T’was The Monday Before Easter…

I’ve been MIA from blog land for a few days…again.  I continue to find it more difficult to blog lately.  It seems like there’s always something else to do, or I don’t feel like writing.

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but it was a chilly weekend where we live!  After several days of  wearing shorts, we had to drag our coats out again 😦  We also had to drag out buckets to cover our squash plants out in the garden.  We woke up to a light dusting of frost on Sunday morning!  Other than being cold, the weekend was sunny and nice.  Both afternoons warmed up enough to require only a long-sleeved shirt.

Ed and I got a nice surprise, on Friday afternoon, when our son, Brad, came by for a surprise visit!  He was working nearby, got off early, and decided to pay us a visit before heading home.  (His wife, Jennifer, was working late.) What a great way to kick off the weekend, and I needed the distraction because I wasn’t feeling my best that day!

I seem to be having more and more days when I’m not feeling my best.  My lowering levels of hormones have caused my rheumatoid arthritis to become active again.  I’m experiencing more fatigue and joint pain/stiffness. I’m moving like a little old lady, these days, especially after sitting for a while! The lower hormone levels are causing me to have mood swings, as well.  At the moment, my moods seem to alternate between mad and sad, with very little glad in between.  (Poor Ed!)  This is not a good way to be!  I’m hoping and praying this will soon pass.

Ed continues to stay as ‘busy as a little beaver’ doing things around the house.  It’s nice to have him around to fix things.  I always have a ‘honey do’ list for him!  He doesn’t like to stay inside, but he’ll tackle any outside projects with a smile.  Today’s project is getting our tomato and pepper plants set out in the garden–before the rain that’s expected this afternoon!  I should mention, we’re throwing caution to the wind by going against the advice of the Farmer’s Almanac and planting today.  We’ll see how it goes.

This is shaping up to be a busy week, leading up to Easter.  There’s a lot to be done between now and then, so I’d better get busy.  Have a great Monday!

Hoppin’ Into Another Hodgepodge…

Once again, I find myself hoppin’ into another edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge, brought to us courtesy of Joyce @ From This Side Of The Pond.  Thanks, Joyce!  With both of us now having retired hubbys at home, I appreciate all that you do even more 🙂   Here are today’s questions:

1. This coming weekend is Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week. Do you celebrate Easter in your home? What was your favorite Easter tradition as a child?

We’ve always celebrated Easter in our home, and still do. We’ve done it all– colored eggs, attended Easter services, experienced annual visits from the Easter Bunny, cooked the noon meal, and hosted the afternoon egg hunt.  It makes me tired just thinking about all of the activities!

As a  child, my favorite Easter tradition was probably coloring Easter eggs, although I enjoyed getting a new Easter outfit, too.

2. George Weinberg is quoted as saying, ‘Hope never abandons you, you abandon it.‘ Agree or disagree? Share your own thoughts on the word hope.

I agree with Mr. Weinberg.  I believe there is always Hope, but, sometimes, when the going gets extremely tough, people tend to forget this and give up.  My thoughts on hope?  “God can.”

3. Weigh in with a yay or nay on the traditional Easter candies. A solid milk chocolate bunny? Cadbury Creme Eggs? Peeps? Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs? Jellybeans? Coconut Cream Eggs? Of the candies listed, which one would you most like to find in your Easter basket?

Solid milk chocolate bunny – Yay (especially if it’s Dove chocolate)  

Cadbury Creme Eggs – Nay

Peeps – Yay

Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs – Yay

Jellybeans – Yay (especially black or orange ones!)

Coconut Cream Eggs – Never tried them

Just put a Dove chocolate bunny and a few jellybeans in my basket, and I’ll be happy, but, actually, Brach’s ( marshmallow) chicks and bunnies are my favorite Easter candy.

4. When did you last feel ‘like a kid in a candy store’?

The last time I felt like a ‘kid in a candy store’ was the last time I visited Hobby Lobby.  I love that store, and I always enjoy bringing home something from there, too!  It’s been about six or seven weeks since I was last there, and I bought a Valentine’s Day decoration for the front porch.

 5. What’s something you know you do differently than most people? Does that bother you? Does it bother other people?

I write with my left hand, but I crochet and use the scissors with my right hand.  It doesn’t bother me or anyone else, to my knowledge.  I’m just thankful I don’t have to use left-handed scissors.

