Memorial Day

Achh...a fine day it is to remember those who have gone before us....Said a prayer today for those in the Armed Forces, and had a little annual ritual for my dad. When he died, he wanted his ashes scattered at his favorite place on the planet.. way up in Northern California at a place called Shelter Cove.  My dad was in WWII in the US Army, part of a platoon known as the Blue Devils.  He never talked much about his time in Europe, but was fiercely proud to be an American patriot.  So, every year on Memorial Day, I have a little sit-down with his spirit, somewhere surrounded by trees.   I miss him so much...still.

  It was a good day all 'round. Finished getting the last things in the ground for the garden...mainly the edamame and some horseradish.  I downloaded the data tracking sheet from the University of Illinois, and when it's all grown and harvested, I'll send it back to them. They sent me a lot of different packets of the seed, all different maturity rates and such, I suppose. I'll be meticulous in my observations.  We got everything mulched too, except the green beans. I planted a bush bean this year instead of the pole beans.  The books say to mulch them after it gets hot and dry, so they must be prone to a root rot if you're not careful. Things are looking good out there...hope to get some pictures tomorrow.

  All the kitties got a bath today to stave off the fleas. None of them loved it.  LOL   MIss Molly the Jack Russell Terrorist got one too...she was not happy.  But all is forgiven now that everyone is dry and back to normal...and I for one am glad it's done.

  My back and hamstrings are sure feeling the strain from planting 10 rows of soybeans.  After I got them all planted, I side dressed them with about an inch of beautiful compost. I had no more than picked everything up and it started to rain. We had a good steady rain for about 30 minutes and then the sun came back out and it felt like being in a sauna. yikes!

  Little Bit is sitting here on my shoulder, reminding me of my new goal to be in bed by midnight at the latest.  I don't get nearly enough sleep, and am trying to set some new  patterns to maybe help that. I see the clock creeping up, so I'll say my goodbyes now.

  Namaste.

Thriving on a Thursday

  It's a beautiful morning after a late afternoon and  night of outrageous lightning and thunderstorms.  The lightning was big and close and it was so incredible...the critters were a little scared, but nobody freaked out too much...

  Here's a kitty picture I just took this morning. It was after they'd chowed down on their buffet of kit kibble mixed with a little warm water and half a can of turkey and giblets canned food. The rest of the day they get dry kibble and they're still nursing now and then, but this is the best time to get pictures of them, as the rest of the day they'll be careening around corners, running and jumping and going a hundred miles an hour.  lol

  Here we have: My Sweet Baboo,  Macduff,  Skooter, and little Grey-Grey.

The other kitten, who's the smallest one, is off by himself. here he is:

We call this one Little Bit...and he's as full of piss and vinegar as any of them! lol

  It's humid today and more storms are forecast for the afternoon. I'm teetering between going back up to the plant sale and just  hanging out at home all day. I could do some basic housecleaning...my carpets need shampooing, but it would be pointless until the rain lets up. A couple of my slipcovers need washing, but same deal. I've taken my showers apart and washed all the curtains and scrubbed those bad boys up, and washed all the bathroom rugs as well.  I could start gathering some things up for the big community yard sales that are going on this weekend and ride their coattails, as I didn't plan to do it, so no advertising or anything. That sounds like a lot of work, and it starts tomorrow. 

  OR....I could just take it easy today and enjoy the quiet and listen to the birds sing.

Hmmmmmm...not much of a contest, is it ?

Namaste.

Whoopie Wednesday

  Ah....the perennial Shasta Daisy !!  I love these cheerful pretty flowers. I planted about 3 or 4 patches of them in different places around the back yard. And every year the patches are a little bigger and they are one of the earlier spring bloomers. I have Forrest Gumped my way through planting a yard that is full of flowers that bloom all throughout the growing season, so I always have something in bloom.  These have long graceful stems and are great for flower arrangements too, when I feel the need for a bouquet on my kitchen  table. They don't last terribly long, but I learned an old trick from an elderly woman who said that if you put a teaspoon of sugar and 2 teaspoons of white vinegar into your cut flower water it will keep them longer. And by golly, it does help. (You can click on this picture for an even better look at these babies...)

