Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

hi wren. Seattle was spared but the thunderstorms came up north to south end of BC and hit Vancouver Island. Cats were not impressed. Ziggy kept going out to his catio to stare at the rain and make sure his stuff wasn’t getting wet. lol. This morning the sun tried to creep through! Lots of cherry blossoms down. Oh well. Is see many more buds on my tree so that’s good. Heading out for a wee walk coffee/tea place destination. I’ll send a photo of the cute tea or when I get there.

Ah Canary — that great place where the tables all have cute little flower containers with a flower to cheer you while you have your caffeine and crumpet libation. The blueberry muffin looks downright yummy.

This morning take a few minutes to reflect on how you give of yourself to the world.  Often we get caught up in the frenzy of buying and giving things. Look at the ways you give appreciation, friendship, energy, time, love, and affection, and give of your own special talents and abilities throughout the year.  Acknowledge yourself for having enriched the lives of others.  Spend some time loving yourself for the giving light that you are.

Shakti Gawain

It's already 59 degrees, sunny and mild outdoors. It should be a lovely day with ust a hint of a breeze.

Woke at 3 again and it took awhile to go back to sleep so I read until I was sleepy. Woke at 7:30 and decided to just get up. I did get the wood floors in the primary bedroom and the closet done as well as in the bathroom. I just have the upper hallway left to do and think I will vacuum the couch in the family room. Then call it a day.

DD and DSIL will return to finish raking the hill in preparation for the landscaper. I don't have a start date but with all the leaves out, he can start right away. DH needs to do remediation of the soil in one spot and has been dragging his heels for several weeks now. Losing patience with his procrastination. DD got on him this morning about using the leaf blower to help them out but he's not moved yet. I'll let her lay into him when it is not done and they arrive.

The weekend will be in the 80's on Saturday and then it will drop down again on Sunday when the rain rolls in. Not sure I am ready for summer weather and hope it won't kill off the daffodils. They are ust starting to bloom en masse and it will be a sea of them soon.

Hope everyone has a good day.

hi everyone! I love power washing. I do wear my gumboots cos I get covered in muck and water. My back patio I used a sealant so it doesn’t have mildew or grime on it. Though May need to redo that this year. The small pavers I didn’t seal and didn’t power wash last year. What a mess I have. Waiting for warmer weather to tackle this. Also nosy neighbours are going away soon. Yay. I’ll get it done then.

Tipper loves boxes too. Here she is in the “ dining room” box. She likes her food dish there most days.

I don't often post photos because I visit bc.org on my laptop and the photos are on my phone. That's my excuse. LOL.

The rain that is supposed to be falling all day, off and on, hasn't shown up yet. It is overcast. I need to get my Einkorn flour out of the outside refrigerator. We're down to the heel slice of home-made whole grain bread so I need to make a loaf today. Initially I was the only one who ate the bread but now dh eats it, too, when he has a slice of toast as part of his breakfast. I have a slice most days for breakfast. We both have stopped eating sandwiches for lunch so I don't buy bread for that purpose any more.

I also have to get myself to the polling place to vote. Otherwise, it's a stay-at-home laundry day.

I lay in bed this morning thinking about packing for the fast-approaching river cruise. I will follow Betrayal's example and use the spare bedroom bed to lay out clothes. I found a pair of black exercise pants at Penney's yesterday that will be perfect for travel wear.

Happy Saturday to all.

Carole, put yourself in the contacts list with your email address. Then send your photos to yourself on the computer, download to desktop and then you can post them on BC. Where is your river cruise going? Cruises are so nice because you don't have to live out of a suitcase.

Tulips were lovely, reader425. I don't have any tulips in my garden. I did have some years ago but they do not live more than 4-5 years unlike daffodils which will self-propagate and naturalize. The 75 bulbs I planted years ago in the bed by the road now number in the hundreds.

I have been having difficulty sleeping due to back spasms. I take the med at bedtime but find that I barely get 3-4 hours of relief. Today it was 4 AM when I woke and could not get back to sleep even with reading for awhile. At 6, I called it quits and got up. I took another pill and right now I am comfortable. They don't like to use this med in the elderly due to the SE's including decreased respirations, dizziness and falls so they really control dosage. It's a 2 mg pill and I got permission to take 2/day. So I am done for today except at bedtime. I think I'll soak in the tub later.

