Just Friday

It's been so much calmer lately that I kind of forget about blogging!  I know, I know - I said I would try to get back into the swing of it.  But we went from crushing stress & worry for over 2 years to none and it's taken a little time to get used to that now!

I have spent a lot of the week with assorted allergy symptoms.  Today's main thing has been sneezing.  A LOT!

When I took Magginator to the vet last week I thought they did the heartworm test but it turned out that they didn't.  So I took her back yesterday and she got the all-clear, so she's now back on the heartworm preventive pills.  We usually only give them during "mosquito season" but with the mild to the point of not actually happening winter we had, the skeeters have already shown up.  In March!  I'm thinking that we'll just make it a year-round thing from here on out.  She's doing very good, she has one pill left of the antibiotics and she's a playful, 12-year old puppy.  She seems to enjoy Bill being home so much, she is really crazy about him and it's funny.  We made tacos for dinner tonight.  Maggie spent the entire time we were cooking sprawled out on her belly, watching every move we made.  Piglet!

Hancock Fabrics announced last week that they are closing.  The entire chain.  There are two in Tulsa.  Otter heard about it and told me, then we went into Tulsa on Monday and went to one of them.  I found a little fabric and two crochet pattern books.  Otter bought fabric as well, and then as many patterns as she could carry!  Ok, she didn't buy quite that many patterns.  :)  But she bought several.  We are going to the other store sometime in the next few days.  They have always had a nice yarn department.  They don't have a lot and the brands that they have are fairly common at other stores.  But they usually have colors that are harder to find.  I had intended to look for yarn (Bill - hush!) but the yarn was consolidated down to one small aisle and it was basically all tossed together.  I took one step and could hardly breathe plus I was one big itchy, watery-eyed mess because of the wool and my allergy to it.  I looked at a couple of skeins but it was all piled together and just touching a non-wool skein made my skin start to react badly because it had been squashed into a bin with the wool yarn.  I'm hoping that the other store is a little better as far as their yarn department goes.

However, I am not allergic to this:

And that is a Very Good Thing.

Those are this year's crop in my front yard.  The whiskey barrel had somewhere around 30 babies come up in it.  Probably not all of them survived, but most of them seem to.  And they are ALL blooming.  Plus there are about 8 plants outside of the whiskey barrel in the yard itself and they are blooming!  The scent is heavenly!  They smell like Home.  It's very strong and the honeybees are very happy.  They are such a deep blue and we are really enjoying them.

It's a TEXAS tradition to take pictures of your children and/or pets with bluebonnets and we missed out on that when Otter was little.  But we have pictures taken from a couple of years ago of Otter with our 'bonnets and then I took some more of her last week.  I'm not posting them because her face is visible, but the pictures turned out very well.  After all, she is a TEXAN and they are bluebonnets.  The fact that they are in NE Oklahoma doesn't matter a bit.

It's just our own, special little corner of TEXAS.

Rambling

Just normal stuff going on around here. Mostly.

Today is National Puppy Day.  That means Maggie Moo pictures!

And, since he will always be my puppy:

Can't believe it's been nearly a year already.  Miss this boy!

It's been extremely windy the last few days, but that is normal for this time of year.  So far, the broken limbs are still in the tree but at least one of them has moved a little.  It's not a huge limb, but there is one piece in particular that is very big although it's not broken off completely.

I put my yarn pieces out for the birds last weekend.  I also discovered a nest being built inside Otter's trellis.  Not sure what kind of birds though.  We are trying to avoid getting anywhere near the trellis.

And, since it's spring and the bugs are out:

I saw the first one at work yesterday!  INSIDE THE OFFICE.  I was standing in the kitchen area when it came from somewhere behind me (which means from inside.  Again) and crashed into the kitchen window.  It was probably trying to get out.  I eventually got it on the end of the broom, then I slowly and carefully took it outside.  And then I crushed it into a million billion pieces.

Hate those things!

Honeybees, now they are welcome.  They have plenty of bluebonnet blossoms to visit!  The redbud has lot of blooms left although some are beginning to blow off and I've seen a few leaves on the tree.  But I did see at least one honeybee on it as well.

Otter goes back to the dentist tomorrow for the 2nd of 4 visits.  I'll bring her back home afterwards, she'll probably get as far as my couch and then she'll sleep for a couple of hours.  She asked me if I would make potato soup tomorrow, of course I said yes.

More later!

Trying...

to get back in the swing of things as far as blogging goes!

Maggie Moo, however, has never changed her routine of sleeping as much as she can.  We've been leaving her in the house all the time for a few months, we used to put her and Frasier out in the garage on the days we were not home all day.  They had a dog door to the back yard, water in the garage and outside and also a mat to lay on so they weren't exactly being left in the garage for hours on end!  But a few months back, we decided to try leaving Maggie Moo inside while we were gone since we realized that a lot of the leaky issues were quite possibly Frasier's age creeping up on him.  Maggie did still have a few accidents and may still, she is a dog after all and is about 12 years old herself.  But she seemed to be mostly having her accidents in the spots where Frasier had his and we think she was probably drawn to the smell.  So, we got out the carpet cleaner and hit a lot of places and then we started leaving her in for short spells of a couple of hours.  Then when she seemed to be doing ok, and it was becoming winter (well, the calendar said so anyway), we started just leaving her indoors and she seems to do fine.  She probably sleeps a lot!  She has plenty of places to sleep, she has her food and water plus the dog doors so she can go outside when she needs to.  Although at the moment, she is sprawled across one of her beds, a pillow and two of her blankets - snoozing!

My redbud tree in the back yard is pink all over!  It's really pretty and I'm enjoying it.  Not that the outside is being kind to me at the moment - it's going to be a B.A.D. year as far as allergies are concerned.  Thanks mostly to the non-winter!  Even though we did not plant tulips last fall, we have a few coming up in the tulip bed.  The last time we planted was Fall 2014 and some of the bulbs were 2-year bulbs.  The daffodils have already started coming up and some have bloomed.