6. Palm Springs CA, Palm Beach FL, or the PALMetto State…of the three mentioned, which sunny spot would you most like to visit right now? Which have you visited at one time or another?

I’d like to visit Palm Beach FL. because I love Florida, I love the beach, and Florida isn’t far away from Georgia, where I live.  Actually, to tell the truth, I’d be thrilled to visit any beach right about now!!!

I’ve visited parts of the PALMetto State, a few times, Hilton Head and Charleston, to be exact, and I loved both places.

7. If you could change the length of a day would you lengthen it or shorten it? Tell us why.

If I could change the length of a day, I’d lengthen it because I’m getting  slower as I age, and there never seems to be enough hours in a day to accomplish all of the things I want to do.  Perhaps a few more hours would help!

Random:  

Spring is here!

 

We’re ready for Easter at our house!

 Inside and out!

Rainy Days And Mondays…

Another week has come and gone.  Last week, Ed celebrated his two month anniversary of being a retired man.  I intended to write a thoughtful and reflective post concerning the past two months, but, somehow, I never got around to it.  Too busy living life, I guess.  Time is flying!

The beautiful weather we enjoyed so much at the beginning of last week, has since left us.  It’s been replaced by the cool, wet weather that Ed dislikes so much.  It’s supposed to be like this for the entire week.  I’m thinking, Oh, boy!  This is going to be a really long week!  Of course, the weeks are never long, anymore.

Our weekend was jam-packed with all sorts of family time.  On Friday night, our daughter and oldest son, and their families joined us to catch up on, and laugh about, the events of the week.  Now that Thursday was behind us, we could laugh about all of the events of that day.  (If you missed the post about last Thursday, it was a good one.)

On Saturday, our youngest son and his family were finally able to join us for a visit.  It had been five long weeks since we’d seen them, due to illness and other things!  They hadn’t planned to stay overnight, on Saturday, but they bought toothbrushes, borrowed some clothes, and stayed anyway.  I don’t know if it was because it was unplanned or because we hadn’t seen them in so long, but it was a really good visit.  The best part for them– they didn’t have to pack and unpack either!

Our youngest grandson, Evan,  had totally changed in the five weeks since we’d seen him.  He’s rapidly transitioning from baby to boy, as youngsters tend to do during their second year of life.  You could almost see the wheels turning in his head, as he explored everything!  I heard him say three words together, two different times.  One of the phrases was “I did it!”  His greatest pleasure, this weekend, seemed to be my collection of books.  He was constantly bringing one of his parents a book to read, then suddenly he discovered great pleasure in throwing the books over our baby gate, to his cousins who were playing on the other side.  I tell you, that boy’s brain is always working!  He’s going to be a smart one.

On Saturday night, for a while, Ed and I were able to enjoy our entire family together, under our roof, once again. These moments are becoming increasingly rare.  It was good to watch all of the grandchildren playing with each other.  I hope, at times like these, the cousins will make memories that will last a lifetime.  All are growing us so quickly!

In addition to the time spent with family, Ed and I did a few things around the house.  He finished a project concerning some planters at each end of our yard swing.  I’m planning to plant some running, blooming, vines on each end of the swing, which are supposed to attract hummingbirds.  We’ll see how it goes.  In addition to finishing the planter project, Ed switched places with two trees in our yard.  I hope both survive the move.  One of the trees required the use of the tractor to move it!

We ended up planting our squash and cucumber plants out in the garden, on Saturday afternoon, took.  They’d outgrown their cups, so we took a chance, and transplanted them.  If a pre-Easter frost finds us, Ed and I will be scrambling to find enough buckets to cover our tender, young plants!  It looks good to see something green growing in the garden again.  The squash and cucumbers joined our onions and garden peas.  No luck with our potatoes, though.  I guess they rotted in the ground.

One last thing Ed and I did, over the weekend, was have another argument!  We rarely used to have arguments, before retirement.  I guess we can chalk this new trend up to living together 24/7.  We seem to be getting on each other’s nerves, at times!  My standard method of operating is “slow and easy”, while Ed’s standard method of operating is “hurry up and get ‘er done”, and, sometimes, our two worlds collide.  We had a collision on Saturday. Thankfully, there were no fatalities 🙂

Have a great Monday!

