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It's Fall already!
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dooley's Blog
A beautiful sunny morning
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:03 pm It's a beautiful sunny morning and the temps are climbing so soon I shall go outside and see what I can find to get into today. Yesterday it was sunny so we went and cleaned up the branches that we dragged over here last week. We will use the big pieces for kindling wood and eventually cut the small stuff for mulch. Right now the birds are enjoying it. They climb through it and under it looking for bugs, etc. I doubt they will find much. The cats are staying away thanks to some well placed water spray. We bought a lawn table and four chairs last week. They had been stored outside for sometime under a tree. They were covered with a green mold so yesterday, I washed them down with a soapy bleach water. dr washed them off with a hose. I think when it is a bit warmer they will receive a coat of paint. They are metal with a heavy plastic ribbing for seats. We are going to purchase a set of cushions for the chairs. There isn't an umbrella but it will be on the porch anyway so we aren't worried about that at all. Whole set was just ten dollars. We bought a large dining room set from the same lady. It only has five chairs but that's okay, too. I want to recover the seats. The lady offered some green upholstery material but I'm not sure I want green. The color matches the china cabinet pretty close so if we get it fixed up we'll have part of a set anyway. dr says we are collecting too much again so we are going to stop for awhile. (Yeh, right) I finished with the rose bushes and they are looking better. They are getting lots of new leaves. I was thinking of feeding them but maybe it's still too early for it. I'm not sure when roses start to bloom here. I know they bloomed early in Arizona before the weather got hot. It will be interesting to see what kind of blooms they get. I could ask Glenda but I'd kind of like the surprise, I think. The little narcissus blooms disappeared. Do animals eat them? Glenda has been losing some plants, too. She thinks something is digging hers because the whole plants are gone. She says it is not something, but someone. I might start digging some flower beds because I will have to do it slowly or my knees will protest big time. When we are ready for the garden we will find a place to rent a tiller, I think. I am NOT digging a whole garden. I can finish cutting back those big weeds along the fence line too and make a compost place in the back corner. I cut some thistles yesterday and fed them to the goat. The horses ate a few but I think the goat got the most of them. I'll run out of weeds and things to feed them pretty soon. They have food but do like a snack now and then. They do like apple peels and cores and carrots, too. No wonder they hang around the fence when I go outside. So, with the temps climbing and the sun shining why am I still here on the computer. I'm out of here. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 413 times
Good Friends!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:58 pm A good friend called on Monday evening. He wanted to know if we would be home today. He and his wife were thinking of visiting. They are from Black Canyon City where we lived before moving to Mayer (in Arizona.) They moved to Texas about 10 years ago. Sure doesn't seem like that long ago. They live in Hawkins which is about three hours north of here. We had been talking about meeting them somewhere so they wouldn't have to drive so far. But, they got up early this morning and drove down. We met them in Madisonville and had lunch and then came out to the house so they would know how to find us next time. Interestingly enough, they passed a couple miles from us on their way into Madisonville. They had to leave by 3 pm to get back home by dark. They neither one like to drive after dark and like us, neither one is too fond of freeways and interstate highways. They use the rural state highways as much as possible. We hadn't seen them in a couple of years and then it was such a flying visit. They were in Arizona over Thanksgiving but we were already headed for Texas. They were really surprised to get our Christmas card from here. We really had to talk fast and we filled every minute except when they were following us home. Marv and dr sat in the living room in the recliners. Judy and I made use of the rockers, but not on the porch. It was nice out but too breezy to sit outside. dr noted after they left that Judy and I certainly found a lot to talk about. Well, he and Marv weren't slacking off either. We will try to get up to see them, maybe next month. Like them, we will probably leave early and come home early. It's good to have friends willing to drive six hours round trip to stay only 4 or 5 hours to visit. We used to set up our flea market stand next to Marv every Saturday until he moved to Texas. We didn't know Judy as well because she worked as a cook in a local restaurant and didn't have Saturday's off. In all the time we were friends, I think we didn't visit in our homes more than a handful of times. Most of it was during the