Sick Friday!

I am home today. I feel a little feverish, I haven't taken my temperature yet this morning because I just had a cup of coffee so I have to wait a while. But I was feeling pretty warm before the coffee and I did have a low fever yesterday afternoon so I think it's a safe bet that I still have it.

Otter is back at school today, she rode the bus this morning and will ride the bus home today. She spent most of yesterday resting and I think she really needed it. This bug seems to take 2 - 3 days, I'm going to take it easy today and then Saturday is our day of rest anyway.

I did manage to get something done today. I boiled potatoes to make potato salad later on. They were on the verge of going bad, so I figured I'd better cook them. But that wasn't too strenuous, it involved peeling and slicing them and then just watching the pot in case it boiled over. I prefer potato salad without peels, fyi. Bill doesn't care, he eats it peeled and unpeeled. He loves potatoes in any form. If I'm making mashed potatoes, he won't let me do the mashing part - he has entirely too much fun with it!

I might get some crochet done this afternoon. I'm participating in an activity that my Australian blog friend Rhonda has going. Most of the people involved are knitters, but there are a few of us that crochet. The challenge, if you want to call it that, is to make squares for blankets. Since I love to crochet granny squares, this one is certainly something I'm going to enjoy. There isn't a time limit, it's just whenever we get a square finished we let Rhonda know and then eventually she'll post pictures of the completed blankets. Since I have one I'm almost finished with, I think I'm ahead of the game. It's fun.

The blanket I have that is nearly finished is actually an eventual baby blanket when Otter has pups. (Baby Otters are called pups, in case you didn't know that). Which won't be for a long time (Right, Otter?!) but I have the time, ability and supplies now.

I also managed to get my plants watered this morning. They are still indoors and I think I'm going to leave them all inside this spring/summer. They all seem to be very happy where they are, the ones in the bedroom have put on a lot of new growth in the last few days. One of the two peace lillies is female and she's starting a new bloom. Yes, plants are male and female! Female plants blossom. This is the same plant that Froggy made sure I got from the plants that we received when we lost Mom. I use the water from the rain barrel for just about all the plants, including the tulips and outdoor stuff. But not for the venus flytraps, they get distilled water. Eventually, I might use the rain water for them.

I counted tulips a couple of days ago. There are at least 24, possibly 25 that have come up. There are a couple that are so close together I can't tell if they are two plants or just one that is a little spread out. They are still small, it will be a little while yet before they get to the blooming stage. But they look good. However, there is still only one bluebonnet so I think it's going to be an only child this year. I have looked on the outside of the whiskey barrel planter where a couple came up last year, but I haven't seen any sign of them. But I will keep checking. But if I only have one, I will still be glad about it.

I'm not sure if I've posted any pictures yet of my rock garden. But it's going to get revamped. The original plan was for this Sunday, but I don't think I need to be doing any strenous work like that yet and also it might rain. But the plan is to take all the rocks out, which is going to involve a shovel and some muscle power. The rocks will be put in the wheelbarrow and then hosed down. Then when all the rocks are out, I am going to take the hoe and rake to the dirt and level it out better. The next step will be to cover the dirt with black plastic which keeps weeds out. I have the plastic down now, but it will be torn apart as the rocks are removed so I'll just replace it with fresh. Then I am going to take chicken wire and lay it over the entire area, which is a trick I learned at the old house when the dog we had then dug up the rock garden I had there. Two dogs who shall remain nameless have been going back to one particular corner in my rock garden and unearthing a mole trail, I'm going to beat them at their own game because dogs don't generally like to dig through fencing! While we are doing all this, and I saw "we" loosely since it will probably mostly be ME, the rock garden will be expanded a little bit. I'd like to get it a little past where the dogs keep digging. After the plastic & chicken wire, the rocks will be returned and I'll probably have to get a little more since the area will be slightly larger. Then I'll reposition the fountain and all Otter's concrete animals. The fountain will probably become a planter, which is what I was going to do last year but I was going to move it out of the rock garden entirely. However, I think it will work if I leave it in the rock garden and yes, I'm going to leave Bill's statue of the Nekkid Lady on top of it! It is going to be a lot of work, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of the rock garden. But I might be short a few sandstones, I use them as the border.

I also have a paver stone that Grandpa brought me many years ago, it has and will continue to have a place of honor in my rock garden. It's a state outline, anybody care to venture a guess? Not a hard question, I know. But the bottom piece of it has cracked off so it's going to be a trick to move it and then put it back. And I'm also going to get my concrete cow skull finished up and put it out there. I had started painting it, but I was not happy with the way it turned out. So I bought another can of Kilz and I think I'm going to get that on it this weekend. Then I am going to find a good bone color and just paint the entire thing one color. I might do a wash so that it has a little detailing. I will eventually get pictures posted.

OK, I've been up long enough. I think it's time to go lie down again. The dogs have been keeping me company. They hardly let Otter out of their sight when she was sick, and now they are mother-henning me. Do dogs mother-hen? Hens are chickens after all, and their main interest in chickens is to eat them!