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Thursday…

This week began in a wonderful way.  On Monday and Tuesday, the skies were sunny and blue.  The temperatures were warm and pleasant.  In fact, you could almost say it was downright hot, in the afternoons.  I wore shorts both days, and had the air conditioner turned on.

Ed and I took full advantage of the beautiful weather, and spent both days, outside, working around the house.  We painted a few things.  Ed mowed grass, cleaned out the flowerbeds and the rock gardens.  We hoed in the garden, and  we uncovered our fountains.  I decorated the yard for spring and Easter.  We had a grand old time!

Things began to go downhill, on Wednesday.  The weather was still nice, but it became windy, later in the day, as a front began to move in.  By then, I’d gotten a mild case of sunburn, from being outside so much, and the yard work was beginning to take its toll on me.  Ed persisted in working outside, but I spent more time indoors.

Thursday started out with clouds and rain, and eventually turned into “a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day”, and since you’re probably curious, let me explain.

Thursday was the day I planned to pack up my St. Patrick’s Day decorations and put them away. It was also the day I planned to drag out four large tubs of Easter decorations and decorate the house for Easter.  This is a daunting task, under the best circumstances, but considering the current shape of my storage room, the task was monumental, on Thursday!   It involved literally unpacking one-half of the storage room to find the containers I needed, then dragging five large tubs to the living room, while leaving about a dozen more boxes sitting in the pool room.  Can you picture the way the house looked?  Sort of like moving day.

Strangely enough, our breaker box is located in the storage room–behind all of those stacks of plastic containers.  The only way to reach the breaker box is to move all of those boxes.  Since I had already had about half of the room unpacked, Ed decided he would do some re-wiring in the breaker box.  (We’d thrown a few circuit breakers, throughout the winter, due to overloaded circuits.)  Ed’s re-wiring project involved him turning the lights off and on, and running around the house with this little beeping (meter) thingy.  Are you getting the picture?

About the time I was packing up, and unpacking decorations (and watching a Hallmark movie), and Ed was running around turning lights on and off while beeping, our daughter and granddaughter came over.  She had come to do her income taxes on-line, for the first time, and needed Ed’s guidance.  Her [home schooled] daughter planned to do her schoolwork in the kitchen, while her mom filed their taxes.  Suddenly, we had four different activities going on, at once!  Can you say 4-ring circus?

Two hours later:  Ed only managed to turn the lights out, once, in the room where our granddaughter was doing her schoolwork, thank goodness!  I gave up on the movie and turned it off.  I continued to pack and unpack, however.  Meanwhile, our daughter came down with a booming headache, (and shed a few tears) by the time she finished the tax filing process, then was presented with a $71.00 charge for using Turbo Tax!  (They normally only pay about $50 for their tax man to file taxes for them, but he passed away, last year.)

Four hours later:  Our daughter closed out all of her work on Turbo Tax, and Ed helped her refile, again.  This time their total charge came to $106!  They did some adjusting, and got the total back down to $71, which suddenly seemed like  a bargain, after all!  Meanwhile, I’d taken a brief nap, and had resumed decorating.  Granddaughter, Madison, had finished her schoolwork, and was playing, but she managed to get one of my curling brushes entangled in her long hair, in the process!  Ed had temporarily given up on his electrical project.

Seven hours later: I’ve stopped decorating for the day, and am cooking some taco soup for supper.  Ed has resumed his electrical project, and I’m about ready to shove that little beeping meter where the sun don’t shine! Our SIL came over to say that their pool pump isn’t working, and asked if Ed knows anything about how to fix it.  Meanwhile, our daughter says she got an email from the IRS saying both of her tax forms had been rejected!  OMG!  What next?!

Nine hours later:  Supper’s finished, and the kitchen’s been cleaned up.  Ed’s helped SIL to figure out the problem with the pool pump, but isn’t able to fix it.  By now, it’s now almost 8 o’clock, and Ed’s back in the attic working on that electrical project again!  He has cut a wire, and can’t figure out which place to rewire it to. (Said something about the kitchen outlet only working when he flips the light switch in the living room!)  He’s climbing up and down the attic stairs, with a headlamp on his head, while I’m sitting in the dark in the living room talking to our son on the phone!  Our home has been crazy All.Day.Long.

