Some Miscellaneous Sunday Ramblings

First order of business:

I have been pretty quiet on the political comments lately. Fair Warning: That is about to change. So nobody can say that they weren't warned. My political views have not changed. Well, they might have - IF it's possible to get even more conservative than I already was.

On to other things.

After looking at the rock garden, I've decided that it is going to be worked on and extended. But I think it's going to be my Fall project. It's starting to get warm and I want to avoid the worst of the hot weather when I'm outside doing what is hot & dirty work. Also, the month of June is pretty much filled up with assorted relatives visiting which extends into July, and July itself will be pretty busy for Otter. So the rock garden redo is put off for a few months. Probably, I might still decide to get out there and start working but I don't think so.

It isn't a one-day job to rebuild the rock garden. I will have to remove all the decorations, take up all the rocks (and there are billions), the rocks will have to be laid out and washed, the dirt will have to be leveled up a bit (thanks to a couple of dogs who shall remain nameless). Then the grass will have to be dug up where it will be extended, then plastic sheets put down and this time we are going to do what we did at the old house: on top of the plastic sheets, we're going to lay chicken wire. Then all the rocks will be put back in place. Then all Otter's concrete animals and my Texas paver, along with the sandstone that we use as an edge barrier. Picking up all the rocks is the hard part, they will have to be shoveled.

I'm pretty sure that the chicken wire will work, one of the dogs we had at the old house kept digging up the rock garden I had there and after we'd put it back together a few times Bill came up with the idea for the chicken wire. It worked like a charm, dog couldn't dig past it and dog quit!

I will probably not get my May book list posted until tomorrow or so. This is going to be a busy week, and then Toadles arrives Friday. But I will try to get the list up soon. I think I've read about 10 books.

With the warmer weather, we should be seeing bats soon. However, they might have to find another place to live. Birds keep building nests in the bat house. We took one partially started nest out last week when it suddenly showed up. But the birds are determined, and they are rebuilding. So we're going to let them, and then later on when it's past baby bird time we will see about cleaning it out. But there are two really big frogs out in the dog yard, they hang out around the water dish, so maybe they will eat a lot of mosquitos. But no sign of the dove nest yet, so I'm not sure if we'll have front-porch birds or not.

Also, I am having cell phone problems. It keeps cutting off and from the way it's acting, I think it's the battery. I took it in today, the technician thinks it's probably the battery but he couldn't say for sure. Of course, they didn't have any in stock so he had to order me another one. It should be here sometime this week. If they'd had batteries in stock for my phone, he would have been able to test it with another battery.

The bamboo is doing pretty good. We lost some of it, which we expected, but we were hoping that we wouldn't lose as many as we did. But the ones that survived are starting to spread and send out shoots. We had discussed getting more, but I think we'll wait until next spring and see how it does. Hopefully, it will take off.

Picture Wednesday

In no particular order!

This is a volunteer sunflower. It's one of 4. This one plant alone has over 15 buds. The first one is just starting to open up. Yes, I know it's sideways! Blogger isn't letting me turn the picture so there may be a couple of sideways shots. Turn your head! This is the second year for volunteers, last year's came up as a result of bird seed but they have apparently naturalized now because there are 4 of them and I did not put seeds out in the areas where they are coming up. Happy, happy!

Just starting to open up.

The rock garden! It will be extended about a foot and a half, all the way around. Eventually. I'm not sure if it's this year's project or not, it was going to be the big thing I worked on this spring but after the bamboo block I'm kind of tired of playing in the dirt. The trellis that Bill built for Otter is to the side, you can see a sunflower and one of the chairs on the deck is visible through the trellis. Also by the chair but not visible in the picture is another sunflower. If you look carefully, in the middle of the rocks is a particular paver block that Grandpa gave me for Christmas many years back. Anybody care to guess the State? :)

We haven't gotten in yet, it's been too cool for the water to be even comfortable. We had a spell of warm days, then as soon as we got the pool up it got cool again. Late May and we are back in jacket weather.

Playtime!

