[summer break in 80 days] day 32

8:40 After a slow start, I am up and dressed (in yesterday's clothes) and breakfast is done. Also accomplished, the stack of mail that has been growing on the kitchen counter since dad left. Mail has been opened, junk thrown away and the rest stacked neatly for action and filing. I hate opening bills, it's so depressing.

I want to do some gardening. I am not sure how sweaty I want to get. I will repot the crossandra. I was thinking I should plant them in the ground since they can get rather shrubby. But then I read that they can be invasive so I will keep them in pots to control their spread.

Don't have any potting soil so I couldn't repot the crossandra. I'll get some tomorrow at Target and look for some more plants. Maybe some aloe.

10:31 Done with the pruning today. I stopped when I filled 2 bags. Now there are 7 and our pick up only allows for 6 items. I know they will pick up the extra but I don't want to push it. Saw ants crawling in the vines but never felt the sting. Sometimes I don't and then notice the itching later. (I have found several bites on my arms and legs. The itching is awful even after taking an antihistamine.)

The first crape I pruned is already growing back. The second one is not. It won't crush me to lose a couple as I think I placed them too close together.

The yard is a swamp. Mike had his sprinklers running even with all the rain we got last week. Since he is higher, he doesn't notice the flooding I get. This is the first Sunday I have been out so I didn't know how bad it got. I need some muck shoes. My old running shoes are soaked.

I cleaned up a bit and found two of my CF cards for my camera. I knew they were about somewhere.

5:50 Found Andy's recorder. He ran away covering his ears thinking I was going to yell. But I didn't and he came back. I had to download the manual to set the date & time again.

7:43 Am trying to read Good Calories, Bad Calories. I purchased the eBook version and didn't know know it was thick and tedious. Sometimes puts me to sleep. But what is interesting is that some cholesterol drugs were found to cause cancer in mice. This is considering an acceptable side effect since the benfits are supposed to outweigh the risks. But studies found that reducing cholesterol would only gain a person 1 month to 1 year more on his life based on other health issues. Gail took cholesterol lowering druges for years. He started taking lipitor in the mid 1990s. One of the side effects of lipitor was cancer in mice. More specifically, sarcoma which Gail had. So he took drugs that were only proven to gain him maybe a year extra in life for a cancer risk that he was in the small percentage to contract. It bothers me that Gail's cancer could have been caused by a drug that might not have shown any benefit. And Gail never mentioned to his doctors that the small print does indicate sarcomas in mice. Unanswered questions that sit in the back of my mind.