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Yard and gardens!

Category: Yard work! | Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:54 am

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I looked here and saw that I haven't wrote a blosince November. My I'm getting lazy. So much has happened that I'm not sure where to begin so I will tell you about my yard and gardens. You all know that it was carved out of a small woods so there are roots and small stumps everywhere and whenever we dig a space we have to also dig roots. Then, those little youpon trees travel by root and come up again where we just dug them out.
In the back yard we make a small garden, put down black plastic and cut holes in the plastic for the tomatoes. That was accomplished last year. There are eleven rose bushes, 10 of them climbing around the fence. I tied the longer branches to the fence last fall and have started pulling some smaller ones toward the fence. They didn't lose their leaves this year. Well, not all of them. Now, they have new leaves and are getting a few buds. I hope it doesn't freeze them. Along the east fence I planted two rows of green peas and a row of rose radishes. It said they were salad radishes. The radishes and peas are about two inches high. When it's warm they grow and on cooler days they just sit there. The aurgula and the pak choi are coming up but the raddicio? is not up yet. I should have read the directions better there. I thought it was like leaf lettuce but it gets heads so I will have to thin it a lot. I wonder if I can wait until it's big enough to move somewhere else. I started to clean out the holes from last year but haven't finished that yet. I cleaned out the flower pots that I had marigolds in last year though. I still have some larger pots that need to be cleaned out. I stood and looked at them today but couldn't decide if I wanted to do them yet so didn't. I took my pointed hoe and dug up thistles and clumps of weeds for the goats.
Chance helped me with that. She filled in the holes left with her nose.
I have five crepe myrtle and two small fig trees in the back yard but they haven't started to bud yet.
In the front yard, I have the small bed of pansies. I put mulch on them today and filled in the spaces with turtles (not real ones). We have the winter garden (8x8). It still has carrots, swiss chard, kale and I just planted two rows of spinach and a row of swiss chard. We dug that 4 x 16 bed last week and have it about ready to plant. Would you believe that when I was hoeing weeds today I found some already growing there. I have four circular beds 4 to 6 ft across with lettuce/mesclun growing. What I had for winter bolted. I haven't pulled it out yet though. I wanted to see if it would seed itself. I did dig around and plant new seeds where there was spaces from cutting the older stuff. I have some black plastic along the front of the house that I want to take up and dig a bed for herbs there. We have three peach trees that we planted last fall and I noticed that two of them have small leaves and some flower buds. I hope it isn't too early for them. dr says they have to have time for growth so we will need to pick the fruit off this year anyway. (sigh) I went around to the end of the house and checked on the daffodils. They are blooming and making a cheerful spot. The pansies and allysum that I planted there are looking good and I noticed some of the freesia that I planted last spring are starting to come up. I carefully hoed between things to loosen up the dirt. The iris that I got from toni aren't getting buds yet but the greenery is doing nicely. So, that's my garden and yard up to date. It still needs lots of work. More in the front where those little youpon keep trying to take over. It's getting nice enough to be out for a couple or three hours a day. The doctor said I need to get more exercise and being outside is g more fun than that exercise bike or weight bench.
dooley

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No more weeds!