Ten hours later:  Hallelujah!  Ed has finally made the right wiring connections!  The outlet works as it should.  We have lights again, and Ed can finally put away that annoying beeping thing.  I hope our electrical projects are finished for a long, long time!  It’s only a little after nine, if we hurry, we can catch at least one episode of ‘Breaking Bad’!  All of those plastic storage tubs will just have to wait until tomorrow before they get put back into storage.  Hopefully, tomorrow, our daughter can figure out, with the help of IRS, where they went wrong on the tax forms…

Thank goodness for Fridays!

 

 

 

Going Green With The Hodgepodge…

Spring has arrived, in all its glory, here in our neck of the woods!  The trees are in full bloom, and the azaleas are beginning to burst forth.  Temperatures have been in the upper 80’s, this week!  Ed and I have been making the best of these glorious days–and I have the sunburn to prove it!

Now it’s time to take a bit of a break, from yard work, and indulge in my favorite mid-week meme, The Wednesday Hodgepodge.  This bit of informative fun it brought to us each week by our hostess, Joyce, @ From This Side Of The Pond.  Here are this week’s questions:

1. Share a favorite song, book, or movie title containing the word green?

This is an easy question for me because I’ve been playing this ‘oldie’ a lot, lately–Green Grass by Gary Lewis and the Playboys!  Good stuff! Below is a nice YouTube version of this great old song.

2. Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, ‘Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.’ Would you agree? Are you a believer in luck?

Well, go ahead and call me shallow, but I do believe in luck, somewhat. For example, two people, equally qualified, apply for a job.  One  gets the job, while the other doesn’t.  How about, two people purchase a lottery ticket, and one person wins while the other doesn’t?  Explain it anyway you want, but I call it luck.

3. Spring water, Hot Springs, handspring, spring fling, spring break, spring fever, offspring…which ‘spring’ word best applies to something in your day, week, or life right now?

At the moment, I could easily choose a couple of these answers, but I’m going with “spring fever” because Ed and I have been as busy as bees sprucing up around the yard.  There’s something about spring that makes us want to clean and paint everything outside!  Everything is looking much better, thanks to several recent days of ‘fun in the sun’!

4. What’s something you do to make yourself look or feel more confident?

I have my hair cut and styled every five weeks.  I look forward to that appointment very much!

5.  It’s National Celery Month…are you a fan? If so, what’s a snack or dish you enjoy that calls for celery?

 I’m not a fan of celery.  I can only eat celery if it’s used sparingly as an ingredient in some kind of dish.

6. What’s one thing you wish you’d learned sooner?

Pay yourself first!   A word to young folks here: If you think you don’t have enough money to live on and save for your future–find a way!!!  Retirement comes a lot quicker than you think.

7. Would you like to own a second home? If so where would you want that home to be?

First of all, let me say how thankful I am that we own the home we live in.  It’s ours, paid for in full, except for the yearly taxes we have to pay.  (A lot of people can’t say that.)  Second, let me say that we are currently responsible for a second home (Ed’s parents’), for now.  Having a second home to see about is more headache and responsibility!  All of that being said, if money was no object, and I could hire some caretakers, I’d love to own a second home at the beach–right on the water, if possible!  (Might as well dream big, right?)

Random:

Sending get-well wishes to this little cutie, who is currently battling a double ear infection (on the heels of a stomach virus)!  I hope you feel better soon, Evan!!!  In the picture, Evan had been decorating a shamrock for St. Patrick’s Day.  I’d say he enjoyed himself, wouldn’t you?

