ICE IN JUNE!!!

At 10:00 tonight I was upstairs in my bedroom ironing and watching television. We have been under a severe thunderstorm watch for most of the evening, so I wasn't surprised when it began to rain very hard. As I listened, I realized that not only was it raining, I could hear hail hitting the roof and windows. I could tell from the sound of it that it wasn't the small stuff. My first thought was of my flowers! I could just imagine that they were being pelted and would be bruised and beaten down. Luckily, the hail didn't last for very long, probably less than 3 minutes. About 1/2 hour later, Tucker wanted to go outside. I walked out on the deck with him. I didn't turn the light on before I went out so I was shocked to find that I was walking on ice. It felt just like someone had poured a huge bag of ice on the deck. When I heard the hail earlier it sounded huge. I now realize that it was because there was so much of it. The ice balls were really very small, in fact they very much resembled the crushed ice you get in a drink from Frischs'.

 I went back in to turn on the light and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. People, it looked like winter!! There was ice everywhere! I had to grab my camera and take pictures.

I'm in the process of stripping the old stain off of the deck (this is the hardest task I've ever undertaken in my entire life!), if anyone has any suggestion for doing that please let me know. I've spent approximately 18 hours so far and it's not going well! Anyway, that's why the deck looks so horrible, so don't pay any attention to that!! You're only allowed to look at the ice!!

Look at how it's piled up in the chair. I didn't do that!

I took a flashlight out into the yard to look at my flowers. They aren't hurt too badly. I hope the light of day doesn't reveal a lot of damage.

SUCKING AIR

This guy right here.......

He'll kill ya! I would tell you more, but I just simply don't have the energy left.

I don't have a dog, my dog has me!

I had wanted a Golden Retriever for a very long time. I've always thought they were such pretty dogs and I'd always heard how good natured they were. Two years ago, my kids got me one for my birthday. I named him Tucker, it just seemed to fit the little ball of fur that resembled a little bear cub. Here he is the very first day he came to live with us.

If this isn't "cute" in action, I don't know what is!! I wasn't with them when they picked him out. I knew they had gone to get him (he was supposed to be a her, and her name was going to be Abby), but since it was a birthday gift, I let Patrick and Sarah pick him out and Austin and I stayed home waiting anxiously. Here are some pictures that they took of him with his mother before they brought him home.

And here is one of Patrick playing with Tucker and his brother. Tucker is the one on the left.

I fell in love instantly. How could you NOT? This is the most loving animal I've ever been around. He was house broken in a matter of days. He minded us very well almost from day one. He began to learn some obedience commands within a week and was doing little tricks like "roll over" within about 3 weeks. This dog lives to please us. He will not be ignored. He wants to be petted and loved on all the time. He would be a lap dog if we'd let him, but we don't allow him on the furniture. But if we're on the floor, watch out! In your lap isn't close enough, he just can't get close enough to you. If you have the audacity to ignore him, he'll remedy the situation. I can't count how many times I've had a coffee cup in my hand and on the way to my mouth when he's tucked his head under my elbow to tell me he wants my arm around him. Can you picture what this does? Yep, coffee everywhere! Then he looks at you with those big old brown eyes as if to say, "I'm sorry, I just wanted a hug". He can sense things. He seems to know when we're tired, or sad. When I come home from work at night to a housefull of sleeping people, there's Tucker waiting at the door for me. I'll come in and sit down and he puts his head in my lap and gives me the sweetest look. Often times he will sigh, very deeply, while he's looking up at me in this position. If he could talk he would say, "I've missed you!". He loves so unconditionally.

Here are some more recent pictures of him:

Here he is with Patrick and Austin (and Sarah's arm).

You might be wondering what prompted this entry. Well, I'll tell ya. I was just sitting here playing Poppit on the computer and as usual, Tucker was lying on top of my feet. It's a very comfortable and reassuring thing to have a soft, warm dog lying on your feet! Then, he sat up and put his head in my lap and gave me that adoring look. At that moment, I wanted everyone to know  that warm, fuzzy feeling. You know, you just can't out-love a dog.