  I spent yesterday doing all kinds of odds and ends around here and never got here to blog. I weeded the garden some,  cleaned the chicken coops, scrubbed my front porch furniture (a birdhouse table and 2 rocking chairs)

                                                              [Click on pic to enlarge]

 They get incredibly dirty through the winter, with muddy animals jumping on them and general weather wreaking havoc.  I potted 4 red and white geraniums mixed up in a couple of pots and I potted several red and white petunias in a big old enamel chamber pot to sit on the back deck.  I got them at my friend Dolly's plant sale. When I went there, she was nowhere to be found (It's in her garage and driveway), I assumed she was in the house, I shopped and browsed and picked out my plants--4 geraniums, 4 petunias, 2 coleus and a beautiful anise hyssop--all for 10 dollars.  I may go back today...When I had added up[ my purchases, I sat down at her little table and wrote her a note..put the 10 dollars down and carried my stuff to the car. It suddenly occurred to me that I had been there quite a while and there was still no sign of her. I was a little worried and went up and pounded on the front door. After a bit of pounding (I was ready to call her sister) she showed up at the door, looking a little bleary and said--Oh hell...I must have fallen asleep!!  It was hotter than blue blazes yesterday and business was slow and she had gone in to the air conditioning for a drink of water and a sit.  lol  We sat outside and talked and suddenly it was 2 hours later and I had to go.

  Coming home I circled through town to where my son has been working on his father-in-laws garage...lordy, he was out there in that heat and humidity working trying to finish up. He looked terrible...I guess he got it finished...he told me that his grandmothers husband had died yesterday...keeled over working in his wife's sisters garden.  A massive heart attack that was swift and merciful. He was a very active man, and they were both in their early 80's when they married after she was widowed. Married 6 years, my son said his grandmother is very philosophical about it all, and is holding up well. He said the first thing she said was" 6 years wasn't long enough, but at least he didn't have to be sick or laid up a long time". Her first husband was sick for years and she took care of the mean little man until the end.  She seemed so very happy to have found love in the later years of her life, and she is a jolly sweet woman anyway.  Godspeed, Kenny...and God bless you, Ruth.

  BY the time I made an easy supper of bbq'd country ribs and corn on the cob and we ate I was bushed. The humidity really zaps my energy, even tho the temps were only 90.

  I need to get out there and get some straw down, but I have to go to the recovery home today and that will eat up my morning and afternoon. I'm stopping by for some groceries and animal feed on my way home from there, and so maybe if the storms don't come I can get out there this evening.  We're eating leftover black bean enchiladas for supper.

  BTW--that potluck dish I made??  Turned out wonderfully.  I made a mixture of finely chopped onion and bell pepper, small diced partially cooked (microwaved) sweet potato, black beans, frozen corn, diced tomatoes and salsa. Didn't really need any seasoning because of the  salsa. I used corn tortillas that I microwaved to soften (Instead of the traditional oil cooking).  I smeared some enchilada sauce in the bottom of the baking dish and proceeded to fill the torillas with a swipe of enchilada sauce, the filling and a sprinkle of shredded cheese.  Rolled them up and placed them seam side down in the pan. Topped it all with more enchilada sauce, a little salsa and some sliced black olives and cheese and diced onion. Baked at 300 degrees for about half an hour. They were DE-LISH!!!!

  Okay--better get dressed and ready to hit my day...I have to leave the house by 1045 and it's after 9 now...

  Have a serene day, all y'all....

  Namaste.

Sunny Monday

  Ahhhhh...a picture of one of my giant ant magnets in the front yard. This peony looks better this year than it has in the 5 years we've been here.  The plant is loaded with flowers too...and crawling with ants, as peonies are if you don't put poison out, I guess. It's okay though...ants on the flowers I can handle.  Plenty to go around...lol

  Been a busy weekend and today I am taking it easy (HAH!)  by hanging out at home and doing laundry and cleaning.  Our weather went from 61 degrees last week to the low to mid 90's the past 2 days.  Ziiipppp!!!   From chilly spring to HOT.  Had to turn the air on, because the humidity is off the scale as well.  Keeping it at about 76, and that works okay.

  Listening to the local jazz station as I am in here...came in to clean off the desk and straighten this room a bit.  Sonny boy is coming by later to use the computer to file his unemployment claim for the week. He's at his inlaws right now, helping them side their garage.  I was thinking about taking him an iced coffee, because I know he won't stop for lunch or a drink either  probably.  (Because I'm his mommy, that's why.) LOL   Hard to believe my bouncing baby boy is gonna turn 39 this year...

  Worked in the garden yesterday afternoon late, once the worst of the heat was winding down. Got the okra in and a small bed of lettuce, radishes and spinach. Put onion sets in too.  Hope to get out there this evening and get some straw down, the potatoes need it and some of the other beds too.  Things are looking pretty good out there...supposed to rain again tonight and for the next few days I guess. But temps are going to stay up in the high 80's-low 90's.  Should cause a growth spurt in everything.

  I have some errands to run today, need to hit the farm store for scratch grains for the chickens and dog food.  It's also the first day of the plant sale put on by the local Landreth sisters. They have tons of stuff at great prices...so I can't miss that ! But I do need to put a $$ limit on what I spend, and buy ONLY perennials.  Sigh...  I will get some geraniums though...they are not perennial here, unless you dig them up and bring them indoors, and even then they don't do well.  I just love those perky geraniums...and I have a couple of old enamel pots, one is a wash basin and one is an old chamber pot, and I plant them both every year.  One sits out on the back deck and one on the little table on the front porch.