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:28 am

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It was nice when we got up this morning so I took my cup of tea and went and sat in the yard with Chance. I took my camera but the birds did not come. The sky turned cloudy and the wind started so I came in and made apple/raisin muffins for breakfast. Last night I made apple cobbler for dessert. I started to make pie but my pie crust turned out tough and doughy. I even followed the directions this time. I digress. After doing the kitchen cleanup I took my loppers out and started on the weeds in the storage yard. I haven't been in there since spring so some of the weeds were like little trees. I lopped them off and threw them into the goatyard. The goats love weeds. I got all the weeds cut with a little help from dr. I cut and he cleared them away. I picked up all the broken glass from a window falling over. I still have some trash to bag up for the dump. But the yard looks like a yard again instead of a dump site. I moved a stack of lumber waiting to be used into the storage yard out of the edge of the driveway. Another job accomplished. dr took me to lunch because I needed a break. Then, I finished the little part up by the deck at the top of the driveway. Now, all of the weeds are gone. Well, there are a few here and there but most of them are gone. I just wanted them gone before it started to rain. We did get dribbled on off and on but nothing measureable. I watched the weather a few days ago just after our last measureable rain and the weatherman said not to expect more rain for five or six weeks. Today I went to weather.com and the ten day forecast has rain six out of the next ten days. Wednesday and Thursday are going to be sunny and nice for Thanksgiving travel. We aren't going anywhere but I know that many people do go to family dinners.
My little fall garden is doing well. Maybe between rain showers I can thin the carrots. I need to pick some spinach and some lettuce to encourage new growth. I think there may be enough swiss chard for a quiche too. I have cheese, too so maybe for lunch tomorrow. I have four circle beds with mixed lettuce and one is up enough to pick and the others are growing except the one little bed with the rabbit waiting patiently for it to grow. The birds have been leaving it alone. I've been thinking of putting a bird feeder out there but first I have to discourage the neighbors cats. I wonder how I will do that without hurting them. I do use the hose and get them soggy. It doesn't seem to discourage them from trying to get dinner out there. I keep things cut short so there is no place for them to hide.
Chance chases them out when she sees them.
I guess we are almost ready for winter now. I'm not a winter person so I hope it doesn't last too long.
dooley

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What a start to the summer!

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:59 am

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I was just re-reading my last blog. I posted it on June 1st. My garden was doing well and I had all kinds of plans for sewing and the farm market. But, that was about three days before I found that lump in my left breast. That blew away the plans but not the summer. It's hot and humid here and dry. How can it be so humid and dry, too. I guess the humidity is what keeps some things green and growing,like the weeds. The weeds really got out of control while I was mending from the mastectomy. I finally went out yesterday and pulled and cut weeds and threw them over the fence to the goats. I didn't get near finished. dr helped and we restacked windows that we bought to make a greenhouse. dr worried that he was working me too hard but it felt good to be back doing things and we took several water breaks and rest times. Then, he took me to lunch. We stopped at the thrift shop and I found a few pieces of material. I didn't do much sewing yesterday though. I try to sew at least one thing every day. Sewing was something I could do while mending. It was sitting and I have a/c in here. I did a lot of reading, too. Last evening I sat down and tried to make a baby apron. I did get one made but I see a couple of changes I want to make in it. It needs to be a couple inches longer and maybe the bib part needs to be just a tad bit wider. I also need to buy some velcro for the tie around the neck. I put a snap on this one but it was just a trial one. Velcro will give a little more adjustment to the ties. I've been trying to make some smaller tote bags and more kid stuff. I've been doing well with the aprons since the farm market moved to the town square. We get more people through it. They were deciding that we would close for the month of August but last week decided we won't close for the month of August. It is hot but we take lots of water and we come home at noon or one o'clock. I had those orders that I got done. A lady wanted me to make her granddaughter a denim bag with a Miss Kitty on the front but that's a copyrighted pattern and I can't do that. Maybe a different kitty but not that one. I'll tell her that next week. She was going to let me know how big it should be. I made matching aprons for my son and grandson for their birthdays which are in August. I made a pink tote bag with a John Deere logo on the material for my granddaughter. When she was younger she loved John Deere tractors and machinery. She's 15 now so maybe she has outgrown them. I saw one at the store not too long ago and thought about buying it and didn't. Then, I found a piece of the pink striped material and bought it and made the tote bag myself. I need to think about making something for my daughter-in-law since I have something for the rest of the family.
I might make her a tote bag, too.
The garden has about seen it for now. I'm going to get some seeds started for planting the first part of September. I think as hot as it is now that the frost may be late enough to grow quite a lot of things. If we get the greenhouse built I can grow some vegetables in it, too.
My pumpkins didn't do so well,Two of them died but one is growing and has several leaves now. I don't think it will be the biggest one though.
So, that's about what I've been doing this summer. Mostly sitting around doing nothing. I'm feeling much better now and only have two more doctor visits on August 3rd. One to the surgeon and one to the oncologist who will monitor for five years before they can say it's over now. But, they did get all the cancer cells so I don't have to have radiation for five weeks. Thanks to all of you who sent prayers and good thoughts. They worked!!
dooley

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It really is summer weather here!

