Otter Mania!

We just thought that this was a really cute picture of an Ottermom and baby Otter. Doesn't look a thing like us, though! Otter thought that we should share it since it's just so darn cute!

Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm

We have hummingbirds now. Please note that I said birds plural. I saw one chase another one away from the feeder this evening, so I put two more feeders up just now. I still have three more hooks where I had feeders last year, I just won't get feeders up on those until they are needed. The picture is one from last year, or possibly the year before when we had so many. Sorry it's blurry, but they are impossible to catch when they are still! I had to sit out by the feeder with the camera ready for a very long time to even get the pictures I did.

Our email problems are solved. Hopefully for good, but you never know! Bill spent quite a bit of time on the phone to our service provider, he called a few times yesterday and even in the middle of the night last night. On the rare occasions that he wasn't cut off during the extremely long hold process, he was connected with someone in India. Someone in India who spoke bad English over a bad connection! They all told him the same thing to do, which was not the problem. Eventually, today, he got an answer that said it was the software and not their problem. Except that he knew it wasn't the software. So that meant another round of numerous phone calls until he finally let his Inner Texan come out and play. Which immediately got him transferred to a higher level technician and then from there to a supervisor. Who told him exactly what to do to fix the problem! So now we can email again. Just about filled up my inbox this afternoon, with all the email that had not been delivered over the last few days.

After he got through dealing with the email problem, Bill had planned on mowing the lawn. But Frasier had other plans - the dog chewed through the pull cord that starts the lawn mower! And he also left tooth marks in the rubber handle to the pull cord. I have absolutely no idea what he did that for. He's not afraid of the lawn mower, and it wasn't an easy thing for him to reach. We found a replacement at Wallyworld, Bill is going to fix it tomorrow and then mow. And I don't know what he's going to do to protect it from the dog this time! Short of turning the dog into a rug, that is.

It's the end of the world as we know it! Bill de-cluttered his desk! I almost don't recognize his corner of the office. Of course, there is now a pile of stuff that was formerly on his desk that has just suddenly appeared on my desk with no explanation...

I went thrifting after work today. Among other things, I added to Otter's Steven King book collection. Today's selection is Carrie, the one about the telepathic girl. I've never actually read it, but I'm going to. I prefer the older works over his newer stuff.

I have another craft project. Like I really needed another one! But since I cleaned out some of my craft stuff last weekend, I needed something to take up the space on my shelf. I think I'm going to make a windchime. I have one that I got a couple of years ago, it was a double windchime had a lovely tone. I had it out on the trellis in the back yard and it was so nice to hear it when it was breezy. But it apparently was meant to be more of a decorative one than a functional one, the strings basically biodegraded on it and it came apart. Remember the small glass bowls for potpourri that were popular a few years back? They had pewter lids that were not solid, they resembled open carvings. I have one of the jars with a hummingbird (what else?) lid and I found just a lid at one of the thrift stores today. For 49 cents, I'm not about to pass up a hummingbird related item! Anyway, I'm thinking that I can use it as the top to a windchime, I can use fishing line or similar to hang the chimes from it. At least a few of the chimes, the windchime that came apart had quite a few chimes on it. If it works, I'll post a picture. But I need to get some fishing line, or see what Bill has out in the black hole he calls a garage. Actually, the chimes might be too heavy for the lid I want to use. But I'll come up with something!

Monkey See, Monkey Do (Toadles Relatives)

We've been to the zoo today! Toadles, you have lots of cousins out there. Of the chimp variety. There are two babies, both born last spring/summer and they are really cute. (For the record, I do not believe in evolution. Except in Toadles case, and then it's backwards - he's de-evolving!) :) It was a very pretty day, slight breeze and lots of sunshine. It wasn't too crowded, but there were still quite a few people out there today. There is a temporary exhibit this year, Australian Birds. Not really worth the extra $ to get in, if I want to feed a parakeet I can do so in Otter's room. But it was still fun. The otters were very active today, my Otter spent quite a bit of time watching them and they seemed to know that they had an audience. I have sore feet, but it was worth it.

Froggy, 2 months until you visit! Can you tell I'm kind of excited about it?

Movie review: Cloverfield. Not your typical monster movie, but it was not bad. It was a lot better than I expected. Kind of a surprise ending. It was shot as if it was filmed by a guy with a camcorder who was filming a party and then all the exciting, monstery stuff happened. I probably would have been disappointed to pay full price at the theater (I usually am), but it was a good movie to rent. Definitely a popcorn movie. Of course, Otter thinks that they all are!

With it being spring, most of the trees are now green although some of them are still in the blooming stage. It's very obvious the amount of damage that the trees sustained in last December's ice storm. It wasn't as obvious when the trees were still bare, but now you can really tell where there is damage. Especially at the park that the zoo is part of. There are still piles of limbs waiting to be picked up. We saw several spots at the zoo where trees had been cut down.

Off to go surf the internet now! FYI: We are having email problems (again!), so if you don't get an answer from us please do not assume that we are ignoring you!

Clara, 4/16/01

Dear Mom,

The last 7 years have seen a lot of changes. I think you'd like most of them. Your granddaughter (Otter) is 16 now, and she's becoming a young woman. She talks about you frequently. She was 9 years old when we lost you, but in that 9 years you made a big impact on her life. She still talks about you calling her "Hey Cute" whenever you saw her. You have passed on your love of animals and rocks to her. And babies, she is drawn to them as you were and she has your gifts with little ones.

Froggy's kids are all grown. The youngest (Squeaky) is about to graduate high school, the middle (Skippy) is in his 3rd year of college and the oldest (Scooter) is a very responsible young man. I think you would be very proud of all three of them.