flea market days. Good friends are good to have and to keep, even from a long distance. She was saying they were thinking of moving again one of these days. Her feet like to wander and Marv goes with her where ever they wander. They moved to Texas because their youngest was in the military and their oldest lived in Texas. But she says their oldest moved on down the road and their youngest moved back to Arizona when they got out of the military. She says they have nothing to keep them in Texas now. They may move more east or maybe back to the west but not Arizona again. But for now we can go visit them and they can come visit us. She quilts and we talked quilting. She doesn't garden much. She says she doesn't have a green thumb. I don't know how green my thumb is but I still like to garden and what ever grows is welcome. Maybe even the weeds if that's all that comes up. When we were growing up we would have been lost without a garden where ever we lived. It was useful with seven kids to have the garden available when payday was still a couple of days away. Anyway, we had a good day visiting with old and good friends. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 518 times
A week for exploring things!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:03 am We had a week of exploring things. Last Saturday we went to Jewitt. There is a flea market there the second Saturday of each month. We found it right away. It is on the main street of the town. It isn't a large town but it has a fair sized flea market and we walked all around it. The thing is, we left before breakfast and we were only going to one yard sale. We bought a couple of small things and then we decided we'd head for Jewitt and stop on the way for breakfast. We passed another sign for a yard sale and detoured but didn't find it. We headed for Jewitt again. We went through Normangee and spotted a restaurant. Did we stop for breakfast? No! We decided to go on to Jewitt and eat there. We found the flea market first. We walked all around it. We saw a lot of things. We saw chickens and ducks and other small animals. We saw a rocking chair but we left without buying anything. We looked for a place to eat and only saw a Mexican restaurant that wasn't open yet. So, we backtracked to Normangee and had lunch at the restaurant we bypassed at breakfast. We went inside and there was no one there and we sat down and ordered, wondering why no one was there. What would we get? But, we must have just arrived in a lull because when we had eaten and were leaving the place was full and busy. We saw some places we want to go back and explore but Chance was inside and we hadn't planned on being gone for long so we headed home. On Sunday, we only went and got the papers and back home. It wasn't a very nice day so we spent time inside with Chance. On Monday, we decided we were going to Huntsville to explore and see if we could find any resale shops. I found some listed in the internet yellow pages. We looked around the town square and found some antique shops which had some very nice things but they were rather pricey so we didn't buy anything. We stopped at Home Depot and checked thing out but again didn't buy anything. We came home empty handed. Tuesday, we were going to go to Bryan/College Station with Glenda but the water line was shooting a geyser into the air and by the time it was fixed we decided it was too late to go any where and get back at a reasonable time. So, we decided we would go on Wednesday. Wednesday morning, Glenda called and said she wasn't feeling well. We decided we'd go for a ride and wouldn't you know we ended up going to Bryan and exploring on Texas Avenue. We found a grocery store and bought a few things and found our way back home. It was a long way to go for just a few groceries. During the week, the utility company came around the area and cut trees and brush away from the right away for the electric lines. We hauled a lot of the branches into the yard to break up for kindling and mulch. Thursday, we stayed home and worked on cutting it into sections and stripping the cedar (needles) off the branches. I decided that I would use the needles as mulch around the rose bushes. I had pulled the grass out from around and through them and put compost around them. I didn't get finished so I worked some more on that on Friday. But, about noon we decided to go back to Home Depot in Huntsville. dr wanted some 2 x 4's to do a project and some to build a small plastic greenhouse on one section of the porch. I wanted to look in the garden section. We bought the lumber he needed and a roll around toolbox (a small one) which he needed. I found a garden cart which I needed. So, for about the first time all week we came home with something. Today, we got up and went to a yard sale. then we went to breakfast and decided we would go to Bryan/College Station and see if we could find a flea market I had seen listed on the internet. After getting in the wrong place a time or two we found it but it wasn't doing much business so we headed back to Madisonville. As we left Bryan we saw a yard sale sign and stopped. We didn't find a yard sale but we found the neatest yard I've seen in a long time. This older couple lived there. She did