Best/ worse/ ? did you learn today? #107 visit with friends!

I've more photo's but am sure that will give you an idea of our day..

Lots of friends and family...while we were biking there were many who brought in plege sheets who weren't riding in the rain...

What did he raise...

On the Cancer Society donation pledge area under Kyle's name was a little more than $350 I believe...

On site pledge sheets which money's were turned in...a little more than $3,000 and still more to come...

Would say by the time all has been turned in our boy is very close to raising $4,000 for the cure...

Excellent day and a happy but cold and tired grandma....

thanks for joining me in the day!

OOOOPS, forgot the photo...

Give the young man a big hug and congratulations from all of us!! Sounds like he did a wonderful job!!

Thanks Trisha..Suzanne will be hurting tomorrow, she fell twice...not sure if you have the gate system for your trails...about the size of a double door with metal post between..unless you bike a lot it's difficult NOT to hit the enclosure and post..Suzanne managed to hit it and fall not once but twice...her hand is all blue, am sure she'll be sore tomorrow...

In all the excitement of the weekend I forgot to post the lovely 'fat quarters' I've received from Linda Kay...have to start looking for a special quilt pattern amongst my books..you know what, maybe as I'm still frozen I'll get them out and in between painting the floormat I'll look through the magazines and find me a friendship quilt..

did it again didn't I..forgot the photo

We did have those stupid gates....but our bike club has some members involved with state and local government. The money for the gates was supplied by a Federal program. The gates did not comply with Federal Standards.....in addition they created a real problem for Handicap Access. They spent a good deal of time fighting it out but we managed to get all the gates removed.!!! Now the only thing at intersections are painted markings and a single bright yellow post in the middle of the trail......has to be the one best thing our club has done for the cycling community......if you think the single bikes have a problem you should have seen us try and get our Tandem bike through those gates.

Because Trisha they were at each road crossing I thought perhaps their purpose was to slow the bike speed down for safety reasons..guess if you bike a lot it's different, not difficult to ride in/out of them but for someone who doesn't ride a lot it can be dangerous...

We found them to be dangerous even for experienced riders....we had several people fall, a couple got broken fingers from hitting their handlebars on the gates and handicapped people on trikes and recumbents could not get through with out a great deal of difficulty. No One is missing the gates...and everyone has seemed to be doing well at watching for traffic at the warning posts (except for our x=boss who wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ran into the post, but that is another issue!)

As for wheelchairs Trisha, are motorized wheelchairs acceptable..here they are not and really they should be...come to think of it, doubt one could bet a wheelchair between those posts but surely they can or there would be h(el to pay...

Bathed, warm, now I'm going to get cozy between coats of paint...down here looking for where I put all those quilt blocks...

Can life be any better than this?

Our paths are designated for and striped for all types of use except motorized vehicles....but motorized wheel chairs are acceptable.... at least in the case of bike paths they do not include wheelchairs in the "vehicle" classification.

Don't envy you the job with the stepping stones.......my circle for the birdbath is only about 3 feet across but just getting that small space devoid of sod is doing me in. The dog and I are taking a short break as she has to try and grab and help shake out each piece of sod before it goes over the fence. And of course since we decided to do this while it is cool and cloudy we get nice warm sun breaks now....so in to change to shorts and a tank.....

DH and Sage cut the sod for me before she left. He hasn't been out back in awhile (not a lawn and garden type at all) but he commented that it is starting to look a lot nicer out back than the last time he was out there (I think that was last summer)! It is nice when someone else notices and appreciates your work. Just wish I could stay at it longer and get more done. I have lots of good ideas just don't have the stamina or the finances to go along with it...ends up being more of what can we make out of nothing or find on the roadside for free.

Well, got my breath back and our team has a two point lead....so break over and back to digging....BBL

Well here is Porter surveying our work so far....

This is my HI garden...(Herbs and Iris)

The evergreen shrub is coming out very soon and that small Triangle is where the Lawn Swing will take up residence so that Larry (My Lawn Guy) doesn't have to worry about it....

This is the front yard and Herb garden of my neighbor down the street....going to check with him and see if he would be interested in letting me thin out some areas for him and add them to my garden plan.....I am so envious of his property right now....but I am making progress...