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 3:00 am

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We've been having summer weather here since early March. I'm not a cold weather person so I like the hot weather. Usually when the sun goes down it cools off 20 degrees and it's nice. We've been having a lot of wind and that helps, too. We go out into the front yard with Chance. She checks things out and comes and plops down by our feet. Tonight there is no breeze so we didn't stay out too long.
It's been hot and dry and windy and the Texas drought makes everything dry. I water most every day but only vegetables, flowers and trees. No grass here! The rain we had was very welcome and the plants enjoyed it and grew several inches. I have the tomato jungle. The tomatoes are ripening slowly so we can keep up eating them. We eat a lot of vegetables and fruit in the summer. We stopped at a farm market in Huntsville this morning. I bought, would you believe it, tomatoes. I also bought eggplant, onions and little red potatoes.
At the grocery store I bought green beans, zucchini, peaches and strawberries and bananas and two kinds of leaf lettuce and romaine hearts of lettuce. I didn't buy cucumbers because I have half a dozen from the garden. I see some more growing so maybe I can keep Chance in cucumbers this summer. I noticed I have two wee yellow squash also. I'm glad the vegetable garden is doing well because the flowers aren't doing much at all. I only have petunias and impatients blooming and one marigold. I planted morning glories twice and the only ones to come up are the ones that I didn't plant. I don't know where they came from. They are on the garden fence.
I have a rose on the bush that isn't a climber. I'll have to remember to get a picture of it. The black eyed susans are doing well. They are a wildflower here and are seen all along the road and in fields. Chance likes them.
Maybe I can catch a picture of her smelling them. I never seem to have my camera handy when I need it.
The local farm market started in May, a couple of weeks ago. Now, starting on Saturday it is going to move to the town square in the center of town. We'll see how that goes. On Friday it will be still at the old place. So, I've been doing some sewing the last several days. I'm trying to increase my inventory of children's aprons and tote bags. One of my sisters sent me some fabric suitable to it.
The first week a young girl, maybe six or seven, looked at the aprons and tote bags and wanted to know if I made them or bought them. I told her that I sewed them. She talked her grandma into buying her an apron so she could learn to cook. Her grandma wanted to know how she was going to learn to cook. She told her that you are going to teach me. Grandma bought her an apron. She must have been six because grandma said it would be a present for going from kindergarten to first grade.
When they were leaving the little girl turned around and told me, "You are very creative." I waited until they were gone to laugh. It just tickled me when she said it. Very grownup!
I need to increase my tote bag inventory, too. There are many things I need to do and staying inside when it's so hot that heat stroke is a possibility is a good time to do it.
dooley

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The days are going too fast!

Category: Yard work! | Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:08 am