quilting and he made wooden yard ornaments. She had a yard full of garden junk and lots of little yards and gardens and it was so neat. I sure wish I'd had the camera but I didn't. Anyway she took us into her little house where she did quilting. She had a quilting frame hanging from the ceiling. We got to discussing quilting frames and quilting and we'd made a lot of the same ones. But she had made a lot more than I ever made. She said she'd made about a thousand in her lifetime. She sold them for the cost of making them. Needless to say we came away with a quilt. I will get a picture of it tomorrow and post it. It's a handkerchief quilt. Each block has a butterfly made from a flowered handkerchief. She does it all by hand except she sews the border with a sewing machine. I finished the yard work when we got home. I still have some branches to cut up. I'm thinking of where I want to make some flower beds in the front yard. I think the back yard will be taken up with vegetable garden. Maybe! You never know from one day to the next what you will do or where you will go. The quilt lady told us of a couple of flea markets we should visit so maybe we will go next weekend to another flea market. We plan on going to Bryan with Glenda on Tuesday. She has a doctor's appointment and maybe she can show us some things we've missed. We still have a few places to explore and I'm sure we'll find more places as time goes by. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 557 times
Rain and other things
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:24 am All last year Glenda and Toni told us there was a drought in Texas and they never had enough or any rain. So, we moved to Texas and what happens! It rains! There have been more cloudy or rainy days than sunny ones. Poor Chance gets so depressed when it rains. She hates getting wet but how can she go out and check things if she doesn't get wet. Monday it was raining buckets off and on all day. During a lull in the rain dr let her outside. I walked past the door a bit later and there was Chance looking in the door. She was so wet and bedraggled. I had to get a towel and dry her off. She didn't want out anymore the rest of the day. Yesterday, we had some errands to do. It was cloudy but not raining much but we left her inside when we went to do the errands. Of course, while we were gone the rain quit and the sun came out and poor Chance could only look at it from inside. She was in such a hurry to get outside when we got home. She really enjoyed her day in the sun today. She didn't want to come in at all. I went outside this afternoon. It was so nice I started pulling grass out of the rose bushes. I dug some around them. Tomorrow I will rake up the grass and weeds and the pieces of dead wood that I cut off of them. dr says I can compost the grassy stuff. Then, I want to get some mulch and put around them. I think it's still a bit early to leave nothing there. I might "borrow" some of the stray bits of dry hay that the horses have spread around their pasture. I can reach some without going over the fence but dr says wood chips will work better. I can borrow the hay until I get some wood chips if it turns colder again though. I cut some broken branches off of a couple bushy trees. I think they are trees but they are fairly bushy so I'm not sure. Glenda says they are Althea? There is a daffodil or narcissus getting ready to bloom so I will keep an eye on it for a picture. I posted in the good morning thread that we were going to get our truck inspected today so we could get our Texas license plates. How can you be a resident of Texas with Arizona plates on your truck? We got our Texas insurance and that was a start and so we got up this morning and went to the dealership. We were going to have a general three thousand mile checkup and get the inspection. We had the three thousand mile checkup but not the inspection. We have to go back tomorrow for it because while the truck was sitting there waiting to get taken in for the inspection and checkup a person backed their big truck into our little truck and broke a tail light. You can't pass a safety inspection with a broken tail light. The dealership didn't have one in stock but they were going to get one today and they will install it and do the inspection tomorrow. The man who backed into us was very upset about it and he payed for replacing it. There was no other damage and accidents do happen. Then, we stopped and bought a Madisonville newspaper and discovered that they closed the place to get our driver's license changed. The computers were old and needed updated. So, now we have to go to Huntsville, Centerville or Bryan to get that done. We can't get it done anyway until we get the Texas plates on the truck. Ho Hum! Welcome to Texas, everyone keeps telling us that. They do seem to be so friendly and helpful here. I think we will stay awhile. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 436 times