  Have to make a potluck dish for the Irishman to take to the class tonight. Something along the line of a vegetarian enchilada, is what I'm thinking....spinach??  Cheese and onions?? Hmmmm....

  Enjoy the day.  Looks great from here....

Namaste.

Weekending

  It is Saturday night, or Sunday morning..the wee hours where you lose sight of which day you are in, straddling them both as we do.  It was a pleasant enough day today, and I attended another anniversary celebration in a meeting I used to attend regularly. My friend was celebrating 35 years, and another young women 4. It was lovely all around, and she and I went to lunch afterwards.

  I stopped at a couple of flea markets and didn't find much that caught my eye, aside from an adorable switchplate of ceramic hummingbirds for a dollar. Of course I snatched it up and came home and installed it on the light switches on the living room wall.  And, all right,  I have a confession to make: I also bought some vcr tapes for 75 cents each...The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, with Brendan Frasier, and a copy of Children of the Corn, based on the book by Stephen King. 

  I don't know if it was watching the mummy (must have been), but  I was on the computer (the Irishman is asleep for hours already), and felt compelled to google the name of an old friend of mine who hails from Egypt.  We met in California, years ago, at a masquerade party one Halloween when I was young and beautiful and dressed up as a belly dancer.  The party was in a bar, naturally, and the young man in question fell madly in love with me.  lol  We had a torrid romance and I loved to listen to him talk...his voice so rich and heavily accented, he was so intelligent and cultured.  The last time I heard from him was in 1997, he sent me a Christmas card and said that he had married and divorced and where was I and why was the timing never right for us?   I always felt that we were soul mates, and our relationship was one that makes good reading on a plane, or in the middle of a cold winter night.  He tried and tried to talk me out of living with the Irishman, saying that he was not the right man for me. 18 years later, it seems he may have been wrong. I told him once that God loved him too much to saddle him with someone like me...

  Well, I found him. And he's on Facebook (of course he is).  I wondered if anything had happened to him after the 9/11 events and if he was still in this country. He has moved to central California, but he is still there. I saw the picture of him and my heart lurched a little...he looks really great and I can barely tell that all these years have passed. I, on the other hand, am nothing like I was, in so many ways.  Why oh WHY do men age so much better than we do?? It just isn't fair...

  My gardens are coming along and hope to spend most of tomorrow getting the last few bits in. The weather has taken a turn from cool spring to hot summer, and it was dry today, but Monday is bringing the rains again.  If I don't get myself to bed soon, I won't wake up until late afternoon.  lol

  I have some pictures, but am too tired to post them just now. Maybe tomorrow....

  Off to bed, dreaming, no doubt, of Cairo and camels and a midnight oasis of the heart.

Namaste.

Thursday....winding down the week

   It's been yet another rainy day here on the Prairie.  All day long, a steady soft rain, as the Irish are wont to say.  The best part of it was listening to the birds outside my windows.  At one point my Labrador Retriever was going insane out there, and I stepped out to see what she was after, because she was racing around in a strange manner with her muzzle pointing at the sky.

  My first thought was "Squirrel"  but as I looked up at the top of the big dead tree in my front yard, what did I see but an immature eagle...big, but his head not quite white yet.  No idea how he wound up here, but there he sat, glaring down at the raucous dog.  It was a sight to behold, believe me.  Of course, this picture is NOT what was in my front yard, but it's a great picture and so there you go, lol.

  I sat out in the rocking chair on the front porch for awhile, and saw the first Baltimore Oriole of the year, gorgeous in his brilliant orange and black feathers.  As if this wasn't enough, there were Indigo Buntings, a small flock of about 5 of them, Eastern Bluebirds, Titmouse, Juncko, Robins, a Ladderback Woodpecker, several Red Bellied Woodpeckers, and a host of Finches and Sparrows.  I felt especially blessed to get to watch all this from my vantage point.

 (Here's a red bellied woodpecker on the porch rail)

  This silly chest cold has got me coughing like a fool. Other than the coughing, I feel fine.  And it is worse at night, only sporadic during the day. Bleechhh!

  I baked a lovely chocolate cake today and will bake the Italian Cream Cake tomorrow for the big whoop-te-doo tomorrow night. Decided I might need 2 cakes, because the guest of honor is one popular girl. lol  Hard to say how many people might show up...

  For supper I made a lovely Jamaican pork stew...full of whole garlic cloves, okra, sweet potatoes and succulent chunks of slow cooked pork loin. The key spices are cinnamon  and cumin, and the house smells heavenly as it cooks. It was just what the doctor ordered for a rainy cool day.