Maggie tackled Frasier. But he got right up again and they started running around the living room. Maggie was zooming up and down the hallway for a while.

Like I said, no particular order! This is a closer shot of the fountain that is in the back of my rock garden. It's now a planter. I went back to Ace Hardware and got a couple more moss rose plants. A couple of years ago, Bill painted it with a white colored concrete paint and it's slowly flaking off. The bowl is cracked and he patched it but the patch showed, so he painted it. We had problems with the latest pump we had in it, which is probably because it got left in it all winter, so I decided to make it into a planter. It turned out pretty good and it will probably stay this way now instead of a fountain. Bill took the pump out of it Sunday afternoon, and there was a tree frog inside of the reservoir where the pump was. There was another tree frog down in the rocks behind the fountain. We've been hearing them a lot lately in the evenings.

Still sideways! Bill's Nekkid Lady fountain topper. She is holding an urn on her shoulders and was originally designed to sit in the middle of a fountain or pond. The water would come out of the top of the urn and flow over all sides of it. But since my fountain is not that style, Bill cut off the top edge of the urn and rerouted the water to where it would flow out of one side. It worked great, when the fountain was a fountain and not a planter. At one point, I had a plant sitting on top of the fountain but we wanted to add to the flowing water so we bought a topper. Of course, since Bill was in charge of picking the topper... The fountain probably originally had a topper or decorative piece on the top. We bought it when Builder's Square was going out of business, so we've probably had it at least 12 or 13 years. Since it was missing the top piece, it was on clearance for next to nothing. I don't remember the price, but I think it was around $40.00 which is almost free for the size & style fountain - we had been pricing them and decided that they were more than we wanted to spend. But when we found this one, it came right home with us!

Beagle Bliss! This was after their play session, they had a grooming session and she stayed in this position for several minutes. I think she was actually comatose.

One of my hosta plants in the front of the house. I have always loved hostas but never had a place for them until we bought this house nearly 5 years ago. (Time flies!) They are a lower light plant and the front of the house doesn't get full sun so I bought several the first spring we were here. Then for the next couple of years, I bought a few more and filled in. Now they are firmly established and are getting big, which is exactly what I wanted them to do. They die back completely during the winter, then they come back bigger each year and I think that they have propogated, because there are a couple more than I remember planting. There are a few different varieties of them.

The grooming session that produced Maggie's bliss. She is smiling.

Looks kind of scary, but it's just clouds. Nothing to worry about here.

Bluebonnets. At the end of May. And they still have buds!

They still have buds AND they are forming seed pods.

The Last Monday in May...

Is not about the start of summer.

It's not about getting to the lake or having a picnic.

It's not about stores having a sale.

This is what it's about.

May we never forget.

Anybody Want to Play Pool?

Or at least get in the pool!

It's in place and filling up. It will take it a few more hours, then we should be able to swim in a few days. The water won't be warm enough until then. I'm not a duck, I don't like to sit in cold water.

We are finished with the bamboo block. We are going to get more bamboo tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, the rain will hold off long enough.

It rained yesterday afternoon and is sprinkling now. It's supposed to be the same tomorrow, dry morning and then possibly raining in the afternoon. So we will get the chickens grilled in the morning and then eat them whenever, with the macaroni salad and corn on the cob. I'm hoping that I can get my flag out tomorrow, so maybe it won't rain after all.

Frasier smells. He smells like a wet dog! He was outside just long enough to dampen his fur just enough so that he smells. Well, I've been out working in the yard so I probably don't smell much better. I am heading for the shower in a few minutes. When my left knee lets me, that is.

It's been bothering me lately, and I mowed the lawn this morning which always aggravates it. Then when Billyboy and I stopped at WalMart, I ran into a metal rack that was on the back of an SUV. The kind that you stack bikes on and I've also seen people put their ice chests on them. I was looking down to put my keys in my purse and when I looked up, the wind blew my hair in my eyes and I couldn't see. Which is usually when something jumps out in front of me and this time was no exception. I tripped onto the shelf, Bill freaked out because I think he thought I'd fainted or something. My left knee is of course what I hit with. Always! It had a bruise on the left side of it already, from kneeling on the ground and colliding with a rock and now it's probably going to have a bruise on the right side of it.

