This-N-That On Monday…

I’ve missed blogging, so I’ll make an attempt to do a little catching up today.  Who knows, maybe I’ll get inspired to start back blogging on a more regular basis, one of these days.  We’ll see.

Our weekends have been very busy for the past couple of months.  Ed’s been helping our son-in-law put our daughter’s kitchen back together after their flooding mishap, back in October of 2016.  They finally finished the kitchen project a week or so ago.  Their new kitchen looks great, so all’s well that ends well.

Gardening season has begun in earnest, and we have twenty rows planted.  That’s a lot of rows to pick and hoe!  I hope Ed’s up to the task.  Everything seems to be growing, in spite of our ridiculously hot and dry weather, thanks to our trusty water sprinkler.  We should be eating fresh potatoes, soon, and the squash are just about to start blooming.

In other news, we lost one of our younger hens a couple of weeks ago.  She’d been sick for a while.  Even though I’d isolated her and treated her with medication, she didn’t improve.  Now there are eight…but those eight hens still keep us in more eggs than we can use, so we share with family and friends.

Ed and I, along with our daughter and granddaughter, managed to take another little trip to St. Simon’s Island, last week.  I needed to return some things to J C Penny, and there’s one located in Brunswick.  We decided to combine business with pleasure, once again.  However, once we got to St. Simon’s, the wind was blowing so hard, sitting outside wasn’t really enjoyable.  We toughed it out for a while, then went shopping, instead.

Ed and I threw caution to the wind and went to play Bingo, on Friday night.  Let me tell you, there are some serious Bingo players out there!  We joined about twenty other folks for an evening of Bingo, a church program that helps keep their food pantry filled. (must bring canned food [for the pantry] and a wrapped prize [for Bingo], in order to play) We played two cards at once, and the caller went fast!  Ed won two games, and I won one.  Let me tell you, I was tired, afterward, but we had fun–and I liked the prizes Ed won!

I can’t believe it’s May 1.  Time just keeps rolling on by.  I still have Easter decorations all over the house, but I suppose it’s  about time to put those away.  Did I mention that we’re still finding missing eggs out in the yard?  We’ve found them all except for one.

Our local elementary school had a little mishap, on Friday, when one of their air conditioning units caught on fire.  There were no injuries, and everyone made it out, safely, but I’m sure that was a scary time.  I never liked the practice fire drills when I worked there, so I can only imagine what it was like during the real thing.  The school is closed today, so smoke damage can be addressed.

Satan was busy at work, yesterday.  Ed and I went to church, only to discover there was no pastor for the service.  The deacon in charge of lining up ‘supply pastors’ mistakenly thought he had somebody lined up to preach, when he didn’t.  Things didn’t go a whole lot better for the evening service, which was supposed to be a 5th Sunday night ‘sing’.  One of the musicians got sick, immediately before the sing began, and another one never showed up at all.  However, the show went on, as planned.  One elderly lady, in a wheelchair, just blew us away with her gospel tunes on the harmonica!  Another elderly gentleman, blew us away again playing “How Great Thou Art” on the piano.  Several other folks sang, and it was an enjoyable evening, in spite of the ‘snafu’.

As I mentioned, earlier, time is rolling on by, so I guess I’ll get up out of this chair and do some laundry, or some other equally exciting household task 😦  Until next time…

 

 

 

Miscellaneous Monday…

When I last blogged, last week,  it was the day after Ed and I visited a neighboring county’s fair.  It had been YEARS since just the two of us had been to a fair, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  We ate a pancake/sausage supper, watched some pigs race, admired various breeds of poultry on exhibit, visited the old farm equipment exhibit, toured a very old log house, filled with antiques, and even watched syrup making and cornmeal grinding in progress.  It was a nostalgic look back at a much simpler time.  I think, if the truth be told, those were much happier times, too.

Ed and I were in the process of trying to take each other’s picture, at the fair, when a sweet student nurse stopped and offered to take this picture of us together.Bless her heart, it’s good to know there are still kind people among us.  The picture is a little blurry, but, at least, she captured the memory.

