Coffee and...part 9 :-D

Thanks, Sarv, for wanting some of the bread, was beginning to think only Blooms wanted some LOL!
Children , grown up I mean, can be a pain in the neck. I have a couple that have to be handled with kid gloves, unfortunately I am the kind who calls a spade a spade and poof are the feathers ruffled!!!
Maria

Sarv, my sister had 3 large concrete pots on the front patio, all a lousy aged pale yellow. I have stained them a semi-transprent terra-cotta and they really pop. Here's a before and an after, although the "after" only has one of the recommended 2 coats.

Here's the "after" one coat of stain...

Darius - WOW You must tell us -step by step- how you do that!!! I am starting to feel the creative juices flowing (even tho the temps are supposed to be cold the rest of the month!) Ever tried hypertufa stuff? I bought all the materials last summer, but never got around to do it - maybe this summer!!

I have seeds on a cookie tray with my heating pad sandwiched between another cookie tray. DH is all aghast saying it is a 'fire hazzard' Well then maybe HE will rig up something - I have priorities ya know... I only have it on when I am home... Had six pots sprout - it really does work!!

Julie- how ya doing this morning???

Morning, Sarv, just went to chat and nobody was up yet? It's only 5:25 and I'm not usually up this early, so I thought I'd join in and is it over - lessee it's 7:25 on east coast.

What's the weather doingin Mich this morning. Looks like the east coast is getting winter late this year.

Julie, hope you check on when you get up, want to hear those chest pains are gone.

I am up, Blooms, cold , it was 12 when I got up now it is 16 with sun shining but going to get another storm. On my second cup of coffee with a scone.

My daughter just told me her MIL had eye surgery and has to keep her head down for 6 weeks, can youimagine? I'd go bezerk!
Maria

Good morning everyone. No coffee yet, no time. I'll grab mine when I'm ready to leave. Thanks, and some yummy bread too - easy to eat on the run.

Doing great wonders on those pots, darius! Isn't always amazing what paint can do?

Like everyone else here, anxiously wanting to see a julie post. I have to run to Sioux Falls again, more paperwork to FedEx. Hoping she posts before I leave.

Rather ingenious heat mat there, sarv. Seems to be working great! Men are just worryworts! lol Did you see the pics of burned plants and tables on the brug forum? That was a close call!

Maria, the bread looks absolutely scrumptious. I'm a bread lover, except for rye, just don't care for it. A wonderful grainy bread with butter will do me for a meal. Don't need anything else. :) And no, I cannot imagine being down for 6 weeks!!!!!!!!! Never heard of that before for eye surgery. Wow!

Don't know about the weather in MI this am, but in NW IA it's cold, very windy and rainy. Simply put, YUCK!! lol

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.............. how many so far? any triples?

And I left the best for last - met DD and Samantha at the coffee shop last night and got to take Samantha home so she's my buddy today. Well, lots of miles to go today, so I'm off. Have a wonderful day, all. (P.S. I will do a quick check before I head out the door to see if julie checked in.)

Awwww...you guys are so sweet. Thanks for caring (I really mean that!).

This morning the chest pains are gone...I'm not nearly as dizzy or weak as yesterday. I had to give myself a good 'talking to' about not letting my subconscious worry wort get the better of me. It looks like I might have won. LOL

Today is 'tax-day' so as I'm rechecking my file to see if everything is there, I find out I'm missing a couple of important papers. DANG! I *always* put that stuff together...but somehow I misplaced a couple of things. SOooooo, now that it's after 8:30 I can call the bank and try to get copies ready to pick up at noon. (I *hate* tax time! :-D)

I'll be back later to talk about all the neat stuff that's going on here.

~julie~

Oh goody, she's A-ok!! I'm gone...........

Morning all....just gonna grab a slice of bread and butter and then get busy. Company for lunch which means clean up the house, because not everybody likes cat hair on their butt after they sit down. Haven't heard from Julie yet, hope she's gone off to the doctor, I'll check back again.

What kind of eye surgery?? Geeez, I had lens replacement for a rare form of cataract back when I was only 50+ and they had me back at work in two days. Maybe it's a detached retina, which requires lots of down time. All that time and not be able to read would send me to the liquor cabinet.

Gotta run. So much dust, so little time....

Hello all!

