‘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!

 

No Foolin’, It’s Time For The Hodgepodge…

Lately, it’s been busy here in our neck of the woods, but it’s time to take a break and settle down a while with The Wednesday Hodgepodge.  I always look forward to Wednesdays!  Thanks to our gracious hostess, Joyce, for this little bit of mid-week fun:)  Please join us if you can!

1. April is Lawn and Garden Month. On a scale of 1-10 what’s the current state of your lawn and/or garden. (10=a showpiece, 1=send in the professionals). Tell us about any lawn or garden plans you have for this month.

Well, Joyce, I’m so glad you asked, since we’ve been busy working on both!  At the moment, our lawn is about a 6.  Even though Ed’s treated it for weeds, and fertilized it, we haven’t had enough rain to make it lush and green, yet.  We’re getting there, though.

As for our garden, Phase 1 (potatoes, garden peas, onions) has been planted for over a month.  So far, I’d rate it about a 6, too, due to the strange weather we’ve been having. ( cold nights, hot days, no rain) 

Phase 2 (green beans, squash, cucumbers, peas, butter beans) has been planted about a week, and is just beginning to sprout.  So far, so good.  The tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, and peppers seem to be doing okay, we’ll see how everything tolerates the 43 degree temps, wind, rain, and possible hail that’s headed our way, now.

2. “Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.”~Thomas Fuller What does this quote mean to you?

First, I’m going to take this quote literally, because Ed and I have all kinds of grass and weeds sprouting in our garden and we didn’t plant any of it!  I can also take this quote figuratively, in remembering the difficult days of trying to raise children.  You love them, nurture them, and teach them all the right things, but, sometimes negative actions and behaviors spring forth from them, just like weeds in a garden.

3. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about God?

Love/redemption/forgiveness/obedience.

4. If we were chatting in person, how would I know if you were nervous?

I’d probably fidget a bit, and not have very much to say, at first.  I don’t usually initiate  much conversation, but I’ll follow along if you’ll start it.

5. Do you like the color yellow? Would I find any in your home or wardrobe? Daffodils, tulips, roses, sunflowers, day lily, black-eyed susan…which yellow bloom on this list is your favorite?

Yellow is good, but it’s not among my favorite colors, except in flowers!  I can’t choose a favorite flower because I love daffodils, yellow roses, and sunflowers!  In fact, I grow sunflowers in the garden every year, see:

I do have a couple of yellow items in my wardrobe, but I don’t wear them often.  There’s no yellow in my home, unless you count the ceramic chicks sitting on the shelves in the living room.

6. Flip flops or bare feet?

Inside-bare feet.  Outside-flip flops or crocs.  I never go bare footed outside–we have free ranging chickens and crab grass!

7. Tell us about any Easter plans, celebrations, or traditions you’ll carry out this month.

Usually, I have all of the grandchildren over to color eggs on the Saturday evening before Easter.  This year, our daughter is planning to take over this tradition, and let the cousins color eggs at her house.

Ed and I will still be hosting the usual family Easter lunch and an egg hunt for the grandchildren, afterward, but this year will be different.  Usually, on Easter, Ed and I stay home to cook the meal and hide the eggs while everyone else is at church.

This year we will hide the eggs and cook the meal ahead of time, so we can attend Easter services, like everyone else does.  Our oldest son will be bringing the Easter message at his church, this year.  How special is that?!  I’m looking forward to being there.

Random:

Easter memories…

The other day, when I saw some little boys’ three-piece suits hanging in a store, I couldn’t help but remember Easters when our children were small!

It doesn’t seem that long ago when they were small,  but now our children are all grown up, with children of their own.  Our daughter has a daughter, and both sons have sons.

cir. 1987

In fact, three of our four grandchildren are now about the same ages  our children were in this old photo.
 cir. 1989

Last Easter it rained, so we didn’t get to take a family photo, but here’s a 2015 Easter picture of our crew, all grown up, with their families.  The thing I notice most about this photo is how much Ed and I look like the grandparents.  Oh, my!

