Hello Again, Monday…

I don’t know how we managed to be so blessed, here in Gooseneck, but we have experienced two beautiful weekends in a row–during the month of February, no less!  That’s practically unheard of, but we’ve enjoyed both weekends–a lot!  Sunny skies and mild temperatures were ours for the taking, so we took advantage of both.

Ed and I kick-started the weekend, on Friday, with a visit to the hospital where Ed used to be employed, only because it was time for my yearly mammogram.  Actually, it was three months past time for my exam, but I had other problems to deal with back in December, such as basal cell carcinoma and Moh’s surgery.

Anyway, Ed visited with some of his former coworkers, at the hospital, while I went to  the torture chamber  have my mammogram done.  I always get a bit uneasy at mammogram time, because of my past experiences with them. I’ve had to go back and have spot magnification films done two different years, and was even sent to a surgeon for a consultation a few years back. Apparently, I have a tendency to have something called “calcifications”, which sometimes require a closer look.

While we were out and about, on Friday, Ed and I decided we’d go ahead and vote early for Tuesday’s primary.  Sadly, I can’t say there’s any candidate I feel 100% confident about electing to lead our country, but I voted for the person I think is the best [of what’s available].  Sigh.

After voting, Ed and I drove out to the cemetery and picked up the Christmas arrangements from our parents’ graves.  Yes, I’m sad to say, Christmas arrangements were still on the graves of our loved ones, at the end of February, but we replaced them with new spring arrangements, I made myself!

While visiting the cemetery, Ed and I marveled about his parents being buried right in the middle of a bunch of family and friends.  Seriously, there’s family or close friends buried all around them.  We wonder if this was a planned thing, or just coincidence.  My family is buried a good distance away from Ed’s family, but in the same cemetery.

Our oldest son, and his family came over on Friday night, as well as our daughter and her family. Due to sickness, we hadn’t seen our oldest son in two whole weeks!  It was good to catch up with everyone again.  The grandchildren had a good time playing together, and even made some awesome castles/towers out of building blocks.  It’s always great to see kids being kids.  There’s a picture of one, below, but it really doesn’t show the great details.

Ed spent most of the weekend working on a new project.  He bought me three [real] gourd birdhouses, as one of my Christmas gifts, because I like gourd birdhouses.  However, after Christmas, we discovered we needed more than three gourd houses to start a “purple martin community”.  I wasn’t able to find anymore reasonably priced ‘real’ gourd birdhouses, so I bought six plastic gourds from eBay.  We decided to make a pole [for the gourds] out of an old clothesline post that used to belong to Ed’s mama.  It turned out to be a lot of work!

Ed built the dwelling, the question is, “Will any purple martins come?” (those are decoys on top of the pole) I’m skeptical, because of where we had to locate our pole (near our pear tree), but I’m thinking some kind of little bird will take advantage of these “high rise” dwellings.  My ‘real’ gourds still remain in the Christmas bag.  I’m not sure what we’ll do with those, yet.

About three-fourths of the garden seeds we planted, last weekend, have sprouted.  It’s SO exciting to see something growing again!  Our plans, for this week, are to try to get some potatoes and garden peas planted.  Our onions look rather lonely, growing in the garden, all by themselves.

Our chickens have gone crazy laying eggs again.  We’ve been getting five or six eggs daily.  Some days we even get seven.  Our chickens have also gone crazy in other ways, too…

I wish I had a picture of what I saw, on Sunday afternoon!  I’d left the baby gate down, and when I came around the house, and up the steps to the front porch…there sat a large red hen, stretched out, sunning herself on the rug right in front of our door!  It was such a funny sight to see!  I did manage to find a picture [courtesy of Google] of a rooster sunning himself in the yard, just so you could get an idea of what I saw…

I’ll leave you with that image in your head!  We have some strange happenings around our house, sometimes!  Have a great Monday, everyone!

 

 

Catching Up On Monday…

It’s hard to believe another week is already beginning, but here we are again!  As usual, the weekend went by in a blur.  They always do!

You may or may not recall that I went for my routine mammogram screening on last Wednesday.  First, Ed bought me a nice lunch at the hospital cafeteria.  Then, afterward, one of his techs did my exam and I came home.  However, the next morning, Ed called me to come back to the hospital to have additional films done.  Joy, joy!  On Thursday, I headed back to the hospital and had four more films done, two on each breast, which concentrated on a certain area of each breast which was questionable by the Radiologist.  I was not happy, as I had to miss a shopping trip with my daughter, plus I was scared to death!

I didn’t find out the results of my second exam until nearly suppertime on Friday evening.   To say I was beside myself would be an understatement!  I felt as if my life was passing before my eyes while I waited for those results.  (I had visions of having to consult with the surgeon again. ) Fortunately, when the results finally came , they were fine!  My second exam was normal.  What a relief!

On Saturday, Ed did some yard work, while I scrubbed our front porch banisters and floor.  I couldn’t bare the thought of decorating a dirty front porch for Christmas!  I haven’t decorated yet, but at least the porch is clean and ready.  My day progressed nicely until I was eating my lunch.  As I was eating the final bite of my hot dog, another tooth broke!  It’s been less than six months since the last tooth broke!  Sigh.  I’ll be hoping and praying that “Santa” doesn’t have to bring me a crown for Christmas, as I head to the dentist as soon as I can get an appointment.

At least, Sunday was a fun day!  Ed and I, along with our daughter and her family, went to Brunswick to do some Christmas shopping.  It had been ages since the five of us had been anywhere together, and we had a great time.  We laughed so much!  We had lunch at The Cracker Barrel, then spent the rest of the afternoon browsing through various stores.  It seemed strange to be in Brunswick and not be heading over to St. Simon’s Island!  Of course, the temps were only in the 40’s, so there’s no way any of us wanted to be at the beach!

That pretty much recaps what’s been happening around here, so now I’ll join in ‘The Monday Quiz’, hosted by Wayne and Heather @ ActingBalanced.

1. Yesterday (Sunday) was National Adoption Day in the US – does your family (or friend family) have an adoption story?

Yes, our family has an adoption story.  After suffering through five miscarriages, the Lord saw fit to bless my brother and his wife with a beautiful baby daughter, through adoption.  Their adoption story is an amazing one.

2. Do you plan out your Thanksgiving preparations? When do you start?

Yes, I do plan out my Thanksgiving preparations, but I won’t actually start those preparations until about Tuesday.

3. Shopping on holidays – pro or con? What do you think of stores and malls opening at 6 PM or 10 PM on Thanksgiving for “Black Friday” What about Midnight or 3 AM? Are you planning to shop at any time this coming weekend?

I’m not a fan of shopping on holidays.  People should be home with their families on holidays.  I think the stores should wait until at least midnight to open, but I really think 5 AM is early enough.  You couldn’t drag me into a store with a ten foot pole this coming weekend!!!

4. Do you have a fireplace? Do you use it? If you don’t, do you want one?

We have an electric fireplace, which probably doesn’t count.  I love a real fireplace, but would only want one if it had gas logs in it!  For years, Ed and I heated our home by burning firewood in a Buck Stove.  The heat was fantastic, but the dust and ashes drove me crazy!  I do miss being able to roast hot dogs and marshmallows, inside, over the fire though.  Fun times!