Marsia's Diary

It's hard to eat healthy when you have guests, so don't be too hard on yourself. The food all sounds delicious. Hope you had a nice swim.
 
It turned out that the airline cancelled J's brothers' flight and we rebooked on a later flight (due to diesel prices doubling since we booked, we think they consolidated flights.). So we had a full last day and went to a fascinating, lovely serpentarium. LaMa got me thinking why sometimes I am terrified of snakes and sometimes ok. I really enjoyed the poisonous snakes on their island watching them in trees and in their ponds. But the king cobra behind the glass who was enormous really made me feel this horrible claustrophobic feeling. I realize it is that if I feels like I am in striking distance, I get panicky and short of breath. It's from the snake dreams where I get bitten and faint into a pile of them that becomes so thick with snakes, they blot out the light when slithering over me.

We got there just in time for the snake presentation where the man handled lots of snakes and told about their characteristics and the poisonous ones he handled with the snake pole. I tried to keep track of who was poisonous and who was not, but need to go another time and study carefully. There were so many snakes and so much interesting info. There was an alligator feeding also and the alligators were so adorable and lovely. And also a nice exhibit of all sorts of turtles, one of crocodiles, and the lizards where beautiful, too. Just a magical place. And now I know that I am a snake admirer from a distance!

Thanks for the reminder not to stress about food while entertaining, Em! The crab cakes were so delicious, and I made butternut squash soup the last day to go with the left over barbecue, and everyone really liked it. Nice to sneak healthy food in, too! Once I get the kitchen set up I'll do a lot better with guests and consistently healthy food. I plan to learn to cook healthy versions of Southern food. We didn't get to swim - we were so tired after the serpentarium. Next time we'll have the river explored (we didn't want to send guests out in unexplored waters) and will do a lot more water sports where we get exercise in but it'll be in the water where we won't get so tired from heat.

J's brothers just missed their flight this morning (one of them is super pokey getting ready for things) but did catch a later one out of the airport. We had such a wonderful time with them - two of my favorite people on earth!
 
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That's wonderful that you're getting deeper into your snake issue. Hopefully if you can enjoy them from a safe-for-you distance for a while the panic will wear off. I've been having all my flights moved for the past two years, mostly because fewer people were flying. Kerosene should really be taxed as heavily as other fossil fuels, even though it's so convenient for me that it isn't...
 
That makes sense about the flights. I don't see fossil fuels completely being replaced any time soon, and I hope there is a comprehensive plan to make sure both the planet is ok and also the economy. It seems like there are so many options now we just need a way to transition smoothly away from pollution to reliable green energy. It is nice knowing how to be around snakes without panicking! I really do need to study up on snakes here because there are so many poisonous kinds and I go tromping through my woods here a lot.

We got a big beautiful load of free pine wood chips yesterday, so time to go build a lovely compost heap with some of them and mulch the azaleas and hydrangeas. They are too acidic for most things, but I'll use the compost to plant lots of blueberries in next year.
 
Good for you trying to push through your fear of snakes, M. Having a healthy attitude towards keeping your distance from the poisonous ones is logical. I think I have respect for them as much as anything.
It sounds like J’s brothers will enjoy coming back.
Setting up your kitchen will be good 😊
 
Thanks Cate and LaMa! I agree about having a healthy respect for snakes. I think that is what I am working towards.

I didn't get the kitchen set up, but did clean J's massive walk in closet today and I went shopping with K. When we got back the rest of my fruit tree order had come in, so we went and got big pots for the new fruit trees, and picked up a few tomato plants, too. We also checked out a nice antique shop and got a few summer tops at a discount clothing store and picked up a few for J's birthday in a month or so, too. It feels better eating healthy again, and I am looking forward to getting up early to garden again. It's been brutally hot in the daytime, so getting up early will help a lot. We decided to paint all the trim in our house ourselves and save the money for gardening stuff. That will be really nice being able to finish up the garden how I'd like to.

Oh, K went to a nice karaoke/open mic with J last night. I didn't join them as I was pooped from cleaning house all day. J's brothers are very nice, but also very messy and it took me all day to get the house back to normal after their visit. K and I are having a nice time driving around and singing 60s songs in the car. It's so nice to have my family back with me!
 
Aw, love that last sentence.

With the snake thing, knowledge is power, so if you encounter one on your treks and know that it’s a harmless one, it will help.
 
Hi everyone! It is really nice being reunited! It feels like a different more cheery version of our house with our possessions in it and my family here. I still have an entire house to unpack after I get the rest of the rooms painted, but it does really feel like home now.

Em, I think you're right about the snake thing. It does help a lot knowing if the snake can kill you or not!