  Worked in the garden yesterday, planted squash, butternut and zucchini plants that I started indoors.  I got the Blue Lake Bush Beans planted and got the bed ready for the okra. I put tomato cages around the biggest of the tomatoes, and ran out of cages. I need to buy some new ones anyway, these old ones have just about seen their last growing season. I'm going to buy a different style this time too...these are hard to use after the first year or two. I think these are about 7-8 years old now.Things are looking great out there. I still have a few things to get planted, if the weather would just cooperate a little. I mowed the yards too, before the rains came again. Maybe I'll get out there and take some pictures...the rain is supposed to clear away tomorrow afternoon.

  About time for bed, got a busy day ahead tomorrow.  To sleep...perchance to dream...

Namaste.

 

 
 

Rainy days and Mondays...

Any more rain around here and I'll be building an ark...lol...that's what some of my sponslings call my house...Annie's Ark...

 We have had serious thunderstorms all weekend off and on...very limited computer access, naturally.  maybe God is trying to tell me something by weaning me off this idiot box slowly and surely ????  LOL

  It was a busy weekend too...Friday nights celebration was great and the Italian Creme Cake turned out beautifully.

I also made some cream cheese brownies to take. Between the Friday night and the Saturday morning meeting, every crumb was devoured. There was another cake there too, so there was more than enough of everything.  Had a nice Chinese lunch with a good friend on Saturday and then came home and took it easy the rest of the day. We watched Lady and the Tramp that we had picked up at a yard sale (I had never seen the whole movie...this was beautiful!!).  Sunday was a full day as well, went to a church service that I had to leave in the middle of, then to a meeting to , then to lunch with hubby and friends and then to a District meeting. Finally got home around 4 and ran up to Pappy's Market (in the rain, of course) and picked up some Terro for ants, a small pack of zucchini plants (I don't know why...I just cannot seem to NOT plant those dang things!!!) and some celery.  Came home and made a lovely chicken pot pie. The Irishman had gone to the watershed trail for a nice long hike and got home around 5:30. We settled in , had a nice supper of comforting tasty chicken pie and watched Adaptation, with Nick Cage, Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep.

  It stormed like crazy most of the night, and is raining off and on still. Feels like I live in a rainforest.

  Early Friday morning, I went to a garage sale and picked up a nice little tabletop food dehydrator for my son. He has been using mine, drying apples and pineapples and bananas.  I got this one for 5 bucks...and it has one more tray than mine does!  I think the Irishman paid close to 60 bucks for mine for a Xmas present.  They actually had 2 of them, and I bought the better (I thought) of the 2. Kinda wish I'd gotten them both now...He was thrilled. Called me up Saturday morning and said it works like a dream. He was already unloading the batch of dried banana planks.  Maybe I'll get mine back now ??  I think it's great...he's asking about making the dried fruit rolls that I made when he was little...thinking maybe his kids might actually try those.  lol

  Have to make some kind of a potluck dish for Pat to take to the meeting tonight.  I've decided not to participate this time...a weekly book meeting feels like too much to me right now. If it was once a month, or even every other week, I might consider it....but not weekly. Not now. Too much work to do this time of year.

  The chooks are out in the general milieu of the chicken run now. All fences are down and they are warily eyeing each other, lol. I need to get out and check on them this morning...

  Alrighty. let's see if the computer connection holds long enough to post this...

Namaste.

Thursday before the storm...

Morning!! Thought I'd jump on here and post before all hell breaks loose over the midwestern part of our program. lol  We are scheduled for some big storms today (any minute from the looks of it) bringing torrential rains, hail and high winds.  Anything I have to do of a computer nature needs doing...and NOW !!  

  I hope it doesn't tear up the irises..they look so gorgeous, purple and butter yellow...maybe I should run out and take some pics...seems like they change the weather forecast every time I go to check it though, so...anything could happen.  lol The wild roses in the front yard around the tree are in bloom and so fragrant...the smell wafts around the yard and is dizzying.  The tiny red roses at the front fence are opening too and look pretty...a deep almost black-red.  Here's some shots I just took:

As you can see, things are a'bloomin' around these parts....I'll post more pics later...you can imagine how beautiful these irises along the rock wall are gonna be, once they spread out and fill in. I am excited at the prospect.

