Sincerely grateful!

Good bye, Patriot

I did not know Josh Tomlinson, but it was my honor to be a part of the silent guard, along with the Patriot Guards, Combat Veterans of America, and many other motocycle groups, as well as proud citizens of Minden, Louisiana. The first time I teared up was this morning when I got behind this. I knew they were coming to protect the family of Josh from those dirt bag protesters that call themselves Christians from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.

It was a sight to behold. Awesome photos here. I was so humbled by the support shown to this family and the dignity of the whole thing. He was appropriately honored. Apparently, the MORONS who promised to protest at his funeral heard about all us patriots here in Minden. Maybe they heard that we don't play that!!!!!!!

After the family went into the church, we went to line the road to the cemetery again displaying our flags and showing this family the love from this community. We counted 188 motorcycles following the family to the cemetery and we got started late counting. My guess would be around 400.

YUMMO!

It doesn't get any fresher than this!

Squash that was on the vine this morning.

Potatoes that were in the ground this morning.

Beans that were on the vine this morning.

Hot, buttered corn bread that was in the Morrison's package only moments ago. Hey! It can't all come out of the ground! Add a few pickled beets from earlier in the week and dinner is served!

Mom update

I had to make a run to the airport yesterday and didn't get down to see my mom yesterday. Today, I got there about 2 P.M. thinking she would still be napping. She was sitting at the kitchen table wanting to go to the berry row to pick berries. My brother had taken her up there this morning and let her pick berries. She couldn't stand it that there were still so many that needed to be picked, so I took her back to the berry row in the heat of the afternoon so she could pick her berries. Here's the evidence that my 85 year old mom can still hang...even with her foot still in a surgical wrap and boot!

Here's the bountiful harvest of about 15 minutes!

Ummmm....NO!

In between putting up the beets today, my brother, his wife and I went out to pick beans on our one row of pinto beans. It ended very abruptly for me with a scream and a run! I pulled back one of the bushes to get the beans from under it and there was a black snake all coiled up under there. They went to try to find it after I screamed and ran. They saw it, but then lost it and were unable to kill it. My brother wouldn't have killed it anyway because he said it looked like a chicken snake. Anyway, my bean picking days are over. I know it makes no sense to be that scared of snakes, but it is what it is and it always has been. Looks like it is not going to change!!!!!

Beets!

My brother loves pickled beets, so we planted some this year and were successful at growing them.  Yesterday he pulled all his beets up.

With Mom telling us what to do and cutting a lot of the beets up herself, we turned them into this.

 I have never been into "putting stuff up" as in vegetables and fruits, but we did this for my brother. I like the beets, too, but not like he does.

Lookin' good!

My brother pulling grass out of his sugar cane!

Our abundance of berries!

Lunch yesterday!

Lunch today!

WTH!

I dropped my mom off at the hairdresser's yesterday on my way home and my brother picked her up later. She was perfectly fine...even baked a cake when she got home for someone who lost her mother. Last night at 8:30, my brother went to drop off some groceries he had picked up for Mom. When he walked in, she said, "Good morning!" Uh, Oh! It's not morning and she has cooked breakfast thinking it was Saturday morning. Did she not wonder why she was still dressed in her clothes and it was dark outside? Strange. Blood sugars were all ok, but she had taken her meds and her insulin just like she would in the morning! CRAZY! Anyway, they put the breakfast all away and checked on her later and she was fine. Today she is fine, but Holy Moly, that is some scary stuff. I guess she slept a little too long during her nap!!!

Yay me!

It's done!

Today I was able to join my Thursday lunch bunch for the first time in a couple of weeks. We ate Chinese and solved all the world's problems in  about an hour. We rock.....Now if people would just listen to our solutions. Now I am about to kick back and wait for the rains to come. NO WORK TODAY! Not one bit!!!!!

Uh Oh!