I got so much exercise yesterday just clearing a path through the pine wood chips so I could get to my soil piles. I mulched some azaleas in a bed by the marsh with about 6 or 7 loads from my huge cart. I also started a pine mulch compost pile with pine chips and the good mushroom compost. Most of the wood chips are normal sized, but some are big shavings of trees, so they went on the bottom of the pile, and a layer of mushroom compost after that. Today I pot up the fruit trees and tomatoes.

I made a big pot roast with baby potatoes and carrots and poured the left over wine in there so I wouldn't be tempted to drink it. (It's probably the same calories, but I don't get in a wine drinking habit this way.) It came out so good and tender in the instant pot. We watched a movie last night as we were all so tired from patent work, unpacking, and yard work. It's nice all doing our own thing, but getting lots done. Found a nice computer science program in North Carolina and showed K who really liked it. It'll be fun visiting colleges together and figuring out where she wants to go. Ate a lot of pot roast, but had a light breakfast and lunch, so should be ok. It was cool last night which was such a nice break. I just went out on the deck with Lumi, and it's still gloriously cool! Time to get out there and enjoy it.
 
Yay for having a home again! I don't know if that sounds weird when you've been living there for a while but I don't think it would feel like a home until everyone was there.
 
Thanks LaMa and Cate. It felt like a bachelorette apt (a rather large one) when I lived here alone, and now I feel like part of a happy family again, and the house definitely seems homey-er now. K and I got another coat of paint on the laundry room and I painted the 2 pantry closets in there. Then we were sore so we went and soaked in the ocean. It was such a high tide, the river was almost to the road on the drive there, and there was a good breeze and choppy waves. It almost had real surfing waves like in CA, but only a few of them would have been surf-able really. It was still fun, but wow was the water salty. It seems twice as salty as the Pacific Ocean.

It's cool enough to have the windows open tonight and there is a massive frog chorus out there.

Cate, I am getting muscles again in my arms and legs, and it feels really good. My gut came back from cooking for company, but it will go back down soon, I'm sure, with all the projects I have planned. It's really nice having K help with painting. Tomorrow will be gardening. We didn't get to it today because we went out for coffee for breakfast and then peaked at a local goat farm. People were going to goat yoga there!
 
Thanks LaMa and Cate! I am super snacky from having eaten too much junk last week but will get things under control again. LaMa, I am really hoping you are right about my current Snoopy (from Peanuts) belly. Frog choruses are the best!

I keep waiting for K to get up and do things with me mornings, but she's exhausted from moving, from being a teen on summer break, and from getting used to a 3 hour earlier time zone and heat. So I did get some gardening done with her which was fun, but not that much. It was good to have a take it easy day for my thumbs to catch up and be not in pain again. They are my Achilles heal when it comes to getting stuff done. I ordered some of those metal sheet gardening beds that you put together so may go out on the porch later and start putting some together - need bug spray though. I was just watering the garden and was becoming part of the food chain - not the best weight loss plan.

We had a conference call with friends who also moved from CA - other Silicon Valley-ites who also could no longer afford to live there. We are brainstorming how to prepare in case of recession in the US. They are very intelligent people who are Stanford grads, so it's good to hear that they come to similar conclusions as us, and we weren't totally crazy for moving somewhere more affordable than CA.

Everyone is unpacking, and things are starting to look house-like around here!
 
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Today J's friend from Southern CA visited with his sister. He lives in Northern Florida and owns a blueberry farm. I had a great time talking about gardening with him and we had a nice dinner out. We may catch up with them at some point tomorrow as they sight see in the Charleston area. I was less bloated but having company bring wine and then going out to dinner is making me more on the round tummy side of things again. I think I may have to start saying no to alcohol and be more careful going out.

Also found part of an alligator hide in the road near the river today. This strengthens my decision to only swim at the ocean! I brought the hide back for K who really likes it.
 
Marsia said:
Today J's friend from Southern CA visited with his sister. He lives in Northern Florida and owns a blueberry farm. I had a great time talking about gardening with him and we had a nice dinner out. We may catch up with them at some point tomorrow as they sight see in the Charleston area. I was less bloated but having company bring wine and then going out to dinner is making me more on the round tummy side of things again. I think I may have to start saying no to alcohol and be more careful going out.

Also found part of an alligator hide in the road near the river today. This strengthens my decision to only swim at the ocean! I brought the hide back for K who really likes it.
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Wow. That is a bit of wildlife there. Around here, I only see birds, squirrels, and stray cats lol. I can't imagine living somewhere close to alligators!
 
whispers65 said:
Wow. That is a bit of wildlife there. Around here, I only see birds, squirrels, and stray cats lol. I can't imagine living somewhere close to alligators!
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There is an old rice plantation with a river running through it where we just went to see the baby alligators. They are really happy little swimmers. Glad we don't have many here though!
 
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