Wednesday Hodgepodge # 352…

 

Last week, this time, I was packing for a quick trip to Florida.  We had a great time visiting with my brother and sister-in-law, but, as usual, time passed quickly.

This week we’ve been picking and shelling garden peas, digging and eating “new potatoes” and pulling up sweet Vidalia onions!  What a difference a day (or seven) makes!  We’re finally getting some much-needed rain on our garden, and we are so thankful for it!!!  It’s been quite a challenge trying to keep a garden the size of ours watered.

With all that being said, now let’s get on with The Hodgepodge!  As always, thanks to our gracious hostess, Joyce.

1. What would you say is your biggest day to day challenge?

These days, thanks to rheumatoid arthritis, my biggest day to day challenge is just getting out of bed and getting moving in the mornings.  Many days, the old joints are stiff, and don’t want to move.  Then there’s the fatigue that goes along with RA.  I’m always tired.

2. May 16th is National Biographers Day. What’s a biography you really enjoyed reading? Is this a genre you read regularly?  I’m not sure if autobiographies count, but  I thoroughly enjoyed reading both of [country singer] Loretta Lynn’s autobiographies.  The first is entitled, Coal Miner’s Daughter and the second is entitled Still Woman Enough.  Both were very good and quite entertaining.  I enjoy reading biographies/autobiographies, and read them fairly often.  Dolly Parton’s autobiography, My Life and Other Unfinished Business, was a good read, too.

3. How important is keeping a clean house? 

I enjoy having a clean house, but it doesn’t always happen.  If I feel well, I clean; if not, I don’t worry about it.  I’ve learned to clean the rough spots, and let the rest ride.  Yesterday I had a good day, so I tackled cleaning underneath my bed.  Whew!  What a job that turned out to be!

Do you need to de-clutter your life?  Yes, I do need to de-clutter.  I have accumulated too much stuff, but can’t seem to bring myself to part with much of it, yet.  So, I put everything back underneath my bed, yesterday, except for the dust!  I really must do better in the near future!

4. You’re the 8th dwarf. What’s your name?

Just call me “Nappy” because I look forward to my afternoon nap every day around 2 o’clock.

5. What’s surprised you the most about your life or life in general?

The thing that’s surprises me most about my life is how quickly it’s passing by, now that I’m retired.  I kid you not, time didn’t pass this quickly when I worked!  Several folks we know have passed away, lately, which has also been another reminder of how quickly life is passing.

Random:  The saga of “The Man With the Can” has ended…

Last week I mentioned that “Trouble”, the cat, had been missing for a few days.  Part of the mystery concerning her disappearance has been solved.  Last week, our son began noticing a foul odor, and discovered the decomposing body of “Trouble” underneath his home, on Thursday.  Upon investigating, further, our daughter-in-law discovered that the guy who pressure washed their home had heard the sounds of a cat meowing, loudly, on the day he was washing the house.  The sounds were coming from under the house, he said.  What we don’t know is why “Trouble” was meowing so loudly, or why she failed to come out from under the house.  We wonder if she was sick or injured, and how long it was before she died under there.  She’d been missing about 10 days when our son found her body.  On Saturday morning, “Trouble” was retrieved and buried in Ed’s parents’ yard.  It seemed only fitting that she was laid to rest in the place where her life began, over eighteen years ago.  This cat truly must have had nine lives, and she enjoyed every one of them.  RIP, “Trouble”.

A Mother’s Day Hodgepodge…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ed and I are in the process of getting ready to go on a quick trip to Florida, but I hated not to participate in the Hodgepodge, today, so here I am!  I figure if Joyce can host it, with her house filled with company, I can answer five questions!

As always, thanks to our gracious hostess, Joyce.  I really appreciate everything you do, Joyce.  And to all of the mothers out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

1. What are your ingredients for a perfect Saturday?

Now that Ed and I are retired, Saturday is the same as any other day. Therefore, as long as Ed is beside me,  any Saturday is pretty much perfect.

2. What skill do you wish more people took the time to learn?

I wish [some] people would take the time to learn how to be courteous and respectful.  There are also a few folks on the road who could use a little more driver’s education, if you know what I mean.

3. What’s something you ate as a child you can’t stand now as an adult?

Fried fish with the bones still in it.

4. Something parenting has taught you? If you’re not a parent tell us one important lesson you learned from your own parents.

Parenting taught me lots of things–like patience, perseverance, and to expect the unexpected!

5. Share a favorite quote or saying about mothers or motherhood.

 Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.

