No Longer Bamboozled! And June Books

First things first:

1. A Good Dog, the Story of Orson who Changed My Life by Jon Katz. This one is a little sad, so be warned! I've read other books by this author and they are very good.

2. The Christmas Letters by Lee Smith. This one was interesting, it's written as if it's letters and post cards between family members.

3. Life is Good, Lessons in Joyful Living by Trixie Koontz, a dog and Dean Koontz. Life lessons from a labrador! Really fun.

4. Grasses & Bamboos, a Practical Guide by Ian Cooke. Not too much in the way of a practical guide!

5. Hamster Care. General info and a lot we already knew, but we did learn a little bit.

6. The Shack by someone whose name I forgot. This one is controversial and I see why. There were some things I didn't really agree with but it also had some things that I thought were good.

7. Quintons by Maeve Binchy. Rerun, always good.

8. Between Good and Evil, a Master Profiler's Hunt for Society's Most Violent Predators by Roger L. Depue with Susan Schindehette. Good, but could have been much better. But maybe that's not fair, I tend to compare true crime books to anything written by Ann Rule and she's pretty much the best there is. But I did enjoy this one.

9. The Joker's Last Laugh. Batman comics. What more can you ask for? :)

10. So Simple Crochet by Melody Griffiths.

11. Say it With Stitches, Embroidery Designs by Sharon & Kristin Jancowicz.

12. South Park Guide to Life.

13. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. The movie was ok, the book was pretty good.

14. XMen 3, Making of the Movie.

The bamboo is gone! The fence is finished! We have privacy! And we didn't have to put up the fence ourselves. Bill dug up all the bamboo, some of it is planted in 3 pots on the deck but most of it is pulled, dead and tossed. As an experiment, it was working. But I'm glad that we don't have to deal with it anymore. The fence was finished in about 5 days. Bill pulled the chain link up and took out the posts. Then he used the gate to block the one side where there was a 4' gap so the poochies can't get out.

And now, I'm going to concentrate on slowing down again. It's been a whirlwind few weeks. We have had a lot of company and enjoyed all of it, but we're tired! Of course, we ran all over the place today so that might have something to do with it.

Bill took my rain barrel down today so we could clean it. The water was suddenly green. I painted it a couple of weeks ago, to keep the sunlight from allowing mildew/mold to grow, but it was too late. So Bill took it down today and I cleaned it out. Then he removed the paint, at least what was left after the cleaning. We bought some special paint for it and it's now been repainted. Green! But hopefully the water won't be. However, it might not have any water in it for a while. We need a good rain.

Movie review: Monsters vs. Aliens. We saw it today at the dollar theater. It was pretty good, very funny and we really enjoyed it. But it was also short so we're glad we saw it at the cheapo theater. But it was a good movie.

Frasier is demanding my undivided attention now.

Some Tuesday Thoughts & Ramblings

The rest of the pictures from Oklahoma City. CHIHULY!

This is a close-up shot of the glass tower that is immediately inside the museum. There is a similar one inside the downtown library in San Antonio, or at least there used to be one. Although it wasn't quite this tall. These things always remind me of squash blossoms.

Standing on the main floor.

This shot was taken from the 2nd floor.

This is the one I want. However, since it probably COSTS MORE THAN MY HOUSE I don't think it's in the budget.

This was set up like an acquarium. It was behind glass and a little dark, so the picture didn't come out the best.

I like these, too.

Chihuly glass is known for the lip wrap, or edge color, that is on most of the pieces in this style. It's heavy glass, much thicker than it looks and must be extremely hard to handle while it's being created. It's all blown glass. They are also very large.

Otter liked the color of these.

This is what I was most interested in seeing. It's a glass ceiling. And it's covered with Chihuly! I told Bill that this is how I want our bedroom ceiling to be decorated. Silly boy, he thinks I mean painted. I'm talking the actual pieces.

More of the ceiling.

And still more ceiling.

This reminds me or either spiders, or Fiesta. Any San Antonio natives will know what I mean.

I absolutely love this one. I'd take it in a heartbeat, but I'd still have the same problem as the green set I like.

This one resembles a sunflower, so of course I like it.

Here's a better shot.

OK, that concludes our tour of the Chihuly Exhibit.

Moving on.

We discovered something this afternoon. The builder that owns the lot behind us is putting up a privacy fence. The entire length of the area that runs behind our street. Wish they'd done it a few months ago. Like before we planted bamboo! And before we installed the bamboo block, which was the real work. They have just put in the posts today, we're going to watch and see how fast they actually get the fence put up. And then in all probability, we'll (we being Bill) go dig up the bamboo. Which won't be that hard, it's not all that spread out yet. We did discuss leaving it. But the privacy fence is set back a couple of feet from our fence line, which would leave about a 4' gap between the bamboo and the fence. Also, the privacy fence would block the light that the bamboo needs which would mean it wouldn't grow very well. If at all. But we would be leaving the block installed, as moles can't get past it. But we'll wait and see, it may take them months to get the fence finished. Although we don't think so.

