Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - July 2, 2017

Good morning! Since it's a SUNDAY morning, this is my weekly off television topic post taking a look at the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. This weekly post is done year in, year out. Big Brother, the main draw for so many of you, only lasts about three months -- although sometimes it seems to be a lifetime. If you're here solely for the BB posts, please feel free to skip this post. You can find my latest BB19 posts by using this link.

Some of the big news of the past week is that BB19 indeed did start, so I'm bound to be more exhausted than I usually am. Maybe by this time next year, I'll be retired from my real job and able to do all I want to do in covering the show and live feeds!

I started my staycation Friday evening. So, for now, I'm doing fine. 

I finally bit the bullet and went for Amazon Prime. As they remind me when I sign on, I've been a customer since 2003. I tried Prime when they first came out with it and wasn't impressed. However, I do love Amazon.com. Over the years, I've had deliveries come to my workplace as I went for the longer no exact date free shipping -- there's always someone at my workplace to sign for packages even if I'm not there. But I have been limited to ordering only things I didn't mind lugging to the train station, on the train, etc. And, I found that if I ordered for at home during a staycation, USPS would sometimes just leave a package without ringing the intercom! There are about 40 apartments in my building. Packages get stolen!

But, now with Prime, there is free two-day shipping and it's UPS. They ring the intercom. They guarantee the delivery date. So, I can order big stuff and know I'll be home for the delivery. My past two orders, set to arrive on my day off (and they did) were a nice new spinner mop and bucket -- much needed -- and a tower fan -- love it!

Yesterday I went online and ordered me some bath salts, bubble bath, two different body sprays and some new towels as mine are really showing their age. I also ordered something I've needed for YEARS -- a new computer desk chair. The one I use is about 24 years old and lost its arms years back. I noticed that the computer chair free shipping has it arriving either the 5th or 6th ... that's fine. I can track it. I didn't notice the towels, bubble bath and bath salts were free shipping NEXT DAY delivery. The two very cheap body sprays are free shipping two-day delivery. I had thought the chair and the other things ordered would be two separate deliveries, but it's three. Oh, well. I don't mind.

So, now as I type this up, I've already had the delivery of the towels and the bath goodies on a SUNDAY morning! I love it! Vincent has a new nice-sized box and I'll have a leisurely either bath salts or bubble bath while trying out Not Your Father's Ginger Ale (hard ginger ale I bought last week or the week before but haven't tried yet), maybe listening to some jazz. Now, THAT is a staycation! 

I also have, from my Wednesday grocery delivery, a GIANT watermelon roommate I've named Mel. I thought I was ordering a personal size watermelon but must have clicked the wrong button. It was reasonably priced, but it's huge! I plan to cut into it on the 4th and hand out slices to neighbors watching the parade go by while keeping a more suitable amount for myself in my refrigerator. Right now it's sitting on a kitchen chair. I'm tempted to draw a face on it.

In more regional kind of news, there's a New Jersey government shutdown going on here. Just in time for the big vacation/holiday week, all the state parks and beaches are closed. State courts and motor vehicles are also shut down. While none of the things shut down affect any of my plans for this week, I feel so bad for families who have vacations planned, monies laid out and such. What a horrible time to to pull that ____!

Onto this week's photos ... I really didn't have a good photography week, but ...! 

It's MY private train car!

A lot of people must have had this past week off. I was all alone in the top level of my train car Monday on the way to work. I don't mind that, not at all.

The hour is up!

This is what the Flowers of An Hour look like when it's not that hour.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Good morning, Glory!

Not as many morning glories are growing along the back fence at my apartment building as there used to be. Maybe it's just not their time of the season yet.

Get your head OFF the window!

THIS is why I have to look out the train window through grease and hair product smears! I can't think it would even be comfortable because the vibrations of the train running must also vibrate the windows. Put your head on the seat head rest, fool. Of course, I don't put my head on either the window or the headrest. I don't want their grease/hair product junk on my head.

The spotted knapweed tries to escape

Nightshade gone to berries

Nightshade pre-berries

Strange wild berries

Why?

Why is there a police car parked across the street from my apartment? Are they here? Or across the street? I want to know! Unfortunately, since the local police went to an encrypted radio frequency, for the first time in about 40 years, I can't listen in on a scanner. I am bereft.

Vincent on one of his chairs

I have to have someplace for him next to me wherever I am. So, he has his own chair in my computer room. Right now he's in heaven with a good size Amazon box and a catnip mouse in the bathtub. I also received a Petsmart coupon for a free bag of cat food and took advantage of it even though I had ordered a bag in my grocery order. Hey, it's free and was only limited by the size of the bag, not by price or brand. I didn't want to just go in to snag the freebie, so he has fresh new catnip mice.