Coffee and...Part 18! :-D

morning Hap - ya, I'm here. Checked in early this morning and there was nothing new!! Everyone on vacation??? It's 9am here and I have already rototilled the garden (neighbors are probably cursing me!!) But it is supposed to be in the 90's today and I wanted to get it done early!! Darn thing got rocks caught in it 5 times. Usually I just leave it for DH to unrock, but decided it was about time I learned to do it myself. Good thing too!! Now it has quit- too many weeds wound around the tines. I need to unwind them, but stopped in to see what was happening here.

Hope everyone is ok!!

Robert that bicotti sounds wonderful! Mind if I take a piece to go with my morning coffee? Thanks. Oh, Yummy!

Yes, Hap...I'm 'home' at least for a minute or two. This gardening thingy takes a lot more time than I thought it should...or maybe I'm just getting older than I thought! LOL

I keep thinking while Im outside sweating my arse off that 'If Mary can do everything *she* does, I should be able to keep going'. Sometimes, it just doesn't work. :-D

And *who* can manage to cook or bake in the summertime heat? Not *me*! I have to get a swiss steak in the slow cooker, and I'm not even looking forward to adding *that* much extra heat in the kitchen this morning.

Today, hubby and I are going to start laying a mulch border around the new north patio he put in last week. We're still getting "storm" watches for our area, but so far all we've received is wasted time. Not enough water to do any good whatsoever. Oh well...I needed those afternoon naps anyway, right?

Does anyone know of a good listing that tells which plants benefit from pinching back? I've got some Bleeding hearts (they've already bloomed, of course), some Balloon flowers, asters and a few others that I'd like to have seen grow more 'bushy'. I know I can pinch my mums, and the rabbits did a fine job of 'pinching' the asters last year...so those can be pinched now.

I tried to get a few pictures of the projects I've been working on the other day, but the angle of the sun (and the fact that I couldn't tel whether the camera was focused properly or not) rendered the pics unviewable. (I wonder why? hehehe) Besides, it would take a full forum to show all the before's and after's of THIS yard. :-D

Hope everyone is having a great day...or, if not, that it gets better as the day goes on.

~julie~

Morning all.7:45 here. Had to take time to make the coffee,read the morning paper and do the crossword, pick up the doggy-poo and play ball with Tinker. Now that thats done I can see what's happening.
Sarv, that rototilling isn't a lot of fun, 'speshly with rocks and grass getting in the way.But then early morning sure beats the heat of the day for wrestling a machine around the yard.
Julie, help yourself to the biscotti. The pecans are easier to chew than the almonds, and the next batch will get some Filberts as a trial. Really like trying something new. Re: the "getting older" sentence, think of it as getting better not older, and more cunning in the way you foil those garden weeds and pests. I'm looking forward to the photos when your camera decides to get focusing.
And to one and all, a very good morning.

Good morning. It looks like we are all busy playing in the dirt. Yesterday I started digging a new flower bed. Really it is part of another one where I put cardboard down a couple of years ago and anchored it with rocks. The grass under it died and then started regrowing through the holes in the cardboard. I am about half done with it, have some sod that was near the edges to shake the dirt out of, then need to take a few of wheelbarrows of soil out of it because it is too close to the wooden siding on the house, haul in some compost and hopefully it will be just right. I'll put that removed soil next to the gh where I am building another bed (well, not yet but it is on the list and I bought plants to go there already)! Dumb! Will I ever learn? Now I have to put them somewhere soon. The bed I am working on is for some dahlias I got last winter from a friend in a warmer climate. Some are sprouting and they need a home.

I took time from my gardening to go for a ride out in the hills yesterday afternoon when the clouds didn't look too serious, saw a couple of young badgers on a mound of dirt near their den, they were curious about the horse but disappeared down the hole when we got too close. I only scared up one deer that was bedded down in the sagebrush. Didn't see any rattlers but they are out of their dens, a neighbor saw one last week on a warm day when he was fixing a fence. I keep a close eye out for them because they could be anywhere, but probably right now would not be very active because it hasn't been very warm the past few days.

The lambs are finding ways out of their pasture now and I have to keep a close eye out for escapees that are likely to find something I planted and have dessert! They are little eating machines! I think they will get a new pasture today. I took a picture of an iris one of them was tasting when he stuck his head through the fence. See the bites on the leaves?

Off to dig now, see you later.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2005 8:51 AM

Morning all!
Oh what bliss, no one was bouncing on my head at 6:30 this morning!! I'm totally shattered, 5 pounds lighter, and voiceless, but I survived my 5 days house and babysitting. They are sweet kids but .....!! The 2 year old is at the "mine" stage and her brother is only 4 so understandably gets rather fed up with her snatching everything he plays with. I think I'll add referee to the list of occupational skills on my CV. :>)
The yard has done all sorts while I've been gone, I've totally missed the first blooms on the pink buddlea, and the grass is seeding everywhere. My garden birds were relieved to find a full feeder this morning again. I got some very dirty looks from the redwing blackbird, who thinks I exist to feed him.
Off to the doc this afternoon - got to sort my throat and voice out. I struggled to make myself heard yesterday, had to with the kids and all, now I have absolutely no voice, and hugely swollen glands. From past experience this won't go on its own, so jollop before it gets too bad. The last effort lasted 6 months because I left it too long. Peaceful for the DH though!! Actually, as he is a little hard of hearing and it means he has to use the phone rather than get me to call, he rang the doc and arranged the appointment before he told me - he obviousely doesn't want a repeat performance.
Y'all have been busy while I've been gone! I'b love to try some of those goodies, save some for when I can swallow more than soup please.
Glad alls OK with the eyes Julie. You must be really pleased its over and you can see again.
Back later
Carol