  It's feeling like the calm before the storm out there...and I had to come back in and take batteries out of the remote for the dvd player, because all my rechargeables won't hold a charge anymore. I don't get it--they are only about 8 years old ....LOL

 I have a tiny little kitten  (runt of the litter, the only one still not eating solid food) sitting on my shoulder,. She's a beautiful little study in black and white with a touch of stripes on the back of her head. She is the most affectionate of all of them, climbing up my pantlegs, or up the couch to crawl up and snuggle in against my throat or the crook of my elbow if I'm reading. She's adorable, and I am struggling with the idea of keeping her too. I am keeping one kitten, an adorable little ruffian of a boy that has 4 white socks and is a blackish grey medium long hair. I call him my sweet Baboo.  The Calico kitty is being picked up tomorrow by her new momma and the rest are going to a farm, along with their mothers. They will live out their days in the care of a farm family.  

  The chooks are doing well. I suspect by the end of the weekend we may try taking out the divider fence and let them into the general population.  We'll see how it goes.  They are scratching in the dirt like they lived in the wild all their lives.  lol

  Okay...time to shut down the electronics. The wind is coming up quickly and it's getting dark out there.

  Wanted to mention, we watched a delightful George Clooney movie the other night, called Men Who Stare At Goats. It was hysterically funny, just what we needed after all the revolutionary films we've been watching, where there was so much death and oppression. We watched  Che (Benecio del Toro ), then we watched The Last King of Scotland (Forrest Whittaker) and we watched When the Wind Shakes the Barley (Cillian Murphy) about the Irish revolution. (Seems like there was another one too, but I can't recall it just now)   All magnificent movies, and I highly reccomend them. But a little on the heavy side, nonetheless.

  Alrighty.  Off to the things at hand.

  Wishing you all the rain you need, more sun than you want, and peace and serenity to tie it all together...

Namaste.

What a day....

 Sure...they look sweet here....lol

  They are about 3 times this size now.  And still a little sweet, maybe. Last night a helluva storm came through with high winds and thunder and lightning.  On Sunday, we moved the chicks out of the back bedroom and into the run. We were hoping the weather was gonna hold out a bit so that they could get used to being outside and the changes in temperature (from being in the house to outdoors). No such luck.  

  I decided that I had better check on the chooks, so I put on my pink rubber boots and my raincoat. I found a flashlight. I tromped out in the storm and sure enough, the little buzzards were huddled up against the building in the corner. And they were soaking wet.  I went inside and picked them up, one by one, and set them in the little cubbyhole on their side. We put wood chips in the space and were really hoping they would have enough sense to get in out of the rain.  When I got up this morning, I sort of dreaded going out to check on them...little birds are really pretty fragile. Lo and behold, they all came running out to meet me !!  They were dry and happy, and I fed them and pulled some nice weeds for them.  What a relief.

  Then I proceeded to make a temporary lean-to with a plastic tarp and threw some straw under it too.  I also had an old blue 30 gallon (?)  tub that I turned on it's side to make another sort of a shelter, put more bedding in it and pushed it over in that corner they were huddled in.This should do until the Rhode Island Reds are used to them being in the run and won't be trying to peck them to death. Then we'll remove the chicken wire we strung across the run, cutting it in half, and hopefully they'll all live happily ever after.

 Since I was up at the butt crack of dawn, and since it had rained all night...I decided to work in the garden a little, and pulled weeds around the garden beds and all through the raspberry beds.  It was a gorgeous day today, and I am so glad I got to be outside.

  We had a small flock of Indigo Buntings in the front yard today. What a magnificent color !!  All the garden plants look refreshed and bigger from their good drink of water...

  For supper, I grilled chicken and sweet corn. Had some leftover baked beans from the weekend food orgies (lol) and that was supper. I made bbq sauce too, as I was out, and got a little heavy handed with the cayenne pepper.  Oops!  So, I just doubled the batch.  Problem solved. It turned out all sweet and smoky and spicy...just like we like it. The corn was marginally sweet, but acceptable for this time of year...and the fact that it was from Florida. I can't wait for the wonderful midwestern local corn to start showing up... It's the BOMB, people!!!  lol

  Well, time to go read a bit. Reading Einstein's God, by Krista Tippett.  Interesting book about the marriage of religion and science (sort of).  I'll let you know if I recommend it or not...too soon to tell.  I'm also reading a Clive Cussler book...I love this guy's stuff. I know, I know...I'm as shocked as you are. But he's really a wonderful writer and researcher...

  Rain coming back tonight and possibly gonna rain for several days.  I'll be fine--plenty of books and flashlight batteries.  lol

  Namaste.

Yowsa!!

Quickly--a terrible thunder and lightning storm starting. Had to go out and help the new chicks back into the little hidey hole...they are soaked...sheesh




  Will try to post tomorrow...gotta turn this thing off and unplug....

Mothers Day.

This was one ass-kickin' MD weekend for me. 

  On Saturday, my brother and family came and we grilled burgers and dogs and brats, and the guys went fishing while my SIL and niece and grandson and I all played with kittens in the house. It was sunny, but the wind was brutal, so we ate indoors.  The food was good and the beauty of spending a day with family as almost more than I could bear. Check this out:

 They wound up taking 4 kittens instead of 3. We had the best day...so much love and laughter !

