getting prepared and other activities

Here it is Thursday. What the hell have I been doing? I don't remember what I did Monday. Dealt with bureaucracy. I inherited an acre of land in East Texas that we have been paying the taxes on all these years and this year decided to stop. It's a heavily wooded and land locked that we will never ever even see, much less use. So we got a letter in the mail from a company that buys and sells land and offered me nearly $1500 for it. Call if you are interested in selling! So I called, explained how I didn't have a clear title even though it fell to me. Oh, she says, it's land locked so unless I was willing to go to the trouble of getting access to it, they weren't interested. So you think they could have figured that out before they offered me $1500 for it and got me all excited?

Tuesday, a nice very warm and humid day, I decided to make pralines at my sister's house with her 'foolproof' recipe. hahahaha It was a near total failure. Too warm a day, too warm in the house, they never set up so she put them in the refrigerator and finally, hours later, they sort of set but were so fragile that they break every time you touch them. 

Then I got some weeding done in the afternoon. I think. I know I got some weeding done this week but maybe it was Monday afternoon.

Wednesday was a long day. I had my 3 month follow up with the electrophysiologist. I'm still having episodes of afib but they are less intense and far less frequent. I can go weeks without one and then have four or five over a period of a week. Mostly they are short but sometimes it will be off and on all day. He recommended the ablation for the afib. The medication is controlling it but not stopping it. I told him I would rather wait, he again said that was fine that it wasn't life threatening, and he would see me in another 3 months but if it gets worse before then, I'm to come see him. So, end of January, we'll see. It's a longer and more invasive procedure and I'm not resigned to it at this point. From there I went to Costco, then Spec's (the liquor warehouse), then Michael's looking at shadow boxes as a way to present the feathers but there wasn't much selection and the proportions were all wrong and little trinket boxes for the pansies which they didn't have either so then I went to Hobby Lobby and while they had a bigger selection of shadow boxes, once again the proportions were wrong. I did find a frame (on sale) for one of the pieces in one of those expensive stands from last year and a little trinket box. So now I have to go back to get another frame and another trinket box. From there I went to Home Depot which didn't have one of the things I have been looking for without success and I was so disgusted I left and forgot to look  for the second item. When I got home I rearranged the garage and started bringing in the tropical plants, digging up the three plumerias I had planted, because it was supposed to get down in the 30˚s that night and to 29˚ tonight! In October. We never have a freeze this early. My toad lilies are just starting to bloom. By the time I was finished it was 5:15 and too late to make it to yoga.

look close on the left, the bird of paradise is blooming

Today is Thursday and you know what that means...estate sale! This one was put on by a different company that has just started doing it and doesn't have a big following yet. We got there about an hour after it started, perused the garage and the craft/workroom, went into the house and chatted with one of the women helping with the sale and she remarked that she couldn't believe this table and chairs was only $80. 'This table and chairs'...a round solid oak table with lion paw feet, a leaf, and six oak chairs. 

   

I'd been daydreaming about replacing our round dinner table and we needed new chairs since the seat on two of ours have split. I bought it. It was just too good to pass up. I figured if neither of the twins wanted my old table and chairs I could post them on Marketplace and sell them. I texted the twins and their mom and Jade claimed it.

So then Pam and I tried the pralines again and this time they set up nicely. Yay! 

And this afternoon I dug up the small porterweed that came up leaving the bigger one in the ground. Porterweed is not cold hardy and if it freezes it will not come back unlike the angel trumpets which are root hardy. Even so, I covered the remaining porterweed and the pink angel trumpet which has yet to bloom for me and the ponytail palm over at the shop. That's all I'm doing. It's only the one night and probably didn't need to cover the ponytail.

This is all so early. I don't usually bring the plants in til November or even December depending on how warm it's been. Well, they are in for the duration now no matter how many more warm days we have before winter sets in for good.