I wondered where everyone was! I was doing my neglected housework, switched the area rug in the living room for a smaller one but don't know if I like it.....maybe need a day or so before it doesn't jar my eyes. Then, made crab salad for dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, did a couple loads of laundry and tendered my resignation for the day. Managed to pot up a strawberry jar (not with berries tho) yesterday and had to go raid a previously planted flower bed to get enough allysum to fill the little pockets!. Beans are coming up nicely, won't they be cute among the snapdragons? LOL I like my flowers and veggies to be good friends.

Robert, every biscotti recipe I've ever tried has sticky dough. I drop it by spoonsful to make a row and then smooth it out gently with moist hands. I'm going to try your recipe, it's similar to my aunt's. I did fall for a jar of Nonni's at Sam's club, triple chocolate....they called my name as I passed by.....what could I do? I have so little backbone.

Mary, the lamb nibbles are so cute but soooo maddening! Little ones of almost every breed are voracious eaters, and don't much care if it's your favorite bloomer they devour. I had a "murder" of crows in the back this morning, and and a few were quite small so I think they were this year's hatch. We have huge crows in Wisconsin, for those who live far away and haven't seen them. These had a wing span of at least 24 inches, and they seemed to be having a hot discussion about whose roof top they were going to perch on next. They stalk around like CSI detectives when they are on the ground, looking very serious and scholarly, and save the raucous calls for when they are airborne.

Years back when we lived in Colorado, farmers would let you shoot them for target practice as they would raid cornfields for the seed and spoil the planting....when my then husband and I went out, we couldn't spot any crows, just a lot of blackbirds....the farmer laughed and said those WERE the crows. He didn't believe we had crows five times that size in Wisconsin.

Julie, all we get are storm watches and warnings. Yesterday's front took a right turn before it hit us, and we got no rain. The weather forecast since Sunday has been rain every day and the only time I saw a drop was on the way home from the car hospital and that was because they washed my car for me. By the time I got home, the rain was gone and so was the clean finish on the car!! And not a drop landed in our neighborhood. But, now the trunk opens properly and DH says he can replace the head gasket and etc.so I'm relieved of that worry.

Carol, I'm convinced that as soon as you walk out your door and leave for a few days, the weeds conspire to double their growth, flowers choose that time to bloom and fall, the pets take over areas they are forbidden to use, refrigerater stuff proceeds to go sour/moldy/stinky, and all your windows get dirty. It requires constance vigilance to keep this stuff at bay. I must say though since we had our duct work cleaned, there is virtually no dust! I'm sure it was mostly from construction, not only in this house but as other houses went up in the subdivision, not to mention the generous distribution of cat hair that our pets have donated . Hope you've nipped the throat problem in the bud, and don't have to fight with it all summer.

Sarv, did you pick up glasses? Are they working well? Isn't it good to have that all over with?

Back to work, I'll take a biscotti for the road....washer's honking at me, and I've another load to throw in. Bahhhh!! housework!!

Hmmmm, sounds like I need to do some baking myself. I'm on a strict diet now until I lose 15 more pounds but I'll make something to bring to the table.

BUT FIRST (LOL) I have to go to Lowe's and get some decent-looking cheap small plastic pots for my epies and thanksgiving/christmas/easter cactus. I'm tired of looking at them in nursery pots and since they have to come in for winter, I can't put them in the ground.

Julie, you must be seeing better to type all that...
Carol, hope the throat clears up quickly,
M5, it always works that way with a car wash, either rain or dusty roads!

Hi everyone - haven,t had much DG time lately - and I didn,t feel like moaning the other day, so I just shut up. Now that I'm past the ordeal, I'll tell. lol We've had storm after storm here. Over 4" of rain this weekend alone! And lots before that too. The next week we're only supposed to have 2 dry days. I can't get plants in or weeds out.

And the worst of all, we had a bad electrical storm Tuesday night and knocked out the power for over 3 hours. You can guess what happened.......no big surprise, the basement was 3/4 way under water again. The only good thing was it was a Wednesday and I had to work (all the others have been on Tuesday, my day off!) so 16 yr. old DS got the vacuuming, dumping water job. There's basically nothing left to put up since everything's been up on blocks since flood no 1,2, 3, and 4!

We went and looked at battery back up pumps and found one in the whole city of Sioux Falls and it was the floor model. With a price tag of $339.00, we decided not to get it. This the first time we've had the power out for years, other than a few minute flickers here and there. Since we're such pros at vacuuming water by now, we might as well keep doing it! HA HA HA SOB SOB SOB!!!

