Month: May 2020

Books, Emotions, Gardening, Life, Nature, Reading, Thinking, Writing

More Flowers and Plants Make Me Happy

1972italy

The sun is out and warming things up.  We had a frost warning last night but as far as I can tell we didn’t get any.  I brought all the potted plants in just incase last night.  I have two new pots with plants.  I say it like that because one is all begonias while the other is a beautiful mixture of plants.  I even have a little extra one that the guy put in there for me.  I was debating between two of the variety pots and I really liked the one pot but it didn’t have the one really pretty plant from another variety pot.  As I was looking at the begonias he dug a hole in the one pot and transplanted the plant I liked from the other pot in.  He said he had some other plants that needed to go in out back.  Sooooo I got all the plants I wanted.  One pot is hanging (more expensive even though it is just one plant) and the other has a hanging pot but no hanger (less expensive but more plants).  I am happy with both.  There was a hummingbird at the feeder while I was bringing all the plants out on the the porch.  I thought about making some pots for the front porch but it is so cold and shaded up there.  It is to the north and it doesn’t get much sun.  I may still put some shepard’s hooks out and hang something.  I could do the same for the side porch at the back door.  We’ll see.

I have been rereading Stephen King’s On Writing and enjoying it.  It helped a lot with my mood yesterday.  I will continue today alternating it with writing.  Today is also the last day of May.  Tomorrow is June.  While I am more than happy to see the month of June and summer I am also surprised at how fast the year has gone.  We are half way through it.  So much has happened.

I find myself restless to get outside into the sunshine.  I think I will wrap this one up and get out there with a fresh cup of my Twinkie flavored coffee.  Thanks for reading!  I hope you have a great day and stay safe!

Animals, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Life, Nature, Reading, the World, Thinking

Grey Skies, In and Out

1972italy

This morning is cold and raining.  Essie wouldn’t eat breakfast and has been pacing between laying the man cave on the dog bed and laying on the couch with Moose.  Stella is behind me.  I came out here with my pillow and a Minion blanket around 5am.  Essie wedged herself between Chris, Moose and I.  Then she kept kicking to readjust herself.  I just wanted to sleep so I came out here.  Guess who the first one out was?  She curled up on the couch.  Then Moose came out and he went to sleep in the man cave.  Stella came out around 7am and curled up with me on the couch.  Moose did too after that.

With all the rain the backyard looks like it needs to be mowed again.  I find my mood and mind soured.  The cool morning and the current news did not help.  So what to do?  I have read through the two Supernatural novels I got.  Chris is working six days this week.  So.  Again with the what to do?  Maybe reading magazine articles will help.  I have a bunch of my writing magazines here I can go through.  I don’t think I can focus on a story right now.  I still need to make puppy treats.  I just don’t know.  I need something to get me out of my head.

It is chilly enough I had to turn off the fan and turn the furnace down so it wouldn’t go on.  Today’s high is supposed to be 55F (12C) and the low 34F (1C).  I had a hummingbird right outside the kitchen window tis morning.  He was sitting on a branch of the Halloween tree (so called because it is a small dead tree with various Halloween decorations on it).  I am glad because that means more hummingbirds have found the feeder.  It has been a lone female til now.

My coffee is gone so I will wrap this up and brew some more.  Maybe read.  Essie still needs to find her frisbee too…   Stay safe and thanks for reading.

Emotions, Life, the World, Thinking

Phoenix Rising?

1972italy

I got a lot done yesterday despite the storms.  The front yard got mowed and edges trimmed, I broke up egg shells and sprinkled them around the four (I found a few more rose plants hiding) rose bushes for food, I got some more weeding done in the rock garden.  I took my time and didn’t push myself.  Later last night I did some more stretching to try to get the rib to heal.  I guess I did too much stretching.  Sharp pain woke me in the wee hours this morning.  I’m not back to square one but close.

When I scanned the news this morning I was shocked at everything going on.  It feels like everything is snowballing.  It seems as if everyone was getting worn thin with all the pandemic restrictions and then senseless things happen.  Just lighting the fuse on the powder keg.  All over.  I am grateful to live up North and not be directly involved in most of this.  But it all still scares me.  It feels like everything is rapidly going up in flames.  And I don’t think the fire is going to burn itself out anytime soon.  The best we can hope for is to be able to rise from the ashes like the phoenix did.

I’m sorry for the bit of a downer post.  Everything just kind of hit me this morning.  Whatever else I had planned to write about left my head when I started reading the news.  On the plus side this is a brief post.  Stay safe and thanks for reading.