Sure, he sheds. I probably sweep up a dog and a half every day around here. We go out into the world with blonde dog hair on us every day. My kitchen floor is constantly sporting  water droplets from when he takes a drink of water. We have to guard our napkins while we eat dinner because he steals them off of our laps and eats them (for some strange reason, he loves to eat paper). And, we have to go on "poop patrol" in the back yard every day. But I wouldn't trade this big lug of loving dog for a clean floor, safe napkin, or poop-free yard. He owns me, and he's got the papers to prove it.

 

MY KIND OF MAIL!!!!

As usual, the mail came today. I usually hate to see the mail. I rarely get anything exciting. I love receiving the scrapbooking and gardening magazines that come, but the usual mail fodder is of the depressing ilk. Bills, bills, bills. Junk mail, junk mail, junk mail. But today, EUREKA!! I got something in my mail today like nothing I've ever received before. You know those chain letter things that make the rounds ever so often? The ones that say to send five, ten or twenty dollars to the person in position one and that in a few weeks you will receive something like $68,000. I've been tempted to try those, but with my luck I'd end up in jail for mail fraud. I've received some over the years that really tempted me; The Little Golden Book one, the tea towel one, and the post card one. For one reason or another I've never participated in these chains. But todays letter just cannot be ignored. I got really excited about this one. It's all about flip-flops!! My aunt sent me this one. There are two names and addresses listed on the letter along with their shoe size. I'm supposed to buy one pair of flip flops and mail them to the person in the first position. Then I delete that person's name and address and move the person in the second position (my aunt) up to the first position and add my name, address, and shoe size to the second position and send them out to six of my friends. I should receive 36 pairs of flip flops in my mailbox in the next couple of weeks. Now I ask you, what girl in her right mind would not try this? Ever the eternal optimist, I will purchase a pair of really cute flip flops tomorrow and drop them in the mail. Then I will send out my six letters and begin camping out at my mailbox. On second thought, I think I'll send out 12 letters. I'll let ya know how this turns out.

 

Experimenting with new picture additions

Ok, I'm experimenting here. I'm not the brightest bulb in the box when it comes to figuring out all of this technical stuff. AOL has a new way to add pictures here so I'm playing. In the meantime, you may see more pictures of my flowers than you ever wanted to. Then again, maybe not.

OMG, it worked!

This is the back side of the lattice wall next to my brick patio. This is the view the neighbors get. Not so bad! I like the view we get better though:

OK, it didn't work that time! I tried to put a new picture there and it gave me the old one. I'll try again....if it works, you will see the side of the lattice wall that we see from our side. Cross your fingers!

Ta-da!!! It worked. I'm not going to press my luck any further. Time to water anyway.

 

 

The woods are lovely dark and deep

 

When I was in the 3rd grade we had to memorize Robert Frost's,  Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. I loved that poem. It always evoked a sense of peace and calm for me. I just thought the words had a beautiful flow to them. I could imagine myself looking at those woods. I could hear the harness bells shaking in the quiet cold. It was all about calm for me. That poem has remained my favorite for all these years.

 

I helped Patrick, Emily, and Sarah memorize it when they were each around 4 years old. How I delighted to hear them recite it perfectly in their child voices. I think they could still do it. I'll have to ask them.

 

I have never been a fan of symbolism in literature. Maybe it's because I don't think that way. A tree is a tree, a horse is a horse, a boy is a boy, and snow is snow to my way of thinking. If you want to tell me something and have me understand it, you have to say what you want me to know. If you shroud it in symbolism, it's not going to register with me. Period. I guess this means I'm simple minded. I've tried to embrace symbolism. It leaves me cold. It's too highbrow for me. The literary snobs would call me daft I suppose. Whatever. I'm a simple gal, with simple tastes.

 

So, in light of what I've just said, imagine my surprise when I recently heard a discussion of my favorite Frost poem. "It's about death and suicide." WHAT???  I have recited this poem hundreds of times, I've heard it recited hundreds of more times, and I've never ever "heard" that. Now, I'm not saying that that's not what Frost was talking about. Maybe that's exactly what he was talking about. I'm just saying that the poem evokes feelings of silence and peace for me. If Frost wanted to paint a dark picture, why didn't he just say what he was thinking? I hope that I can still read this poem and maintain my original interpretation of it. I realize that all art is subject to interpretation and that's a good thing. What bothers me is when someone forces their interpretation on me. If I fail to see or feel a sense of "longing for death" and instead see or feel a cozy feeling of peace and beauty, isn't that okay? Would that make Frost's work wasted on me? I think not.