I've been kind of "away" for a while. I've had a bad virus and was in bed for a week - but I'm doing fine now...just have to watch my liver enzymes for a month or so. It wasn't hepatitis but it did something to my liver...very strange. Anyway - I'm better now and have missed being a part of all the chats. It will take me a while to catch up. So - for now - just stopping in to say hi and I'll be back around later.

All take care!

Marcia

I really do not know exactly what was wrong but she had that surgery once before but it did not work the way it suppose to and the eye started to leak fluid, perhaps it had something to do with the wet imacular degeneration, which I have but the dry one can not see in one eye but the other is on the same path . Nothing can be done for dry... I cannot imagine keeping your head in your lap for 6 weeks, i'd think the back would take a beating but she is allowed to walk to the bathroom but with head down.
Maria

.

still having internet problems so I'm typing from work. Spring is very late here. I cleaned up some beds two days ago and when I brushed around some red tulips, all the leaves came off. I guess bouncing up and down from the 60s down to 8 then back in the 60s and down in the 20s did the damage. I wonder if the bulb will even survive............

Just Like here in Mass., WS, never known anything like it Suppose to get more snow!
Maria

Hello everyone. Marcia, it's good to have you back with us. It always amazes me how bad invisable bugs can make us feel, and then it takes forever to get your strength back. We have escaped it so far and that is amazing because my husband works with the public, always shaking hands, opening doors after somebody who has sneezed into their hand, handling money, etc. Those are all big germ carrying surfaces we rarely think about.

Julie, I hadn't checked in for a couple of days so didn't know you were having problems with chest pains. Stress does some wierd things to us. A lot of things get treated for the symptoms and not the cause, which keeps us going back to the doctor and buying more pills.

Five lambs were born on my check last night, I was late getting home so slept late this morning. Two sets of twins and a single lamb, and I used all the available pens but didn't have to move any of them to other pens. That is confusing, but we give the ewes that might deliver another lamb a larger pen so they can lie down and not squish the first one, or two. So far no triplets have been born this year that I know about. We've got about 60 lambs so far, and are off to a slow start for the season, but the weather front that moved in yesterday afternoon seemed to inspire some of them. I don't know why that happens, but when the barometric pressure drops the births increase. Not sure if that works for people too, but it is worth observing.

Darius, that painted pot looks great, I will have to remember that. It's certainly cheaper than buying new ones.

Yesterday I took about a 3 1/2 hour ride on one of my young horses that may be doing his first endurance ride in a few weeks. He will be ready and maybe I will too. :>)

Time for me to get going, I've got a tooth cleaning appointment, these dental things always give me a knot in my stomach, a leftover effect from having some bad dentist experiences when I was a kid. I've also got a sleeping bag to take to the laundromat to wash and dry in their big machines. See you later.

Julie - tax time gives me migraines!! I worry and worry and worry. We now have them done and the worry is much less, but I still rarely sleep the night before.

Mary - those lambs sound so sweet - I just love baby animals. Good thing I can't see them in person or I would be whining to bring one home.

Wood - welcome back - isn't it funny how dependent we become on our computers. When mine didn't work for a week I was wild!!! Spent literally hours trying to get it to go!!!

Aria - snowed here all day - tons of crashes again - I am staying off the roads, but I worry as all the kids are coming home from work....

mboch - welcome back from the crud. So far it has missed me - I wash my hands continually and am trying to keep them from my eyes, ears etc. Even hate to shake hands!!! My throat is scratchy right now tho, but my allergies seem to be kicking up (that usually happens in the spring, but with all this snow, it ISN"T spring here!!!)

Oh good, Julie was posting while I was babbling and she's feeling better! Went out shoppingin the yucky weather with my daughter, then came back here for lunch...leftover cabbage rolls. Bought a new chair pad for my 'puter chair, seems I've crushed the old one to death. Spent the rest of the afternoon baking, so I'll leave some chocolate cookies on the counter for evening snackers and see you all in the morning. DH is out blowing snow, wet heavy stuff, so I'm heating up chili for dinner to warm him up. See y'all tomorrow. Hope we are all healthy and no bugs picked up.

Morning all GOBs. Those choc. chips cookies are delicious! (I always pick the ones with the least chips - my kids laugh at me)

We had tropical storm winds yesterday - gusts over 60 mph!! DH almost lost the truck/trailer on the way home. Right side left the ground, the tach was spinning and he bout had a heart attack. Bam! and it came back down on the wheels. Another guy wasn't so lucky, tipped it over. Wind is down to a reasonable level today. Hope you WI - ites aren't getting it today!