PT yesterday did cause a flare up while I was there and she has been finishing up my time with a hot pack for my back. I was upgraded to 3 lb ankle weights for use during exercises so not sure if this was part of the problem.

Want to finish hallway flooring by using the swiffer dust pads and dusting the wall decor. The rugs for thr other bedrooms have been cleaned, deodorized and repaired as needed and should be returned shortly. I have 2 boxes to go to Green drop, one in the hallway and the other in the dining room. I think there are 2 more in the garage to go. I want them out before my surgery. So DH can load them up in his car and drop them off.

I have some costume and silver jewelry I want to sort through to donate or rehome which I will do while recovering from surgery. DS's neighborhood has yard sales so I may give him the silver jewelry to sell.

I did get to the couch yesterday and it was cleaner than I thought. With a Dalmatian, her fur gets everywhere but at least she doesn't rub on the couch as the last one did.

It is sunny, currently 68 and expected to hit the 80's today. Too early for me to be this warm, but I do want to get outside today.

taco, my condolences on the death of your SIL. I hope they can do a zoom broadcast of the service so Ken can watch. Flying to Denver would probably be draining for him. Sometimes it is better to remember people as they were when you last saw them. I am sure Ken's family will understand.

Hope everyone has a great day.

hi Wren

My cousin and her family are in Thailand too and she thought her life had ended the afterquakes were in the 6s! She texts with my brother that’s how we learned they were fine. Positive wishes your SIL family is all safe.

Good morning as I listen to birds talking to each other in the ravine. It's one of the ones that carries water to the lake behind us so is a bit deep here and there. Some sun this morning, mainly muted but it sure is nice to see after waking up the last two mornings with it raining. It's already 70 but I have to admit I'm here a bit late. I got the quotes in early, and it was still dark, so I covered up with a blanket and sat in my recliner — fell back asleep. I knew that was likely, but I really didn't want to turn on a bunch of lights to do my morning chores so early.

Hope everyone was able to sleep well last night. After a rough night the night before I was able to sleep well last night and then that little extra this morning which didn't hurt a thing. In fact, at the moment I feel sort of 'caught' up.

I don't have much planned for the day but then I almost never plan on Sudays. Not because it is Sunday so much as my kids are off on the week-ends so it is the days I like to not plan much so as to plan more on flexibility. Sometimes we all hop in the car (it's a bit of a drive) and head South to the Ollie's store. It's a fairly neat store if a bit far out — about an hr.'s drive south for us. It is a discount store that buys up a lot of things that might not have sold well in other stores or areas. So a lot of 'name' brand items and ones that would likely be familiar to most people. We do not go often but always enjoy the explorations when we do. Usually come home with a number of things. Haven't gone yet, but I look forward to seeing their puzzle collection. They also have a lg. book section where I spend a lot of time.

I hope you are all going to have a fine Sunday. Still thinking about the recent overseas earthquake. Hoping all fam. members are found to be safe.

Whew. We actually talked about dropping everything and going to Ollie's today. Sure glad we didn't. According to the weather alerts we are getting this afternoon we could be in for some bad stuff. Hail, perhaps, some strong winds otherwise and of course tornadoes are included in that. I just had a feeling even though the sun was coming out so often after a few clouds rolled passed.

This could go on until 11 p.m. tonight so we are going to under the gun for some time. I generally do not become too touchy about this, but we do get storms. It is just that 99% of the time they are not so bad that we are really much affected.

I have always felt that the amt. of trees (though one could think of it as somewhat dangerous) in our yard have so often acted as wind breaks. The one time we had super issues, it was a matter of straight-line winds. They fortunately didn't come it seemed directly in the yard but were all around us. This caused massive electrical problems, out here as well as in town. It was a week before we saw the big trucks coming down our lane. We had been discussing that morning giving up and trying to find some lowly room in a motel somewhere, as though there were any and who knows how much electric they might have had for sure.