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Today, I had to give the kitchen a good cleaning. I've been spending too much time outside, maybe. I have a large rectangular table in the kitchen that has become a catch-all. It was near ll am when I was finished with it. Then, we went into town and bought some dog food and the papers. I sat and read the papers. I must be slow or the clocks suddenly sped up because when I looked it was after 1:30 in the afternoon. I quickly got up and made sausage and Kale soup for lunch. Then, I went outside and hoed some weeds in the garden area and between the rose bushes and when I came in I had to check what had been going on here at the Stew. Before I knew it it was 6:30 pm and I had to go make some sandwiches for our supper. Now, it's almost 8 pm and the day has gone by too quickly.
The whole week has been that way. I finished planting the tomatoes and cucumbers and put down mulch on my black plastic and started to mulch around the rose bushes. We had to go buy some more mulch to finish them. I did that after I did the weeding this afternoon. But, when we were buying mulch and of course a few more bags of garden soil I found some pepper plants that needed to be planted and some zucchini and yellow squash, too. I planted seeds for the squashes but they haven't come up yet so these will give me a bit of a start while I'm waiting. dr found some sweet onion sets. They will need to be planted too. Did I tell you that we downsized our garden area? Just a kitchen garden, we said. It's about 12 by 30. It's almost full already. So, where will I plant 8 pepper plants, 12 squash plants and 60 onion sets. The onions need to be 4 inches apart.
Well, being experienced and "old" gardeners we will find a place for them, I'm sure.
I finished the slipcovers for the frontyard lawn chairs. Then, we found some foam mattress pads at the thrift shop that will make just the right padding so I will bring them back inside and modify the design to fit the padding inside and they'll be more comfy. I built the circular flower bed in the middle of the semicircle of the chairs and the rocker. I still need to retrieve a couple of logs for side tables. I was sitting and looking it over. dr said, "What?" I said, "rocks." He said that it did need some rocks around the flower bed up to the chairs and maybe even under the chairs to mark the sitting area. I thought the ground looked too "dirty." There is no grass under the trees. But, we have enjoyed spending a part of each afternoon or evening sitting out there.
I still need to get the plants into the flower bed. Maybe tomorrow. No, tomorrow is library day in the morning and in the afternoon we need to do those vegegtables. Are vegetables more important that flowers? Maybe they are since the prices of them keep going up and up. I'm not sure growing them is too much cheaper since I buy the starter plants but they sure taste good all summer. It's getting to be salad time.
It's a good thing the days are getting longer, but I sure hope things slow down a bit so I can fit everything into them that I need to get done. Every day we seem to start with a list of things that didn't get done yesterday.
dooley

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Every day a little more gets done!

Category: Yard work! | Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 3:11 am

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Every day we get a little more done. I'm sure about 30 years ago I could have gotten this all done in a few weeks. But, now I've been working on it for the most part of a year. I'm hoping to be able to put some pictures on here soon. But, we have some of the trees planted. Today, our young gardener planted the fig tree. It's a mission fig. I let him do it all himself while I cut roots and little scrubby trees that keep popping up all over the yard.
It looks good and he mulched it and watered it when he finished. He asked questions when he needed to and I showed him what he needed to know. I had a hole dug so I had him look at how deep it was dug and how wide and the water well I made around the top. Then, he knew how he should do his hole. Then, he put in the soil and manure and mixed it and put in the tree and filled around it. I showed him how to loosen the roots a bit. He finds it all very interesting. He's always ready to do something else.
He and Brian moved the wood pile from the front yard to the back yard today. They have to finish stacking it neatly yet. That was a lot of work. They moved it on the garden wagon so they didn't have to carry it. They still have the kindling pile to move. It's still in big pieces so they are going to cut and box it before they move it. Then, we will be able to finish cutting those scrubby trees and start to plant the new trees in the front yard. We can dig some flower beds and get some seeds planted. Glenda said that last fall she pulled some branches down from her Carolina Jasmine and buried them in the dirt. I'm supposed to go see if they grew roots. If they did I'm supposed to go cut them and bring them down to finish the fence line. We couldn't do it today. Maybe tomorrow or Monday. We watered everything and I moved the rosemary and basil from the small pots. The basil went into a large tub. The rosemary went into the ground. I have little basil and thyme coming up in the boxes that I planted last week. Maybe tomorrow we can start planting what I bought yesterday. There is just so much that you can do in one day. I wonder when days started getting shorter. I thought that only happened in winter time. We stopped at noon and went to have a Subway sandwich. Then, we did some more until everyone was hot and tired. It was 85 degs today and mostly sunny. After we ate this evening I went out to the front yard with my photo books to read more instructions but after a busy day isn't the best time to try to decipher instructions . So, we just sat and let Chance wander around and enjoyed the cooler evening. We talked about what needed done and how we could do it and how the deck will look when we do it and all sorts of things. Of course, that dog that didn't want in the yard and kept digging out suddenly wanted into the yard. Tough! Now, Chance has a front yard and a back yard and that dog has a small space and the driveway. She's getting friendlier so maybe one of these days we will be able to catch her and take her to the shelter. I'm thinking maybe we can borrow one of those live traps and put a bacon strip in it. We'll see how it goes from now.
Anyway, it's getting done a bit at a time and some day we'll look and say, "We're done!" Of course, you are never done because there is maintainance and in the fall you put everything to bed for the winter and start over in the spring. Hopefully next spring won't be so hectic.
dooley

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Trees, bushes, vines and more!

