Coffee and...part 14 :-D

Hi and WELCOME (and/or Welcome BACK!)

Here's my usual message...
"Our door is *always* open to anyone who cares to drop in and sit a spell, If you have any special goodies to share, just put 'em on the counter with the rest of our absolutely, positively, NO-cal supply! We'd Love to taste them! :-)"

Here's the link to our last session:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/502652/

It's busy, busy, busy time for all of us. We'll understand if you don't show up regularly. Sure hope you understand when I can't. :-D

~julie~

Julie, thanks for taking the time to start a new thread. I'm sure you smell as sweet as pie for your exam! LOL If I have to go to the doctor I'll have to wear gloves. Can get the body clean, but my nails look like I work in a coal mine. "Gardner's nails" I call 'em.
Pati

Pati,
I've got gardner's nails too. When I worked I always had a manicure once a week. Now that I'm home and gardening I wouldn't think of wasting good money on a manicure because my nails would be a mess within hours. I just wish I could cut my nails. I bit my nails as a kid and as a young adult and now I want to have nails just to show people (who could care less) that I don't bite my nails anymore. Less nails would mean less dirt to get under them. But it's like winter here in central Iowa today so I'm staying in the house today.

Welcome to GOB's, nannybee. (GOB's = Glorious Old Broads/Boys)

I only get my nails really clean when I shampoo my hair. A nail brush just doesn't do the job.

Good luck at the eye doc Julie.

I just got back from Contours and told the gal there about my arm. She told me to go as light as I can on the arm lifts. Somehow it does feel better after I exercise. Can't figure this all out and I am a staller at going to the doc - I have to be at deaths door.

It is cloudy and cool (actually cold) here today and I am going to stay inside and lounge around. This is my first day by myself in a long time and I feel the need to just sit and snooze and munch (on good things...) Gonna pick things up and read a good book. Yikes, I forgot - my folks are coming for dinner. Well, it will have to be something easy like meat loaf and baked potatoes. House isn't in too bad a straights, so it won't take much time to pick things up.

Darius- can't you get something else to heat with? Or at least vent it outside? We have a wood stove and I am sure I am sucking in all kinds of gunk - but love the feel of that warm heat. But alas, we have no wood sources anymore, so this may be the last year.

Welcome to the newbies stopping in= make sure you stay awhile!! More the merrier!!

Man, do we have tons of dandelions this year. I don't know what happened. I would just like to forget them....Yellow is a nice color..DH doesn't give a hoot about the yard - he could have all tar I think. Gardens are the same. How in the world did I end up with him????

Hooray, a new thread!!! Welcome nannybee, you'll enjoy us, I'm sure. Thanks for the tips about the valerian, it's supposed to warm up this week and I've got a shady spot picked out for it. Stopped at an ACE hardware store yesterday and they had a bin of seeds on sale, 10 packs for a $1. Even if less than half of them sprout, it's a bargain. Especially the ones that self seed after the first season.

Got the cleaning bug this morning, did the big bathroom and the bedroom, whew, hope that bug doesn't bite me again for a while. LOL Cat hair.....I could build a new cat out of all that fur. Now that we get a few sunny days here and there, they are blowing their coats like crazy, been going on for at least a month. I'm looking forward to bald cats!! (I can dream...)

I see everyone has sister issues. Money looms large in family relationships....when my step mother passed away, HER sister had sort of taken over and actually took her into our family attorney and had her change her will, which had left a fairly good sum to my sister and me. I still had power of attorney, which auntie had desperately tried to wrench away from me. At the same time complaining to me IN WRITING, that mom wasn't "in her right mind and didn't know what she was doing". When I visited the atty, just after she put mom in a nursing home, I asked about the will and he looked very uncomfortable and said he couldn't discuss it. Of course not....auntie had taken our names out and put in herself and her grandchildren.

