Keeping busy at 78 RPMs!

Hi, neighbors. Although the weather has been nice this past week, Hurricane Jenny hit Nevada with full force. My daughter was down from Des Moines to visit for a couple of days, and my normally uncomplicated and slow paced days were catapulted into whirlwind speeds.

Since my retirement, I try to allocate one main task, trip or event per day. Although I can do more than one extra thing in a day, it seems silly to do two in one day and have the next day with nothing scheduled. When my daughter is home, though, a week's worth of 'doing' is compiled into every day she is here.

One day we went shopping, cooked a meal, visited with family, went out to eat and went to a movie! That's a whole week's worth of 'to dos' in one day! Overwhelming!

Her friend Connie was down for a day, and that is always exhilarating! Sitting between those two is like being at high tide with a hurricane hitting the coast from both sides!

Connie is like a second daughter to me, as I have known her since she and Jenny were in first or second grade. I enjoy the fact that their friendship has lasted all these decades.

The main topic between these two and my son was fleas on the pets. There must be a great flea migration where all the fleas in America have settled in Missouri. Homeopathic treatments were the topic, and many things were mentioned.

I say go to the vet and buy the newest flea treatments, but they are all determined to try everything else first. I could only guess how successful each of their favorite treatments were from the frequency and severity of the cat and dog scratches and flea bites on their arms.

Their pets would smell like dish soap, expensive lotion, powders, oils or various sorts of edible condiments. I'm certain they couldn't wait to get outside and roll in the grass (where the fleas are) to get rid of the odors.

If you are having a problem with fleas, my son-in-law devised a trap to catch and kill them while they are in your carpets or anywhere off of your pets.

He took a bucket with a lid, cut some slits in it wide enough for fleas to jump through and poured some water mixed with Dawn liquid dish soap and put it on the floor in whatever room you feel is flea ridden. Keep the door to the room shut to keep cats, dogs or children out and see what happens. If you have a flea infestation, the bucket will be full of dead fleas within a few hours.

There are hundreds of methods of eliminating fleas the natural way with natural ingredients on the internet. I figure that it's just natural for dogs and cats to have fleas, but I don't like to see them miserably scratching themselves.

In the old days, they would go roll in dirt or swim in the creek to alleviate the problem. Most of the time, people didn't worry about it too much about fleas for two reasons. Either the humans already had fleas themselves, or the dogs and cats always stayed outside (as did the fleas). If people kept chickens in their homes, they would have to worry about chicken mites, I guess. Again, when I have a dog or cat with fleas, I just go to the vet and get what they prescribe. Works like a charm every time.

We are always grateful for the internet in my family. Every family discussion brings up some topic that needs more explanation. The movie we saw was the newest remake of the "Magnificent Seven" story. I knew it was a remake of a movie from the 1960s.

My son insisted that the original western movie was a redo of a movie about mis-matched, unemployed Japanese warriors who banded together to protect a small village from tyrants who stole their crops. This original movie was titled the "Seven Samurai".

Although the setting was rural Japan hundreds of years ago, the plot of both of the modern westerns was basically the same. A number of battle-fit ex-warriors were called upon to help a small town fight for their rights against overwhelming odds and a ruthless crook. Although most of the seven were unskilled for any peacetime jobs, fighting battles was the occupation they were trained for and good at doing.

I would recommend seeing all three of these shows. Don't forget to notice the many extraordinarily well trained horses in this latest version.

Until the next time, friends, remember not to overwhelm yourself by doing everything in one day.