You know….it’s really shocking to pull up your own blog and see that it’s been so long since you posted that there’s no message box on the screen!
Edward Scissorhands (our cat) is helping me with this entry. Or maybe he’s saying that I had better get off my duff and FEED HIM! It’s tough to tell. This time of the evening he generally comes around looking for attention, but he behaves the same way when he wants to be fed.
Okay…stinky cat food set out, dishes rinsed, dishwasher started….(see what keeps me from blogging???)
I think I have finally come to the time when I will have to admit that I might have to cut back on my beloved drink of choice (hot or iced tea), after dinner. I have not been sleeping well this past year. There are a number of issues involved here, but I’m pretty sure that by switching to decaf tea, or water, I might be able to improve the issue of getting to sleep. Time will tell.
I’m also trying to take good advice offered to alternate tea with water. We ALL need more water in our diets. Most of us don’t recognize dehydration when we experience it because we are frequently borderline dehydrated to start. I used to think that because I drank so much tea, I couldn’t have a problem, but I was wrong. You need to drink WATER….not just liquids!
I’ve been pondering weighty issues this week. Earlier, I posted a link to a political quiz. The past few days I’ve been thinking about pro-choice and anti-abortion issues. It’s a sign that while my hands have been busy with chores, gardening and piecing quilt tops, my brain has been wandering. I’ll let it wander a bit more and then share a couple of those thoughts with you.
Did I tell you that we had planned to rent a RED convertible for the coming weekend? About six weeks ago, I tried to pin one down, without a great deal of success. Hertz finally told me that they had convertibles coming in, but they couldn’t guarantee there would be any red ones. The agent suggested that I call this week to see if they could accommodate me. Well, this time I got an agent who didn’t give a rip about my needs. She said they couldn’t guarantee what color or type of car I would get. The color was so important, that I canceled my order for a convertible. I had planned to drive Elegante Mother around for the weekend in a jazzy little red car, but we’ll do it another time when I can find a RED ONE!
Why is it, when you are not near the keyboard there are dozens of things you’d like to write about. And, when you are AT the keyboard….you can’t remember any of them?
I’ll come back when I can remember some of them.
Politics
We have a very interesting banker. He’s been our banker for a number of years, but it was just this year that I learned he is the age of the son we lost on New Year’s Eve. I’d never given any thought to how “young” Joe is. He’s good at what he does, and brings a wealth of experience to the table.
Today, he guided me through the steps to accomplish something that our business required, and then we drifted into more general conversation. It lead to the fact that we are both dissatisfied with the options we have in the voting booth. I started to say that I felt the welfare system needs to be overhauled, but he felt that it needed to be closed down! We frequently see things alike, but it turns out that he is a Libertarian, while I am a Centrist.
I know this because he sent me to take The World’s Smallest Political Test. This is a Libertarian site, but the test is interesting, and will give you an idea where you stand in relationship to the Libertarians. If you have a couple of minutes, go take the test. You’ll see it in a turquoise box on the right side of the site.
CENTRISTS espouse a “middle ground” regarding government
control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on
the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention
and sometimes support individual freedom of choice.
Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind,
tend to oppose “political extremes,” and emphasize what
they describe as “practical” solutions to problems.
Cultivation
…that’s the word of the day. See….look over there to the right. You might have to scroll down a bit to see it.
We have numerous gardens around the house, under cultivation. There is a patch of ground north of the house that is waiting for Dear Husband to cultivate, in preparation for veggies.
We cultivate low maintenance friends.
Raising a family could be considered the art of cultivation. You prune away bad habits, and supply your children with a healthy stream of nutrients in the form of food, ideas and experiences.
Go forth and cultivate today. You’ll be better for it, no matter which medium you choose.
An Odd Morning
I’m having an odd morning. The house is strangely quiet, and it almost seems as though I’m in the wrong house. Elegante Mother has gone to visit with another of her daughters for four or five days. Her rooms don’t have the usual inviting halo of light, and there’s no jazz playing in the background. Normally, I’d hear EM conversing with the cat about whether he should go back outside or not. It seems very strange.
We have a wedding coming up in our family this weekend. True to form, I’ve put off shopping for an outfit until the last moment, so this morning I will have to take myself off to the mall. Just one mall, if I’m lucky. If not, then to several. The wedding is at 5:00 and it seems that the general attitude is that dress should be semi-formal. I clean up reasonably well, but I’d really rather be in my gardening clothes.
Ed (Edward Scissorhands, the cat), had a doctor’s visit on Saturday. We’ve been watching over him since his radiation treatment for hyperthyroidism. A month ago the vet ran some tests and determined that he needed to go to a low protein diet. We have been gradually changing him over to the new food, which he really doesn’t care for. Last week, in desperation, he tried to take down a bunny his own size. I’m happy to tell you that bunnies are very good at playing dead and sneaking away. We’re waiting for the results of the blood tests, but the one ray of good news was that Ed had gained an eighth of a pound over the last month! YEA!!