Trisha you've done wonders...it takes time..I'm not the waiting type of person..lol..glad you are..I love the fencing in the back, is it bamboo..

Here you are working up a sweat and I'm getting ready for bed...is that a smoke tree in your neighbors yard?

Noticed your iris, when I got home this aft. there is one open..am sure by the weekend they will all be on display...mine is same color as yours I believe..did want to purchase some purple to go with my yellow but don't think I didn..guess I won't know till they open..

Your porter is much like my sailor...she's more anxious for me to play ball then checking things out...

Love the birdbath, DH shouldn't have to go to close for cutting purposes should he? men, saying it looks nicer than before to them is a great compliment..

I don't think Trisha you need mega $$$ to do a yard or house..I always say I'm decorating and gardening on a dime...

Just walk down the street or streets, try and see if someone is out, ohhh and ahhhh as much as you can and I'm sure because you've shown how interested you are in their gardens they just might offer a plant..know I would..sure wish I could send flowers over the border, I'd be sending you some...

Have a handfull of quilt books, was going to try and finish the linoleum for the little cafe table/chairs on front deck but you know, I'm just too tired...only thing left was veining and putting some butterflies..thought I had a butterfly stencil but must have loaned it up so will call it a night as far as work goes..

Accomplished everything on my 'todo' list and more..bet you are all tired of seeing the photo's I've posted..promise, will cut down on them...

Trying to match this linoleum which will be outside to the pillows that are on the chairs..not spending mega time because as I said Diane gave me this piece of linoleum, think it is old and a bit of a curve to it...perhaps it will flatten completely when in the sun if not, then I've not wasted time making it, who cares....

Trisha, didn't want to go back and look at the photo and zap my post would have been in cyber space...

I keep eyeing those rhubbarb leaves...yes I am...as for the area around the birdbath...if you dug a hole about 4 or 5 inches here and there in the ground close to the birdbath then get a bag of cement, fill each one, you'd have a pretty area, then some creeping thyme or such between the rocks...what I do when I pour something similar is get an old shoe and tap it in the cement to give the top a bit of texture...couldn't you just see it with ground flowers coming in between the rocks???

These are far between but closer and no grass between them would do the trick...

Edited to read...

crazy me, you probably have a whole yard or area nearby to get flat rocks and here I'm telling you to dig hole, fill with cement...sorry!



This message was edited Jun 7, 2009 6:11 PM

No bamboo fencing any longer, the owners replaced it with brown plastic ype strips....but that is better than the awful white "venetian blind" type metal strips on the back fence.....eventually hope to plant enough climbing vines and shrubs to cover the back fence.....it is extremely bright in summer!

The purple tree in the neighbors yard is some type of ornamental cherry......Smoke Bush is one of the shrubs I want to put along my back fence..the birds love it.

That was sort of the idea I had....the birdbath is a start. The guy who mows my back yard just likes to walk in go up and down the yard a couple of times and be done with it...at $5 a week I can't complain too much. But eventually I would love to do the cement stones with creeping thyme and other stepables between them to replace all of the grass except one small area for Porter and the cat...otherwise they choose my favorite plants to try and nap on. School is out in two weeks then Laura, Sage and I can out and do some rock collecting (and a little guerilla gardening.....ie. liberating some plants from roadside ditches). I want to get some of the native Foxglove and Lupine to add to my garden as well as some of the Columbine... I also still want to make the Rhubarb leaf garden bench....saw a garden bench yesterday where they had used two large ceramic pots turned upside down as the base for their slab bench....it looked very nice as the pots were the ones with the Italian Style decoration on them. As my entire back yard fence to fence is only 43 x 20 I would like have tall shrubs and plants along the fence...working down is size , shape and texture, with minimal grass, turning it into an Outdoor Room more than a yard.....a bird and butterfly room....oh yes and must not forget my visiting racoons and bunnies.

Betty, the linoleum rug is beautiful!
Get some rest tonight!
LK

No we have a lot of glacial rock, small, medium and large rounded rock....flat type stones are much more difficult to come by.

This is a pic of the Mima Mounds south of town.....each of those mounds in the back ground, if you dig into them, is a pile of rock and dirt left by glaciers.

