We're nearing peak fall foliage up here, about a week to 10 days earlier than average. A lot of the migrating birds, like our Hummingbirds and Robins, left 10 or 12 days earlier than normal too.

Picked the last of our Beans today. We had a moderate yield out of them. Picked the last of our Tomatoes, some of them still green, but they'll ripen quickly in a paper bag. Tremendous yield out of them this year! We're still eating a couple every day, Marsha has frozen 3 gallon bags full & we still have several dozen ripening! All that's still in the ground now are the Carrots. We're going to have some nice ones & they can stay in a bit longer. They'll survive chilly nights & even a frost or two.

And, the Tourists are gone!! YAY!!!! Now we can have our town & countryside back. We can go into the store and actually find what we need. We can enjoy the quiet & the sounds of the forest without the roar of cars, campers, motorcycles & trailers full of boats & ATV's zooming up & down the road! Wonderful.

Just as a PSA, be very, very careful with your PayPal account. I just went through a very nasty time. Apparently my account was compromised 2 weeks ago. AmEx texted to ask about a charge & after calling them, they canceled my card and sent a new one. When I got home I immediately checked my account and found there were now two outstanding charges ($1950 each) to be taken from my bank account. I immediately disputed both charges and took my bank account off the account. I decided not to take any changes & went down to my local bank branch & explained what was happening. As the charges hadn't actually come through yet, we closed the account & opened a new one. (This particular account had no direct deposits or auto payments so it was easy to do.) Got home & found that the disputes had been closed in the "sellers" favor! Next day called PayPal -- absolutely no help. Talked to AmEx just to be sure nothing could go through on the canceled card -- they put PayPal on a "banned merchant" list. PayPal started sending me emails & texts that my account owed $3900. Called them, said I wasn't paying as those were unauthorized charges. Was given email address to appeal my claim. And amazingly the appeal was accepted. The charges were reversed so I had a zero balance. And I have now canceled my PayPal account.

Weather has been rather different. If it isn't a deluge of rain, it's hot & dry, sunny & overcast many times a day. Very few garage sales and they're nothing to write home about. More items donated to the thrift store because it's easier than bothering to have a garage sale & have not much to show for it ... moving sales are better but far and in between.

Hoping all the glassies are well and enjoying their summer. Marson

We have been very lucky -- lots of rain & storms here in NJ. There has been a lot of flooding, trees down, etc., but we've been spared. And my garden seems happy. Sun is finally out today.

well I did say winter was here BUT today was t shirt weather. Hard to keep up with Mother Nature these days. Seem she can't make up her mind what season she wants.

How could I have missed Julie's birthday??? I hope you had a wonderful day with family and friends and the rest of the year will be happy & healthy.

Greetings to all the glassies. Marson

The actual router installation was easy and all the computers and phones are connected. However, I've yet to have gotten my two printers to connect. It's been so long since I first connected them that I don't remember how I did it and none of the online directions are working. May have to call the Best Buy Geek Squad for help. {sigh}

@wattleihavenext Julie, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Wishing you another adventure-filled and happy year!!!

I took the tech plunge today. Our router had reached the end of its life (no more updates) and my little laptop has been obsolete for a while., so I headed to Best Buy this morning. Now the proud owner of a new Orbi router and (once it's delivered) a new HP laptop. Not looking forward to installing the new router -- the actual installation I think is easy, but there are multiple things around the house that will need the new password. Will wait until Sunday to deal with it.

We had a cold winter with lots of mornings of sub-zero temps, but not excessively so. Most were -3,4 0r 5 below. Only 3 or 4 with double digits below. Snow seemed around average, but was actually a little below normal when all was added up. Average is 108 inches & we got 92 inches. Spring has for the most part been cold & wet, that is, until today. We hit 88 today & some areas just south of here made it to the low to mid 90's. More heat & humidity tomorrow, but then back to the 50's & 60's for the Holiday weekend. We even have potential for frost Thursday night, so we've got to hold off our garden planting a bit longer. Just going to do Tomatoes, Beans, Cucumbers and Carrots this year.

Going to get some Lobsters to celebrate the Holiday weekend. We only splurge and get them a couple times a year, so looking forward to it.

Going to have some body work done on the Jeep in a couple weeks. Two front fenders & one rocker panel going to be replaced. just from wear & rust from road salt. A couple other minor issues fixed too & then she will look & run as good as new. Can't afford a new one now. They're around $45 to $50 grand!! Even a good used one will now run you over $20 grand. Just too much & I don't drive all that much now anyway. Only put a few hundred miles a month on it, most months. So, it's my "Forever Jeep". LOL!

Well, going to go get in my recliner, put my feet up & see how creatively the Red Sox can lose another one.

Wishing all the moms (biological, adoptive, foster & the ones by example) Have a Wonderful & Blessed Day. Marson

Our weather has been so mixed-up. We had a week of summer, a few days of winter (at least we didn't get snow, only frost warnings), cool & rainy. Today it was supposed to rain all day, but the sun is out. Tomorrow was supposed to be warm & sunny, now it's going to be cool & rainy. I'm never sure how to dress in the morning.

Happy Heavenly birthday Toby. Your knowledge and willingness to share it, is greatly missed

Rainy, chilly day here in NJ -- at least more of the snow is melting. Supposedly it's going to hit 70F next week, before going back to more normal March temps. I bet there will still be some mounds of snow around even after that.