Animals, Emotions, Gardening, Life, Nature

Rain Helps the Growth

1972italy

My plans for cleaning up he front yard may have been put on hold.  I managed to get the backyard mowed and cleaned up with my weed whacker yesterday.  I had hoped to get the front done today.  The back is about an acre fenced in (we have five acres all together).  It rained a bit earlier this morning and right now it looks like the skies have opened up again.  I heard a bit of thunder as well.  The front yard won’t take as much time because a) it is mostly weeds and b) it have been severely dug up between everyone parking there during the building of the garage and getting plowed over the winter so we could park there.  So it will be a matter of maybe 15 minutes or so to mow.  Then I will trim around the trees and mailbox.  I am still tempted to put irises or daylilies around the mailbox post.  I have enough of them in the yard to spare.

I have to say the grass in the backyard has come back beautifully.  I’ve new seen it so green and lush.  Even that bare area has grown back with grass.  That was weeds and bare spots for literally years (maybe 10?).  It is nice to look out the sliding glass door and see all of Nature just going full force.  That is why being able to be outside is so important to me.  Being out here in the middle of nowhere lets me stay connected with Nature.  It is my happy place.  I am still surprised at the comfort of the wild animals around us.  The birds especially are willing to hang out even in the grass with the kids playing around them.  I feel very blessed.

I will need to check on my orange pip that is sprouting.  I want to make sure it doesn’t drown with all this rain.  The flip side is with all this rain the other pips should be more than read to start growing (I have a jar of lemon pips planted too).  It should help soften the hard shell of the pips.  I am so excited!  And I think we have an apple tree that survived.  It was full of blossoms so we may get apples this year!  Wheee!  I have been worried about the ground around here because our trees have been doing so poorly.  But this Spring seems to have cleaned everything up because it all looks so beautiful!  It has all come in lush and full of life.

It looks like it has stopped raining.  I’m going to pull out one of the camp chairs and go out to sit for a while.  I’ll probably end up pulling some weeds until my rib tells me enough!  Thanks for reading.  Stay safe and have a great day!

Animals, Creativity, Dogs, family, Life, Motorcycles, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Writing

I Am a Hot House Flower

1972italy

The morning has dawned sunny and humid.  I am loving it but I know a lot of people don’t.  We have been pushing 80F (26C) to 90F (32C) the past few days.  Last night we got hit with multiple storms (finally).  It’s like they all decided to show up the same day now that the area has been opened up to everyone.  Chris’s weather app said only a 10% chance of rain.  So he rode his motorcycle in.  Yeah… He was gone maybe 10-15 minutes and the black clouds started to roll in.  I think he got caught about three times in the various storms (he had physical therapy for his shoulder yesterday).  It is supposed to cool off later this week with more rain so that should make people like my Mom happy.  She has been very unhappy and crabby with the heat and humidity.

Moose would not eat again this morning.  I’m not sure why.  I just hope cleaning his teeth fix the problem.   Essie has more medicine to take.  I told the vet something was in her paw when she went in for surgery.  They supposedly checked it.  It didn’t look any different when she came home.  She went back yesterday for her post-op check up and I said that her paw wasn’t any better.  Well when they looked at it and cut into it they found two pieces of stick.  It kind of made me angry because Essie had to go all that time with those in her paw.  They were sizeable (they sent them to me in a Ziploc bag with her meds).  Stella is just Stella.  No problems she’s just happy-go-lucky and plays with her ball and anyone else who is interested.

I have been reading rather than writing lately.  Even my journaling has fallen by the wayside.  Now that I have more new stuff to chose from…  But I do need to sit down with my novel.  So if nothing else try my hand at a short story.  I sometimes feel like I have lost my voice.  I reread some of my old stories and am amazed at myself.  Then I stare at the blank page…  I have to say having a pen that I want to write with is very nice.  I just grab that and make myself write something just so I can use the fountain pen.  Hey!  Whatever works1

My rib is telling me I need to find a different position as it is starting to hurt.  So I will wrap this up for now.  Maybe go and take some more photos of all the awesome critters visiting our acres.  Have a great day!  Stay safe and thanks for reading!

Aging, Dogs, Emotions, family, Life, Nature

Mental Health Matters

1972italy

Yesterday started out well enough.  When Chris got up I took Moose and did the running.  Once we were settled back home I tried calling Mom (no answer) then Dad.  Dad and I Facetimed for a bit but had to hang up with the promise to call back later.  Meanwhile I called Mom back.  We chatted and Dad called a few times while we talked.  I hung up with her and tried calling Dad back.  Two rings then it disconnected.  I figured he was pissed off because I did not answer right away.  I tried a few more times and same thing.  Ok, fine.  I showered and we had dinner.