 

photo from Jennifer’s Facebook page

Things I Learned Last Week (2)…

• It’s a lot more difficult to find time to blog with a retired hubby around the house, but that’s okay.  I’d rather talk to hubby than type on a computer.
• “Fifty Shades of Gray”  will most likely show themselves in the mirror each day, if you stop coloring your hair,  however, I also learned that I don’t mind having “fifty shades of gray” as much as I once thought I would.
• Reducing hormone replacement therapy still sucks, even when it’s done slowly.  Sleepless nights and  hot flashes are still no fun.
• Life always seems better on sunny, warm days–even after a sleepless night without hormones.
• Raking leaves is a more fun way to exercise than walking on a treadmill.
• Burning leaves and fallen limbs is a great excuse to have a wiener roast.
• Wiener roasts are more fun when done during my retired hubby’s [former] working hours!
• Wiener roasts are even more special when our daughter and granddaughter join us in the fun.
• Roasted wieners are best when eaten outside on a beautiful, sunny day!
• S’mores make a great dessert after a lunch of roasted wieners.
• Having a retired husband, who likes to cook breakfast, can (and does!) cause weight gain.
• Weight is a lot easier to put on than it is to take off.
• Even though the calendar doesn’t officially say spring, the thermometer, the trees, and the flowers are saying, “It’s spring!”
• Seedlings grow twice as fast when temperatures are warm, therefore, plants quickly outgrow their cups!
• Watching Netflix is more enjoyable than watching recorded satellite television.  You don’t have to fast-forward through a million commercials while watching a show!
• Our favorite show on Netflix, at the moment, is ‘Breaking Bad’.  We’re on Episode Six, Season One.  Only fifty-seven more episodes to go.
• Unfortunately, I learned that three of our favorite new shows–Stalker, Forever, and State of Affairs— are, most likely, going to be cancelled.  C’mon people!
• Cats can be pretty resilient.  Thankfully, Jo Jo’s eye has completely healed, and he seems none the worse for wear.
• Even the best laid plans can (and do!) often go awry.  This happened to us twice, last week.  First, our daughter became ill on the way to eat lunch out-of-town with us.  Next, our youngest grandson, Evan, got sick, forcing his parents to post-pone their weekend visit to our house–again!

That’s some of what I learned last week.  What did you learn?

Springing Into Another Hodgepodge…

It’s time for another edition of mid-week fun, aka ‘The Wednesday Hodgepodge.  I always look forward to this mid-week distraction from life, and our hostess, Joyce, never disappoints with her endless supply of questions!  I haven’t been feeling my best, lately, so I welcome this week’s distraction.  Here are Joyce’s questions, along with my answers:

1. What’s the first image that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘spring’? Which phrase best describes the season of spring where you live right now (today)-sprung! almost there, or still waiting?

According to our thermometer, the birds fluttering all about, and a few random trees blooming out, I’ll say “spring has sprung!”  Our temperatures have been warm (70’s and 80’s) for the past several days.  We’ll most likely have one more cold snap before Easter, though.  We always do.  In the meantime, I’ll do my best to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.

2. Bed, couch, stapler, garage door, computer mouse, recliner, flashlight, door knob…which household item containing springs most needs replacing in your home? Speaking of springs…did you ever own a Slinky?

We just replaced two wireless computer mouses, does that count?  Everything else we own, that’s on the list, is in pretty good shape, thank goodness!

I never had a Slinky, but, as a child, I always wanted one!  The closest thing I’ve ever had to a Slinky is a ‘Slinky Dog’, which I purchased a few years back, when Toy Story 3 came out. ‘Slinky Dog’ is still in his original box, because I bought him as a collector’s item, although I did let our granddaughter play with him once or twice.

3. March is Women’s History Month. Share a favorite quote by a woman.

I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle.  I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.–Mother Teresa

4. What’s a question that looms large in your mind right now?

Will Ed and I always be able to stretch our retirement income until the end of each and every month?  (I think about this a lot!)

5. Are you a sugar freak? By that I mean how much do you love sugar? With all the bad press sugar gets these days, have you made any efforts to reduce the amount of sugar you consume?

I really like sugar!  Not so much in the form of candy, but I do enjoy a good dessert!  I didn’t realize how much I liked sugar until I had to totally give it up for several weeks, due to health issues. No fun! ( By the way,  it’s virtually impossible to remove all sugar from one’s diet! There’s sugar [in some form or another] in almost everything!)  These days, I’ve been able to add some sugar back into my diet, but I’ll always have to watch those grams of sugar closely!

6. Would you rather have less work to do or more work you enjoy doing?

I’d rather have more work that I enjoy doing!   I’ve become bored with doing housework.