Marcia - glad to see you back, wondered if you were gone or something. You wish, right? :) Only DD got the bad bug this year. All 3 sons were sick but worked/school through it so I don't think that was the bad bugs. DH and I have only had colds. First winter in her life that DGD has not had pneumonia and RSV, so far! Gotta get thru March yet.

Have to vacuum today - critters brought in lots of leaves yesterday. Gotta run for the kids' birth certificates today too. Passport info will arrive at my brother's today. He'll deliver it to the passport office on Monday. I think we'll be able to get everything done by the 28th. Whew!


edit: got a phone call a bit ago. I GOT THE JOB!!! HURRAH!!!


This message was edited Mar 11, 2005 10:59 AM

Hello all. I just got back from the barn, things are really wild down there today. We are having what we call the lamb explosion, when the normal birth rate doubles or more for a couple of days. So far since midnight there have been about 20 lambs born, including 3 sets of triplets. On my shift last night I had a ewe with a stuck lamb and had to get the owner up to help deliver it. Another ewe has a serious rupture and when she went into labor she was not able to push so her lambs were delivered with human help. They are fine but she isn't going to make it, might have a big infection going or a twisted gut or something. Anyhow, it is sad but we do loose some. Her babies will be sold as bummer lambs (bottle babies) and a neighbor will raise them.

Kooger, I'm glad you got the job. Wow, your husband had a close call with the truck in the wind. My son drove semis for years and had some close calls and also saw some wrecks. Hauling a light load or an empty trailer in the wind can be a real challenge. We will all breathe a big sigh of relief when the paperwork is all delivered to immigration and you are 100% legal again.

See you later, I have to get something done around here today.

Just checking in, Yay!! Kooger is employed!! And lambs are arriving like crazy! Mary must be exhausted! Glad Julie is doing well, and the flu hasn't laid anyone out. I need to vacuum again too. Shedding is out of hand. Last week I vacuumed Monday and Wednesday and got huge piles of fur, did it Friday again and this was the result. Can you believe it? For anyone who looked at my "neat" computer desk photo on the other forum, this should reassure you that that is the ONLY area of my house that is not a disaster!!! LOL This is from my Dyson Animal.... darn near sucks the carpet off the floor!! No bags, just dump the residue in the trash....but I had to see how much there was. Now I'm gonna go do it again!!!

Thank-you, thank-you! I'm so excited to be working!! (start the 21st)

M5 - you could re-fur another animal with all that hair! lol

Mary - any time to take pics of the little triples? They're SOOOOOO cute!!!!!!!!!

Makes me wonder why I want to show anyone this collection.....look at today's!! I expect they will all be bald by the end of the month....LOL (I can only dream.....)

If you brush them and collect the clean hairs off them, you CAN knit with pet hairs, hafta spin it first, of course. I saw it in a magazine article. heehee /;-)~ ~Blooms

Congrads- Kooger- I've been thinking about looking for a job for extra $$, but only thinking!! Now that summer is about to appear, I think maybe I'll wait until fall. LOL Need my gardening time ya know.

I need a new vacuum. I have one that whorls things around and you can see all the dirt you pick up - I just hate emptying it tho! Have another one with a bag. Guess since I already have two, I really don't need another one - besides I hate to clean...

Nothing to share here - do have 20 subs that I bought that aren't too bad. Think I'll have one for lunch and doctor it up with more stuff. All morning I've been eating cinnamon chips (like choco only cinnamon - they are addicting!)

Sun was out, but it snuck back under. I've spend hours peeking in my seed starting baggies. Started some of those gorgeous orange coneflower seeds, only to find out they are sterile. How can that be? I've started the pink and white ones easily...I just don't understand sometimes.

Still fighting with the fungus gnats and aphids. I sprayed with soap/water and promptly killed some things, so I hesitate to do that again. Just been giving them a blast of water in the sink and then I have dirt and water all over the place. My house is never completely clean - always a mess somewhere!!

ROFL Sarv, now we know you are an optomist:
>>"Now that summer is about to appear..."

I checked your weather and it's snowy there, yet you see summer, smiling here!