A Few Friday Fragments…

I’ve already mentioned, in a previous post, the two pet losses we suffered, last week, and the sick, ‘egg bound’ chicken we dealt with, but I didn’t mention the other sick cat we’re dealing with, now.  His name is “Drake” (another shelter rescue), but I’m not sure how old he is.  I know he’s older than eleven, because he was fully grown when I brought him home in 2004. I suppose caring for aged cats will become a way of life, for a while, since most of our cats are now over the age of ten.  We still have eleven cats left–but, eleven years ago, there were twenty-two of them!

When it rains it pours, and that’s exactly what it did at our house, on Easter Sunday, therefore, we couldn’t have our usual egg hunt.  The grandchildren were really disappointed, but I’ve already mentioned that in an earlier post, too.  However, the grandchildren were able to gather at our house, on Saturday afternoon, to dye some eggs.

Unfortunately, all four ‘grands’ had already been to church egg hunts, earlier in the day, and weren’t really  interested in dying eggs.  They were more interested in playing with each other outside!  They colored three or four eggs each, then off they went.  Evan, our youngest grandchild, (who is 2 1/2) wasn’t interested in coloring eggs at all, but he was interested in holding the finished products!

Due to the rain, we didn’t get to make our usual outside Easter family picture, this year.  In fact, Ed and I didn’t have our pictures taken at all.  We were too busy doing kitchen duty to worry about such things. Everybody else had their picture taken, at some point during the day.

  four-year-old Chase taking his mom and older brother’s picture

Although we didn’t have our egg hunt and we didn’t get our picture taken, at least nobody ended up with a broken arm, like last year.

Ed and I had overnight guests, on the Monday after Easter. My brother and his wife stopped by on their way back to Florida.  As always, we enjoyed their visit, even though it was a short one.  We had Easter left-overs for supper.

On Wednesday, I had to make a trip into the city to visit the gynecologist for my yearly checkup.  I spent two and one-half hours in the doctor’s office–then had two pelvic exams, by two different people! (Talk about cruel and unusual punishment!)  When I gave permission for a medical student to “shadow” my doctor during my exam, I didn’t realize the doctor was going to ask my permission for the student to repeat the pelvic exam, too!  Talk about an awkward moment–it was.

Speaking of awkward moments, yesterday, I was trying to help Ed rake some pine straw, for the flower beds, when I looked down and discovered something that looked an awful lot like poison ivy touching my lower leg!  I quickly put down the rake, and went inside to find my bottle of Technu.  I scrubbed my leg with Technu twice!  I washed my leg so much, I scrubbed off my self-tanner!   I’m hoping (and praying) I don’t break out, because I’m terribly allergic to poison ivy.

“the salad table”

I think I’ve finally discovered “my kind of gardening”.  It requires no bending! Ed bought a cute little gardening table for me at the end of last summer.  I recently filled it with all kinds of seeds and plants, so I jokingly refer to it as “the salad table”.  You’ll find lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and radishes growing in “the salad table”.  It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

left to right – onions, potatoes, garden peas

Our regular garden is coming along, slowly.  The green beans, squash, cucumbers, carrots, and okra are all coming up. The tomato, cabbage, and lettuce plants we planted are doing okay, but they don’t seem to be as healthy as in other years. Several plants have died, for some reason, and I hate that. Meanwhile, the Irish potatoes, garden peas, and onions seem to be doing fine.

It’s supposed to be a rainy weekend here, so I guess it will be a restful weekend for us. They are predicting some stormy weather for Saturday, including possible hail, so I’m concerned about the garden.

Today is April Fool’s Day, and is also my late father-in-law’s birthday.  He always liked to joke around and say he was “an April fool”.  He was no fool, but he was a WWII veteran, and a good man who would help anybody in any way he could.  He loved his wife and family dearly. He was also a very good cook who made the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. He could take one fryer and feed a dozen people!

