dbjc364's Blog

dbjc364's June 2012 Entries

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Lots of rain,

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Jun 25, 2012 | 6:04 PM PST
going on now,since morning. Suppose to go into Wednesday ,and scattered showers wed-thursday. The cat got 2 mice in a 3 day stretch. Daughter got a really nice round large braided rug for $20 for her living room that I had bought off a guy. We shampooed it today,and it was well worth the money. It makes the room much more cozy than the regular square area rug,as she has a country theme to the room,and the colors go much better too. Picked more Peony blooms,a couple still left to bloom,but I need to get a much better support for it before next year,as after the rainning their hanging on the ground. The weekend is suppose to be another sunny one,so thats great. The cukes are almost ready to grab the trellis now,so maybe by the weekend they will. The radish and turnip lines have popped up. It rained all night,now its stopped for now this a.m.It was so wet-I just stayed inside and did some cleaning. Today I will venture out for a bit,and also see what else I can do out in the garage. Its very cloudy but maybe it'll just be an occasional scattered shower.

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Yes,it hit our coast with high temps

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Jun 22, 2012 | 12:47 AM PST
Tag: fire flies..
of 103* on Wednesday-with humidity.Thursday not as bad here a bit cooler of 90*,with a bit of drier air. Keeping my water glass filled,I went out in the morning to plant. Fluffing up the bed again and plucked stray weeds,in the broccilli bed,added 2 rows of string beans,1 row of rainbow peppers,and 1 row of radish. Then in the tomato bed added a row of turnip,and another string bean row. Watered everything well again,and the cukes are singing to me. Some of the romaine lettuce under the slanted trellis is up,will have to resow some that didnt sprout. But I'll do another crop of that anyways,and probaly more string beans. Its going in late,but I'll take whatever it gives me,and I like to see it grow anyways. I hope today to get the Zuchinni in. Long as I keep it watered the seeds will sprout fast in this heat. For a male cat,he's one heck of a mouser.Another one yesterday met its fate. It sure wore the cat out,but glad he's getting his excersize. Had a nap in the hot part of the day,then went back out and finished up the blueberry orchard of wacking/sweating. But glad I got headbands,as that helps alot. Hubby got home a bit later than usual,went out for a nice supper of seafood,then got groceries,and a new fishing pole for me. This time mine is purple. I would have gotton a pink one,but only had open reels. We didnt take the poles apart when we were done the other day and the top half broke on mine,I had that for about 6 yrs. Landon and I got ours at the same time. His broke last year ,so he also got a new one this year.I've got 6 of the Acidanthera bulbs in 2 pots,since I dont know how big they'll get.Today I'll get the last of them in the front bed. That trailing vine is sporting small purple flowers now,and going to be quite pretty. Dad's talking about Hummingbirds yesterday,so I quess I'll fill a feeder,so we'll have more entertainment.He's pretty much staying inside during the heat wave,sitting with me on the deck for awhile when I take a break. We've decided to keep going with the deck,and turn it into a screened deck,but not till next spring. It will be nicer to be able to sit without the sun beating down on us, and enjoy it for the 3 seasons without the rain getting us wet. Screen along the top,and adding solid panels on the bottom,should also cut the traffic noise down a bit too. When we built it I had a feeling it might head this way anyways. I won't have to pack up the furniture cushions anymore,and we can enjoy having supper/cards out there without the bugs. The dragon flies are slowly starting to filter in,to take care of the mosquito population already. The fire flies are back,after amounts have been low the last few years.Their saying a good round of rain this next week coming in...

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The heat wave

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Jun 20, 2012 | 8:07 AM PST
thats upon us now is unbelievable. Us folks in the north dont like it at all. Probaly the southern folks are used to it. Its 11:00 am and 81* already-yuck. I wacked around the beds -done-and watered them.Will do it again late afternoon,if we dont look like we'll get a thunder.The inside of the house is cooler though with the fan on low and windows closed. I just keep taking small breaks,and later on I'll be horizontal in front of a fan when its really bad. Its suppose to hit up to 103* on our coast. Those Acidanthera bulbs are a southern thing,but if I put them in pots then I have a better chance of remembering to bring them in in the fall. They are suppose to be highly fragrant,and a distant cousin to the glads. The only thing that looks similar is maybe the leaves.ok, I'm sitting here sweating,so plugged in the air conditioner for a bit. Hubby still hadnt had his put in at the office yet,I bet he will today though. I quess at this point I'm waiting till late afternoon before planting string beans. But going to hop on the rider for a bit...

