I'm curious how you found this particular video from the Univ of Wash. They've also been experimenting on monkeys, including baby monkeys, since the 60's. (Your tax dollars at work.)

That's the one we have. It protects your incoming mail, but not outgoing.

We have a locking mailbox, but it only secures incoming mail. My dh takes our outgoing mail to work with him because we know mail thefts happen in our neighborhood...I've even found a pile of stolen mail thrown on the side of the street. There was a postal box not far from us, but the lady at the post office told me that the thieves were putting a box inside to catch the mail before it drops to the bottom, then they retrieve it! That box was removed for a time, but now there's a new one, a different style than the old one that should prevent the box trick. Dawn, your father needs to make friends with the mail carrier!

We're going to need "FAL"...Family Assisted Living...for when those of us caring for special needs adults get too old to be caregivers! If I had a lot of money, I'd buy land and build intentional communities like this. I wouldn't waste my money on space tourism/trying to beat the other billionaires into space.

My right thumb has been painful for a number of years, and now my left thumb is painful, too. I know for me this is arthritis. My dr. sent me to a hand therapist for my right thumb. She made a soft splint that I used for awhile and gave me some hand exercises to do at home. I don't know if you want to try some of these hand exercises before you see your doctor, but here are a few: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/arthritis/multimedia/arthritis/sls-20076952?s=4 I would also suggest buying some of those kitchen helper tools to make tasks like opening jars/cans easier. Have you tried using ice packs to help with the pain? Cherry juice is supposed to be helpful, but I haven't tried it. Since you're planning to do some reading, maybe look into cherry juice and let me know if you try it! I did the Certo Pectin/Grape Juice for awhile...that's another arthritis home remedy. Good luck! I hope you and your dr. find something that helps!

When you throw it out (and yes, you must!) don't pour it down the drain! You should never put fats/oils down the drain. I save old plastic ziploc bags to use for things like this...put it in the bag, you can add some paper towels if there's a lot of oil, and put it in the trash.

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You might want to watch this video about using the FreeStyle Libre system which doesn't require finger pokes. Maybe this would work better for you? (I've only heard about these, I've never used one.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKi5T4uTGXk When I had a diabetic cat I was testing her using the glucose strips and the regular type of glucometer. I would use a drop of blood from the edge of her ear, and I would warm the area first with a small microwavable rice sock that I made. This made the blood flow easily so no squeezing was required. If you have to poke your finger, I would make sure your fingers aren't cold.

If she calls the police and someone contacts you or the other parents, I would say something like, "She falsely accused Mr. (Stepdad's name) of stealing her wallet but she found it in her own house. She should look in the same place before accusing our children. And are there any penalties for making a false police report?"

I'm thankful my dh's doctor told him about this possibility, but now I'm worried that dh hasn't been taking it. He had been buying B12 at Costco...and he always did the Costco shopping but stopped going there when the pandemic started. I shop weekly at the grocery store and pick up my synthroid at the pharmacy every few months (dh gets his prescription by mail), but now that I'm thinking about it he hasn't asked me to buy any B12 for him. Thank you for this reminder to keep up with B12!!!

That must have been so frightening! I'm so glad you're able to continue your recovery at home now. My cat gets B12 injections, and my dh is supposed to take sublingual B12 because of a medication he takes (metformin maybe? ) I'll have to check with him to make sure he's taking it because he doesn't like to take vitamins. I hope you enjoy your books while you're recovering!

My dh is like this, too. I don't know if it's a regional thing (he's from NYC) or a parenting thing or what. I was raised by a nurse and a fireman so I grew up seeing them getting involved (in a helpful way, not a busybody way.) And to make matters worse, I have ears like a dog so I can't help it if I hear things going on outside, too. But I understand what you mean about drama. My neighbors are away, but their son came over to use their house for a 4th of July party. I don't like the loud music, etc, but I usually mind my own business, don't complain to the police, etc. But honestly I worry about young women who are at these loud drinking parties. There was a couple fighting out in front of our house, verbally at first, but then the woman ran down the street, the guy ran after her and grabbed her. She pulled away and ran back up the street towards the party house, with the guy chasing her. I didn't like him grabbing her. She had stopped and sat down on our stairs. I figured I had a right to get involved with anyone on our property, and with the loud music blaring next door I don't think anyone would notice if a woman cried for help. Fortunately I could talk to them through a window without going out there. I asked if she was alright, and then some others from the party came along, they thanked me for worrying, and said they were just going to be there for a few minutes. I wanted them to know I was home, aware of their presence, and concerned for the woman, so after that I left the window. And my dh never left the couch while this was going on.