  The guys went fishing out at the pond. My grandson was the first to catch a fish, and indeed, wound up catching 3.  My brother caught several as well, some crappie and blue gill and bass.  But the man of the hour was my beloved, and here he is with his "prize"---

A beautiful bass!! She was full of roe, and they gently released her back into the water, as they did with everything they caught. My niece, who is 7, is an avid fisherman herself.  She goes with her dad all the time. For some reason she didn't want to fish though, she played and ran and had a ball out there with my grandson, who is really good with little kids. He's a big 13 now.

   The fam left around 6:30 pm and grandson stayed the night. Then this morning around 11, my son came over. He just missed our big waffle and eggs breakfast.  He brought me 6 African Cichlids for my fish tank. He helped the Irishman do a few chores around here, and we sat out in the beautiful sunshine for a good part of the day. We grilled a late lunch, and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  He helped me water the garden, and promised that he would be by next week to hook up an outside spigot for me. The he and the Irishman moved the chooks out into the coop. They rigged up a piece of chicken wire to divide the run in half, and we will leave them that way for a couple of days. Give the older hens a chance to get used to them being in there to help lessen the chance of nasty attack on the newcomers.  He also helped hubby with the big barrel composter, and they turned it around and cleaned it out.  It was a really wonderful day, and having my son all to myself (his wife is out of town) was priceless.  The boys cleaned up all the dishes and wouldn't let me help. lol  We hung out in the yard and talked about the gardens and looked at the progress. The peas are finally up, the squash are germinating, the potatoes are FINALLY busting through the ground.  There is a whole bed full of fingerling potatoes that came up volunteer from potatoes that we apparently missed. The tomatoes and peppers are looking great.

  I hope to get some seeds in the ground tomorrow morning, one reason I am up this late trying to get the laundry finished.  We had several days of rain coming last time I looked...but the weather forecast changes constantly, so who knows? lol  I should probably go look again.  I went ahead and watered today anyway. 

  My yard is looking grand. I have yellow and purple irises all in various stages of blooming, the Shasta daisies have started flowering as well. The peonies are ready to open any minute. The primroses are pretty in pink,  the containers of allysum and nicotania I planted look gorgeous. My wisteria is growing like a weed, and I am getting some starts of a snowball bush from the neighbor...as soon as I figure out where to put it. lol   All the lilies are huge and lush, though they won't flower for another month or thereabouts.The rose of Sharon is looking healthy and robust, and it will start to flower in a few weeks, probably.  The grass is growing in where the water lines went in, and I probably need to buy another couple of pounds of seed and sow some more.

  Okay. The dryer has stopped. I'll fold those and put the last washer load in the dryer. Then I'm heading off to bed.

  I hope all you mothers had a wonderful day too...and those of you who aren't mothers as well.

  Blessings on all your houses!!

Namaste.

Thursday slipping away...

I 

I really love this picture....

************************************

Well...I lost most of Wednesday...felt so terrible that I had to forego the trip to the recovery house. I didn't get up until almost 9AM and felt so weak and yucky that I was back in bed before 1.  I slept until almost 6, and got up and made some supper for the Irishman. I was back in bed around 10:30 and slept until 9 this morning. I have felt better today, different at least.  I am coughing, but at least the sore throat is gone.

Today was the potluck at the womens meeting, and I made a batch of zesty chicken salad and a ginormous green salad to take. The chicken salad kept tasting so bland...I added lemon curry. Still bland. I added fresh ground black pepper...still bland. I added a healthy dose of horseradish...better.  LOL...then I realized that maybe my sense of taste was off because of the cold. Oopsie.  I used 3 pounds of chicken breast, onion, celery, apple, pecans, water chestnuts, basil, parsley, sour cream and mayo. Oh yeah, and curry and horseradish.  :) Everyone raved about it and when all was said and done, there was only about a quarter cup of it left to bring home.  So, I guess it was good.

My brother and family are coming on Saturday to pick up my niece's 3 kitties.  She is so excited...my grandson is coming that day as well to spend the night and then my son will come on Mother's Day and we'll grill some hamburgers and hotdogs and spend the day together before the boys go home. My son said something about not having any money to take me out (he has had no work for 6 months) and I said I'd treasure a day together at home with him and Tristan. His wife is out of town for the weekend, and won't be home until late Sunday night, so I get him all to myself. So, we'll have a grand time out in the back yard and it'll be great. Hubby has been revamping the grill to make it last another year. Put in a new burner unit and cleaned it all up and painted it. Looks like new (well, almost.  lol)  We use the heck out of it, and it must be about 9 years old now. Tom and husbandman are going to run a water line outside so I can have water for the garden.  That will be my Mothers Day present.  Yippee!!