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Landons little fish,,

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Jun 19, 2012 | 6:00 PM PST
today,was a small mouth bass. Just a wee bit too small to keep,and none of us like eating them anyways-so back he went to grow for another year. The 2nd fish he caught was me! Hooked the back of my shirt right after I told him to go slow and watch out for me-so be careful. I should have known better and moved another 10 feet down. Oh well, he calls me his Mimi fish. We've got very good lakes and ponds all around us,many in short distance travelling time. So we went to the lake first,then down to the river boat landing. An ice cream in between, of course. The next time out-we'll go to another lake.Hubby loves trout-pickeral, Landon doesn't eat any,and I'm a seafood lady,so I just catch them for him. I'll wait for my lobster. I picked up Acidanthera bulbs, in they go tomorrow. But after reading about them,I'd like another package.One cant have too many flowers-especially the fragrant ones.Weeded the cukes,a good drink of water,and they look divine. Planting in the morning before it starts to get too hot. Peony is blooming,cut 3 of them for indoors,and they are always gorgeous. I've got the pink one, and daughter has the dark fushia one,so I'm getting a piece of that for sure.Coal went down cellar and bin is full, sun sail went up on the deck-now have more shade. Finally got a chance to pick up a trolling motor at auction,now just have to get the batteries for it. That will ease up some of the paddling in the canoe. Still doing the shelves with contact paper in garage,but coming along nicely.Much easier to dust now instead of rough wood. A full and tirering day,but nice to get out for a bit...

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Sunny again this afternoon!..

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Jun 18, 2012 | 11:42 AM PST
A busy weekend as usual,but today is normal house stuff ,and a couple errands got done.Seems like I'm answering the phone alot too. well,no matter its a nap for me and the machine can take it. Then I'll mow a bit, and look at my plants,and maybe do some weeding,that would be great. Now that I've read some blogs and talked to brother about chickens,I know what I'm in for.So I better make sure the chickens are safe when we finally get some next spring. Just cooked up brothers eggs from his chickens and they are definitely a brighter color than store bought ones. ok- its for real. we're going fishing tomorrow afternoon,for a good stretch with Landon. We've got 2 good lakes not too far to travel to. The guys will do the coal in the morning,then we're off to play. The cukes are marvelous,the green pepper is so big, and everybody is happy. The front bed tomato is flowering. They said we might get a thunder shower wed or thursday.The heat and humidity is finally going to go up and be hot. Its a bit cool right now at 64* with sun and a small breeze. Just right for gardening and fishing. oh-ya I have 3 perennials to go in too....ok-I'll dream about that...

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Wow,what a gorgeous day ,

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Jun 15, 2012 | 3:16 AM PST
it was yesterday! A bit breezy,but that kept it from getting too hot. A nice 6 day spread of sunshine-at least, and my plants are going nutso. I just might get the chance to get the new perennials in the dirt today. Lots to do in the garage cleaning still,but its looking much better now. Since we have the grill on the ground next to the deck, we are now contemplating the building of a platform or a small deck before we go to far building that raised bed on that one side..we'll do some measuring tonite when hubby gets home.

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Ok, a round of rain today,

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Jun 13, 2012 | 3:08 AM PST
just in time to water my pots and beds for me. Then another 6-7 days of sunshine they are saying. I'll take it. My glads in the big pots are sprouting up. The window boxes look nice right now before the heat of the summer gets a hold on them. Hubby fixed some shelving in the garage sale for me yesterday, I stayed in the first bay re-arranging,cleaning,tagging.
I'm going to at least finish that bay today. Rain to roll in by this afternoon till the evening ,but not all night. We went and did the city job,to free up the weekend for us. My Baffin rose has started to bloom. The Wisteria is doing very good,but since its pretty much toppled the old Arbor,its trailing on the ground now. There are still a few perennials thrown in the old skiff next to the compost that need a place to go. They look like Lilies or Iris. A lot of puttering yesterday for hubby,and he got alot done. After a break doing other stuff,work resumes on the deck beds next. Hit a yard sale on the way home, and picked up 3 more perennials, Lambs Ears,Flax, and something else. My Peony is just barely starting to bloom...

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A nice stretch of sunshine,

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Jun 12, 2012 | 3:43 AM PST
Tag: the smell of summer
is upon us now. No rain in sight till wednesday,and thats a scattered chance. Got my window boxes planted yesterday with Nasturiums and Nicatania finally.