Looks like a great match between the Lino and the pillow....that is really beautiful! maybe that is what I need to do for indoor rugs....Bill wouldn't be able to curl the edges on those so easily as he does my current Oriental type rugs. They would be much easier to clean also. I wish the owners would just let us pull all the carpet and put in wood floors.

Of course I had to go open my photo's and you know what happened...this Trisha is our landscape just north of us...this was taken just up the bay from where my home was on Georgian Bay

No need to wonder why boat repair for props and bottom ends are so lucrative...

My cousin Doug's place...not a lot of grass cutting here is there...

The smoke tree Trisha that I have will grow larger than an oak tree..just moved it last year after realizing that...

OMG love the mounds..do you get in trouble for digging or are they just in fields..isn't that something..one of these days I'm going to go west and visit..such different landscape...an outdoor room would look so pretty Trisha...

Was laughing, thought you said it was your DH who cuts the grass then read you paid him $5.00 a week..omg, no wonder he mows some of the plant life down..lol..kidding of course...

LindaKay, you were away...did you enjoy yourself?

No, the reason I have Larry come in once a week is #1 no place here to store a mower and #2 if I left it for Bill to mow by the time he could be badgered into doing it you would need a hay baler, not a mower.......he doesn't like the lava rock in front and the pea gravel that mom has in place of grass in back...but isn't interested in doing any kind of yard work. So I do what I can and what I enjoy and we scrape up enough every month to have Larry and Antonio deal with the mowing, major weeding and blackberries.

Hey Trisha, Betty & All

Trisha - your herbs are huge! Makes mine look tiny. I think I see Rosemary...what herbs do you have planted?

Betty - What a full day! I am very proud of Kyle! I know you are....as well....

Goodness Trisha - $5 for mowing...that's a great deal!

Hugs,
Mary

Hi Mary.....$5 is good, but my grass is a total of about 35 x 12 feet and it takes him five minutes or less to mow it all!

Herbs....not enough...... right now I have Rosemary (need a new one), Golden Oregano, Savory, Thyme, Basils, Parsley, Garlic, Chives, Tarragon, Fernleaf Dill, Yarrow, Lemon Balm, Common Sage, mint, catnip, Borage, Lavender, Monarda, California Poppy, Golden Hops.....may have a few others but have those memory issues......

Smile


SAYING GOODBYE TO MOTHER:


You don't have to own a cat to appreciate this one!

We were dressed and ready to go out for the New Years Eve Party.

We turned on a night light, turned the answering machine on, covered our pet parakeet and put the cat in the backyard. We phoned the local cab company and requested a taxi. The taxi arrived and we opened the front door to leave the house. The cat we put out in the back yard, scoots back into the front door.

We didn't want the cat shut in the house because she always tries to eat the bird. My wife goes out to the taxi, while I went inside to get the cat.

The cat runs upstairs, with me in hot pursuit. Waiting in the cab, my wife doesn’t want the driver to know that the house will be empty for the night. So, she explains to the taxi driver that I will be out soon, 'He's just going upstairs to say Goodbye to my mother.'

A few minutes later, I get into the cab. 'Sorry I took so long,' I said, as we drove away. 'That stupid bag was hiding under the bed. I had to poke her with a coat hanger to get her to come out! She tried to take off, so I grabbed her by the neck. Then, I had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching me. But it worked! I hauled her fat butt downstairs and threw her out into the back yard!

The cab driver hit a parked car.

Oh Tubby, that is hilarious! Thanks for the giggles!

Betyy, I am here, just don't spend too much here on the week-ends. Just busy with hubby, doing yard work, we set up the wal mart blue pool yesterday. Boy did that feel good, once we got it filled, then we dunked ourselves! So refreshing.
LK

Ha Tubby!

Trisha - the herbs in your picture are so huge! I would like to try to grow more... I had a master gardener tell me that we can't grow thyme and sage in LA because of the humidity...

I sure have killed a lot of thyme! and a sage and 2 lavendars....but my rosemary is huge....(actually have to credit DH with that one....he planted it)

Betty - you are sure in a beautiful area...it reminds me of Ft Walton Bch FL, where I went to High School....on the water, and a small town where most know each other....

Back in a bit....
Mary

We had a pool like that Linda Kay!

