Buzzing

It must be Spring.  Because my redbud is blooming out all over the place.  It was covered in honeybees today.  There were about 10 or so when I looked out the first time, then a couple of hours later there were what looked like millions!  They were also checking out some of the blooming weed in the back yard.  Honeybees are wonderful little creatures.  Otter isn't too concerned with them being close to her, they aren't aggressive.  If we got in the way, they just went around us.  (That's a stock photo, not my tree.)  We don't get too close, but we get close enough to watch them.  I'm thinking that someone in the area may have a bee hive, because there were a whole lot of the little buzzers.

Otter came over with her laundry after work and we got the new insurance situated while she was here.  I guess it's a law now, probably to keep people from claiming benefits they don't actually deserve, but in order to put her on our health insurance she had to be here when we made the call.  The insurance specialist talked to her and also to Bill to verify his participation and now we are all signed up for the new insurance.  The old one ends at midnight on March 31st, the new one takes over at that point.  It's $211.00 more per month, but (thanks to noboma!) we don't have a choice.  Our current carrier is leaving the state and we had to replace the policy.  I've been looking at different carriers and coverage for a while, insurance companies (large ones) that used to offer nationwide coverage are now having to reduce their coverage areas by huge amounts.  Premiums are also skyrocketing, which is another (not so) lovely effect of nobamacare.  Also, the enrollment period is very short.  Just a few months.  After the enrollment period ends, unless you have a qualifying event such as our situation, you are out of luck on getting new insurance.  How is that fair?  How is that constitutional?  It's not.  At all.

Otter and I went to a thrift store while her laundry was in the dryer.  We didn't find anything, but it was fun anyway.  It was really cloudy when we were there, at one point we heard thunder - and then we heard a very nervous lady ask if that was really thunder she was hearing?  That's actually pretty common after a tornadic storm like we had last week, it can take a few thunderstorms before people relax again.  There were at least 2 confirmed tornados.  The one that hit the trailer park in Sand Springs, and then there was also a very weak one that was just south of the Tulsa Airport but it was short-lived at least.

The dogs have lost their backyard privileges again.  Friday evening, Maggie Moo came running into the house like she usually does (full speed ahead!) and her feet were covered in mud.  And so was the carpet!!  There are now at least 10 holes that weren't there before.  They all seem to be over mole trails, but the yard is well on it's way to looking like a moonscape again.  So, I closed the gate.  And Frasier pouted for a while, he eventually came back for attention but he was not happy with me for a while!

The inernet company is coming out this Friday to bury the cable.  Finally.  They said it would be 30 days, but it's been closer to 60 or so.  Bill really needs to mow, but he hasn't been able to because of the cable just laying across the yard.  The weeds have gotten really tall, and now he'll also have to worry about what looks like sinkholes!

Winter is On It's Way! Again. Stupid Groundhog.

(For the record, I did clean first.  But it wasn't my first choice).

Looks like the groundhog is still mad at us.  And he's going to take it out on us starting sometime Sunday.  Afternoon or evening, or thereabouts.  Winter Mix is the correct term.  Monday is supposed to be brutally cold, with the high temps being in the 30's for the afternoon.  Tuesday morning is also supposed to be pretty cold.  It's still "up in the air" if we'll get any actual sleet, which is the most likely.  Or snow.  Or if it'll just be very cold and raining.  We'll probably get something, cold is pretty much guaranteed.  We just don't know what it will contain!

Otter is coming over Saturday with her laundry when she gets off work.  We're going to take one of the two remaining loads to the used bookstore to turn in and I think we'll probably hit the library as well.  I'll get her to work in the morning and pick her up when she gets off, then she'll come home with me and get the car.  Bill's off Monday for President's Day then he's taking Tuesday and Wednesday as vacation days, so she'll have the car through Wednesday at least.  She's had very little experience driving in winter conditions, she's had the lessons/lectures/passenger experience many times but she hasn't really driving in anything other than a small snowfall.  Mom's nervous at the thought, but she's gotta learn sometime!