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Oh,this ain't looking too good,,

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Jun 9, 2012 | 2:30 AM PST
Tag: chickens
for the lawn. I went out back to grab some more stuff from the shed. The back lawn is sprouting mushroom fungus. Its getting high and thick again, over ready for a cut,so I hope to today,now that the sun is making an appearance. I can see why New York has the blight already. We will too if this keeps up. It rained again yesterday afternoon-thunder & lightening,quite heavy for a couple hours,then lighter for a couple hours. Have Landon this weekend,so will be going fishing later on this afternoon for awhile down the street-if it doesnt rain. I did get the front rock garden weed wacked at least before the rain. The window boxes are up,waiting for something to be planted in them. Next week,by the looks of time available. The thunder-lightening makes no sense when its cool,I can see it happening when its hot and humid,and leaves me totally dumbfounded. I wish we could send this rain elsewhere for awhile,my rain barrels are full. The japs did such a good job on the pussy willow last year-that this year there's barely any green leaves,so thats not doing too good,and I'll be surprised if it lives. Waiting for hubby to load my pic so I can get it in the album. Had an opportunity to grab four large shipping crates {free} yesterday from across the street.Took about an hour with the tractor. Now,.. we can talk chicken. I started talking chicken a couple years after planting the blueberries,but hubby didnt want to. Of course since then, the japs have gotton worse,along with other bad bad bugs. So now, we have a chicken condo,and will have to decide where its going and re work it a little. Have 2 solid crates and 2 slotted crates,and can get more if we need them. More than likely,wont get the chickens till next spring,it'll give us time to look at coops & build this thing,and get the water line up and running. Sale day today,yesterday was ok,but closed early because of rain. It'll be an early morning,as the sun is now out!...The cukes are doing fantastic so far,and green peppers are getting big..

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Its really cloudy outside,

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Jun 6, 2012 | 3:10 AM PST
but at least we're down to a scattered shower,depending on where you live. Yesterday we had 3 quick downpours within an hour. Then it was all over, and the sun finally appeared,no rainbows anywhere. I skipped into the city,and picked up some more tote containers,while hubby busied himself repainting my window box bracketts.He already had them wire brushed,then put up another trim board under the windows to install the bracketts. I busied myself in the shed,going thru boxes,and got 6 more big containers ready to go on the sale. I checked my raised beds,my green peppers are as big as my thumb. I put in my 4 tomato plants then my 6 broccilli plants. Today,I will do more of the same, as the grass is still too wet to cut it. I checked the tomato plant in the front bed where I have flowers planted,and can't believe how fast that one is growing. With the threat of a shower,it'll just be a puttering day,although I can plant 2 lines of string beans. Update- yesterday,I had some indoor cleaning to catch up on.Hubby finished installing the window boxes.Today I can finally fill them,and I'll get to planting those string beans. Since the grass was too wet-after supper seemed like a good idea-but another quick heavy rain shower spoiled that idea. We'll see what today brings.Today,I am puttering outside regardless of what needs to be done inside. I just have to ignore it for the time being. We're back to seasonable 70's again,this morning lots of heavy fog. It rained again last night and all is soaked again,but what I've got planted so far is very happy. Lets hope it stays that way,and I hope not too many of those funny mushrooms start growing on the lawn because of all the moisture..

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Our rainfall amount this year

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Jun 5, 2012 | 1:39 AM PST
really isnt excessive overall,according to the experts. We did have 5 good weekends in a row before this heavy rainspell came. The other rains were during the week,coming every other day it seemed but only lasting a short time. I know our normal water table is down,you can tell by feeling the dirt. But no longer I bet. Some places got 7 1/2 inches,and some places flooded out. The average was 4 inches,and thats still alot in any one given timespan. The new year started out dry from last year,so its just making it up. Well, the plants sure as heck love it. I did get up to the store,bought another small folding table, 8 tote containers,and a few groceries. Landons birthday also next month,so picked up a couple small presents to tuck away. The rain was almost stopped when I left,and done when I came out. Now it'll just be partly cloudy the rest of the week. A quick trip into the bigger city this morning,back home to check on beds,maybe throw in some more seeds, and work in the gardenshed on sale items. I asked my neighbor if her girls were interested in helping picking berries,she could have berries for free,I just needed some help this year. She said even if they weren't ,she would, as she likes to pick berries. Good. Now I dont have to stop hubby from doing something important just to pick berries for me. Since I have power out there in the shed now,I'm going out early to sort through boxes. I don't have to leave till around 9. I'm hoping the celery seeds I put in before the rain,didn't shift too much.I know the one tomato plant in the mud room bed out front has doubled its size since planting 2 wks ago. We heard New York has the blight,so I hope it isnt real bad this year. This year instead of buying mine at Walmart I got heirlooms at the ladys roadside stand that I frequent,so hopefully they are healthier to withstand whatevers coming. I have small green peppers already,that was 3 days ago. Waiting for daylight to check those babies out. Everything is so very green after all that rain. And the grass is so high again...wow.

