I need RAIN!

Apparently, the areas all around me got a shower today. I, however, did not get a drop. I dread seeing my water bill because I do have a green lawn. We did have a break in the heat today. Enough so that my brother and I got our parents' yard mowed and I even got my own yard mowed when I got done with theirs. Thankfully, it was not oppressively HOT and I didn't mind doing it at all. I also picked a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes. The bucket was so heavy that I had to go get Dad's truck to bring it back to their house.

I got corn!

I harvested, shucked, silked, cut off, and packaged 62 ears of corn this morning. My sister-in-law did the same thing to 87 ears yesterday. My brother set a trap for the coons and hung plastic Wal Mart bags over random ears on the stalks. It looks like redneck heaven, but looks like it worked for one night. Tonight might be a different story. My cousin came by and told us to put marshmallows in the trap. That's how he catches the coons in his barn. Mom had some, so I guess we will try that tonight. Mom cooked some of the corn I picked this morning along with some peas, cornbread, and fresh tomatoes (which I also harvested this morning). Add some iced sweet tea to that and it doesn't get any better.Life is good! Hot as hell, but good!

Summertime....and the living is HOT!

I guess it's serious business when there is a "heat advisory" plastered to the TV set all day just like they do when there is a storm coming. That's reason enough for me to stay inside and vegetate. I still have to go out and move the sprinklers around, but it's ok because I just walk right through the water and cool off.

The coons have found my corn in Dad's garden. They got all of the ones that are my favorites....the butterfruit! I did not get one ear of it. Now, they have found the corn down closer to the house. My brother picked 33 ears this morning, but that may be all we get. It's impossible to scare coons off.

Sorry, Peeps....I can't help it!

I am getting better at this and I am pretty proud of this one. Fresh peaches turned into a cobbler again. I don't need this, but I enjoy making a cobbler once in a while...mostly when the fruit is fresh picked and not frozen.

Technology ROCKS!

Well, CRAP!

If I had just called to check my phone messages at home, I would be in Houston right now instead of at home. My jury duty was canceled and it's the only reason I came right back home. If I had stayed gone another day though, everything green here would have died. It almost did anyway, but I have the sprinklers (all 3 of them) going now.

The reunion was great fun. It was so nice to see all these old students from 20 years ago. Now, I have already received a facebook message from the class of 90 that I have to come to theirs next year and the class of 91 that I have to come to theirs the next....dang....I'll be pushing 70 by then!

After I got all the way back to Shreveport, I remembered that I did not get the hanging clothes from the closet in the hotel. CRAP, again! I have called them and they are sending them to me. That's not the first time I have pulled that sort of nonsense!

Road trip!

Tomorrow I am taking my first brief road trip in about 2 years. I am headed back to Texas, where I spent many years teaching school, to attend the reunion of the class of '89. Fortunately, they invited me to come and I am looking forward to visiting with them. Many of them I have already re-connected with on Facebook, but I am looking forward to seeing them in person for the first time in 20 years. Well, many of them, it's been that long, but there were a lot of them at my surprise retirement party in 2002. I love me some Texas, but I have not been back to the area since most of the homes were lost to flooding by Hurricane Ike. I would like to be able to swing through Houston and go to Central Market on my way home, but it is just too far out of the way and I have to be back on Sunday. Jury duty is on the agenda for Monday.

'nuf said!

Click on image to enlarge

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Yummo!

 

Well, I don't know how it tastes, yet, but my house smells divine! Peach cobbler with fresh peaches from the farmers' market. Update to follow as soon as it cools enough to eat!

UPDATE: It is delicious!

Farmer's market.....yum!

As much as I discuss my garden, one would think I wouldn't have a need to go to the local farmer's market. OH! That would be wrong! I went to Shreveport to the afternoon market today and made off with cheese/bacon bread (if it has bacon in it, it has to be good..right?), tomatoes, fig cake, and peaches. The peaches are good, the fig cake is a little too sweet with a glob of fig preserves in the middle, and the rest remains untasted as of yet. My tomatoes just aren't quite ready, so I am at the mercy of others for now. People at the market were clamoring for the corn. Thank goodness, my sweet corn is ready, so I didn't have to fight that crowd. It's a great market protected under a huge metal structure from the sun and parking is close.

Update: The bread....No...not so much! Very bland...has no salt...didn't taste even a hint of bacon or cheese! Big ZERO on the bread!

Short night!

My mom has to spend the night in the hospital for some sort of oxygen/pulse overnight test. She has already had one at home and it showed some cause for concern because her pulse gets too low. I just took her there and left her with the technician. I get to pick her up at 5:30 in the morning to take her home. OOOOKKKKKK! I have to set an alarm. Haven't done that in a long time!!!

OK...I tried!

