|
Recent Entries to this Blog
It's Fall already!
Posted: 08 Oct 2015 Posted: 04 Mar 2015 Posted: 01 Jan 2015 Posted: 30 Dec 2014 Posted: 27 Aug 2014 All Entries |
dooley's Blog
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 658 times
I'm so excited!
Category: Holidays | Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 3:34 am As some of you know, my middle son, Dan, is getting married on August 2nd. They are getting married at the Dugas campground where they go camping with their friends spring and fall. His two brothers are both coming and I haven't seen either of them for a couple of years. And all four of my grandchildren will be coming. The wedding is on Saturday morning. But, on Friday night we are having a birthday party at our house. Jacob will be six tomorrow, the 13th, Ben will be 10 on August 6th, Tom (my oldest son) will be 46 on August 6h and his son Fintin will be a year old on August 13th. Brian's birthday was June 13th. So we decided to have a party for everyone's birthday. We can all celebrate. Brian ordered a brisket from Stubb's BBQ in Austin, Texas and got the brisket and a free package of chopped brisket. He also has hot links and hamburgers for the little boys. Tom's daughter Erin who is 12 is coming, too. I'll make red beans and rice to go with, plus cole slaw and vegetables and dip. I saw at Costco the other day cupcakes in the freezer section and the frosting is ice cream with assorted sprinkles. That's combining cake and ice cream and I bet the kids will like them. There will be 14 or 15 family members present. It will be great on Friday and Saturday both. I have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off from work and we'll have a great time for sure. I just can't wait for the end of the month. I'll be busy until them for sure. I have to get the house all cleaned up and child proofed for Fintin. You would know how much work that will be if you could see how much stuff is crowded into this smallish house. I need to clean the front yards, too. The patio section and the side yard section so the kids can go outside. Chance isn't used to kids and I sort of don't want to let them out the back with her. I don't want to pen her up either. She would love the kids but I don't know how she would act around them. Tim goes and plays with her but he is older and wouldn't pull her ears or hurt her by accident. I'm not sure the others would either but I just don't want to take the chance. I hope it doesn't rain. We are into the rainy season. We've had more than two inches the last week and I think it is raining out again now. I wonder if Dan has made alternate plans for if it's raining. Maybe I'd better buy a raincoat and find my umbrella. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 747 times
Rain, rain, and more rain
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:27 am It has been so dry here and the scattered showers have scattered everywhere but here. Yesterday we drove through such a thunderstorm on the way up to work but it was still dust dry here when we got home. This morning we picked apricots and I washed them and sat down and cut them and threw the seed out. I put them in the food processor and chopped them, just chunky. Then, I found jars, boiled water and scalded them, boiled more water and filled the jars with water and put the lids in a pan and covered them with the boiling water. I made three batches of jam. That's six pint jars and 15 half pint jars. I thought about making another apricot pie but I had dr give the rest of the apricots to the boy across the street. I used up my blueberries and made blueberry pie instead. It got really hot in the kitchen because I turned off the big fan so I could bottle the jam without cooling it off any. It got 103 in the kitchen before I was done. Just as I was finishing the last of it, I heard thunder outside. I looked out and it was getting very black. I didn't think of my camera like Glenda does. I told dr he'd better go shut the truck windows. I didn't really expect it to rain because usually the storms go around us. This time the whole sky was black, not just a part of it. It started to rain about 3:10 pm and it's still raining off and on. But, for two hours it poured rain, heavy rain with hail in it. When it finally quit the heavy stuff, I went out to check my plants. They were still standing and didn't seem to have any amount of damage from the hail. I think they will probably double in size in the next few days. I know that you can water them every day and keep them from dying but just a little rain makes them grow like crazy. It's very muddy out now. I had an empty flower pot out there and it has about half or three quarters