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Rain,rain,rain..

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Jun 4, 2012 | 2:41 AM PST
Tag: wet ground..
wow,it looks as though we should put pontoons on the tractor. Its got a small lake under it.Here it is early monday morning,and its suppose to keep going to after midnight tonite. Wow. Yesterday,was basically a rest and goof off day. I did the dishes and made a pot of soup that was yummy. Comp and movie time,along with a nap. That blew my day. Off and on looking out the window at my beds and pots,and all is ok,except they are definitely growing even thru the rain. Just the couple low lawn areas are under water as usual. We have 3 bays plus the large tent,plus the yard/driveway area that we fill. Dad timed us the last day,and breaking down/set-up takes us about an hour. It didn't seem that long. Thats not bad for the amount of stuff thats here. I'm trying to set up the easiest systems for time/ weather. New tarps with bungees cover 5 tables,and they can hold quite a bit of stuff. Going up today for 5 more totes,and 2-? tables. We keep the tarps right near each table so its fast to cover them over at night. Most of the furniture is smalls,so thats fairly fast to put into the last bay at night. A couple heavy items like a wooden trunk is on a dolley that just gets wheeled out at the end of a bay,then wheeled back in at night. All auto/truck type stuff is on a big tarp in front,covered over at night,and lashed to the picnic table.I'm still in trial and error faze,I've found probaly the most important thing of all is to have new tarps with no holes in them. I found out the hard way when my table of clothes got wet and I had to wash them all. And tarps/bungees are fairly inexspensive to keep things dry. What our challenge is, is the wind. Living straight across a mountain ridge,produces some heady winds. So we dont set up the tables too early in the season,or else we clear them at night into totes,and put them under the tables.Anything on the lighter side has to be bungeed down. Unless its a no wind day,I can't place mirrors outside leaning against furniture.We've got one of those small windmills for sale right in front,but its anchored into the ground and tied off to the fence. The driveway itself is gravel,but gently slopes to the back,and we block the end so no cars can pull directly in. Parking alongside the fence has plenty of room,and we're on a good stretch of straight away for any traffic. We put our cars on the backside of the house out of the way on sale days. This whole thing started when we had to sell the estate contents,which is alot,and I'm still doing that. Then it snowballed to family wanting to sell what they didnt need or want anymore. I started my blueberry orchard when we moved in, simply to supplement my social security in old age,should there be any,besides I love blueberries. We arent party type people,although we are social and light drinkers,so that scene is long gone. Occasionally we venture out for dinner/barbaques/fishing sort of thing,but overall we stay focused and are more productive/happy staying home. There's just alot to do and if we galavanted all over for social reasons,we wouldn't get anything accomplished. I find I get quite a bit of social interraction just from the garage sale. We love being outdoors as much as possible,and I love growing plants. I find after a heavy traffic weekend, I need to play in the dirt and talk to my plants,and recharge my battery. Today I'm getting antsy,and even though the rain hasnt stopped, it has slowed down a bit more,so I'm going to venture out before I go bonkers. We had to light the woodstove again to take the chill off,so I'm glad we havent disconnected it yet. We're going to wait a bit more till we do. Its time to have Landon overnite again, and we promised to take him fishing,and I picked him up a new pole. So this weekend he'll come over. He told me he loves going to restaraunts. So we'll take him up to the diner for pancakes breakfast. He's quite a ham in public,and loves talking to the waitresses especially. I think he loves to talk period,and getting into trouble at school because of chatting. I told my daughter they need to give these kids that like to talk alot, some more podium time of show and tell or something along those lines. He planted a zinnia at school, for his mom,and its doing great.Time for it to go in the raised bed though. Maybe I can get him to help me plant the 4 additional tomato and 4 broccilli plants this weekend...