The Weeds In My Life

The plant in this picture is actually a weed. I dug it out of the woods at the farm. It's illegal to take in to some states. Isn't that a shame!! I think it's beautiful. I started it in one of my flower beds three years ago and I look forward to seeing it bloom every year. I think, but am not sure, that it's called Dame's Rocket. I just call it beautiful. It can be invasive, so I work to keep it in check.

Anyway, the main reason I'm posting it today is that I needed a reminder that sometimes weeds can teach us things. This weed teaches me that just because the majority of people don't appreciate something doesn't mean that that thing has no value. This weed makes me happy. Because I choose to view it as a beautiful flower instead of a nuisance, my outlook changes. I need this reminder today because I have to work. The last time I worked (Thursday evening), I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad night. The memory of that night has been a weed in my mind for the past day and a half. I so don't want to go back in there today. I would rather take a beating, actually. But, I must, so I'm trying to think of Thursday night as a weed. Hopefully, that weed has bloomed in the past couple of days and tonight I will see the whole experience as a good thing.

Ok, I've almost convinced myself.

"Just living is not enough...one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
--Hans Christian Anderson

 

I couldn't agree more!!

 

Yesterday, I cleaned out the garage. I cannot for the life of me figure out how that place can get so disgusting so quickly. I think I could open a sports equipment store with all the sports paraphanalia out there. If we have one baseball, we have a hundred. I rounded up and corraled three golf bags full of clubs. Then in a back corner I found enough lose golf clubs to outfit at least three more players. I don't play golf. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they need so darn many clubs, but I'm not going to say a word. I don't want to have to explain my scrapbooking room and the need for all the items in there. I figure turn about is fair play.

 

 Shoes; I think that my guys have some superstition about throwing away old footware. I now have a box full of work boots, tennis shoes, cleats, and snow boots. I did not, however, find my little red garden sloggers that have been missing for about a year.

 

I found a lot of evidence of mice. Just in case you don't know, I absolutely HATE mice. Judging from the "evidence" I found yesterday, my garage must have been the venue for a mouse family reunion of gigantic proportion. The mice were gone, but I was still shaking when I picked something up (like shoes) thinking that one would run up my arm. Had something like that happened, I wouldn't be alive today to tell the story ( no, really, people you have no idea how much I hate mice).

 

So, my garage is clean and organized. Not a cob web or mouse dropping remains. I took everything off of every shelf and scrubbed them clean. I not only swept up dirt with a broom, I went over the entire floor with a vacuum cleaner even.

 

What I've done, actually, is create a monster. ME! I can't stand for a single thing to be out of place or a blade of grass to be on the floor. I've got to get a grip! I think I need to find a support group.

 

I also need to find a way to let go of a bunch of "stuff". While working out there yesterday, I realized that most of the things that would fall into the category of useless junk, is mine. I would never, however, admit this out loud to a certain male member of this household.

 

 I have an unusual amount of large empty (but clean!)  coffe cans. I threw them all away the last time I cleaned the garage. Wouldn't you know it, the very next week I need at least 3 of them! So, this time I compromised, I only saved about 6 of them and threw the rest away. (No, I will not tell you how many I threw away!) I could list many other things here that I have deemed "necessary" to hang on to. I think I will just keep that list to myself for now. Suffice it to say that I am prepared for several unimagined emergencys that could require aforementioned "stuff". (My husband has another word for this "stuff"; his word also begins with "s".)

 

Do you know what the best thing is about having the garage clean? I can now spend all my time before going to work today working out in my flowers with no guilt. Well, okay, I'm a Mom, there is no such thing as "no guilt", but at least the garage chore won't be looming in front of me.

Lots of thoughts running through my mind today. But instead of agonizing over how to put them in words, I'm headed outside to play in the dirt. Great therapy, that!

Isn't this little wooden chair planter cute!

(More Verbena. I told you I loved it. I have it everywhere!)

