“Archie” -Labrador Bronze Sculpture-www.adentino.co.uk
Filed under Creativity, sculpture
Klyker
My husband and I bought two kinds of salvia, 3 six-packs of impatiens, 2 mandevilla, and 15 small pots of wave petunias at the nursery yesterday. Since our weather has been wonky – with a cooler than normal spring followed by hotter than normal summer temperatures – it’s been all I could do to try to keep up with our vegetable garden, our flower planters, and the yard.
I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to get ANY of our normal choices, but we did pretty well. Then there was the prospect of getting everything planted. Yesterday I planted the two mandevilla and some of the petunias on the deck. This morning it was already in the high 80s when I started planting. I finished the deck, saving one wave petunia to go in the planter at the entrance to our shop. My husband keeps a jug of water out there so that he can water ‘his’ flowers…. :0)
Then I cleaned out Amber’s kiddie pool. I scrubbed it with the car broom, drained it a bit more than halfway, scrubbed it again, and then dumped out the rest of the water. My husband suggested that we put it on the east side of the house where it gets a bit more shade so the water would stay cooler. I got it into a reasonable spot, sprayed it out again, and then started to fill it. Amber came running around the side of the house, jumped into the filling pool, laid down in it, drank some of the water, then jumped out into the dirt, now made into mud by her dripping body. She loved it. She ran all around like a mad thing, started digging in the dirt, and then, of course, jumped into the pool with the muddy paws. She laid down again, smiled at me, bit at the sprayer hose, jumped out…. You get the picture. The water isn’t pristine, but it’s much better than it was, the pool has been moved to a better spot now, and the dog is ecstatic. Mission accomplished.
I then used another hose to clean up the deck where I had made a mess planting. I used the “less is more” philosophy this time, emptying 4 big pots I usually fill with flowers. We have really nice, bright burgundy wave petunias and mandevillas on the deck now – making a nice spot to sit outside – assuming this abnormally hot weather tames down for a bit before we officially get into the too-hot-to-sit-outside part of the summer.
I took time while the pool was filling to move the nice Joseph’s Coat climbing rose-bush my friend Kay gave me for my birthday in March to a sunnier spot where I think it will be happier.
That’s it for the day on working outside, until this evening before the sun goes down, when I plan to mix up batches of ‘ant-to-elephant’ bug spray that I can use on my veggie garden. I plan to hose everything down, use a stronger spray for the ant hill I discovered, wait a day or so, and then see how things are out there. I still have pink areas up and down my arms from the angry ants that bit/stung me for disrupting their ‘homes’ as I pulled up cool weather plants, but the swelling and itching are finally mostly contained, thank goodness. I’ve just come down from taking a long shower and putting on clean clothes. Ahhhh!
I hope that you have fun playing in the dirt at your house, too.
Filed under Arkansas, exercise, Gardening, Greenwood, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
John Dennis
You can’t choose your family, but if we could, we would have chosen John Dennis in a minute. John was my husband’s cousin, but he was much, much more than that. He was our good FRIEND. He and my husband exchanged letters – yes – real letters that came in the mailbox. We would see his return address on an envelope, drop everything, sit down, and I would read it aloud, always laughing at some point, if not more. My husband would then sit down at the computer and compose a letter in reply. He asked me to check it for grammar, paragraphs and spelling, because John was a history professor and my husband didn’t want to make any more mistakes than necessary. We would print the letter and send it off, already anticipating when we would hear from him again.