My doctor tells me that my only option will probably be knee surgery one day, but also that I am to avoid it as long as I possibly can. At the rate I'm going, there won't be anything left of my knee to operate on!

While we were out, before I smashed my knee, we stopped at Ace Hardware and they had the plants I'd been looking for. Moss Rose, which is now in what was formerly my fountain in the rock garden and I also found small Lantana, which are planted in a long planter I had but I probably should have gotten more of it. Otter also finally found a peppermint plant, it's out on the deck with all the rest of the plants, enjoying the rain.

Catching Up

First things first: Why did I want a house with a big yard? The rest of the story is that I now know what I want for Christmas: A RIDING LAWN MOWER!

Actually, we didn't want a big yard. We wanted a specific house, which we got, and it just happened to have a big yard. Well, we did want the big yard. I just don't like to mow. But Billyboy was busy with the trench work for the bamboo block, so I got the joy of running the lawn mower around the yard. I'm afraid I missed a few spots, but at least it's done for a few days. We usually share this chore.

Otter's last day of school is Thursday of next week. It would have been tomorrow or Friday, but there are a few snow days to make up. So they have to go to school after Memorial Day. She had a pretty big project for history class, which she chose to make a PowerPoint presentation for. It's entailed a lot of hours of research and then a lot of time to put it together. She presented hers in class today. SHE GOT A 90!! She's worked really hard on it and we are very proud of her. We're proud of her anyway. We got pizza tonight to celebrate. She deserved it and I think she enjoyed the treat.

Her topic? How Has the Content and Technology of Movies Changed Over Time. What can I say, she's her parent's daughter and we love movies!

Bill's nearly finished with the bamboo block. Some of the bamboo didn't survive the transplant process, and some of it is already growing pretty good. We are going to get some more, which we always planned, but we are waiting until we get finished with the block installation. We should be finished in the next few days. It's a lot of work to install, it has to be put 3' below the surface of the ground and also just above the surface.

Also, we are going to put the pool up this weekend. The water won't be warm enough to actually swim for several days, but it will be nice to have the pool up. We need to do a little work on the yard first - also known as filling in a few dog holes! There are not too many holes this time, the dogs have not had all the access to the back yard that they would like. But there are a few. And they need to be smoothed out before the pool goes over them.

That is about it for my catch-up. I'm too tired to type any more. Also, the ice cream that is in the freezer is screeching my name. Loudly.

OK, Froggy. This is For You.

You wanted to know why I haven't blogged in several days. This is why!

Our bamboo doesn't look anything like this, it's actually several feet between stalks. But, with any luck, it will look like this at some point. Possibly by late summer. It is defintely growing and the ones we are rooting are also doing very well.

We've been working on installing the root block so that it will spread side to side but not out into the yard. The block is basically thick, corrugated plastic and it has to be installed 3 feet below the surface of the ground. Which means that we have literally been in the trenches this week. Bill's been digging down to the required depth, then long enough for the sheets to be placed and they are about 8 feet long. Then we have to get the sheets in place and he has to dump all the dirt back to cover the blocking sheets. It's not exactly rocket science, but it is hot, dirty, sweaty work. Did I mention that it's dirty? Well, it is. We work for a while, go inside and do tick check (none in several days so we think that they are all gone), then we have to take a shower and then we are usually too tired to do anything beyond sit on the couch in front of the tv! Which is normally what we do on Friday evenings anyway.

When Bill gets home in about 20 minutes, we'll be back out there again. We are trying to get two to four sheets installed each evening. The sheets have to be staggered pretty far next to each other, to prevent spaces for the roots to get through. We won't work on it tomorrow, obviously, since it's Sabbath but we will get back out bright and early Sunday morning. We should have enough time to get some done tonight before sundown.

