It's Summer Alright

(Froggy, this is just for you.)

And the skeeters are out!

The recent wet weather just keeps giving ad giving.

Apparently, mosquito dunks are becoming the hot, gotta have item in parts of TEXAS and Oklahoma.

Can't say I'm surprised!

Mother's Day 2015

Happy Mother's Day!

My day has been a lot of fun.  Otter and J came over for breakfast, we had Monkey Bread and assorted fresh fruit.  They stayed for a couple of hours and we had a nice visit.  Otter gave me kitchen towels, which I needed badly.

Bill gave me a set of craft blades, similar to X-Acto knives but they came from the store Otter works at.  It was also something I needed, I originally wanted another cactus but then I realized that I needed the craft blades so I changed my gift request to that.  I actually went and got that one myself, because I had to pick out the specific set I wanted.

Bill and I went to a couple of thrift stores today.  This is what I bought at the first one, it was a grab  bag (clear plastic bags, not a mystery bag) and it was $6.98.  For all of this:

It's on the couch with a blanket for background, but it was a very full bag.  The next picture is what I actually bought the bag for:

Yarn spools!  8 regular ones and one larger one.  And for what is a ridiculously low price, especially considering everything else that was in the bag.  I've seen these priced (and selling for) for upwards of $5.00 each, sometimes more since they have thread on them and the bigger one would probably sell for more than the entire bag.

The tag says it's a handmade purse, silk fabric maybe.  I'm not sure if it's a keeper for something craft related or it it's going to be sold or re-donated.  It's sort of evening bag size.  I didn't even see it in the bag when I bought it, it was in the middle of everything else but I grabbed the bag as soon as I saw the yarn spools.

These are small hats, hand crocheted obviously.  I'm not sure if they are for dolls such as an 18" doll, or if they might be dog hats.  Because also in the bag were three dog outfits.  (The hats are probably for dolls.)

The orange and pink/blue one are obviously hand crocheted.  The pink one is Martha Stewart brand, which I think is really funny.  I did try it on Maggie Moo so I could text a picture to Otter, but it's wool and I didn't even have to look at the tag to figure that out because I started reacting to it as soon as it came into contact with my skin.  The dog clothes are all in the donate pile.

The blue fabric has a tag from when it was purchased originally, I think it was somewhere around $4.00.  The cotton collar is probably not new, but I don't think it's been worn before.  It's very clean and still has that "stiff" feeling.  Not sure if it's etsy, donate, if Otter wants it, or what.

This might be hand-knitted or it might have been done on a knitting machine, but it is homemade and not professionally done.  It's a vest with a sash.  I thought it was an uncompleted cardigan style sweater but the sleeve openings are too big.  It might fit Otter, for a size comparison - I don't think it's anything she would want, but I might well put it on her and have her model it for an etsy picture if I decide to sell it.  The final yarn ends are still attached but they are tied off.  It has a button on the bottom.  It's clean and there is no smell that I can tell.

Froggy, got any idea what these are?  They are obviously holders for "tape" or ribbon of some type and I think they are sewing related.  Possibly etsy bound as well, but maybe not.

There were a few other things, a bag of small safety pins and some misc. stuff.

The next two pictures are from the 2nd thrift store.

2 square doilies which were marked 49 cents each but then they turned out to be half price so they were 25 cents each.  There is also a very long table-runner size doily, I think it was 79 cents.  It has a couple of spots I need to mend slightly and it also has a reddish stain but I think it will come out.  All three are bound for my doily curtain.  The reddish crochet thing is a hanging towel, it has a granny square front and a backing crochet piece.  Not sure if I'm going to copy the pattern or what, but it was somewhere around 70 cents or maybe less.

This is a clear ruler, used in sewing and also in things like crochet.  I'm not sure if it's an etsy item or if I'll keep it, as I frequently need something like this but I have a clear plastic ruler I use.

I keep talking about etsy, I think I'm finally going to start listing things in the store I set up a few years ago and then never used.  I have a few ideas for crochet pieces that are not scarves & hats, because the market is basically flooded with that sort of thing.

We also bought an old nut cracker that it mounted on a wooden board.  It was etsy bound at first, but now I'm thinking we may keep it.

After the 2nd thrift store, we decided to have lunch at Cici's pizza instead of cardboard pizza from wally.  We also went to a fabric store.

Speaking of flooding, we've had so much rain the last several days that there has been some street flooding in the area.  The ground is over-saturated.  We've had several instances of hard rains the last couple of days, yesterday afternoon (I got caught in it literally and got soaked) and this morning were very strong storms.  My back yard literally looked like a lake, the ground can not absorb any more water and it was beginning to stand - which is really saying a lot.  I've drained the potted plants a few times, Bill had to clean out one of the downspouts because it was clogged and the rain gutters overflowed.  The ground is so soft it's almost like walking in a swamp.  There is water standing in ditches and on the side of the road in places it never actually does, and we saw evidence of a few street areas that had obviously been under water at some point either yesterday or this morning.  Next week is supposed to be dry and warm, it's going to be very humid for a few days and then it will be mosquito season so I'm trying to get rid of any standing water I find.