Happy Birthday, in heaven, “Grandpa”.

 

 

 

Springing Into Another Hodgepodge…

Happy Wednesday and Happy Hodgepodge, everybody!  The stars have aligned for me, today, and I’m able to see the ‘linky’, so I can ‘officially’ join in 🙂  As always, thank you to our kind and gracious hostess, Joyce, for keeping the Hodgepodge going.  Here are my answers to this week’s questions:

1. Has spring sprung in your little corner of the world? Other than the calendar how would I know? What’s your favorite thing about spring?

Yes, spring has definitely arrived in our little corner of the world!  The grass is green, has already been mowed once, and needs to be mowed again.  Our azaleas have been blooming for so long, I’m wondering if any blooms will be left for Easter.

My favorite thing about spring is seeing all of the trees sprouting new buds and leaves, plus enjoying all of the beautiful spring flowers. Then, of course, there’s all of those glorious, warm, sunny spring days to enjoy outside.

2. Besides the weather, what’s put a spring in your step recently?

Spring is a time for “sprucing up” around our house.  We’ve waxed floors, shampooed carpets, scrubbed porches, cleaned out flower beds, added some new garden decor to the yard, and even planted some of our vegetable garden.  “Sprucing up” makes me happy, and puts a little spring into my step 🙂

new decor for the hen house…because every hen needs a rooster!

3. How does Easter impact you?

On Easter I will be cooking lunch for our family of twelve.  Ed and I don’t attend Easter services,  we prepare lunch, then hide the eggs for an afternoon egg hunt.  Everything is ready when our family arrive from attending their church services.  That being said, as a Christian, I do understand and appreciate the day for what it is really all about.  It’s not about a big meal, new clothes, Easter baskets, or hunting for eggs.  It’s about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, through which he paid the penalty for our sins, so we can have everlasting life, if we believe in Him. I’m a believer.

4. I saw this somewhere on Facebook and thought it would make a fun Hodgepodge question. Which of the following would you find most disappointing…

a just stuffed taco shell breaking open and spilling out before you take the first bite? dropping a just-purchased Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts coffee? opening the peanut butter jar and finding it empty? upending onto the sidewalk a just-purchased ice cream cone? a burnt bagel popping up in your toaster when you’re rushing breakfast? or cutting into an avocado and finding out it’s rotten?

I think I’d be most disappointed if I upended my just-purchased ice cream cone onto the sidewalk!  We usually only buy ice cream cones when it’s hot and we’re on vacation somewhere.  Those cones are expensive, and my anticipation of eating the cold, creamy delight is quite high…so naturally, I’d be very disappointed if I dropped my ice cream cone!!!

5. What’s something held together with tape at your house? Or a paper clip? Or a wing and a prayer?

Ed has everything in good working order, since he retired, so I can’t think of a single thing at our house that needs repairing.  However, a while back, I noticed the drain pipes, under the kitchen sink, at Ed’s parents’ house, were being held together by duct tape!

6. Do you feel underappreciated? In what way?

These days, I can thankfully say, I don’t feel underappreciated, and what a blessing that is! There have been days, in the past, when this has not always been the case.  When you’re raising children, they never fully understand or appreciate the sacrifices you make for them. However, children grow up, and become parents themselves. These days, all of our grown children have expressed their appreciation to us, at one time or another, and we love it!

7. What’s something you’d build if you knew how?

Recently, I saw [on Facebook] where a friend and former co-worker of mine has learned how to build wooden porch swings.  If only I knew how, I’d love to build a comfortable, wooden swing for our porch!

Random:  A Funny story

Every year our family hides plastic eggs on Easter.  I’ve collected plastic eggs for several years, and we now have several hundred eggs.  I store the eggs in a large trash bag.