I told him that I still had a valid POA, and that I was going right to the bank and withdraw every cent. He said to wait and he would talk to my step aunt. When I told my sister (who didn't know what the original will contained) she said to just forget about it. Money wasn't that important. Blah blah blah...However, in a subsequent phone call I told her what the original will contained, and boy oh boy, did she whistle a different tune!!! At any rate, auntie decided not to file the new will, and everything came out fine. But I did learn something about my sister....

Ahhh families, the dynamics are similar everywhere. At any rate, we get along with the ones we like and avoid the those who have given us good reason to not be in close contact.

Here's me and my dear old friend in Boston last week....note the matching caps which we bought separately and had a good laugh about...Thank God wrinkles don't hurt!!! See y'all later. Three loads of laundry waiting, serves me right for doing all that clean up.

I've always had good luck with "cheap" seeds. I pay more for seeds I really want but for those everyday things I've always bought the 10 cent a pack seeds and my germination results were just about the same as the more expensive seeds. Just don't have as big of a choice. Although, I purchased two kinds of impatient seeds at Wallyworld this year and the 99 cent a pack seeds did a whole lot bette than the 25 cents a pack seeds. Next year I'm going to splurge and spend that extra 74 cents.

Darius, in past postings you mentioned house hunting in various areas with your sister.Does the new 'arrangement' mean you have to start over from square one? Have you decided on a particular city,state or region? And would the owner consider venting the heater? Would be nice to find a big kitchen with an attached bedroom and bath with solar heating on a large lot with perfect soil and growing conditions,but then I tend to spend most of my time in fanasy land.
Hope the appointment is a success Julie.Holding good thoughts for you.
Almost have the rhubarb crisp polished off.Last weeks cobbler wasn't so good due to a tough crust.Either mixed it too much or the baking powder had lost its oomph.Had hoped for something flakey like a good biscuit and got fallen arches.The crisps are better.Love rhubarb,and the three plants are providing an adequate supply.Now if the strawberries would only ripen.The high School's annual Mothers Day plant sale put on by the FFA kids was great.Among the three flats of plants we got a dozen really nice Martha Washington geraniums in 4" pots for $2.50 each.The stump in the backyard decided it didn't want to be a chainsaw carving and said it would be happier being free from its earthly bonds,so the excavation continues.Wonder how much deeper I have to go to hit water!!! although the weather today is cloudier and cooler than the past week,it is great for weeding and plantiing.But then I'm rambling too much.Wishing all a wonderful day.

Maybe he'd be more amenable if you suggested that unvented heaters leave him open for personal injury damages??? Just a thought.

Hmmm, interesting concept M5...

I'm Back...
I can barely make out the words in all the messages above, but I saw several "good wishes" and a NEWBIE!!! WOW! Welcome Nannybee! Glad to see you here.

Thanks for the good thoughts and wishes everyone. That was an appoint from hell. I thought I'd be in and out of the office pretty quick...but it turned into almost an hour and a half. I lost count of the number of drops they put in my eyes after the third set.

I'll be going in for the surgery two weeks from today. The surgeon said it only takes 10-15 minutes and I'm on my way home. HOWEVER...he *did* take away my gardening privileges for "a while" after the surgery is done. He wouldn't tell me what "a while" meant...and that didn't sit real well.

I'm having a lot of trouble trying to proofread my typing so I think I'll get off here and come back when the drops wear off.

~julie~

You're doing the right thing Julie. It's gonna be so great to see everything clearly again.

Obviously, the general application of this idea has its limitations, but in past adverse situations, I have "pretended" myself through some of them. For example, why not pretend that your garden will become Frances Hodgkins' "Secret Garden" while you are doing other things for awhile? The longer you have to be away, the more "secret" it will become.

Remember how much fun those children had in discovering that abandoned garden and bringing it back to life? You get to have a longer spring than the rest of us this year, bringing more than one thing "back to life".

Here's her book: http://www139.pair.com/read/Frances_Hodgson_Burnett/The_Secret_Garden/

Julie88, great news. So in two weeks you will be singing "I can see clearly now" lol. I am so excited for you. I know what diminished vision is, I have macular degeneration (early stages) and i am fearful of what the future holds. I try to be upbeat, but it is scary. Since I am a dog lover, maybe a seeing eye dog would'nt be so bad. Praying that it won't come to that, or if it does, I will have several more years before that happens. Good luck with the surgery!!