Things exploded after that.  Dad sends me these garbled emails that make no sense but maybe one word out of what was supposed to be a sentence.  I try Facetime again.  Nothing.  More emails (I sent both texts and emails but got no response from them) that are garbled.  Now I am freaking out.  I miss a phone call from him and he leaves a three minute message thinking he is talking to me and I am not responding.  He says he is calling 911 and gives me all this information about his doctor and to call and, and, and…

I hunt down his partners phone number and call panicked and in tears.  I explain everything that has happened and ask for help.  He says he will go right over and see what is going on and call me back when things are under control.  Flash forward about two hours and I get a phone call from Dad but it is his partner calling.  They put me on speaker phone so I can talk to both of them.  Dad never called 911.  His partner got things straightened out there (I won’t got into detail with all that) so Dad seemed to be coming out of his fugue.  In my eyes he had a psychotic break.  He doesn’t remember much other than he couldn’t get Facetime to work (it seems to be broken on his computer).  So.  That was my day.

To end this post on a good note I bought myself a new glass hummingbird feeder and put it up.  Within say 30 minutes of putting it up we had our first hummingbird arrive.  She even stayed while I was on the phone and the kids were in the yard playing.

I hope your day goes well.  Be safe and thanks for reading…

Animals, Dogs, Emotions, family, Gardening, Life, Nature, Thinking

Birds and Bees and Flowers Please

1972italy

It has dawned bright and sunny.  We never got the promised storms or rain yesterday.  Supposedly they are coming this afternoon.  Again.  Be that as it may I will be in the gardens for a short while to plant some of the seedlings that I have grown.  The pots are getting too full and I want as many as I can help to survive.

We have resident chipmunks that are very comfortable around the whole family.  Yesterday one of them just sat and watched as the dogs played nearby and I read my book.  When Chris ventured out I pointed out the little one and Chris smiled as he stood and watched the chipmunk watch him.  A goodly portion of our local wildlife are very friendly and will just hang out with us.  I have experienced this before here but not to this extent.  I am really enjoying it.

Chris and I went out to Pearl’s, our local Cajun restaurant, yesterday.  While it was a good time I was miserable by the time we left because of my rib.  We stopped at the grocery store to get some stuff off our list as well as some stuff for today.  It was only after we had been home a few hours that Chris pointed out that we had gotten nothing for today as we had planned.  Sigh.  (I did get a beautiful gerber daisy plant though.)   I said I would go out today and get things if he wanted to stay home.  That being said it also dawned on me that waiting to get the kibble til Tuesday on the way to Essie’s follow-up appointment would be impossible.  There is no way I can pick up a 50lbs bag of kibble right now.  So since I am going out anyway I will do the curbside service to get the kibble so they can load it in the car and when I get home Chris can unload it and put it in the bin (another impossibility for me right now).

I am continuing with light yoga and my plank at night.  I worry that if I stop I won’t start again and I need to be doing something (which also explains the working in the yard even though I pay for it later… I can’t just sit and do nothing).

I think the lilacs will bloom either today or tomorrow.  With all this good growing weather they have come a long way in a few days.  I am very excited.  This will attract more critters including hummingbirds (which reminds me I need to replace my old feeder while I am out as well).  It should be fun to just sit and watch things this summer!

My rib is telling me I have sat too long so I bid you adieu.  Stay safe and thanks so much for reading!

Emotions, Exersise, family, Gardening, Life, Motorcycles, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking

Rain and Flowers

1972italy

We got rain over night but no storms.  Apparently those storms will be coming this afternoon.  Atleast I will be awake and not trying to sleep.  Not much sleep was gotten last night as I couldn’t find a comfortable position for very long.  Even laying flat on my back hurt my rib.  I felt a click at one point with sharp pain that woke me.

I did get through two rounds of the yoga warm up before I quit yesterday.  Most of the poses for yesterday were bending and that is a no go right now.  So I will stick with doing the warm up in the morning and my plank at night.  I got four different seeds planted yesterday.  I wanted to makes sure I got some in the ground since we were slated to get all that rain over night.

I am almost finished reading the first of two Supernatural novels I got.  I have something like 30 pages left.  So I will probably start the next today at one point or another.  The problem is I have to sit straight up and down to read.  I can’t sit back in the love seat.  I know.  I tried.  And each time it brought a tear to my eye.  I need to work on the novel as well.  I’ve not picked it up in a few days.

Chris wants to go out today.  I’m not sure how good that is going to be but it will be time for us so I will try.  I am grateful that the storm(s) are coming in the afternoon and that there is a threat of rain all day.  I am really not up to riding a motorcycle.  Mine or anyone else’s.