Unknown

Random:

“Trouble” the cat (from my “Man With the Can” stories) is missing!  She disappeared eight days ago, when our son had someone to pressure wash his house.  Apparently, “Trouble” became frightened, and left home.  Ed has searched for her, but had no luck finding her.  “Trouble’s” never stayed gone this long before, so we’re thinking ‘the worst’ may have happened to her.

‘May’ I Present The Wednesday Hodgepodge?

We’re kicking off the month of May by experiencing cool nights and hot days.  It’s also dry, dry, dry!  As I mentioned, last week, all of these things make growing a garden quite a challenge, but we’re hanging in there.

While we’re ‘hanging’, how about we participate in another Wednesday Hodgepodge?  As always, thanks to our gracious hostess, Joyce, for keeping The Wednesday Hodgepodge up and running!

1. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Is there a flower you associate with a particular memory? Explain.

I always associate “azaleas” with “Easter Sunday” because about 80% of the family Easter pictures we have [in our collection] were taken beside some kind of azalea bush.  For the other 20% of our Easter pictures it either rained on Easter, or Easter fell too late for the azaleas to still be blooming.

Whenever possible, before our annual egg hunt, we always take a “family Easter photo” with everybody standing in front of a backdrop of our very old, very large azalea bushes.  We’ve done this for several years.

Easter 2015 (a few azaleas)

Easter 2017 (no azaleas)

April 1987…a family of five (beside those same azaleas)

Oh, my goodness!  Where does time go?  The ‘young’ couple in the photo, above, is now the ‘old’ couple in the two photos preceding it,  and those three children are now the middle aged adults we used to be.

2. Last time you helped someone? Tell us how.

A few days ago, Ed and I kept our two oldest grandsons while their mama went to a doctor’s appointment.  And, last week, I prompted Ed to build those same grandsons a fence for their blackberry bushes to run on.

3. It’s National Salsa Month (the food, not the dance) so tell us, do you like salsa?  I’ll eat salsa, but I can live without it.

Hot, medium, or mild? Mild or medium, not hot!

Homemade, store-bought, or from your favorite restaurant only?  I only eat salsa at Mexican restaurants, and that’s not very often.

4. When I was twelve years old… I was in the seventh grade, and had a crush on the person who would later end up becoming my husband!  That’s right, when I was twelve (and in 7th grade), and Ed was seventeen (and in 12th grade), I had a crush on him.  He didn’t even know I existed, back then, but I knew who he was!

5. It’s the first of May so let’s run with it-first things first, don’t know the first thing about it, first dibs on something, first impression, first-rate, first cousin, first string, first come first served, at first light-which phrase can best be applied to something in your life currently or even recently?

Ed and I always begin our days by doing some Bible reading, then feeding our animals, then we eat breakfast ourselves. First things first!

Random:  “Perils of Farm Living”

Ed and I live in the country, and have always gotten our water from a shallow well, located in the corner of our yard.  One evening, many years ago, while brushing his teeth, Ed remarked to me that the water coming out of our faucet smelled bad.  I told him I really hadn’t noticed, and thought it was okay.  Thankfully, he didn’t listen, but went out to investigate the well.

It turned out we had a dead snake floating in our well!!!  Needless to say, our entire family turned a bit ‘green’ at the thought of the water we’d been drinking!  Ed rigged up a contraption with a stick and some string, and had a grand old time trying to lasso that dead snake out of 23 feet of water!  Finally, he succeeded in removing the snake from our well.

We sanitized our well, with chlorine, but continued using bottled water for cooking/drinking, for quite sometime.  (I won’t even elaborate about what heavily chlorinated well water does to your dark laundry!)  Last, but not least, Ed made sure any openings in the top of the well were sealed and secure.

Flash forward about twenty years.  This time it was me who noticed the foul smell of the water!  It was after 10 p.m., on Sunday night, but when I said something, Ed immediately grabbed his flashlight and headed to the well!  This time he discovered a dead rat floating in our well!  Once again, we felt our stomachs growing queasy, and once again, Ed rigged up another contraption and went ‘fishing’ in our well–at 11 o’clock that night!

Ed accomplished the mission of removing the intruder, and we’re about to begin the process of sanitizing the well, today. (Trying to get all of our laundry washed up first)  Needless to say, we’re using bottled water for cooking and drinking purposes! Now, what were the chances of this happening to us twice in our lifetime, but we weren’t alone in our misery, this time?!

Our daughter and her family, who now live in that house next door, also get their water from this same well.  They’ve been dealing with some queasy feelings, as well, and are also using bottled water for cooking/drinking.  I guess Ed and I won’t be the only ones wearing faded clothes, either.

You know what they say, misery loves company!