Ed and I were able to literally experience God’s protecting hand upon us on the way home from the fair.  We were about three miles, or so, from our home, when we noticed something odd in the road just ahead of us.  Apparently a car accident had just happened, and before we could even process what was going on, and slow down properly, suddenly there was an entire wheel (suspension still attached, but no car) looming in the lane in front of us, while the wrecked was car in the lane beside us.  Thanks to Ed’s quick reaction,  we were able to swerve off the edge of the road, without losing control, and avoid hitting the wheel.  I shudder to think what might have happened if our little PT Cruiser had hit that large wheel in the road!  I’m so thankful we were not involved in the first accident, or in a second accident caused by the debris of the first accident. Praise the Lord!  The whole incident shook us up pretty good, though.  You just never know…  After the fair trip, the rest of our week was ‘fairly’ uneventful (pun intended!).

Ed began the tedious work of cutting up one of the pecan trees we lost in hurricane Matthew.  It was a good-sized tree, so it’s been a pretty good job for one person.  It hasn’t helped matters that our chain saw isn’t being agreeable. He’s almost finished with tree #1, but a second tree is still awaiting his attention.  The chain saw is still acting up.

My poor hens are still molting, and they still look awful.  Egg production has stopped, and their appetite is small, these days.  I actually had to buy a dozen eggs, last week!  I certainly can’t complain, though, because this little flock of nine hens has laid over 3,000 eggs!   I’ve decided to keep ‘the girls’ penned up and give them some medication for a few days, in hopes it will help them get back to normal.  They’ll [eventually] continue to lay more eggs, but their best laying days are behind them, since their ages range from 4 1/2 to 2 years old.

In other news, our oldest grandchild, and only granddaughter, celebrated her tenth birthday, over the weekend.  She’s grown up so much this year!  She’s growing into quite a lovely young lady, and we’re so proud of her.  Her family celebrated with a party, on Saturday, which all of the guests enjoyed.

Speaking of celebrating, tonight will mark the one-year anniversary of Ed’s heart attack.  I’m SO thankful he’s alive and well to celebrate!  It’s been a very special year, and we’ve treasured every day of it.  A good friend, and former co-worker of mine, buried her husband, just yesterday.  But for the grace of God, I could be celebrating the one-year anniversary of Ed’s death, today.

Speaking of God, Ed and I traveled to a different church, yesterday, to hear our son speak, there, for the first time.  It was about a thirty minute drive to this little church, located on a little country road at the other end of our county.  The church building was simple, the congregation was small, but the service was so sweet.  It took me back in time, to the little country churches of my youth.  Ed and I both agree, we enjoyed visiting there.

The Sunday evening service took us back to a church we had visited last Sunday evening.  It turned out they were having a special prayer service for the upcoming election.  Again, it was another sweet service.  They invited us to join them, next week, for their 5th Sunday night sing.

I’m running a bit behind with getting this blog post written and posted, so I should stop right here, for today.  Ed and I began today by having blood work done, and getting our yearly flu shot.  What a way to start the week, but it’s a way of life, at our age!  I’m just thankful we’ve lived to see another day, together.  Amen!

Have a happy Monday!

 

The Monday After…

Saturday morning started out much like many others.  I hadn’t slept well the night before, so I was moving slowly.  I went over the 50 pound bag of chicken feed that sits in the corner of our pool room. I bent down to fill up a bowl for the chickens, like I do every morning… and that’s when it happened. I felt a “catch” in my back, in other words, a sharp pain, and I could hardly straighten back up.  I don’t know exactly what happened, but it sure was painful!

I don’t like to give up easily, so I went ahead with my chicken chores.  I fed the chickens and cleaned their coops. Once more, I felt that sharp stabbing pain in my back when I tried to bend over.  I avoided all bending, after that!

Call me crazy, but, a few minutes later, I still decided to change out the towels that are protecting the swing [from cats] on the front porch.  It was at that particular moment I  also got stung by a wasp!  How was I to know a huge wasp nest was located on the back of the swing?  Wow, two painful episodes within an hour.  I couldn’t decide which felt worse, my back or my ring finger.  It quickly became obvious that Saturday, the 13th wasn’t going to be my day!

Our daughter-in-law had a cookout planned for Saturday evening, so I willed myself into the kitchen to make some rice krispie treats.  I didn’t want to let my aches and  pains get the best of me. By lunchtime, my back was good and sore, and I moved slowly and painfully the rest of the day.  I took pain medication twice that day, so I was able to make it to the cookout.