I Missed Christmas here!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:06 am I think I missed most of the Christmas posts here. I think we missed most of Christmas anyway. We did put up decorations and bought a tree and put it up but it didn't seem very Christmasy. We didn't do a lot of shopping but Cheyenne and Glenda did come one day to make cookies. Cheyenne came back to make her gingerbread but wasn't feeling well and went away again. I finished them and some more. I took them to Glenda's for Christmas and left them so I wouldn't eat too many. We went to Glenda's for Christmas but I wasn't feeling on top of things. I might have caught whatever Cheyenne was having because I had a headache and my glucose level wasn't exactly what it should have been. It's okay now so I may have just been over doing things. It wouldn't have been too hard. We have been all over here and there lately, trying to get things put away and looking for things to replace some of what we didn't bring. I kept saying we don't need to move this, we can buy another one in Texas. Sure we can, but it's finding time and the opportunity to do it. We went to a few yard sales since we got here. We found a bed (we only brought the spring and mattress) for five dollars, we found a computer desk. Quite a nice one for five dollars. We bought some shelves well they are going to be shelves as soon as we get some shelves for them. I think they were originally entertainment centers, small ones. We bought some storage shelves for the one small room we are using for storage. We had a gift card for those. They are working quite well. Today, we bought a set of dishes at the thrift shop. It's a service for eight and was five dollars. We bought Glenda a coffee table. Her's kept losing a leg and dr knocked it down the other day. We didn't go looking for one but when we stopped at the thrift shop there was one there and dr said it had Glenda's name on it. It needs a bit of scratch polish on the top but it isn't bad at all. I hope it doesn't take up too much room. It is larger than her old one. We went and got library cards today. This library isn't as large as the one where I worked, but it will do quite nicely. I looked on the internet today and located a used bookstore in Huntsville. Well, I know the address. I just have to ask Glenda for directions to that address. Some days we just haul her along when we want to go some where and some days we just get into the truck and find our way. We have always been able to find our way home, so far anyway. On Friday, after Christmas, my brother called. He was in Houston. He was on his way to Fort Worth to pick up a load and then was heading to Mississippi. He had a bit of time since he didn't need to be in Fort Worth until 6 pm and it was just after 11 am. So, we got into our truck and headed off to Huntsville to a truck stop. We knew where it was as it's just across from where we get off to go to Home Depot. So, we had lunch with him. He is two years younger than me. We hadn't seen him for a couple of years.. He retired last year but got bored so went back to driving trucks. I think maybe it would be just as boring driving a truck back and forth every where. He says he gets to Houston quite a bit so I think we will be meeting him for lunch or just coffee sometimes. If he's on a deadline he'll just holler out when he goes down I-45 just down the road from here. I guess being a couple of miles from the interstate has it's plus. We are liking it here quite a lot and Chance is getting used to being here. She barks at the goat but just stares at the horses. They get close to the fence and stare back at her. Glenda says there are armadillo's here and maybe that is what she was barking at one night. I couldn't see anything but they make little holes in the yard and there are a few of those. dr says he wants to see one so we have to stay up later than 10:30 some night and prop our eyelids with toothpicks. Too bad they are night owls like Glenda. She is usually going to bed when we are thinking of getting up. Our schedules sure aren't the same but we still find time to get together some days. We are visiting most every day except when they were all sick and then we stayed home so we wouldn't get anything. Anyway I might have missed a lot of Christmas on here but now I'm ready for the new year coming. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 556 times
It's Coming Along Now
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:38 am It's coming along a bit faster I think or we've done enough to make it more visible. Today I was going to rest up but by two o'clock I was out in the back sorting things again. I went into the garden and rolled up the soaker hoses and emptied out the pots and stacked them and took my tool caddy to the shed. There is only the windmill in the garden now. I emptied the flower pots in the backyard. That cold snap last week turned everything in the pots brown except for one zinnia. I still have a pot of dianthus too. I think I will give it to Dan. I still need to wind up the hose but left it in case I need to water anything else or wash something. I now have a stack of pots to give to Dan and one for the neighbor. So the backyard and garden are about cleaned out. The lower backyard only has a bench that we will sell at the yard sale. Then, I moved to the side yard and emptied a few more flower pots. I opened my garden shed and started sorting things in there. I have it mostly done except for garden tools and the weedeater and some saws for