I was cutting back the last of Mom's azaleas today in the jungle that is camellias and azaleas all intertwined with vines and grape vines when I realized there was a pissed off bird overhead. Unfortunately, I had not seen her nest in there and apparently while pulling on some vines, I messed up her nest. I think it had some babies in it, but I was never able to really tell. I think they fell out and were on the ground down in the middle of the mess. We tried to find them, but never could. I think I saw one hop around, so I know they were almost ready to fly. I just hope the Mom can stick with them and help them learn faster than she planned. After I realized what I had done, I stopped working there. I didn't even load all the debris on to the truck. I'll get it later when I'm not so upset at what I did. I just hope no predator finds the babies before they can fly!!!!

So very thankful!

Mom is doing really well. Home health came and changed the dressings on her foot today and another came and helped her take a shower. When I got there, she had on her clothes and her ever present lipstick! She got up this morning and cooked breakfast like she has done for 69 years. When my brother and sister-in-law got there, she had it all done. She is an amazing woman.

The hotter it gets, the lazier I get. Yesterday I sweated down two sets of clothes...first in my yard, then again down at Mom's in the garden. Today I was in recovery mode and didn't do much in the garden....dug a few potatoes (which I just ate), mixed and applied about 5 buckets of Miracle Gro, planted a few little watermelon plants and watered one area of vegetables where the peppers, cucumbers, eggplants and tomatoes are. They don't get included when we put the sprinklers on the gardens.

Too close to the truth!

Thank you, Jesus!

Mom is doing really well after her toe surgery yesterday. This time she is allowed to put weight on her foot. This makes everything so much easier. We got her to bed last night and my brother and I both went home. We put a potty chair by her bed. She was able to get up and get to it. She is in a lot of pain, but is willing to take the pills provided for that. This morning, after breakfast, we left her in her chair while I went to get her some groceries and my brother was doing something. She was able to get up and go to the bathroom by herself while we were gone. This made me really happy! She has 2 screws and a plate in her big toe to straighten it out.

Puuuulleeessseeee!!!!

Pre-op registration for my mom's toe straightening surgery tomorrow burned up this whole day. First, we had to see the doctor, then to the hospital for pre-registration, labs, urinalysis, EKG, and lung x-ray.The doc said he has 10 or 11 surgeries tomorrow, but, thankfully, Mom will be #3 or 4. It's on the schedule for 9:30, but, of course, that NEVER happens. Surgery should last about an hour. My brother will get her to the hospital by 7:30....makes no sense to be there so early, but Oh well! I couldn't even go walk out in the garden when I took her home because I had on my new shoes!!!! I must remember to throw some old shoes in my trunk!

Mission accomplished!

Well, not quite, but since I took yesterday off from working in Mom's yard and the garden, I had to go to work today. Almost finished pruning her azaleas and did a little work in the garden. The hard work in the garden is finished. I just try to stay on top of the weeds and grass so that the whole garden looks clean. Basically, it is clean!

Mom cooked lunch today and we had more new potatoes. YUM! I tried to start that silly little Mantis tiller again today and once again, it would not start. I told my brother and he pulled it one time and it started. That just pisses me off!

My biggest tomatoes got cut down by cutworms. Damn things went below the foil I had wrapped around them. They had tomatoes on them! Someone told me today to put an empty beer bottle at both ends of the row! Hello! Now that's something I can do. In fact, I think I'll go empty one of them now!

Dinner!

First Harvest!

Sticker shock!

I need to get motivated to start a walking program, so today I went to Sports Spectrum to buy shoes. Rumor had it that they had a machine and a shoe guru there to decide which shoe would be best for my foot. I stepped on the machine, which told me I had a high arch and the weight is mostly on my heels. A short stroll for the guru told me that I had zero pronation, which was a surprise to me. He brought about 6 pairs of shoes for me to try and it turned out that the Asics were most comfortable to me. I have bought that brand several times before, so I didn't ask the price. I never bought any that were more than $50 or $60, but when I checked out, the bill was $150. That did include one pair of Thorlo socks with extra padding on the ball and heel. I failed to look at the sticker on them either. Turns out the socks were nearly $14. WTH! I've never had shoes or socks that expensive! Looks like I may have postponed purchasing my new Iphone for a while longer!