Of course, the fact that we have literally had 20 days in a row where it rained makes it messier. We've broken the old record for rainy days in a row, which was something like 8 or 12 days and was set a few years back. Today is day 21, or will be if it rains before midnight tonight. Which it is supposed to. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy off and on as well. Which actually is a good thing, because damp dirt is easier to shovel through than dry dirt is.

I would like to be able to get it all finished up on Sunday, but that is probably not realistic. We have a big yard and lots of digging to do. But we will be able to get quite a bit done. Bill is putting the pool up Memorial Day weekend, which is the next weekend, and he wants to be through by then. And I also have grilling planned for Memorial Day weekend. But hopefully, no more digging in the dirt! (Monty Python reference).

Tick Tock

We have been fighting ticks all week. We had none, then we got the bamboo and suddenly we have ticks! The dogs have been treated and I've vacuumed all over the house, the couch, etc., and we haven't seen any since about Sunday so maybe we have won. I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath because I know how those bugs are. But we are certain that they came with the bamboo. We are still vigilant about them.

However, we are also thinking that there is a possibility that the next door neighbor's dogs might also have contributed a tick or two. The same neighbors who put large, rusty nails through the fence just at dog height. The same neighbor who would have been content to let her dogs tear up the fence if we hadn't brought it to her attention - more than once. The same neighbor who.... The list goes on and on!

Anyway, back to the bamboo. It seems to be alive still, which is good. Bill is in the process of installing blocking sheets to keep the roots from spreading. It has to be put to a certain depth, I can't remember the measurement right now but it's pretty deep. It also has to be installed before the stuff starts to spread so he's been working on it this week. Frasier helped him dig. Of course, Frasier's digging involved unearthing a mole trail but it was in the right spot so Bill just let him go.

It's been raining almost non-stop for days. It has quit for brief periods, but we haven't had a day without rain since sometime towards the end of April. Like the 24th or so, I heard it on the news this morning but I didn't hear the exact date. I'm pretty sure that today's rain storms (there were several) had hail in them. I watched the news at noon today while I ate lunch, the forecasters have just about run out of ways to describe hail. Today's was penny sized in some places, and maybe up to quarter sized. This summer is shaping up to be like the one before last - wet!

We are still aiming for Memorial Day to put the pool up. Hopefully, we'll be able to use it some this summer. Between rain storms!

Bamboozled!

We got bamboozled. And then we got Ticked Off.

Bill wanted to try growing bamboo, his thought was that it would make a great wind break along the back fence as well as a natural privacy fence. We looked at Lowe's last night but all they had was decorative indoor plantings. So Bill started looking on Craigslist. Apparently, a lot of people want bamboo because there were a few ads and they were answered fast. But he found one today, and the lady said she had a back yard full just waiting on somebody to come dig it up. We went this afternoon. We weren't the first to answer her ad, but she had a lot. I mean a LOT. Like a forest. We dug up several stalks and they are now planted along the back fence every few feet. Also, there are some that are in a bucket of rain water to root. The ones we got are not huge, but they sprouted from bamboo that was about 15' tall.

Yes, we know how fast it grows, I did the research first. And that it's difficult to control. But, judging from her yard, we will get exactly what we want out of it. She still had plenty, we told her that we might check back with her after the next rainy spell which might start tonight and might last about a week. But I don't think we'll need to.

Then we discovered that her yard had something other than bamboo. Ticks, to be precise. I had 3 and Bill had 5. They've gone swimming now. We know that they came from her yard because the first one I had was discovered in the White Lightning on the way home. I hate ticks. Just typing this is enough to make me feel like I have crawlies all over me! We treat Magginator and Poophead Frasier monthly and it's time again so I'll hit them on Monday morning.

The reason I'm calling Frasier a poophead is that he has a new trick. He absolutely hates to have his ears treated. But he has learned that an ear treatment means a treat. So when he thinks he should get a treat, he will come up to me and start shaking his head. We've watched him enough to know that he's trying a shakedown for a treat. Bill realized it the other day, when I came home after he'd been home and Frasier was fine. Then as soon as I came in the door, he started shaking his head and then when I turned away he stopped. Then the next time I was looking his way, he started rubbing his head on the floor. Until I was out of his sight, then he quit again. Dog's smart, that's for sure.