cutting wood. Tomorrow I will fit the things I'm keeping into a tub to be stored in the big shed until moving day. I put three large black trash bags out by the dumpster for tomorrow's trash pickup. I have decided on November 8th as my last day of work. That sort of gives us a time line for things. The next weekend will be the yard sale and after that just the last packing up of things we are using. dr has decided what size truck we will need. A man had one up at the flea market this weekend and dr climbed into it and decided what we wanted to take will fit into one. There will be room for Chance to ride in the front with us. We can trailer the truck behind it. Then, we won't need anyone to come with us that has to come back here and we won't need to make two trips or a trip with the moving truck and our truck. Gas prices are coming down but not that much. I went ahead and put my scarecrows on the fence and put up some fall stuff in the house. It looks a bit weird to be decorating for fall amid the boxes and mess but I feel better with it here. It gives me a sense of order or something. I don't know what we will do about having a Thanksgiving here with our friends. We told them it would have to be early and it was okay with them. We may not have dinner here but go out with everyone somewhere. That might make more sense and with all the things we usually cook it might not be any more expensive. We cleaned out the freezer and hopefully it will be about empty when it's time for the yard sale because we are going to sell it. We've had it for 20 years and dr says moving it would not be cost effective because it would probably quit anyway if it gets moved across the country like that. The refrigerator isn't moving with us either. We do have a new electric stove and the house we are going to move into has all electric so we can use it. There will be a refrigerator/freezer in the kitchen so we won't need to buy our own right away. I guess things will work out in the long run and before we know what's what we will be living in Texas. It sure is wearing on one's nerves though. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 534 times
Another Great Day
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:55 am Is it allowed that you can have two great days in a row? Dan and Laurel had their wedding outside. It was a combination of Celtic, Scottish and Irish and they wrote it themselves with the help of friends. They had a civil ceremony to satisfy the government and this was their own ceremony for family and friends. I'll post some pictures when I am not too tired to re size them and put them in photobucket. I did do a few but couldn't see them clearly when my eyes wouldn't stay focused on them anymore. The day started early and I couldn't seem to get going and we were almost late as I had to gather things on the list that we were supposed to bring. The cheese cake that's been in my freezer all week, the catchup, mustard and relish that they forgot, the salads left over from yesterday and chairs and of course the camera. It was a beautiful ceremony and there was many camera's taking pictures and we have been promised copies of all that we didn't take. I had 90 pictures to upload tonight. I didn't take near as many as the boys did. It was wonderful seeing the boys together with their own families. Sometimes they just make you so proud of them. Tom had to leave early. They only have this weekend and they were going to the Grand Canyon before they head back to California. Andy and Wendy stayed a bit longer before heading back to Phoenix so the boys could swim in the pool. They just are not used to the heat coming from Wisconsin. They were just so red in the face. We are going to Phoenix in the morning to have breakfast with them. I'm not fond of going to Phoenix but will go to have breakfast with them. Then, we will stop to see my sister for a bit. I'm hoping we won't be there all day. We came home about 4 pm. That left Dan and his friends who are camping again tonight and they were going to party. I think I'm getting too old to party like they do now. I used to be able to go longer without falling asleep. I'm also too old to sleep on the ground. Dan and Laurel have this huge two room tent and an air matress that's a foot thick. Is that camping? We used to sleep on sleeping bags on the ground. Anyway, I've had two of my three days off and they were both great. One more to go! dooley This blog entry has been viewed 706 times