Recently, I brought the white trash bag full of eggs, out of storage, and placed the bag near Ed’s recliner until I could make time to stuff them.  I didn’t think anymore about them that day.

The following morning, when I got ready to stuff the eggs, I noticed the bag was gone!  I asked Ed, “What did you do with my eggs?”  to which he replied, “I haven’t bothered your eggs.”  Well, it turned out that Ed, being the dutiful husband he is, had picked up the bag, thinking it was trash.  He’d promptly taken the bag [of eggs] out and tossed it into the bed of his truck!  Thank goodness, the bag hadn’t been taken down to the trash dumpster, yet, or we might have had a crisis on our hands!  Scheduled egg hunt will go on, as planned 🙂

Below is an Easter memory from the past, that includes some of those plastic eggs.  That’s little Alex, whom our daughter used to babysit.

 

May you all have a blessed and happy Easter!

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 🙂

Marching Into Another Hodgepodge…

It’s hard to believe we’re already into the third month of the new year!  What better way to begin a new month than by joining “The Hodgepodge”?!  As always, thank you to our gracious hostess, Joyce, for giving us a place to come, and for furnishing us with seven new questions each and every week!  You can visit Joyce, and other “Hodgepodge” participants by clicking the button at the top of this post.

1. February ended with an extra 24 hours in 2016. What did you do with your bonus day?

First of all, I did some ‘deep cleaning’ in the bathroom, then I vacuumed a little bit.  After that, I went outside and did some light yard work because it was such beautiful day.  (It was much too pretty to waste cleaning house all day!)  Last of all, I did something I rarely do, these days, I baked some chocolate chip cookies.  I think baking the cookies was the best thing I did all day 🙂

2. What’s something in your life that’s grown by leaps and bounds in recent days, weeks, months, or years? I’m giving you lots of room to come up with an answer here, so no fair passing on this one.

Gratitude!

In recent months, (four to be exact) my appreciation for the wonderful life I’ve been blessed to share with my husband, Ed, has grown by leaps and bounds! Also, after having our normal life totally disrupted for the better part of 2015, (due to Ed’s job loss, serious health issues for both of us, and house issues, as well) I have a much greater appreciation for ‘normal’or ‘uneventful’ days!

3. Do you read reviews about a film before deciding if you’ll see it?  Did you watch The Oscars this year, and if so your thoughts on the program? How many of the Best Picture nominees had you seen prior to the broadcast? (Spotlight, The Martian, The Big Short, The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Room, and Brooklyn)   If you watched The Oscars who gets your award for ‘best dressed’? 

 Sometimes I’ll read reviews, but not often.  The movie trailer is usually what catches my attention.    No, I didn’t watch The Oscars, but then, I rarely do, these days.  I haven’t seen any of the Best Picture nominees, but I would like to see The Revenant, eventually.

4. When did you last have overnight houseguests? Give us your top three tips on being a good houseguest.

We had house guests, weekend before last, when our youngest son and his family fell asleep on the couch, but I’m not sure that counts.  They got up and went home before Ed and I woke up on Saturday morning!  Before that, I think my brother and his wife last came to visit back in October, before Ed had his heart attack.

My top three tips for being a good house guest would be: (1) Clean up after yourself, (2) Offer to help in the kitchen, and (3) Don’t overstay your welcome.  Our house guests always do these things.

5. March 2nd is Peanut Butter Lover’s Day. Will you be celebrating? If so, would you prefer a home made peanut butter cookie, a Reese’s peanut butter cup, an old fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or shall I just hand you a jar and a tablespoon?

Ed and I will probably be celebrating with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for  lunch, today.  We usually eat one about once a week.  A Reese’s peanut butter cup sure would be better, though!

6. Why is failure important? Or isn’t it?

I think failure is important because we learn from our mistakes, and that helps us to grow.  Failure is also a good way to keep us humble.