Happy Mother's Day

Even back when I was a kid, twice a year there was an event called, "Graveyard working". Back in the day, it did require work. Everyone would bring their rakes and hoes and clean the graveyard. This was before there was grass there. Now it is just mowed. Everyone brings food and there is dinner on the grounds in a little pavilion built especially for that. Today was one of the two times a year. We had not been in one year because the last one was in October and Daddy was sick, so we didn't go. Today he was already there....well, he is in heaven, but his remains were there. Even my brother came today and he almost never gets to come. We decided to move ahead and get the black tombstone that will cover all five of us. There is only one black one out there and it just stands out. We all like it. Black is more expensive, but isn't that always how it works out?

Yet another awesome day!

Since I do have a home of my own which I take a great deal of pride in, I spent the morning planting 75 caladium bulbs before I went to Mom's to work in the garden. Brother and I were both there again today. I plowed the sunflowers with a push turning plow. It just throws the dirt up around the base of the plants to cover the grass and weeds growing around them. So right now they look really clean. I planted a row of okra seeds plus 6 okra plants to get a little head start on a few.

We still had enough okra seeds that were already soaked and starting to sprout, so my brother made another row in the upper garden and planted them. I also planted  4 little watermelon plants and got all the sprinklers going on both gardens.

Same garden ....

Upper garden where we have potatoes, sweet corn, bush beans, beets, sugar cane, pinto beans, peas, watermelons and more okra. We lied when we said we would not plant as big a garden as Daddy always did! Guess we will be feeding the masses. Our tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, bell peppers and egg plants are in a different place. We also have a little radish patch and we are eating radishes every day.

Uh-oh!

Communication misfire! I went to the National Day of Prayer service at my church at noon and after that to lunch with my buds. I had to hurry and eat and scram because I had to go pick up Mom to bring her to her doctor appointment. When I was on the way to get her, I thought I met my brother and her in Mom's car. Holy Smokes! Why didn't they tell me he was bringing her? Turns out, it was,indeed, them. Mom told him I was going to plant okra while he took her to the doctor. That is not at all what I told her. I told her that if he was going to take her to her appointment, then I would go work in the garden and plant the okra. It would be presumptuous of me the think he didn't have any plans and could take Mom. I would never do that. Anyway, she misunderstood that I was coming to get her, so he took her. Since I wasn't dressed for working in the garden, I turned around and met them at the doc's office. Surgery on her toe will be next Friday.

Almost lost a tomato plant from lack of water, but I have the drip set up over my tomatoes now, so I hope it comes back to life! I have a soaker hose weaving through the fence by the tomatoes, so it is dripping down over my tomato row!

Dang! I'm tired!

Spent several hours in the garden today hoeing weeds and running the tiller. My brother was there as well, so at one time we had two tillers going at the same time. Now.....the garden looks beautiful again. Dad would be so proud.

Even though I was exhausted, I came home, took a shower and went to Shreveport to run some errands. Got the car washed, bought Laura Bush's new book for Mom as a part of her Mother's Day haul, bought a beautiful plant for her as well, went to Sam's and also did my part to support illegal aliens for Sinco de Mayo at Taco Mania. Just kidding.....I don't know if they are illegal....I just know they can cook some Mexican food!

Damn bugs!

Sprayed all the potatoes again after the rain. The bugs think it is a day at the spa, I guess! I spray it right on them and they just sit there...don't even fall off the leaf! I tried Sevin dust on two rows and sprayed malathion on the others. We will see if any of it works. I dug up 3 little potatoes while I was doing that, but only because I saw them peeking through the dirt. Forgot to bring them home with me!!! Mom didn't want them...but wanted me to have them.

Started trimming back sharply her azaleas because the plant gurus said now is the time to do it and fertilize them. I didn't get far. She has a LOT of azaleas!!! I got tired!

Stupid personified!

This will make you GRIN!