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
--Henry David Thoreau

I love quotes and get several of them in my email every day. I think this one arrived yesterday or the day before. It has stayed on my mind. Very simple words, really. But think about them. They become pretty profound after they roll around in your gray matter for a while. Think of the many ways that this can apply to your life.Everything, from looking at a pile of dishes in the sink  to contemplating family dynamics can benefit from looking at them through the filter of this quote. I used this quote this morning to save myself from despair when I walked into my messy kitchen. Instead of bemoaning the fact that I had a mess to clean up, I was grateful that I had a job to go to yesterday which made me very tired last night. Patrick and Amber went out to dinner and then came back here and sat around the kitchen table with me and talked and laughed and looked at old pictures. I enjoyed it very much. I could have cleaned up the kitchen instead of sitting down with them. But I didn't. So, this morning I had a mess to face first thing. But what I saw instead of the mess was the fact that I had enjoyed Patrick and Amber's company last night. Dirty dishes are an every day occurance. Quality time with my kids isn't. That's worth far more to me than a pristine kitchen.

 

 

 

 

It rained (a lot) last night so I don't have to turn the hose on today!! Yippee!! Free water!

The photo above is of a planter of Babylon Red Verbena. Isn't it pretty! I love verbena and have it in red, purple, and white. You can't beat it for color and ease. Everyone needs a planter planted in Verbena! Yesterday's photo is Patio Blue Verbena and Licorice plant. I am always thrilled with the way those two plants look planted together. They intermingle and it is always  a stunning combination.

Work called yesterday afternoon as I was ready to leave for work and begged me to work day shift today and stay home last night. I didn't want to do it. I DO NOT DO MORNINGS WELL! But, as per my usual, I caved in and agreed to do it. I didn't sleep well at all last night for worrying that I wouldn't  hear the alarm at 5:30. Now I ask you, is that not an ungodly hour to get out of bed??? I woke up at 4:45 in a panic that I'd overslept. When I realized how early it was, I smiled and went back to sleep. And, you guessed it, when the alarm went off at 5:30 I had to hit the snooze button twice. Which meant that I had to hustle to get awake, showered, dressed and fed to be out the door by 6:20. So, today I was a day-shifter! The good thing about day shift is that you only have four patients as opposed to the six patients that we have on evening shift. It's amazing how much easier it is to take care of four patients. I was able to give all of my patients excellent care and still have time to eat lunch! Amazing. I don't think I could do it every day though. It's just not natural to be up and out of the house that stinkin' early. Not to mention that it's a $4.00 an hour pay cut. Nosiree, I'm an evening shift gal.

Gosh, where does the time go?

Things have been hectic around here with school letting out for the summer and moi living in the back yard working in my flowers. I sure hope the house police don't show up around here any time soon or I'll be under house arrest for sure. I find it very hard to stay inside this time of year. I am happiest when I'm working in the yard. My joy in it has been somewhat tempered this year when I was given the reminder that our resources here on earth are not necessarily  an endless supply. I will be the first to admit that I'm not a very conscientious citizen. I don't give a lot of thought to what gasoline motors do to our environment. I don't worry much about the ozone. It's not that I don't care about those things because I do. I guess I just get caught up in the more major issues of getting through everyday life that I don't think of the broader picture. I'm ashamed of myself for that. I'm trying to figure out how to have the yard that I absolutely love to work in and still be a good citizen. I put in so many flowers and they all require a lot of maintenance. I have to water every single day or they will die. As I've watered for the past several days I've been very conscious of every drop of water I've used. I've stopped the broad watering I've done in the past in favor of "spot" watering. I put the water directly on the root of the plants and am careful to not be watering the surrounding area that doesn't need the water. I hope that this will make some difference. I entertained the idea of not planting my flowers next year. If I were a very dedicated steward of the earth I would carry through with that. However, I know me. I would be surly and cranky if I weren't able to be in my yard and be surrounded by color. So much of life is void of color. Sometimes our lives are so mundane and drab and can be downright depressing. When I'm working in my flowers and even when I'm just looking out the window, the colors that I see make my heart happy. Colorful flowers are the best medicine for me. My neighbors enjoy my flowers too. I've created a kind of oasis in my back yard that many people don't know exists. It's so much fun for me when people from the neighborhood see it for the first time and say, "I had no idea all this was back here!" It's my baby. It's my therapy. It's my anti-depressant. Is that terribly selfish of me? Don't answer that. I had planned on adding some new features this year. I have decided to take the high road and not do it.

But, my bubble baths...sorry, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.