But we have something else starting to bloom.  Something very special:

The whiskey barrel is overflowing with them and there are several plants sprouting around the whiskey barrel.  The buds are beginning to open.

Yes, I do think Otter was right:  The Teenager has been talking to them!

One Down, Two to Go

To be ready for Winter.  Well, what the Borg Queen considers ready although the non-assimilated would probably consider it being over-prepared!

Actually, I just went to wallyworld and bought 40 pounds of birdseed plus an 8-pack box of suet cakes.  Big, exciting trip, huh?!

(The other 2 things are more filters for the humidifiers and firewood, in case you are wondering.)  :)

Remember these?:

This picture is from this past Spring.  It's the whiskey barrel planter that my mailbox post is in.  After all the blooms died and went to seed, I harvested the seeds and they are waiting in a bag in the kitchen until I find an appropriate place to plant them.  But apparently, the seed pods had already started dropping seeds - I was pretty sure they had.  I was right.  At last count, there are over 30 baby blues springing up!  I'm going to attempt to transplant some of them when they get just a little bigger.  The Teenager was very much a TEXAN and he loved them as much as the rest of Us did/do.  He was overjoyed when I told him I'd share my bluebonnet seeds with the hope that they would grow next Spring.  I kind of knew then that he would no longer be with us, just one of what we call "my feelings" and I was right.  But I still intend to have bluebonnets at the office, even if it's in his memory.  I told Younger Boss about my baby blues and he really wants them as well - so I'm going to transplant some of the current crop and see if they survive.  I have grown them in pots before, they get tall and not wide like they should but they still smell heavenly.  I'm probably going to plant seeds as well.  I'm still just astounded at the number of them that have come up.  I've had them come up at odd times of the year, but never this many!

In case I don't blog tomorrow:

A Three Hour Tour...

Name that tune!

OK, the point of this has nothing to do with the theme song to Gilligan's Island.  :)

Thursday when I got home, there was a hanger on the front door from the electric company.  We were dealing with Frasier and frankly, the electric company was the last thing I was concerned with at that point in time.  They said that they needed to get into my yard for something and I did call the number to arrange them to come out today when Otter could be here, but other than that I didn't have any interest in anything they needed.  They were supposed to be out here at 8:00 a.m. today.  They were needing to get to just a small part of my yard, to dig up an area and re-run some cable - or maybe run in new cable to either the next door neighbor or one of the neighbors behind us.  Or at least that is what it sounded like on the very bad connection I had when I called the number on the door hanger.  Because of a past issue with them leaving the gate open and Maggie getting out, we do not let anyone have access to our yard unless we are here at the time.  And they know it!

Otter got here about 7:00 this morning, she dozed on the couch until I woke her up at 7:30 to let her know I was leaving.  She called me about 8:10 or so to let me know that they were here and that she'd blocked Maggie Moo in.  Otter also mentioned that it took a while to convince him that yes, she is an adult and could let him in the yard!  I told her she should just get her driver's license and glue it to her forehead!  She called me back shortly after that to let me know that the (one and only) guy on the digger had come to the door to tell her that he'd cut the phone line accidentally.  He told her that he would call the phone company himself.  About 11:30, he was still digging and that's when I decided I'd better head on home.  I ran by Sonic to get lunch for Otter, and I was home just as the digger operator was walking back to his truck.  He said that he had called the phone company and told them that the homeowner was livid, so they'd better get out here on the double.  Which is funny, because most of the time I have to deal with the phone company I am livid! :)  I told him that, and why, and also that the joke about Redhead tempers (especially on Redhead Women) is not exactly a lie.

I asked him how many of my crepe myrtles they were going to have to replace and he said that he'd made sure to dig the trench well out of range of them.  He said he knew how mad his mama would be at her plants being destroyed, so he always tries to avoid them if it's at all possible.  He also said that they will lay strips of sod over any exposed dirt areas when they are through.

Otter hung around for a while so we could visit, and she could also spend a little more time with a certain beaglebrat.  She gave the dog a short walk to visit the grass in the front yard, then she headed home after that.  The telephone company crew showed up somewhere in that time frame, and so did about 3 other electric company employees.  I let Maggie out later on, she wasn't really sure about going out in the yard with all those people out there - which is unusual for her, but she's still obviously adjusting to being an Only Dog.  The 2nd time I got her out there, she was much more relaxed and did what she was supposed to do.  I talked to the crew at that point and they were working pretty steadily.  In fact, the only time that they weren't working was when they went on their lunch break.  When Bill got home, he went out to talk to them and they were pretty much done by that point - at least three of them were using shovels to cover the trench back up by hand.  It turns out that the man on the digger was actually the supervisor, and he was working along side the crew which is unusual.  They didn't quite get finished, there is one spot in the corner where they have to do something else involving cables and they will come out tomorrow.  I set up a specific time so that I can be here.

The three hour estimate lasted from 8:10 this morning until shortly before 5:00 this afternoon!

Does this look like a small spot in the corner of the yard to you?  It sure doesn't to me!

The pictures were all taken from inside the dining room and living room windows.

I did upload my pictures of Frasier from last Thursday, I took them when I got home about 3:15 before the vet visit.  I don't think I'm going to post them.  They are not bad, he looks happy in a couple of them but they are very hard for me to look at still.  In most of them, I can tell that he was not feeling 100%.  I may eventually change my mind, but not right now.  We're still adjusting ourselves and it's slowly getting better, but he was very much part of the family and it's been tough.

The hummingbirds are here!  Bill saw two of them this afternoon, one flew out of the trellis where the honeysuckle is and the other one was flying up into the tree at the same time.  It's rainy and cool, so I was kind of surprised that they were here already but I'm happy that they are.

This also makes us happy!  I took this a few days ago, there are even more buds and blooms now.  The scent is so strong, it's almost intoxicating.

After 22 Years...

You would think I would have learned by now.

As soon as I declare a season change, especially if it's changing from Winter to Spring, it gets cold again!  And wet, it's been raining since sometime last night and we turned the heater back on.

