Arrrgh!!!

Joy, at Joy of Six, was talking about getting relief from her TV addiction with the finales of the past season playing out. I have to admit that over the past 18 months or so, we have watched a LOT more network TV. It all started when I happened to come across Grey's Anatomy when Grey had her hand inside the chest of a man, next to a live piece of ammunition. I was hooked, and we made sure that we were available on Sunday nights to see what happened over the next few months.

Our son introduced us to Boston Legal and it's odd stories. We generally watch Monk, and I tripped over House, M.D. on the same channel. Then, our son, (see a pattern forming here??) encouraged us to watch Heroes. My sister likes the criminal investigation shows, and somehow I started watching CSI and CSI New York. I must be the only person who doesn't like CSI Miami.

I've come to determine what day it is by what program is the feature of the evening. When there's a change in programs, Dear Husband takes over the remote and checks out the guide. He's likely to settle on one of the Turner Classic movies, or science/history shows.

We really need a break. We have become addicted and lazy, and need to be doing more physical things. I wonder if I could schedule one hour a night in the basement through the summer and get the job done?? *G*

Joy lists four different ways she keeps up with shows that she's missed. I have two others that work for me. Many of the networks are now making episodes available for you to watch at your computer. I've seen back episodes of Brothers and Sisters, and other programs.

The other way to see shows that you've missed is to buy the DVD of the season. Usually season one will be available once season two starts. I have Grey's Anatomy Season 1 & 2, Boston Legal Season 1 & 2, Dead Zone Season 1, House M.D. Season 1 & 2, and 24, Season 1.

I've only seen ONE episode of 24, and I'm looking forward to watching the first season. When the summer heat is upon us, I will water my gardens early in the day, and then retire to the cool of my living room and quilt while I watch these shows. If I'm piecing a new quilt, I'll pop a movie, or one of the reruns into the player while I sew.

I watch for sales and order from Amazon when I feel the price is right. I ordered one of the seasons and discovered that the price had dropped significantly on the day it was mailed. I called to talk to them, and they gave me the discount. You can't ask for better service than that.

My name is Buffy, and I'm addicted. I'm going to try to keep this addiction corralled to certain times through the summer, and I promise to get up and do something physical after every show!
Joy, call me if you need an update on any of the shows. (What happened on the Boston Legal finale????)

I can't file this entry under On The Soapbox, because I don't intend to solve the world's problems with my thoughts. Actually, my thoughts are more than a bit scrambled on this issue, so I'm just putting forth information I've learned recently, and we'll see what YOU think about it.

St. Viator, a private school in the Chicago suburbs, which has more than 1,000 students, has announced that this coming fall, EVERY student will be tested for drugs. A student who refuses the test will need to get their education elsewhere. In the past, random testing has been done at school dances, and the boys hockey and football teams have been tested.

Each test will cost $45.00. The Daily Herald states: "Hair samples will be tested for cocaine, opiates, PCP, marijuana, amphetamines and Ecstasy, whose use within 90 days of the test can be detected. It does not detect steroids or alcohol."

I think testing is a great idea toward helping students get an early start on managing drug problems, and perhaps avoiding addiction. It's possible that the school's follow-through on the testing needs to be stronger. Just making the problem known is not going to be enough to end it.

I think it's appalling the amount of information the school will have on the student, which may possibly follow them in their school record for life.

This is a private school. They have the option to make the rules for their student body, and anyone wishing to attend this school needs to abide by their rules.

It's possible this will make a safer environment. But, the school says it doesn't have a drug problem. Are they being pro-active and trying to make sure a problem doesn't develop. Is the School Board aware of a problem in the community that they want to head off?

Is it fair to test the students and not test the faculty and staff?

I'm not sure where I stand. On one hand, I'm concerned about the loss of rights, and the danger of personal information being stored where it could fall into the wrong hands. On the other, a step toward showing kids that we are serious about the dangers of drugs, and creating a safe environment for the kids, is very appealing.

Any thoughts on this? I'd love to hear more pros or cons on the situation.

