Lunch Bunch

Thrillist

It would be NICE if the Lunch Bunch gruesome threesome actually were this young and were actually at the beach, but we’re grateful for what we can get. :0)

This is closer to what we ACTUALLY look like, but it’s what’s in your heart that counts. :0)

Today will be a special Lunch Bunch because, besides the three of us and my husband – who pretends to preside over his ‘harem,’ sitting at one end of the table, Kay’s daughter, LaDonna, is visiting from Albuquerque, and Kay’s husband is taking the week off from work – a VERY unusual thing – so it will be even more fun that usual!

We’ve had severe weather this week, with our friend Linda the closest to the actual tornado that touched down. I don’t think any of us had any damage, although another friend of mine lost a maple tree in her back yard.

So we’ll celebrate being together, being alive, and feeling feisty today!

I hope that YOU are weathering the storms, tornados, wind damage, flooding, and flying hairballs well, too. My heart goes out to all the people who are having to pick up the pieces, trying to put things back together.

A Good Day

We had a productive day today –

• we shoveled the potting soil back into the finished planter before the rains started
• we hauled the bricks that were holding down the tarps over the potting soil and cleaned up work area
• we got our errands done, with the rain starting on our way home
• I scrubbed part of master bathroom upstairs (need to finish tomorrow) – got distracted by –
• I tried on multiple pairs of jeans and finding SEVERAL pairs that were too large – :0)
• I added the too-large jeans to the Veterans Thrift store bag donation
• my husband loaded ammunition for our good friend down the road from us

The predicted severe thunderstorms came and went without causing damage. At one point the sky was so dark I couldn’t see that it was raining when I looked out the window, but I could HEAR the thunder and could see the lightning, and could see the rain streaming down the windows. The wind was really whipping things around, but things have cleared up now and the sun is shining! (I just checked to see if our greenhouse was still standing and it IS. :0)

My husband is asleep in his chair in the living room. That sounds really good, so I’m thinking of doing that, too.

I hope YOU’VE had a good day, too.

Aftermath of the Severe Weather

Photo by Fort Smith Police Department

Yesterday, when our weather radio alerted us that we were under a tornado warning and that we should take cover, an as-yet unofficial tornado hit the south side of Fort Smith, one city away from where we live in Greenwood, Arkansas.  This is one of the pics showing the damage.

Reports today are saying 30 to 40 homes were damaged or destroyed, trees downed, roofs of businesses torn off, power out, etc. The good news is that no one seems to have been hurt or killed.  I hope our governor can declare an emergency and release Federal funds for those who need it.

Even though my husband scoffed at the weather alert, I’m really glad we have the radio. We are under tornado ‘watches’ all summer long, so I don’t pay a lot of attention to the run of the mill alerts; but when they say a rotation has been confirmed and is heading toward Greenwood, I DO!. I’m very grateful that we haven’t found any damage.

In fact, today is a gorgeous day – sunshine and 80 degrees. My husband and I laid more bricks on our planter this morning. We should be able to finish it tomorrow. It’s been 30 years since we built the planters and our skills have deteriorated since then. We will be delighted if the planter is sturdy, holds the dirt in, and we can plant beautiful things in it, regardless of how it looks. :0)

After we rested and drank water, I went out to my garden to weed. The weeds really love Mel’s Mix, the soil alternative we use in the raised boxes, so I had a lot to do. I did finish that, though, and after resting again, mixed up a 2-gallon container of KilzAll, the wonderful weed killer that was recommended to me a couple of years ago by a good friend in Tulsa. The container is a pump-up variety, so I can murder a lot of weeds without killing myself as well. I used the whole container on the weeds UNDER my raised boxes in the garden. As soon as I have them under control I’ll get more wood chips to spread over the fabric weed barrier we put down several years ago.

After we finished laying bricks this morning, I came in and washed my hair in the kitchen sink. I came in after weeding really hot, huffing and puffing, my whole head wet. I washed my hair again, hating to walk around with dirty, yucky hair. Now I’ve come in from murdering weeds, my whole head wet again, and I look like I’ve been run over by a truck. I refuse to wash my hair more than twice a day, so my poor husband will have to put up with me the rest of the day. There are more weeds out there calling my name – so I’ll probably go out one more time and spray another container-ful before I call it a day.

I hope that Mother Nature is being kind to you today and that you’re enjoying your Sunday.

 

Flying Hair Balls!

KSFY.com

We are under a tornado watch the entire day, tonight, and into tomorrow morning.

