Coffee and...Part 43...! :-D

Back again - had my usual peanutbutter/ on bread topped off by 4 frozen oreos! LOL will I ever change!! DH brought me a glass of oj - he eats good -only he eats enough for three people. Seldom eats junk.

I have to laugh. DH and I have been putting up the gutter screen stuff (loads of maple trees in our yard) Anyhow, we have it all done except for the 20 ft of house that is two story. He didn't want to go on the roof and I wasn't too keen to have him. We asked both DS if they could help -neither jumped at the chance. DH got up this morning all excited. Said he thought about it all night. Here' s the plan - back up the truck camper to the back of the house- climb up the ladder on the truck camper and install the gutter stuff. Hey, I was happy with his idea too - not much chance of falling off! Now we just have to beat the rain!

I'll report back in when it is all done...don't hold your breath however!

And a good Sunday morning to all of you.

Since I was gone again for a couple of days I'm still trying to catch up, got to the end of #42 last evening while I was deaccelerating (new word maybe?) after our 7 hour road trip home. You know that jittery feeling after several hours in a moving vehicle where your body has arrived at home but your nerves are still a ways down the road..........Started reading #43 this morning and about halfway through (after seeing that lovely leather living room furniture!) I just decided to say hello and catch up with the rest of the thread after while.

On Friday my DH had an appointment in Salem, and since we have family in that area he asked if I would go with him. So, I quickly arranged for my neighbor to feed our animals and before it was light we were going down the road. We made about 3 brief stops in the 7 hr trip over, and arrived at our relatives house in plenty of time for a wonderful barbeque dinner on their patio next to a nice firepit built into a rock retaining wall. By the time we got through visiting it was after 10pm and I had been broiling one side of me and freezing the other alternately for a couple of hours. Yesterday we had a leisurely breakfast (waffles made with whole wheat flour she ground minutes before) topped with raspberry flavored yogurt, UMMMM GOOD! We visited the morning away and left after 1pm and arrived home at 8:30.

Darius, I sure hope you can find a nice spot where you can stay without having to uproot again! Often friends are more dependable than relatives, I think because they choose each other. We are much closer with many of our friends than with blood relatives, and have "adopted" many of them. I would never want to try to live with my sister, I know her too well. So, Darius, be thankful that you hadn't moved in with your sis and that you still have some time to find a place since this blowup didn't come at the last minute.

Today I hope to get my hubby helping me with his little bitty chainsaw, I have an ancient lilac that has gotten totally out of control. NO! not the whole thing, just the stems that are wrist size in the midst of that 3 ft wide bundle of stems coming out of the root wad. It needs to be about half as wide and half as tall as it is now. I wanted to trim it this spring after it bloomed but the birds had already made nests in it. We also have some weeping type tree limbs that need to be trimmed so they don't brush against the house in the wind. Also have to pick up those rescued rose bushes and get them into the ground. I hope they come with decent amounts of roots.

Gotta go, will catch up with the rest of your activities later today.

Good Morning everyone!

Darius...I have to agree with Mary, sometimes 'family' is what we choose, not what we are born into. I have two sisters...and heaven forbid the time ever comes when any of us get closer than a few hundred miles from each other. WEeeeeelllll...if we did, the ONE remaining woudl either have a shorter life or free room and board for whatever was left. (Murder seems to come with those kinds of "rewards" these days. LOL)

Maria...it's so nice to see you beginning bounce back. I hope you continue to feel better each day.

SARV!!! You *gotta* quit with the oreos!!! LOL

I *gotta* say THANKS for the big help (and response) you guys have given the 'Regional Forums'. I think they are about the only thing missing here on DG. And no matter where we live, it's always a good thing to be able to easily find others who are in the 'same boat' when it comes to gardening.

M5...I wish I could have found a leather living room set as nice as yours when I bought mine. Yours is the *perfect* size for MY living room. LOL (Mine is a bit too large.) Don't worry if some day soon, you find yours replaced with mine...it's still *leather*. hehehe

It's spitting rain here today...nothing torential but damp and chilling. It only means that I *have* to stay inside and DO those chores I keep putting off until....until...until I *still* don't do them. LOL

Be back later!