Bolliver's daughter has made you a great-grandmother 4 times over, and I'm sure that you are caring for the one that is already with you. I'm sure you check in on them at times, they are beautiful kids.

There have been many things happen, but your three kids (Cricket, Froggy & Bolliver) all miss you and we will never forget the lessons you taught us. Thank you for being our mom.

We will always miss you. But we know that one day, we will all be reunited with you and Dad, Aunt Jessie, Uncle Aleck, Papa, Grandpa & Granma, Little Grandma & Granddad and all the rest of the family.

Love,

Your children.

Ables

We have our own family language, I realized today that we frequently add the word "able" or "ables" to other words. Examples:

Eatable (we frequently use this word. Generally involving the dogs and things that they have in their mouths that are not eatable).

Petable (Otter told me this afternoon that Maggie is petable).

Intimidateable (something I'm not!)

Bill went to the rent house this afternoon, we decided to get the a/c checked before it was really needed. It needed freon, which it occasionally does. There is a leak, which we've known about for a while but it's not easily fixable. (There I go again, another able word). So it was charged with freon and now it's good to go for quite a while.

I saw that Sam's and a couple of other stores are limiting the amount of rice that they let people buy. Of course, they would have to do that when rice is on my grocery list! Rice, along with flour & sugar, is something that we buy a big bag of at Sam's. Then I it seal it in canning jars. That way, it keeps fresh and bug-free until I need it. The flour & sugar get stored in large plastic containers in the kitchen, since I use those a little more often. It takes us a long time to go through those big bags, but it works out to be much cheaper and also I don't run out as fast. I have a Sam's shopping trip planned for my lunch hour tomorrow, for rice, flour, sugar and bread flour. And probably a few other things when I get there! We don't shop at Sam's very often, but when we do it's always a big trip. But there is one just down the street a little ways from work so I should be able to get in and out and back to work in an hour.

I guess that's all for today!

It's the Middle of the Week!

I'm stuck on titles again. In case anyone has any suggestions!

I'm still coughing, but not as bad. I took pity on Bill and slept on the couch last night, so at least one of us could get some sleep. Of course, that meant that I got visited by a large, furry dog with bad breath several times! Tonight, he'll just have to put up with me and the coughing - he can consider it payback for the snoring I have to listen to! :)

Frasier has been very clingy this afternoon, for some reason. Maybe because he heard me getting on the Magginator when I caught her with her head in the trash can, she was attempting to eat a plastic wrap that formerly had graham crackers in it.

I ran a couple of errands after work and got home about the same time the bus should have dropped Otter off. About 5 minutes later, she calls me from school to see if I can come get her as none of the buses had arrived. By the time I got to school, it was 3:30 and the buses were just getting there. Her bus didn't go by our house until nearly 4:00. She usually gets home at 3:20. One of her friends heard that there had been an accident involving ONE bus, and that the rest were delayed because of that. Doesn't make sense to me, but we don't really know the entire story.

Of course, as soon as Otter and I got home and were getting out of the car the skies opened up. And as soon as we made it to the covered porch, the rain stopped.

Bax, when Froggy (my sister) is here we'll go to Braum's in your honor and eat ice cream for you. But I don't want the calories that go along with it! Braum's aren't in S. Texas, either. Braum's is probably the first place on her list for when she visits.

I went to Wallyworld at lunch today. Among other things, I bought 6 yards of Kanji printed fabric for Otter. I'm sure she'll find a use for it, she was very happy to see it. (Kanji is Japanese writing). This was a different Wallyworld than I usually go to, and I noticed that their fabric department is just as shrunken as the rest of them seem to be. They don't even have people specifically for that department anymore, the man that cut the fabric for me normally works in automotive. I bought the entire bolt of fabric, by the way!

I also filled up my car today. My checkbook still hasn't quit screaming. (Save the bad oil company lectures please, I work for one. And they aren't the enemy!).

I saw an article about how teens have discovered thrift stores for clothing. Apparently, it's dawned on people that thrifting is a type of recycling. I figured that out years ago! And so did Otter, she finds all sorts of name-brand, new, stylish, nice clothing at thrift stores. She enjoys thrifting as much as I do.

The hummingbirds are here! We saw the first one yesterday. Well, that was the first confirmed one. I thought I saw one fly to one of the trees a couple of days ago, but I wasn't really sure. But now I think that I did see one. The one yesterday was on the feeder. I'll put the rest of the feeders up in the next few days.

And Froggy, we'll have to hit a few while you're here.

It's Tuesday!

And I'm still coughing. Not nearly as bad, but I get these coughing spells that just about kill me. But I think I'm nearly over the bug. I still sound kind of rough. Bill thinks maybe he'll go to bed early tonight, so that he can at least get a couple of hours of sleep before I start coughing in his ear! He's been a good sport about it, but I still feel bad about keeping him awake while I hack a lung out.

I visited my favorite Fenton store today. Bill asked me what I want for Mother's Day, so this was my pre-Mother's Day idea shopping trip. I have narrowed it down to a few things, but they are all part of the new blue color that Fenton introduced this year. He said that blue isn't enough to go on, he needs more details. There are three pieces that I really like, but I have plenty of time to narrow it down! With Fenton, there is always, always something I want so at least he doesn't have to worry about getting the wrong thing! But I thought that just saying "blue" would be enough - that way, he'd have to get ALL the new pieces! :)

The useless Sentricon system is gone! The technician that came out was a new one, he said that the last guy had been fired and then he asked me why I wanted the system pulled. So I told him. He said that the previous guy had a bunch of customer complaints against him, seems we weren't the only ones he pretended he'd checked the system for. I think that the new guy thought that would be enough and that we'd keep the system, but I told him to go ahead and pull it. He did show me a few stations that the previous technician had not checked in months. Even when I was following him around, (the previous guy) he was apparently skipping over stations. Well, it's not my problem anymore! There hasn't been any termite activity in years, I think we're probably safe. As safe as you ever can be with termites anyway!