of an inch of water in it. I have this nice rain gauge held up by a little turtle. It doesn't ever get rained on though because I don't want it to get wet. It's really cute. Anyway, it's still raining but not so hard. Chance doesn't appreciate the rain or the thunder so she's stuck so close to me that every time I turn around I trip over her. She's in with dr now. There is more rain in the forecast for the next three days. Of course, the forecast says isolated or scattered showers so who knows if we will get more rain. We're just thankful for what we do get. I do hope the rain was widespread and the wild fire got as drenched as we did. It would go a long way toward putting it out. This morning it said it had burned about 9.835 acres. I wonder how they measure it. Probably by satellite or something. It was 10 percent contained. But, when we talked to the forest service spokesperson yesterday he said they really weren't trying to put it out, just keep it from burning toward and structures or small towns. They were building fire lines and containment areas and letting it burn up to them hoping the winds wouldn't be strong enough to blow it across them. We could see it burning when we came home from work last night. Not just the glow but the flames shooting up and large areas of sparks blowing around. It was amazing. I'm glad it's not closer than the 8 to 10 miles. I'm not sure just how far it is but it's not really close to us and has several ridges to cross to get to us, I think. We are in scrubby brush and the fire is up in altitude so it is burning the large trees and brush. Anyway, we are happy with the rain we have and hope for more tomorrow. We had to cook our steak inside but it tasted just fine. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 681 times
Apricots!!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:42 pm dr and I picked a half a bucket of apricots. They could be a little softer but the birds and bugs have started eating on them so it's time for us to have a feast, too. I've made one pie and five half pints and two pints of jam. I normally only use half pints when I make jelly and jam but I'm giving a lot of it away to neighbors and friends. There are eight people in one of the houses in the neighborhood. I didn't think a half pint of jam would go far. They can probably even finish the pint in one day. The boy keeps coming to fence and wanting to know if the apricots are ripe yet. dr keeps telling him not yet. He can see that they are getting orange though. We lock our gates when we leave but I fully expect to find he's climbed the fence one of these days. I will give them some but want to get what I want first. After all, I'm the one pouring water on the trees and protecting them from frost and bugs. I keep the little suckers trimmed from the trunk. They should be mine to use first. Before we put the fence up we never got any from the trees along the drive. Those neighbors don't live around here anymore but they are partly why we have a fence and locks on the gates. Oh, well! I do share what I have with others. I wish they would wait for me to do it. Have a nice day! Oh, I will see if I can get a picture in a bit. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 673 times
Wildfire!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:49 pm We have a wildfire burning near us, but not too near. It's about 8 to 10 miles. Last night it was burning south but the wind changed so it's burning north. The air is full of smoke and ash. It was started by five hikers who got lost and tried to start a signal fire. I guess the succeeded. They were using planes with a slurry on it yesterday because there wasn't men available. There are several fives around Arizona. One is on the Gila Reservation down south of Phoenix. A lot of the firefighters are in California where they have about 1,400 fires burning. Their fires were started by dry lightning. I hope they charge those hikers with starting the fire because there are all kinds of fire restrictions and they ignored them all. It is so dry here that no fires are allowed except in grills in campgrounds. Big city people have no idea of the damage they can cause on a weekend hike. Today, they are using helicopters to carry the slurry. I hope it doesn't spread too far before they can get it under control. There is a slight chance of rain but not much. Less than 10 percent for today. It will be a couple of weeks before conditions are right for the summer rains to start. The good news is the apricots are ready to pick but they will be smoked. LOL They'll sure have to be washed good. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 676 times
Didn't get much done today!