The Saturday afternoon cookout was to honor our oldest son, who finally finished up his degree.  He graduated from high school in 2000, and has been s-l-o-w-l-y working toward his college degree for many years.  Nobody could convince him to take more than one class per semester, but just like the tortoise, he very slowly and very steadily completed his task.  We couldn’t be prouder!  He graduated with honors, but the very best part is he graduated with no student debt, too.  There aren’t many who can say that, these days!

College Grad

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.  I spent the majority of it alternating between laying down and sitting because of my sore back.  I tried to do a little grocery shopping, on Sunday afternoon, but started having back spasms, and had to let Ed finish the job.  I’m blessed that he can take over my duties when I’m not able to do them.

Speaking of Ed, he had a checkup with his cardiologist, on Friday, and got a very good report.  His doctor told him if all of his patients got along as well as Ed has, it would make his job a lot easier.  Praise the Lord for Ed’s smooth recovery!  He’s approaching the 10 month anniversary of his heart attack.

It has started raining, as I’m writing this post, and I’m glad!  Our grass has turned brown due to extreme temperatures and lack of rain.  Perhaps a good shower will help to bring it back to life.  It would also be nice not to have to water my plants for a day or so.  Speaking of watering plants, there’s nothing like being “down in the back” to show a person they have too many things to take care of!  And speaking of being “down in the back”, I think I’ll go and rest mine for a while.  I hope it helps!

Have a great Monday!

 

I

 

 

Random Thoughts On Monday…

Let me begin the week by wishing someone special a very happy birthday! Our youngest son, Brad, was born, thirty-one years ago, today. Brad was a very welcomed surprise addition to the family, and our family wouldn’t be the same without him.  Delivering Brad proved to be difficult (10 lbs, 9 oz. natural childbirth), but raising Brad was easy. He was a delightful, easy-going, baby and child, always willing to go along with whatever his siblings wanted to do.

Brad made good grades in school (except for the year he refused to do a required project, and had to repeat the class), and worked his way through high school and college, at a local bank, paying most of his tuition costs, himself. Brad’s easy-going personality kicked into overdrive during adolescence, and he got along well with everyone.   My chief complaints with Brad, as a teen, were these: his room was always a mess, he was tardy to high school a lot, and he was [and still is] a procrastinator.

The years have flown by, and now our baby boy is a grown man with a family of his own. In fact, we took note, this weekend, when we celebrated his birthday a little early, that, on this birthday, Brad is [almost] one-half as old as his mama!  I celebrated my 31st birthday, shortly after giving birth to him.

Happy Birthday, Brad!

In other news, I’m happy to report that Ed mowed down most of our garden over the weekend! I don’t know which one of us was the happiest to see it go, but it’s gone.  The last of our tomatoes are in the kitchen, still waiting to be canned, but, after that, we’re done!  Look out beach, here we come–as soon as I am able to travel!  I haven’t been feeling my best, lately.

Man, this summer heat is really oppressive!  Being outside is miserable, unless you go out first thing every morning, which I do.  Once I finish with my chores, I just stay inside until late in the afternoons.  Ed spends more time outside than I do, but the heat doesn’t seem to bother him as much as it does me.  I’m hoping the temperatures will be a little milder under our favorite oak tree at St. Simon’s Island, when I get there.  The highs are supposed to be in the upper 90’s all of this week.

We’ve had a couple of news worthy incidents happen in our area, lately.  First of all, a few days ago, our oldest son spotted a rattle snake crossing the road beside his house.  He ran over the snake with his car, but it didn’t kill it.  So he called our son-in-law, who went down and shot it.  This makes me nervous, because this is the same road I walk on for exercise!  I’m always vigilant, but I’ll need to be extra vigilant from now on!

Late one afternoon, last week, a freak storm blew up.  The wind was so gusty, it blew our grandsons’ trampoline out of their yard, and across the road! (the same road with the snake crossing)  The trampoline flew up on its way out of the yard, hit the roof of the back porch, and did a little damage there, too.  Fortunately, our oldest son was driving his wife’s car that day, or her car would have been parked in the path of the flying trampoline, as well.

Fortunately, the trampoline looked worse than it actually turned out to be. It’s been repaired, and is still usable, thank goodness.