It was sprinkling just slightly, with rain looking imminent this morning when we woke up, so we spent about half an hour cleaning up our ‘rebuilding-the-brick-planter’ work site, putting away tools, the partial bag of mortar, papers from the bricks we hauled, etc. We’ll wait and see what the situation is after the rains have come and gone before doing anything more.

We’re disappointed because we wanted to finish the first planter today.  A challenging job, though, is even less fun when you’re trying to beat the clock, betting against Mother Nature.

I’m going to get out and try to get my garden weeded before the rain, and then we’ll batten down the hatches and hope we don’t have damage from the storm.

I hope you’re safe wherever you are today.  Happy Saturday!

Sharing a Beautiful Day

I just enjoyed walking around the yard, taking stock of what’s what while marveling that it wasn’t raining! Right now it’s 70 degrees F.!  Just gorgeous.  I wanted to show you the results of my trying to create a bit of order from the chaos created by Mother Nature recently. Here is one of our Rio Samba rosebushes. I pruned the three we have so they’ll bloom again in a couple of weeks. You can also see the tarp that is hopefully preserving the potting soil we removed from one of the two planters that collapsed. We are trying to gear up for rebuilding these ourselves, since the only estimate we’ve been able to get from an actual bricklayer was WAAAAAY too high.

Here you see one of the planters I weeded, cleaned out, and pruned.  You can see I need to weed whack next….

The second of the trio planters between our front yard and the driveway.

And this is the third planter. These are end-to-end .

Another.

And another. We have 14 planters we built 30 years ago. We live on top of a ridge line, so what soil there is was trucked in when we had the house built.  With the potting soil and an irrigation system, we are able to grow the flowers we love.

This is one view off the deck. We have lots of wave petunias and periwinkles on the deck this year. You can see our view in one direction. We love to pretend we own all this.

Here’s a view the other direction.

Some Impatiens on the front porch.

and more. You can see this planter needs some work.

And finally, I my travels around the yard I found –

Amber

Molly

Smoke

and Abby, all enjoying the screened porch on this lovely day.

I hope it’s really nice where you are, too!

Happy Roses!

I cut our three Rio Samba rose bushes, plus a red rose bush WAAAAAAAY back, quite ruthlessly before winter. They were all in sad shape, having some kind of fungus and having grown out of shape, having some branches that died, etc. I figured that either my severe pruning would work, or we would have to start over and get new plants.

Happily, my pruning seems to have given them all new life!

This is the red rose bush and you can also see one of the Rio Samba bushes further back in the trio of planters.

We love Rio Samba roses because they start out bright yellow. Then they develop coral edges on each bloom. Finally they turn coral before it’s time to prune them off to encourage new blooms.

Flowers Add Quality of Life

After the rains I walked around the yard, delighting that so many flowers are happy right now. I wanted to share them with you.

These are Rio Samba roses.  They start bright yellow, then slowly turn to coral.

 

Impatiens like the shade of our front porch.

Camellias

My husband’s clematis.

Wave petunias on the deck.

Periwinkles

A new color of iris blooming that I’ve never seen before!

When we first married – almost 50 years ago now – my husband wasn’t into flowers.  He didn’t mind them, just didn’t care about them one way or the other and tried to make me happy by taking me to the local nurseries to find things to plant.

Now he actively works at getting our wisteria to grow up a tree, weeds his clematis, notices and remarks on the roses, LOVES the deep purple iris – now his favorite flower.

Flowers are a quality of life thing – and we’re rich in them!

1st Hummingbird of the Spring! May 2nd

Tim Fitzharris

 

We were sitting at the dining area table this morning -groggily trying to wake up – when we saw the first hummingbird of the season (that we’ve noticed) at the hummingbird feeder!  I had mainly put the feeder out to welcome the first hummingbirds, not actually having seen one.

He was only at the feeder just a second, sipped a bit and then flew off. We went out and got the feeder, filled it with fresh food, and put it back out. We feel so rich when we see hummingbirds dive-bombing each other at the feeders. We will put out several, so there is more than enough food for all, but nature overcomes. I hope this is a good year for the hummers.

Arrgh! Too Much of a Good Thing

Tail and Fur

We are thankful we live on top of a ridge line. The ‘monsoon season’ continues in Arkansas. The latest forecast says we might have 5 inches total by the end of the day tomorrow.

Last night we were enjoying listening to the rain while watching TV in the living room. There was a lot of lightning and rolling, rumbling thunder. It was pretty impressive. Suddenly we heard a loud CRACK! and both jumped in our chairs. It sounded like the lightning had hit something really close. I’m no judge of these things, but I don’t want it any closer than that!  I wonder if you hear the lightning if it strikes YOU…..?