This is my back fence.  Bill noticed something parked on it one day a couple of months back.  He noticed it for a couple of reasons:  it was suddenly very quiet, no bird noises at all.  And there were suddenly no birds in sight, anywhere, they were there and then they were gone.  He discovered the reason, a hawk sitting on the back fence.  We see them pretty often, but they don't usually park on the fence like that.  One time, we watched a squirrel running along the top of the fence.  Until it nearly ran right into a hawk that was sitting on the fence!  I had no idea that squirrels could put the brakes on and back up at warp speed!  I don't think that hawks are normally squirrel predators, but if it was hungry enough it might have gone after the fluffy tailed critter.

This is the tulip bed last Fall when we were planting.  We cleaned the ground off, stirred the dirt up with a shovel and treated it with oil/soap/water and then left it to sit for several days.  When it was time to plant, Otter mixed up the bulbs and tossed them all around the bed.  Last time, she had them in patterns.  This time, she decided to mix them up randomly.  They are just now beginning to poke up through the dirt and it looks like there will be a lot of them that will come up.  This will probably be the last time we'll have tulips for a couple of years.  We might expand the back fence to the side/corner of the garage, which will mean that this area will not get the sun it needs.  We'll probably have them again in the future, we're just not sure where they'll be.

This is also from last fall, it's the crepe myrtles.  They are not right up against the fence, it just looks like that in the picture.  They are planted between the trellis pieces which have honeysuckle planted against them.  It looks like at least some of the honeysuckle has survived both the mowers last year and the winter.  I can't tell for certain, but the crepe myrtles look like most of them have made it as well.

Hopefully, we'll have all of them come back and they will grow fast this year.  Same thing for the honeysuckle.  They'll all bring butterflies and hummingbirds, probably honeybees as well (but wasps and yellow jackets are not invited or welcome).  Most importantly, they will block the view of the neighbors behind us into our back yard and dining room windows!

Oakie Dokie

I'm still at it.  Allergies, that is.

 

I went in to work Monday morning, but I left about 10:15 or so.  I hardly slept Sunday night, I was tired already from the general allergy symptoms and Oak makes me sleepy anyway.  Not being able to sleep Sunday night did not help a bit!  I stopped by the post office to drop some mail off for work, then I stopped by Otter's store to let her know I was heading home and would not need her to stop at the store for me after all.  I got home fairly quickly, got my pj's on and my robe then parked myself in the corner of the couch where I spent late February/early March.  I stayed there until sometime yesterday evening, when I dragged myself off to bed.

 

I woke up still tired this morning but better since I did actually manage to get some sleep last night.  I had no choice as far as going in today, Younger Boss is on vacation starting today until several days from now (I forget when he comes back) and is out of state.  That means that I am the Teenager's transportation, babysitter (sometimes!) and main source of conversation for the next several days.  He wasn't ready to come in until lunchtime, and he spent most of the afternoon finding reasons to come out to my desk and talk to me.  While telling me that I was talking too much and needed to give my voice a rest since he could tell my throat was sore from how I sounded - then he'd ask me something else!  If Younger Boss had been there, I would probably have headed home about 1:00 or so.  It might be like that every day for the near future, until Younger Boss gets back.

 

It's probably not a bad thing that the oak tree we planted a few years back didn't make it.

 

I am exhausted!

 

Froggy, I texted you a picture of a certain beaglebrat today.  Every time anybody even seems to head in the general direction of the stove are of the kitchen, MaggieMoo runs in there and sits in front of the stove or cabinet next to it.  Then she waits.  Until something gets dropped on the floor!  I was standing in the kitchen talking to Bill while dinner (mac & cheese with ham) was cooking and that's when MaggieMoo was suddenly in there.  She was attempting to sit on her somewhat round behind (Otter calls her Bowling Ball Butt) and at the same time, he back legs were sliding out from underneath her so she was sprawled out in the floor.  She kept looking up at me, then looking at the floor.  Back at me, back at the floor, repeat, repeat, repeat.  She didn't get anything, by the way.