Today has started off with a bang–literally!  A family of squirrels recently moved into the pine trees above my windmill/flower garden.  They’ve been making quite a mess, while feasting on pine cones each day!  This morning, Ed declared war on them by shooting up among the trees with his shotgun–at 7:30 in the morning!  Would you believe two of the squirrels actually had the nerve to stay in place after being shot at?  They vacated following the second shot, but I’m sure they’ll be back. I got a look at them, and they looked mighty fat and happy!

In other morning excitement, for the second day in a row, we had to give another one of our hens a cold-water bath! (Yes, we bathed a hen before attending church, yesterday!)  Actually, in this heat, that cold water felt pretty good to me. Once caught, Mrs. Hen didn’t put up much of a fight while in the cold water, so she may have felt the same way!  Hopefully, the second cold bath will be enough to break Mrs. Broody Hen out of her cycle of wanting to sit on eggs.  Ah, we live such an adventurous life, don’t we?!  With that thought in mind, I’ll close by saying…

Have a great Monday!

May Days…

With the exception of December, the month of May is the busiest month of the year for our family.  Therefore, not much time for blogging!

Most early mornings, you’ll find Ed and me out in the garden.  There are vegetables waiting to be gathered, and weeds waiting to be pulled or hoed.  It’s powder dry here, too, so lots of time is spent moving the water hose/sprinkler from place to place, as well.  I think of lots of things to blog about, while working, but have no time to write the posts.

This year, our lives are very different than last year, at this time.  Last year, I was afflicted with sciatica, in May, and wasn’t even able to walk out to the garden, much less work in it!  I was pretty much house bound most of the summer.  Going through a year, like that makes me really appreciate this one.  Praise the Lord for normal days!

Speaking of normal days, whenever we travel, Ed, loves to look for “treasures” on the side of the highway.  He’s always stopping to pick up “bungee straps”, buckets, etc.  A couple of years ago we stopped and picked up a child-sized lunchroom chair that had been tossed on the side of the road.  We had no idea what we’d do with the chair, but we brought it home and stored it. This year, that little chair has turned out to be my saving grace while picking garden peas! It’s just the right height, and my back doesn’t hurt when I sit in it, unlike the gardening stool.  You know what they say, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Ed and I spent a large portion of last week working on a landscaping project.  After the children gave me a windmill for Mother’s Day, I felt the need to incorporate it in a landscaping project.  Since we have chickens who free range in our yard, several hours a day, I’m limited as to what I can have.  I opted for several hanging baskets, instead of making a flower bed.  Lucky for me, I got into a “after Mother’s Day sale” on hanging baskets. I love a one-half off sale!  I was well pleased with my bargain plants and the end result of our project, as well.

Speaking of that “after Mother’s Day sale”, Ed and I made very good use of our Transit Connect van during that shopping trip!  We had the entire back end of the van filled with plants of all kinds, a couple of very tall shepherd’s hooks, three large bags of charcoal, also on sale, plus a few groceries, too.  Days like those are why we need a van!

Our oldest son, Brett, celebrated his 34th birthday on Tuesday, May 10.  Late on the evening of his birthday, after he got home from work, our daughter, our granddaughter, Ed, and I walked down to his house and knocked on the door.  When he opened it, we started singing “Happy Birthday” to him, like a bunch of carolers.  I’m not sure how much he enjoyed our singing, but we sure had fun doing it 🙂

the birthday boy with his little boys

This past weekend turned out to be a very busy time for the family. On Saturday,  there was a Sweet Onion Parade and festival, which some attended.  Then, on Saturday evening, our daughter-in-law hosted a belated birthday party for our oldest son.  There was also a Sweet Onion Gospel Sing, on Saturday evening, which our granddaughter participated in.  She sings with her church’s youth choir, known as “Tomorrow’s Voices”, and this was the first gospel sing she’d participated in.  Her mama said she did a good job.

Madison showing off the back of her choir t-shirt

On Sunday, things didn’t slow down much, either, since our oldest son was in charge of delivering both Sunday messages, in the absence of his church’s pastor. This mama says he did a good job, too!