Froggy, when you come see me next month do you want to go to the Indian Store that we couldn't find last year? I know where it is now. Bill showed me how to get there. We could work it in with the Hominy trip, I'll have to make sure that they are open on Sunday but they probably are.

Otter had a brief asthma spell this week. It was probably allergy inspired. She's been on benadryl the last couple of nights and she was home Tuesday and Wednesday. She's still somewhat congested, but she's at least able to function now. The last day of school is 3 weeks from today and she's more than ready for it. Imagine that.

More on My Obsession!

Star Trek, what else? :)

A couple of interesting articles. The first one is especially timely.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30507377/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30521500/

I'm not hopeful about the new movie being the one to break the ST Curse. Well, I'm hopeful but I'm not expecting it to be the one to buck the trend.

Another article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30505683/

I agree about the first two choices in this one, Khan is the best villian. Then the Borg are next on my list. Although the Borg Queen could probably put Khan on the floor in a pretzel shape in about 3 seconds. But then, I am kind of biased towards the Borg Queen. Just ask Bill or Otter!

Second Installment for Sunday

Movie Review: XMen Origins Wolverine. Very good. Although there is just a touch of nudity. (However, the female members of the audience will like this one. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject.) Let's just say that Otter was really glad her father wasn't in the theater with her!

OK, silly stuff out of the way. It actually was a good movie. It answers a lot of questions about the Wolverine character and it also has a few other revelations in it.

Also, a few other movie thoughts. Star Trek is opening next weekend. It's # 11 in the series. The adage "Even numbered Trek films don't suck" is actually true. This one has a few strikes against it, starting with the fact that it's not an even number! It's been very heavily advertised. To the point that I am afraid all the good scenes have already been revealed. Also, I have read enough about to it feel like the writers are re-writing history. And that's never good. I'm seriously afraid that it's going to live up to the ST Curse (even numbers...). And I'm not alone. There are actually quite a few of us "Original Fans" who feel that way. So, I'm hopeful. But I'm not going to hold my breath over this one, since I'm also realistic when it comes to Trek films. But then again, this one might be the one to break the curse. We'll see.

Sunday's Installment

I have been making an effort to slow down lately, we had simplified quite a bit but then things started to get busy again and we nearly allowed ourselves to get overwhelmed. But we realized it, so we took some steps to get back to the point we were at. I've made an effort to reduce the time I spent on the computer and I think I'm happy with that. I'm not a Luddite, by any stretch of the imagination! But I do think that we can become too dependent on the computer.

Same thing for tv. As a family, we have reduced the amount of time we spend in front of the tube. It's an outgrowth of our no-tv Saturdays. We watch a couple of religous/church shows we record during the week and we take turns chosing a movie to watch on Saturdays. But we don't sit in front of the tv all day long and it's not on other than the taped shows & one movie. Well, during certain times of the year we will turn it on to check for weather reports. But that's a possible survival technique, and if we have no weather warnings then it's turned back off again.

I do have a movie recommendation. It was Otter's turn for the movie yesterday, she picked Night at the Museum. We missed it when it was originally released. But since she wants to see the second one, she decided that she'd better see the first one. It was really cute. It was funny and it was just a nice movie. Family safe entertainment and one that I would recommend for anyone. It also has a lot of good actors in it, a few that I haven't seen in years.

Maggie has a new trick. She has always seemed to like wearing bandanas. I thought it was just because she was getting attention from Otter, which she loves but she gets a lot of attention from Otter aside from just the bandanas. Or manandadadas, as Maggie seems to say. Well, sometimes she calls them amamamandas. Or banananandas! Anyway, back to the point - I did have a point with this! Maggie went into Otter's room yesterday afternoon, then she came back with something in her mouth that looked like fabric. At first, we thought that Maggie had been into the laundry room and raided the dirty clothes pile! But she took the fabric she had, and dropped it in front of Otter. Then Otter picked it up and realized that Maggie had brought one of her bandanas. As soon as Otter picked it up, Maggie leaned back until she was still sitting but was upright. Then Maggie stretched out her neck towards Otter, and we realized that the dog was asking to be dressed. So Otter obliged, and Maggie was very happy about it. Sometimes we think that Maggie might be just a little smarter than she lets on.