7. Ever been to Texas? Of the top ten Texas tourist attractions which would you most like to see-The Alamo, The San Antonio River Walk, The State Capital, Dallas World Aquarium, Padre Island National Seashore, Houston Space Center, Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Moody Gardens, or Galveston Island?

I’ve never been to Texas, but Ed has.  He spent four months there, while he was in the army.  I have a picture of him standing in front of The Alamo.  Since I particularly like the ocean, I’d like to visit the Padre Island National Seashore, but several of the other choices peaked my interest, too.

Random:

I’m having issues with leaving comments, again.  If you haven’t seen a comment from me, lately, that’s why. On Monday, I left lots of comments, but none of them would publish.  This is so frustrating!  I’ll attempt to comment again today, and see how it goes…  Whether you see a comment or not, from me, I am visiting you!

~~~~~~~~

 Spring is almost here in our neck of the woods…  The following pictures were borrowed from Facebook friend, David Summerford’s  ‘Spring Bicycling 2015’ album.  David takes long bicycle rides, and always takes nice photographs along the way.

Some Things I Learned Last Week…

Surprise!  I thought I’d change things up a bit, and do my version of something I found over @ Inmates to Playdates.  Julie’s meme is called ‘Things I Learned This Week’, but my post will concern things I learned last week.  Here goes:

I learned it takes a 50 minute phone call, and no less than five customer service representatives to get an answer to one question regarding Humana’s healthcare coverage! 😦

I learned that chickens don’t always lay their eggs (or sleep) where they’re supposed to!  We’re having an on going egg hunt at our house! 😦

Temperatures can and do fall 35 degrees overnight! 😦

Four days of warm temperatures can fool some trees into thinking it’s already spring! 😦

My new favorite store to visit is a bakery outlet store!  Most items are still ‘in date’, and cost only 99 cents!  That’s a savings of 2/3 on many items. 🙂

If one person in a household catches the stomach bug, you can be pretty sure, another person in that household is going to catch it, too 😦

Ed’s a much happier guy when it’s warm, and he can go outside to ‘play’ 🙂

I tend to forget how many clocks we have in our home, until the time changes! 😦

I tend to forget how much I dislike ‘springing ahead’…until I have to do it 😦

I, also learned that warm, sunny days don’t last very long, so I’m going to get off this computer, and go enjoy the nice weather while it’s here! 🙂

Happy Monday, everybody!

Seven Weeks And Counting…

Today marks the seven week anniversary of Ed’s retirement.  It really doesn’t seem like it’s been that long.  Thankfully, we had four beautiful days in a row, this week, with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s!  Unfortunately, all of that has changed now.  It’s a cloudy 46 degrees!

We’ve had lots of activities going on this week.  First of all, Ed began a new outdoor project.  He’s putting some extra electrical outlets near the places [in our yard] where we  normally place our outside Christmas decorations.  Now we won’t require the use of so many extension cords, and the decorations should be safer, too.  We tripped a few circuit breakers last Christmas!  This project is time-consuming, so I’m counting on it to keep Ed busy for a few more days.

Ed tackled another project, this week, too.  He built a removable partition for one end of the chicken coop.  This will give us a place to keep any hen, who isn’t feeling well, away from the other hens.  Putting up the partition will make an instant isolation coop.  Speaking of the chickens, we’ve had a little more ‘chicken drama’, this week.

For a while, we’ve been noticing our three older hens have what can only be described as a case of ‘the nasty butt’. (sorry if that’s TMI)  I kept thinking time would take care of this, but it kept getting worse.  Finally, I read when this happens, the solution is to wash their behinds, then put probiotic in their drinking water.  Well, I gave them the probiotic, but wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of washing their behinds!  I read if this condition goes unchecked, it can lead to more serious illness, and, sure enough, one of the three eventually got sick.  Unfortunately, there was nothing left to do, but wash some nasty chicken butts!