Great times in that pool! And it was only ....like $300 or so.....the kids loved it!

Morning All
Mighty quiet here..
Smile


Girlie Wisdom!

1. A friend of mine confused her Valium with her birth control pills... she has 14 kids but doesn't really care..

2. One of life's mysteries is how a 2-pound box of chocolates can make a woman gain 5 lbs.

3. My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely.

4. The best way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes.

5. The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you are doing, someone else does.

6. The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.

7. Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today..

8. Sometimes I think I understand everything, and then I regain consciousness.

9. I gave up jogging for my health when my thighs kept rubbing together and setting fire to my knickers'.

10. Amazing! You hang something in your closet for a while and it shrinks 2 sizes!

11. Skinny people irritate me! Especially when they say things like...'You know sometimes I forget to eat!' .....Now I've forgotten my address, my mother's maiden name and my keys, but I have never forgotten to eat. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat!

12.. The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing and then they marry him.

13. I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That's my idea of a perfect day!


LIVE SIMPLY......LAUGH OFTEN....LOVE DEEPLY

Congrats to Kyle and all the people who participated in the Ride for the cure.
Nice of the mayor to come out too and honour Kyle.

Cheers,
Carol

Smile

My ex-wife started taking flying lessons about the time our divorce started and she got her license shortly before our divorce was final - later that same year.

Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call that she narrowly escaped injury in the aircraft she was piloting. Seems she was forced to make an emergency landing in Omaha because of bad weather.

Thank God the kids weren't with her.

The FAA issued a preliminary report, citing pilot error: She was flying a single engine aircraft in IFR (instrument flight rating) conditions while only having obtained a VFR (visual flight rating).

The absence of a post-crash fire was likely due to insufficient fuel on board. No one on the ground was injured.

The photograph below was taken at the scene to show the extent of damage to her aircraft.

She was really lucky.

Morning....overcast, calling for rain, nice day to be at work (did I say work) everyone is away today so virtually I could lay on the couch just feet from me and have a nap..would I hear the telephone though???

No need, did have a great nights sleep, all rested up..

Carol, are you have much the same weather...the good news of the day is that they are calling for hot sunny weather for the weekend..wouldn't that be something, 2 days in a row and on a weekend no less...are you still going swimming and dancing?

LindaKay,every summer I think of getting one of those pools, just need the small one, just enough to cool down but you need your yard totally fenced in and I don't have it so..trees surround the property but no fence..do you have those regulations....as for the material you sent me, can you believe when I was in Buffalo and at Joanne's I bought 2 of same...by the time I get to Elmvale (little fabric store..actually Stacey bought a few yards of fabric, pretty gold and silver threads through the fabric) it's closed so will have to wait until Friday to start my fabric search...just maybe this afternoon if construction on this road has ceased I'll go to the other Wool/Quilt shop and see what they have..omg hearing you all talk about Joanne's fat quarters for .99...bet I'll pay anywhere from $3. - $5. for them....lucky you...

So laughing, tubby how funny...love it...

LOL Tubby!!!!

Betty I'm so glad the day went so great! And he even got to meet the Mayor, now that's cool!! Thanks for the pics. I hope Suzanne didn't hurt herself, I don't bicycle but had a boyfriend for a while who did and he told me about those gates, said they are bad bad bad.

I'll have to catch up with everyone later, got lots of work to do today.

Have a great day everyone!

How very proud you and your family must feel. What a tremendous undertaking for such a young man. Kyle is to be held in the highest esteem. Dealing with cancer as we are right now it is truly heartwarming to us and SO meaningful. Please give him hugs and the greatest of thanks from Norm and I.. Hugs, Barb

Hey Betty, no regulations here. When I first read your post, I just thought you wanted privacy, and was going to tell, you don't need the privacy fence, unless you were going to go skinny dipping! LOL, then I said, no not Betty?
We have the 12 foot one, and that is plenty for us here. It is so refreshing to go and sit in, when the temps reach 90 - 100+.

Good luck finding the fat quarters! I got a few of those at Joannes, but some came from hobby lobby. I wish all places had good prices on the fabric. Sewing is getting to be such a pricey thing to do!
Have a good day everyone!
LK