I'm mouse-impaired today. My computer mouse fell apart on me this morning. Bill found an old mouse that I'm using now, but I don't like it. But at least it works.

Froggy, I am so excited about your trip! We should have plenty of time for shopping, Braums, thrifting, Braums, Hominy, Braums, Woolaroc, Braums, Zoo maybe, Braums, and whatever else we come up with. Followed by Braums, of course. (I guess it's pretty obvious that Froggy likes Braums!).

(Who can blame her for liking Braums? They have wonderful ice cream!) And I don't think that it will be too hard to convince Otter to go with us - she won't object to any of our trips, but Braum's will especially be popular with her.

A Very Tiring Monday

I am not quite back to normal, but I am feeling a lot better. I'm still coughing, pretty hard at times, and I have some hoarseness but I do sound somewhat better. Of course, I had a big nosebleed to deal with this morning so I've also had to deal with a sinus headache today. But I'm getting there.

I'm mostly just very tired. I went in early, then after work I had a couple of errands. Then after Otter got home, we had a few other errands that we were going to do later on in the week but we have a rainy forecast so we decided not to wait. We hit the library (never a quick stop for us), Michael's (for once we didn't find anything), a thrift store (found another shot glass for Bill's collection) and took our recycling stuff.

And as if that weren't enough, I have had hot flashes for the last 2 days!! Talk about unfair. I once heard someone describe them as hot "flashers". Because you immediately start flapping your shirt in an effort to cool yourself off, which sometimes leads to flasher-type accidents. Which might be a small price to pay for coolness! :) I haven't had any for a while, a daily dose of soy helps. My soy of choice is soy milk, and usually chocolate. Froggy says that she uses the regular or vanilla flavor and that she has it in her cereal. But I gotta have my chocolate! Otter thought it was funny when I stuck my head in the freezer this afternoon. I just told her that one of these days, it would be her turn and she would regret laughing at me. I don't think she believes me. She will eventually!

The bluebonnets are coming along nicely, the blooms are just about opened up completely. Otter and I spent a lot of time with our faces in them when we got home, smelled heavenly - like Home, in fact. Bill said that when he was driving today, he noticed one of the many wildflower plots that are beside the highways and that this one was especially pretty. Because in the midst of all the red blooms, there was a small patch of bonnets! We think some other homesick Texan must have snuck out there at planted it. Whomever he is, THANKS! Probably does a lot of Texan hearts good to see it. Bonnets are very important to us.

We've decided that we need a Texan battery recharge. In other words, we're making a Texas trip this year. Christmas, specifically. It might not have been a good idea to tell Otter yet, however. She's beside herself with anticipation! But since she will probably spend a week in Texas with her Texas grandmother, she'll get two trips this year so I don't feel bad if she has to deal with having to wait!

Our new trees look very good. The oak is starting to leaf out and it looks very healthy. The elm and redbud both have obvious growth and lots of new leaves. They are well-staked so hopefully they'll grow straight. Bill planted 3 acorns last fall, one of them is sprouted and if it makes it to planting size we'll put it in the back yard. No idea what type of oak, just that it's an oak. I'd love a mesquite tree (I know, my Texan roots are showing), but they don't do well with cold and we get just a little too much cold weather in the winter for them. Also we might get too much rain, I'm not sure about that but it seems like I heard or read it somewhere. Otter's climbing black-eyed susans are just begging to poke up through the ground.

I put one of my hummingbird feeders up yesterday. No takers yet, but they'll be here soon and I wanted to be ready. I spent a couple of hours out on the deck Saturday afternoon and there were a lot of bumble bees. Also red wasps, which I can do without. No skeeters yet, thankfully. But I got bumbled several times, I'm thinking that the bees must have been confused by the color of my hair. I've had that happen before with hummingbirds.

I'm not quite sure what Frasier is doing. He was sleeping by my chair, then he got up and ran to the hallway. Except that he just went barely outside the door of this room. I can still see his back half. He stood there, shook all over and then he decided to lie down. He is a strange dog sometimes!

Th-th-that's all, ffffolks!

Springtime Sunday, Bluebonnets & Irises

Frasier in doggie jail! Actually, he's in the area we refer to as the dog's yard. Usually we let them out on the weekends, but Bill treated the weeds and we don't want the dogs on it.

Maggie was parked inside, she looks bored in this picture but she had just been getting a belly rub from Otter and went right back for another one!

Kind of windblown, but here are some of the irises that are behind the house now. The wind had calmed down a little, but every time I started to take a picture it would gust again. So the iris blooms don't look quite as showy as they actually are.


You can see a few other stalks here, they are absolutely loaded with buds! Which is kind of unexpected, because it can take a couple of years for them to bloom after being transplanted.



This is the first one I noticed, it's outside of the barrel. Two nice blooms. They are very deep blue. Much deeper color than the picture makes them look.

Close up of the one in the barrel. It's just starting to bloom.

The one outside the barrel again, from a slightly different angle. The back bloom is just opening up. There is another one, in front of the barrel but it's not quite blooming yet. It has a nice healthy bud, so there will be a bloom from it soon. Maybe more than one bloom. Bill found some seeds I harvested from last year's plants, it's too late to plant them now. They need to be planted in the fall, so I'll plant them in the barrel this fall and maybe I'll have more next year. The current ones are from seeds dropped off of last year's plants.