I think we're going to plan on getting a smaller generator, the 5000 watt size. Then we could power the furnace and frig and pumps etc. all at the same time in a power failure. When the east coast and southern ON and QC had the big 27 hr power outage, a friend of our's back home went from house to house, powering up everyone's frigs and freezers till they were cold again. Worked great! Last Sunday, the grocery store in the next town west (Canton, SD) had 2 company's loan them 2 reefer trucks and they emptied all their freezers and coolers into them. The transformer north of town was hit by lightning and they were out of power for over 24 hrs. They didn't lose a single item! Since only half the town was out, some streets were full of power cords running across the street from the powered side to the 'out' side! That's small town life for ya!! :)

Morning! Here's some zucchini bread with cranberries and walnuts. Try a slice toasted and buttered!

Ahhhhh, Kooger, WHEN is your basement flooding ever going to stop? (Good idea, though, looking into a generator, even without flooding problems.)

Thanks darius,,,,it's great. Don't have to go to work until late today so I'm answering my mail and lurking..

Hope all have a wonderful day and be back later..

Hap

Darius...I'll take a slick of that zuchinni bread. Oh, yeah...that's good! Just the way I like it, with all those extra goodies.

Robert, pecans are my favorite! When I was a kid growing up in Oklahoma we got Christmas money by picking no end of 'gunny sacks' full of pecans. I used to love watching my dad use the 'flailing stick' to knock them out of the trees.

Carol...those 2-yr olds can really get to you, can't they? LOL (That "mine" part of it could be a little shorter, if you ask me. :-S) Glad to hear that your garden is as 'sneaky' as mine is. I don't even have to leave the property, only work in a different part of the yard! When I turn around, the tiny weed seedlings that were there *yesterday* have already matured and set SEED for themselves. hehehe

Kooger...Oh no! NOT again! At least *you* didn't have to deal with the mess this time. Boy, I'd be in the market for a generator if I was in your shoes. DH bought one when we had property out on the Mississippi River...fortunately, we never had to use it.

Mary! Badgers!?! Cool! Rattlesnakes...NOT so 'cool'! LOL (Even if you *didn't* see one!) We had them at the first house we lived in here in WI...the first one I saw, I nearly *didn't* see! We'd gone to Illinois to visit DH's family, came home and were unloading the car. The door we used most was a basement door...in sunken entry. As I got to the door, I thought "Who hung that ROPE over the door knob?" I figured one of the kids had done it before we left...it UNTIL it moved when I reached for it! YUCK!!! and GASP! Lots of rattlesnake stories from *that* property! (Glad you got time to take that ride.)

M5...~sly grin here~ Did Sarv have a problem with her glasses, too? ;-)
I know about those crows. Ours are HUGE here, too! Just short of 'raven' size, I'd say. DH took in an abandoned (obviously, un-perfect in nature's eyes) baby crow one time. That was the coolest bird! It followed us around all over the yard...it rarely flew, only walked or ran around behind us. DH built it a HUGE cage in the basement where my boys had their bedrooms. My oldest son loved to put my youngest in a big steamer trunk and sit on top of the lid. One day after the kids had gone to school, I heard a muffled "Help! Help! Let me out!" It scared the begeebers out of me. I knew both kids were gone. I heard it again! "Help! Help! Let me out!" I started down the stairs only to be met by the crow sitting on the handrail... "Help! Help! Let me out!" He was free and clear of the cage, talking up a storm! :-D No one taught 'Gypsy' to talk..in fact, we thought they only 'talked' if their tongues were split. Nope! They really DO do it on their own when they choose to. (He/she 'tattled' on the kids with that little outburst...I knew the kids had been in the trunk again. hehehe)

Hi Hap...hope your day is a good one.

Today will be a 'finishing up' day on the mulched north sideyard. DH and I (mostly DH...trust me!) got landscape fabric and mulch laid on 99% of the side yard yesterday. It took 4 rolls of fabric and 6 bobcat scoops of oak mulch to cover the area (that's 2 car-trailer loads of mulch!) Now DH is teasing me about where he should put the waterfall. He seems to think we need a 'river' where he and the boys can run their the RC (1/4 scale) racing boats! (It wouldn't bother ME to see a nice rambling 'river' in my back yard...UNTIL I saw the TAX bill for such a permanent structure. :-O)

OK...I *think* I've talked to everyone at the table...but if I've missed you...here's a (((~hug~))) until next next time. :-)

~julie~

Good morning. The zucchini bread sounds wonderful. Things are better with butter.

Kooger, you get the prize for the most times the basement has flooded in a year! Or a lifetime! I'm glad somebody else got to deal with it this time, you've had your turn(s). We miss you around here when you don't at least stop in and grab something off the counter. How's your job going?

Yesterday the sheep got moved to a different pasture so now we just have the cattle here. Sheep and cattle, while both being grazing animals, prefer different grasses, so the sheep were getting picky while the cattle were still happy with the menu. I uncovered my columbine seedling soon after they left so it could see the sun again. The battle with the weeds in the flower beds continues, I got another one weeded yesterday and also got the new bed finished and the dahlias planted. Now I need to see what kinds of seeds I have for low and higher flowers that don't demand full sun. The dahlias might not be totally happy there but that will at least give them a place to grow and feed their tubers this year. I'll have to dig them in the fall anyhow or mulch them really heavily if I get lazy. Really I don't see much difference in the amount of work because my mulch doesn't come in a bag which would be easier to spread, it comes via pickup and wheelbarrow or tractor bucket and wheelbarrow. Lots of exercise! I get free mulch either from town (tree service chipped piles I usually load myself) or strawy stuff I get from the neighbors barn with the tractor bucket which I can sometimes scoop and not have to work much to get it loaded.

