Waste of skin!

What a lazy block of stone I have been today! The only thing slightly useful that I did was go out behind my fence with a hoe and try to make the water drain out of my back yard. I'm delighted to have rain, but I do have a problem with drainage. I don't know why. I live on a freakin' hill! I have completely undone my landscaping in the back to try to solve the problem. I even put a drainage pipe through the flower bed and under the fence and I still get standing water in a corner. It hasn't been tested much because we have been in a severe drought. In fact, I don't think we have had flood type rains since I have lived here, so it's been basically untested. I have lifted all the paving stones that I had set up in the corner. Still doesn't seem to have solved the problem. I am going to be mad if I have to call in a landscaper to solve this!!!!

Awesome!

The crepe myrtles this year have  really been showing off...not just mine, but everyone's! The blooms are so heavy that the limbs are bending down.

Decisions, decisions!

Which to read first? I have both!

OR

Well, CRAP!

Now my very favorite musician of all times, Jimmy Buffett, has opened his mouth  and shown his ignorance of politics. He has blamed the oil gusher on George Bush because he was "too cozy" with the oil companies! I am so disappointed in Jimmy. I will never be able to listen to him the same way again. Why can't singers just shut up and sing???

Rockwell Moment (ripped from an email)

Finally!

I have been able to leave all the water hoses and sprinklers put away for a whole week. Thank God we have finally had a few showers and a break in the weather.

Also, I was finally able to find a few Heat Wave tomato plants, so I planted them today before the rain. I hope we can grow a few tomatoes on our last attempt this year. My brother fixed a new place to plant them, has a soaker hose along the row and lots of pine straw to help with the grass and weeds.
He also wants to plant some pumpkins. We have never grown any pumpkins although Dad always wanted to. Don't know why he never planted any.

I made it through the reunion with only one episode of watery eyes when my cousin got up and talked about Dad. Still....it's an event I don't enjoy going to. Most of the people there are people I don't even know even though they are distant relatives.

I'm considering just turning off the TV. There is so much stuff that makes me mad and question the sanity of the politicians, especially Obama and his minions.

• WTH does NASA have to do with Muslims? Why has the director of NASA been told to engage the muslim world?
  
• Why is the USA (OBAMA) suing Arizona for trying to protect its own people?
• Why are people who know how to stop the gusher in the Gulf being ignored?
• Why are the people who know how to clean it up not allowed to do it?
• Why has the Jones Act not been lifted?
• Why is Louisiana not allowed to put boulders around the marshes to protect them from oil?
• Any why are 1st amendment rights being ignored down on the Gulf Coast ?

I just can't understand how people can be so damn STUPID!

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!