 

It looks like it's going to be another bad year as far as stingy bugs are concerned.  I think it was Friday, Otter was going out the back door and opened it to find a hornet in the doorway - same place we've seen two recently.  Each time, Bill's managed to get it out of the doorway since they weren't in a good spot to try to kill them.  She closed the door and decided to go outside via the kitchen to the garage door and then out the side door from the garage.  When she opened the kitchen door, there was another one.  At that point, she gave up on going outside and called me.  She also blocked the dogs inside, since bugs have come in the flaps before.  When Billyboy got home, he couldn't find the one in the garage nor could he find a nest.  The back door bug was also gone, so he thought maybe it was just looking for a place to get inside like they do.  Yesterday, he found the beginning of a nest inside the back door frame near the top.  He knocked it down immediately.  Today, Otter and I noticed a yellow jacket building a nest on the front of the house underneath the roof overhang.  When Bill got home, Otter showed him where it was and they found a second one starting.  Both are gone now.  Then I opened the back door to let the dogs out for a bit.  And found another hornet nest starting, in the same spot.  I walked around the house and looked, I didn't find anymore yet but we're going to have to be very vigilant.  There is a small yellow jacket nest starting at work, I found it today but didn't attempt to get rid of it because the Teenager was there by that point and he usually tries to go after them with a broom.  Which is a recipe for major disaster!  I'll get it in the morning, before the Teenager gets there.

 

We had a nice rain yesterday, which we needed badly.  The rain barrels are full again.  We were trying to empty the new one out or at least get it down to a level where we could move it.  Guess we'll have to wait a while on leveling it.  The honeysuckle all seem to be doing good.  We've decided to stick with honeysuckle and not get trumpet vines after all.  I think we need 4 more honeysuckle plants, I'll get them in the next few days.  Trumpet vines attract hummingbirds, but I put out feeders for them so I think I'll still have a few of them visiting.  Honeysuckle is a big draw for honeybees, and we want to help them as much as we can.  We don't worry about honeybees, they aren't aggressive unless they are threatened.  We may have bumblebees, too.  They are not exactly aggressive, but they are not quite as passive as honeybees.  But they at least let you know that they think you are in their space and give you warning before they decide to get aggressive.  Bumblebees usually fly right at your face or bump you, which means that it's time to move out of their way.  Also, hummingbirds will go to honeysuckle blooms.

Pinks, Blues and Puppy Dog Tails

The redbud tree is still brilliantly pink and it's still drawing honey bees from somewhere close by.  Looks like hundreds of them!

 

The baby bluebonnet in the whiskey barrel has friends now.  I found two tiny ones in the yard, in the general area of where some were last year.  We had so many naturalized ones last year!  Bill isn't willing to leave un-mowed spots all over the front yard this year, so I'm transplanting them to the whiskey barrel as soon as we find them.  So far, just two but they were tiny and I'm thinking that there will probably be more.  If they get transplanted when they are still fairly young and small, they generally make it.  They don't have deep roots, but they still don't like to be moved once they get to a certain size so I have to get to them early.  He was going to mow today, but it's been slightly rainy so he's waiting a day or two.  Even if it hadn't rained (which wasn't much), the weeds (not much grass yet) were still just a bit too damp to mow easily.

 

Frasier was obnoxiously clingy yesterday morning.  After the 3rd or 4th time of having to practically push him out of my lap, Bill finally yelled and him and the dog got the point.  For a while!  He seemed to feel ok, he was just overly needy for some reason.  He's fine today, I think he's hanging out in the garage at the moment.  He likes it out there.  It's misty and cool today, but he spent most of yesterday afternoon snoozing in the sun in their yard.

 

Otter's plans for the day got rearranged.  She was going to meet J at the theater and they were going to go see the new Captain America movie.  But she woke up with extremely bad allergy symptoms.  She took an allergy pill, then she laid down on the couch after breakfast and went to sleep.  So we just left her there and went to church without her.  She was just waking up again when we got home.  She felt a little warm to both of us, so I took her temperature but I didn't think she actually had fever.  Turns out, she did.  Just a degree, but it was enough that she decided to stay home today.  I think she and J might attempt to go see the movie next weekend.  She's been parked on her bed most of the day and has taken Tylenol, along with lots of liquids.  She's a lot better so we think it probably is allergy and not anything else.  She will take a nighttime allergy pill when she goes to bed tonight.

