Happy Independence Day!

Fourth of July has always been reunion day for my dad's family. I am not looking forward to the first one without him. His sister is the only one of them left. She is 94 and was recently moved to Virginia to live with her daughter, so she will not be there either. Dad always looked forward to this day, but I never did. The only reason I ever went was for him. He liked to show off his kids....even when we weren't kids anymore!

Yum!

Well, I gotta get it while I can. Fresh vegies just aren't available but a short period of time! Must take advantage. Trust me! I don't eat like this often!
Tomatoes, okra, creamed corn, steamed squash, and hot buttered cornbread...all fresh out of the garden! Life is good!

Too much time on my hands tonight!

My brother is sooooo funny!

My unreasonable fear of snakes and all other varmints has always been great entertainment for my brother. I blame him for some of my jumpiness! He has always been a practical joker and I have always been his favorite victim! Today, I went to Mom’s to pick the okra. As I walked down the road to the okra row, I happened upon a black snake diligently placed and staged. It was dead, but it scared me much! I called him and asked him if he left that snake for me, knowing full well that he did. He died laughing and blamed it on his wife! Of course, I did not have my camera and forgot about the camera on my phone. I was too traumatized to take a picture anyway! I think it was the same snake that I saw in the beans a couple of weeks ago...at least, I hope it was!!!!!

Unfortunately!

Finally finished!

I seriously don't quite get all the hoopla over this book. It's OK, but was just not a page turner for me. At least, I did finish it. Usually, if it is not a real page turner, I don't finish it.

Ripped from an email and Dr. Seuss!

I do not like this Uncle Sam, I do not like his health care scam.

I do not like these dirty crooks, or how they lie and cook the books.

I do not like when Congress steals,

I do not like their secret deals.

I do not like this speaker Nan ,

I do not like this 'YES WE CAN'.

I do not like this spending spree,

I'm smart, I know that nothing's free,

I do not like your smug replies, when I complain about your lies.

I do not like this kind of hope.

I do not like it you BIG Dope.

I do not like it NOPE NOPE NOPE!

Nostalgia!

I took a detour through my old college campus yesterday while I was in that college town on a mission to find peaches. After all, Ruston is the peach capital of Louisiana and they were having the Peach Festival. Of course, it has been a very long time since I lived in Ruston and not much is the same. The one thing that has not changed is the dorms. All the dorms I lived in are still there! They still look lovely, but those suckers are old! They weren't new when I was there. I didn't get out and walk in the areas where cars are no longer allowed because it was too freakin' HOT! I would like to go back sometimes and find the brick that I purchased with my name and year of graduation on it!

You know you want some!

Some of these peaches magically turned into this yummy peach cobbler!

Don't be jealous!

And I even forgot to put peas on the plate....fresh peas, okra, corn and the essential hot, buttered cornbread!

SOS to Billy the Exterminator!!!

I went out to pick peas in the garden this morning and kept hearing a sound of metal against metal under the pear tree. My brother had set his coon trap under the tree just to get it out of the way. Apparently, it had some food still in it. I went over to it expecting to see a coon in his trap. But, NO....it was a SKUNK! WTH! I didn't get close enough to take a picture because I didn't want to get sprayed. I called my brother and asked him if he knew there was a skunk in his trap....he likes messing with me, so I thought he might have left it especially for me! He did not know, but he came over with his gun and shot the skunk. Of course, the skunk sprayed when he shot it. Condolences to PETA! Once again, GET OVER IT! I don't care! Our pea picking was over temporarily. Why am I ALWAYS the one who finds the varmints????   I don't like varmints! I don't even have a dog!!!!

Ouch!

The rep from the monument company finally came today and we picked out a family monument with 5 foot stones. We chose a glossy black granite for the family name..then we will each have our own foot stone with the pertinent information on it. It cost nearly $10,000, but when we consider that all of us are now covered with the exception of dates of death, it's not a bad deal. Really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Mom basically knew what she wanted and my brother and I agreed. We should have a computer print out of them by tomorrow, but it will take as long as 10 weeks to get them completed and at the cemetery.

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It's time!

Time for me to suck it up and be a big girl. Father's Day was always a special day for me and I always tried to make it home to be with my dad on that day. Same for Mother's Day. I knew it would not be easy this year, but everyone loses their father at some point and I was incredibly lucky to have mine for 66 years. I miss him very much, but I will suck it up tomorrow and go to church on Father's Day. He would want me to be in church!

CRAP!

I had to suck it up and hire someone to do my yard for the hot, humid, hideous days of this summer! It was hard for me to admit that I just wasn't up to doing it as hot as it is. I am real picky about my yard and it must be done just right or I am not a happy camper, so I hope he will make me happy. He is a local firefighter who does this on the side, so I am OK with helping out a firefighter. I just wish I could do it myself! I will still do Mom's because it is all done on the lawn tractor and most of the time my brother beats me to it anyway. I think part of the problem is that I don't want to admit I am freakin' OLD!

Uh OH!

 Update: Chills are back again and fever is returning! WTH!

Well, I guess it was a little more than being tired yesterday. Turns out I had some sort of mysterious fever which caused chills and just made me feel bad. I finally took my temp last night after I realized I had a fever and it was confirmed. I took some aspirins and some time later woke up drenched in sweat. Today has been better although I still don't feel like really doing anything. Just another lazy day, but no fever so far.

A day off!

Once again I wore myself completely out yesterday and I guess it now takes me a day to recover. I pulled up every bean plant and picked the beans off of them after I pulled them up. I will never plant any more beans like these. They grow all down below the plant near the ground and it is just too hard on my back to pick them. They had lots of grass in them anyway and they were making our garden look bad. I also picked a lot more corn to give away. I'm done with cutting corn off the cob and freezing it. If I recover enough to get hungry today, I have okra/tomatoes, squash, green beans, cucumbers and hot buttered cornbread on the menu. When the heat index is 105, it kind of takes the wind out of my sails!

Ugh!

Spent hours doing the part of gardening that I don't like. Harvesting and "putting up"! Lots of corn ready right now. I picked, shucked, (Mom silked), cut off the cob, and froze 15 quarts of corn. That would be 62 ears. It's tedious and boring, but I sure enjoy some fresh creamed corn in the dead of winter! I will be cooking some of it for dinner tonight after a little nap to recover. Had to go to the Farmer's Market to get some tomatoes since mine are a dismal failure! Don't know why they aren't making...neither are my squash.

Success!

RIP

Well, not so much for the coons! We tried all the deterrents and they worked for 3 nights, but last night when my brother went to put Dad's truck in the garden with the radio going, he saw 3 coons coming into our corn. They were bold and brave and pretty much ignored him. He called his wife to bring his gun..C-ya coons. We planted enough corn for us and them, but they brought all their family and friends and got greedy. They are now in raccoon heaven. Get over it PETA!

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