He was smart in other ways, too, marrying his wife, Murray – our cousin-in-law (I think), but again, much more importantly, our dear FRIEND. When we could arrange it for our house sitter to take care of our house and animals, we would drive to Thibodaux, Louisiana, 9-1/2 hours one way, to visit. We wanted to stay there forever. The Dennises make you feel SO special, SO welcome. We just loved to go talk to them. We didn’t want to be ‘entertained,’ we just wanted to be able to catch up on all the little things that were happening, and be able to hug their necks. John was quite a cook and would feed us as if we were royalty, yet seemingly without effort. I never understood how he did that. And Murray topped off MY visits there by making cheese grits. I’ve never liked grits. My husband has told me for years that I didn’t add all the things to them that made them wonderful. Each time I tried, adding bacon and whatever else I could think of, they still tasted awful. When I tasted Murray’s cheese grits, I immediately LOVED them, eating like a pig. (If we DID live there, I wouldn’t be able to get through the door now from stuffing my face.)
John and Murray have been such a part of Thibodaux that I imagine it will be hard for everyone to pay respects. Both John and Murray volunteer their time and effort to countless community events, charities, sitting on boards to help make Thibodaux an even better town. They have had small gatherings when we’ve been there, put together again seemingly without effort, but missing no detail. Their ‘small gathering’ included more people than my husband and I KNOW! And the friendship and laughter flowed around the room, people visiting and then moving around to visit with someone else. A truly beautiful experience.
I wish I could have sat in one of John’s history classes, kind of like a fly on the wall. You could tell from his general conversation that history was alive for him, and that he would radiate that to his students, making THEM see history in a different, interesting light. He and my husband shared an interest in genealogy – a more personal history.
He had a beautiful attitude even at the end, saying, “I’m ready for the next adventure.”
We are so lucky to have known John. Our lives have been richer for sharing a small bit of his.
Filed under Family, Friendship, Tribute
I worked with the bug crime artist yesterday to come up with this drawing of one of my assailants yesterday. I’m still swelled up in big, pink, itchy welts all over my forearms from trying to clean up our square foot garden yesterday. I’ve taken Benedryl and am slathered with anti-inch stuff that is supposed to be soothing. The welts aren’t quite as puffy as they were yesterday, so I think I’m getting better.
I’ve never had this problem before. It’s one of the many reasons I love my raised bed (chest level) square foot gardening boxes. Today we’ll talk to the people in town at the co-op, seeing if we can find something that will ‘kill the ants without hurting the plants.’ (Hey! That could be a good slogan for the ant spray people! :0) )
I looked up ants to see what good they do for us – and mostly found stuff to kill them. Supposedly, though, they “clean up dead bugs and organic waste in your landscape.” I’m not sure that this makes taking residence in my veggies acceptable. I have pulled out the plants (that’s why I got all these bites/stings), but I’ll treat the Mel’s Mix in the boxes before I do much more out there.
Most home remedies I’ve tried are ineffective, but I really don’t want to cause harm to my plants (or us – eating the plants after washing carefully.)
If I find something that the experts at the co-op suggest, I’ll let you know.
UPDATE: I found an insect killer that I can use in the garden – on the veggies and in the Mel’s Mix. It’s called Eight Insect Control by Bonide. The expert at Farmer’s Co-Op said it kills everything he could think of (the bottle says it kills over 100 named insect pests) and can be used on vegetables, fruits, flowers, lawns, tree, etc. It keeps working for up to 4 weeks. HOORAY! He said I could spray in the morning and eat the veggies in the evening – after washing them well, of course.
Filed under Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
“In Trouble Again” – Terry Doughty – http://www.greatbigcanvas.com
Filed under animal paintings, Creativity
I’ve just come in from the first session of pulling up bolted and spoiled lettuce, spinach, and broccoli from the garden. The temperatures in the 90’s are more than the poor plants can take, even with being irrigated daily.
I was pulling up plants to be added to the compost barrel when I suddenly noticed I was being bitten or stung. I found little bitty ants on the spoiled plants, and now running up and down my arms and biting me. I’ve taken some Benedryl, since I’m swelling up in reaction, and I’ll put the ointment on, as well. This adds nicely to the still-pink, still -slightly-raised area remaining from the sting I got from a scorpion last week. I’m beginning to think I’ll have to start wearing body armor and tenting, as bee keepers wear.
pixshark.com
It’ll take me another couple of sessions to finish out there, and then I’ll try to get some pics to share with you.