I spent the big bucks on those quirky little energy saving light bulbs, but today I took them all out of the bathroom and put my regular 100 w bulbs over the mirror because it was too dark in there. A bulb that lasts for 8 years was a good selling point for me, but they also say not to dispose of them in the regular garbage because they contain mercury. WTH! So where do I dispose of them? I still have them in a light fixture over my kitchen table, so I guess I'll wait 8 years to worry about how to dispose of those......if I don't replace them with regular bulbs that put out some light before then!!!

Bluebird Taj Mahal

If I were a bluebird, I would totally want to raise my children in this beautiful home. What's not to love! Look! It even has a little patio. Do they want me to get out there and paint that sucker and put a little "welcome" sign on it? I watched for an hour this morning out my bathroom window as a young pair of bluebirds checked out the digs. It was 30 minutes before either of them would go inside the house. They would each look in the hole, but wouldn't go in until the female (of course) finally made the move and went inside. After she "manned up" and went in, then the male started going in as well. Isn't that how it always is? They spent an hour checking the place out. I had to leave to get started doing nothing today, so I don't know if they made a decision to move in and build their home.

My sentiments exactly!

Well, crap!

I love QVC and I order a lot of things from them. It's a great business and easy to deal with. Last week I ordered a Seagate back up external hard drive. All I had to do was hook it up with a USB and, voila, backups begin. I did that and immediately got a message that "installing onto a FAT32 volume is not allowed". HUH! I had no idea what that meant, so I emailed my computer guru. He said it meant it was not compatible with my current hard drive. WHAT! That was never mentioned as a possibility during the QVC presentation. I have packed it up and am sending it back!

Overloaded!

I have reached a point where I can't watch any of the news programs any more. Glenn Beck is my favorite, but I haven't been watching him either. Everything political just seems so hopeless and keeps going to hell in a handbasket (whatever that means)! I agree with Rush and Sean, but I just get tired of hearing the same stuff over and over. I don't want to sound as if I have given up because I haven't. I just need a break from all the Obama crap. Geeze....he is killing the nation I love. How can there be so many MORONS in positions of leadership? I would rather just go outside and talk to the flowers.

My life has been quite mundane lately...

My life has been quite mundane lately, so I have been negligent in posting to my blog. I guess I get my fix on Facebook. Today is a hang out at home day and that is quite alright with me. However, for some reason, I was up early so I went to McDonald's for their big breakfast. When I have a big breakfast, I'm pretty much worthless until it wears off, so I went back to bed. Tonight our krewe has a Captain's party about 30 minutes up the road from me in Walkerville, Arkansas. It still amazes me that I live so close to Arkansas now. Our theme this year was the Krewe that Never Sleeps with a concentration on Vegas, so we are having a fish fry at a member's deer camp and lots of Vegas type games. It will be fun.

It's always something!

I have lived in a new construction house for 3 years, so one would think everything would be in good shape. Well, it is...with the house, but the China made faux wood blinds are not. I had to order a whole new blind because a crappy little plastic piece in the housing broke and made my house look like a redneck house. Of course, this is in the garage, but it still looks crappy and the window faces the front. NOT acceptable. I took the blind down and thought I had it fixed, but I didn't. My brother came and tried to fix it and he is the one that discovered the broken essential piece. Yes, on some things I am just anal!!!! My house is one of them!

It's only getting worse?

I tried to give the prez the benefit of my significant doubt. I wanted to be wrong about the man, but every day I find out that I was not wrong. He is just very scary!

I'm addicted!

It wasn't enough that I have been addicted to Facebook for several months, but now I am addicted to the Facebook Farm Town. One would think that doing the real thing in the real dirt would be enough, but, alas, it is NOT!

Today is going to be another of those too tired to move days. I guess I did too much yesterday because today I am totally void of energy. Also, I have yet again whatever it is that doesn't allow any food to stay down. It's happening regularly now, so I'm thinking it is not a virus. It's OK with me because I need to lose some weight. It kind of sucks that it happens when I have fresh squash and cucumbers that I want to eat!!:(

Wow! What a Monday!

This Monday started around 6:30, which is highly unusual for me, but I needed to get some stuff done at my home before going to Dad's to work in the garden and yard. I was at his house by 9 and so was my brother. We both got busy tilling and mowing and gathering the fruits of our labor. Even Mom came out and helped me pick berries since we finally figured out how to beat the mosquitoes. I came home with new potatoes, squash, cucumbers, and berries and now I am too tired to eat.

When I got home, I called my computer guru because my computer shut itself off last night and started smelling of burning wires. He thought it was the power source going bad and directed me to someone else to fix it. I took it in to the other person and he agreed that it was a bad power source, changed it immediately and I was back home and hooked up in 30 minutes. Small towns ROCK!

As soon as I got finished with that. I had to go work at the Krewe den where we are moving out and getting ready to build a new den. Only 4 of us showed up to work and it was hot PLUS I was already exhausted. I'm too old for all this stuff in one day!!!!! Time for some ME time!