Category: Yard work! | Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:53 pm I didn't get too much done today. It was just too hot. It seems a little more humid. Maybe the rainy season will start earlier. I read something about it coming but there is no rain in the forecast. I finally got out and planted a row of squash seeds in the terrace below where I put the plants and I planted some pepper seeds right in the ground. I put the soaker hose on it and came in for breakfast. I talked to Glenda for a long time and then went out and shut it off. We went to the post office and the library. I came back and checked in on the Stew and finally decided that I had to get out and do something else. I looked at the fence where the morning glories normally grow and the weeds and grass were choking it so I got my little tractor seat out and sat and cleared the fence line on both sides and the little square bed in front of it and half of the next little bed. Not sure what I will put in them but I have a lot of seeds and since the ground is warm and I can water it until the rains come stuff should grow pretty fast. I cut the grass around the gate posts and along the gate line. I got the hoe and leveled the ground again. The gate pushes up dirt and then the gate doesn't close all the way. It works a lot easier now. I watered things here and there and wound up the extra hoses on the reel and moved the wheelbarrow back a little bit. Chance has a couple of depressions in the dirt in that corner where she likes to lay when it's so hot in the afternoon so I didn't want her tipping the wheelbarrow in on top of her. So, now it's about time to think about making something to eat before I have to go to work. Only 3 1/2 hours today. It should go pretty quickly. We have a volunteer to help with checkout tonight. Have a nice evening. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 646 times
Pictures from garden area
Category: Yard work! | Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:32 pm We took some pictures of the garden area where I have been working for a few days. It was pretty messy and looks a lot better now. This is the flat area where I am going to let the grass grow now. 
These next two are the terraces. They were all broken down and I had to replace the wooden pieces and shore them up. They still need a few rocks under the boards. I put the soaker hoses there and the top one has zucchini planted. I need to do some more seeds later today. 
I put flowers in the tin tub. I will put more pots or tubs of flowers in the grassy spot and at the bottom of the terraces. 
Of course, I had a great helper. 
Between the grassy area and the terraces are a lot of small hollyhocks that will grow this year and flower next year. I had to take care not to cut them down or walk all over them. dr had to take a couple bridge shots. 
The lower back yard with the apple trees 
and a couple pictures of the rose hedge. This is just one end. It goes about 12 feet and is taller in some areas. 
I still have lots of work to do but this is some progress to date. dooley Last edited: Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:38 pm This blog entry has been viewed 888 times
I'm at it again!
Category: Yard work! | Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:13 pm I'm back at it. I spent two hours just cutting weeds and bagging up debris that I raked up on Friday. We went to breakfast this morning and of course made a couple of stops on the way home. I bought four more tomato plants and some zucchini to get on with until the seeds start to grow. I bought some more flowers that I want to plant down in the garden area. The flat is going to be grass and flowers now as I can't dig all that grass that grew last year and this spring. At least it doesn't look like a weed patch now. dr is going to install the windmill that a neighbor gave us last month. I let everything go for so long after I hurt my knee last spring that it's just catch up time. It's quite a lot more work than I figured it would be. We'll take some pictures tomorrow after we get the windmill installed. dr is going to take a picture of the rose hedge, too. It's just loaded with flowers. The last spot that I need to tackle is the storage space. It's just waiting for some tidying. I cut a lot of the weeds there last week when I had the lawn pup out. I also have to weed the flower bed in the lower yard and see what I can get to grow in there. We had cosmos last. Well, my glass of tea is about gone so I'd better go haul those plants back to the garden and see what I can get planted before time for dinner. Have a nice evening. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 657 times
I'm tired, I think an early night