Right about now my husband would be getting on a plane in Budapest, Hungary to fly to Frankfurt, Germany and then to Portland, Oregon. He has already had a 10 hour trip from Romania in a van and a night at a hotel. I get another full day here at home, then go to Portland tomorrow to meet him in mid afternoon and we will drive home tomorrow as well. He's gonna be TIRED! he gets one day to recover and has to be at work on Monday. He will drag around for a week trying to get his days and nights turned back over. It doesn't bother him on the trip over but when he comes back it is rough.

I'd better get moving now, lots to do today in the yard and vegie garden and I need to exercise a horse too. Times a wastin. What character said that? Snuffy Smith?

MaryE, last year someone posted the most awesome picture of themselves on horseback moving a flock of sheep. There was also a Llama in the picture. Was that you? I was going to ask permission to use it for "wallpaper" for awhile and lost track of it. I really loved that picture......it's something a city girl doesn't see every day!
Pati

PS I'm a "lurker" on the Farm Forum

Oh Kooger, another flood....had a couple of them and they were not nice. We still have stains on the wall. Don't know what we will do if we ever have to sell this place.

Not, it wasn't me with the glasses unless you count when I got hit the face with a basketball and they went askew- they still are not right, but they'll have to wait until I get new ones.

It is so stinkin hot here - 92 outside at 11am and hot and sticky. Got the hose on the garden as I type- they keep promising rain, but all we get is thunder and lightning. I can't wait anymore!!

Wish we had free mulch. We buy it by the truckload... I mulched 4 beds and it does keep down on the weeds and keep moisture in. I have 5 more to do, but am quickly running out of steam!! I did put down preen around some annuals and so far so good.

Sorry, no baking here today - too hot. But I do have 5 boxes of granola bars - I just scarfed down two of them..washed them down with a diet coke - I have really fallen off the wagon!

Keep cool everyone!

Pati, was it this one? The llama is at the front, he is brown and white. The ears belong to Bullwinkle who was not liking having to stand still so I could get the picture. The dog is Jake, he loves his job.

Yes, yes, yes! That's the one. May I have permission to use it for my wallpaper? I also love the storys about the lambs being born and tagging the cows ears. As I said, I "lurk n' love" the farm forum!
Pati (a city gal)

Sarv,

Got any power lines on your property with trees growing into them? I believe the power company will come trim them, they may also run the branches into the chipper and leave you piles of mulch................or....................call the power company and see if they have any free mulch to take.

Asphlund is the tree trimming contractor for our power company and they are always giving away free mulch.

Worth a try.

Molly
:^)))

Gaahhhhhh, must have had a senior moment, I meant Julie of course. I was looking for an excuse for the error, ie. too early or too late in the day for my brain to function, but that didnt work, it was noon!! Went out golfing this morning, whew, weatherman said it was "dryer " today, but dryer than what?? So humid, clothes sticking to you etc. yuck. We never get spring. We just go from winter to rain to heat and humidity.

I used a lot of Preen this year too. This weekend we'll attack the nasty horsetail, and cover the entire area with black plastic. Got the weedkiller delivered yesterday. Big box with some loose newspapers crumpled around a smaller box, which was marked in Big Red Letters, THIS SIDE UP. That was clever, nothing marked on the outer box.....so there was some leakage, and that stuff smells like kerosene. Hope it works.

Another flood.....maybe you could just convert the basement to an indoor pool, you have an endless supply of water....good thing you were among the missing this time. What a tiresome repititious chore, mop and pimp mop and pump. We bought a big generator when we built out here because we were concerned about power outages, and four and a half years later, we still haven't used it. Kind of like taking your umbrella so that it won't rain. Or in my case, not washing your car .....then getting a free wash and just enough sprinkles to mess it up!!! I also leave my house messy, because I just love company. If you keep it spotless, nobody ever comes to call.

Also got my six Dragons Blood sedum so I'll get those in today after I recover from this morning's outing. Weeds are still popping up here and there. Pulled a bunch of thistles out of a small bed over the septic tank. Daisies and daylilies there, as they are easy to move when we do the required every two year pumping.

I think I need a little nap. Right after I munch some of that zucchini bread.

Sure Pati. Tell me, what is the difference between desktop background and wallpaper? Is there any? Remember I grew up with manual typewriters and did nothing with them after high school. Learning to use the computer is a real stretch.
You're about to get very very wet from what I see about a visitor named Arlene. Hope she is not too bad, you don't need a major storm after what you went through last year.

Thanks so much MaryE. Yes, desktop background and wallpaper are the same things. I love to change mine with pictures rather than the patterns the Microsoft people provide.

So far we haven't had anything but a slow drizzle from Arlene. Hooray!
Pati

Good Morning Peoples! Last night we had storms everywhere around us. Note I said *around* us. I think, IF we got anything at all, the bottom of the raingauge DRANK it ALL! LOL it's mighty dry here. I'm just thankful that we're on a well so we only have to pay for pumping the water UP out of the ground...and not for 'treating' it so it can go BACK into it. I'm beginning to think I'd like to have sand-point wells driven at intervals around the yard and just hook them up to hand pumps, reservoir tanks and soaker hoses.