Category: Yard work! | Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 2:51 am

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Last year we moved down the hill to a smaller place. It was carved out of land that had trees, bushes, brush and lots of weeds. I spent most of last summer and fall chopping down brush, digging up roots and generally trying to make a front and backyard. I had a few health problems that slowed things down but I worked on it whenever I could get out and do it. I didn't plant much at all.
I did get 10 Blaze Climbing Roses planted along the fence line with the house next door. They didn't do very well because we didn't have an outside water line and they didn't get watered as much as they should have. Last fall, I planted five small crepe myrtle trees that I bought at a yard sale. The man said take them home and plant them. They looked like dry sticks. But, I planted them. Today I was digging out grass and weeds that grew around them. Grass and weeds will grow when nothing else does. I noticed that three out of the five are getting green buds and leaves. I'm hoping the other two will have some tomorrow. I mulched around them today. A friend gave me a rose bush. He didn't know what kind it is but I planted it along the fence with the others. I don't think it is a climber though. The climbing rose bushes are doing very well this spring. I fed them Miracle Gro and have been keeping them watered. In December I planted daffidols, iris and freesia. The daffidols are getting flower buds. The iris that Toni sent are getting flower buds. The other iris are growing steadily. The freesia must be a later flower because the largest are only about three inches and I see they are still coming out of the ground. Today, I mixed alyssum, dwarf marigolds and dwarf zinnias and sprinkled the seed in the flower bed with the freesia and daffidols. I'm hoping they will fill in the spaces when the bulbs die back.
I dug along one fence today to plant morning glories. I will dig along more fence tomorrow. I need to put the seeds to soak before I go to bed. They germinate better if you soak the seeds before you plant them. I nicked nastursium seeds today and put them to soak. I'm not sure where I'm going to put them but I'm thinking along the fence between the rose bushes. I planted four lilac bushes in the front yard last week and two bleeding heart bushes in large pots. Then, I planted two purple leaf honeysuckles along the fence line fence in the front yard and a confederate jasmine on the fenceline between the house and the rose bushes. I'm thinking I may have to put some morning glories along the fence between the honeysuckle and the jasmine to fill in that space at the end of the house.
We bought four small trees at the plant sale, The two dogwood trees are growing and have lots of little leaves. We put them in buckets because they were so small but we may have to put them into the ground before long. The two little plum trees are just straight sticks but I notice little buds on them. They will probably stay in the buckets until fall or maybe spring next year.
Today, I bought basil, oregano and thyme seeds when I went to WalMart for mulch and potting soil. I planted them in the cassette tape cases that I got when the library lady was throwing them out. I'll let them grow in the cases until they get too big for them. I need to put my other herbs into bigger pots. I have a tub of mixed lettuce/greens, a tub of spinach, a tub of kale and a tub of swiss chard. I have lots of little foam cups filled with potting soil that I haven't planted yet. We bought black plastic to put in the small area designated as the "garden." It's not down yet. It's been too windy to do that since we bought the plastic. I planted a row of pole beans along side of the back deck. I will need to put some string down from the fence on the deck for them to grab onto. So, I have things started this spring. The front yard is still full of roots and some brush and some scrubby trees that I need to cut. I bought some wildflower for shade seeds. I want to put them under the trees that we are leaving. There are still some brush piles that need burning but it's too dry to burn and there is a burn ban. It doesn't stop everyone from getting out and burning but it does help. The other day the air was full of smoke and it was hanging at tree top level. The news said it was from a fire about forty miles from us. The wind was blowing the smoke. It was a wildfire that got out of control.
I'll be back outside every nice day that I can until I have what I think of as a yard.
dooley

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I have a different Internet Provider