Category: Yard work! | Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 1:16 am I'm tired. We got up a 6 am. I had an eight o'clock doctor's appointment. I like to get the first one I can get and be finished with it. I didn't feel like eating so just had a glass of tea. That was a good thing because he gave me a full panel of lab work and it was fasting. Since I skipped breakfast I could go and get that done. He also scheduled a bone density test but they'll call me when they get that set up. Going to the doctor made us late for the weekly yard sales so we only went to two. One was our favorite estate sale people and we did find a few things even though we were late. dr found some things at the next sale. We decided that since it was after ten that we'd better find something to eat since my glucose levels were probably getting low. After breakfast we stopped at the store and bought some soft rolls for sandwiches for tomorrow and since it was hot outside we bought ice cream. Now, having ice cream in the truck, did we go straight home. Of course not. We aren't that smart, are we? We stopped at another yard sale. We bought some metal and wire lawn chairs. Four matching ones. Then we stopped at the post office and went to the bank and then we came home. The ice cream wasn't completely melted so I popped it into the freezer. After another glass of tea, I went out and got out my little lawn pup and mowed Chance's yard and the lower back yard and the path through the storage yard. Then, I hooked up the hose and watered the apple trees and pulled weeds around them which the lawn pup wouldn't get because of the rocks I have around them. I watered the flowers that I planted on Wednesday and then went around and watered everything out front. I didn't get the weeds cut in front but there's always another day. I came back inside and checked my glucose levels and though not low it was low enough that I made toasted bagels with cheddar cheese and had a bowl of that ice cream. After another glass of tea Chance and I went back outside. I was going to plant some squash seeds. Well, I haven't done anything in the garden area since April, 2007. It was full of bind weed and grass and the terraces were falling down and full of about everything. First thing was to rake everything into a big pile and repair the terraces and put down some fertilizer. Then I raked up the weeds and pulled the bindweed and moved all the assorted pots into one area and watered the terraces. I think I can plant the squash in the two terraces and put flowers at the bottom. I used the boards from the bottom terrace to make another flower bed last year so I don't really have a bottom terrace but if I put flowers there it will be okay. I think I'll put those zinnia's there. I have four paks of seeds. I have some other seeds but I think I will start them in pots. dr is going to fix the windmill on Sunday. He says it will help keep the birds away. I still have the big pile of weeds and grass, etc to pick up but I will do that on Sunday. I came inside and put pork chops in the oven and some sweet potatoes with apples in another pan in the oven. I sat down here just to read posts and decided to write a blog. So, now, I'm off to have a shower before supper. I'll probably wash several pounds of dirt down the drain. It's down to about 80 in the shade now so maybe I managed to lose a pound or two while I was out there. I have to work seven hours tomorrow so I hope I didn't work my knees too hard. Have a nice evening. dooley This blog entry has been viewed 668 times
Run, Oreo, Run!
Category: Vacations | Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:58 am My name is Oreo. I live with a nice lady named Glenda. She feeds me and makes me go outside every day. She calls it exercise. I'd just as soon stay on this nice sofa and snooze. This week Glenda had guests. They were grandkids. She called them Trey and Logan. I called them something else. They wanted to play with me. I like to play. I chase after my toys. Trey can throw them okay. Logan doesn't throw them. He chews them. Did you ever have to chase a toy that has been chewed on by a drooling kid? Trey and Logan wanted to give me hugs. I like hugs. Trey can pat my head and give me a hug. Logan nearly pounds me into the floor. Trey can give me a hug. Logan squeezes the breath out of me. He holds on so tight and pulls my fur. That hurts a lot. Glenda wouldn't let me bite him. She says he's only a baby. I tried to hide but that baby has sharp eyes. Glenda says, "Run, Oreo, run." Glenda had two more people who were guests. They were not grandkids. They helped Glenda say, "Run, Oreo, run." They helped protect me from that demon baby and his big brother. They knew I just wanted to snooze on the sofa. I'm getting too old to run from babies. I hide behind the end table and Logan still finds me. I'll be sleeping and dreaming and I'll hear "Run, Oreo, Run." I move really fast when I have to. I run under dr's chair. He will protect me. Dooley helps rescue me. She picks Logan up and carries him off to another place. Trey helps Logan sneak up on me sometimes. Big brothers help little brothers a lot. I have to run to dr and Glenda for help. One day Logan and Trey went riding in the car with their mom. That was a relief. I had a nice restful day on the sofa. But, it ended with someone shouting, "Run, Oreo, Run!" dr and dooley gave me a hug and a pat on the head and said, "Goodbye." They are going home to see Chance. Now I only have Glenda to say, "Run, Oreo, Run." I hope she isn't too busy. I heard her say that Trey and Logan will gon home on Friday. I hope that's soon. In the meantime, I'll listen for Glenda to say, "Run, Oreo, Run!" and try to find another good place to hide. When Glenda says it's time to go outside I'll try to remember to tell her that I don't need exercise. I've run too many times from that demon baby. Exercise is all well and good but I'm exhausted. I need a nice peaceful nap on the sofa. I hope those grandkids go home home soon. Oreo. Run, Oreo, Run! dooley This blog entry has been viewed 732 times
You're reading one of many blogs on GardenStew.com.
Register for free and start your own blog today. |
Entries by Category
All Categories
Archives
All Entries |