 

I went to the booth to put some stuff out and rearrange, Otter asked me to pick up her schedule at work for her so I did that at the same time.  She's got more hours this coming week, so she was happy.  The booth made me happy, I put one of my vases in it Thursday or Friday and it was gone today.  It wasn't Fenton, it was probably by the Westmoreland company and it was signed.  I don't remember price I had on it.  The large oil lamp we have had in the booth for several weeks was also gone and I think it was sold this time - the last time, it was moved to a different booth (probably by a shopper who changed their mind) and one of the owners brought it back to me when he found it.  I changed a couple of prices and rearranged quite a bit.  I'm not sure if anymore shot glasses sold or not, but possibly.  There were so many that I can't really remember.  I probably won't go back there for a few days.

 

Now that the Aripachi machines are gone, Bill got my path from the garage door to the kitchen door cleared off.  No more having to drag groceries through the house and around two nosy puppies!  He also had room to get back to his workbenches so all the his junk stuff is now back where it belongs and out of my way.  I gave him until today, the Statute of Limitations on My Work Bench was up and I was going to take care of it myself if he didn't get it moved by today.  He was off Friday afternoon so he got busy.  Yesterday, I rearranged a lot of my shelf stuff and found a few things to clean out, get rid of and/or take to the booth.  All my birdfeeders are now back on one shelf and my/Otter's planting stuff is on it's own shelf.  We use the workbench for repotting plants, as well as for crafting.  I transplanted a small cactus from a long planter into a smaller pot, since I now have room on my bench.

 

Now, to get all the pachinko crud pieces out of the living room!

Wolves

Apparently, last week's storm wasn't officially a Spring Storm.  It was just a storm.

 

However, we could get the first official Spring Storm tonight.  And the second one possibly tomorrow.

 

We are not expected to get anything bad here, we could get rain and thunder which could also include hail.  But it is not expected to be the B.A.D. stuff.

 

This is what the forecasters have been doing for a while on tv:

Crying Wolf!

People are a little more aware of the weather this year, mostly due to May 20, 2013.  That's not a bad thing, to be aware.  The problem is that the forecasters are dramatic on a good day and ridiculous on a bad day.  Today is probably not going to be a B.AD. day, but they are making is seem like it's a given that it will be.  This will continue for a while, every time we have even the slightest chance of a storm.  The result will be that people will eventually (maybe soon) stop even listening, because the forecasters are so dramatic.  That could well mean that when something does happen, more people will be hurt because the idiotic forecasters will have turned people off from being warned!

 

We finally finished Otter's birthday cake today.  It wasn't a huge cake, but it was big enough.

 

The Aripachi machines have all gone on their way to their new home!  The garage actually has a floor, I'd kind of forgotten about that.  :)

 

Frasier was playing with Bill while ago.  BigStink (dog's nickname, not Bill!) was bouncing around and seemed to be having a good time.  At one point, Bill draped one of their blankets over the dog and he ran around the living room for a while with it on.  He wasn't afraid of it or anything, he just didn't seem to care about the fact that it was on him.  When SuperDog decided it was time to go out, he went out the dog door and the blanket went part of the way out with him.  I think he's having a well-deserved doggy nap now.  He's just like a big puppy!

 

Maggie Moo isn't being ignored, she was part of the fun as well.  It's just that it's amazing to me how young Frasier is acting.  It's wonderful.

 

I went out in the back yard earlier.  While I was out there, I was looking at my Redbud tree which is covered in tiny pink buds and blossoms.  It's beautiful.  It was covered in honeybees!  They generally leave me alone, they are not aggressive so I felt safe to get pretty close.  They just zoomed around me and continued on their way to redbud blossoms.  There were a LOT of bees.  Enough that I think someone in the are might have hives.  They could be from a wild hive, but I don't think so.  Either way, they are more than welcome!

 

But no yellow jackets or hornets are allowed.  EVER.