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!

New purchase!

Since neither my brother nor I checked the oil in Dad's lawn tractor (Dad always did that, so we didn't have to think about it), tomorrow we will be purchasing this little number! Who knew lawn mowers run out of oil???? Not me! It spit the bits out and seems to be unrepairable. Oh, well.....that won't happen again. I'm sure we will both be checking the oil way too often. I asked him if the new lawn mower was going to have a red light that says, "Check oil" like my car does!!!! What can I say....we screwed up! I just happened to be the one on the lawn mower when it crashed and burned!!! CRAP!

Well, crap!!!!!

Mom is going to have to have more surgery on her foot. This time the big toe. It is so misshapen that it is putting force on the next toe, which was operated on in January to straighten it along with 2 others. She uses a spacer between the toes 24 hours a day, but it is not enough to prevent a pressure ulcer on the next toe. We were so afraid there was infection in the bones from the previous surgery, but that is not the case. Here we go again! However, he did say this is more extensive surgery, but not as hard to recover from. She will be able to put weight on it immediately unlike the last time. Looks like she may have surgery next Friday. We have another appointment next Thursday to see how it looks after 2 weeks of antibiotics.

OHHHH! NO! UNACCEPTABLE!

My snake phobia materialized while I was at Mom's today working in the garden. As I walked a path I had already walked a dozen times today, I was suddenly confronted with a snake. It wasn't a big snake, but it doesn't take BIG to traumatize me. Thank goodness for the cell phone in my pocket. I stood right there watching it so I wouldn't lose it and called my brother to come kill it. I thought it was a copperhead, but he said it was a spreading adder. Enough to scare the crap out of me. Of course, he just laughed!!! I was too traumatized to take a picture!!!Time to break open the wine!

Biden is a MORON!

Garden 2010

Dodged the bullet!

The storm predictions did not materialize here in our part of Louisiana, but the garden only got 1/2 inch of rain. We have a 5 inch deficit, but the garden really looks good today. My potatoes have some blooms, so that means potatoes are forming beneath the ground, I think! What do I know! It must mean something!

Laid back week!

Very little had to be done in the garden this week, so I have had a bit of a break. It is looking really good and we are hoping for much needed rain tonight......but, not the storms and hail predicted. If that happens, our garden will be beaten up badly! Brother did lots of tilling this week between the rows to keep the grass at bay and he used the bush hog and tractor on the whole place. It really looks pretty right now because I had already done all the mowing with the mower. For 2 days, I didn't even go there.

Mom has yet another infection in her foot...yes, the same one that was operated on in January. It's all healed, but is swollen and red and some lymph nodes are involved as well. This was all noticed by the lady from home health who comes to help her take a bath. She notified the nurses and they sent someone out to see about Mom. They got her in to see a doctor and get some antibiotics. Does it ever end? I thought we were finished with foot issues!!!

Get ready!

It's cold!

Never thought I would not be happy with cool weather in April, but today was just not very comfortable out in the garden. I picked collard greens for Mom to cook and I cooked a pork loin before I went to her house. She also made some hot water cornbread, so we had a nice lunch. She could not eat her collard greens because she is on coumadin (blood thinner) and green things have vitamin K, which is also a blood thinner. Her home health nurse was there when we were getting ready to eat and she told Mom not to eat the greens! Poor Mom! We told her they weren't good. She wouldn't like them!!!! Actually, they were delish!

I planted some replacement tomatoes and protected them from the cutworms. Also, planted a few marigolds in the tomatoes and potatoes because I've been told insects don't like marigolds.

Brother has been having major heart palpitations  for a couple of days now and just generally doesn't feel well, but he won't go to the doctor!! Go figure! His heartbeat is very irregular!

From Facebook!

I pledge resistance to the czar, of the divided states of America. And to the communism for which he stands, one socialist without God, divisible, with health care and welfare for all. -Anonymous American

Brain fart yet again!

These brain farts are coming way too close together these days. Every year I plant caladiums all along the front of my house and each year they are just beautiful. It just dawned on me last night that it's almost time to plant them and I haven't even ordered them yet. Soooo....this morning before church, I was on the computer ordering 100 caladiums. I always plant Carolyn Whorton's since my yard guru told me they would withstand heat better than most.

Since my tomato dilemma, more than a few people have told me that I must protect the stems of the young plants from cut worms by wrapping the stems with foil or putting matches or toothpicks next to the stem so the worm cannot wrap around the plant. I will be doing that tomorrow to the ones that I have left and most certainly will do it to the replacement plants I have to buy now!! Who knew? Apparently, everyone but me! Dad never did that to his plants, so I didn't know. They never cut his tomatoes down.