Madison got hit with some nasty weather yesterday afternoon...Marcia, are YOU 'ok'?

I have to say I'm really glad that if we couldn't get some of the water, we also weren't subjected to the hail and high winds.

M5...You don't need an excuse. LOL I can't tell you how many times I've done the same thing here *and* in other threads. It's easy to do when you're trying to keep up with everything everyone is talking about. (Hope you got some water but NO storms out the system that was heading your way yesterday.)

I got another order from SpringHill in the mail yesterday so I need to get those plants in the ground before *I* have to take responsibility for killing them. LOL

See ya later!

~julie~

The impatiens are in the ground on the east side of the house - yeah!! Now I have four more boxes to plant on the north side. Slowly but surely, I'm getting a few plants in. Some of you ladies that have put in tons are welcome to come and plant for me! lol

darius - thanks for the bread! sounds scrumptious, probably have two slices yum yum!

thanks for the sympathy and empathy all - this year has been the worst! Two years ago we had it twice one month when we had two 4" downpours and it ran in the basement windows. DH borrowed his cousin's skidloader and re-landscaped behind the house - the ground was sloping down to the house and over time the window well had filled half full of dirt so after cleaning it out and sloping the dirt away from the house, we've not had water come in the windows again.

Talked to my neighbor last night and as usual, someone has a bigger problem. :) She has both her pumps going, altho her house is two blocks higher in the ground than ours, and she was flooded before the power went out. Her house is not tiled under or around it so it doesn't go to the pit and get pumped out, it comes in all over. Thankfully FIL and DH dug a trench all around the inside perimeter of this house back in the late 80s, laid tile and dug the second pit and as long as the pumps are working, the floor stays dry. There's the sticker - as long as the pumps are working!!!!!! lol

Work is going well - I am no longer worried about not making it out of the probation period. I still have to work on the transparency thing. I tend to be a helpful person and so sometimes try to make the call go better - like yesterday. .... had a lady who didn t want her call announced as a relay call, and she speaks so the person she called had no clue what was going on, I'm saying 'one moment please' to pace her so I can type everything, she wondering who on earth I am and there were confidentiality issues involved in the call and I can't explain to her because the caller said 'don't annouce' so I finally stopped the OB (outbound) and said Ma'am she can't hear u I need to type everything you say, then she'll reply to u. That would be a big NO NO if that call was being monitored as a test call. Just drives you nuts when the relay service is for the deaf and they don't use it the way it was designed to be used. Oh well, their choice I guess. I should have not said anything and let the lady get upset and end up hanging up maybe. Trouble is, then the caller probably would complain about me not processing the call right. ARGH!!! lol Can't win for losing some days! I am going to discuss the mechanics of it with my team leader to find out how I should have processed correctly. There's so many different variations of calls that I have questions for the team leaders quite often - if they all followed the books......... HA HA HA!!!

Gotta get showered and bring MIL meds and head to work. Guess what, it's raining again! Glad you didn't get the bad storms in WI. Talked to my DS in Oosturg Wednesday - she said they were quite dry in their area. ...would appreciate some of our rain. lol

Good Morning Everyone. Another rainy day here. Guess that will continue for days as Arlene makes landfall and starts up the Tennessee Valley. Sigh.

I've been busy already this AM, totally emptying my refrigerator. Amazing what hides in the back corners. Going to the dump with this one and then to Lowe's for a new one as soon as Bud gets here with his truck and his muscles.

I've been busy potting up rooted cuttings of epies and christmas cactus in 6" pots. Sure hope I will have enough inside space this winter, wherever I am. No gardener should have to move, LOL.

That's part of the reason I'm not ever moving again, Darius. The other part is cleaning out the closets and the basement and packing it all up, we have way too much stuff!! I said I'm going out of this house feet first....DH can do whatever he wants with the rest of it. If we took out all the perennials, the yard would look like a bomb site.

Here's what the front looks like now after we took out some of the (we hope) plants not invaded by horsetail.....Today's Kill Day, so I'll show you some progress later. Seems like the front already looks like a bomb site...

Have fun day digging, etc. weeds are growing as we speak......

I'm here- swealtering again!! This is getting real old -let me tell ya. Arlene is supposed to bring us some rain later in the week too.

I was out weeding and got up suddenly and smashed my head into the bottom of a huge bird feeder. Oh, man, did it hurt- I just put my head down on the feeder and swore under my breath. DH came out and it looked like he was smirking- good thing he didn't say anything or I would have lambasted him a good one. He's in the dog house as it is.

He put away the umbrella that goes on the table - can't find the pipe to put it back up - grr So he cut a new one = the umbrella part of it is about 10 feet in the air. Looks totally stupid, but it will stay that way he says... a good wind will take it to no-mans-land. Now he is mowing, but said he wasn't gonna trim (that is a real pet peeve of mine...) All this hot weather makes me grouchy....

We could NEVER move= DH saves everything - I can't tell ya how many old tvs we have in the barn - 2 boats, 2 trailers and everyone elses junk too. I'm just about as bad. My mom was getting rid of 3 chairs we had growing up and they ended up at our house - yup= up in the barn!! We'll have to sell 'as is' LOL

Well, better head back out and get some more work done.