This message was edited Mar 12, 2005 11:35 AM

I thought if a plant was sterile it din't make seeds and how can you have seeds that never sprout? the point would be? showing ignorance here... does someone know. ???

blooms, I don't get it either. I snatched a dead flower head from my favorite nursery (I spent TONS there, so I didn't feel toooo guilty) It's been in the seed starter for 14 days. Kinda reminds me of 'what comes first - the chicken or the egg' kind a thing. Anyone have any of that 'orange coneflower' that'd like to share???? I'd be forever grateful!

I am an eternal optimist this time of the year - after all this crappy snow, summer cannot be far behind. Besides I saw my first robin today!!

DS came over and lo and behold he is now taking down the border of wallpaper in my cellerway. I was too scared to mount the ladder to get it down and I think he felt sorry for me. He isn't the type to help out, so this feat is amazing...He does have his wedding coming up and is probably thinking this will warrant a big gift!! He's been a stinker to raise, so it's bout time he did something nice for me - I've shed many a tear over him!!

Hello everyone. Yes, busy busy busy. We are still in the middle of the annual lamb explosion. We went from slow to fast forward and that meant ff on my little 1am until whenever shift which turned into a much longer shift. Had some problems, one ewe must have a massive infection from a lamb that died inutero and we didn't know anything was wrong until she delivered a dead lamb early this morning. Another lamb died probably from having an extra tough sac over it and couldn't get out and the ewe was inexperienced and didn't go right to the head to clean it off. Just a guess there, sometimes we just never know. We had a set of triplets overnight and one of them was chilled so it needed a warm up under a heat lamp, then needed tube feeding. It is a very tiny lamb, I took a picture of it in the warming oven (barrel with heat lamp, nice and cozy). It will be raised as a bottle baby. By 4am we had 7 new lambs, a couple in various stages of labor, one downer who couldn't get up, the ruptured ewe still moving here and there, a hungry lamb in the barrel that didn't have the strength to walk through the straw bedding to nurse, and a couple of other miscellaneous things going on. I got up at 12:30 and still haven't slept, too much to do around here and I am not sleepy. I'll just go to bed a couple of hours earlier tonight and get caught up. Meanwhile, I do not have to look like I am awake.

It is quite windy here today, I hope it settles down before my barn shift tonight. Lambs can get really chilled in it and the temp is supposed to go below freezing again, normal for us but it has been so warm that is going to be a bit of a shock.

My computer screen is doing something wierd. About 3 days ago the vertical lines got crooked, and now the whole thing is sliding over to the left. So now I can't see who is posting but can still read the posts. I hope it doesn't mean we need to buy something new, but these things seem to have built in flaws designed to break right after the warranty is up. So, if I disappear, you will know the computer is in the shop or in the dump. See you later.

Oh, the picture, MAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Just stopping in briefly-Julie; please take care of yourself. "other Marcia-glad that you are feeling better.
Aria, one of my friends'wife had surgery and had to keep her head down. I did lend them my portable massage table that has a headrest on it (with an opening for the face. she found it very useful-any chance that someone in town would have one available to share.
Miss the GOBS-will check in more when I am totally able to-being stretched a bit thin now-wish that would also apply to my thighs.
Take care of yourselves.

Have to find out about that, Marcia, and let her know, thanks
Maria

Mary, I should come help you out with the lambing - I am up half the night as it is. There is just so much seed checking I can do in the dark with a flashlight!!

Glorious sun here this morn - clouds coming this afternoon. I moved all my seeds that have popped up by the sunny window to catch some rays. It is still mighty chilly out* 14 deg this morning warming to 28. But with the sun out, everything seems better. I can even hear the birds chirping thru the windows!! Always a pleasant sound.

Had breakfast at 4:30am and now I am hungry again and it is only 8 am. Too early for lunch??? Gonna make something sweet to take care of that 'sweet tooth' that has been acting up!!

awwwwwwwwww! So cute, Mary!

Ready to leave for the Band Supper last night and looked out the window...... (drum roll)............a ROBIN!! First one we've seen this year!

Have a good day, GOBs - gotta get dressed for church. later....

Kooger! Congrats on the new job! Way to go, girl!