I haven’t noticed any damage here, thank goodness, but it’s still raining, so I haven’t ventured out far.  I have no idea if my garden veggies have been washed out of their sweet “squares” or not. The greenhouse is still standing, so I think it’s okay.

One things I’m really happy to note – the rose bushes I cut back so viciously are blooming now!  I’ll get some pics if this ‘wonderful’ rain will finally stop…

 

 

“It’s Raining, It’s Pouring….”

Daily Express

 

“It’s raining.

It’s pouring.

The old man is snoring.

He bumped his head.

and couldn’t get out of bed

in the morning”    – English Limerick

 

It started to rain late in the evening, storming all night with lots of rumbling and bumbling – really great for sleeping. It’s still raining today, and is supposed to tomorrow, too. A bit too much of a good thing.

This is the equivalent of ‘monsoon season’ in Arkansas. Things are about as lush as they get around here. The trees on either side of our 650+ foot STEEP driveway are trying to grow across the driveway. We don’t have any trouble, but UPS and Fedex truck drivers look a bit wild-eyed when they come up to deliver.

Once the rains stop, we’ll be lucky to get enough to wet the grass during the summer. We have an irrigation system that – once working – waters every day so that flowers don’t completely croak around here. We used to get out each evening and water everything with hoses, but that wasn’t enough to counteract the strong sunshine and over 100 degree F. weather we routinely have. The plants would simply burn up.

We’re enjoying the rain we’re getting now and working on the irrigation system to repair blow-outs before the system is really needed. We’re making good headway on a leak we found in the well house. We think maybe one more session will finish the main system. We still have a problem on the other side of the driveway from the well house, but that can wait a bit.

It strikes me funny that we can’t work on the irrigation system because it’s raining.  :0)

Happy day, everyone!

Nature

Max Rive Photography via Mara Spirig – LinkedIn

 

Melanie Moses – poet – LinkedIn

Glorious Day

Inna Kashkovar – LinkedIn

Rainy Wednesday

 Scary Mommy

“I love the rain. I want the feeling of it on my face.” – Katherine Mansfield

No work in the garden or weed whacking today. The bug spraying man came this morning, spread granules outside, treated the inside of the house and then left just before a gentle rain started.

Because of unforeseen circumstances, we had to make two trips into town to get our errands done this morning, but the rain mostly stopped when we had to get out of the car.

Now we are in full of a good lunch, enjoying some quiet time. We have front and back doors open so we can enjoy the nice breeze and the soothing sound of the rain…

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.” – Langston Hughes

Sending Spring Your Way

The purple iris bloom first. As they fade, the yellow ones start.

This is now my husband’s favorite flower, so each time the blooms are spent, I split some and plant them in another place in the yard.

The wisteria has given us a nice display this year. We’re trying to get it to go up into the tree on the opposite end of the wood pile. We actually saw some blooms up there this year! Our rose bushes were looking sad at the end of the season, so I cut them  WAAAAAY  back, figuring they would either like it or croak.  They seem to be happy with lots of buds right now.

We have some yellow blooms since this picture was taken. I’ll see if I can get a pic to share with you later.

 

I love this time of year!

And the Rains Continue

Depositphotos

We had strong storms last night with lots of lightning and thunder. Quite impressive. I was relieved to see that we had no discernible damage this morning. It’s raining now, but a quiet, soaky rain that will benefit everything – though my husband is grumbling because he can see the grass growing and he JUST mowed…

I’ve switched to INSIDE stuff today – regular household chores, but I’m going to make some breakfast and then do a session of yoga this morning so I can add another gold star to my calendar. :0)

I hope that the weather is nice where you are and that you’re enjoying your day, too.

 

More Rain

Inna Kashkovar – LinkedIn

It’s still rainy here this morning, but it’s supposed to clear this afternoon. Isn’t the .gif above amazing?  Inna Kashkovar does beautiful work.

My newly planted annuals, as well as my garden veggies, got a hefty drink yesterday. I’ll try to get out later and take some pictures of things – hoping they all enjoyed the water, rather than getting washed out.

After planting 5 flats (180 flowers) Friday afternoon and evening, and then helping my husband mount a humongous nut and bolt bin on the horizontal support beams on one wall of the shop yesterday, my husband and I are enjoying a much quieter day today.

He’s going to go out to the shop and enjoy organizing and labeling the slots of his new bin today. I’m not sure what’s on tap for me, but I’m thinking about playing in my art room. BOTH of us are looking forward to seeing Game of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 1 tonight.

I hope your Sunday is wonderful.

100 Percent Chance of Rain

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

Usually, when the forecast says, “100% chance of rain,” they’re pretty sure. And they were right.