7. Share with us one fun thing on your March calendar.

Easter is early this year, so it falls in March.  Fun times!  It’s always fun to hide those 250 eggs, then try to find them all!  We never do, by the way.  Hopefully, none of the grandchildren will suffer any broken bones, like our granddaughter did, last year!

Random:

Ed and I needed to plant a row of garden peas [in our garden], this week.  It was a challenge trying to figure out how to get those seeds into the holes in the ground, without me having to bend over so many times! (The repetitive bending motion can lead to sciatica, and I certainly don’t want anymore of that!)  So…Ed came up with the idea of dropping the seeds down a piece of small pvc pipe, so I could remain standing up while planting the seeds!  It was a little slow and tricky, but it worked!  The garden peas are now planted and I don’t have a backache 🙂

 

 

Easter 2015…

The 2015 Easter celebration, for us, began the evening before Easter, when our three oldest grandchildren came late Saturday afternoon, ready to color some eggs!  When all was said and done, they colored almost 3 dozen eggs,then decided they’d rather go play.  Their moms finished coloring the rest of the eggs, and I began pouring out the egg dye.  Only then did we discover another dozen eggs, still sitting in their carton on the counter, waiting to be colored!  We decided to let those wait until after supper.

Let the fun begin!

While the women and children were coloring eggs, the men threw a few hot dogs on the grill and, in doing so, cooked  supper for everyone.  We opened a bag of chips, and had an instant meal, which everyone seemed to enjoy.  We  dined on Easter cookies, cupcakes, and brownies for dessert.

Easter Day began early– around 5 a.m., at our  house.  While everyone else went to church, I cooked turkey and dressing, while Ed got busy trying to find hiding places for 350 eggs!  Do you have any idea how long it takes one person to hide 350 eggs over 3/4 of an acre?  I finally took a quick break from cooking, and helped Ed hide a few of those eggs, too.  I was just finishing up the noon meal, when everyone began to arrive.

waiting to be found…

As always, we had a good time around the kitchen table, while everyone ate their lunch. Of course, as soon as the meal was finished, the kids wanted to know when they were going to get to hunt eggs!  Our oldest son, had to leave, right after lunch, to conduct church services at a local assisted living facility, so we tried to hold the egg hunt off until he got back.  I think it was about 3 p.m when the hunt actually began, and Brett arrived soon afterward.

the search is on

We had five egg hunters, this year, our four ‘grands’, plus a guest hunter. By the end of the two-hour hunt, I think everybody’d had their fill of looking for hidden eggs!  Our oldest grandson, Caden, has blossomed into quite an egg hunter, so he found the most eggs.  He didn’t stop searching until he’d found an even 100!  He managed to find both prize eggs, too!  Granddaughter, Madison, wasn’t far behind Caden, with 81 eggs in her basket.

the champ

This was youngest grandson, Evan’s first Easter on his feet.  He’s just 17 months old, and was more interested in the fountains, the gold-fish pond, and the rocks, than he was in finding eggs.  Unfortunately, Evan managed to uncover an ant bed we’d missed, in his explorations, so he went home from Mimi’s house with a few ant bites 😦

Evan and his mom

Toward the end of the day, the children decided to play and ride bikes on the little dirt lane that leads up to our house.  The adults were all gathered under the shade of our old magnolia tree, relaxing.  Suddenly, we heard a child screaming, and looked into the distance. We could see someone flailing about on the road, and about half of the adults took off in a sprint!  It turns out, in an effort to avoid running over grandson, Chase, Madison had somehow fallen off of her bicycle, and injured her right arm.

We applied an ice pack, gave Madison some ibuprofen and her parents decided to take a ‘wait and see’ approach.  The arm wasn’t visibly injured, at first, but later it began to swell some.  A visit to the doctor, on Monday, revealed that Madison had, indeed, broken her forearm in the fall!

The whole gang

At the end of a very busy, exciting, tiring, and traumatic Easter day, we still managed to gather everybody together for one last photograph.  The azaleas were drooping, and looked about how most of us were feeling, by then, but we took our annual family photo in front of them anyway.