Now that it’s Monday, I’ve been dividing my time between the garden and cleaning house–with a little blogging sandwiched in between.  It’s taken me all day to get this post written, but I’ve also picked and shelled a bowl of garden peas, in addition to picking a bunch of squash. I’ve mopped the kitchen and vacuumed the living room, and in a few minutes I’ll cook us something to eat, then off we’ll go to watch our little grandson, Chase’s end of the year pre-school program.  Life is busy, but it sure is good…except for one little glitch. When I tried to upload a couple of pictures to this post, blogger wouldn’t let me. I don’t have any idea why, and I’ve tried everything I know to do. So, until I figure things out, you’ll just have to use your imagination! Until next time…

PS I finally got lucky, and was able to get the pictures to upload 🙂

 

 

 

 

Miscellaneous Monday…

I’ve been blogging so little, lately, I almost feel like a stranger in blog land.  However, I’ve really been missing it, so the dirty floors, the laundry, the peas waiting to be shelled, and the butts to be washed will just have to wait…  Now, where to begin?

Last Monday, Ed and I both had doctor’s appointments, together.  We’ve been scheduling our appointments for the same time, with the same doctor for over a year, and I’m still trying to get used to that.  We both go into the exam room together, and take turns getting checked over by the doctor. No medical secrets here!  We both got good reports, except my triglycerides are up again. Every time I add sugar back into my diet, this happens.  Sigh.

Last week, I spent most of my mornings helping my daughter with a project, then spent most of my afternoons on the couch.  For some unknown reason, I didn’t feel well most of the week, but, finally, by Saturday, I began to feel like myself again–just in time to celebrate Mother’s Day.

On Sunday morning, I baked a ham before going to church.  I invited the rest of the family to bring a side dish and join me for lunch, which they did.  Our daughter and her family also surprised me by going to church, with me, for Mother’s Day!  It’s been several years since we’ve attended church together, and I have to say, it was nice to have her [and family] sitting beside me on the pew.

I felt very special and blessed, on Mother’s Day, to have all of my children set aside the day and spend it with me (and I told them so). It means a lot that they all came to spend the day with me–and spend the day they did!  They didn’t leave to go home until around nine o’clock, last night.

This year, the children chipped in together and bought me a beautiful windmill to go outside, for Mother’s Day.  (It’s shown in the edge of our picture, above.)  I’ve always admired my daughter’s windmill, and am tickled pink to now have one of my own!  I also received some nice cards, a rose, a Dove candy bar, and a small chicken statue.  Ed bought me a “rooster planter” that I’d picked out, and even planted some flowers in it for me, on the day before Mother’s Day.

Now it’s Monday, and the weekend is history.  This morning, Ed and I were in the garden picking peas before 8 o’clock!  In fact, Ed’s still in the garden, as I’m writing this post.  He’s busy adding a little fertilizer here, and a little garden dust there. (He’s in the the picture below)  Gardening is a chore that never ends, but I consider it “a labor of love”.  I “loved it”, yesterday, when I needed an onion for my potato salad, and simply sent Ed to the garden to get one 🙂

“Part A” of our garden, which we are now beginning to harvest

 “Part B” of our garden, which is coming along nicely, and will be ready in late June

As bad as I hate to, I must end this post and move on.  Today, is the time for the quarterly “butt washing” of our two old red hens.  Sorry, if that’s too much information!  The hens don’t seem to mind having dirty butts, but I do get tired of looking at them, so we wash them, occasionally!  The things we do for love…

Have a great Monday!

A Little Monday This And That…

I’m late getting around to posting today. Ed and I had to go and have blood drawn first thing this morning. After that, the garden was calling our attention. It’s amazing how quickly those stray weeds and blades of grass can pop up! I only hoed a row and a half before I had to get out of the sun. I left Ed still hoeing, bless his heart. Speaking of “heart”, today marks six months since he had his heart attack. I’ve treasured each and every one of those “extra” days with him.

Our garden is growing quite well, at the moment.  I took some pictures, last week, but it’s grown leaps and bounds since then.  I’ll have to take some more recent ones, and share them later in the week.  We’re now eating fresh radishes on our salads–the first of our 2016 vegetables to get ready to eat.  Our next vegetables to get ready will probably be garden peas.

Last week was a busy one, and, as always, it passed quickly. Ed and I took two “road trips”, which took up the better part of two days. These days, our “road trips” mainly consist of out-of-town shopping trips. One of our “road trips” was to the Ford dealership, to purchase an extended warranty for our new van, which is now six months old, by the way. For some reason, we weren’t offered the option to purchase the extended warranty when we bought the van. After giving it much thought, we decided we’d invest in extended coverage, due to the van’s computerized navigation system, which can cost a fortune to repair, if it breaks.

