My neighbors, their dog, the darn soccer ball that frequently ends up in my gardens (deliberatly kicked over the 8 foot high cedars in their yard). They don't understand the concept of put the dog on a leash and that my gardens are not your dogs prsonal toilet. Have it pee in your own *&^% yard! What's worse is it isn't even down at the end of the lawn, it is up right near my front porch. I have even been out gardening and had the dog come running up and pee next to me! It has knocked my niece over several times. The neighbor got upset when my sister yelled at her to come and the dog after it had just knocked over my 2 year niece (and this is a woman in hr 50's). Doesn't understand why no one wants her dog running all over the place 5 houses away. Hmmm, we all either keep our dogs on a long leash, have underground fencing, or (and I know it's a radical thought but..) TRAIN your dog to stay on the front lawn! Finally got the dog sorta dealt with. She got the hint I think, when one of the other neighbors (who also has a dog) told her to get the d@@M dog on a leash or he would call by-law on her. Now we get to have fun with the grandchildren who live with her. (It is the grandmother, mother, brother and mother's 2 sons who live together). The 2 boys are a human demolition team. If they look at it, it is broken. They are forever climbing on our fence (already cost me $200 to have a section repaired), tormenting our dogs, walking into our fenced in backyard to get the ball the uncle purposely kicks over the fence. I have told them I don't know how many times, one of our dogs is 13, deaf and doesn't like strangers. If he is in the FENCED in yard and you go back there, he will not hear you, you will surprise him and might get bit. SO STAY OUT OF MY YARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess on Friday they kicked the ball so hard against our house that things fell off the wall (my brother actually hid the ball in our shed after that. They came into our backyard when we weren't home and searched til they found it) If I had of known that, I wouldn't have given them back the ball on Saturday. Then I discovered that at some point they have been jumping the fence to get into my backyard, because every hosta all along the fence line is nothing but broken stocks now and the ball landed in my grandmother's peony. I have babied that bush for years to get it to a good size. It is highly sentimental and not replacable (same with some of my hostas, came from my nighbor who is noe deceased). They got told in no uncertain terms if the ball comes into my yard again, you will get back with a steak knife in it as I tired of having my property damaged (and no, talking to the mother or grandmother does no good whatsoever). Wanna guess what came flying into my backyard on Sunday afternoon? And landed in my fern? And whose mommy told them they would get it back later when we weren't home? ANd whose mommy got told if I caught her in my backyard I would charge her with trespassing so stay the hell out of my back yard? I feel like I have to fortify my house just to keep them out of my yard and to stop having my stuff damaged. I am so tired of spending my weekends repairing things the precious little darlings break. I think I am going to set up a video camera, keep a running tally of all the damage they have done to my house and give mommy and grandma a nice bill for what it has cost me so far.

Hey, I LOVE the beach pictures! And I love how you thrive in the sun, heat, water, waves, and all of activity that goes on at the beach. I very much miss my days living at the beach and have great memories of summers spent in Ohio, when we could play all day in the big waves on Erie. Gosh, that was fun. We just have a pretty small garden, but it supports our huge vegetable requirements for many months of the year. I don't can or pickle or even freeze anything, but I might freeze some tomatoes this year and maybe some basil. We'll plant some fall things today or tomorrow. It seems like you're doing the driving, if you know what I mean, as far as your health issues go. Stay strong!

I really like listening to Pandora on my dot (I have it hooked up to my UE Boom for better sound), and my three-year-old grandson likes being able to ask Alexa to play his favorite songs. I use my dot as a timer when I do washer/dryer loads. I like getting my local weather on demand, and it's so easy to get the weather for anywhere in the country. I love that by using the any.do app I always have my shopping list on my phone. TuneIn radio is handy to get radio stations from across the country, and my local AM channels sound better on TuneIn than on my radio.

This is when I'm so glad we live in the country. After we moved here in our mid-20's is when we got our first dog. I can only remember two instances when dog barking was a problem. When I used to babysit DS1's children from birth to 4 or 5, it was at their house in the country about ten miles from us. UPS always delivered packages (ringing the doorbell then leaving) during nap time and both of their Shih Tzu's would yap and yap and yap. Always woke the kids up, and me too. :) I finally put a note on the front door asking them not to ring the doorbell because of children sleeping. They never did it again. Now this story really burned my hide & I had no choice but to find humor in the situation. Living in the country and having indoor/outdoor dogs, they'd bark when they'd hear something or see a critter whenever we let them out to potty. DS1, his family, and the two Shih Tzu's, built a house behind us. I believe it was the first morning when DS1 had to go to work after the move. He gets up a 5am and leaves at 6am. He needs his sleep. At the time I was waking at 4am, and the first thing I had to do was let the dogs out. While they were out I had to go to the bathroom, and the dogs started barking very loud because they're big. The phone rings and it was DS asking me if I'd get the dogs in the house so he can sleep, plus they were waking up the kids. Now we have to watch their barking in the early morning hours and after bedtime for DS1's family. Neighbors, how dare they! :)