At least we HOPE wet weather will becoming this way. We're supposed to have scattered showers over the weekend, and it should be overcast for the best part of a week.

My immediate goal is to work in the gardens at the sidewalk. Quilting Bee is tonight, and I'd like for the entryway to look nice as the ladies come in.

I think we have a quiet weekend ahead. I want to putter some more in the gardens, weather permitting, but I don't have any hard and fast plans. I might even check the paper to see if there is anything I want to see at the movies!

I hope you all have a great weekend.

...and women's too. I am concerned about our ecology. Our household recycles more materials than just about anyone I know. Glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, chipboard...you name it, it goes out in our recycling. We are willing to heat the house to less than 70 degrees in the winter, and cool it to 76-78 degrees in the summer. We do not keep our grass to a regulation 2 inches, and a great deal of our outdoor work is done by hand, where it can be.

I'm contemplating keeping a bucket to catch water as the shower warms up, to be used to water the plants, and we have not let the water run as we brush our teeth for ages. We use hair products that pump, rather than spray. We've begun to change our light bulbs to those which are better choices ecologically.

We limit our driving. We have ALWAYS done all our errands in groups, and tried to create the shortest route possible. We're becoming savvy about eating food grown nearby, so that we're not adding shipping fuels to the expense of getting them to us.

We have areas where we can certainly do even better, but we try, and we try hard, to avoid making our ecology any worse than it is. But, I think I've found the point where I may find it difficult to be a good citizen.

I ran two errands today and when I came home, I felt like I was ready for the paramedics! It was all due to the humidity. We have been in a drought area for a number of years now. We finally got a tiny bit of rain the past few days, and coupled with heat in the 80s, voilà: HUMIDITY!

I'd forgotten just how bad humidity affects me. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people whose head and face perspires buckets when it's humid. I get to the point where I look like I'm standing in my own private waterfall. There's no way the perspiration can do it's job to cool me, because there's too much of it, and the humidity won't allow it to evaporate. So, I get warmer and warmer, and can't find any relief. At least during exercise I can wear a headband, but it's not realistic to think I could wear one all the time.

So, I cannot give up my air-conditioning. I wonder what would happen to me if our circumstances changed and I didn't have access to cooler, DRIER, air? I can envision renting a carrel at the library (if they had them). I could haunt the mall, or do a lot of grocery shopping. I could fill the tub with cool water and immerse myself for an hour or so. If I was still working, maybe we could find a small part of an air-conditioned office to sublet. I don't need a lot of space.

Meanwhile, I pray for enough rain to keep my plants going, but not enough to drown me in my own perspiration the following day. There has to be an answer to this problem!

Harrier: "any of several short-winged hawks of the genus Circus that hunt over meadows and marshes and prey on reptiles and small birds and mammals." *

I was driving home today, and saw a good-sized hawk being attacked by easily a dozen smaller birds. The little birds had banded together to drive it off to save their fledglings. It tickled me to think that the little birds were "harriers!"

There's a lesson to be learned here. I think homeowners in Illinois need to follow the little bird's example and harass their state government into restructuring how education is supported. Our property tax system is broken and needs very badly to be fixed! A law was passed roughly 15 years ago that was supposed to cap how much increase there could be per year in property tax. Unfortunately, the assessor gets around the law by re-assessing the value of our property. Soon, we will look very wealthy on paper, and be broke in reality.

I wonder how government believes that it can continue to grow without eventually killing off the hand that feeds it?

I need to ask my sister to direct me to the statistics, but I thought I heard that the State of Illinois was 48 out of 50 in terms of what is given to state education, and this is despite the Lotto, which was supposed to support education, and our gambling casino profits.

As I said....the funding system is broken, and needs to be fixed! Come on, little birds....show us the way!

*harrier. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved June 02, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/harrier

We're supposed to be in line for thunderstorms this evening.

Elegante Mother is not a happy camper about heavy weather. Luckily, her rooms are on the east side of the house, and most of our weather comes in from the west. And, if we are lucky, she will be in bed, asleep, early enough to miss most of the storms.