Tulips, Doves, Stuff

(Blogger is having problems separating paragraphs again today. It does that a lot.)

These were all taken today.

Mama dove on her nest, she's been up there for several days so we're pretty sure that there are eggs. She flew off as soon as we took the picture, but she never stays away very long.

The tulips! They could stand to be weeded, but I haven't bothered. The useless sentricon system is being pulled out next week and one of the stations is in the middle of the tulip bed.

You can see my shadow! Or at least the shadow of my head. The Queen of the Night bulbs finally bloomed.

I don't know the name of this particular tulip variety, but there are a few of them and they are very pretty.

We have quite an assortment of tulips this year. My camera battery needs to be recharged, so I didn't get any bluebonnet pictures. But they are blooming! Small blooms, but I'm happy that I have them at all.

Otter is much better, but she stayed home from school again today. She still has stiffness, but she's been on the medication and she's been using heat on her neck, as well as her excercises. She should be able to go to school on Monday, but no karate. In fact, she might not be at karate at all next week.

I am feeling better, but not 100% yet. I have very little voice - my boss has found all sorts of reasons to get me to talk today. He thinks it's funny, because I squeek. But he went and bought me some mints when he went to lunch, so I am not complaining. Too much, anyway. I'm just glad that it was quiet and the phone hardly rang! When I have had to talk, I have to just about yell to be heard. But tomorrow is Saturday and our rest day, so I'm not going to talk if I don't have to. I have been drinking warm things, but I am trying to avoid becoming mega-caffienated again so it's mostly been herbal teas and I stopped for hot chocolate after work. I bought a package of decaf tea bags today, I'll probably have a lot of it tomorrow!

Otter's having email problems again, if anyone has tried to email her lately. I'm not sure what the problem is, but her computer has frequent problems with getting email. It's kind of frustrating, but Bill will eventually figure out what the problem is. Or he'll wipe the entire thing and start over!

I weighed when I took Otter to the doctor yesterday. I'm still where I was in December, which is what I was trying to do. My left knee was really bothering me for a while there, which I've noticed it does when I'm losing weight. I think it's because it has to constantly adjust, so periodically I have been stopping the weight loss and trying to maintain for a while to give my knee time to "catch up." But I think I'm about ready to get back into losing, I've still got more to go. I'm very happy with where I am now, since it's 50 pounds less than where I was just over a year ago. I'm just not there yet. But I will be!

There is a very fat beagle on the floor! She's on her back, she's managed to wiggle her way to where her belly is under Otter's foot but she peeks over at me once in a while. I think she is hoping that I'll stop what I'm doing and join the belly-rub brigade! Spoiled rotten! I think Frasier might be in the living room, he was headed that way a little while ago. Probably taking advantage of his chance to take all the dog toys outside!

So, Froggy - got your tickets yet?

It Just Keeps Getting Better and Better!

I managed to sleep a little bit last night, not a lot but more than the night before. I coughed a lot though. But I got up and managed to head into work this morning, I even went in early. I got there about 7:15 and got busy. At 8:00, my cell phone rings and the caller id shows that it's Otter. Which is never a good thing, if she's calling me during the school day.

It seems that she is her father's daughter! When she was walking, ok running, to the school bus this morning she tripped. She didn't completely fall, but she did go forward pretty far. She managed to catch herself by sticking her foot out so that she didn't hit the ground. When she came back up with a jerk, her neck started hurting on the right side. She thought it was just a crick in her neck so she went ahead and got on the bus. (In the Texan dictionary, crick is an actual word. It can mean a sore neck or what non-Texans refer to as a creek.) Anyway, as soon as the bus started moving she realized that it was not just a crick and that she was in extreme pain. To the point that she was in tears well before the time she got to school. So she went straight to the nurse's office. The nurse could tell that it was bad, so she had Otter call me.

Otter is pretty stoic about pain, for her to be in tears she had to be really hurting. So I knew it was bad. I called the doctor, who told me to bring her in right away. Of course, it was peak traffic at this time so it took me a little longer than normal to get to school but I got there. It took a little doing to get her in the car and semi-comfortable. We got to the doctor's office with Otter yelping at every bump in the road (and since this is NE Oklahoma, there are plenty!). The doctor looked at her neck and immediately ordered an x-ray. The technician tried to be gentle with her, but she obviously hurt during the x-rays. The doctor looked at the x-rays and he decided that there is no bone damage, which is a very good thing, and then he examined her neck in a little more detail. He didn't send her for the x-ray "just because", he really, seriously thought that there could be some damage. He gave her a prescription for a muscle relaxer, a note to keep her out of school today and instructions for her to follow.

I took her back to work with me so I could finish up a few things, then we got her prescription filled ($56.00 after the insurance discount!) and I ran her through McD's drive through. She took her medicine as soon as she ate and she's been on the couch ever since. The muscle relaxer isn't strong enough to put her to sleep, but she's a little groggy. She has to take another at bedtime. Tomorrow, we'll decide about school but I think she'll be able to go. The doctor said that she can take motrin, so she'll probably take that tomorrow since the muscle relaxer won't be a good idea at school. But I'll drive her to school instead of letting her take the bus and I'll probably pick her up after school as well. Probably no karate on Monday, maybe by Wednesday.

In the meantime, I am not feeling the best but I am at least able to function. But I have just about lost my voice. I guess I did too much today, but it wasn't anything that I could avoid.

I seem to recall a conversation with Otter yesterday, about how last year was my year to be sick and her dad's year for accidents but that we were NOT GOING TO HAVE ANY MORE OF THAT THIS YEAR! Obviously, she didn't listen.