Ed’s been busy mowing grass, again. It’s a never-ending cycle for him, once the grass begins growing. He has so much grass to mow, he divides the plots [to be mowed] into separate days. It usually takes four days to get around to everything.  Afterward, he takes three or four days off, then starts all over again.  I think we need some goats! Ha.

On Saturday, our family was finally able to gather together and have our postponed Easter egg hunt! Better late than never. Our daughter planned and hosted the egg hunt, and I think everyone had a very good time. I KNOW the grandchildren did! They played together all afternoon long.

In addition to the egg hunt, we grilled hot dogs and ate them outside. In fact, we spent the entire afternoon, from noon until eight p.m., sitting around enjoying the beautiful spring weather. The adults relaxed and talked while the children played.

We hid 357 plastic eggs in our adjoining yards. The four grandchildren had plenty of room to spread out, and plenty of eggs to find. As usual, we didn’t find all of the eggs!

I believe three or four eggs were unaccounted for, and three of those eggs were worth money! We looked and looked, but never could find the last of the “money eggs”. However, on Sunday morning, Ed found the five dollar egg! Two one dollar eggs still remain at large.

Sunday was church day. I didn’t feel well when I woke up, but managed to shake it off by time to leave for church.

I decided to try cooking a roast-in-a-bag while we were gone to church. I wasn’t sure how long to cook it, but the directions said two hours. For the first time in the three weeks we’ve been attending, the pastor preached overtime. As a result, Ed and I had to leave church, hastily! When we got home, the roast had been cooking 2 1/2 hours, but it was fine, and tasted delicious. I’ll definitely cook another roast-in-a-bag, in the future.

In addition to the roast-in-a-bag, I also made fresh strawberry pie for dessert.  Ed picked the berries at a farm across the road from where we live. How blessed we are to be living within walking distance to a strawberry field!

Speaking of being blessed, while I was at the doctor’s office having blood drawn, a wonderful thing happened!  Today was the first visit to my primary care physician for this year.  As I gave my new insurance card to the receptionist I told her I was sad because the doctor wasn’t a provider on my insurance, this year.  Upon further investigation, she called me back up to the window, and assured me the doctor is a provider.  Apparently, there’s been a mix up somewhere down the line.  (She said I wasn’t the only patient who thought he was no longer a provider.)  Thank you, Jesus, for this blessing, which will save us many dollars in healthcare costs!

As I sit here, thinking about what a “challenging” year Ed and I had in 2015, I can really appreciate the blessings 2016 has brought, so far:

Ed and I had our yearly termite inspection done, a few days ago, and we’re all good–no more signs of termites.

Although Ed and I don’t have a lot of money left in our retirement budget for “extras”, we have more than enough to meet our “needs”.

My back feels SO much better than it did last year!  Although I still have to be careful what I do, I rarely have to take anything for pain, now. I’m grateful I can sit on a church pew without much discomfort, and am very grateful to be able walk without pain!

While my face doesn’t look quite like it once did, I’m grateful the skin cancer is gone–and the scar looks a little better as time passes. Massaging has helped to soften the scar tissue a little.

Ed has done well in the recovery process, since his heart attack.  Although he gets tired quicker than before, he’s still able to do whatever he wants to do.  He’s tolerated his heart medications well, and should be able to wean off some of them, in a few more months.

And, last, but certainly not least, after several years of being without a church, thanks to our son’s persistence, Ed and I have discovered another church we both enjoy attending.  We’ve read our Bibles, watched sermons on television, and prayed at home, but there is absolutely no substitute for gathering with like-minded believers each week–especially when one of them is our son.  What a blessing, indeed!

Happy Monday!

Staying Busy…

Ed and I have been staying busy since I last blogged, on Wednesday.  On Thursday, we accompanied our daughter and granddaughter to the city for our daughter’s six month checkup with her dermatologist. Our daughter’s appointment was an early morning one, which meant we all had to be dressed and ready to leave by 7 a.m.  Oh, how quickly we how we’ve forgotten how life used to be, before retirement!  Let me tell you,  Ed and I are certainly grateful to be free of the early morning “rat race”.

Unfortunately, our daughter ended up having to get another biopsy done, of a ‘suspicious’ growth on her upper chest area.  It’ll be a week or so before she gets the results of that biopsy.