The light has changed. We've gone from a sunny afternoon, to overcast. The grove behind me is still, but you can see leaves here and there starting to sway. It's time to check out the radar and batten down the hatches.

I've moved most of the container garden in under the overhang of the entryway. I moved the last of the plants to be planted into the garage, and I may encourage my son to put his car in the garage, too. Let's hope that Dear Husband is fortunate, and that the storms miss the lagoon where he is moored on the Chicago coastline.

I think I'll go see if Ed is ready to come in! *G*

I hope you're all safe this evening, and getting as much rain as you need....or would like.

Each year I have volunteers in my garden. The chipmunks have seen to it that I have a steady crop of dill to be found in a number of the beds. One year Cleome took over half the sidewalk garden. Despite that, I'm thinking about sowing Cleome when I move the Dutch Iris this year.

Out in the herb garden, I've grown a number of things in the center of the center box. Some of those things are herbal, and some are just for color. The annual poppies have decided that it's their turn to volunteer.

If you can see the picture above, there are Ox-eye daisies (which have volunteered now for about 16 years), and the red poppies. The salvia is a perennial. I was thinking the other day that we almost have Red, White and Blue going on, if you overlook the purple-ish cast of the salvia.

The walkway of the garden is supposed to be covered with a very white "chat" or tailings, or screenings. It's a very tiny limestone particle. We had intended to settle brick into the chat to make a brick walkway, but we haven't gotten there yet. I like the look of the volunteers in the chat, but it's been so disturbed with the rebuilding, that I may have to dig things up, lay down more chat, and maybe even lay the bricks. Right now, in addition to a few weeds, we have garlic chives, fever few, lamb's ears, the poppies, ox-eye daisies and thyme on the walk.

I'm frequently of a mind to let volunteers grow. God's surprises can make for interesting gardens. I purchased a pack of wildflower seeds, intending to have DH rototill an area for me, where I could strew the seed. I don't think we're going to get to it, so I might strew the seed on the edge of the property where we don't mow. I wonder if we will see visitors and volunteers for years to come, or whether we will be simply providing appetizers for the chipmunks?

"Bloom where you are planted!" Is this the lesson of the day, or is my mind just absorbed with the gardens? *G*

It's rather aggravating when you can't get into your own comments to make a comment!
I need to talk to the owner of RedEagleSpirit and find out what I'm doing wrong.

I want to direct your attention to a comment made in "To Test or Not to Test," by my sister.
She works at an Alternative School in Indiana, where kids with all sorts of problems are given a last chance to have a public school education. Of course, one of the problems that the kids are trying to deal with is drugs.

If you read what she has to say, it makes sense for private schools and alternative schools to test their students for drugs, especially if the school is prepared to back up the testing with adequate support and counseling.

Her argument would even be enough to justify testing in public schools, and that may happen one day. Of course, you can imagine the firestorm of litigation when it's first proposed. I bet in our lifetime we'll see it happen.

Thank you, sis, for the clear thinking on the subject. I should have realized that YOU would be the expert I should have turned to.

Elegante Mother is under the weather. She has that dreadful cough, and sinus stuff that laid me flat in April. She's been sick since last Thursday, with the symptoms increasing each day.

We went to the doc yesterday and he's put her on a major antibiotic and a puffer. We need to go back on Friday morning for a recheck. She asked him to tell me to STOP NAGGING about eating. He weighed her, noted about a ten pound loss, and just smiled at her. He didn't encourage me to nag, but he does want her to eat.

Because of the cough and the difficulty breathing, she's been excused from exercise for the week, but he wants her to get up and move around regularly.

On top of all of this, Dear Husband seems to be dealing with kidney stones again. Poor man.

That makes two. I wonder when the third shoe is going to drop???

I started out to give you the blow-by-blow description of this past week, but I think I'll spare you. Elegante Mother is recuperating. I need to ride herd on her medications to be sure that she gets them on time, and in the proper amount, but as to the rest, we just need to wait it out. The doc says she will cough for about two more weeks, but that the cough is productive, and that's good!

