Pickers in my fingers!

And I smell of bleach. Even after changing my clothes and washing my hair, I still smell of bleach. Probably a shower and wearing my night clothes would answer that problem but since it is not even dark yet, I am holding off. You never know if someone is going to call about going to supper, even though I finished my leftovers from Koko's only a couple hours ago. I love when it happens---the last minute phone call asking if I have plans for dinner, and my rule is: if the phone rings and a better offer comes up, the stove (figuratively and literally speaking) is shut off and out the door I go! Once I had to wait until a pie was finished baking but still I went off to socialize!

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Last night, Jen called to report they were going to the "new" Smokey's on 218 and asked me to come along. Certainly! I had not eaten bbq in a long time, and did not last night either. I arrived before they did, so the waitress brought me a basket of some delicious looking morsels in a basket. She did not say what they were at first but then told me these morsels are "fried pretzels"! Imagine that! Little pieces of the doughy-style pretzels like they have at the movies, fried, and then salted and garlicked, if that's a word. Yummy! For my meal I had the hot dog and corn nuggets instead of the pulled pork because I ate too many pretzel pieces, I guess!

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It is incredibly windy outside right now, and a lone pelican is bobbing in the river as the water appears to flow away from the shore. It was over 80 degrees today, quite lovely, and perfect for working in the church yard with Tara and family. It is a huge stretch to describe that I "worked" with them but served in the leadership role Cindy recommended for this project. Tara brought gloves today as the other day she tore up her hands trying to pull the picky vines from among the bushes. I picked up what she pulled out in order to shove it in the garbage bag, but without gloves, ouch!!!! My knuckles on the right hand were full of pickers just from that little bit of handling. It gives me goosebumps even now just thinking about it.

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Carl came along with Tara and the kids to work on the A/C in the Fellowship Hall which evidently was on the fritz. He did something which included getting the ladder out, and little CJ helped him wash the filters with the hose. Then he came over to help Tara with some raking while Shiloh watched from stroller, no duct tape! In the meantime, I went in to do the vacuum cleaning in the church. Vacuuming always works up a sweat for me, besides it being warm outside, so I was mopping and vacuuming at the same time. At one point I looked up and there stood the Kelley's, having driven all the way over from Arlington to clean. We are having HUGE problems trying to figure out the cleaning, greeting, and altar guild schedules as some changes have been made to how it is spelled out. Not quite clearly enough, it seems. And the service folder tell us a different story than the posted schedule of duties. So, sometimes the church gets cleaned twice in a week by two different teams, or not at all some weeks. I think we need some clarification on this. Because they came so far, I left them to finish the cleaning and went back outside to oversee the flower bed.

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Two yard sales ago, I sold the pressure washer which had ceased to do the job it was intended to do, that being using pressure to clean. It lost its umph! My plan was to replace it and keep it at church in the garage, once we have a garage again. In the meantime however, the support columns which hold the changeable sign in the flower bed were quite black with mold/mildew, and no way to clean it---------unless...................How about a spray bottle from under my kitchen sink, mixed with dish soap and bleach, and squirted pump-style on the blackness??? No wonder my forearms are complaining now! But it seemed to have done the trick, at least, as far as I could tell. It might not be dark black any more, but was not quite white like it used to be. Only the pressure washer would remove the total soil, but for now, I think it will be okay.

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Little CJ helped his mama and me plant some of the bulbs in the loose soil in the flower bed. We decided to let the lantana grow back in but keep it groomed so it will not be so wild looking. It occured to me that perhaps the bulbs were irises but I simply cannot remember. Like Tara said, we will be surprised---yes, we will, we will be surprised IF they come up, and when they come up!