Of course, since the doctor’s appointment was an early one, we had lots of time to shop, afterward, so the day wasn’t all bad.  We had a delicious lunch, and browsed through several stores.  In fact, everything was good–except for the traffic!  Just shoot me if I have to go through that traffic again in the near future!  At one point, there’s a building project taking place, which narrows three lanes of traffic down to one.  It was a thirty minute wait to travel only one mile!

On Friday, the weather was still cold and rainy, so Ed and I decided it would be a good day to take our van in to the dealership to be serviced.  Two and a half hours later, we were wondering if we’d picked a bad day…  Ed’s always serviced all of our vehicles, so sitting around a service department of an automobile dealership is a new experience for us. Ed was watching, as our car was being serviced, and said our mechanic seemed to be the hold up–an older man, well past retirement age, who was moving at a snail’s pace.  I think, at one point, Ed was actually wanting to go out there and help the poor man!  By the time we got out of there, our heads were beginning to throb!

I cleaned house, on Saturday morning, but after nearly a week, of cloudy, cool weather, the sun finally decided to shine, again, on Saturday afternoon.  I slathered on the sunscreen, put on my sun bonnet and sun glasses, and enjoyed being outside for a little while.  (Our DIL brought our oldest grandsons down to play on the trampoline.)  Let me tell you, being outdoors is a whole new experience, post skin cancer, but I’ll do whatever it takes to avoid having more plastic surgery!

By late on Saturday afternoon, more family had gathered at our house, and Ed and I enjoyed a nice visit with two-thirds of our bunch.  Our older grandchildren recently discovered those old Ray Stevens videos, from years ago, so we watched some of those.  Remember “The Streak”?  Ha!  “Don’t look, Ethel!” immediately comes to mind, when I think of that crazy song.

The garden is coming along, fairly well, considering the unstable, cooler weather we’ve been having.  It’s taking a little longer to sprout than normal, but it is sprouting and growing.  I haven’t noticed any new deer prints in the garden [since adding “Shorty”], but Ed did notice some chicken foot prints!  Apparently, those pesky hens found their way to the garden, and ate a few pea sprouts!  As a result, their ‘free-ranging’ days have been cut shorter, until all of the seeds finish sprouting.

Sunday was a good day.  Although I didn’t sleep well, on Saturday night, and didn’t feel particularly spunky, on Sunday, Ed and I attended the new church, once again.  We enjoyed the morning message, came home and took a nap, then returned again on Sunday night.  We’re beginning to feel “at home” there.  The people are so warm and friendly, and welcoming.  While we were standing around in front of the church, on Sunday evening, two lively beagle pups came running out from behind the church.  They certainly livened up the crowd with their antics! (think: lots of elderly folks with two half-grown puppies jumping all over them) Both pups had on collars, and someone quickly called their owners.

Now it’s Monday, and, once again, many chores are awaiting our attention.  New plants need to be potted, and more grass needs to be mowed.  Laundry needs to be done, and clutter needs to be taken care of.  I guess I need to get off this computer, huh?

Happy Monday, y’all!

 

 

Joyful Days…

Last week was a busy one.  Ed and I spent much of the week getting our garden planted.  It’s tedious work, especially at our age.  The older we get, the slower we move!  Well, at least I do.  Ed still gets around quicker than me, and can hold out to do a lot more than I can, even though he’s had a heart attack.  Praise the Lord for good recoveries!  We’re coming up on the sixth month anniversary of his attack.

tomatoes, green beans, squash,cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, garden peas, carrots, radishes, potatoes, onions

We only have three more rows to plant [in the garden], then we’ll be finished–for a total of sixteen rows…and we said we were cutting back, this year. Ha!  Actually, we did make the rows shorter, so technically, we did cut back a little.

Speaking of “short”, last week, we put the scarecrow back in the garden because of numerous deer tracks we kept seeing near the end of our garden.  We gave our old scarecrow a little makeover, and Ed nicknamed him “Shorty”.  I hope we can fool the deer again this year.  We seem to have accumulated quite a herd of deer, and they seem to be getting braver. I’m afraid “Shorty” will have his work cut out for him!  Have I mentioned how much deer love to eat peas???