The daycare center must have been the one his child goes to, not centers in general.

Would you believe that the gas station I went to has a big sign on the door that prohibits backpacks and hoodies. They sell candy and things inside so they must have dealt with a lot of shoplifting.

I wasn't even thinking about being caught on one of those cameras. I said to my dh last night that I thought the only people who drive around with gas containers are driving trucks for lawn care businesses, etc. I wouldn't want to keep something flammable in a passenger car all the time!

My kids were little, and the gnome was holding a bowl that we filled with peanuts for a mother squirrel. We have sidelight windows at the front door, but I use decorative bell pull things to cover the windows. We don't have a peep hole in the door, but you can peek out those windows. One day I heard footsteps on the front porch but no knock or doorbell so I peeked out just in time to see him leaving with our gnome. I ran out and yelled at him to bring back the gnome. He claimed he was going to take pictures of it and return it...I didn't know about the traveling gnome on a tv commercial and so I guess I ruined his game or whatever his plan was. To me, he took something that didn't belong to him without permission so that made him a gnome thief. (I didn't call the police, I just wanted my statue back.)

You're right, we don't know. But my mind keeps coming back to what was he doing here so early in the morning? He must have wanted to obey the order because he could've walked up the street to see for himself if the truck was in the driveway, and at that hour probably no one would've seen him. After it was over, I wondered if he had really run out of gas or if that was just an excuse to be hanging around watching for someone, but he wouldn't have approached me if he was just pretending.

Saturday is my usual weekly shopping day, but I had to return some bad meat yesterday. It was around 6am when I opened our garage door, and there was a man standing across the street and when he saw me he walked across the street carrying a leaky gas container. I wasn't going to get out of the car, especially at that early hour, so I cracked my window and told him we don't store any gas and I couldn't help him. (There's no way I'm taking a stranger to a gas station, leaky container or not.) I went on my quick errand, hoping he would be gone when I got back. But he was still there, and he had put the gas container on top of his car. I drove into the garage and closed the door. Then I looked for the gas container that I bought years ago to have for an emergency but we've never used it since we don't have anything like a gas mower, etc. I couldn't even get the cap off, so I had to take it upstairs and wake my husband up, tell him what was going on and see if he could remove the cap. He came downstairs with me, still in his pj's, and I went out on the porch and called over to the man that I would go get him some gas and would be back in a few minutes. When I got back, dh was dressed and came outside to the driveway. But the man wasn't alone...there are 2 policemen talking to him, so I thought someone must have called 9 1 1 about a stranded driver. Dh asked me if I called, but I said no, I went to get him some gas! I called over to say that I had some gas for him, and the policeman said, "I'll tell him when we're through talking to him." Then I start hearing something about not being within 1,000 ft. of a day care, and I said to my dh , oh cr@p, he's a sex offender! But dh said they're reading a protection order to him, and a day care is one of the places included. It turned out the man called the police himself, and he was showing the policemen the protection order. They told him he needed to leave, but he was determined that a welfare check needed to be made at the house where his child/ren are living. They said they understood he's a concerned parent, and they would go to the house, but he could not. And they left their patrol cars and walked up the street! When the policement left, dh brought the gas to the man and waited to get our container back. (I'm glad it was only a one-gallon size because the man never offered to pay for the gas!) I was afraid to have him go near the man after hearing what was going on. Then dh came back and told me he was going back to bed! But I watched out the window and saw the policemen return, and then things heated up! The man was yelling at them...they were lying to him, treating him this way because he's black, etc. Then more police cars arrived, and soon there were 6 police cars. They were all very professional, and very polite but firm in insisting he needed to leave because of the 1,000ft. part of the protection order. They told him they were trying to help him because he would be arrested if he went to the house. Then a woman drove down the street, he knew her and started calling to her about whether they're home or not and if the truck is in the driveway. The woman is yelling at him to obey the protection order, and the police are telling her not to engage with him! The man continued to taunt the police by moving to different places on the sidewalk and in the street and asking if they were going to arrest him each time he moved based on his location. Then after doing this for awhile he got in his car and drove off! I went outside at that point to talk to the police and asked if I should call 9 1 1 if I see him again. I've been so worried about the woman and child/ren since then, and I can't stop thinking about why the guy was here so early and what he might have done if he hadn't run out of gas. In the evening, when dh and ds went out on their evening walk I told them to see which house has the (color) truck in the driveway. When they returned, dh said they didn't see one, but this morning ds told me that there was a truck like that up the street in the house I always call the "gnome thief" house (because a guy who used to live there stole my gnome statue off our front porch, and I saw him and followed him to get it back). And ds said they often hear "child noises" coming from the house when they walk by. So I guess my dh doesn't want me to know any more than I already know about the situation...in other words, mind my own business. After seeing how the man behaved around the police, I'm really worried about the mother and her child/ren. And I'm thankful the man drives an unusual looking car because I'll recognize it. (And I miss our dearly departed big barky dog.)