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:17 am

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Since I got back on the computer at home in October I have been having problems with the internet provider. It was slower than dial up should be and half the time it would say that it couldn't find the page because it was removed or something. I'd go around about until I'd finally get to it. Then, they promised me something and two days later reversed it without telling me and added to the cost and overdrew my bank account. So, they are history starting yesterday. They don't know it yet but I will call them on Monday. I installed the new one yesterday and it was a lesson in frustration. I'm not too computer literate but the directions said, "put the disc in your D drive and follow the directions." Doesn't that sound simple? Well, it took about 4 hours. First, I put the disc in the D drive. Did it give me any directions? No! So, I went to start and found the run place and clicked on run. It started up and the first thing it did was put two numbers on the screen and tell me these were the local access numbers but I should check with the phone company to make sure these were really local and that I wouldn't be charged a fee. So, I called the phone company. Nine people and an hour an a half later I finally got to talk to a man who knew what I wanted and had the information. The numbers were indeed local numbers and could be dialed up without extra fees. So, back to the dialup installation. I got it all finished, clicked on the little icon and nothing happened. I tried it again and went back and redid things. Still nothing so I called the support tech. He walked me through the whole thing. I did all the things he said to do. Nothing! So, we went around their disc installation and made a new connection. It works! I still haven't gotten the email and home page working but I was so frustrated when it came time to make dinner and I was still working on it that I quit. If it works then I'll use it and do the details later.
I sure did want to overload those 8 people's ears (the ones who couldn't help me and transferred me to someone else who transferred me elsewhere who transferred me back to someone who had already transferred me. I wanted to just throw the phone through the window. The one that really got me was the automated voice who came on at one point and told me it was time to go, "Good bye." I just hung up and started over. Once I found someone who knew anything it took about 30 seconds to verify those numbers.
We had a couple of cold weeks. It started on Friday a week ago. We woke up to ice and snow and wind. It lasted a couple of days. It wasn't that the temps were so low (20's) but that the wind was blowing so hard. I covered up my newly planted lettuce and in the morning found the coverings and everything I weighed it down with out in the yard. My kale didn't survive it. So, I have little dead kale plants. The lettce that was coming up disappeared. The freesia and daffidols froze, well, the tops froze. I looked today and some new shoots are beginning to appear. Sunday and Monday were not too bad weatherwise. It was in the 60's. Tuesday it was cloudy and was going down into 20's during the night. It was forecast rain during the night and rain on Wednesday with 40 degs. Well, that didn't sound too bad. But, we woke up Wednesday morning to rain. Then, the wind came and it turned everything from wet to ice. Then it started to come down snow flurries. It didn't amount to much but the wind tumbled the temperatures down. It didn't get to 20 degs and with the wind chill it was probably down to near zero. We stayed in the whole day. Thursday it was 20 when we got up but it was supposed to be in the 40's so we got up and went to the library. It was closed until ten am but the librarian was there and let us inside. It was sunny and all the story hour children showed up for the Valentines party. By noon it was 40 degs and the wind had stopped and it felt quite nice.
Today, it was 66 degs and people were out in shorts and tank tops and t-shirts. I still had on my long underwear shirt and a sweatshirt. dr was wearing his padded jacket. We don't move as fast now and can't outrun a runny nose or sneezes.
But, I was looking at things outside this afternoon. My rose bushes have buds for new leaves and the daffidols and iris are coming up and the freesia still looks a little wilted. But, the coming few days are going to be in 60-70 range so maybe they will recover. As I was coming across the deck I stopped to look at the lettuce tub and there, to my amazement, were little green shoots coming up again. I hope it is lettuce and not just common ordinary weeds. I will keep an eye on it for a few days. The little trees that I planted in buckets on Sunday are still looking good. Tomorrow I will water them and maybe add a little fertilizer. I want to rake out my rose bushes and hoe around them and add that fertilizer that the neighbor lady gave me. She gets it from a local rancher. But it's aged so it should be okay. She uses it on her plants.
We moved the outside table from the front yard to the back yard because it's shady in front (cold) and it's sunny in back(warm). We'll use it more in the back yard. We'll get it an umbrella when the sun starts getting too hot.
Today, I bought a scrabble game to put on the computer so I will go and do that in a bit. I bought another disc at the same time. It's a teach yourself Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 in (I'd like to say three easy lessons but I can't do it)
It says it has 50 to 10 hours of training per Course and the disc has two courses, 14 chapters and over 110 ten lessons. Probably not easy either. I think if I did and hour each day it might take me a few months to do it. But, I need to do it. I bought a book but I can't figure out things from a book. I need a visual guide. It says it guides you through practical exercises. So, maybe I will be a little more computer literate in the future.
I'm off to make a cup of tea and to see if I can load the Scrabble game without tearing out anymore of my hair.
dooley