~julie~

The size of western states is mind boggling, if I drove for 7 hours I would have gone through 7 or 8 states ending up below the mason-dixon line, :-)) Just to drive to any bordering state around here is quite an adventure for many of us LOL
Maria

Back from breakfast (out) picked up the Sunday papers and we both read through the meal, now I'm caffeined up and ready to face the day. I started moving some of the end tables around in the l.r. so that the loveseat has a table next to it too. Showed DH the first arrangement. He said "fine". Showed him the second arrangement. He said "fine". Suggested a third, he rolled his eyes and left the room. He knows I'll do it my way, regardless. LOL

Sarv, the pickup was a good idea....when DH suggested "we" could do our own restaining on the exterior of the house, I said that's fine, but how about the lower garage side? Since the basement is exposed on that side, it's over two stories high and I do not climb ladders higher than the second step. He reconsidered. The people we got were very conscientious about the flowers and all, but they had to come back because you could see differences in the depth of color, like a big checkerboard. They redid the entire house.

Mary, that trip turned out nicely, I know the feeling when you get off the road after a long one. You feel like you are still moving. Like sailors getting their "land legs"

I've taken up enough space on here for today, but I'll probably catch up again tonight just to see what everyone has been up to. Sunshine to every one. None here.

Sheila

My dh flees in terror when I start looking around the living room while going "Hmmmmm........If we put....." Quickest way to get the room to myself, mwaaahaaahaaa.

Sheila, so happy to know your name, wish every one would use it. much more lke friends
Maria

We should all do that, I've signed it before, but you know we are such gabbygobs, it's hard to remember everyone's. I'm off to the nearest Walmart, DS and DIL need an undercounter coffee maker, and they hit three Wallys near them and none had one. So, I volunteered to check ours. BBL

Sheila, did you read when I mentioned my father was a prisoner at Camp Mcoy? Just curious if you did.
Maria

I was looking through some of my older photos I have on the computer and I found 2 that are still my favorites. If you don't mind, I'd like to share.

JennaRose Lynn (Jenna) at age 3, napping after running around outside barefoot. She slept in this position every time she had a tee shirt on. What a weird kid.

And here is Nathan and Jenna in the backyard. Nathan would have been 13 and Jenna 3. They still liked each other most of the time then, rofl.

so cute and funny, her feet must have felt cold, lol

Gayle...I just love that shot of Jenna! She's all wrapped up in a little cocoon. LOL (Kids *usually* like each other before they get old enough to realize they're *related*!)

Maria...I agree...I like it when people sign their first names. I have to LOL when I think that my 'bestest ever' Internet friend is one that signed on with her Compuserve #...now *that's* hard to remember! HAHAHA

~julie~

Maria, read my 6:52 a.m.post....

Glory Be what a lot I have had to catch up on!!
We took the grand babies to the State Fair on Friday and needed yesterday to recover!! So I'm only just about with it now. This is the DGD on her way home with her "prize". The dragon was naughty on the way back in the car - she said she wasn't making him squeak he was "doing it his shelf" Don't you just love two year olds when you can give them back!!
I'm so glad Maria that you are more 'chipper' and with us again.
Carol, the other one, I do hope your dad is improving by the time you get ther. Parents are as much of a worry as kids! (You might gather I'm asnother worry guts too.)
Darius, what on earth upset the apple cart this time! If things between you are this volatile then you really are better off knowing it won't work out before you are committed. I know you must be worried about being homeless, but I'm absolutely certain that won't happen. None of us are going to leave you totally in the lurch. If we can't do more most of us can at least plant sit for you. If we were nearer I would be over with my spade!
Molly I have been following your "changes" with keen interest. It looks as though that landlord actually did you a favor! The new looks as though it will be splendid when its up and running. All credit to you for offering Darius a bolt hole! if she takes you up on it you may have to watch your waistline though!! Perhaps working on the new yard will compensate for the Calories.
Speaking of which, Sarv if you don't buy Oreos you can't eat them, cut them off your shopping list. Oh and go food shopping on a full stomach. Control at that point is much easier than when you are hungry!! ;>))))

Carol (the English one)

Oooops! Carol (DR)...I forgot to type it... (((~hugs~))) I'm thinking about you, too.
~julie~

Whew! HOW can any of us keep up with everyone on this thread?