I did notice something interesting on one of the x-rays. Her wisdom teeth are visible. And they don't look like they are in a good position! I asked the x-ray tech if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing, and she said that was the wisdom teeth and that in her opinion, I should probably ask the dentist about them the next time Otter sees her. Which will probably be sometime next month, when she gets the rest of the teeth sealed. I was 16 when mine had to be removed, Otter's age exactly. Hopefully, it won't be an issue with her.

That is the extent of my exciting day! X-rays, no voice and a groggy Otter.

Day 3. Coughing, Sneezing, Sore Throat.

I've been home the last two days, I took my benadryl Monday night and then spent most of the night tossing & turning. So no more benadryl for me! Usually I can take a couple of doses of it before it has that effect on me, but not this time. So I'm been toughing it out since then.

I started to feel a lot worse Monday evening, and then Tuesday morning I felt even worse than that. So I called in and went back to bed. Where I stayed all morning. I got up around noon and found some soup, then I spent the rest of the day on the couch. I was afraid that if I went back to bed, I would fall asleep again and then not be able to sleep last night. But I didn't sleep very well last night anyway, mostly because of the cough. Today has been a rerun, although I think I feel a little bit better this afternoon. My throat is still sore but it doesn't feel as raw as it was yesterday. I have had more of a sinus-type headache today, I've been taking advil for it and it has helped some. I'm going to attempt to go to work tomorrow. Maybe I'll actually be able to talk, it's still pretty difficult today and I sound very rough when I do manage to speak! But I have some things that I have got to get done at work so I will at least make the attempt. Whether or not I manage to stay all day is another question.

Otter had a little bit of scratchy throat symptoms last night but she'd been out in the back yard practicing karate and it was pretty windy. She was fine this morning, so I'm hoping that we've dodged that particular bullet.

The doves have come back, I guess that they were just off finding new materials to add to the nest when we thought that they were gone. Mama dove is back in place and has hardly moved, we can't tell if there are eggs yet because of the location but we will be able to see later on if there are babies. The doves have a good spot, it is protected from rain and wind. We can see the nest when we look out of one of the bedroom windows.

Froggy asked about sewing lessons, etc. at Otter's school. She is in what it called an intermediate high school, which means that 9th & 10th grades are in one school and then 11th & 12th grades are considered to be senior high school. There are two intermediates, one north and one south. Just one senior school. There might be something at the senior school, Otter had to be bussed over there when she was in debate the first semester of this year and she said that she saw a room with sewing machines. But that's still over a year away and she wants to learn now. Possibly this Saturday we might get one of the machines out and practice a little bit.

Wal-Mart announced many months ago that they were going to discontinue their fabric department. They got some complaints, then they announced that they would not actually discontinue the department but that it might be a little smaller. However, from what I've seen at more than one Wallyworld in my area, they are not just shrinking the department. They are slowly discounting everything and the amount of clearance is now larger than the regular priced fabric & accessories. And the regular priced stuff is a lot cheaper than it was. Also, it doesn't look like anything at all is being replaced as it's sold out. So I think that they are doing what they originally said, but that they are just being quiet about it. It's pretty obvious. There are not a lot of fabric related stores left, just a few and they seem to be the pricier, more home-decor type stores for the most part. One fabric store in the Tulsa area closed last summer, there's just a couple of them left.

Froggy, the flea market that we went to at the fair grounds might not work out. The board that manages the fair grounds has been trying to kick it out for a while, part of their general mis-management of anything that does not bring in a bunch of $$ or that is not owned by a certain family! The flea market is still hanging in and trying, but it is not always open every weekend now. If it's still there, we will absolutely go. But if not, we'll still have the other flea market (where you got your very stylish hat that your children just love) and there are plenty of thrift stores. And Hominy, Woolaroc and of course Braums! I'm sure we'll have plenty to do to keep us occupied. Maggie says for you to hurry up and come see her, she'll even share bed space with you again! Frasier just says come see him soon.

Allergy Central!

I have been fighting off allergy symptoms since sometime yesterday. It started with the tickly feeling I get on the roof of my mouth, so I knew that it was coming. Last night I was sneezy and stuffy, then today is worse. It's been gradually getting worse all day and I think I'm going to take benadryl after dinner. At which point I will probably be snoozing! Benadryl, and just about all of them, knock me out but then after a couple of doses they have the opposite effect on me so I try not to take anything if I can avoid it.

Spring is late this year, so my allergies are also late. Or maybe Spring was just early the last few years and so it seems late this year. Whatever the reason, I am not enjoying it right now!

Froggy commented about our Aunt Jessie teaching her to sew but not remembering much of what she learned. I'm in the same boat, Froggy. I did take sewing lessons in Home Ec when I was in 6th grade, but I still don't remember much about it. I bought a book that I highly recommend: Sewing for Dummies. Otter wants to learn and I've shown her about as much as I can remember. But that's not much. The book is for both of us, and I've looked at it some but I need to just block out a few hours to read it and then set the machine up and practice.

I have the machine that Aunt Jessie made most of our clothing on, I haven't used it much lately because it needs some work. I prefer to keep it as a sentimental item, but I might go ahead and get it checked. I bought a newer machine a couple of years ago, and my Texas mother-in-law gave me one that had been her mother-in-law's machine. So that makes three that we have, so I really don't have any excuses for not sewing more. I did try to find lessons last year, I only found one place that actually offered them and they weren't even sure if they would have any more at all - but since they never called me in the fall when the classes were possibly going to be offered, I guess that they didn't have them after all.