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We are having some outside weather!!

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:33 am

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It's been a colder and wetter winter here this year. This is our third winter in Texas. We haven't had any snow but we've had lots of rain and some below freezing weather. Bt, yesterday and today were for doing things outside again.
Since we moved here I have been cutting out brush and digging out roots all over the place. During the summer I had to quit due to some problems that landed me in the hospital a couple of days. I think that is finally taken care of. A change of medication and an over the counter supplement seems to be doing the job.
So, Yesterday I took my loppers and my shovel and went out to the front yard. I had to take the rake, too because there are several trees out there that lose their leaves in the fall, including oak trees. Those oak trees have huge leaves. There are some still hanging on the tree waiting for me to finish raking so they can fall and make me do it again.
Yesterday, as I raked, I cut off all the little trees and offshoots that grew from roots I didn't get dug out. I got about half done. Today, I raked and left the little trees and offshoots. I got all of the raking done but about three feet along the fence. Now I can see what I still need to lop off. I also need to take a saw and cut down some scrubby trees that are growing in the wrong places and will not amount to anything. It will give the trees there more light, too. Then, I have to rake in the little yard. That's where we fenced off an area for sitting. It has lawn chairs and a table and lots of flower pots for flowers. It's a shady area so not much grew back but there are those oak trees that dropped their leaves. That won't take more than an hour or so. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday so I guess I won't get it done this week unless the rain goes around us.
Today, I had to take a break and go with dr to Home Depot for some small nuts and bolts for the project he was doing. We stopped for vegetables, too. On the way we went past a large yard sale so of course we had to stop and go back. We found a few neat things we can use here. There were some "walls" taken from a camper or something. They have windows in them. There were three of them and they make a total of 12 feet. dr says he can use them to make a shed addition on the back of the house. We have some metal roofing he can use and painted they will look nice enough for a shed. I can grow some flowers around it and it will be good. We also found some wooden frames about six foot wide and eight foot tall. They have lattice in them. We are going to build a deck on the front of the house. It will be three steps down from the front porch and three steps down to the ground. It will hold our deck chairs, a small table and of course some flowers. These lattice panels will go onto the front of the deck. Then, we have a piece of lattice that dr can make into another frame for the end of the deck. I will plant morning glories along the side and ends to grow up the lattice like I did with the long front porch at our other house.
So, we have more projects ahead of us. Of course, I would like the deck first but being practical we will build the shed first. Well, first is getting the stuff home. We can't haul them in our small truck. The man said if we can't get someone to bring them home he might be able to deliver them with his work truck. He'll call us or we can call him the beginning of the week. We might be able to get our neighbor to do it for us. His truck is bigger.
Yesterday I went up along our very bumpy road and cut all the weeds along the side. Everytime we came down the hill they brushed the sides of the truck. Our neighbor came out to help but she couldn't find her hoe and didn't have loppers or a weed eater to use. We talked about how to fix the road but it's not up to us so we just talked about it. At some point the property owner wants to level it out and gravel or rock it. It's waiting it's turn in the scheme of things I guess. There's always something else that has a priority. They are trying to build a small farm holding and have been buying animals and building fences and houses for the animals. They have three pigs, two goats, chickens, two heifer calves and two horses. They already had the horses. They were bought for the grandkids a few years ago. Nobody rides them much. The kids aren't old enough to ride by themselves and everyone works too much to help them.
I, also, emptied my lettuce tub and emptied it out and refilled it with soil and planted more lettuce. I tented it and will cover it when it gets too cold at night. I'm hoping we are done with the below freezing weather and won't have to cover it with more than one layer of something to keep the frost off of it.
If it rains tomorrow it will be inside projects that I really need to work on. I've put things off for too long and since I'm feeling better now I'd better get myself in gear and get a few things done.
Chance did something this evening that she's never done before. She went into the bedroom bath and emptied the wastebasket and chewed on the rolls from the toilet paper. She has never bothered waste baskets before. I wonder what got her started on it today. Boredom, maybe. She had to be inside while we went to town because it was supposed to rain and she doesn't have outside shelter from the rain. That is another project coming somewhere down the road. Our road seems to be getting longer. Maybe I should quit here and get started on fixing it. Oops! I can't. It's dark outside. Maybe tomorrow!
dooley