G R E A T N E W S J U L I E!!!!

P A T I

Woohoo Julie!

Hello again, I'm just taking a quick break from the gardening duties. Julie, 2 weeks and counting down, that's great. You will have lots of moral support here, just nobody with long enough arms to be weed pullers. Maybe "a while" would just mean that you can't dig and strain lifting heavy pots. You will enjoy your flowers much more when you can see them clearly.

Defoecat, Paul Harvey (on the radio) advertises some vitamin formula for macular degeneration. Maybe that would help since your condition is in the early stages. I think it is a high antioxident formula.

Darius, that lawsuit angle is at least worth a try, you never know. I'm not lawsuit happy but they do have their place. Since you didn't know the unvented heater would be bad for your lung condition when you moved in, and I'm sure he didn't even think about it, maybe he would like to avoid trouble and have a healthier tenant that takes care of his place. Oh the other hand, you may find out that he is truly cheap!

This morning I helped my neighbor move and sort cows. Two of them have calves already, the first one was delivered by emergency C section in the field about midnight with the "operating room" lights being on the pickup truck. Cow and calf are doing fine but Ms Cow is nervous about people, can't blame her. The other calf was born this morning and is having trouble finding the fawcetts since her momma has a pendulous udder and the fawcetts are too low, and she keeps reaching up. Hope she figures it out soon. It's not a great way to start calving season. We sorted out all the heifers and the cows that look like they are due pretty soon, then put the rest in another pasture farther from the barn. They'll all need to be watched of course, but the heifers are the ones more likely to have problems delivering their first calf and if they do it is better to have them close to a lighted area.

Time to get back out there in the garden. I have an appointment with the rototiller.

You guys are SO cool! Each and every single one of you! (Darius, I *do* know what you meant when you told me how these people make you feel less alone when things go off kilter.)

Karen, I came back and tried to read the messages after my last one...I couldn't do it. But I "caught" the link for the Secret Garden. That particular book has been my favorite since I was a little kid. I clicked on the link. Tried *really* hard to read the first page. I was wishing it had bigger print...THEN it HIT me! *I* can CHANGE the size of the text. I spent the next couple of hours "lost" in 'Mary's world'...it felt SO good.

Anyway, the drops are finally beginning to wear off...things are still a bet blurry, but then that might have a little something to do with my 'teary state' (from reading your notes) as much as the drops. LOL

(((( ~ HUGS to ALL ~ )))) and Thank you.

Dcat...I hope you *never* have to rely on a seeing eye dog, but if you do, I hope you will take a MILLION pictures in your mind so you'll always remember the 'Colors of the Wind'.

~julie~

Done for the day, took the chain saw back to the rental place,put the tools away,turned the water off,am pooped and ready for a rejuvinating Scotch and Soda.The stump is free from the earth and "only" needs to be sawn up into a couple pieces small enough to be moved to the burn pit by hand.The poor Wisteria had many of her roots clipped in the process,but will survive readily.The lowered and backfilled hole may become a rock garden,provided I can learn how to create a functional structure.I'm sure the NARGS website will have all the information I need.Their seed program is awesome. Off to the fridge for the soda.

Wow, Robert... you sure did have a busy day! Looks very different than the first photo you posted...

HI and hugs to all.
Had snow on the roof of car this AM-work outside will hopefully resume soon-supposed to warm up the end of this week.
Darius-hope that you get some leads soon,; would are the home ads of the places that you would like to live, available on-line?
Julie-hope that you are able to get to gardening soon, are you coming up here?
Hi Nannybee-hope that you enjoy this place; often some really nice goodies get mentioned-sure wish there was a way to send the rhubard crisp over the net!!!
Family relationships...Sigh!!!