Froggy, you were asking where we should go when you visit me this summer. You've already suggested Braums, which I intend to hit more than once. Woolaroc and Hominy are already on the schedule, flea markets have been mentioned as well as thrift stores. It's going to be a busy few days! Main Street is somewhere that we really need to go. Main Street in my small town, lots of fun shops. Since you'll be here over a few weekdays, we should be able to manage Main Street. I'm sure we'll find a few more places.

Otter is learning to embroider. She started on a couple of easy cross-stitch kits last week, not counted cross because I can't do it so I can't teach her! She has plans to decorate her jeans with embroidery, which I think sounds like fun. Anybody besides me remember the chambray shirts which were popular in the late 70's? They were pretty big in S. Texas, I don't know if it was just there or not. But they were embroidered on, I still have mine somewhere. Mom and Aunt Jessie decorated them and I think we all took part. I've always enjoyed embroidery and I think that Otter will enjoy it as well.

I am suffering from a serious case of allergy brain, so I've forgotten what else I wanted to mention. If I think of it, I'll add it on later. But I probably won't even remember what I posted here after I take my benadryl!

I'm Not a Morning Person!

This is me today. Even after multiple cups of coffee!

I blame Bill. After all, he's the one who was trying to be heard all the way to Texas! Even my industrial-strength earplugs couldn't cut out the noise, if there were a record book for snoring I honestly think that you'd see his picture in there. I gave up in the middle of the night and moved to the couch. Then I was awakened by Frasier very early this morning, for some reason the dog wants to be fed at the same time every morning. Frasier was parked in the floor by the couch, and he was talking to me. No idea what he was saying, but it was loud and it almost sounded like he was trying to carry on a conversation. When I ignored him, he went and got Maggie. It was kind of hard to ignore a wiggly, hungry beagle licking my arm so I gave up at that point, got up and fed them. Then I went back to bed and Bill thoughfully let me sleep until nearly 9:00. Of course, that doesn't mean that I've forgotten that HE is the reason I didn't get much sleep last night in the first place!!

I'm taking out my sleep deprivation on Otter. I said those two words that strike fear into her every time: house cleaning! She hates to hear that phrase, for some reason. Can't imagine why!

It's getting interesting, watching the democratic candidates spar right now. I think Obama really put his foot in it this time. I'm not bitter. But I do cling to my religion and I'm not about to part with my weapons! I don't think he really knew his audience, but then that's not surprising. I'm not surprised that Hitlary jumped on his comments as fast as she did. I'd like to watch them tear each other apart for a while longer.

We thought we might have a dove nest on one of the posts on the front porch, but now I think the doves have changed their mind and gone in search of better real estate. There is a post that doves have nested on before, and we saw two doves up there yesterday. There is a nest started. But apparently they've found a better place, because I haven't seen a dove on the nest since yesterday morning. We have more doves this year than we've had the last couple of years. I haven't seen hummingbirds yet, but they should be showing up soon. I'm going to hang one of my feeders this afternoon and wait for customers.

The tulips look great, there are some really nice ones blooming now. The useless sentricon termite system is being removed on the 22nd, the tulips should be through by then. I need to get another picture of the tulips, I will try to do that today.

I found a link on the internet about the trial I was nearly on, and there was an article in the paper yesterday. He was not found guilty of murder, but he did get convicted of manslaughter for a self-defense action. He got a 12 year sentence and a fine. The other option was a 45 year sentence if he was convicted of murder. From reading the article in the paper, I think it probably was self-defense. I'm still glad that I didn't make the final jury, but I did learn a lot from the process.

FROGGY, WHERE ARE YOU? I haven't heard from you and I'm about to start calling you Toadly because of no communication from you in forever. So call me! Or email me. SOON.

OOOOOOOOOOOOklahoma Where the Wind Goes Rushing Down the Plains!

Actually, I think the line is about the wind roaring instead of rushing, but roaring wind up here generally means twisty bad things.

This is one of those typical spring days in OK. A non-stormy day, but still typical. I'm not sure what the wind gusts are up to now, but this is the type of day when you have to hold onto your small children or they'll fly away! Or attach an anchor to them, whatever works. Maybe rocks.

We had a huge amount of rain fall between yesterday afternoon and this morning. I'm not sure how much rain we actually had, but it was quite a bit. There were a lot of roads closed due to high water and the school district even shut down today, because there was so much water on the roads that the buses wouldn't have been able to run. It was really bad, parts of the city were flooded out.

Otter went to work with me today, since she had an unexpected day off. She made $6.00 and I bought her lunch at Subway, so I don't think she's complaining. I also took her to the library after work, as usual she got her weight in books.

Of course, our home phone was out this morning. Just like the last time we had a thunderstorm. Could have been lightning, but my guess is that it was probably because of all the water. Because the phone started working, once everything started to dry out. Just like it did the last time.

I have a beagle parked on the floor beside me. She's laying on one side, her feet are sticking straight out, one ear is flopped over and she's staring up at me intently. I think that the feet straight out might mean that she thinks it's time for a belly rub, but she's going to have to wait. Frasier just came in and started grooming her again, stem to stern as usual, so she probably won't mind waiting. She looks really funny at the moment.

My bluebonnets are just beginning to bloom! They are not very big and the blooms will be small but small is better than none! I'm thinking that I might not find any at Lowe's this year anyway, from what I've heard the bluebonnets aren't going to have a spectacular year anyway, in their natural habitat - TEXAS. Something to do with rain - either too much when not needed or not enough when needed. So I'm just going to enjoy my small ones as long as I can. I'll try to remember to get a couple of pictures of them in a day or so.

Wet. Cold. What Happened to Spring?

I probably should not be complaining. Spring can be a dangerous time in NE OK! But it is cold and kind of yucky outside. It's been raining for a couple of hours. Otter was soaked, just from the walk from the bus stop to the front door. She was dripping wet, so she changed from her wet clothes to her pj's. 3:30 and she is ready for bed already! Actually, I think she had a good idea.