Dear Husband must have finally passed a kidney stone. He seems to be feeling better. I've passed on to him all your good wishes. I think he's embarrassed that I've told the world he wasn't at his top form. It gives you a measure of the man that he continued to work while he was waiting for the stone to pass. What a Stoic!

I ran errands this morning. I planned my travels to minimize the miles. Hair cut, dry cleaning, returning clothing that didn't fit, dropping off goodies for Vacation Bible School, the bank, the post office, the grocery store and the pharmacy. I put things away when I got home, filled the bird feeders, and then dragged a hose around to water three of the gardens.

Either bunnies, or deer stripped an orangy-red lily of all it's leaves, and tested the leaves of the newly planted rudbeckia. I need to water what's left of them tomorrow, and put hardware cloth rings around them to save what's left. Darned livestock!

Ed, the mighty hunter, brought another bunny to the sidewalk this afternoon. This is his third junior bunny in a week or so, plus one chipmunk. I do not care for the mutilated body parts lying around on my doorstep! EYUCK!

I hope to have a quiet day tomorrow. I have the watering to do, but otherwise, I'd like to be inside, quilting. I'll squeeze in weeding and the last of the planting this week. Dear Husband suggested hamburgers for dinner, so that should be an easy fix.

The iris and peonies have finished blooming. Lilies are opening. I still have to move the dutch iris.

And so it goes......

I hope you're all having a good weekend!

I rolled out of the sack before six this morning so that I could deadhead the peonies before I had to go to exercise. The driveway garden looks better for a little trimming back. I carried rings of hardware cloth down to the driveway garden because bunnies have been at work. The wonderful orangey-red lily that I planted as a focal point in the long driveway garden was stripped of it's leaves and flowers, and the stems have been pulled from the ground. I set rings around the rudbeckia, because the bunnies were testing the flavor of the leaves. I didn't want to drive past and find them eaten to the ground!

When I got back from exercise I pulled the hose out from the area where it nests and watered the herb garden, the ferns and rudbeckia, the plants waiting to be planted, and the containers along the sidewalk. Watering is the perfect time to take stock of what needs to be done.

I haven't quite gotten everything planted yet, even though it's almost mid-June. I'd like to get the last of the plants into the ground and then start trimming back or harvesting some of my herbs. The chives all need to be severely cut back, and the oregano should be harvested. There are areas in the center box of the garden that need to be dug up, to remove weeds and get more things planted. I'd like to see if nasturtiums will grow starting this late in the season, and I'd like to get a little more dill planted..

Three of the tomato plants need either to be staked or caged. The construction debris in that section of the garden still needs to be removed, and I'll have to weed the walkway once the poppies stop blooming. I hope the guys will help me add more chat to the walkway.

It's time to pull out the spent blooms of the ox-eye daisy, and I need to unearth several iris that are having some kind of problem with rotten stems. I think I can save the corms if I do it soon. And, I have several iris to divide and share.

There are ALWAYS things to do when you are a homeowner, and a gardener. These lists are reminders to me that I need to get these things done, and a way to look back over the years to see how little things change. I bet I have at least one, or more likely MANY entries just like this for each year I've blogged. Sorry for the repetition. *G*

It was a good start to the week.

Part of my campaign to help Elegante Mother get back to her usual schedule is to pry her out of her chair and get her moving again. I've been concerned about this upper respiratory "gunk" shifting over to pneumonia, which we want to avoid at all costs. One of the best ways to prevent that is to get her up and about.

To that end, when I came home from exercise on Monday, I announced that we would be going to a farewell breakfast this morning after exercise. That set her into a tail spin, because she missed her standing hair appointment last Thursday, and she doesn't care to be seen not looking her best.

So, we made an appointment to have her hair done yesterday. Sneaky, huh? First step in the battle. We're just about ready to go off to spend a few hours with our exercise buddies, and the contact with friends will help.

Tomorrow, another hair appointment. I felt that two in one week was not overdoing, and this will put her back on schedule. Besides, on Friday, we go back to see the doc, and she'll want to look her best! *G*

Gad, kids can be SO devious! I hope this helps her get well soon!