Moving to a few acres in the 'country' would be wonderful, but like you guys said, it will never happen.So much 'valuable' stuff saved in the garage, shop, attic, loft, darkroom, studio, shed and every other nook and cranny. Wish we had a basement! Having been here 30 years we've seen the area develop terribly. The many acres of strawberry fields are now ticky-tacky housing developments, the wooded hillsides are covered with hundreds and hundreds of houses, and none with the least bit of architectural character. On top of that the Tulalip Tribe has expanded their Casino (a mile from us) and just last month opened a 100 shop Outlet Mall. Whoopee, all they, and the State, forgot to do is provide adequate access to and from. Now traffic is in gridlock more often than not. Yes, it sure would be nice to move out in the country, but at this stage of life it's a bit too late to start over, and I'd hate to leave my garden. Solution is too stay home as much as possible.
Mary, I envy you your open spaces, even some of the hardships (but not many).Tinker would love to help Jake move the sheep.
DW has gone to the Island with friends for the weekend.I get to stay home and try to hang the screen door, put a new window in the Sunroom, finish framing the arbor, if the weather clears up, and go into Everett to the Sortaculture event. An annual thing, it combines plants and handcrafts and is a really nice operation. Will take pictures if I can remember to take the camera. Darius, had a thought (surprise!) and may even act on it. For the next biscotti I was thinking of doing a Jule Kaka Biscotti. Like the Norwegian Christmas bread with cardamom, nuts, raisins and glace'd fruit. But now, since it is relatively dry out, think I'll head for the garden show. Maybe I can find some more 'stuff' that needs to be stored somewhere there isn't room.LOL

Robert, never let it be said that we "collectors" stopped getting more stuff for lack of space....!! DH put a loft in the new garage for just that purpose. He'll have to take care of all the disposal if I win our perpetual arguement about who gets to die first!! I've got a real good head start, so I'm not inclined to worry about it!

Made a nice loaf of bread in the machine, this morning. just took it out, so I'll put it on the counter to share, there's butter, peanut butter, Nutella, raspberry jam and peach marmalade, so help yourselves. It's really too hot to bake but I put the AC on this morning because it's another hot day. Just came in from planting the Dragon's Blood, and noticed that some friendly bunny has been helping him/herself to the impatiens. Maybe I'll stop at the salon on my way to pick up the early editions of the Sunday paper and get some hair clippings to put around them.

We didn't get a speck of rain out of that mess that went through Madison, Julie. It's so dry. I've got the sprinkler on the newbies, and I did the side garden earlier. Glad we put down lots and lots of chips . All that green stuff you see in the picture I posted before is that %#$@ horsetail. I can't believe it hasn't invaded the root systems of the plants DH dug out. We'll see.

Good Morning... or at least it's almost morning. I've been up since 5:00, unusual for me, but my "WatchCat" awakened me... with the most ferocious growl (from the foot of my bed) I've heard from her in years. It was so loud and agressive it awakened me! After I got a light on and some pants & slippers, I went investigating, following where I had seen her heading.

Dang if the outside door wasn't open about 4-5 inches, and my cat staring at the opening. I guess I failed to close it tight last night. (I often leave it cracked so my cat can come and go during the day, it's a steel door in a rented apt. so I cannot put in a cat door.) I can only surmise an opossum or something wandered in. She certainly earned her kibble this day!

I got my new refrigerator yesterday, I had to change the handles to the other side so it opens the right way. But it's nice to have a clean and spacious refrigerator. The old one was a yucky yellow or maybe almond with lots of rust all over the door and sides. (My landlord said it was here when he bought the house 2 years ago.) This one is white, matching the newish stove. It's only 1 cu. ft. larger capacity than the old one, but it sure seems to hold a LOT more. And, it won't freeze everything in the fresh food section. : )

Good morning. Ah yes, the abundance of stuff that we all collect is just overwelming! Robert, if you had a basement you would fill it too, just like me. All that stuff is saved because we like it, because it will be useful some day, or because we have a winter project in mind that we never get around to doing, having lost interest or replaced that idea with others that need other stuff! And then we go to look for something that we know we have and can't find it because we have way too much stuff! Remember the song from the 60's about the little houses made of ticky tacky that all looked just the same? We drove up I-5 a couple of years ago on the way to Charlie's Greenhouse and I sure didn't recognize the place with all the growth of suburbia. We bought a gh kit from Charlies and saved several hundred $ by hauling it ourselves. My hubby saved the crating material and built a nice bookshelf for the living room, and still has some of the lumber left. I was thinking planters, he was thinking other uses.

Darius, have you found any evidence, calling cards of sorts from what may have entered your house this morning? Hopefully it was not a snake? Indeed that would be a startling way to wake up. Good kitty! New referigerator with no science projects in the dark corners, what a treat. Was it like pulling teeth to get the landlord to spring for the new one?