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Oh dear, no dirt play time

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Jun 3, 2012 | 4:05 AM PST
Tag: puddles and muddles..
on Friday. Only enough time to walk around the beds- checking on everything. I scooted down to the store before supper,and the owner was there. Making small chat,the conversation steered around to what I do with my time on earth.I told him I work,self-employed, cleaning.Then I do my garage sale on weekends spring till fall. His eyes lit up,his voice got a bit more excited. Would I come look over his batch of stuff,he wanted to be done with it,as he was doing that for 2 years at his house after working in the store during the week. He lives just down the road from me.He no longer wanted to work so many hours, and the girlfriend wasn't helping out and doing nothing but b****** about it,and he was tired of listening to the noise. He also wanted to make that room into his workshop, and couldnt do that with all the sale stuff in the way.He quoted a low price, just to be done with it. Normally I wouldnt even bother, as I have enough to keep me going for quite awhile,but I decided to go look at his stack.Yup, he had a small room in the garage, just filled with boxes,mostly new,about 90% new in packages. Yup, good thing I had cleaned out the gardenshed last week,because I bought the load. He filled his pick up truck,we filled ours, plus my car,and it was packed in the shed friday nite rather quickly. It really didnt take as much time as we thought it would.The guy was quite happy to have his room back. It only took up a third of my shed space too,stacking them. I can empty a couple boxes at a time as I go along.I called the daughter to give her first dibs on diving in and seeking treasures. $10.00 a big box,fill it to overflowing with whatever you want. She brought her girlfriend,and they had a blast. There must be 4-5 boxes of kitchen stuff,like can openers,corn on the cob holders,anything kitchen gadgets,which I sell quite a bit of on my sale anyways. They were happy,plus on the breakfast counter,I had a small box stuffed with make-up. They each dove into that-and found eye liner,blush,mascara,lip stick. They had enough to last them at least a year.All was new in the packages. Well,they were some happy ladies for sure. Ok, that was enough excitement for sat. morning. We opened the sale late, but did well for the first 2 hours,rain was a threat,wind started picking up,so we closed early. Got it all buttoned up for the heavy rain that was rolling in, came inside. Up pulls a van,the guy wanted to buy the portable washer as long as it worked. Of course it works,but we rolled it outside,hooked up power to it and filled with water to watch it go thru its cycles. All was good,we loaded it in our truck, and delivered it to them just down the street-which was faster than dealing with everybodys time constraints. Gone. Now I have another open spot for some other goodie. That makes me happy,as I have plenty to fill that spot. We came inside,settled down a bit and I got supper going of juicey barbaque spare ribs in the oven. They came out great and were so good.I bought a rack,and I'll get 2 suppers out of it,so it was economical. Rained heavy all night,suppose to keep going till monday nite. Its puddled up creating small lakes already in the yard. I'm glad I do raised beds. Its going to be a repeat of last year when alot of people lost their gardens from flooding,and had to replant. Good thing I changed my mind on getting my seeds in,as I was following the weather closely,and decided to wait till next week. My cukes were doing wonderful yesterday,getting so big. We won't open the sale today-its just too heavy a rain. So I can put on my muck boots and rain gear and walk around,and now that I have power in the shed,I can putter out there,or I can clean the upstairs hall,so I guess I wont be bored inside today. This week its suppose to be cloudy all week but ok,once the heavy rain passes.Last week we were getting alot of thunder-lightening activity,which was weird for May. Well,I quess I should check e mail and have breakfast..and decide whats happening today...

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Well,after a few years of squeaking thru

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Jun 1, 2012 | 4:15 AM PST
Tag: Iris...
with my rider mower,and the other one with the push mower,I decided to build beds connecting them instead of mowing in between. I figured this one would be quick,and hubby got it done in one night plus worked on the one we're building at the deck. Got all the sod removed,and I'll have time to work on it today some. This will also give me 2 more flower beds.While he was tilling that up,I was well on my way into weeding the strawberry bed.I only have one corner left to go. The glads got planted in some pots,a little more wacking around the stump and I was done with that for this week. A soaking rain on its way for the weekend. Temps were just right yesterday-high 70's*-no humidity,another repeat in store for today. NICE.. Pics in album show a type of Lunar moth taking a rest at the entrydoor. The daughter gets the terrible willys with moths,dont know why and I'm surprised when she saw it- she didnt come in the back door instead-its that bad. We walked around outside a bit looking/chatting mainly at the Iris groups. Since I gave her just about all her flowers,I'm wondering where the heck she got the nice purple ones. They must have come back from the house up north,cause I dont recall any here,but I want some of those,and she wants some of my yellow ones. I like all flowers,but am partial to some,Iris being one. I love all the colors they have,and just sent for the Schreiners Catalog.I'm especially smitten by the blue ones,so I hope to get a small order in for fall. I kept looking at that area in between the beds and tired of cutting the grass and wacking it. It seemed like a waste to me,and I always need another bed. I said to myself-they would make good Iris beds. I got to looking at this strawberry bed,and after I got some other things done,had time at the end of the day to sit and pluck. I got one side done by the time hubby got home,then started on the other side while he tilled the new bed. Now I feel like the yard is getting tamed a bit better,, and its all coming together again. Errands this morning,then I can play in the dirt again this afternoon. I'm getting a good dose of it this week....Yippee!

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dbjc364's June 2012 Entries

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