We were coming up the driveway yesterday, and as we neared the house, we reached an area that was shady. I looked over and a young adult deer was standing in the shade, watching us. I stopped. I was astonished to see this young deer out and about at mid-day. She must have been really hungry to be foraging when she could be seen.

Elegante Mother and I sat and watched the deer, and the deer watched us for a few moments before I put the car in gear again. The doe bounded away, and we wondered if there might have been others traveling with her.

She was a beauty. I don't often have the chance to see our larger wildlife visitors these days, and I miss seeing families of them use our land to get from grove to grove. As this area has been built up, the government has arranged to have the herds culled because there's no longer the habitat to support them. I suppose that was the humane choice, but I miss these lovely visitors.

I thought I was being SO CLEVER. I was going to get Elegante Mother on her feet little by little, and get her back to her usual schedule. NOT!

I posted about those plans early on Wednesday morning before we went off to exercise. EM walked into the area of the building where our class is held, but rather than exercise (she really isn't ready to resume exercise yet), she sat and chatted with a friend. Our teacher was making a short trip, so I stopped to talk to her for a moment after class.

A member of the class is moving to California, to live near her daughter, so we were going on to a farewell breakfast following class. EM retraced her steps to the car, saying that it was tough going, but she made it. She walked into the restaurant a few moments later.

We had a pleasant breakfast with friends. It's as much a social hour as a mealtime when we go out. We limit the breakfast trip to once a month. Usually we meet to celebrate the birthdays of that month, so we combined that celebration with our friend's farewell.

About 10:45 I went to pay the bill, and EM rose, and said she felt dizzy. The ladies stood with her while I brought the car around, and she was able to make it to the car, and hoist herself in, with just a little help.

I had to drop off books at the library, and send some certified mail at the Post Office, and then we headed for home. It's very hard to quantify Mother's comments about being wobbly or about shoulders that hurt, or other ailments, so I let myself be guided by frequency and tone of voice. I was still thinking that things were going to be all right when we got home.

I pulled into the garage, hopped out of the car and unlocked the back door. I realized that Elegante Mother was speaking to me, and things sounded bad. She said something about it getting dark in the garage...and I FLEW back to her.

She was standing there with her dark glasses off, looking very frail and wobbly, and more than a bit uncertain. I put my arms around her and tried to position her so that she could sit back in the car, but the door was locked. No keys, no phone in hand; I was totally unprepared. EM leaned against me, and said she couldn't stand any longer. She oozed down my front. I helped her to a seated position, and then to lay back. My mother was laying on the garage floor!!!

I called for paramedics. The guys were GREAT! Three firemen walked up our long drive first, and then the ambulance came up the drive. EM was already recovering. They whisked her off to the hospital, and I followed after making a few phone calls.

EM was in the emergency room for some time before she saw the doc, but nurses bustled in and out, and she had several tests taken. I think she arrived about 11:30 or so, and they weren't able to find a bed for her until after 5:00. By then EM was getting just a little impatient, and she would much rather have gone home!

The docs decided that the new medications that were prescribed last week finally amassed a sufficient amount in her system to drop her blood pressure like a bucket filled with lead! The doc decided that EM would have to stick around overnight for observation. By this morning the effect of her drugs had totally worn off, and she was in good spirits. They took her off almost all the drugs, and we'll add them back a little at a time.

We have another visit scheduled with her doctor. It's become a once a week thing lately! I've got to get EM healthy simply because I HATE hanging at the hospital or sitting in the doctor's waiting room.

EM's upper respiratory "stuff" is improving. She rarely coughs now. YEA!!! Maybe health is just around the corner! Don't hesitate to kid me the next time I make sounds like things are under control!

HI, all! I have just the quickest of notes to share with you before I fling myself into bed, to sleep fast.

First, Happy Anniversary, Nan and Hubby! My youngest sis is out celebrating her 20th anniversary tonight. I hope there are many more lovely celebrations to come.