I'm not switching quilts again, however!

The benefit to the cooler weather is that all the wicked little stingy-ended bugs are staying on their nests and it's easier to spray them.  Bill killed three nests tonight, all on the house and all near doors.  Two were yellow jackets and one was a wasp.  Indications are that it's going to be a bad year for the evil things.

(This one is borderline on what I usually post as far as language goes, but the one non-family friendly word is actually slang and is not quite impolite enough to worry about it.  Besides, it pretty much all true!)

Two of my favorites, pitties and blues!  And Bruno has good taste, bluebonnets smell heavenly.  He's a pretty smart puppy, obviously.

This little goofball, on the other hand...  When I got home, she was out in the garage.  Behind the tall boxes that block them off from parts of the garage we don't want them in.  And she was stuck!  Stuck as in lost, because she couldn't figure out how to get out - by going back the way she came!  As in back around the end of the shelf and back up to the front of the garage where she'd pushed a box out of the way.  Goofy little thing, that's for sure.  Sweet but still a goofball!

Renewed

My TEXAN soul has been renewed.

(Taken this morning, April 8, 2015.  In my front yard).

Reprieve?

Maybe.

 

We are supposed to get a hard freeze tonight.  Well, technically it will be at 2:00 in the morning.  Yes, it is April.

 

First order of business is to hunt down that dang groundhog!  Then we're going to eat him.  I have an industrial-sized container of picante sauce and several shish-ka-bob sticks ready to be deployed at a moment's notice.  It snowed today!  I saw it and so did a lot of other people.  It was rainy and misty, in the 30's most of the day and then the flurries around noon.

 

The benefit to the unusual cold and the freeze is that we will have at least 24 hours, possibly as long as 48 hours, WITH NO POLLEN.  Because it will all be deaddeaddead.  Nobody is going to complain about that, I hope.  Otter certainly won't be griping.

 

Of course, the first bluebonnet bud picked Saturday to start developing.  But they are hardier than we thought, so maybe it will make it.  The plants have frozen before and have come through unscathed so I'm hopeful.  The tulips will be fine - they are absolutely gorgeous this year.  All our hard work in bed prep and digging to bury the bulbs has paid off.  They are spectacular.  We have pictures, but I keep forgetting to get them from Otter's camera to post.

 

We're going to be on our own for Easter this year.  We're going to have the "traditional" meal **fixins:  ham, Bill's world-famous mashed potatoes, brown gravy (yes, I use Pioneer brand instant - I didn't get the gravy making gene from Mom), green bean casserole, rolls or possibly I might make bread, and apple pie (Mrs. Smith's brand frozen but it's one of the good ones and I bought cool whip!)**

 

Texan language translation:  Cool Whip is what it's all called, no matter the brand. Just like all tissues are Kleenex, all sodas are Coke, and we should all know by now what Fixins means!

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!

Signs of Spring

OK, so it's not officially Spring for a few more days.  But today was a beautiful day and very much "Spring."

 

The birds seem to agree.  I saw robins gathering nesting material.  Time to get my yarn scraps out!  I have a Ziploc sandwich bag full of bits and pieces of yarn from assorted projects from the Fall and Winter.  It's short pieces, but some of them may need to be cut shorter.  Also, some of them may be pulled apart into several strands.  Then it gets spread out all over the yard and the birds grab it for nesting material.  I also head several mockingbirds.

 

The tulips are coming up!  There are a bunch of them, I forget how many we planted but Otter thinks it was over 100.  It's on the blog somewhere, it would be in an entry from last Fall.

 

We watered the tulip bed, the baby blue in the whiskey barrel, both elm trees and the mimosa tree.  We're using water from the 2nd rain barrel.  When that barrel froze (several times) it bulged out on the sides and bottom which made it heavy.  The ground was soft and the weight of a frozen rain barrel made the stand it was on settle a bit, but it settled unevenly and the rain barrel is not level anymore.  It's also just barely underneath the drain spout.  It's going to have to be taken down from the stand and then the ground underneath where it sits will need to be re-leveled.  The rain barrel needs to be empty or close to empty to be able to take it off the stand.  We really don't want to waste the water, so we've been using it when we need to water anything. Otter saw a tiny spider climbing up the side of the stand the rain barrel sits on.  I've seen a few other misc. bugs.

 

I think the dogsters are also enjoying the nice weather.  They've been very playful, especially Magginator.  Frasier is very happy and bouncy, and very affectionate.  They both got some outside time in the back yard this afternoon when we were getting the water.  Maggie did NOT get under the shed this time.  However, she did spend a lot of time tracking something around the area in front of the shed.  Frasier was also tracking something, but he was closer to the fence at the front of the yard and he kept going back and forth.  I'm thinking cat!

 

Dog's Beffday is Wednesday.  In honor of Mom and her love of/for animals, which she taught to her children and grandchildren.  I'm thinking we're going to make homemade ice cream (for us) to remember Mom by.  The dogs will get milkbones!  They probably already think they had their Beffday feast - I made a salad for dinner tonight and they went nutso the second they realized that the lettuce container was out of the fridge.  They got a bite or two each, and they also got a small piece of carrot each.  They were all sorts of happy!

2013 Review. It Was a Busy Year!

It was a very busy year, for all of us.  So, here goes:

January

I had the flu.  Even after a flu shot!  It was so light that I didn't realize it in time to get a prescription for Tamiflu.  It still wasn't fun.

Otter decided not to continue with college at this time.  She almost didn't go back in the summer of 2012, but decided to give it one more semester to be sure.  She made the decision on her own and we supported it, given her reasons.  She decided it was time to start looking for a job.

I reorganized my stash closet.  Which has now outgrown the closet!

First flat tire of the year.  Caused by a WOOD SCREW.

I crocheted a lot.

Second flat tire.  SAME REASON AS THE FIRST ONE.

We celebrated our 28th Wedding Anniversary.

I discovered (the hard way!) that I'm allergic to Acai.