“Shorty”

I’m happy to report that our sick hen has recovered, and has rejoined the flock.  Yay!  I’m unhappy to report we now have a “setting hen” on our hands!  This is only the second time, in four years, we’ve had to deal with this.  We’ll try the “cold bath” treatment, today, and hopefully, that will snap her out of her broodiness. We don’t have a rooster, so there’s no way she could hatch baby chicks while sitting on unfertilized eggs.  If I wanted more chickens, I’d search for some fertilized eggs, but eight hens are enough to deal with!  Have I mentioned that I caught a hen sitting in our cat’s bed on our front porch, the other day? Our two oldest “red sisters” think they should be part of the family–and that includes roosting on our front porch!

Ed and I really enjoyed the services at our oldest son’s church, last Sunday, so we went back to church there, yesterday.  Would you believe the pastor of the church was away due to of the death of a loved one, so our son was asked to bring the message again?  We couldn’t believe it!  We went to both services, and really enjoyed his messages, again.  We really like this little church, and watching our son grow in service, there, is just an added bonus.

A couple of other nice things happened, yesterday, in addition to going to church and hearing our son deliver the sermons.  On the way home, I told Ed, “I wish we’d get home, and find a plate of fried chicken with all the trimmings sitting on our kitchen table.”  We’d been home only a few minutes, when the front door [of our home] opened, and in stepped our daughter, carrying two plates of food!  It wasn’t fried chicken, but it was the next best thing, beef stew, with all the trimmings!  God bless her, it was so delicious! Then, later, our granddaughter, Madison, asked to accompany us to church on Sunday night, and she did.  What a joy filled day it was!  I hated to see it end.

Another weekend has passed, and it’s Monday, again.  It’s shaping up to be another busy week.  I often find myself wondering, how in the world Ed found the time to do all of this stuff at home, and hold down a full time job…  Fortunately, he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore!

Have a great Monday!

 

 

 

 

Spring Is Here…

Spring officially arrived yesterday, under cloudy skies.  However, it turned out to be a beautiful day, in the end, as the clouds cleared out in the afternoon. After over a week of temperatures in the 80’s, our overnight low bottomed out at 40 degrees, last night!  Whoa!  What in the world happened to our spring weather?

early blooms of spring (a $5 bargain, at Lowes)

Since spring is here, that means lots of time is being spent outside.  There’s been a lot of clean up to do around the yard, as well as flowers waiting to be repotted, and garden soil waiting to be prepared for the rest of our 2016 garden.  We have a few plants needing a permanent home…

tomatoes, lettuce, peppers

Our new Transit Connect has come in quite handy over the past few weeks, as we’ve hauled huge bags of potting soil, lawn fertilizer,  and ant poison.  We’ve also hauled several large plants and shrubs, as well as a peach tree.  We love our van!

our van, aka the “short bus”

Ed and I enjoyed another nice (and busy) weekend.  We took our weekly shopping trip, on Friday, then enjoyed some family time with a couple of our children and their families, on Friday night. That’s always a great way to kick off the weekend!

yard signs in front of the house

On Saturday morning, Ed and I finished up our weekly shopping, then later in the afternoon, Ed helped our youngest son work on a riding lawnmower that had been sitting up for a while.  When I saw that dusty, dirty lawnmower, I didn’t have a lot of faith, but, by golly, they got that sucker running, and have already mowed some grass with it!  Ed is the man 🙂

one of several azaleas in the yard

Saturday turned out to be a pretty nice day, in spite of the clouds hanging around.  One by one, our grown children and families showed up, then gathered outside in our daughter’s yard.  All had been to the church egg hunt, earlier in the day.  We sat there for the longest time, just watching the four cousins playing and enjoying each other’s company.  It was one of those moments when I wished I could stop, or at least slow down, time.  Why can’t they stay little longer?

the Easter bunny (and Dixie chick)

Eventually, the adults decided to order pizza for supper, so I came inside to make some salad, dessert, and drink to go along with it.  Once again, my kitchen was noisy and crowded with family, but it was so good to have everyone together under one roof again!  That makes two weeks in a row–and since Easter is this coming weekend, we’ll soon make it three.

the egg tree (and Dottie chick)

Ed and I have been busy, the last couple of weeks, getting ready for spring/Easter. I went outside, yesterday, and wandered around the yard, admiring our ‘touches of spring’.  I’ve scattered a few of those ‘touches’ throughout this post.  I hope you enjoy them.

a new pair of garden gnomes

Have a great Monday, and a great second day of spring!  Ed’s already outside, riding his tractor in the garden 🙂