MaryE: I am already on a special vitamin supplement. It onlly delays the progression of the disease. I am near the stage where I can have laser surgery to halt the progress. This has to be caught at the proper stage of development, so I see my Dr. often. The surgery can't repair the damage, but will stop it so that there is no more vision loss. So I remain optomistic and hope for the best. Darius: Not big on lawsuits, but if the unvented heater is worsening your condition, I would approach with a plea to fix it, then if that didn't work, I would threaten with the lawsuit, maybe that will be impetus to get it vented.

Defoecat, thanks, and to whomever else mentioned legal action earlier. That is not my action of choice and as I have no lease, I could just as easily be asked to move before I'm ready. However, I will discuss it with my landlord when he's up here next. Might even be this weekend (Mother's Day) as his mother lives about 25 miles from here.

Marcia, yes there are ads online but the majority are for sale, not to rent/share.

I was thinking along the lines of whether or not an unvented heater like that is even legal. Worth checking out.

Good job Robert! Stumps are really a bear to get out. Rock garden sounds like a great idea.
GS returned my little tiller today...now he gets a phone call suggesting he return items in the same condition he got them, as in, CLEAN! I'm sure it won't happen again. He did bring us a DVD to watch, "Supersize Me" so I won't be too hard on him.

On the dark side, my Maytag dishwasher, four years old, decided to make earsplitting grinding noises as it went into the dry cycle last night. I swear if I ever think of buying anything Maytag again I hope somebody kicks me in the head. Called for service, seems nobody wants to come all the way out in the 'burbs. Finally found a service place in a nearby small town, but I'm checking the cost of repairs. If it's even close to $200, I'm shopping for a Kenmore. They won't be here until Wednesday. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Did up todays dishes by hand, which isn't that bad except I was on my feet all day and they were complaining. Told DH no food until Thursday.....lol.

Oh Julie, isn't that awful to have your eyes dilated like that!! Last time I had that done, I stupidly made the appointment in the afternoon, and had to drive home facing the sun...had to pull over twice to mop tears and close my eyes for a bit. I'm sure it will be much better tomorrow. Two weeks until you see clearly! At least with one eye, since they do them one at a time, unless things have changed. I think your doctor just doesn't want you in a situation where dust or dirt can blow in your face, or you do some lifting or straining. Better listen to him. It will be hard to catch up on the weeds but it will be worth it. Hang in there. And get some Preen, I love that stuff!!! It really works.

No treats left? I'm thinking on a raspberry pie tomorrow. If I can do it without making too big a pile of dirty dishes......!! Let's see, bowl, pastry cutter (food processor has too many parts to wash), bowl for berries, rolling pin, pfffft no problem. Check the counter in the morning!

Gonna go sulk about the dishwasher now. ;-(

Julie great news - 14 days to a new look at the world - its not such a bad place most of the time either. The weeds will still be there when you doc releases you, and if you behave you will be able to see clearly which are weeds and which are seeds - worth missing a week or so in the garden for!
Got to dash again but will try and call in tomorrow.
Carol

Good morning everyone. Up early, because my cat needed out about 4:30. We had frost last night, and since DH had put out some tomatoes, I went out and washed the frost from them. I don't think it was really enough to hurt them, but not taking any chances. Weatherman says today starts a warming trend. YEAH!! Well things in this neck of the woods are really getting into Derby mode. You wouldn't believe the hoopla involved. This week there will be at least one event each day in Louisville leading up to the shortest sporting even in the world. I don't even know the names of the horses running this year. Would love to go, but ordinary folks like us, don't stand a chance of getting tickets, without mortgaging the "old home place". And believe me, I have better uses for my money. Plan on resuming tilling a new annual bed today if it is dry enough. Will check in later.

Morning everyone. Eating a fiber bar as I type - good for the old pipes!! And tasty! Nothing much went on here yesterday - cold, spitting snow and generally just a misrable day. Warming trend they say, but first hard frost tonight - sigh...

Left the heating pad on over night- grrrr more $$ for the electric bill. My memory is really shot..