Second, for those of you who have been so kind to write and ask, as of this writing, Elegante Mother seems to be doing well. We have the first appointment of the morning with her doc, for a follow-up to last week's hospital visit. Doc is likely to adjust her medications. She has been off all but three of them, so that he can get a better idea of just what she needs.

Following the office visit, Elegante Mother is supposed to have her hair and nails done. I'd like to take her to JoAnne Fabrics, for a little shopping, but that might just be pushing things a bit much. I'll have to let her make the call.

We had rain! YEA!!!!!!!!!! Once Mother Nature soaked the ground for me, I weeded the day lily bed along the south side of the house, so that the day lilies would have the sun they need to bloom. I don't know what those darned weeds are, but they propagate by stolon underground, and grow to four feet tall, and bloom with a little yellow dandelion-like flower. They are the bane of my existence!

We're supposed to have a chance for more thunderstorms later Thursday, and Friday, tapering off Saturday morning. I'm all for it! We're desperate for precipitation here. It's not even summer (well not for another twenty minutes), and I'm already getting tired of watering! I water the old-fashioned way, with a hand held hose and watering wand, or a watering "can."

I've been chained to the office desk for a couple of days this week, and I've even FILED! I can see half of my desk top! And I've even worked my way far enough down my To-Do list that I'm going to run smack into some of the projects that have been waiting for my attention forever! Not too shabby if I say so myself.

Those of you who crochet, go visit Janet at "Life in Westcliff," and see about donating a crocheted granny square.

And with that, I gotta hit the hay. Five o'clock is going to come MUCH too early tomorrow.

I hope you're all doing well!

One of the companies for which I work purchased two units in a business center last year. Rubes that we were, it took us a while to realize that we had to arrange for electricity and gas service. As the office person, I started the ball rolling and we began to get electric bills for both units. Then I approached Nicor Gas, and the past four months have been a nightmare!

I filled out two requests for commercial accounts and faxed them over in late February. Unfortunately, the contracts were identical except for the unit numbers, which are 120, and 121. We began receiving gas bills for 120. Eventually, I called to find out why we were not being billed for 121. The lesson here is: NEVER DO A GOOD DEED!!

Nicor Gas took the problem under advisement, and told me that they would work things out and I'd have a bill within the month. A month later we began receiving calls from a collection agency.
After about the tenth call from the collection agency, I discovered that they thought we owned roughly 28 of these units, rather than just two.

I contacted Nicor Gas AGAIN, and sent them the names and addresses of the builder of the units, of the lawyer who closed on our purchase of the units, and of the realty company which manages the facility. I sent them the contracts that show our purchase of the TWO units. That was May 5th. I was told that everything would be worked out in about two weeks.

This week the collection agency has begun to call daily. No matter how much I explain the situation, they tell me there's nothing they can do until Nicor Gas tells them not to pursue the situation. When I tried to explain the situation today, they hung up on me.

Today, I called Nicor Gas again, and was told that yesterday they had faxed a cease and desist notice to the collection agency. The next time the collection agency calls, I plan to ask for a manager, and an address where they can be contacted.

I am totally fed up with the situation. Both businesses seem to be run like the Federal Government: Assign twenty different people to it, and DITHER! Other than taking Valium, how would you handle this?? I need for this to end, NOW!

Did you know that there is a rise in the incidence of kidney stones at this time of year?

Elegante Mother was at the doctor's office for a follow-up visit. She's fine, by the way. Thanks for all your kind notes. Since her doctor, and my doctor and Dear Husband's doctor are all the same guy, I mentioned to him that DH had passed a kidney stone. He said he wasn't surprised. For some reason, they see two or three people a day for kidney stones during late spring and early summer.

I feel the need to surf coming on. I wonder what it is about this time of year that causes an increased incidence of kidney stones?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to refine a search like that?

I was visiting over at Cowtown Patti's blog, and found this little test:

You are the World

Completion, Good Reward.

The World is the final card of the Major Arcana, and as such represents saturnian energies, time, and completion.