Bill followed by lead by coming down with the flu himself. But he never got the flu shot, so it wasn't a surprise.

February

It was a short month, but it was busy.

The daffodils came up and brought a few tulips along for company.

Otter got a job!  At a party store, where she discovered that she absolutely hates to inflate helium balloons.  :)

I made a few scarves for the local yarn store which was collecting them for Tulsa police officers.

I discovered that a bird's nest from last year had an interesting construction supply:  YARN!

It snowed, a couple of times.

The last book by the great Maeve Binchey was released.  I got my copy immediately.  I didn't want it to end.

We had a snow/thunderstorm and also sleet and hail - all in one storm.

It was the 20th year of our move from TEXAS.

March

Otter got her first paycheck!  She bought me candy and bought dinner for Bill at Dairy Queen to celebrate.

Bill discovered his driver's license had expired - several days after the fact.

Otter was sick, we thought it was strep but that was ruled out after the test for it.  Although the doctor thought it was, until he got the results back.

I got my new glasses.

I got a lot done on the afghan.

Bill got tires on the El Camino.

He also got 16 pachinko machines in a single transaction, a local-ish collector sold his entire collection.

Otter saw her allergist, she got a terrific report.

I got my driver's license renewed, but I was on time with mine.

We had a severe rain storm. It was B.A.D. and I was on the road at the time, Otter worked late and I picked her up.  We should NOT have been on the road, but nobody knew it would be as bad as it was until it happened.

Otter turned 21!  We had a small party with her local grandparents, which was exactly what she wanted and it was a lot of fun.  She celebrated with her first official "legal" drink:  Champagne!

Easter. Which also as Otter's birthday.

April

I got a dishwasher!  It was one that Sweetie didn't need any longer, as she was re-doing her kitchen.  It works and we are glad.  Especially Otter!

We got the first hint from Bill in SA that he might be thinking of selling out his (huge) pachinko collection.

The bluebonnets showed up!  And they kept coming up.

I made two scarf/hat combos for a lady Bill works with.

The first of the Spring Storms, this one went north of us.

But the storm the next morning was tornadic! And it was also just a couple of miles from us.  It took out the roof of a house but nobody was hurt.

I accidentally gave myself a mild concussion, by hitting my head on the corner of the washing machine when I was attempting to get something out of the dryer.

Finally, after 21 years, I got to take the traditional Texas "child in the bluebonnets" picture!  Of course, the child in question had just turned 21 and the bluebonnets were in my front yard in Oklahoma!

We ordered new computers.

May

We had sleet.  In May!

We found out some unpleasant facts about Frasier's life before he came to us, and how badly he was taken care of by the so-called rescue group that had him.  A lot of their dogs didn't live.

Mother's Day.

Nana came to see us for Mother's Day weekend. :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

(the dashes are courtesy of a very large, furry dog who leaned on the keyboard).

The first spoilers were released about a certain movie that made the BorgQueen (and most of the drones across the UNIVERSE) very unhappy.

On the 20th, we all got a reminder of what exactly "tornado alley" really means.  It was not good, the worst was in Moore and the OK City area but we got a series of bad storms.  Many deaths, including many precious children at an elementary school that was destroyed.

On the 30th, the storms were even closer but the Tulsa area was spared.  At first.  At 8:45 that evening, the sirens went off and they were for our area.  It was very close, but not directly in our area although it was within just a few miles.  No injuries, but lots of damage.

June

Bill turned 52!  We celebrated by having dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then by coming home and trimming tree limbs that were in our yard courtesy of a storm with lots of wind.

More bluebonnets!

I nearly got speared by a dive-bombing hummingbird!

Froggy's sweet doggie, Cookie, went to the Rainbow Bridge. :(

We saw the Memphis Belle!

Construction started on the house directly behind us.

There was a water main break in our small town.  We had enough warning to get water into every available container so we were ok, but it lasted a few days and wasn't pleasant.

Father's Day!  We made a pineapple upside down cake for Billyboy.

Hailstorm, tree damage.

The rain barrel overflowed.

Bill started working on shelf plans for the pachinko machines.

July

Vacation!

We mostly spent the week off working on the shelves Bill came up with for the pachinko machines.

Otter and I did escape a bit, we went to a local acquarium and to a nearby town for shopping.

July 4th was celebrated with burgers and dogs grilled by Billyboy.  They were good.

Spectacular news at work, I got a humoungous raise.  I was very surprised.

We had another storm, lots of wind and lots of tree damage.  Our gate was blown open and part of it broke off - which we didn't find out until after the dogs had been out in the back for a long time.  We were without power for a few hours, but parts of Tulsa were in the ark for a day or so.

We saw bats!

I had a few asthma issues, due to the wind.

August

Otter went off for a weekend, she went to a cosplay convention and had a great time.  She worked on her costumes for days beforehand.ma

The annual sales-tax free weekend occurred.  Now that I don't have to buy school clothes, I didn't need all that much.

Otter decided it was time to look for a better job.  One where she wasn't obviously, extremely taken advantage of because she is a hard worker and dependable.

Mosquitos!  We eventually figured out that we were growing our own, in a plant that we were rooting in water.

We got a 2nd rain barrel.

The builder behind us realized that the fence was in the wrong spot. They decided that it had to be moved a couple of feet into our yard.  We didn't protest, it wasn't a big deal.

Bill (finally, after literally months of arguing, resisting, threats, etc.) decided it was time to see the dermatologist about the spot on his nose.  The first attempt did not get it all.

We got the trellises put in place behind the house and the 2nd rain barrel hooked up.

The dermatologist had (another!) lesson in the care of Redheads.  Specifically, the part about how much we bleed!  Bill had several days of sleeping sitting up on the couch, not being able to do much of anything and being grouchy!  But I would have been grouchy, too - 18 stitches!

September

We got our flu shots.  Well, Bill didn't.  But I did and so did Otter.

Otter was offered a new job and she took it.  Much better environment, better pay, better hours, better future...

For a week, she worked both jobs.