Gonna drive out to one of my favorite nurserys tomorrow - Mother's day coming up!! They have the cheapest flats around - $5.99. Love them. C an't wait to get my petunias and impatients in. I ring the beds with them every year - costly, but oh so satisfying. Every year I think I will change colors, but end up doing what I always do..stuck in a rut I think.

Having Mother's day here - AGAIN. After my mom leaves this earth, I am not having it again. Done it too many times and want a break. No one else offers to do it. I shouldn't complain as one DIL has had Thanksgiving and Easter the past two years. The other one has never had anything....DS made the comment that I am not her mother. Guess that puts me in my place!!! Don't get me started today.....

Still waiting for the hummes to arrive back. The hummer map says they are here- but I've not seen them yet. Probably in hiding from the nasty weather.

Pass the raspberry pie - love them. My mom made a custard pie for last night, but the crust was practically raw. Still managed to down two huge pieces....

m5, you will be better off when you buy washers or anything else, if you check out Consumer's Reports. They not only buy and test models (and except no advertising) but they also give a reliability rating
Julie, don't break the doctor's rules after the surgery. You could end up with a detached retina.

This afternoon I volunteer at archives. I have been pretty much running the thing for some time and have 4 other volunteers.
I got a call from the granddaughter of a black woman who used to work in the mansion where archives is temporarily housed. It seems one of the owner's daughters was an opera star and traveled around the country a lot, especially to NYC. The black worker was given an outfit by the opera singer and she wants to put it in archives. It will not stay there, of course, it will go to our small county museum, now forming. But the worker is still alive! She is blind now, but I know her and will be able to interview her.
There is a book going to be written about the family that lived in the mansion. An early industrialist with tanning and lumbering operations, 3 daughters going all kinds of differnt life paths, and murder and mayhem to boot! Would make a great novel and movie.

I think I have posted this picture before, but thought some of you might not have seen it. Archives is in the back of the 2nd floor, in 2 small bedrooms. We are so cramped that the maps are on a coffee table in the bathtub. If you want to pull a box off the shelves, everyone at the table has to stand up because there's no room to get to the shelves if someone is sitting at the table.

Woodspirit, thanks for the reminder. I always used to check Consumer Reports before a purchase but apparently my mind was so cluttered up with building problems I didn't even think of it when I bought the Maytag. I know better. Now I'll have to go to B&N and take a peek at the yearly rundown and see what they say about dishwashers. I'm hoping the repair will be simple and I don't have to start over.

I think I'm off the hook for Mother's Day, one daughter has three days of dog show in Madison that weekend, (which is also her birthday and wedding anniversary, her son AND her new grandson's birthdays) the other daughter will just call, (maybe) and this weekend at my suggestion my son will put together my new little butcher block roll-around thingy I got at Target. I told him instead of buying me a gift, he could do that for me....so he can start saving some money!! Uh huh.

Still pretty chilly out there this morning...trash day, so I ran out to put some last minute things in the recycle bin. Brrrrrrr. and I don't see any sun yet. Maybe the weather man was being overly optimistic. Think he's a gardener????

Going to work on that pie. Later.

Good morning. Save some pie for me. Raspberry pie sounds healthy enough to call it breakfast.

Woodspirit, interviewing that old lady will be very interesting and enjoyable. When you do interviews do you use a tape recorder? That's a really neat old mansion. It seems that you should be able to have another room to use for archives, it looks like a very large house. Could we find any information about it online? What was the owner's name?

Darius, I agree that since you don't have a lease, too much pressure might have the wrong effect. You are wise to proceed with caution and hope for the best, while looking for another more suitable place. Lots of people move after school is out, or just before it starts again in the fall.

Yesterday when I was weeding I got some kind of a little bug under my shirt and he really munched my stomach. I didn't feel it until evening. Bug bites make me really itchy so it is more of a big deal than just a few red spots. I end up taking benadryl for several days because cortizone cream doesn't have much effect. Bee stings also cause a two week reaction with lots of swelling and itching.

