Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Hodgepodge #352



Thanks for visiting my piece of the Hodgepodge!  Won't you pour a cup and join with Joyce 'n friends?




What would you say is your biggest day-to-day challenge?

I've not an impromptu bone in my body ... so adapting to an agenda-less lifestyle has been a bit disconcerting.  So! I'm starting with a "Y" aquatics program and we'll see where that leads.  Baby steps ...



May 16th is National Biographers Day.  What's a biography you really enjoyed reading?  Is this a genre you read regularly?

Not really; I much prefer mysteries/thrillers.
.....but one, in particular, comes to mind: The House at Otowi Bridge. 




Tho' my family passed by Edith Warner's humble dwelling each Sunday, I didn't read her story until clearing out my mother's belongings.  A remarkable woman, whose accounting underscores my appreciation for my (small, but remarkable) hometown.



How important is keeping a clean home?  Do you need to de-clutter your life?

Sanitary reasons, obviously ... but I'm not obsessive, save the bathrooms and kitchen. 
Right now, everything's pretty much under control except for the office/spare bedroom.




You're the 8th Dwarf.  What's your name?

Let's go with 'Hungry.'



What's surprised you the most about your life or life in general?


That the child I believed myself to be --  invisible ... homely ... awkward grew up to experience an incredible couple of decades.






Insert your own random thought here:


So far, yes ... I'm loving Alabama. 
But the mosquitoes, y'all?!  My forearms look like I've crawled across barbed wire.  (Because, of course, I can't not scratch.)  Forget Avon's Skin-so-Soft ... these spawns of satan sneer at it.  Fabric softener sheets aren't much better.

Aside from spreading molten citronella over myself, have you any advice? 

# # #





Have yourselves a great week ... be safe!

Hugs,
Myra


29 comments:

  1. Enjoyed reading your answers this week. Good luck with the mosquitos.

    ReplyDelete
  2. bob says skin so soft doesn't work very well either. for me i just don't go where they are. ha ha... and if ONE gets in the house he bits bob over and over and waits until i go to bed and buzzes my ears and drives me crazy. standing water around the house causes them. I will send you a link in email of what works outside to kill them. of course it comes from AMAZON..I to felt homely and insecure and invisible at school.. my high school years were a horror to me.... but i did overcome. the thing that surprised me the most was that i ended up living here where my mother started her life and i never thought i would. my dwarf name would be Sugar, since i gave it up and want it all the time. Hellow My name is Sugar Sandra and I am a sweet o holic

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for that link, Sugar Sandra! I've already added it to my shopping cart.

      Delete
  3. I loved the name of you being the 8th Dwarf, LOL :) So glad you are loving Alabama, sans the mosquitoes, of course, and starting to take baby steps with what you want to pursue further. Getting involved with the Y with aquatics is a great thing I do believe!

    betty

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Betty! I'm waiting til the first of June to join, since they won't pro-rate the monthly draft.

      Delete
  4. I'm happy to read that you are loving your new home state.. except for the mosquitoes. Deet.. you have to use a repellent that has deet in it. Or - just stay inside when the sun sets, which is what I do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd quite forgotten about Deet! Thanks, Terri!

      Delete
  5. You are so clever: Hungry! Mosquitoes are annoying (like gnats here.) Did you live in Los Alamos? We loved that town and the rich history. Tom wants to go back someday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I lived in Los Alamos from '52 to '68. Not that many people I know have ever heard of it!

      Delete
  6. Glad that you like Alabama. And I would be called Hungry too. You know those dryer sheets you put in the clothes to make them soft - they are supposed to keep the mosquitoes away - good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm fighting mosquitos my self. Sherry and I set out in the swing in the woods. I am looking for an electronic repellent I have seen on the AT that some hikers carried.
    Aside from that I loved the read and visit. I always do. YOu ALWAYS have interesting responses.
    Love sent from NC (still 'gone fishing!')

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Neat! If you find that electronic repellent, won't you please 'show and tell'? Crazy, they never bother Tom; maybe he's not as sweet as me? Bahahahah!

      Delete
  8. Mosquitoes - I used to rub butter, or margarine, all over my arms. As the mosquito lands on you it gets stuck before it bites. The problem was that I soon had arms covered with dead stuck mosquitoes. Also, the smell attracted every dog in the neighbourhood!

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also, as an added thought ... do you know how to get rid of ants from your house?

      Get a flat stone. Mix on it a bit of sugar with a lot of pepper. The ants will be attracted by the sugar. Sneeze with the pepper, and knock themselves dead against the stone.

      God bless.

      Delete
  9. Yep, we have mosquitoes around here that are bigger than bats.
    We have a zapper fly swatter. It’s battery powered. Mash the button and swipe. It smite flies, skeeters, wasps and other critters.
    R

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've seen those and often wondered if they worked!

      Delete
  10. We used to camp in the woods for quite a few years and the mosquitoes were terrible. I happened to see and article that said that Jean Nate after bath splash worked the best so I tried it and it worked. I don't know if you can find it there, but I do know it's sold on Amazon. I find it at our local Drug Mart here. I put it on whenever I go out to do yard work or on picnics. I put in in a mister bottle and spray it on all over. I've lived here at my new house for over a year and the spare bedroom still leaves much to be desired. It's a work in progress. Happy Thursday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I recall seeing Jean Nate' everywhere -- Everyone's grandma had one or two bottles in their baths. :) This is good to know, and I'll be checking it out!

      Delete
  11. Good for you on the aquatics class. I was recently looking in one of our books and was thinking of a class like that. Hungry... I haven't heard that one today! I remember the mosquitoes in Illinois. I love that we don't have them in Southern California. I would Google natural remedies for mosquitoes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now, I hope I've the conviction to follow-through with the aquatics. What a homebody/hermit I'm becoming!

      Delete
  12. I'm extremely late visiting blogs - I'm obviously riding the Comment Caboose.

    The biography that you mentioned sounds interesting - especially because it deals with the area around Los Alamos.

    As for mosquitoes - I've hardly seen (or heard) any up here in the TN wilderness, BUT late last night one was buzzing around my bed. It must have strayed from Alabama....

    The 8th dwarf??
    I am CHAOTIC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CHAOTIC is a great name! Ya, I found it fascinating that she (Warner) lived so close, but had no idea what was going on up the 'hill.' Of course, neither did the rest of the world; Los Alamos didn't officially EXIST.

      Delete
  13. Great answers! (As always.) I think my dwarf name would be Giggles or Clumsy.

    Or maybe... Scratchy. Yep, welcome to the South! I swear, the mosquitoes are so bad here, they lay in wait for me to walk out the door each morning to pick up the newspaper. Then they swoop in to say, "Good morning." Right. And bug spray? Evidently, they consider it a delicacy...

    But Jean Nate, huh? Interesting. I've already got some of that, so it's worth a shot.

    Have a super weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Susan! 'Clumsy' would certainly define me, as well.

      Delete
  14. The book looks really interesting. My only tried and true thing for mosquitoes is to just stay in the house!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking time to visit. Your comments mean the world to me!