Yesterday was filled with driving! It's about a 6 hour trip to the airport at Portland, then I waited over an hour for hubby's plane that was a bit late, and for him to come through customs. I should have remembered that all takes time and I could have done a few more things here before I left. We went to have a nice seafood meal before leaving the Portland area and then drove home, arrived home at 10:30 pm. I didn't have to take the JR Terrier along, a friend critter sat for me and had fed all the critters long before we got home. Now my hubby gets the fun of turning himself back over time wise. He has plenty of mowing to do so that should help him stay awake longer in the evenings. He brought back several gifts, a Turkish robe for me made of the softest towel material I ever felt, an assortment of teas, some other items for other people and a few things for himself. He loved the public markets and said that in Turkey the haggling over prices is an art form and a social event complete with tea and visiting with shopkeepers to discuss the price later. Nobody takes it presonally that you don't want to pay anything near what the shopkeeper originally says he wants for the item and they are very theatrical in saying rediculous things like "it is worth twice what I ask you for it", and then end up being happy to accept a fraction of the original asking price.

Hope you all have a great day, count your blessings.

Nature abhors a vacuum so all my spaces are full! (Don't ask of what... it's all stuff I might need one day, LOL.)

We simply have learned our lessons well; the object you throw in the trash the day the trash collector comes will be the item you need the day after. We have watch cats too. If a burglar came in, they would watch, just like they do with mice.

Yikes- wild things in the house--- I'll pass on that one!! We did have a chipmunk in the house once. Cat kept staring at the woodstove insert thingy. Laid there for several days. Later we found the dried up skeleton.. Sure wish animals could talk!!

Just put up the tomato cages. We're about two weeks late and man was that a job. I broke several pieces off. We always get a flat of plants, so losing a couple will be no loss!!

Went to our local chinese place for dinner last night. Friend of mine won't eat there as she says they reuse the rice. They bring a big covered dish of rice- do you really think they do that??? I kept thinking of that all the while I was eating. While we were there we had an absolsute downpour. And guess who left all the doors and windows open? We came home to a soggy house.

Cloudy here today, but still steamy. This weather is supposed to break next week. I'll be glad to get back to normal temps. I feel like I am having a perpetual hot flash..

What a nice day. Cloudy with patches of blue, cool and dry. Saturday was a lot wetter, but it cleared up enough for me to go to Everett for the Sorticulture festivities. Punctuality has always been very important to me. It's fine to be early and have to wait, but unacceptable to be a minute late. With that in mind I left home in time to contend with traffic and parking, and was surprised to find myself with only 6 or 8 cars in the lot, unheard of, and I wasn't even THAT early! Well, hourly I was OK, but just a week early. It is at a nice Arboretum though so the time was well spent.
The 'Norwegian biscotti' I made this morning is pretty good.Lemon peel,citron,almonds,cardamom and 3oz. of sweet wine for flavoring, and unbleached whole wheat flour, eggs and butter for the base. Need more cardamom next time.
Mary, you've got that "stuff" definition down to a tee.Don't need it till after you throw it away.That trip to and from the Airport must have been tiring.Sounds like he had a good time though.
Sarv, that's something I've often wondered.When they make fried rice who's to know if some leftovers made their way into the new stuff or not? I think the Health Inspectors probably keep an eye out for things like that.
Went for a drive in the country yesterday and stopped at a friends farm where the pasture tenant had unloaded more horses. They were frolicking something fierce. Stampeding,jumping, and having a wonderful time. Quite a sight.

Robert, that's funny about being a week early, LOL. (and actually I have done that myself!) I may have to try biscotti with citron and cardamon. Sounds tasty.

It has rained, and rained, and rained, thanks to Arlene. My creek is very high but I don't think it will flood unless it rains more tomorrow. It's only forecast to rain through the morning. On the other hand, the river my creek runs into has jumped its banks and is headed for the highway.

My first bloom of the season, not counting siberian iris, just opened this morning.

Hello all, haven't been on for the past few days. Been busy preparing to go on vacation. So will be gone til next Sunday. Hopefully this will be a relaxing vacation to Nassau. I will bring you all something back, be watching your mail, as I will mail it out as soon as I get home. Keep the goodies on the counter, and I will catch up when I return. Talk to you soon, Bonnie, defoecat

Goodies on this counter tend to disappear! You have to be quick. A variation on "time waits for no man".

Today was a beautiful day, windy but bearable. Hubby and I went to town and met our son and DIL for breakfast and catching up fom the last month or so while we have all been busy going in different directions. We made a quick stop by their house for DH to look at the son's new work bench and me to ID flowers that our DIL didn't know. They live in a rental and the mystery plants turned out to be peonys in 3 colors, a few lilys not in bloom yet, chrysanthumums of unkowns colors and a lily of the valley or something very similiar. Anyhow, I get to take my shovel and boxes over this fall to get starts of everything! Very cool, don't you think? They'll be moving in a few months so she can take some college classes, she is taking prerequisites for a nursing degree and can get a degree earlier through a different college in a town about 90 miles away. Who knows, maybe they will have another yard with mystery flowers that need dividing. You have to be practical, don't you know.

Robert, what does your friend do with all his horses? There is not another sight quite like horses running and playing! I really enjoy it when mine get going but am always a little afraid they might go through a fence or hurt themselves in some other way. A trip to the vet to get a horse stitched up is no fun. My hubby is another one of those punctual people. We once drove about 150 miles to go to a festival that was the following week. We did find other interesting things to do and then returned a week later to attend the actual event.