Carol/DR, sorry about your dad's stroke. Wishing him wellness and GOOD PT/OT. My mother had good OT/PT but then wouldn't do the exercises after they left.

M5, did I wish you a Happy Birthday? I don't remember but I hope I did!!! (and for Maria: I know her name is Sheila but M5 is so much easier to type!)

Maria, now I remember that when I lived outside Baltimore in the 1960's there were remains of a camp for Japanese POW's on Wilson Point where I lived, just past the Martin-Marietta plant which still had camouflage over the huge roof area.

Casey, I'll be sending you a Dmail shortly.

I think you posted between Sarv and myself, Sheila, never saw yours, wonder why that is? So sorry, I am very slow typist making many errors in other words I am NOT a typist, so by the time I sent it some one beat be to it and I never see it when I come on again
Maria

Sarv, TylenolPM is what my doctor told me to take if I only need it for a couple nights in a row to get back on schedule or to beat the brain into submission. My problem is I start with something small like did I turn shut the dryer door all the way at 10:00pm, gosh how can that little light take up so much energy, I wonder if they make those energy saving ones for the dryer, I could patient that and sell it and make millions, gosh if I had millions the plant I could buy for the new gardens, oh yea I need to call about the landscaper mowing the new property, what else do I need to have done while I am still here................................................4:00AM still awake. The prescription ones, Ambien and Lunesta don't work for me at all.

Sheila-I am so sorry I missed the birthday. I had to scroll up to see how that was missed. You just kinda snuck it in the middle of a sentence. Tricky. I would have had the whole furniture placement thing done before the couches even in the house from the sleepless night I bought them on. LOL My father used to tell us that the best way to have a child do what you want is to wear them out so they have to sit still and listen. That is why he would have us do somesort of backbreaking work when we got into trouble, we had to think about our screw up and how our muscle were going to hurt for hours, then when done, an hour of his lecturing before we could go to bed. Never made the same mistake twice. Gosh I miss him.

Maria, I sure hope that weather clears, you need a few dry sunny days to get your lungs back up and running right. I think you need a Vegas vacation. can drive for 9 hours and never even leave Nevada.

MaryE, welcome home and those waffles sounded wonderful. I agree, I have two older brothers that although if something was to happen to them I would be saddened, I have no contact with them. I cannot accept their lifestyles, and their choice of morals.

Julie, I will try and pop over to your regional boards, I just feel like I am without a region right now. The one I am in, well I haven't planted anything new in 8 months because I knew we wanted to move, and in SC I will just want to get on a plane and figure out how to garden from a distance.

MG, your daughter is beautiful. I have one of my DD when she was 6. I keep it in front of the senior picture. I tell her its because I only want to look at the pictures of the kids I like. Gosh, teen girls are tough. And DH refused to get in a vehicle with her behind the wheel, so since she had been accepted at a musical program at a different school on the opposite side of the valley and I couldn't drive her she had to learn. Thought about picking up drinking as a habit everytime we left the house. Wish I had by the time we would get home. DS is an awesome driver. I never had to tell him anything twice. He just understood how it all works and only needed to feel comfortable with it. Now the youngest, oh no, I am not teaching a kid who has had more broken bones in 11 years then I have had in 41 to drive my car. NOT HAPPENING....

Did I get everyone???? Gosh an aweful lot of thinking for so early in the morn. LOL

Carol - Do you have a hard cover BC Cookbook or a loose-leaf one? I looked at mine and couldn't find a date. Just know I was in grade 8; so it would have been new in the 58-59 school year.

Just backed up and read about your Dad. Will keep him in my prayers.

Donna - nice to hear from you again.

Belated Happy Birthday to M5 (Sheila). Sorry to have missed it. Think I'll reconfigure my DG home page to have the birthdays more prominent.

sarv - I'd gladly send you rain too. It's back here as well and we aren't likely to see sun again until maybe Tuesday . When I cut down my peonies yesterday they had powdery mildew on the stalks. Into the city yard-waste instead of my compost.

Maria, if you're still coughing at night maybe you need a touch of Scotch on the beside table for when you wake up. Works like a charm.

re the size of western states, try Canadian provinces. You can drive for two days in Ontario and not get to the other side of it.

Gayle - nice pics

okus (Carol) wrote

Well we are going to pack up the kids and take them out to Red Rock for awhile. Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.