I was browsing through Prevention Magazine while I was waiting in the vet’s office. Did you know that people who have at least 20 drinks in one month are 66% less likely to develop insulin resistance? I have intended for some time to start serving wine with dinner. I keep forgetting that it’s sitting there in the wine rack. Besides, this would be a nice tip of the hat to our late son, who was our personal wine expert.
I was gardening in the rain on Saturday, and I moved a stepping stone and uncovered an ant abode. In way of thanks, they sent visitors to my wrists to BITE ME!! Those itty bitty darned little red ants HURT…..and my wrists STILL itch. I’m going to have to look for some topical antihistamine, and wear long sleeves today.
So….there are my thoughts for this morning. You can see that my brain is on hold, not quite ready to jump into the day, but more awake than it was an hour ago. I hope you’re all facing the day with verve and aplomb!
Have a great one!
Sunday Plans
As I type this, it’s still Saturday night. I have just this entry to make before I plan to crash for the night. When I post, this will be listed as a Sunday post, so my use of “tonight/tomorrow” may be a little confusing.
My second sister is the Director of Christian Education for her church. Sunday is Women’s Sunday, and she has been asked to give the sermon. It should be interesting to hear her preach. I’ve never heard her speak publicly.
Elegante Mother is planning on staying with my sister for a few days this week. She’s packed and ready for the trip. Several family members will join us for church, and then for lunch at a local restaurant.
It will be odd without Elegante Mother filling the house this coming week, but there’s a lot scheduled, and she’ll be home in just a few days. Ed, our cat, is likely to miss her the most, because she caters to his coming and going, and sees to it that he has fresh food throughout the day.
Well…..it’s bed time. I hope you all have a good night’s sleep!
Weeding in the Rain…
…just weeding in the rain….
(sung to the music of “I’m Singing in the Rain.”)
Yup….that’s what I was doing earlier today. Dear Husband was going to work on the engine of his boat, but some work done at the yacht yard stymied his plans. I had finished with morning errands and chores, and was on my way down to the driveway bed when I found him collecting the dried material I had pulled from that bed last week. I had planned to hook up the John Deere mower and trailer to make short shrift of that cleanup job, but I was delighted to have the unsolicited help.
As he passed me on the way to dump the weeds and cuttings, DH said that he was going to go inside. There was a sprinkle or two of rain, and I said I’d be in in a bit. That bit lasted almost two hours before I was rained out.
DH gave me a hand marking off a line along the west side of the driveway garden. We put in two stakes and ran a line, so that I could see where I needed to spade away encroaching grass. I managed to hand weed the upper third of the west side of the garden. This next patch will be the easiest. It’s part of an attempt at “lasagna gardening,” which cleared an invasion of grass and soapwort out of the garden two years ago. I’ve left the bed lying fallow all this time, when I COULD have planted it last year. I hope to get it planted in the next two weeks with perennials, and then mulched with wood chips from our own cuttings and downed branches (another project to finish).
I was telling my sister that I’d had been thinking about how a landscaper would have done the work differently. As I was lifting out the chunks of grass and dirt, and shaking the soil from the roots, I was thinking that they would have used a shovel to lift the clumps of grass, toss them into a trailer and dispose of them. Then, they’d bring a load of compost or garden soil mixed with compost to fill in the area that had been excavated. It would have taken them a third of the time. What in the world was I doing on my hands and knees, shaking dirt out of grass roots??? I wish these epiphanies came BEFORE I started a job like this!
The gentle rain that had been expected, saved me from too much gardening the slow way. I headed in about 2:00 when the rain became cold enough to give me the chills. We’re still playing catch-up on precipitation, so I won’t complain, although I’d have liked to have finished the job. The rain was God’s way of reminding me not to overdo!
Posture is Everything
I’m sure that I’ve mentioned that I have a herniated disk in my lower back. It’s been on the touchy side for the past two or three months, talking to me when I rise from a chair.
The past week or so, as I’ve been doing more gardening, I’ve half expected it to flare up, and make movement difficult. But, oddly, as I’m gardening, it seems to be fine. It’s when I come in for the day, and have been sitting at the computer, or in the rocker for a while, and then rise, that I have more difficulty.
When I rise at the table, I pause to be sure that none of the muscles are complaining. If something is uncomfortable, I take the time to “suck it in,” and slowly stand up straight. It seems that those two things help to support the disk, and ease the discomfort.
I noticed that I have been slumping in my office chair. I talked with the doctor about it, complaining about a knot of muscles over my shoulder blade that hurt. He says that good posture is one of the ways to alleviate the pain. Another is to rise from my chair at least once an hour and do some of the same warm up stretches we do at exercise.
So, as I get more time in my gardens, I’m also working on improving my posture throughout the day. If you catch me slumping, give me what for!
Happy Birthday, Nan!