When it finally warmed up to 70 degrees, on Monday, I decided it would be a good day for tackling the nasty deed.  One by one, Ed and I caught the hens.  I held each hen in my lap, while Ed gently sprayed water on her bottom.  It took a while, but, eventually, Ed got every hen’s behind clean.  (By the way, he wore gloves, and I wore a trash bag, while tackling this nasty job!)  We sprayed the cleaned area with a wound treatment, and each one of the hens went merrily on their way.  I worried a bit about the sickly hen, because she really panted the entire time we cleaned her, but she survived intact.  By the next day, all three butts were fluffy and pretty again!  The sickly hen still isn’t feeling her best, but seems better than she was at the first of the week.  Who knew keeping chickens could be so ‘involved’?!

a blanket nest

In other chicken drama, our rebel hen continues to lay her eggs on the dog’s blankets, under our car port.  Not only that, but she’s fashioned herself a little nest out of part of the blankets and some straw!  It’s quite a sight to see a chicken sitting beside our dog, but neither seems to mind.  Rebellion is contagious, because, on Thursday, a second hen started laying in the blanket nest, too!  Oh, my!  This might be a problem.

Chicken drama wasn’t the only drama going on around our house, this week.  ‘Jo Jo’, the formerly feral tom cat got into a nasty fight with something, and came home with one eye all messed up!  Since he’s formerly feral, he won’t let us do much of anything for his eye, and it looks bad.  We’ll be surprised if he doesn’t lose sight in it.  Hormones are raging, and being one-eyed hasn’t stopped ‘Jo Jo’ from trying to mate with our cat, ‘Baby’!  Thank goodness, ‘Baby’ has been spayed, and just thinks ‘Jo Jo’ has lost his mind, as well as his eye!

squash, cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage

Those warm, sunny days, this week, have done wonders for my plants!  The garden peas have begun to sprout in the garden, and the plants I’m keeping in the laundry room have benefited greatly from spending some time outdoors in the sunshine!  I do believe some of them have grown an inch!  Only four more weeks until I can transplant them!

One would think that spring has officially sprung, by some of our activities, this week. First of all, I wore shorts!  Then,  I opened the windows and aired out the entire house! Finally, I had to actually turn on the air conditioner for two whole days! We dusted off the grill, and had bar-b-que chicken for supper one night.  On Thursday, Ed dusted off the lawnmower and cut our grass, too!  It’s too bad  the warm temps didn’t last.  Our high for today is predicted to be 46 degrees!  I’ve put away the shorts, and brought my sweat pants back out. 😦

I hate to end this post on a sad note, but the entire week hasn’t been a happy one.  My long-time readers may remember the little boy named Alex, that my daughter kept in her home, a while back.  Alex stayed with our daughter, Brandy, while his mom worked.  He was with her from just before his first birthday, until about three months before his third birthday.

Alex was born very premature and had a lot of problems because of it.  He was developmentally delayed, had an eating disorder, and was totally deaf.  Eventually, Alex learned to walk, and was able to get cochlear implants so he could hear.  Alex never conquered his eating disorder while he stayed with Brandy, and would often throw up while eating or immediately afterward. Eventually, it became too difficult for Brandy to continue to keep Alex, in addition to home schooling her daughter.  The picture, below, was taken about the time Alex stopped coming.

 

Alex with his mom, October 2013

About a year ago,  little Alex’s mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  We were devastated when we heard the news!  Sadly, she lost her battle with this horrible disease, yesterday.  She was just 30 years old.  I am so distraught for little Alex, who has already had to conquer so much during his short life.  You know, sometimes life doesn’t seem fair.

Alex’s mama will be laid to rest on Sunday.  Meanwhile, Alex just celebrated his fourth birthday.  So sad!

 

 

 

Marching Into The Hodgepodge…

 It’s time, once again, for the Wednesday Hodgepodge.  You know the drill.  Our hostess, Joyce, supplies the questions, and we supply the answers.  Then we link up at Joyce’s place and visit each other’s blogs.  It’s always fun to see what questions Joyce has for us, and to see how others answer them.  Thanks for all you do, Joyce!

Now I present to you, The Hodgepodge:

1. ‘In like a lion, out like a lamb’…does the first part of this saying describing March weather ring true  where you live?

Actually, the weather has been wonderful on the second and third days of March!  The mornings have been cloudy and cool, but, by lunch, the sun has come out and temperatures have been above 70 degrees 🙂  Unfortunately, according to the weather man, all of that is about to change.  Old man winter isn’t finished with us yet!

2. March 4th is National Grammar Day. What common grammatical error bothers you the most?

