to my house. Still got here, just wasn’t expecting it that way.

My bike tire had a flat. I pumped it up along with the tires on the two bikes I was given yesterday. I also oiled all the moving parts and cleaned the frames.

Wasn’t the easiest thing to get them onto the car. They’re not regular adult sized bikes.

I dropped them off at Azalea and talked with some of the kids and parents. There are hardly ever any kids out. Eventually, I’ll talk to a couple of the youngsters that I want to give them to, but until then anybody who wants to use them can.

Then over to my office to pick up the mail and process checks.

Went to the bank to deposit checks.

Added the data onto our spreadsheet.

I’ve been having this issue where when I’m driving, the control screen will pop up on my iPhone. I figured it had something to do with the vibration of the phone holder that triggered an accessibility function which I believe turned out to be correct. At least it didn’t do it on the way home. It was crazy. I now have both options set to “none.”

I’m reading Eric Barker’s new book “Plays Well With Others.” I’m finding it a fun read so far. Here’s a taste.

Some of my plants weren’t doing well outside. I realized that they were staying too wet. I drilled holes into the bottom of the planter. Hopefully, that will help.

About five years ago, I broke down and bought a really good, heavy duty, industrial strength garden hose. It was 100 foot and cost about $80 which I thought was outrageous. BUT, this one had a lifetime guarantee. I kept going through these cheap hoses about once every couple of months. Sometimes they wouldn’t even last a few weeks.

The original lasted nearly two years. When I went in for a replacement I could tell a BIG difference in the quality. Eventually, I did that four other times. Finally, I gave up on the 100 foot hoses and tried another brand with a lifetime guarantee that was only 50 foot. I figured that way I wouldn’t have to take in that whole heavy hose. Today, I had to get the first replacement of the 50 foot hose. Lasted less than eight months.

Ordered groceries. I’ll pick them up tomorrow.

Blew off the driveway and the deck.

Also sprayed the deck.

Some powerful comics about Uvalde and the gun violence.

Info on what’s going on.

I actually had to throw away some peanut butter because it was in the affected lots.

This was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. I enjoyed it way more than Dr. Strange which I really enjoyed. I don’t know about Tom’s personal life, but he’s a great actor.

Español!

OYB!

Big thunderstorms blew through.

A neighbor was moving and was throwing these bikes away. I picked them up to take them to the mission tomorrow.

I recorded a new episode of Verbal Surgery at Stone Mountain called “Under-Distanced.” After I recorded, I saw four deer. Cool.

Released a new episode of Verbal Surgery called, “Just the Root.”

With the shooting in Uvalde, I thought it was a good idea to review exactly what the Second Amendment says. Seems to imply that this is for militia or military use.

One of my heroes.

Jessi and I had a fun time at this movie. Dr. Strange is my favorite Marvel character.

Español!

My gardenias are blooming. I thought K might like some in her bedroom.

OYB!

Adelante!

Recorded a new episode of Verbal Surgery called The Fear of Fear. Excellent.

After recording, I went for a walk and talked to my Mom.

Rained hard.

My mouth felt a bit better today. Didn’t hurt so much last night.

Miles, Ashley and the grandgirls on Tybee Island. It’s our favorite beach spot. I sent them some pictures of my favorite spots. If you’re going that direction, check them out!

I thought this was cool.

OYB!

Español!

Rained about 1″ yesterday.

Refilled my dog food supply for the raccoons and opossums.

Had a great chat with my buddy Bob Burns in Scotland. I’m glad he’s feeling better after his bout with Covid. Still having issues, unfortunately.

Always a hoot to talk with my friend Anthony.

Jessi and I hope to go see Dr. Strange tomorrow.

Transported a squirrel.

My jaw still hurts pretty badly from my extraction. Spent most of the day resting. I’m ok as long as the ibuprofen is working. Wears off, hurts, start again.

Rained last night and today. Not all that much.