I'm running on fumes. Time to try and get some sleep...tomorrow I need to work in the garden and the yard. The house needs cleaning as well, so I'll certainly stay busy until time to go to my 8 o'clock meeting. No rest for the wicked...

The kittens are playing all over the house now and the cuteness factor is almost unbearable here.  I'm pretty sure that a box of tiny kittens in a room with world leaders could produce some lovely results.

Off to try and get the doggies in. They are sure loving this nice weather and want to stay out all night. Sometimes I give up and let them...

Namaste.

Toodles to Tuesday

Mmmmm..the strawberry trifle.  Might just be time to make one of these again.  I have a potluck on Thursday night that I'm taking salad to. maybe dessert as well ??

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  Woke up in the middle of the night last night with a sore throat, of all things !  Have felt borderline crummy all day. Did manage to get the spring cleaning started, and accomplished quite a bit. Been sneezing like a madman, making me wonder if it's allergies. I haven't been allergic to anything much, but who knows?? It's an exceptional year. We are being over run by nasty little buffalo gnats and the wasps seem especially bad this year as well.

  The hail didn't do any visible damage to the garden, thank goodness. It did knock a lot of the little peaches off (they're about the size of a marble right now). We were gonna thin them out anyway.  Thanks, Mother Nature!!  lol

 Made some nice vegetarian taco salads for supper...beans and rice, avocado, lettuce, carrots, onion and salsa on a toasted tortilla shell. Turned out pretty good. It was 82 today, and I didn't feel like eating anything I had to work too much on.

   I'm going to bed if I can get the dogs in. They are out there keeping the world safe...Hopefully I can sleep.

My head is stuffy and my eyes hurt...

  Off tomorrow to the recovery home for the womens meeting if I feel up to it. Really hate to miss it, as I didn't make it last week and  nobody much goes up there (it's so far).  Keeping my fingers crossed.

  Here I go...wobbling myself on off to bed....See you all tomorrow...

Namaste.

Toto...I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

Holy cow. This is a photo at about 5:30 pm today, out on the highway by our road.  It was sunny and blue skies one minute and black and menacing the next.  It looked like a monsoon out there!  Then the hail started and we had large grape sized hail that came down for over 20 minutes. There was over a foot of ice in the ditches... The winds were roaring and the rains were flooding the yard and street.  It got really foggy and the folks around here lost power for about 3 hours, because the straight line winds took down a bunch of telephone poles again--criss-crossed them over the highway.  The road is shut down for now and the crewd are working feverishly to restore power.  Somehow, ours did not go out.

  After dinner, we had another event...one of the smaller kittens (the runt, actually)  got too close to Molly's dish as she was eating and she snapped at it and caught the corner of it's eye. There was blood everywhere and I was panicking  (in my take charge in emergencies kind of way.) IT looked like the blood was bubbling out of the eye and I got a little freaked...after cleaning it up and calming it down, the bleeding stopped and I could see that it was just a little wound at the corner. The eyeball was alright. It really scared me.

 This has been a weird day, and I feel a little used up. 

  I spent some time with someone who I may have to cut ties with...seems like everytime I am around her, it just sucks the joy out of me.  It's too bad, but I cannot afford that. Not to mention the fact that it's not fun...

  Kind of afraid to go check out my garden in the morning...hope the hail and all didn't do too much damage. My tomatoes are about 6 inches high and the peppers are about 4, so there's potential for harm. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

  Feeling a little adrift. Not sure about the whys or the wherefores, but it is a little uncomfortable. Maybe it's just spring fever ??

  Planning to start some spring cleaning tomorrow.  That will feel good. I have some things to put on Craigs List and some things to throw away or find homes for.  Clearing the clutter is always a good way for me to get to the heart of what's bugging me. My brother and family are coming on Saturday, so that's always good motivation to get the ball rolling. Hopefully the Irishman will have the grill back together and we can bbq out on the back deck. The weather is supposed to be nice...maybe I can even get the mowing finished !! 

Sunday is Mother's Day, isn't it?  Need to get a card made for my DIL and my baby sister.  I'm getting a garden water faucet for MD from my son. He's been out to measure for pipe and even if it isn't all ready to go by MD, it will be soon.  A real treat...with the cistern, we never had any outside water source. I'm excited...

 Alrighty...time for me to hit the hay and get some much needed sleep. I have been sleeping better since this anti-inflammatory started working.  They said that he gave me a cortisone shot during the surgery, and doesn't want to give me another one until at least mid-May, if I need one then.   Maybe I won't...

  Namaste.

Sundays are for rambling...