Hi Sarv...I don't care who we're talking about...*SOMEWHERE* in an otherwise spotless house, there's *always* a mess. LOL

I just realized that I didn't even check the GOBs session at all yesterday. WoW! Do ya think I'm busy? :-D Not really...just had to do some shopping for a couple of new chairs for our 'sun/TV room'. Mine was getting so uncomfortable my hip actually hurt like the dickens when I sat in it. They will be delivered sometime tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm "babyproofing" the front part of my house. Tomorrow starts the "2 days on/2days off" routine with the 'divorce' (Arghhhhhhh). Angel will be with me from about 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 or 7 in the evening. I had to go shopping for essentials like diapers, wipes, sippy cups, and booster chairs. Man! I'm glad this is only a grandkid! The stuff ain't cheap these days. hehehe

I'm hoping the little one like mac n cheese and spaghetti-o's...and do kids still like cherrios? :-D

In the IBLF catagory...I have TOMATOES! (Well, I have the sprouts! hehehe) I've got Ageratum (in 2 days instead of 7-10!) and I've got rosemary! It's so exciting to go down into the basement every morning to check the seeds and seedling progress. (Mary...you should just SEE the chamomile plants that have sprouted! I'll have chamomile coming out my ears before this is over. LOL Now, does anyone know which part of the plant I'm supposed to dry in order to make Tea? hehehehe (I'm thinking the WHOLE thing! :-D))

I think my biggest success story so far is my Wave petunias and the impatiens. Using the self watering APS units from Gardener's Supply (and the chamomile tea) I haven't lost a single seedling! I'm *very* impressed with that system...and will definitely want to buy lots more for next year.

Well...when I was a Walmart on Friday (Geez! it's been TWO days since I was here last!) I bought three beautiful BIG Elephant Ear bulbs...they were cheap, too! And DH bought me a succulent dish garden and a big bag of gladiolus. (It's so cute...Eric walks into the garden department and never fails to walk out with something he thinks I'd "like". hehehe It's the first time *ever* that he's done that. It really *is* cute.)

If you don't see me for a day or two, don't worry...I'm knee deep in babysitting. I'l at least try to spend a *little* time here keeping track of what you guys are doing...make sure to leave me something to read. LOL

TTYL,
~julie~

HiYa, GOB's... Thought you might like to see how my stained concrete pots turned out. (I'll post on Nightowls, too.) Hopefully later this evening we can get enough done that I can post before and after pictures of my sister's front yard. It's beginning to look like a yard just with minimal landscaping, mulch and new pressure-treated landscape timbers edging the front beds.

Sheesh, Darius those pots look magnificient!! I just went to the local gardening store and got two of those wrought iron half things that hang on the front of the deck (they're lined with coco fiber stuff) I got the big ones and now am second guessing that I should have gotten the smaller ones. It is gonna take a load of plants to fill the big ones!! I am thinking of sweet potato vines, licorice plants, blue/purple petunias. and maybe some pink verbena. Gotta start saving for them all tho!!

DH and I had words on the way there= he is always grumpy about shopping and I really let him have it!! Now I have to be nice for the rest of the day!!! Gonna make a good dinner to have tonight and smile a lot!! He didn't say a word when I mentioned that I would like the wrought iron things - maybe I should have words more often!!! LOL

Just ate a Cameo apple with a carton of yogurt dumped on top. Man alive those apples are out of this world. Crisp and juicy. So much better for ya than all the choco chips I have been munching on. Well, gotta go do something besides sitting on my duff....

Please, I need some help here, GOB's. I have finished the right side of my sister's front beds and will show the before and after. It IS sparse, but I only wanted clean and neat, and to let new owners plant what they want...

What do you think?

Here's an "after" shot...

Darius,

I think you did a fine job. Good balance and not too crowded. (I can say this because I would have overcrowded and overdone)

Very neat and leaves room for the home buyers imagination.

Molly

Definitely well done 'curb appeal'. Without locking buyers into something - I agree you've done enough. In fact I have this yard.... /;-)

Very nice. Was the square in the middle of the flagstone already there? You are so creative and especially resourceful.
darius, the weather here has been the craziest in the 33 years I have lived in the mountains. It warms up, then gets down in the 20s, over and over. Yesterday and today were quite warm, if a bit blustery. I dumped Black Kow on several things and some bone meal.
When will you be coming back? Before the round-up? I have some nice things for you when you and your sister finally get settled. Boy, I wish I had some of those pots that you brought to the round-up last year. Didn't know I was gonna have so much to trade, especially hostas, liriope, and sedum.