Came in #1 in the Duolingo Diamond league last night. That’s always an accomplishment.

My Mom wanted to know what I drink in the mornings so she could have it when we go to Texas for ten days. A couple of heaping teaspoons of hot chocolate plus a teaspoon of instant coffee with a teaspoon of sugar. Makes twenty ounces.

Palabras.

OYB!

Adelante!

Went to my dentist this morning to have him check on my extraction site.

My mouth has been really sore, especially in the jaw area. It feels like I have a bad earache most of the time. Dr. Jeon explained that that was completely normal. There are a large group of nerves that travel along the tooth line and up into the jaw where the ear is. It hurts up and down that area. It’s getting better, but it was still good to have him tell me that.

Unfortunately, the gums were still too swollen to put the crown in the back back on. I’ll have to wait for nearly two more weeks to check it out again. That will be a few days before going to Texas. I’ll go back on June 2nd.

The competition that I’m involved in this week is with a guy that has studied twenty-four different languages! I expect him to win the league challenge this week. I hope to come in second or third. It’s a competition where you the best students compete with the best so it always gets harder.

Dave scored exactly 10,000 XP today which is astonishing.

Harry!

Not sure what this is, but I like it. The French words mean “To see, to say.”

Went by my office to check on the mail.

I’m always studying. I got the definition of fetid pretty close. I kept hearing the Spanish word “fetido” which I was sure was the same word. There are a tremendous amount of cognates in Spanish/English. The larger your vocabulary, the more words you can guess in the other Romantic languages.

Here’s another new one. Way more than one meaning.

Deposited checks.

I got my replacement hubcap in today. It’s a beauty, right? Solid metal.

Just keep going.

Picked up my groceries.

I slept great last night. Looking forward to that tonight.

Interesting.

Buckminster Fuller is my July 12th birthday buddy. Love his work.

Kevin Kelly is one of my heroes. If he says watch something, I normally do. I’ve already watched an episode of the YesTheory and really liked it. You will too.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Something-Different/Podcast-Plants-Hummingbirds-52222/i-RR3rxPn/0/4b29c7ce/L/IMG_5835-L.png

Love this quote. I aim to do this with the kids at the mission and with the teams that I work with.

A terrific idea. What would you do if you only had a tiny bit of time left?

I love trees.

Seth Godin had a great blog post today.

Funny.

Español!

This was such a great story about Beethoven.

Palabras!

OYB!

The kids went to Tybee Island today. I thought it was interesting that I saw this article this morning.

While I was studying Spanish, I saw the mama hummingbird. I decided it was good to clean out and refill my feeders. Good thing I did since the sugar water had started to ferment. I forgot how fast that happened when it started getting warm.

Mix a 1/4 ratio, sugar to water.

Mix it up.

Refill and hung back up.

Refilled my jugs of water I use to stock the dog water bowl that the raccoons use. They make a mess pretty much every day. They like to soak the dry dog food I put out in the water before they eat it. It’s way easier to use a gallon of water than it is to get the water hose out.

Pulled the weeds out of my wisteria garden and watered the young plants.

Then watered the liriope that I planted last month.

Harry!

Rain is on the way. I still watered my plants. Never know just how much rain they’ll actually get.

Watered my inside plants. So much beauty.

Can you believe the blue cactus?

Gassed up my car and checked the fluids.

Picked up some more Burt’s Bees chapstick.

Ordered my groceries. I’ll pick them up tomorrow evening.

Released Verbal Surgery -944- “Flag Wavers.” So good.

Recorded a new episode this afternoon called “Non-Visible.”

I went through my list and discovered I had two other episodes that I Hadn’t put in the line up for release. So I’m two weeks ahead of schedule, and seeing that the girls won’t be with me this week, my guess is that I’ll record at least three more. As my wife would say, “I live to hear myself talk.”

The episodes labeled as -999- were recorded before the pandemic and I’ve yet to release them either.