It was a great day!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 5:08 am We had a great day today. All three of my sons were here and five grandchildren. Moms, too. Andy, Wendy, Ben and Jake came just before lunch so we all went over by the Interstate to Subway for lunch. It was really crowded but we survived it. We went to find the campground so Wendy would know how to find it tomorrow and know how much time she had to allow to get there tomorrow. It's way back from the highway on what is termed a "primitive" road and then onto a forest service road that's just a track through the brush. But once you get down to the water and into the trees it's much nicer. I'm going to take my walking stick though because the ground going up and down is a little uneven and I don't want to twist my knee or fall over the rocks and tree roots. I need to get a picture of the tree roots. They are really something else. We got back home about three and Tom wasn't here yet so Brian started smoking the ribs and I made the salads and Tom, Kirsten, Erin and Fintin came. Fintin is sure a cutie. Pictures coming, probably on Sunday. He isn't shy at all and started right into exploring this new space. I'm glad I spent time cleaning and putting up things he shouldn't have. Wendy had brought him a birthday present so they got it out and he played with it a bit. He was tired and went to sleep after awhile. Kirsten says he doesn't sleep well in a car so he was tired from the trip. They are going to the Grand Canyon tomorrow evening instead of Sunday because their motel room reservations got messed up and canceled for Saturday night. Andy and Wendy are spending Sunday in Phoenix with Wendy's aunt so we only have tomorrow to see them more. Erin loved the quilt. She says it will fit into her room just right. She loves pink and the hearts and the buttons. Kirsten loved it, too. Wendy liked the buttons holding it together. She thought it was more modern than just tying it together. She asked Ben if he would like grandma to make him a quilt like that. Ben said, "NO! I don't want a pink blanket with hearts.!" Then he wondered why everyone laughed. I have plans for a quilt for Ben that has robots on it. Maybe one big pieced one in the middle with smaller ones along the side. I'll talk with Wendy about it tomorrow. I even have some pictures that I collected earlier. Anyway, the barbecue was successful, the birthday presents exchanged and everyone went back to motels or campground full and happy. We'll get together tomorrow and have another full day together. I have to go get a shower and get some sleep. I woke up this morning with a stag beetle crawling up the side of my neck. They are about two inches long with these huge antenna and legs with sticky things on them. Yikes! The other day there was a beetle in my shoes when I put them on to go to work and I had only taken them off to change my clothes. This was the week for strange critters in the house. Snakes and beetles. I just picked them up and threw them back out where they belonged except for the snake. Dan has it at home right now. He's feeding it baby mice that he buys at the pet store but he says it isn't staying much longer. He's waiting for someone to come see it. I will post some pictures on Sunday, maybe if I get time to upload them. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 682 times
It's coming together!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:40 am I've been really busy lately. Dan is getting married on this coming Saturday. His two brothers are coming with their families and though they are not staying with us I had to do some major house cleaning to make it safe for a one year old little boy. I packed a lot of things in boxes and stored the boxes in the exercise room. May as well use the room for storage as I haven't been using it for exercise lately. I cleaned and dusted and sorted and boxed so much stuff. I now just have to vacuum all the floors and mop the kitchen and bathroom. I have a granddaughter who is twelve, I think. Maybe she is thirteen. I have trouble remembering which year she was born in but I'm pretty sure she is 12. Anyway last year when Fintin was born I made him an Amish Quilt. I told Tom I would make Erin a quilt. He said her favorite color was still pink which I knew so I started looking and planning a pink quilt. She has a twin size bed. At a yard sale I found a lot of pink material in various prints and a big piece of plain pink. I "stewed" about it for quite a while trying to decide what pattern to use. Finally I made up my own pattern. I made eight inch blocks out of the plain pink and took one crazy print pattern and cut hearts out of it and sewed them on half of the blocks. I had a lot of lace so I put lace around each heart. The other half of the blocks have hearts the same size embroidered with six strands of different pink thread. Now, today I finished all of the blocks. I can sew them together spacing them with the crazy pink material I used for half of the hearts. I bought some pink material at WalMart to make the backing from today. Instead of quilting it, I have a lot of pink buttons of various sizes and shades and I will use these buttons and the various shades of pink thread to tie the front to the back through the middle. I'm hoping I can get it done by Thursday but it depends on how much else I have to do before then. I know that the yard that I just mowed last week has to be done again and I still have a few things to do outside. Even if I don't get it all together I will have most of it done so she can see what it will look like finished. We are having a birthday party on Friday and the wedding on Saturday and the boys aren't going home until Monday so it will be a busy week. Jacob had a birthday on July 13th, Tom and Ben have a birthday on August 6th and Fintin has a birthday on August 13th. dr's birthday was June 13th and Andy's birthday is September 4th. So as long as they are all here we will have a birthday party. I guess the party will be for everyone for the whole year. we are having barbeque brisket and ribs and hot links. For the kids who don't like hot we have "hot" dogs. I bought Anasazi beans today to make red beans and rice and will make cole slaw and salad with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and onions and a mixed fresh fruit salad. Cake and ice cream. Maybe! Dan is bringing his cheese cakes to put in the freezer so maybe I won't have room for ice cream but we should really have a cake. I guess I'd better put on my thinking cap for that one. Anyway with working and cleaning and the birthday party and the wedding I've been really busy. No wonder the weeds have outgrown us. Have a nice evening. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 682 times