With all the rain and sun I believe that my lilacs are going to bloom any day now.  As of yesterday I figured maybe sometime this week.  But when I got up this morning the buds look about ready to burst open.  I have been taking a lot of photos (wish I could share on here but even if I delete some of my old photos they won’t let me upload new ones unless I want to pay for the site) as Spring has progressed.  I am looking at some cameras on Amazon that are for sale.  I still need to replace this laptop too.  Buuuuut I don’t know if I should… I should replace the laptop because I need to be able to have it function on a regular basis and this one is old enough (I got it used) that I cannot get a current version of WordPerfect for it.  And I really do need some kind of word processor on here.  It would make submitting articles and reviews so much easier.  So.  And if I can get proficient with the camera I might be able to sell my photographs.  Even if I don’t sell them I would like a chance to see if I can get the colors I see to appear on film instead of the washed out stuff that I get on my phone camera.  But we’ll see.  I should be able to use both purchases on next year’s income taxes as they will be used for my business.  Something to think about.

I do need to wrap this up.  Stay safe and thanks for reading!

Animals, Books, Dogs, Emotions, family, Gardening, Life, Motorcycles, Nature, Riding, Thinking

The Floating Rib

1972italy

I got a lot done yesterday.  Mom and I hung out in a parking lot and talked for a bit (I remembered to give her the flamingo mug and paid her back for her help with Essie).  Then I came home and did some work in the yard.  I got both my big rose bushes trimmed up and weeded around.  I also washed the front of the house.  Unfortunately in all that I managed to pop out my right floating rib.  It hurts but I can deal with it.  The highlight after that happened was I went to the store and they had ordered my Magic Hat #9!  I haven’t had that beer in years!  I could find it all over the place up here… then it was gone.  It is just as good as I remembered!

We are supposed to get storms tonight.  I need to figure out if I am putting some of the plants in the ground or not.  Even hurt I should because the rain will help them get settled and grow.  I just need to figure out which ones.

Yoga should be interesting this morning.  I did my plank last night.  The rib didn’t being to hurt until I was almost half way done so I am going to try some yoga.  I will probably skip some of the poses (like anything that involves twisting) but I want to atleast try.  This kind of puts a kibosh on my riding this weekend.  All the kids were really good in bed last night.  No one bashed into my side or plopped down when they changed positions.  Although I did have to get up at 3:30am to let everyone out.  Oh and a little bit before we got up Moose kept wanting to lay his head on me.  Which was right on the rib.  After moving around I finally just laid on my stomach so he could rest his head on my back.  That got me a bit more sleep.  Sadly every time I moved last night I woke up.  Ahh well.

I got two more Supernatural novels to read (they are based on the tv series had happen between the episodes portrayed on tv).  I thought I had gotten the next two as I got the first one published but I seem to have skipped from the first season all the way to the last season.  Soooooo…. But they are still good.  I will sit down and read once I try the yoga situation out.  I just don’t want to be inactive.

On that note dear friends I need to wrap this up.  Wish me luck!  Stay safe and thanks for reading!

Animals, Dogs, Emotions, family, Gardening, Life, Motorcycles, Nature, Thinking

Taking Stock

1972italy

It is overcast this morning.  Maybe I will get something done today.  Mom and I are going to try to hook up today.  I found a flamingo mug for her as a thank you for her help.  I did get Moose’s appointment set up to get his teeth cleaned.  I am hoping I will have the money.  Things feel like they are moving too fast right now.  I spent a good portion of my night having a hard time breathing and a mild panic attack.  I can’t wait to try to function in the “real” world again.  NOT.

I find my mind is a constant state of simmering panic this morning.  As long as I don’t focus on my day and what needs to be done I am ok.  But when I start trying to plan things out for the day anxiety sets in.  This will be fun today!  Chris has the day off.  I think today is going to be the working-on-the-project-bike day.  I am hoping to hook up with Mom and bee back before he gets up but that will depend on what time Mom gets up and what we plan to do for the day.

The leaves on the trees are getting bigger and bigger as the days go on.  It is nice to see after feeling that Spring would never arrive.  I am back to leaving my plants outside.  I am still leery of planting anything but I am going to have to take the risk soon because the plants are really growing and need more room than are in the pots.  Maybe I will figure out where to put things today.  That means I need to dig around and clean spots up again.  The last time I went all out cleaning things up I messed up my arm so I need to pick a spot and not do more.  Grrrrr.

Moose is going to be upset that I am not taking him with.  I am tempted but again it will depend on Mom and I are going to do.  If I am just dropping off the money I might take him but if we are going to visit with one another (as of today restaurants, bars and retail is open but only at 50%) I’m not sure.  The sun peeks out every little bit and that can make the car too hot.  I would probably leave him home if we are going to hang out for a bit.

Sorry, I am babbling to try to distract my mind.  I think I am getting a stress headache too.  I will wrap this up.  Sorry it’s not more upbeat.  Stay safe  and thanks for reading.