MG and Darius, I wish for an extra dose of sunshine for you both. You have had a rough week.

Casey

CAsey, what a good idea, lol my favorite drink, one single malt scotch, have some once or twice a week , will do that tonight :-)))
Maria

Sheila, M5, I missed your birthday, shame on me! Thats what comes of rushing to try and catch up - I'm sorry. I hope it wasn't all grotty. I'm sending one of my "flying flowers" as a belated greeting.


Carol

Hey, I don't see M5 on the birthday list... no wonder some of us missed it!
http://davesgarden.com/birthdays.php

M5, Sheila, When was your Birthday? I'm so sorry, I seem to have missed it as well, and I try so hard to make sure that doesn't happen!

Here is a cute kitty saying sorry, I tried for a "meezer', but couldn't find one that in any way looked apologetic!

Happy Belated Birthday to you!
Happy Belated Birthday to you!
Happy Belated Birthday dear Sheila!
Happy Belated Birthday to you!

Darius, check the list for February. There are people that picked the 30th and the 31st! How funny is that??

Well, I have been a slug today. We got up and rounded up DM's and took them to church with us. Both are declining fast. My DM uses a walker, and DMIL, needs to use one but doesn't want anyone to think she is old. (87). Came home had some chili for lunch, read awhile and took a nap. Mr. B. (my Jack Russell) was right by my side. He is so funny, and I love him dearly!! Just now catching up for the whole day. Our weather has been cold and rainy. Started to rain sometime in the night, and is still raining. Just the drizzly kind. My neighbors mother died late Friday evening, and I am going over there in a bit to take some food. They are strange people, but we like them both. They are both retired, lived in Virginia, but bought land here and built a (get this) 9,000sq ft house. It looks kinda like a big office building, but beautiful inside. After that, got to get busy and straighten/clean the house, as twin sister is coming on Tuesday to spend a few days. I don't know why I worry so, she has a cleaning lady, and the only cleaning lady here is the resident.LOL But still like to have everything nice. Well, I wish the best to DR's dad. Sorry to hear of the stroke. I won't comment on any other posts, but will catch up with you all tonight.

darius, I take it you didn't make it to the round-up either. I really wanted to go but spent too much money going to Wrightville Beach in September to check on family & friends after Hurricane Ophelia. I also spent this past Thursday & Friday at a seminar in Asheville and spent one night in a hotel because of how long the drive would be from Toxaway to Asheville in the morning.
You won't believe what I just found. 3 bags of elephant ears that I forgot to plant this year. eek. But I'm going to pot the African Amyrillis and see if it will make it.

Betty, I made it to the Blue Ridge RU, just not to the KY one. Had a great time and Nancy (downscale_babe) and her DH served a wonderful middle eastern lunch!

Got my cup of green tea with honey, hmmm, what's on the counter? I really don't need a snack, I just had a sandwich.

Happy belated birthday, M5. You just go celebrate again, that's ok with me.

We gave the big ole lilac a major haircut. Hubby got the small chain saw and started cutting anything too large to be cut with loppers or hand pruners. Well, that was almost everything! The root wad is almost 3 feet across! Nope, I'm not worried that it may die, I don't think we could kill this thing with a bulldozer! Now the iris, painted daisys, mums, etc that were getting too much shade from it should really come to life next spring. I'll post a picture taken last summer so you can see what a large bush it was, my hubby says it was at least 15 ft tall and about 12 ft wide. It is the large darker green bush just to the right of the pole with the birdhouse. About 5 years from now it will have regrown to a size where it can be kept pruned by someone (me) standing on a step ladder. That will be big enough!

Darius, I just read something you posted about getting older and liking yourself, could you paste that into this thread or link us to over here? It is excellent but my memory isn't so I have already forgotten what forum I was visiting. My son tells me the mind is the first thing to go...........

I have a nice old cookbook too, well, not in good shape but there are nice things in it. It's a looseleaf type so it lies flat on the counter, Better Homes and Gardens, 1937, same vintage as my hubby! (Both are a little tattered). The photos in it are great as are some of the descriptions on selecting foul and having them drawn by the butcher. Apparently they must have been sold picked and singed but with innards intact. That idea is long gone in our western world. The pictures of a modern electric stove and canning methods are great, also the nurse looking uniforms the test kitchen employees are wearing give me a smile.