We can now add ‘Madison’s broken arm’ to our growing list of Easter memories, as well as the fact that we didn’t find all of the eggs–again.  Easter 2015 is officially in the history books, frozen in time by one last photograph…in which Madison is holding her arm!

 

 

‘Good Friday’ Fragments…

Here it is, the Friday before Easter again.  Didn’t we just celebrate Easter?  It certainly seems like it to me.  The days are passing so fast, they practically all run together, these days, but it certainly didn’t seem that way when I was a youngster! Ha!  Now I’m sounding old!

It’s been another busy week around our house.  We’ve done a little of everything–housework, gardening, painting, shopping–and all of this was done during a week when I haven’t even been feeling my best!  Imagine what I could have gotten done during a ‘good’ week!

Ed and I now have seven rows of our 2015  garden planted, but we still have about five more rows to plant.  You may recall that we plant each row by hand.  Ed pokes the holes with an old mop handle, and I go behind him dropping the seeds in the holes.  He then goes behind me and covers up the holes.  It’s quite a process, and each row is about 100 feet long!  I’m getting a ‘farmer’s tan’ 🙂

Our hens have gone crazy laying eggs!  Longer daylight hours, in addition to the warmer weather has ‘the girls’ workin’ overtime!  We’re averaging 7 to 9 eggs per day, out of 10 hens.  Three of those ten hens are over 3 years old, so we thought they’d be retired by now!  Only one of those three has retired.  She’s actually not retired, I think she may be sick with ovarian cancer, but that’s a story for another day.

Some of my readers have asked how long the eggs will keep.  The answer is “several weeks”, in the refrigerator, but if the eggs aren’t washed, and are simply rubbed with a coating of mineral oil, they supposedly will last up to a year, with NO refrigeration!  I’m afraid to try that trick though.

Other readers have asked what we do with all of these eggs. (There are several dozen in the refrigerator, at the moment.)  The answer is “We share some with our family and friends, and we EAT a lot of eggs!”  I’ve also read that you can crack eggs, scramble them up, and pour the raw egg mixture into ice trays to freeze the egg mixture for cooking.  I haven’t tried that trick either.  I’d be more likely to try this than the mineral oil trick though!

Speaking of eggs, are you ready for Easter yet?  I am not!  I usually bake a ham for Easter, but we’re having turkey this year.  Call me crazy!  The turkey is now in the refrigerator thawing.  That’s the extent of my Easter preparations, so far.

Today I’ll spend some time in the kitchen, preparing all of the ingredients for homemade stuffing–or dressing as we like to call it here in the south.  Fortunately, I will have some help with the rest of the meal.  My girls will be making some great desserts and side dishes to go along with the turkey and dressing.

On Saturday afternoon, the grandchildren will gather in my kitchen and color several dozen eggs.  Almost all of them are getting old enough to color eggs by themselves, so it should be exciting for them.  Afterward, we’ll feast on grilled hot dogs and potato chips, plus what ever desserts the girls bring.

Sunday, if the weather permits, while everyone else is gone to church, Ed and I will hide about 300 plastic eggs all over our yard.   After lunch, young and old, alike, can put their egg hunting skills to the test!  FYI: We NEVER find all of the eggs.  In fact, just the other day, I found an egg from last year–a prize egg, no less–buried in the straw of my flower bed.  Ed is one good egg hider!

That’s about it for this edition of ‘Good Friday’ Fragments.  I’ll be linking them up with Mrs. Fours @ Half-Past Kissin’ Time.

Just for fun, I’m re-posting a montage of some of my favorite Easter moments, but I really need to make a new montage, since this one is getting a bit out-dated.  We’ve added another little one to our family, since it was made, plus the baby at the end of this montage is now 3 1/2 years old!  Like I said, time is flying.

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

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!

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!