Filed under Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
abyquilts.wordpress.com
AndreaZuillBlog-zuill.us.
Filed under Creativity, Embroidery/Sewing Art
National Geographic – Suzi Eszterhas – http://www.greatbigcanvas.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, animal paintings, Creativity
This aquarium is very similar to the one we have on the divider between our dining area and our kitchen. It’s supposed to be a 5 gallon aquarium, but it’s mostly full after I add 3 gallons of treated water.
Lately it seems that the filter pump isn’t working right. We had made some changes in the depth of the water and the height at which the filter hung previously, because I was suspicious it was acting up. The filter was for a 5 to 15 gallon tank. I just drained the tank, cleaned everything, and put fresh, treated water into it two days ago. I put a new filter in the filter pump. Everything looked good, so I put the fish back in. (They were relieved. They don’t like being in a bowl with a dishtowel over it while I clean their home.) Yesterday the water already was clouding up.
Today we bought a much smaller filter pump and filters at Walmart and have just installed the pump. This one is for a 1 to 3 gallon tank, which seems like a bad idea, but the only choices were 1-3 and 3-5 and larger. Since I’ve been changing the filter that goes inside the pump twice a month, rather than the one time it’s supposed to need. We’re going to give the new filter pump, which has an air flow thingie to push water through the filter), some time to clear up the water. If that doesn’t work, I’ll drain the tank and change out the water again.
I don’t really care if I need to change the cartridge a lot. I just want the water clean and sparkling.
Fingers crossed.
Filed under Challenges, Changes
“A Small Sparrow Singing in the Tree” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Okay. I KNOW that weight loss – particularly as it is reflected by the scales – is a fickle thing. The fact that it’s MORE than yesterday shouldn’t be a big thing. Maybe I retained water. Maybe I gained muscle. Yada yada yada. According to a lot of people, I shouldn’t even be weighing myself every morning – that I should only weigh once a week. Well, I weigh each morning to keep me on track and honest. This morning I weighed MORE than I did yesterday and it’s ‘weighing’ on my mind (hahahahaaha).
It’s one thing to “KNOW” the facts and quite another to deal with the emotional reaction when you hope/expect to be down another .2 lbs and find that you’re actually UP .8 lbs. I feel that ‘someone’ snuck (is that a word?) some lead into my underwear.
Since I also “KNOW” that I ate only what I should have eaten yesterday, did my exercises, drank my water – the poundage may come off tomorrow. Since I’m old, though, I’ve also learned that it may take 4 days or more to get back down to where I was only yesterday…
Since I know, also, that I won’t get any awards for fast weight loss, and that, in fact, my body will actually do better at keeping the weight off if I lose it gradually, steadily – I’m talking to myself this morning, reminding myself of all the things I SHOULD be concentrating on –
Hopefully, tomorrow morning the scales will show me something I like better than what I saw this morning. In the meantime, I’ll continue talking to myself, trying to act like a grownup. :0)
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, Healthy Eating, taking care of yourself
We went from a cooler and wetter-than-usual spring immediately to HOT summer, with record-setting temperatures for this time of year here in Arkansas. Consequences: it has wreaked havoc with my poor veggie garden. It was nice and lush just a bit of a week ago and then the lettuce started to bolt.
what-is-this.net
This is what lettuce bolting looks like. When the weather is in the high 90’s, there is little one can do to avoid this. When lettuce bolts, the leaves get bitter, so there is nothing to do but pull the plants out and put them in the compost barrel.
I’m going to be pulling plants today. I’ll take pics of what’s left when I get things cleaned up a bit. A week ago I found a few more head lettuce plants and what is called, “Stir-fry broccoli” that I planted. The jury is still out on whether these will live or not.
If you don’t know what you’re looking at here, these plants look healthy. Lettuce plants are supposed to be lush, but NOT tall, like these are.