 'Twas a beautiful Sunday, even though things didn't turn out quite a planned. Ever the flexible couple, we  just changed our plans to fit circumstances today. lol

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  We got up early and headed out to visit the church we had chosen . We hit some road work and detours, got all turned around after missing an exit, and drove about 50 miles in the wrong direction before we realized what had happened.  The exit ramp numbers were all going the right way, so it took a while to realize we'd been on the wrong road. 

  I offered to let the Irishman go worship at the church of Bass Pro Shop that we passed...or even the Church of Cabella, which we also passed. He declined.  lol  We wound up going to a movie at the Jamestown Mall and seeing Death at a Funeral, starring Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock, along with a host of funny people. It was great and an hour and a half of belly laughing was just what the doctor ordered.

  Stopped on the way home and bought some shrimp and made scampi for supper. It was awesome...

  I came home and put the cucumbers in the ground. Checked a few other things too and hubby took the grill apart and cleaned it and is going to paint it with some grill paint we got at Home Depot when we bought the new burner setup for it. I swept the back deck [again!!]...we have had a plague of seed pods, blanketing the decks and the front porch. Hopefully the tornadic winds of the last couple of nights have finished them off.  

  Tomorrow I hope to get the garden beds ready for the seed plantings. Not a lot to do, just raking them smooth and getting the bad boys planted really. Haven't checked the weather... today was mostly overcast, but almost no rain fell.

 I have to make sure that I call the chiropractor and try to get in in the next couple of days. I have a nerve pinched in my shoulder that is causing my hands and fingers to go numb all night, every night. It is starting to happen now when I am driving too...it's an old problem, and he fixes it every time with a few adjustments.

  The chicks are adolescents now and it's time for them to make the journey outside to the coop.  

  THANK GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  lol   The constant chirping and cheeping is driving the cats insane...

  I am so glad to be back online. This blog anchors me and soothes me...and you all bless me.

Namaste.

A Saturday of dubious leisure...

 And here it is...nearly 11 pm.  I honestly thought I would get here early and catch up..oh well.  It was a great day and the weather even cleared up and turned beautiful.  I got going early enough this morning, but time seemed to slip between my fingers and before I knew it, it was time for supper.

  I started the day with breakfast with the Irishman, and then moved onto the fun stuff after he left. lol  I finished up some laundry, that was in the dryer and the washer...the slipcovers and couch blankets that my dogs sleep on.  The covers needed doing, because the male cat that started spraying had left his mark. Arrgghh...he has since gone to live on a farm where he and his brother will have full run of 2 barns and several hundred acres.  There are way too many cats in this house. They are all goofy and displaced, and at least 9 more of them are being given new homes. My brother and his daughter are taking 3 kittens next week.  Another kitten is getting her new mama around the same time. Another farm family is taking more kitties, they have 3 children and are very excited. It is sure a big relief and a load of my mind.  Anyway, I was cleaning up the laundry and did a load of his filthy work clothes too. Then I dyed a set of heavy cotton napkins and a couple of old dish towels...they were all dingy and spotty, but the dye job made them look almost new again. The color is wine (go figure, lol) and the result was grand.

  I went into town looking for some yellow bell pepper plants for the garden, but for some reason, no one seems to have any this year. I have planted about 18 bell pepper plants so far, and it will be plenty. Reds and greens it is.  Even though I found no bells, I did buy some flowers...allysum and nicotania to plant in the 5 planters that grace my sidewalk. Later in the day I went to another plant sale and bought chives, garlic chives and parsley. I also got some sweet potatoes.

  The garden is coming along, slowly, but I'm doing the best I can. So far, I have about 16 tomatoes, and peas, and basil, and peppers, and potatoes and cabbages and cukes in the ground. I have 2 dozen butternut squash seedlings (just breaking ground) and have seeds for okra, carrots,beets and radishes.  I have onion sets that should get in soon. I have a few other things too.  As you can see, I have been busy.

  I am getting up in the morning and going to a Unity church over in St Louis. We have been visiting some churches around and about...from time to time.  It's about the same distance to go across the river to St Louis as it is to travel down to Belleville...

  There's never a dull moment here at the Kelley hacienda. I've been cooking away , as usual, and staying busy enough. I am so glad the weather has warmed up!  The kittens are running around getting into everything one minute, and then all crashed out asleep the next.  They are so adorable...the dogs have spring fever too, and the last 3 nights in a row, they have cornered some wild animal or another out back.  maybe they are keeping something out of my garden??

  The knee is slowly getting better. I am taking a prescription anti-inflammatory and it is helping alot. Somedays I can walk around a lot without ever limping.  I found out that the doctor took out 40% of the quadrant that was torn...no wonder it's taking time to heal!

  Time to go see if the doggies are ready to come in and get myself to bed.

  Sweet dreams, all y'all....

Namaste.