Other happenings: We are pool-less! Saturday afternoon, the pool decided it was time to leave. It split down one side and was non-repairable. Bill saw it happen and we were able to get out there and redirect the water so that a) no tidal waves taking out the deck, b) no tidal waves coming in the back door and c) the septic system wasn't overloaded with a sudden influx of water! We are going to replace the pool, but it might be at the end of the summer when they are on clearance. Unless we find a good deal now. Of course, this coincided with the "hot" weather hitting and heat alerts being issued for the week. (The hot weather here is pretty warm, but it's still not S. TEXAS hot).

Froggy arrives the day after tomorrow! Thrifting, flea marketing, many trips to Braum's, lots of gossip await.

Quck Friday Catch-Up

No, I did not say catsup (ketchup)! :)

OK, here we go:

Toadles got home safely, he called me Monday evening when he was nearly home and I've gotten emails from him so I know he made it. We enjoyed his visit so much, I think it's been about 2 years since I saw my brother and it was really fun having him here.

Otter went to work with me a couple of days this week and she stayed home a couple of days. She will have a very short summer so she's getting all the enjoyment out of it that she can. More on that later.

The dogs are temporarily forbidden from the back yard. Not because of the bamboo this time. Because of the bunny! We've seen a very young bunny running around out there. It's not a baby, but it is probably this years crop. Frasier would probably love a rabbit dinner, but we'd prefer that he not have one.

Nana arrives Monday! We are excited. She'll be here the entire week, her visit last year was just too short. I had jury duty in the midst of it so I really missed out. Bill and Otter will pick her up at the airport, then we will hit the Chinese buffet for dinner. I will have to work most of the week, but I will be off on Thursday - Bill's birthday.

We had a pretty windy day today. About 10:30 this morning, it was as dark as midnight. And very cloudy. Then very windy. 70+ mph straight line winds. There was some thunder and rain with this, but the wind was the main concern. It was a very fast moving storm with some trees uprooted in places, but not nearly as bad as the wind storm we had 5 years ago last week. I'm really glad that Toadles' visit was last week, because today's (expected) storm hit right about the time he'd have been driving and it was not a good place to be!

OK, we're all caught up now. I think.

Oh yeah - if you attempt to call my cell phone, don't expect to get me. It's still acting up and I've gone Texan Woman on Sprint twice. There will not be a third time. Well, there will be a third time but it will involve me talking directly to customer service and getting results. It won't be pretty. For them, anyway.

Consider Yourself Mooned!

This is what was waiting for us about 9:30 last night. The moon looks like it's partially gone, but it was obscured by whispy clouds that didn't photograph. It was absolutely beautiful. The pictures are posted in order of how they were taken. Otter was the photographer.

The coyotes agreed, we could hear them a few times.

But then they might have just been talking to Toadles.

He has that affect on animals sometimes.

We had a great visit. He called me Friday about 11:30, he was in McAlester which is a couple of hours south. He was calling from there to tell me that he'd taken a side trip and was sightseeing. The reason he was sightseeing is that he thought that SINCE HE'D TAKEN A WRONG TURN, he might as well explore a place he'd never been before. He arrived about 2:00. When I got home about 3:00, he was in his usual position - snoozing on the couch. After he woke up, he told me that he'd taken one more wrong turn, when he thought he was turning into my neighborhood. But he was a little short of the correct street. However, he figured it out right away.

We had a great visit, we went flea marketing Saturday and found a few things. Among other things, I got a $3.00 piece of Fenton so it was a sucessful venture. We also had to go train hunting for Toadles and found several. We went train hunting yesterday as well, we didn't find as much but it was fun. We basically got in the car and headed south on the highway, since we had a very general idea of where something was. We enjoyed his visit. I hope he remembered his way home!

Otter is now planning something. Uncle Toadly woke her up yesterday morning. With an ice cube, to the belly button! Then she returned the favor this morning. I'm not sure what the next step will be, but they will both have something to attempt to put over on each other. I'm just going to get out of the way! :)

Maggie was thinking about a Monday post, but that was before the hole behind the bamboo barrier was discovered. The beagle-sized hole. Which might have taken out a bamboo sprout, we're not sure. But the rest of the bamboo is doing great. It's spreading out and looks pretty healthy. But the dogsters are probably not going to have much access to the back yard for a while. At least, not unsupervised visitation! Maggie might get to post again next week. Maybe.

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.

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.