Today is my day to go to town plus I hope to get the rest of my vegie garden rototilled this afternoon, and also need to ride one of the horses. Last week I gave them all flu vaccinations and one had a localized reaction that gave him a stiff neck. A horse uses his head to help balance himself so he was walking very carefully. Yesterday he looked better so I rode him when I helped the neighbor with his cattle, and decided I need to ride him a bit more every day since he has been reluctant to move around much on his own since Friday. Hopefully after a couple more days he will be back to normal. I had planned to take him to my next endurance competition this coming weekend but might take Patch instead, so I also need to be riding him, too. There needs to be two of me, maybe three.

I hope you all have a great day. Count your blessings.

Edited to add this: first hummer showed up yesterday, buzzed me and although I didn't see him until later that sound was very welcome. The hummingbird feeder had been up for 2 days because my neighbor had called me to let me know the little guys were here.

This message was edited May 3, 2005 7:54 AM

Mary, I give the shots in the chest muscle, so if they get a reaction and a little swelling it is not painful like the neck site is.

Poor things look like they are really suffering when it happens in the neck , you even can see the pain in their eyes.

I had an email from pins2006 whom I finally met at the GARU last weekend. She had said she had not seen any posts from me, and was concerned. I assured her that I always post on this thread if I am posting at all, and invited her to join in. Here is her reply:

Hey pins2006, I just lurked around for awhile, but couldn't keep quiet for long, too many interesting things going on. Now I just butt in any ole' time! You'll soon see that there's nothing private about this thread, all secrets are fair game! LOL
Come join us,
Pati

Hey - anyone can join in here - just jump right in!! Just pretend we are your neighbors and we are all around the kitchen table sipping coffee and laughing!! Only this way, I can sit with my pj's on, hair sticking all which way, and no paint on the face - it's glorious!!!

I;ve never met a one of you all, but would feel at home with any of you. Cyber space is good for that!!

Well, took the MIL to get blood work done today =she wasn't bad. Told me the same story as last time, but I am used to all that and try not to roll my eyes too much as I am sure I do that to my kids!! LOL Usually she just wants to zoom on home, but today she wanted an all black adding machine tape (not made anymore I found out - they all have red and black) Well, got her one and then she wanted a whole new machine - got that too!! She seldom gets out anywhere and is so simple minded about shopping - too trusting sometimes too!! She owns a weeder business and it is run by her totallly stupid son (the one DH works with). Anyhow, they get payment up front and the check bounced ($2000 one too), but they went ahead and sent the weeder. She said, oh, he was probably just short of money that week - ya right... had to bite the lip on that one!!

Still gloomy and cold here- hard freeze coming tonight. I better get out and get the strawberries covered - I am bound and determined to have some fresh ones this year!!

OK, pins - jump in and tell us all about yourself. I promise you'll love it here!!!

Pins,If 'they' will let a crotchety old guy like me join in the conversations it can't be too private or exclusive. Say gobs, I wonder if there are any other fellers posting here ? I feel a little out of place with some of the comversations, not being up on 'girl talk', but still its a great group of people. Be brave and join in Pins.
robert

balvenie, didn't they tell you? Since you seem to be the lone male, they made you the mascot! *snicker, snicker*
Pati

Well just in from the garden. Planted corn, beans, lima beans, beets, cucumbers and squash. Worked all afternoon. I planted some zinneas and cox comb, bachelor button, aramath and a wildflower mixture in the garden by my mom's house. I planted it where she could enjoy the flowers, as she can't get out now. She can go as far as the front porch, and when the weather is good she will sit there and watch me work in the garden. Okay, so we got a mascot, like in high school or college? What is the team name? Need to have a contest to name this group. I bet we do more than sit and read threads, drink coffee and garden. I'll think on it and see what comes to mind. I will be careful, Robert and not say too much anti-men, but since we vent here, occasionally I imagine the men in our lives catch it!! I don't do that often, but occasionally DH will really tick me off. So don't be offended.

Thanks gobs, proud to be a mascot.I'll make up a special rhubarb creation for the occasion, low-cal of course. And Sarve, please put on a robe before going outside, don't want to catch cold.