I may have fed bad chicken (different recall) to my daughter this week. When I was at the grocery store this morning, the lady working in the meat department was removing packages of fresh chicken. I bought two packages last Saturday, and I'm pretty sure the sell by date was July 4 or 5, which is included in the recall according to what the lady told me this morning. I baked the chicken on Thursday, and my daughter has been eating it. She hasn't been sick, but I'm not giving her anymore. (I always use a meat thermometer so hopefully she won't have any problem. I had food poisoning from restaurant chicken once and it started within hours after eating.)

Prof. Cliff Mass from the University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences department has a weekly podcast, and today he talked about this heat wave and global warming. (If you want to skip ahead to the discussion about global warming, it begins about halfway through the podcast.) https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/ He explains that global warming has very little to do with this heat wave, and in recent days he has been writing about what he thinks should be done immediately to reduce fire danger.

Does Tiger like catnip? Our orange cat isn't interested in it at all. When we had cats who liked catnip, we would put the scratching post on its side and sprinkle it with catnip and they'd go wild. Do you have any ping pong balls? We've had cats who like to chase those around. Maybe show him some episodes of Frasier...Tiger reminds me of a feline version of Eddie!

I'm so sorry you're suffering with this sleep problem! I've been watching some of the videos on Dr. Tracey Marks' you tube channel lately. Her topic today might be helpful for you: "How to Rig Your Body Temperature for Deep Sleep". She talks about the importance of keeping your core cool for better sleep. It is a sponsored video so she includes info about some kind of high-tech cooling mattress or mattress cover, but she also gives alternatives like using strategically placed ice packs (with covers to protect your skin). (I hope I haven't offended you... I feel so sad for you because of all the emotions and stress you're dealing with right now, and when I saw your post after seeing Dr. Marks' new video today I thought maybe there's a chance that you might find something helpful. ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Rvel3ja1E

That's very interesting. I've lived here all my life so I haven't had to consider everything that starts melting in the extreme heat. I noticed that the honey was very runny today. (I'm the only one who uses it and it had been getting a bit crystallized.) Now I feel really sad to think about how hard the bees are working to keep their hives from collapsing!

Hummingbirds are still visiting our feeder. That's interesting about the spiders...my son has been complaining about all the spiders in the house the last few days. I hadn't thought about them trying to avoid the heat.

Thank you for the suggestion the other day about putting water containers outside. We have a bird bath in the backyard but I wasn't thinking about our city critters on the ground. A few years ago we started seeing rabbits for the first time in our neighborhood, and I hope they are surviving the heat. Your woodland setting sounds lovely, by the way!