I made several baby caps for a local charity.

Dead battery in my car.  It was still under the warranty so we got a break on the price.

The world had a Star Trek Moment!  V'Ger left the solar system.

We got new cell phones and switched companies.

We wore out the Ice Tea Maker we'd had since before Otter was born!

The bats were back, they hung out on the front porch around the light.  They were happy bats, but I don't think the bugs were happy!

Bill is SA finally decided to sell his entire inventory of pachinko machines.

October

Bill went to SA to get the inventory from Bill in SA.  Well over 100 machines.  The shed is packed to the gills and beyond.

I finally finished the afghan!  The one I started a few years back.

Bill got the first of several truck loads of firewood.  And several more.

TEXAS BEAT THE STUFFING OUT OF ou.  36 - 20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a bug that I thought might be the flu at first, but I don't think it actually was.

The cars were frosted for the first time one morning.

Found a coffee table at a local "garage sale" store.

The driver's side window in the El Camino messed up.  Bill had to block it in place.  It's still blocked as of 1/1/14 because he can't find the replacement part anywhere.  For a 1976 vehicle.

I had another screw in a tire.

November

I had to get a new ATM card, the bank notified me in October that my card might have been among a group that was hacked.  Nothing funny in our account.

First of several mice in the house.

We got the tulip bed planted.  Around 100 bulbs.

I went to Otter's store and bought a magnetic tool to use in the driveway.  I found lots of screws, nails, misc. metal pieces that have more than a passing resemblance to pachinko parts!  Bill claims to have no knowledge about how it all got there.

We got the first freeze of the season.

Bill got a chain saw sharpener!  No injuries, though.  Which is a very good thing, with Bill it's almost a given that he'll hurt himself.

The vet put Frasier on antibiotics, they did seem to help his deadly breath issue.

Otter got good news at work.

We had our first winter storm, the roads were ok but it was very cold.

Chevy diagnosed a minor oil leak in my car.

For the third or fourth time this year, the phone company had to come out and fix our phone lines.

December

I had another "flu-like" bug, but it was not the flu.  Just a bug!

It turned out that it was a very good thing that we spent a week in July working on a shelf system for the pachinko machines in the garage.  Because our hot water heater failed!  Major leak, water all over the place.  But the bulk of the machines were up out of the way.

The first ice storm of the month started the afternoon of the day we had to get a new hot water heater.

Snow.  Ice.  Cold.  We were very glad that Bill got so much firewood.

My (new) debit card was used at Target during the period of time that they were hacked.  I got another one issued at the bank.  Infuriating.

The neighbor behind us has two dogs.  We think that they might be doxies.  Frasier and Maggie seem happy to have friends to talk to!

More rain and sleet!  The ground is very soft from all the moles we have to deal with, the rain didn't help.  I stepped through the ground up to my ankle!

Because of the soft ground, the shed settled a bit.  I'm sure the overload of pachinko machines had a lot to do with it.  Maggie Boo got stuck under the shed!

Vacation!

Christmas!  We had a nice day, Grandpa and Sweetie came over for the annual Bill Breakfast.

Motorcycle Day!  I turned 52.  We went shopping.  All day long.  I found a few Fenton pieces.

Maggie Moo got out of the back yard.  There is a small spot where the gate had a gap which is from the storm in the summer when it was blown open.  We didn't realize it was there.  But Maggie did!  She didn't go far and she came back when I called her.

 

2013 was a busy year.  I managed to get quite a few crochet projects done.  I acquired a few Fenton pieces, some of them fairly rare.  Otter turned 21.  We didn't take any trips, other than a couple of nearby towns for a few hours of shopping.  We had visits from family and that is always enjoyable.  I had 4 migraines this year, some of them were stress-related and happened around the time of Billyboy's skin cancer surgery.

 

Happy New Year to everybody, and may 2014 be a good year!

Dirty Jobs

Or job singular, to be exact.  Otter and I got out to the tulip bed and basically stirred the dirt.  There is some evidence of a mole trail, after we treated it.  We're probably going to plant the tulip bulbs next week and we will treat it then.  Then, we'll leave it to sit and hopefully we'll see tulips next spring.

 

I also came across my bluebonnet seeds, the ones I harvested from this year's crop.  I'm going to see about planting a few of them in the whiskey barrel - although I have a baby blue already sprouting.

 

The humming bird feeders came in yesterday and I washed them this morning.  They are now put away until next spring.  I need to get my seed feeders ready, I don't think I need to replace any of them this year.

 

We have a good chance of rain, it's expected to start after midnight.  It could continue through Thursday morning.

 

Real exciting, huh!?

Lasagne is in the Oven!

And we will eat in about an hour and a half.  More or less, we're also having garlic toast with it.  Texas Toast Garlic Toast made by New York company.  Anybody else having a TEXAN moment?  (New York City!?)

 

It's rainy.  It's cold.  It could well freeze tonight in areas to the north of us.  I have 3 baby blues coming up in the whiskey barrel, so it's about time for a freeze. :(  Although they might be able to handle it, they have come up in December before and then hung on until April or May and then still managed to bloom.  The cold weather means that the tulips will be planted soon.  We're going to get out and work on the bed again Sunday, turn the dirt and treat it again.  Then about a week later, more or less, the bulbs will be planted.  Then, it will be ignored again and left on it's own.  Until Spring!

 

Froggy, I don't usually feed the birds in the spring and summer and not always early Fall.  If I can see bugs, the birds can too.  Except for hummers, they get fed early spring until their migration in the Fall.  Which I think has already happened, I'll probably take my feeders down next week.  Then they'll get washed and put away for the winter.