The World card pictures a dancer in a Yoni (sometimes made of laurel leaves). The Yoni symbolizes the great Mother, the cervix through which everything is born, and also the doorway to the next life after death. It is indicative of a complete circle. Everything is finally coming together, successfully and at last. You will get that Ph.D. you've been working for years to complete, graduate at long last, marry after a long engagement, or finish that huge project. This card is not for little ends, but for big ones, important ones, ones that come with well earned cheers and acknowledgements. Your hard work, knowledge, wisdom, patience, etc, will absolutely pay-off; you've done everything right.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I love rainy Saturdays. Actually, I suppose I love any kind of Saturday.

It's overcast this morning, and we're getting occasional showers which we really need. Because the back half of our house is surrounded by trees and shrubs, there's a very green cast to the light. The leaves look refreshed from their showers, and the grass or ground covers are all perking up, showing dozens of shades of green. It has the feel of a secret garden.

Our household is off to a quiet start. Dear Husband had to drop off some materials at a job site before he left to sail, so he was up at his usual 4:30 a.m. He's been gone for hours. Elegante Mother was also an early riser. She's listening to the local jazz station on the radio, reading the newspaper. StepSon2 is snoozing. He's a night owl and tends to sleep through the morning. Even Ed (Edward Scissorhands, to you), our cat, is napping.

I'm contemplating all the things I'd like to get done, trying to decide just what to start on. I need to do some more hand quilting. I'd like to cut up a batt for four small quilt tops that I made last summer, and create the quilt sandwich of the top, batt and backing. I've started cutting out a very simple quilt, and I could lay out the center blocks to be sewn today.

I have all the fabric for the quilt after that. I'm ready to cut out the patches for that quilt, but I just discovered that the patches are 4.25" x 2 13/16". It takes precision cutting to cut fabric to sixteenths of an inch. I'm capable of it, but I'm not sure that I want to start that project today. I haven't added up the number of pieces that have to be cut, but I think it might be a thousand or more. (I'm contemplating making two of these quilts, one to give and one to keep.) Perhaps I'll cut just enough for the first quilt.

I've shared the story of the clematis in past blogs (May 6, 2007 archive). I have a jackmanii clematis on an arbor at the north end of the herb garden. It's bloomed well for years but several years ago, the leaves began to drain of their glossy green. I'd get a funny yellow leaf with prominent veining. I researched the problem, and thought I needed to add iron to the soil, which I did. That helped, but last fall it looked as though the plant was giving up the ghost. I cut the canes back to the ground, prepared to let the ground go fallow for a while.

This spring, we were surprised to see healthy starts shooting up out of the soil! I guided them up the arbor on lengths of twine, and this is the result:

What a Cinderella story! This turned out so well that I plan to cut back the rugosa rose at the curve of the drive. Bogie tells me that she cuts hers back regularly, and I think this rose will respond just as the clematis has. By the way, that lone little yellow bloom in the bottom left corner is NOT a dandelion. It's one of the few Yarrow that returned this year. Usually there is a big display of yellow blooms against the green and purple of the clematis, but the winter was hard on this particular perennial.

So, we're having a quiet Saturday at the Arrrgh!! household. Mother Nature has spared me from weeding and watering today, so I'm going to take advantage of play time. I hope you all have a good day, too!

I have spent the past few months trying to get gardens cleaned up from winter, and getting the new plants into the ground. Then, we reach a point where peonies, iris, poppies and lilacs are in bloom, and we sit back and enjoy the view. At that point, there's another flurry of cutting back and cleaning up. I've been waiting for the daffodil leaves to ripen so that I can pull them out. We're just about there.

At the same time, everything in the herb garden has been growing like crazy. I SHOULD be cutting back chives and harvesting sage and oregano, but we're having a lovely rainy Saturday. Cutting back will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday. I plan to share some of the harvest with my friends at exercise.

I wanted to show you a picture of the overgrown herbs before we get to the mid-summer trim:

The chives and oregano are so wooly that you can't even see there's a center box in the garden just beyond them. St. Francis is in that center bed, and you can just see his head and shoulders. This year all that oregano will be shared, rather than going to waste. YEA!!

I plan to throw in a little catnip, too. NO, I won't mix the two together! *G*