The twice-a-year opportunity to take hard-to-get-rid-of ‘stuff’ to either the city recycling center or the rural folks is today until 2 pm. We watch for this in the paper because we ALWAYS have metal scraps or other things the regular trash people refuse to deal with.  I think the city is wonderful to offer this. I think, otherwise, we might see unsightly stuff dropped off beside the roads. I particularly appreciate it this time, when the men are having to work in the rain.

On cue, the minute we started backing up to the shop door, the rain started. It wasn’t a downpour, so we continued. The rain got harder as we went toward town. The city center had a BIG line of trucks with their beds all full, so we decided to drive farther to the rural center. Happily, there wasn’t a line there and we left our stuff quickly. We got our mail on the way home and are now happily in our dry house.

KFSM TV

Greenwood is just southeast of Fort Smith. As you can see, we have lots of green, yellow, orange, and red blobs in our future today and tomorrow – about 2 inches total.  I’m hoping that the rain will be steady and reasonably gentle, giving our new flowers and veggies a great drink, but not washing them out of the ground.

I hope the people south and east of us stay safe today. It looks as if they might get more serious weather than we.

Our Vicarious Beach Trip!

Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law, Mary Lou, we can all take a vicarious trip to the beach this week!

I believe the name of the beach she is enjoying is “Topsail” in North Carolina.

She is up at 0-dark-thirty every morning to enjoy the sunrise, whether at her home or here, at the beach. WE are the happy recipients of her generosity in sending pics.

I can almost hear the water in these photos!  AHHHHHH!

I wish her and her vacation buddies the best time ever.

THANKS for letting us share this with you, Mary Lou!

Spring View from our Back Yard

We live on top of a ridge line outside of Greenwood, Arkansas. We basically own part of the top of it. Our property goes all the way down to the street in front and about half way down in the back.

One of my favorite things is to watch the seasons change in the valley below the house. Here you can see things are really beginning to green up. The red buds are enjoying their last hurrah and our purple iris and wisteria are beginning to bloom.

Here you can also see the dog we made, plus the “peacock” hanging onto the leftover ham radio antenna section we mounted on some concrete.

 

When you own the top part, you can pretend that you own all you can see. I’m moving from right to left across the back yard to give you a feel for our nice view.

There are the loveliest people who put on a 4th of July display each year.  We’ve driven down to see if we can figure out where they are so we can thank them, but so far, haven’t been able to locate them.

You can also see one of the mosaic gazing balls I made a few years ago for the bird bath.

Another view farther to the left. You can also see the ‘weed trees’ with greenery right at the top of each stalk. I carefully negotiate the rocks, brambles, stickers, etc. trying to get rid of these each spring.

To the left a bit farther is our ham radio tower and my greenhouse. There is also three evergreen trees growing together just to the left of this which is the home of lots of cardinals and other birds who frequent the feeders hanging from our deck.

I spend lots of time walking around out here, enjoying the changes as each season progresses.

 

I Want to Go Here

Elena (Livia) D. – LinkedIn

Wonder Mountain – Toronto, Canada

Wonder Mountain near Toronto, Canada – Jeff Jett, LinkedIn

Before the Rain

Living Well Mom via thenannyleague.com

 

We rushed around this afternoon trying to get our yard work accomplished before the first rain of many came. We made it with minutes to spare!

My husband mowed the lawn while I planted six tomato plants in the brick planters beside the house that we converted to square foot garden planters, and then I planted spinach seeds directly in the garden, since the ones I’ve tried to start in the greenhouse still haven’t done anything. Then I put fertilizer all around.

I came back to the house just as my husband was finishing the lawn. We got out our pressure washer so that we could get some of the gunk off the riding mower engine and surrounding area, so now it’s cleaner than it has been in quite a while. It started sprinkling just as we were putting the power washer away.

We’re supposed to have several waves of rain – some storms possibly severe – throughout the rest of the afternoon, into the evening and into tomorrow.  It feels good to have gotten things done in time. Now we can relax and mindlessly watch TV or read the rest of the day and evening.

All Wet

Tail and Fur

This is the only rainy day we’ve had this week, and of COURSE we have lots of errands to run and appointments to keep in Fort Smith and Greenwood. It doesn’t seem to matter if I have an umbrella or not in the vehicle we’re in, or whether I actually try to USE it, I drown; so I’m resigned that this will be a wet day for me.

When we get home, though, we will have accomplished a good bit of stuff –

• teeth checked and super clean
• tax returns signed and sent
• lunch out
• mail retrieved
• groceries replenished

Our doggies took care of business this morning not even breaking stride as they rushed out into the rain. They are still wet, even though we’ve toweled them off the best we could, but they seem to be smiling as they try to get close to us. There is nothing more loving than a wet dog.