Froggy commented on an earlier blog about our Aunt Jessie calling bikini's "bikimis". I must confess that I do not remember that. But it sounds like something she would have said. She was a very special person and a very big influence on all of us.

More of the tulips are beginning to bloom, it seems like mostly red but there are a few more yellow ones. Some of them look like they might be a different shade of red, and possibly there are a couple of darker ones. There are supposed to be several that are a dark color, I forget the name but it was possibly something like Midnight and they should have blackish blooms. The pictures on the package were very pretty, and it would really be nice to have what we paid for. But we are enjoying them as they are, this is one of the better years for Otter's tulips.

The new trees seem to be doing well, in fact Bill thinks that the redbud has already grown a bit. I think he's right about that. The two in the front look very good, I think that they are very happy trees!

I was pretty busy at work, but I got just about everything done today. I had several little projects that are the result of not being there Monday and Tuesday but I handled everything. It's just about tax time, so the accountant had a bunch of stuff that she needed from me and I've been busy with that most of the day. I'm very glad that I am not still on jury duty.

I have two dogs parked on the floor beside me. Frasier is grooming Maggie. He started at one end and is working his way to the other end. Maggie has the most blissful expression on her face. In fact, she's nearly comatose! I have a suspicion that they have been curled up in the garage all day, since they have almost no access to the bigger part of the yard during the day I've noticed that the kitchen floor is staying cleaner longer. Which is never a bad thing!

Rejected!

And happy about it! Most rejections are not anything to be happy about, but I am happy about this one. It was for jury service.

I had jury duty starting yesterday, I was called for a jury panel of 45 people and it was a murder trial. Out of the 45 people, they drew 12 names as the first potential jurors. I was the 7th of the 12. The defense and prosecuting attorneys did their standard questioning period and then they started rejecting people and calling new names from the remainder of the 45 potentials. All afternoon yesterday and all this morning, various people in the jury box were rejected and the questions process started over for them. Occasionally, there would be a question directed at one of the people who were already questioned. It was a case involving a stabbing, and I know someone who was stabbed. I thought that the defense might reject me because of that. But then today the defense attorney asked us about weapons and if we felt like we would be able to defend ourselves, should the need arise. Which I would do. At that point, the defense attorney stopped rejecting people and I was pretty sure that I was going to be on the final jury. However, after that question the prosecuting attorney started rejecting people who said that they a) had weapons and b) would defend themselves. And I was the absolute LAST potential juror to be rejected. I went back down to the basement where the jury room is, and about 30 minutes later the rest of the potential jurors that hadn't been chosen and questioned came back down. That's when I found out that I was the final one rejected. Shortly after that, the jury clerk announced that all juries were seated for the week and that we were done. So I don't have to go back tomorrow!

I honestly feel that I could have been impartial, but I also feel that for a person to get to the point of an actual trial that there must be at least some solid evidence of his guilt - although it could well be self-defense as opposed to actual murder. But even so, I'm glad that I don't have to render a verdict that could well put a person in prison for the rest of his life. Especially when he didn't look like had a very long life up to this point, he looked like he was maybe 20 years old.

So, on to other things. Fun things. Such as Nana's visit! We had a great time, and I think she did too. I know that Otter certainly enjoyed it! But we do wish that she could have stayed longer. But we were able to have a lot of visiting time, and Bill got to spend yesterday with his mom which he really enjoyed and needed to do.

We had "interesting" weather about 3:00 this morning. Of the noisy, bright flashy variety. And it had hail in it. It sounded like the hail was pretty big, and Bill will have to check the roof. There are 3 spots on the car, one is a pretty big ding and is from the hailstorm, the other two might be but they also might be from December's tree limb that fell on the car. We had very little sleep from that point on, I think I got about 30 minutes sleep after that and I needed a LOT of coffee this morning! So did everyone else at jury duty, so I wasn't the only one groggy.

At least the trees got watered! The tulips look ok, one of them looks like it might have taken a hit from a hailstone but they seem to have come through pretty good. Bill was going to drive by the rent house today, hopefully it won't have any roof damage.

I'm going to go put my feet up now, my plantar fasciatis is not doing good today at all. I've worn my boots for the last two days and have had to be on it more. But the boots are the best shoes I have that were dressy enough to wear to comply with the jury duty dress code, I've been wearing my tennis shoes mostly to work.

We Were Treed!

Actually, we just went and bought three trees. One elm, one oak and one redbud. The lacebark elm is in the middle of the front yard, as a replacement for the two trees that we had to cut down. The red oak is on the side of the driveway and is just a tree we wanted to plant there. We'd been talking about an oak for a while, they get big but they are deep rooted so it shouldn't cause a problem with the driveway or street. But it could be a very big tree, 50' is a possibility.

The redbud is because I miss my old one so much. It's in the back yard, where I will be able to see it any time I look out the window or sit on the deck. They are small, but they won't be for long. I'm just glad I have a redbud again! I've wanted another one ever since we had to cut down the one at the old house, and that was probably about 6 or 7 years ago. The new one is an Eastern Redbud, which is more of a pink color than the standard redbud but I like them because they are a little different. The common one here is the Oklahoma Redbud, which is what I had before and is a very pretty tree. But I wanted the pinker one this time.

One yellow tulip is blooming, it has reddish streaks inside of it and it's pretty. There are a couple of others that look like they'll be yellow as well. No sign of the dark colored ones yet, but there are still plenty that aren't quite to the bud or bloom stage.