Wow, that was quick. I'm not even done here and already it turned dark, wind came up, it's pouring rain and there is hail all over the place. One of the cats is upset and plaintively meowing. We have huge puddles of water since it was coming down so hard and fast. I can see the round sun right outside my tall window, so seems most of this will back off somewhat.

Good morning. We seem no worse for wear (although I do not have any reports from close surrounding areas) then what I mentioned of our storm late yesterday afternoon. It really was rather stunning how fast the storm came in and how ferocious it seemed although we didn't get a huge wind, thank goodness.

It still looks quite wet (and is) on the ground and you can see through the grass where the water ran down to the ravines from the yard. It was nice and warm yesterday but will only be in the high 40's today. Not going to feel great, and certainly not enhanced in any way by the moisture everywhere.

Good to hear your all clear news Wren, and even more that you didn't have to wait too long for it.

Slept well last night as it was a fairly quiet night with only an occasional rumble early on that easily receded with removal of hearing aids. Looking outside the yard is free pretty much of debris — another indication that the wind here was not really bad.

Hope you were all well and did not get too much storm activity, if any.

I posted late last night, but must not have hit the submit button 🤷‍♀️

Keywest, Sandy, Petite - good hearing from you.

I’m glad it appears most of the horrid weather has not hit any of you. Here in SWFL it’s very hot, and feels like a sauna outside. Way warmer than I like, and looks like it’s hanging out for another week. UGH!

Here’s my crazy story, typing it all over again from last night: I bought a rechargeable portable air pump. It’s supposed to work with cars, bikes, sports balls, and pool floats. I charged it and went out to the garage to inflate my partners bike tires. I figure he’d have no excuse not to ride. It was hard to get the correct settings - it’s one button for all, but I finally had it set.

The bike tires are 40 PSI, and that’s what I set it at. Well, at about 20-22 PSI the tire felt pretty darn full, so I turned off the pump. Then I started on the back tire, same settings. But at 22 PSI it felt a little soft so I let it continue, it got to about 30 PSI when POP! The tube blew up. The machine settings are obviously incorrect, and now my partner has a great excuse not to ride! I’ve sent an email to the vendor explaining the setting are incorrect, requesting to return the item, and I now need to buy a tube. No good deed goes unpunished. HA!

We’ve got the baseball package for free this opening week. You know where my partner is: set up in front of the TV. AC set to 74; 89 outside. He’s good.

Busy weekend and day. I had PT, was evaluated for progress and am doing well. Only have 2 more sessions so I need to keep pushing. I do home exercises every morning in addition to those at PT.

Came home to find a message from Ortho PA saying I need a new left knee x-ray since the one I had was too old. Nothing like last minute notice for something they need by Friday. Tried to make an online appointment but first one was Thursday morning. So I called the scheduling line and was able to get one for 2 PM today. Was afraid to wait for fear something would go wrong. Results are already on portal and show how bad my knee is. The osteophytes (spurs) actually extend across the joint (bridging) and the median part of the joint (inner aspect) there is no gap, as there should be, which explains why it is so painful.

Was able to change out flowers in front porch planters to spring ones and need to get Easter flag out for display. Discussed what DH needs to do to the dead bushes on the hill. Stopped to look at bed near stream and noticed one of the azaleas seems to have not survived the winter. All the others are budding.

Yesterday, I noticed a long skirt I was going to take to the cleaners to be hemmed, seems to have been hemmed before. I just flipped up the hem then and sewed it. I think I bought it last minute for one of the cruises and was short on time. It is too long now that I am no longer wearing heels so I removed the stitching, cut off the excess and hemmed it to a more suitable length. I want to wear this to our 50th anniversary party.

We are having a severe lightning and thunder show right now with pouring rain. We need the rain but the loud noises, nope. It is raining so hard, concern for flooding is real because we have been in drought conditions since August so ground is hard. I just hope we do not get the high winds tonight. I can't sleep when they start because that's what happened right before the trees hit the house. It rained that night, too and it poured in the house once the roof was destroyed. So hope they are redirected or don't happen.

Hope all had a good day.