Too trusting?????

Twice in the past week, strangers have knocked on my door and I opened it right up. Now I know that goes against everything that I know to do for safety. I tend to think everyone is good and always give them the benefit of the doubt. The doubt is always there and may some day rear its ugly head. I have an innate desire to help people who need help. The first gentleman took a wrong turn off the interstate and needed help to get back to it. I am 5 miles from the interstate, so I was certainly skeptical. I gave him directions and never saw him again. Did I just luck out? Today someone knocked on one of the doors that comes inside from the garage. I opened the door to find a young woman there who needed to use my phone. I thought everyone on earth had a cell phone. Of course, I invited her in after I saw her car pulled in the vacant lot next to mine with the hood up and other people in it including small children. A belt had broken on the car and her brother needed help to fix it, but got no help from the phone call. I then took him to an auto parts store to get the belt he needed, offered the others in the car my outside chairs and a place to sit in the shade while we went to the store. That one turned out OK,too, but I wonder when my luck will run out!!! I grew up in an age where people could, in general, be trusted much more so than today. OK..bring it on...I know a few people are going to give me some grief about this. :)

This makes me laugh!!

It's a t-shirt!

A word about mothers....

I am not a mother so I have not experienced the type of love that a mother has for her children. It is, of course, the strongest type of love there is and I'm sorry that I did not get to feel this kind of love. Each day I am more aware of how blessed I have been to have my mother for as long as I have. I get tears in my eyes just thinking of not having her anymore, but the reality is that I won't have her much longer. The past few years I have been able to spend more time with her and I am grateful for that. Everyone tells me that I look just like her. To me that is a high compliment. I hope I act like her as well. Spend as much time with your own mother as you can so you won't have regrets when she is no longer here.

Draggin',draggin',draggin'....

This week has been sort of a blur. I just don't feel well and for me that is very unusual. My throat is scratchy and there's some annoying coughing. It's an inbetween stage of being well and being sick.....just yucky. I would rather go ahead and be sick and get it over with than to just drag on in this state and not be either well or sick. I slept in until about 9:30, then had to go pick up a corsage, then go get my mom and take her to the cemetery for their dinner on the grounds day. She is just so feeble, but she still wants to do all the things she used to do. This time she could not walk out in the cemetery to where her family is buried. I had to take the flowers and put them on the monument. I'm going back to bed and that is just such a shame because this is one gorgeous day....not too hot and excellent for outside yard projects. Not happening today though!

The fruits of my labors....

Here's the results of all my hard work last week.

Turn out the lights...the party's over...

All the festivities for my aunt's 90th birthday are over and there were lots of them! All her grandchildren came and almost all her great grandchildren. I think we wore her out dragging her around to so many places. She is my dad's sister and I am her only niece. We all went out to eat on Saturday night, then all went to church together on Sunday and to lunch together on Sunday. We all got t-shirts with her picture on them and wore them to the main event last night at my brother's lake house. It was all great fun and I had my first overnight guests in my new home. Here's the honoree.

Cero dinero!

Stolen from here. Great idea! I am a Bush supporter, but I am sick of all the illegals that he refuses to deal with. Print these out and send them to the RNC at 310 First St,SE; Washington,D.C 20003

Busy,busy,busy!!

Since Saturday was a rain drenched day....2.2 inches for me...I just vegetated at home being lazy. I did a lot of work on Friday building new raised flower beds, but purposefully did not plant the flats of annuals that I bought because I knew the rains were coming and would beat them to death. Yesterday I planted some annuals in the new bed around the tree, but I still haven't done the planting in the much bigger bed. Today I went to Mom and Dad's and cut back all of her azaleas. Protocol says that they need to be pruned right after the blooming season. Hers are huge and it was a hard job. After that I mowed all their yard, which, as I have said before, takes a long, long time even on a riding mower. I was there from 8:30 until 2:00. A few minutes of that time I was in the pasture with my brother where he mowed a spot of centipede grass. We cut some sod squares of that which are still in my car because I am too exhausted to put it in the yard where it needs to be. Tomorrow I will have a boatload of yardwork to do, but it will all be in my yard.

Making new friends....

I was invited by the lady who built my house to her home for a deck lunch today to meet some new people. When I first walked out to the deck, I was alarmed because they were soooooo quiet! That didn't last long. They were a fun group, but, of course, I don't remember any of their names. I knew one person besides the hostess. Have already been invited to join a Krewe, which is just a social group disguised as Mardi Gras festivities.. Sounds like it may be fun, but I neglected to find out how much the membership fee is!

Major problem for me!!!

One would think that getting a shepherd's hook into the ground wouldn't be a big deal. Well, not so here on my little bit of ground. I pounded this thing with a huge sledge hammer until I got most of it in the ground and broke off the top of it. It still isn't all the way in. I am doing everything I know to do to soften up the clay. I have researched it on the internet, but anything more than a few (4 maybe) inches isn't going anywhere. I'm open for suggestions!