I think misspelled words bother me the most, but choosing the wrong word for a sentence bothers me, too–like using ‘their’ when it should be ‘they’re’.

3. William Arthur Ward says- ‘The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.’ Which one are you?

I’m somewhere between the pessimist and the optimist, but I probably tend to lean a little more toward the pessimistic side.  I protect myself from disappointment by expecting the worst outcome, then being pleasantly surprised when it doesn’t happen.  Yes, I know that sounds kind of crazy…but it works for me.

4. What’s something you need to ‘march forth and conquer’ this month?

Ed and I really need to ‘march forth and conquer’ cleaning out his parents’ house.  The house is sitting there, pretty much like it was when Ed’s mom passed away 18 months ago.  We’ve cleaned out most of the drawers and cabinets, but all of the furniture and personal stuff  that family didn’t want is still there.  The thought of getting rid of their stuff is still painful, so we both keep procrastinating.  Meanwhile, ‘Trouble’, the cat, still lives there, and looks forward to her daily visit from ‘the man with the can’.

5. An ongoing debate around here…do you dust first, then vacuum or vacuum first, then dust? Of the two routine household chores, which do you dislike the least? How’s that for wording?

 It depends on what room I’m cleaning.  When I clean the bedroom, I always dust first, then vacuum.  When I clean the living room, I vacuum, then dust.  I know, it makes no sense, but that’s how I do things.  I dislike vacuuming more than dusting, because I hate picking up and shaking all of the throw rugs.

6. According to thrilllist.com, the ten most photographed sites in the U.S.A. are-Cinderella’s Castle in Orlando, Southernmost House in Key West Florida, The Space Needle in Seattle, The Site of the Boston Massacre in Boston, The Bellagio Lake/fountains in Las Vegas, The Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, Coit Tower in San Fransisco, The Art Institute of Chicago, Niagara Falls, and snagging the number one spot-The Guggenheim Museum in New York City. 

How many on this list have you photographed? Which on the list would you most like to visit and photograph?

I’ve only had the opportunity to photograph one of the sites on this list–Cinderella’s Castle in Orlando. I’ll spare you my unimpressive Polaroid picture from the 70’s.  (You’re welcome.)  I think I would most like to visit, and photograph, Niagara Falls–but not using a Polaroid camera!

7. Fifty years ago Monday (March 2, 1965) The Sound of Music premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in NYC. Have you seen the film? Do you own a copy? On a scale of 1-10 how much do you love it (or not)? Ten=best movie ever. If you’re a fan, what’s your favorite scene or song from the movie?

Sorry, I’m not a fan of the film.  I’ve seen parts of it, but it didn’t keep my interest.  I’ll give it a 2.  I do like the song My Favorite Things though.

Random:

At the risk of wearing this subject out, I have to share my latest dental saga.

On Monday, I went back to the dentist to have my permanent crown put on.  Because this tooth has been so sensitive, over the past month, the dentist ended up giving me four shots before he successfully (and painlessly) got the crown fitted.  I left his office feeling weak in the knees, then felt lousy the rest of the day, and the following day, as well.  Perhaps a little too much Novocain?

However, once the numbness finally left me, the crown felt great.  My mouth, however, was sore from so many shots. Then, on Monday night, when I flossed in between the crown and the tooth next to it, a tiny piece of white, hard matter came rolling out.  I panicked, assuming it might be a piece of broken tooth!  Ed looked, but couldn’t see anything wrong, so maybe it was just a piece of left-over cement from the crown– I hope!

Hopefully, my dental woes have ended, after five visits to the dentist, several restless nights, seven shots, and several hundred dollars less in our bank account.  I’m ready to put the whole thing behind me–until the next time 😦

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In other news, Ed and I are getting the rare opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with our youngest grandson, Evan, today!  His parents will be in town, attending a funeral, so we’ll have Evan all to ourselves for a while 🙂  It’s been two and one-half weeks since we’ve seen this little fellow, and I can’t wait to see what kinds of new tricks he’s learned since his last visit 🙂

P.S.  About the time I hit publish, our phone rang.  It was our son, Brad, telling us that Evan has come down with the stomach virus!  So, we won’t be baby sitting, today, after all…  So much for the best laid plans:(

 Future NASCAR Driver?