 

Found out a new way to freak out the Otter today!  I ran several errands at lunch and I had to drive by her store.  I left her a package of peanut butter cookies in the car she drove, on the cup holder between the front seats.  With a note from me.  I get this slightly panicked phone call from her because she has gotten to the car (but not in it yet, smart girl) and she sees that there is something in the car that wasn't there when she got out of it when she got to work!  Geesh.  I had to explain to her that I knew about it already, eventually she figured it out but it took her a couple of minutes to re-adjust her thinking.  :)  She was not amused that I thought her unexpected reaction was funny, but she was thankful for the cookies.  Guess it's my fault that she's a tad bit on the paranoid side, but I have valid reasons for being that way myself and by association, so does she.  (My reasons are by necessity kept private but just accept that I have reasons and they are very good ones).  I guess she forgave me, because she called me from Wally to see if I needed her to pick anything up for me so I wouldn't have to stop on the way home myself.  But it was funny!  However, I'm also glad that she was aware of her surroundings and that she realized something was different - even though that was not my intention.

 

Tomorrow won't really be "cold" but it will be cool.  The morning might be cold.  I've got blankets ready to grab, I love to camp out on the couch on cold mornings with a blanket (and coffee!), and it's pretty much 100% guaranteed that I'll also have a foot warmer in the shape of a beagle.  And maybe even a chupacabra for company!  Dogs got their priorities straight, that's for sure.

Just Wednesday

It's just Wednesday.  Middle of the week.  Nothing spectacular.  But we did have a nice thunderstorm this morning.  Nice as in noisy and lots of rain, but no bad stuff.  Which would explain why my weathertoes were so painful last night.

 

Possible signs of the apocalypse:  We don't want to see the new ST movie.  But we do want to see the new Superman movie!  (What's wrong with this picture?)

 

Otter's off at her friend's house today, she left the house about 11:00.  About 5 minutes after that, the Fed-Ex guy called Bill to let him know that the delivery we expected was on the way - about 6 or 7 hours early!  I ran home at lunch and got there just before the Fed-Ex guy did.  It had to be signed for.  Maggie was funny, she sat where she could see the front door when I had it opened but she couldn't see around me.  She didn't move, but she leaned over as far as she could without falling over, just to see who was at the door.  She was nearly flat!  Frasier was his typical self - he was in Overprotective Mode, which is what usually happens when Bill is not where the dog can see him  especially if Bill's not home at all.  Frasier was very aware of the fact that there was someone here he didn't know, and he pretty much stayed between me and the Fed Ex guy and he (the dog) never took his eyes off the Fed Ex guy.  After the delivery guy left, Frasier very visibly relaxed and then he was his normal lazy self.

 

Strange things today:  I have more bluebonnet buds!  The plant in the whiskey barrel is budding again and they are beginning to bloom.  This never happens, they do NOT re-bloom and they never, ever are still blooming in June.  Ever.  Also, there is a mole in the whiskey barrel.  I was looking at the buds and noticed movement.  I looked closer and saw it emerging, it was still for a minute and then I guess I moved because my shadow crossed it and it zipped back down the hole it came out of.  I squished the hole opening down a bit, and it popped back up a couple of inches away.  I considered catching it, but I had my hands full with my purse, cell phone (I'd just texted a picture to Froggy of the new buds/blooms), and a couple of other things.  Then I realized that I didn't know what I'd do with it if I caught it, seeing as how I was in the front yard and both dogsters were in their yard.  Also, I didn't want to get bitten.  If I freed it, it would have just continued to burrow.  It didn't come back up again, so I squashed the 2nd hole sides in and pushed down what I could see of the raised trail.  Obviously, the whiskey barrel bottom has finally rotted away.  It's been there since I think the first spring after we moved in, so since 2005.  I can't remember if moles are the ones that eat the roots or if that's gophers and moles are the ones that eat the bugs around the roots of plants.  Either way, they kill the plants in the process.

 

I've been watching the new cooking show that has Jeff Foxworthy as one of the judges.  It's so funny.  He's really gifted, he's a Southerner so we have a lot of the same humor.  Bill Engvall is a TEXAN, so we like him better, but Foxworthy is really good.  The cooking is a lot more down to earth and less "frou-frou" as Billyboy would say!  Only problem with tonight's show is that we had a very light dinner and now I'm hungry!

 

Maybe I'll find something to eat after Mythbusters.  We haven't seen too much of the last couple of seasons, we were thinking that maybe they'd done everything possible.  We'll see, I guess.

Foundations

Well, it was nice while it lasted.  Not having neighbors behind us, I mean.  The foundation was poured for the house directly behind us today.  The houses back there come up fast, so it will probably just be a few days until it's built.  Depending on weather.

 

Last Friday's tornado was the biggest one ever recorded.  2.6 miles across.  I can't even begin to imagine that.  It was also an EF5, which is probably no surprise.  We were never in any danger from it, it was so far west of us and a little too far north to have come through here.  But it was devastating for the people in the area. 

 

Three storm chasers were killed.  These were professionals and they got caught in it.  There was a weather channel employee who (in my opinion) thought he was smarter than he was and that he could do what he told people not to do.  His car was damaged and he was hurt.  It was probably just a matter of time until a chaser got caught.  I'm surprised that it hasn't happened before this, and that it hasn't been one of the many, many unsmart people who seem to suddenly appear out of nowhere just to chase tornados - most of which are not professional.  The last couple of years, there has been a lot of stuff on the news where the meteorologists have actually told the non-professionals not to be out on the roads, searching.  For one thing, they just add to the traffic congestion and they endanger many people.

 

The tornado that went through our area last week wasn't as close as we thought.  The weather guy on the tv station apparently didn't know this area.  It was in our town, but not close enough to our house to have been a problem for us.  He didn't know the street names and was just calling out the name of any landmark he could think of.  He was just trying to warn people about the unexpected tornado that just suddenly popped up, but it kind of backfired.  It was also downgraded to an EF2 from an EF3.

 

We had thunderstorms early this morning, which is probably why my weathertoes were hurting last night.  To the point that they kept me awake.  We didn't have anything bad, just noisy.  It was a little rainy until mid-morning and a bit windy.  Then, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  Which means humid!  It was hard to even breathe outside.  We could get more rain tonight as well as off and on the next couple of days.  Probably not anything bad, just rain.  It's been a wet spring.