More house pictures...

Observe the Texas photos. They look crooked here, but I double checked and they are not!! It isn't easy to tell, but the bluebonnets in the lower picture are in a Bluebell ice cream carton. Just another Texas touch!!

The azaleas are blooming. They are a variety that blooms late and blooms again in the fall. I love that!

Day Trippin'

We went here today. This place is on Caddo Lake north of Shreveport and belongs to my high school best friend and her husband. They still live in Massachusettes until they sell their home there and move to Louisiana. They have this beautiful plantation home on the lake waiting for them. On the property they grow native Louisiana irises and they are in bloom now. My friend and her husband are here right now so we went to see them and their flowers. Her brother lives on the property, as well as a hired grounds keeper, and sees after the irises. It is a beautiful place.

My FINAL substantial purchase!!

My patio just was not complete without this. I wasn't even looking for patio furniture when I spotted this and knew it was the one. It is aluminum and will last forever. The cushions can be changed periodically to break the monotony. It's sturdy and easily cleaned, which makes it perfect for me. Come on by for a drink on the patio now that I have a place for you to sit!!!

He is Risen!!!

Artist - Ain Vares — “Jesus Christ is Risen”

Here comes Peter Cottontail......

Peter Cottontail came hopping up to my house via UPS. He's holding a pink miniature rose bush which I intend to plant somewhere and keep it forever. I love it! Thanks to Denise, Paul, Megan and Jake for remembering Grandma Beatty on this Easter.

My most excellent day!!!

I went to a golf course today for the first time in many, many months....before Hurricane Rita. As I was on hole #4, a man came up behind and asked to play with me since he was alone and so was I. It was my first time on that golf course and he was very knowledgeable. We played 18 holes and then went back to his home where we sat on his front porch with his wife and had a drink. That is such a Southern thing to do....a perfect stranger...and I am following him home for a drink. He lives on a street that I go down a lot....a street in old Minden...It is the house he grew up in and he is 78 years old. After many years in New Orleans, he and his wife came home to this old house, updated it, and now have cocktails every day at 5 on the veranda!! Here's to new friends in a new town!!

Major fatigue.....

I was an early riser this morning....not an every day occurrence...ate breakfast, and got busy outside. Yesterday I discovered that the hard stuff around the edge of my foundation is not concrete, but mortar from sloppy bricklayers. I also found out that I can break it up and move it out so that's what I did. Now I will be able to get stuff to grow up next to the foundation. After I finished that, I went to work with the power washer trying to get the red clay off my driveway. Tough stuff to deal with. I also washed the eaves of the house where red dust had settled. I didn't finish that, but I quit and went to Mom and Dad's to cut me some centipede sod out of their pasture. That turned out not to be so easy, so I gave up and mowed the rest of their yard that I didn't finish last Friday. Also planted some flowers for Mom. She had picked the first turnip greens that I had planted a few weeks ago and tomorrow she is cooking them. Yes, I'm going back for the turnip greens!! Now I am just tired!!!!

April 8, 1941

On this date 65 years ago Vernita Irene Stewart,16, and Samuel Lloyd Beatty,19, eloped. Tonight we had a little party for them to celebrate the event. Check out the cake. It's a Wal-Mart creation!!!

This is my brother and sister-in-law's lake house where we held the party. We will have a big honkin' party on their 70th anniversary!!!!

Hail, Hail....WTF!

Tonight was downright scary. The storms came through and pounded my new house with marble size hail. In Orange, Texas, this would have never happened. Even if it had, I didn't own my home and didn't really care. Whoa! Big difference now!!! The stones were hitting the windows so hard that my brother could hear them through the phone. He lives 13 miles south of me and he got nothing. I called and warned them what was coming so they could get all the cars under something, but they didn't even get any rain. I got all my flowers in, except the azaleas, moments before the hail came. I guess I'll see tomorrow if the buds were knocked off my azaleas. I hope not. I have been looking every day at them just waiting for them all to open and they are just starting to do so. The hailstones in the picture are on my covered patio which has outdoor carpet on it.

Mission Accomplished!!!

This morning I went to help dad plant the garden. He can only do a little at a time and he doesn't trust me to do it right by myself, so we got sunflowers and corn planted. I ran the tiller and made the rows and he planted the seeds with his little rolling planter. He was totally exhausted, so I came home and planted 93 caladium bulbs in my yard. Then I put together a power washer, which I had bought before I moved. My cousin came by on his Harley and chatted for a while in the yard, then my brother and sister-in-law came to put up the last blind for me. In between all that I cooked stuffed pork chop with potatoes and ate dinner!!!
Wow! I'm tired!