Time to get back outside and make use of this beautiful sunny day. We won't have a lot more like this one.

As MaryE requested:

Darius, I really like that story/poem. Although I am not that old yet, I feel myself starting to like myself much more then I did when I was in my twenties. I don't seem to care what others think much anymore and try to treat each person as if it will be the last time I see them.

We changed plans once we got into the car. My youngest son made a comment of how he has never seen a train up close. So that inspired DH and me to take them all out to the heritage museum. It was fun. I did manage to get used as an excape vehicle by some rebel seeds of a plant I have never seen before. They hijacked my purse. It was a nasty fight but I decide to grant them asylum at my home.

Mary I love your Lilac. Mine have taken so much pampering to get them to the 4 ft height. I plan on taking some cuttings of mine with me when I move. I hope there with the milder summer, more humidity and colder winters it will grow better.

Casey

Hi everyone,

DR I hope your dad comes through with flying colors. I have an aunt who has diabetes, congestive heart failure, and has had two rather nasty strokes, but she's still with us and still raring to go. If anybody's planning a trip or wants to try an exotic restaurant, there's Ruth --first in line.

Mary, we have that kind of lilac too, but my mother and one of the neighbors attacked it with a chain saw and it's looking somewhat unbalanced. Some of the branches are dying too, but if we take them off we'll have nowhere to hang some of the birdfeeders. I have a couple of glass balls hanging from it too. They're supposed to soak up the sunshine and then glow in the dark. Unfortunately, they mostly just disappear once it gets dark. Oh well, they looked real neat in the catalog.

M5 sorry I missed your birthday too. Given that nobody else seemed to have gone out of their way to celebrate it, I think you ought to give yourself a birthday gift of a day spent doing exactly what you want to do. The worst one I ever spent was my fiftieth, stuck in a B&B in Scotland and moping about in the lounge with a great big sheepdog. (I'm a cat person, by the way --- don't quite understand dogs.)

Darius, I'm only 7 years younger than you, but it sure was a whole different generation! (I was a little before my time too ---- really couldn't relate to my classmates, but fit right in with the next year's group.) I can relate to some of what you said, but find that inside, I'm mostly still the person I was at sixteen. I've always had a battle with flab so that's not new, but I sure don't much care for the extra aches and pains and the sleepless nights. All in all though, I'm grateful to be as healthy as I've been so far. Don't mind the gray so much as the fact that my hair seems to have turned into some sort of fine wire. Wrinkles? Don't go there!

Maria, using real names is a nice idea generally, but I'm having enough trouble keeping people straight in my head as it is. When you start to add in multiple Carols and Anns, etc. I give up! In my case, my first name has never been a hit with me. I should have changed it years ago, but inertia won.

Dcat, mg, jullie, Carat, okus, Viola Ann, woodspirit, sarv, tuttifrutti, magoobu, Molly, BB, and jasmerr ---- hi to you all. I do enjoy reading your posts, but by the time I get around to posting something my poor old memory just isn't up to the task. Please don't feel that I'm forgetting about you, though. By the way, has anyone heard from Joyous lately?

Enough for now. I'm off to make some candles.

McCool, thanks so for thinking of me, would you believe I just now caught up on this thread. I don't even have time to get to the greenhouse thread, which I need help badly from. It is cold here and I want so to keep my plants out there at least through the holidays.

Belated Happy Birthday M5........as with many here I understand the 'forgetfulness' of family thank the Good Lord for friends. lol

Hugs and prayers to dr's dad and also to her and her mom. Parents oh how they do pull at our heart strings. My dm sits in a catatonic state in a local nursing home struck down in her late 60's by Alzheimers she is now 77.5 and has been there 3 1/2 years. This nasty nasty disease is so heavy on both sides of my family.......

I know I have missed replying to so many posts, you all are like sisters and a brother thrown in for safe keeping. If we can ever pull a GOB's reunion I would move heaven and earth to be there with all of you.

Keep typing, I'll keep reading, laughing, crying and praying with a post put in when I can catch up with you all.

Joy

night all...........I, thankfully, seldom have that problem of not sleeping, probably because I exhaust myself lugging this big ol body around. My problem is staying awake till bedtime. lol ....... yawn........