Those of you who read here know that my youngest sister has taken up blogging this year. You can visit her at Just My Opinion. Actually, I hope you’ll go to visit, and wish her a Happy Birthday on Thursday, April 27.
We won’t be together to celebrate, but I’ll see her in a week, when she comes home for a family wedding. If I’m a GOOD sister…..I’ll remember that I need to call to wish her a great day.
If I miss, sis…….Hippo Birdie Two Ewes!
Great Day!
It was gorgeous today!
Last night we had frost warnings for new plants, and today the temps slowly raised into the lower sixties. We were away from home all morning, so I headed out to the driveway garden in the afternoon. You can walk past a garden and make note of changes that need to be made, but you don’t realize the depth of the work until you get down and begin working the soil.
The driveway garden has never been edged, so I’ve had a constant battle with grass trying to creep into the bed. Beyond that, when I first planted the garden, I thought something called “Bouncing Bet” or “Soapwort” sounded like a lovely plant to add to my collection. If someone tries to sell you one of those plants, RUN THE OTHER WAY! It’s one of the most invasive species I’ve ever planted. I find it creeping through out the lawn, and making its way up the driveway!
I am a bear of little brain, and a creature of habit. Each year I have walked down to that garden, and started at the northern-most end of the bed, on the driveway side. And, each year, I have run out of cool weather and steam while still on the driveway side. THIS year, I’ve managed to get work done on the west side of that bed, and I’ve done it while the soil is still damp enough to work. There is NOTHING harder to do than pull grass from dry clay.
I sprayed several patches of soapwort with Round-up. I tend to be an organic gardener, but I’m going to kill off that damned stuff yet! I used a spade to begin loosening patches of grass, and I pulled down dead stalks from last year’s flowers, and deadheaded daffodils.
I dragged Dear Husband out with me for another half an hour of work after dinner. He collected branches from the lawn and took them to the mulch pile. We have a chipper shredder, and I’ll have to get busy soon to make the mulch that will cover this bed. Beyond that, if we didn’t pick up the twigs and branches, he’d mow over them and dull the mower blades. While he collected branches, I raked the southern end of the bed, and collected all the weeds and grass that I pulled out this morning.
I have some serious renovation to do on this bed. The center section is ready to replant. This time I plan to plant masses of Perovskia (Russian Sage), and Rudbekia. I’m debating whether I want to put something slightly taller in the center of the bed as a focal point. Today, I realized that I’ll need to rework the southern end of the bed, too. Purple coneflower spread and edged out the Obedient Plant, and now weeds have edged out the coneflower, except along the edges of the bed. Dear husband will have to help me remove some volunteer shrubs, and then I’ll divide and replant the Hostas near the Bleeding Heart that caught my eye today.
It’s a start, and a good one. Let’s hope for more cool weather with occasional showers to keep the soil workable.
Bits and Pieces
FROST WARNING for tonight. Anyone in the Chicago area who was foolish enough to plant tender annuals or half-hard perennials before May 15th needs to go out and cover them up!
We’ve had the heat on today. Chilly weather moved in with the rain last night. We need the precipitation, so we’re not grousing about the rain, but it would be nice to be just a bit warmer. Thankfully, the temperature will rise to the sixties for the coming week…..just about where it should be at the end of April.
I told you that the egrets have returned, didn’t I?? I think I did. This is the time of year when I have trouble staying in my own lane because I’m busy watching for the egrets in the marshes and ponds. I need a warning sign for the motorists behind me.
We may have had the last of the dinners with my niece and her sons. There are just too many things on their calendar for us to stick to the same night of each week, band concerts, baseball practice and such. I’m going to miss those dinners. It will end for sure in June, when she moves south about an hour.
I need to call the Geek Squad. I think I need to have both the CD player and the CD burner replaced on the computer in the office, OR, I need to uninstall the software for making CDs and reinstall it. The darned thing wouldn’t let me close a newly burned CD, then wouldn’t let me take it out of the burner, and THEN told me that I couldn’t turn my computer off because Windows was communicating with a program, when nothing showed up on the task manager. (muttering) Time to do something about it!
I have to apologize for all the whining lately. I had a much better day, today, despite the rain. I don’t deal well with mess, or with dozens of unfinished projects hanging over my head. The CPA’s assistant came this morning, and to be ready for her, I had to clean off my desk (and clean the desk), and make odds and ends of entries. That simple act of making things tidy lifted my spirits, and made it easier to get things done. I worked on my side of the desk while she worked at the computer, and between us, we got loads of stuff done! Who knew that being tidy was such a good thing!
We have birthdays to celebrate! Two today, one tomorrow, Nan’s birthday is April 27th, and my brother’s birthday is the 30th. We plan to celebrate without him. And there are easily 8 more coming in May, I think. My granddaughter will be two soon! If you have a moment, visit Just My Opinion and wish my little sis Happy Birthday, won’t you?