 

I have another bluebonnet blossom!  It's on the plant that I left in the whiskey barrel.  Amazing.  Fun!

I Guess! it's Just Sunday?

Can't think of a good title.  That's probably pretty obvious! :)

 

I think that we just might have the goosiest dog on the planet.  In the form of a beagle, specifically.  Maggie likes bugs.  She likes to eat them.  She sometimes catches flies out of the air.  But when she doesn't catch them, it confuses her.  To the point of cowering in terror sometimes.  That's what she's been doing today.  She couldn't get the fly, so she spent hours trying to hide behind my legs while I was sitting on the couch, and at one point I think she tried to actually get under the couch.  She eventually fell asleep and I guess she forgot about the fly after that, because she was back to being her normal silly self.  But she is a goofy, goosey dog.

 

Frasier isn't being ignored.  He's actually in a bit of disgrace.  Otter caught him chewing something and it turned out to be a small piece of plastic - from a pachinko machine.  But I have to state for the record that his habits are well known, and I've been warning Bill that he was asking for trouble by leaving stuff within reach of the dog.  Especially if he left it on the floor, which is what he did this time.

 

I put my hummingbird feeders out yesterday.  I thought I saw something tiny flying by the other day but then I never saw it again so I decided that I'd seen something else.  But apparently it was a hummer.  Because I saw a female on one of the feeders about half an hour after I put them out.  I also saw an oriole, it couldn't quite figure out the new feeders so I put the old one out that the orioles always liked.  I haven't seen the oriole again, but it's probably still out there.  At this point, I've only seen a female hummer and it's probably the same one.  But there will be more, in all probability.

 

I'm going to harvest seeds from the bluebonnets tomorrow.  They could probably stand a few more days, but Bill wants to mow and since there are no more blooms to speak of he's wanting to just mow it all down.  So I'll get the seed pods in the morning, he promises to wait for me to get them all before he mows.  I also weeded the rock garden this afternoon, I'm already feeling allergy related issues due to that.  But it needed to be done, the morning glories were taking over.  There was also a lot of clover, no telling where that came from.  I pulled most of it up as well.

 

I'm off from work tomorrow, Bill has tomorrow as a holiday also and then he's taking some of his vacation/comp time and will be off all week.  Otter has to work tomorrow.  We aren't doing anything big for Memorial Day.  Sometimes we grill, but I'm making tacos for dinner tomorrow night.  No particular reason, other than that we just like them.

 

Guess that's it for now.  Not an exciting weekend, obviously!  But that's ok, it was a stressful week and I'm not complaining. 

Enough Already!

It's late April.  And we have a freeze warning for tonight!

Where's that groundhog?  He's got some 'splainin to do!

Our high for the day was around 51 and we hit it before dawn.  It's been on the low 40's all day and now I think it's probably in the high 30's.  Not going outside again tonight, it's not icy but it is plenty cold.  Which is why we took the bluebonnet pictures yesterday, by the way.  They might be ok, they are hardier than people think.  But we'll see what happens.  Mama robin on the back porch will probably be ok, her nest is up in a very safe spot.  It's not going to be a long cold snap anyway.

I'm having email issues.  I don't know what the problem is.  I can receive email, but it's not letting me send any.  I was able to send a couple test messages to Bill's email addresses and they worked.  That was last night.  Since then, I'm not able to send anything out.  Bill is going to see what he can figure out, but he hasn't had much time yet.

On a better note, my headache has finally gone away.  Mostly.  The headache that I've had since Sunday, when I actually gave myself a mild concussion.  I didn't realize it until yesterday, but I had all the symptoms of a mild one and the headache is the biggest complaint.  At this point, the doctor doesn't need to see me.  I just have to watch out for certain symptoms, but I'm on the mend already.  I should have figured it out, the headache that goes with a concussion is not like any other type of headache out there.  And, being a migraine sufferer, I do know headaches!  There are a few other symptoms, and I've had a couple of them but I'm not worried.  My bruised spot is actually barely visible, which is good because we al lthought I was in for a major league shiner!  (Had one of those before, too.)

Otter and I got to do something today that we haven't been able to do for weeks.  We went thrifting!  After everybody got home from work, we went to two thrift stores.  I didn't find anything, but Otter did.  Poor Bill, he had to wait for us to get back before he could get supper!  He didn't starve, in case you are wondering - the small amount of junk food we have on hand has been reduced in content.  I think I might know where it went, and the dogs aren't the culprit this time.  :)

We Got the Blues!

And they are all over our front yard!

We couldn't be happier about it.

Those are my legs in the background, so this must be one that Otter took.  This is from a few days ago, when most of them were still in the early bud stage but this one was one of the first to open.  It's also one of the plants that originall broke through the ground months ago, and we didn't expect it to make it by virtue of the fact that it was still winter.  They are apparently much more cold-resistant than we thought, because we've had enough freezes and some of them have been hard freezes.  But they are still there and they are thriving!

These are one of the plants in the yard itself.

This one is in the whiskey barrel and is the same bloom as in the first picture.  Just a few days later.  Also, there is another opening bud that is visible but slightly blurry in this picture.

There are some alien invaders with this, some type of weed.  But I didn't want to pull it out and risk the bonnet.  I think that might be my shadow.

This one is also in the yard.

They smell heavenly!  Like Home.  Also, they do not set my allergies off.  At all.  Which probably wouldn't matter, I'd put up with it happily!

As far as anyone taking one, they should know better.  Because in all probability, they are a TEXAN.  And, even if it weren't immoral to pluck one, it was from someone else's yard (mine!) and that alone should have been enough.  It's actually illegal to pluck/pick/damage/kill/etc. the plants, if you happen to be in the state of TEXAS.  It's also just plain wrong to take something that is not yours.

We're just glad that we have them, and that they have naturalized as well as they obviously have.  They make us very happy, in case that is not already obvious.