Please don't chat tooooooooo much tonight then I can get a good start early in the morning.

night night sleep tight

Joy

Joy, I'm still serious about a GOB reunion. Give me some windows next spring that you are available. We can narrow a weekend down from there.

And I'm glad to see you post, I was wondering what you were up to.

Darius, just loved your post in response to being old. I don't consider myself old at 58, but my attitudes sure have changed in the last few years. I think that while I was working, I didn't have time for much of anything else. Now, if I get up in the morning, and feel like doing nothing, I don't feel guilty about it. I sure do like myself a lot better now. I think that I have finally reached maturity!!

Joyous, glad to see you again. I too, was wondering about you.

Morning Gayle, I would so love to have a GOB runion, and finally meet all these great gals, and guys!!

Carat, I smiled about those seeds attacking your purse, I too seem to have that same problem when I am out and about. I took cuttings from a friends tree last night. He didn't know what it is, but said it blooms purple 2x a year. I thought of lilac, but the leaves don't look like it. I think it is in the magnolia family. So I am going to give a try to root these cuttins.

|McCool, I have those disappointing moments, when I have ordered something and it turns out to be much less than the catalogue pictured!!

Mary, glad you had a productive day. Sounds like with more sun, your other plants will thank you next spring.

MorningGayle, you mean to tell me that there are 31 days in February? That sure is news to me!!

Well since I last posted, went to neighbors who had lost DM. Took some food, and just chatted with him and DW. Then took our Sunday paper to another neighbor, and chatted with her. I am so blessed that I have 2 neighbors that have become friends. MY twin sister is coming down Tuesday, and I invited both of them to come have dessert and coffee on Tuesday night. She has met them and loves them both. Then there is a church about 5 miles from here that had closed down, and recently has been reopened. Went there, and enjoyed the service. Home to read, then Watched Desperate Housewives. I missed one episode, and am totally baffled by the black family. Anyone who is a fan, please try to fill me in on this situation.

Oh well, our weather is quite chilly tonight, and our outside cat Patches, aka Fat Cat, just now wanted to be let in the laundry room for the night. So folks that is the official declaration of Winter!! She stays outside until the weather turns cool, then she wants in for the night.

Mr. B. has been so clingy the last couple of days, I don't know what is going on with him. If I sit, he is beside me, if I am in the kitchen, he is right by my feet, and bedtime, he is snuggled as close as he can get. I sure hope that is not a bad omen for me or him either.

Well off to bed, where I can cuddle with 2 cute guys!! One furry, one not as much.

Sweet dreams to all of you, and if your weather is cool, hope you have someone to snuggle with.

Joy,

My heart aches for you as you live through this trying time with your mother. My dm had dementia. They never called it Alzheimers and she was 80 or nearly so when the first symptoms appeared. She lived her last 5 years in a nursing home environment (in Rochester, NY) and I was able to visit about every 6 weeks. For me it was a 5 hour drive. For my sister in Alaska it was a whole day's journey; so she didn't visit often. I certainly felt that dm died about a year or more before her body quit functioning and it was quite awful to go through. When she finally passed away, there was relief rather than grief as all the grieving had been done in advance.

I can only hope that your trials with your dm will not be too painful.

Darius, I enjoyed your post. There is a freedom about getting older, for sure.

Just in about an hour ago from a rehearsal. Must get to bed.

Good night all.

Ann

D-cat, you want the lowdown, lol?

Quick recap of season 2, eppy 1: http://abc.go.com/primetime/desperate/recaps/201.html?photo=1

In depth recap (note, they call Zach/Dana=Zana most of the time) http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/story.cgi?show=142&story=8298&limit=&sort=

I love TWOP's recaps, they notice things I don't and really analize it better, I read the recaps even when I've watched shows 'cuz I miss so much!

It stopped raining for a while anyway but it is raw and damp but I decided to visit a friend this PM, (she also has lost her husband,) whom I see almost every sunday, we have tea and cookies I usually do not eat them don't care much for sweet stuff. After that I picked up a few things at a convinient store and scratched a few instant tickets from the state lottery, I was lucky I won $650. 00 now that was worth going out into that awful day!
Now good night to all of you I am ready for bed
Maria