Bill's mom got here Friday evening, her plane was only about 45 minutes late! But the important thing is that she made it safely. We've had a great visit. We went shopping yesterday - yes on Sabbath! She went to church with us this morning, we had lunch at our favorite Chinese buffet and we've been visiting a lot. She is heading back home Tuesday morning, wish she could stay longer. We made divinity yesterday, ice cream and pizza Friday night, and we also had Mexican food for lunch yesterday. I'm so off of my dietary plan! But I was very good last week and will be very good this week - at least as much as I can, considering the Jury Duty.

I'm off to jury duty tomorrow morning. I am caught up at work, I usually am anyway, but there is a lot going on that I really need to be there for - taxes are only part of it. But it's not something that can be helped.

Movie recommendation: 13 Days. It's about the Cuban missile crisis and it is a really good movie. It doesn't go into the political side too much, it's about the incident itself and it is very intense. Some language, but not too much considering the circumstances. Anyone who is a history buff, like we are, should really see it. In fact, everyone should see it because it is a history lesson in itself. Just a very good movie. Kevin Costner is in it, he's a pretty good actor. The ending is very poignant, it ends with President Kennedy and his brother Robert walking away and it fades to their shadows, then just JFK's shadow. Considering what happened to them both but especially to JFK, it's a very emotional way to end an intense movie. (I'm not even discussing politics here, just my thoughts about a person who was killed brutally but was a very important person in our history no matter of individual opinions).

Oh, before I forget - Bill's had a new experience. Nana bought Otter a birthday present - it's a bikini. Yes, the real thing. It's cute, it's camo pattern and she looks good in it. But I don't think that Bill has recovered from her style show yesterday! He tried really had not to explode, but I think his jaw is still clenched. However, his color is back to normal now - I was kind of worried about him yesterday, but I think he's ok now. At least until she actually wears it to a pool!

Bloom Where You're Planted

These are some shots of the tulip bed. Otter's very happy that so many are coming up this year, and they are blooming prettily. But we bought an assortment of colors and mixed the bulbs up, however you can't tell by looking at the bed!

I love daffodils, so they are usually planted along with the tulips. Daffys come back each year, and they spread so I'm happy. They have been blooming for a while, they are beginning to fade but they are still nice. Otter said that these three grouped together look like back-up dancers to the tulip in front of them.

I'm ready for my close-up!

They look taller than they actually are. But we don't care if they are short plants!

As you can see, they are all red! There are a few that have buds that might be yellow and several that haven't quite gotten to the bud stage so we might still have other colors.

This is the first naturalized bluebonnet that I discovered, it's in the half barrel planter and has a nice bud starting in the middle.

This is the second one I found, it has a good bud on it also. There is a third bluebonnet, but it's smaller and doesn't have a bud yet.

I looked at Lowe's last night and they don't have a lot yet. They have more than they had a couple of weeks ago, but no bluebonnets or hostas yet. My hostas in the front aren't up yet, I hope that they survived the winter. I'd like to add a few more to fill out that area a bit, assuming that they come up this year!

We went to Lowe's to look at trees and nearly bought one but decided to wait until we've checked at a few other places. We want to be sure we get healthy trees, when we do buy them. We are looking for two for the front - one will be beside the driveway and one will be in about the middle of the front yard. We aren't sure yet about the back, but we'll probably put a tree out there somewhere.

More pictures will be posted as things bloom, especially my bluebonnets!

Kind of Slow Middle of the Week

But at least the middle of the week means that it's that much closer to Friday! And to Bill's mom's visit, which we are eagerly awaiting. Otter is extremely excited, her Nana will be here the day after tomorrow and she's having trouble waiting for Friday to get here.

So since Otter is so antsy, I redirected all that energy - Otter got to help clean tonight! I'd been after her to organize her closet and a there were a few things she needed to get done in her room and I took advantage of her excitement today. Now all her chores in her room are done! Otter did tell me yesterday that she was having a cleaning fit and that she blamed me for passing that particular character trait down to her - I had her dusting the back of the couch and she couldn't seem to stop cleaning. Works for me!

It was a little rainy this afternoon, and we could still get more tonight. Tomorrow could be very dicey, we have a good chance of a "typical spring storm" hitting. Those aren't good. We had one on Monday also, the really bad stuff went north and south of us but we got quite a bit of rain.

Another fun website: http://ihasahotdog.com/ This one is really funny and it is updated pretty often.

Here's another one: http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com/ It's cute, but then it's got bunnies on it and they are always cute!

Bill got Otter pretty bad with April Fool's stuff yesterday. He first told her that her newly raised allowance would be doubled, which she believed for about 30 seconds - then she realized her was pulling her leg and she got all over him about it. Later on, he told her that she could stay up an hour past her normal bedtime and she said that she knew he was just pulling an April Fool's prank - except that she completely missed the part where he DID NOT say April Fool's. So she went to bed at her normal time last night. This morning, I asked her if she realized that he did not say it was an April Fool's joke and she realized that she probably could have gotten by with it - she was not amused! Usually she catches on to him pretty quickly, I think he deliberately engineered that particular joke so that she would not figure it out until this morning. He'd better watch his step, she's a redhead and a Texan Woman in training!

Bluebonnet Update: Two of my naturalized bluebonnets look they have buds on them, the third one might but I can't tell yet. I'm happy about it, and I hope that they will self-seed, since they came off of last year's plants self-seeding.

And the tulip bed is doing great, Otter's had a few bloom already and there are a bunch more that are just about to bloom. The daffodils that are in the tulip bed are blooming nicely, the daffodils in the front yard are already finished with their blooming cycle for this year and I think I'll transplant them to another part of the yard this fall - if I remember! I was going to move them last year but I forgot about them.