Other news. The humers are here! I put up a feeder about Wednesday, outside the dining room window. Then the next day, I saw a rather large female hummer on it. Then sometime after that, there was another hummer on the feeder. The tiniest one I have ever seen. It's a male, and it might be one that has a black throat - I can't remember the specific type at the moment. It's too early for babies, so I don't think it's just a fledgling. I put up a second feeder and then yesterday I saw an entirely different female so I put up a third feeder. I still have two more feeders, which will probably be put up soon. Also, there are two other birds that have been raiding the feeder by the dining room window. Orioles! There are two of them, one is pretty big and the second one is smaller but I think it's also an oriole. We saw one on the feeders several times last year, also.

The cardinals have abandoned their nest that was inside the trellis. So we are going to go out and tear down all the remains of last year's vines. The morning glories have come up, Otter decided to skip the black-eyed Susan vines this year and just let the morning glories have the trellis. But we need to get all the debris vines down. Which we might get to today, but since it's been raining almost non-stop since about Wednesday I'm not sure if we'll actually get to it today or not.

Maybe after we get back from this afternoon's errand. I'm taking Otter and one of her friends to the movies. It's one I want to see, so I'll stay with them instead of dropping them off this time. XMen Origins: Wolverine. Let's just say that Otter is her mother's daughter in many ways!

Better Late Than Never! April Books

I just realized that it's already May 2 and I still haven't posted the books I read in April! Lots of reruns, I think I only went to the library once.

1. The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder. I started re-reading the series a few weeks ago and I decided to read them all again.

2. Little Town on the Prarie.

3. The Happy Golden Years.

4. Where the Heart is by Billie Letts. A re-run. Fun story.

5. A Shattered Glass by Kathy Wingo. A true story about a woman who escaped an abusive marriage. Not the best written story, but it was good.

6. Fingernail Moon, the True Story of a Mother's Flight to Protect Her Daughter by Janie Webster. Long title, about a woman who fled with her young daughter to protect the girl from her sexually abusive father. It was actually a pretty good book and in the end everything turned out ok for both the mother and the daughter.

7. Disney's Winnie the Pooh, a Celebration of the Silly Old Bear by Christopher French. Winnie the Pooh is always good!

8. Craft book about making things like soap, crochet, etc. I can't remember the name!

9. The First 4 Years. Back to my Little House series.

10. On the Way Home. Final book in the Little House series.

11. The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy. Beech as in tree, not beach as in sand & water. Good book.

I've already started my list for May. Being a Stephen King fan, I borrowed a book from Otter's collection. It's probably both of our favorite King book. The Stand. It's actually pretty timely. It's about a pandemic but it's also about a whole lot more. It will be on the list for May. It's a huge, huge book and I've read it before. Many times. It was also turned into a miniseries on the Sci-Fi channel over 10 years ago and it was the only King story that was ever done right. Because King himself wrote the screenplay. His work doesn't translate well to the screen, but this one was done very well. It's something like 8 hours long. It's also very hard to find, but I will eventually get the dvd. Hollywood Video has it, but they aren't interested in selling it to me. But I'll keep asking and I'll keep looking.

A Few Thoughts on Swine Flu

I am afraid that this is going to come across as cold and unfeeling, but it's not meant that way.

OK, now that the disclaimer is out of the way...

I know that the swine flu situation is serious. I know that it is potentially very serious. I also know that the media tends to make things sound much worse than they are and I really feel like that is happening now.

Yes, it can be bad. It could become very bad. But it's not automatically going to be like the Spanish Flu 1918 pandemic. But to listen to the media, we're already there and we're all going to die.

Let's get real, people.

Handwashing. Minimizing contact with people when we are sick, or trying to stay away from people who are sick. General common sense goes a long way. Except that most people don't seem to have common sense.

Unfortunately.