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A New Year, another chance to get it right!

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 3:26 am

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Here we are getting ready for another New Year! I hope this one is better than the last one. We moved from the big house at the top of the hill to the little house at the bottom of the hill. That was a good move for us. The big house was just too big, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, and family room plus that great long porch. I did enjoy that porch though. We grew some great morning glories along it. We moved late enough that we couldn't get a garden started so I planted some things in feed tubs. It was a hot, dry summer so things didn't do well at all. I hope to plant a few things in the ground this year. We worked all summer and fall to get the roots dug and the trees and brush under control.
While we were in the process of moving our good friend died. We hadn't known him for long but it's amazing how much he and dr did together in that short time. He was a good guy for sure. He left us his dogs. Two of them, one had puppies the day he died. Six of them! but, only one puppy has survived. So, we have two because the mama dog died, too. I think she was too old to have so many puppies. The one puppy that is left is a thief. Every day we have to return things that she's brought home. I think she has help though. I'm not sure who is doing it. She brought home a kid's toy bat one day. I took it back. The next morning it's back out there with a tennis ball laying next to it.
I took the bat back, leaving the ball laying there. The next morning, the bat is back, the ball is laying next to it and an added feature, a baseball cap. It says "Dallas" on the front of it. Isn't it football that is played in Dallas?
In July I ended up in the hospital with angina and an irregular heartbeat but they didn't find anything wrong and it went away so that's good.
I pulled and cut brush when it got cooler this fall. But, a spider or something bit my ankle and it swelled up and turned a nasty purple color. dr made me quit cutting brush until it healed. I still have a small spot there that hasn't went away. Maybe it could be called a scar?
I started volunteering at the library in June and go every Monday and Thursday mornings. I shelve books, process new books and watch the checkin/checkout desk. I enjoy that a lot. I used to work in libraries in Arizona.
My computer quit in March so I went to the library to use theirs until we got another computer. I got to know the ladies quite well and started helping out when they got really busy. So, I decided to just volunteer. I had just thought that if I was a volunteer I could jump in when they were busy. But, they were moving to a new computer system and since I was experienced with the newer, larger systems I could help them with it. They do quite well with it and didn't really need my help. But the library director says I do help them a lot since I can do a lot of things the ordinary volunteer isn't capable of doing such as the processing of new books.
I think they could learn to do it if she had time to train them in it.
I had another brief spell of the irregular heartbeats but they found it was caused by a low magnesium level. Magnesium and Potassium regulate the heartbeat. Two of the medications I take combined to lower the levels. A change of medication seems to have take care of it.
We had a good Thanksgiving and Christmas. The boy from next door came over and helped me make cookies and I helped him make a bear to give to his grandma.
We have some great neighbors and we gave them cookies and stollen for Christmas. One of them brought us dinner on Christmas Eve. It was really good.
I think we did okay this year but there are some things that we might do better next year. Especially in the gardening area. I have planted some crepe myrtle trees, bulbs and rose bushes so I'm sure to have a few flowers.
Happy New Year!
dooley

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