I hope your morning has been enjoyable.

Nature

Nature via Cathy Ruggiero

Welcome Signs of Spring – Redbud Trees

Since 2 of our 8-foot brick planters in the front collapsed and have to be rebuilt, we’re very short on sprouts and blooms this spring. The exception to this, though, is a lovely display of bloom from the redbud trees that Mother Nature dotted around. We love each of them and cut away things around them that might encroach, encouraging them to be healthy and happy.

 

The tree in the first picture faces the south of our property where we can pretend we own all we can see. :0)  This one is facing in the opposite direction.

Another one on the south.

And a close up of some of the blooms.

I go outside and walk around every day just to enjoy these!

A Rainy Day

Elena-(Livia) D-LinkedIn

 

Today is a glorious rainy day here in Greenwood, Arkansas. I say “glorious” because the rain was timed perfectly.

Yesterday we had to buy a new tire for our little riding lawn mower. My husband got it onto the mower and did the first mowing of the season. The grass was a bit high, but he managed. Now it looks like someone actually lives here. :0)

Our garden also appreciated a nice drink without a lot of blowing or hail, too! (I’ll post pics in a bit)

So we’re spending the day being thankful we don’t have to be outside working in the rain and chill, happy to have a warm, dry house.

 

Anthony J. D’Angelo

Spring is Finally Springing

Ar Ali – Linkedin

FINALLY, signs of spring are popping up around here!  I’m delighted, though I feel bad for the people still getting more snow, and the awful flooding in the midsection of the country. I just know my spirits are rising with each passing day.

I still haven’t been able to find spinach plants locally (they said call again Wednesday), so I’m going to see if I can get another batch of seeds started, using another technique and keeping all appendages crossed for success. I would really love to shed my moniker of “Serial Seed Killer” some day soon.

That said, the red onions and head lettuce plants in the garden are doing really well. I’ll see what other wonderful things I can find to plant when we go out for errands today.

I finally reached the bricklayer today, who said he was personally covered up with work, but would ask another good person to give us a call for an estimate on rebuilding the two brick planters that failed recently.

I hope you are enjoying some signs of spring, too!

Glorious Sight!

Elena (Livia) D. – LinkedIn

Spring MAY Be in the Air

“Simply…White” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“Spring is in the Air” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“White” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“White Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

Wim Beunderman – LinkedIn

Brrr!

“Squirrel in the Snow” – copyright-Kelly Lyon – http://www.nwf.org.PhotoContest – The Nat’l Wildlife Federation Blog

 

It’s almost noon and it’s still only 17 degrees F. here. I’ve been letting dogs and cats in and out over and over this morning. Everyone says they want to go out, but they don’t want to stay out LONG…

My poor seed starters are still covered up in the greenhouse. I covered my onion sets in my raised bed square foot garden with a sheet, but I’m afraid that won’t be enough to save them.  I’ll probably need to start over on everything once the cold spell is over. We’re dripping water in our utility room bathroom and in my husband’s sink upstairs, trying to avoid pipes freezing. We only got snow flurries, but the diving temperatures have sure gotten our attention. I save a few daffodils in a vase on the table, but the rest are looking really sad outside.

I’m thankful we have a warm, dry house and we don’t HAVE to go outside, unless we choose to today.  My heart goes out to the people in Alabama, Georgia, and the rest of the southeast who had severe weather and tornadoes last night.

Be safe, everyone.

My Cold Nose is Out of Joint

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

My cold nose is out of joint because, instead of spring, we’re having a return to winter for the coming days.

KFSM News

As you can see here, we’re in the middle of the ‘weather alert day.” It actually was snowing when we were eating breakfast! I’m NOT a happy camper. We have a 70% chance of ‘precipitation’ today – rain/sleet/ice/snow/flying hairballs. I’ve done all I can do to protect my sweet onion sets in the garden. (I covered them with a king-sized sheet.) I’ve done all I can to protect my seed starters in the greenhouse (covered them with towels.) I may be starting over by the time we get to Wednesday afternoon….

I gathered daffodils yesterday because of the forecast. They were right. They’re all hanging their heads all over the yard. We have some really pretty ones in one vase on the table, and that might be it for the spring daffodils.

We are safe and warm on top of our ridge line in Arkansas. We still have our snow tires on the truck, just in case we need them. We have food for ourselves and our sweet animals.

I wouldn’t feel so resentful if I hadn’t tried to get a head start on my spring garden… I’ll report again on this Wednesday afternoon when I’ve had a chance to assess where we are in the planting season.

I hope that you’re safe and warm wherever you are today.