It’s sad to come to the end of so many things at the same time, but I’m hopeful I’ll still have many plants remaining when I finish the clean out.
Michelle Cazares
I love this photo by Michelle Cazares. I can’t find the source of the lady who takes wonderful photos of animals, but if I come across it again, I’ll share it with you.
For some reason, the Otis Redding song popped into my head when I saw this photo and my spirits lifted. The sweet frog looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world and is thinking wonderful thoughts. I would like to be there with him.
I hope you’re having a nice Sunday.
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography
National Geographic – Michael Nichols – http://www.greatbigcanvas.com
Emory Austin via Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
“Bud” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Jasmine Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Let Me Embrace You” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Narcissus Fragrance” – Paul Militaru Photography
“White Exotic Flower” – Paul Militaru Photography
“White Roses” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Source Unknown
My dad had a great sense of humor and he was kind enough to give it to me in a lot of different forms – stories, jokes, puns, sarcasm. He taught me to stand back and look at things as if it were a movie. Many times, when you do this, you are able to see the humor in the situation.
He also used laughter as a defense. When he was 3, he fell off a horse, breaking his arm so badly that the doctors barely saved it. The result was a left arm much shorter than his right and a curled up, essentially useless hand. When kids at school bullied him, he made them laugh. They decided they liked him and wanted to be around him, so the bullying stopped. This ability served him well his whole life, allowing him to get married, have two kids, provide for everyone using his humor and talent to create radio commercials for his clients. He won an Addy Award for lifetime achievement in Tulsa. When he died, he scrawled on a piece of paper, “Remember me laughing.”
He gave us love and a priceless tool for handling many of the tough things in life. I can’t count the number of times that being able to see and share the humor in a situation has helped me – plus those dealing with me.
This morning is a good example of how being able to see the humor has saved my husband and our marriage! We were upstairs trying to program our ‘smart’ thermostat to cool down in the evening before we go to bed, keep it cool while we sleep, and then turn off during the day. The idea is that you set the time and day of the week, then start with day 1, setting heat and cool for each ‘period’ of the day – morn, day, afternoon, and evening with temp for heat and then for cool. When you finish one day’s programming, you can then copy it to all the other days and then get out of programming mode, setting it to ‘cool’ or ‘heat.’
We have just tried to do this four times, laboriously going through the long list of directions. When we finish, we get out of the programming mode, putting it to ‘cool.’ And it immediately turns on the a/c and starts to cool it down. WRONG! Plus – the ‘prog’ mode indicator is flashing. We don’t know if the thermostat is messed up or we’re having a serious case of user stupidity or what. We started getting really frustrated and angry, and then I was able to stand back and look at the two senior citizens – frustrated and angry – arguing over the thermostat being smarter than we were, and I started to laugh. When my husband asked, ‘what the hell are you laughing about?” I laughed even harder. Finally, he started to laugh, too. It diffused the situation – even though it’s still true that the thermostat is smarter than we are. We have now called and left a message with our go-to guy on heat and cooling…
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Favorite Quotes, Funny Signs - Humor
Nat’l Geographic – Tim Fitzharris – http://www.greatbigcanvas.com
Filed under animal paintings, Creativity
“Orange and White” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Last Gazania” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Orange Star” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Positive Thinking” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Three Buds and a Flower” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
“Polish Wolf Pup” -Mark Adlington-www.greatbigcanvas.com
Filed under animal paintings, Creativity
strong mind via jacqueline a lyons
I’ve told you our son lives and works in Thailand. We chat most every day, thanks to a secure program he set up for us, so it doesn’t seem that he’s halfway across the world from us most of the time.
This morning, he had left this message – “i saw a guy sleeping under a bridge on my walk into town so i got a sandwich and bananas and water and brought it back and gave it to him.”
I don’t know where he got this, but I’m proud to know him.
creativeartworksblog 