Today's List
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 4:20 am Today's list was a bit longer because I didn't have to go to work. I had a mental list of things to get done today. We started by going to an estate sale. We bought quite a lot of things there of which dr will sell a good portion. Then, we went to breakfast. We got there at just the right time. There was one parking space two from the door. There was a booth empty and we got waited on right away. Then, the rush began and when we left there were people waiting in line. We went to WalMart next. I wanted some SureJell for the plum jelly that was on my list. We bought a few other things. We started for home but the truck turned at a yard sale sign and we went to a couple of sales but didn't buy anything. We went to the post office and the bank and back home by ll:15 am. That's good because I still had a big list. I got out my little lawn pup and mowed Chances back yard. It's about 40 by 50 feet. Then, I did the path through the storage yard and around the lower driveway and along the front fence in the side yard. I took the lawn pup outside the front gate and did around the upper driveway and down along the front fence line and up along the top of the yard (Outside the fence.) Then I got the little weedeater and did the upper front yard. It isn't big enough for the lawn pup. Too much stuff in it. With all the shade it wasn't too bad anyway. This all took about two hours and I was sweaty and thirsty so came inside and had something to drink and a shower. The drink and the shower were not on the list. I made sandwiches for lunch and checked in on the Stew. Then, I went on with my list. I washed the plums that nice man gave me yesterday. There were three grocery bags of them. It took three big pots to cook them. I drained them through a cloth into colander's and let the juice drain until it stopped running. Then, I dumped the pulp and seeds into large colander's and set the colander over a bowl and using the end of a glass, I squashed it all and got the pulp out and threw away the seeds. What with the plum refuse and the apricots that I raked up from under the trees my trash can is pretty odorous this week. Before I stopped to make supper, I decided to make just one batch of jam. It made 10 half pint jars. They all sealed so I'm hoping they jell now. It too the apricot jam just ages to set up. A few jars persist in being a little syrupy. Oh, well we can always make french toast or pancakes. After I washed out the cloths that I used to strain the juice I hung them on the line. I glanced over in the garden. The zucchini plants have grown huge with the rain we've been having. There was a zucchini about 6 or 7 inches long. The first one of the year. I hadn't even noticed it growing. So, I took a picture of it. 
I picked it and it went into a pan with some olive oil, a red pepper and some sweet onion. I put grated cheddar cheese on it when it was almost done and turned off the heat. I did steaks on the indoor electric grill and had tomatoes and cucumbers with it. I did the dishes, finished squashing the pulp and put it in the refrigerator with the juice. I guess my list for Sunday will include making more jelly. I went out and got Chance's water dishes and washed them and refilled them and redid the blankets on her deck and sat for a few minutes. Then, I came in and called Glenda which wasn't on my list but she had called me so I had to return the call. Now, I think I will read a part of my book and call it a day. Tomorrow I don't have a list because I work seven hours on Saturday and don't do too much else. Now, Sunday. Well, the list grows and will probably not be finished but I think I did well with todays list. I still have the lower back yard to start it. Also, feeding the plants. We may make another quick trip to Phoenix. I'm not sure about it yet. I think it depends on the weather. If it's rainy I don't like going down the mountain much. Okay. That's my list for today. Things not done but not really on the list. Letters to about everyone but especially grandma. I have a package to get mailed to her but that will wait until Monday because the post office isn't open for mailing things like packages until Monday. I did take a couple of pictures and posted them in Member's Gallery. I do think I will need a second shower though. It was hot making jelly. Take it easy. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 659 times
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