Like I said it was a beautiful day. A friend came over about noon and we went out riding for all afternoon. Next week I will go to her place and we will see something different. I rode the horse that had dumped me a few weeks ago at an endurance ride in Idaho, and I hadn't been on her since then because I didn't want to get out there on her alone. She was nervous and full of energy but settled down fairly soon and did just fine. After going over hills and through meadows for over 4 hours she seemed to have just as much energy coming the last two or three miles up the hill to home as when she started. I wish I could say the same for me.

We had spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner tonight after a bunch of mixed raw vegies to munch so nobody would starve to death while the sauce was cooking. None of that bottled stuff for me.

Goodnight everyone.

Good morning all! Guess I'm the early bird today. Mmmmm spaghetti for dinner, I could have that four nights a week and not turn a hair . And no bottled stuff for me either, I've tried many, and the only one I could even use in an emergency is Newman's, the hot stuff, which isn't really very hot. In high school, it was often my quick breakfast because I'm not one for cold cereal, but cold spaghetti was o.k. Teenagers will eat anything.

Today I'm going to cruise the yard and take pictures of all the plants in their current stage of growth...I always say I'm going to do it, so I can compare the early season with the later when things are full grown and blooming, but then I get distracted by weeds, etc. and forget. The roses bloomed just this past week, and in a day or so all the blossoms will be shedding petals.... maybe because it has gotten so darn hot. Had the doors and windows open yesterday almost all day, temp was up in the low eighties, but when I started fixing dinner .....on came the AC!! I could handle heat and humidity when I was younger, but now I want it cool. My sister lived in Formosa, and Thailand for periods of time when her kids were growing up, and doesn't hesitate to bake or paint or whatever regardless of the temperature. She likes it hot, not me!!

Trip to the vet for Hobbes and Oskar this week. My senior citizens are both looking too lean, and I need to have them checked over. Kidney failure usually gets siamese in the end, and they are well into their teens. Gardenwife in one of the other threads just lost her precious Elliot, and I know we are headed in that direction with these boys and I'm not looking forward to it one bit. Especially Oskar, he's my sweet handsome boy, and is such a dear. Mellow temperament, regal bearing, official greeter of guests, mentor to the new additions....sigh....he's one of a kind.

Hoping you all have a good day, I'm off to the shower and daily chores.





This message was edited Jun 13, 2005 6:41 AM

Good morning all! Basement is dry. It's a good day in the neighborhood!!!! LOL I took pictures of my allium yesterday. Here's the pics. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/519625/ They've never been this large! Guess all that rain is good for something.

Anybody have rhubarb goodies to bring? I'm hungry for something rhubarb. Yum Yum! Gotta get ready for work. Talk to all later.

Good morning to you all from me too....Well, this is my last week of work.....What a joke....what woman ever gets to retire....Soon I won't fo to a place and get paid...I will stay home and still work....well you know the rest. I am trying to impress on my DH that all the running around, wash, dishes, cooking, cleaning, etc is still work.....as apposed to sitting as he does watching me.....I WANT TO LIVE LIKE HE DOES....... No more, no less. If it's good for him, it will be good for me....RIght.....
On day we were riding up the coast of Palm Beach, (the island where Trump has his digs) and he asked me if I would REALLY like to live in one of those mansions with all the help. I said, "Sure, I would love to come home and find dinner made, sit down to a hot meal, and when done just get up and go in to watch the news and have someone bring me coffee.....YES....I said, I would love to live like you do!!!!" He glared at me and I thought he was going to stop the car and toss me into the ocean......LOL Well, it's true, dog-nab-it.....I do want to live like he does....I would love to sit and watch someone do the washing, ironing, etc.....and just smile. I told him when I'm 70. I am going to stop everything... no more waiting on anyone.........Seventy Years is enough of anything...........
Off to "Work" in a few mintues....sell ya all later....hope you're still taking to me.....especially the boys..........LOL

Hap
OK,OK, I'm off my soapbox......just had to say it.....Anyone agree........ladies?????????

Oh, yes, I fully agree. My DH really thinks I don't work....although he never complains if things aren't done. In one of our less pleasant episodes, I commented that when he made less money than I did, we prorated our contributions to household, but since I retired, I didn't see a similar proration when my income dropped to half of his We made an adjustment at that point, but only after I sat down and write him a long note, listing all the things that I do that are not apparently visible to him, washing sheets/towels, providing sufficient supplies for bathroom needs, snacks when he wants them, home cooked meals, dishwashing, oven cleaning, washing windows, dusting, vacuuming, general household maintenance, decorating, entertaining, running errands, grocery shopping, phone calls for service.... all things that make his life easier and comfortable. I, too, would like to live like he does!! And the only time I do is when I am on vacation ...and he sure misses me when I'm gone!

To his credit, he does all the kitty scooping and is generous in his time with the gardening, and does his own laundry, but even so, measured by hourly effort, I work more hours than he does. I think they all like a clean house, but not if they have to do it...It just needs to be pointed out to them from time to time that these things don't just happen, brownies don't come in at night and do it, and they need to appreciate it and say so. There are exceptions of course, husbands who cook, shop and etc. but less often in our generation than younger ones. And I don't mind, much of it I do for myself, and it's really nice to be at home after working full time for forty+ years....but still, it is WORK albeit unpaid.

OK I'm off my soap box too but I had to put my two cents worth in on the subject. Have a happy day.