We're taking over, OK just hasn't quite figured it out yet.  :)

OK, Froggy.  You asked about the bumper sticker.  Here's the first one:

C O E X I S T are the letters.  It means that we are all supposed to get along, but it is frequently mis-used and the reason that the Cross is last is not "just" because it's the letter T.  It was originally meant to be just the last letter, but (at least here) it is used to mean that Christianity is supposed to be last and least important.  There is actually a school of thought that says that we are not supposed to get along, but I don't necessarily agree.  I do think we should get along.  But that does not, and never will, mean that we have to condone other faith choices.  It just means that we should treat each other nicely and recognize that we do have differences in our faith choice, but not that we as Christians have to cower to other religions.  But that is the way that I've seen this mis-used.

The other one, the one we like and I posted the other day:

They are all gun manufacturer logos.  Like I said before, we are a Second Amendment supporting family!

I'm not sure if I'm still a knothead or not.  It's still very tender but I think that the knot/swelling is gone now.  It's bruising slightly, but not as bad as we thought it would.  But it does hurt when I move my eyebrows.

These next three pictures were taken today.  Otter got these as we were coming back in from our bluebonnet photography session.

She was looking up at Otter, but then she looked down just as Otter pressed the button.

She looked up again, but she wasn't still.  However, I think this is cute.  It captures her Never-Still-Energizer-Beagle traits!  She looks a little derpy, in my opinion.

One of the few times he's been still long enough to actually get a picture!  If you look closely, you can tell that he only stopped moving because he ran into the beagle!

Knotheads

Dad had a phrase he used.  It was actually a name that he called people, but not derogatory.  He did it in a loving way, it was never mean or meant to be mean and it was usually accompanied by that cackle of his that I wish I could hear again.  Only certain people were called this, and they were generally family members or good friends.  The word?  Knothead!

Today, I am a Knothead.

Of course, I mean it in the literal sense and not like Dad would have.

Because I am now sporting a knot on my head.  Also known as a goose egg, but I prefer to use Dad's phrase.

What do you get when you cross reaching into the dryer for one last sock that is out of reach and over the open door of the dryer, long red hair that is in your face and the corner of the washing machine right next to the dryer?

You get a knot on your head, that's what.  In this case, it's on my left side just slightly center of the temple.  I did it before church this morning, so I had to sit through church with a nice, large red spot on my forehead.  I iced it when I first did it, and it did get smaller.  But now it's obvious that it's going to be a bruise.  And probably a big one!  Not surprising that I'm bruising, being a redhead.  We do bleed and we do bruise.  And because we are generally rather pale-skinned, bruises always look worse on us.  They don't take any longer to heal, but it appears that way because they are so much more visible.  I was already dealing with a sinus headache and it didn't help, plus the spot is very tender and I keep bumping it.

It's actually been that kind of day, I have lost track of how many times I've hurt myself today.  Aside from the knot on my head, I scraped my left elbow on the towel bar as I was walking into the bathroom (that was actually the first thing I did today.)  I stepped wrong walking out of church and it felt like I tried to separate bones in my left foot - something I did as a kid so I know what that feels like, although I didn't actually do it this time.  I banged my knuckles into the edge of the open trunk when I was getting something out of Bill's car.  I dropped a hand mirror which barely missed my foot.  (Not superstitious at all, but I didn't break the mirror.  Just the frame!)  And those are just the highlights!  Guess I've taken over for Willyboy in the unusual injuries department today, and I sincerely hope that it is only for today!  Not that I want him to hurt himself, by the way.

But I don't want to hurt myself, either!  (Otter, you are not allowed to get injured, either.)

On to other things.  Bluebonnets!  We have 10, yes TEN wild blues in the front yard!  There were actually 11, but one of them had an "accident."  It was in the whiskey barrel, as Otter and I were going somewhere one day last week we noticed a couple walking their dogs and it seemed like they stopped in front of our house.  We were down the street by then, but I stopped and watched them and then they moved on so we thought that the dogs had just stopped to water something.  But when we got home, I noticed that the front blue in the barrel was kind of wilty and then I looked closer.  Looks like they tried to take it out but then decided to just cut a couple of the bud stems off instead.  Which resulted in that plant's death and in all probability, they did not get blooms.  I'm strongly suspecting that they may be the same people who dug one up out of the front yard one time, and I'm watching very closely now.  If we see them again, I'm going to make a point of being out in the front yard and greeting them as they walk by.  Chances are, they are fellow TEXANS which infuriates me - TEXANS are better than that!  And I'd have willingly dug one of the plants up and given it to them.  There are at least two others TEXANS in the neighborhood behind us.

The point of all that is that we have blues and lots of them.  And they are blooming!  Otter's been taking pictures every so often and they will eventually get posted.  There's a TEXAN tradition.  We have a tendency to put our children in the middle of a field of bluebonnets and then take more pictures of said children and flowers than the law allows.  That has never been an option for us, seeing as how we live in Oklahoma.  Until now!  I don't care that she's an adult and not a child now, she is my child and we are TEXAN.  And we got blues!

(You can probably guess where this is going by now.)

We have finally, after 21 years, been able to take part in the Tradition!  Those pictures will not be posted here, since her face is in them.  But they will be sent to a couple of relatives.  I just glad we have the flowers, considering that the blues in the whiskey barrel came up last fall and shouldn't have survived.  But they have and judging from the number of blues in the yard itself, they are probably very naturalized now and we will most likely have them again.  Bill mowed the yard earlier, we marked where they are with plastic edging and he went around them.  Which is good, because Otter and I would probably have skinned him alive if he'd mowed them down!  So would Nana, by the way (his mom.)  But he's also a TEXAN and they are important to him as well.

We have a robin nesting on the back porch!  Same place as last year, up by the door.  Only this time, the nest did not get knocked down and torn apart by another bird.  Judging from the amount of time she spends on the next, there are probably eggs.  I don't know if the nest has yarn in it or not, I won't know that until well after the eggs have hatched and they have fledged.  But I did put quite a bit of yarn out this year and it has been used in the past.  So there have been multi-colored nests at our house and probably at a few others in the neighborhood as well.