I'm thinking that Maggie Moo might have another UTI or bladder infection.  She's "leaked" twice in the house in the last 3 days, I caught her at it in the hallway yesterday and she would not stop - even when I yelled at her.  I don't think she could really stop.  She's acting like she might not feel too good, she really acts like she did before when she had one.  She might also need to get her rear glands cleaned out, it's been 2 months since the last time and we did think that 2 months would be about right.  Or it could be both.  Either way, I'm calling the vet tomorrow to see if I can get her in there.  She's perky when I say the W or R words (Walk or Ride) but even when she actually gets to do either of those things (or both!), she's not acting like she's 100%.  I don't think she's moping around over Frasier not being here, she seemed to get over that and she acts like she doesn't feel too good.  She's finally sleeping on the pillow we bought to make her a bed out of, at least.

(I did give in the my asthma last Friday and stayed home.)

Time for ice cream now!

Sleet, Freezing Rain, Flurries or Nothing at All

That, in a nutshell, is our weather forecast for tonight and early tomorrow morning.

 

I guess that the forecasters think that if they say everything is possible, they will get it right.  Makes sense?  No, but apparently it does to the forecasters.

 

It has been very dry lately, we really do need some rain.  Just not the frozen variety.  There have been several grass fires in the area.  I watered the crepe myrtles Monday evening and I soaked the honeysuckle tonight.  And maybe the clematis, I'm not really sure if it's still there or not!  If it doesn't come back, I'll put a rosebush in where it was.  If it does come back, I'll still put a rose somewhere but maybe not this year.

 

Tomorrow, if it's not frozen (it shouldn't be in the afternoon), I'm going to water the tulip bed.

 

Blogger has made a few changes lately.  So far, I'm not impressed.  My blog looks different, but that wasn't my doing.

 

I haven't been able to crochet for several days.  Winter skin is back!  I had a split on my right thumb, it actually woke me up the other night when it split.  Hurt like the dickens!  It was just about healed, but yesterday the steering wheel slipped a little bit and it just about tore that same thumbnail off.  So, now I have an even bigger ouchie spot on my right thumb and this time it's under the nail a bit.  The nail is split at the edge, but I don't want to cut it off because it would have to go so far back into the quick.  It better heal quickly, I get very cranky when I don't get to crochet!

 

Michaels stores must really hate me.  They had all their yarn on sale again this week.  I pretty much have everything non-wool that they sell but this time I did find a few things I needed.  Need, not want!  I got 6 skeins of a smaller gauge, soft & silky yarn by Caron.  I've used it before, I made my turquoise shawl out of it and also Otter's rust colored scarf & hat.  It's really soft and I enjoy working with it.  I had a little bit of that type already but not much.  Otter wanted to go with me so I waited until she came over to do laundry after work yesterday.

 

Yesterday was also 50-cent corndog day at Sonic.  Otter must know her dad pretty well, because she texted me a picture of the Sonic sign the other day with instructions to let him know about it.  So, I did.  And he asked me every day if it was corndog day!  Boy likes his corndogs, a lot.  Anyway, I got his corndogs and also got dinner for myself and Otter was willing to let me buy her dinner as well.

 

My feet are nice & toasty.  I have a beagle in a blanket!  Kind of like a pig in a blanket.  She's just about that round!  Actually, she has lost a little bit of weight.  Frasier is snoozing at my feet also, but he's not a fan of blankets.  Also, he isn't snoring as loud as the beaglebrat is.

 

Guess that's it for tonight.

Yogurt Coupons

I don't necessarily use a lot of coupons.  There are some specific ones, like for laundry detergent and dog food.  But as far as food brands go, there aren't many.  But I have discovered something, I think I've mentioned it before.  Every time there is a coupon for yogurt in the paper's coupon inserts, within a week or so I will have a need for yogurt because either I will need it to combat the effects of an antibiotic, or Otter will.  Last Sunday's coupons had two for yogurt.

 

On Wednesday, I started feeling the unmistakable signs of a sinus infection.  By Thursday,  I was leaning more towards allergies but I felt pretty cruddy and left work mid-morning.  Around 3:00 this morning, I was awakened by sinus pressure and when I got up about 5:00 it was actual sinus pain with the pressure.  The med clinic opened up at 8:00, I was the first one in the door.  Guess what?  I have a sinus infection.  Guess I should have known it was coming, after all I did get two yogurt coupons!

 

I took Otter to work so I would have the car today, Bill took the Impala that she drives when she needs a car.  I was originally going to take her to work and pick her up after I got off because Bill needed the car and not the truck, but since I didn't go in today she could have taken my car if I didn't need to go to the doctor.  I'll pick her up when she gets off and we'll go to the post office to check the box then.  Probably also to the UPS box that Bill has for the business.  Then we might get some kind of take-home dinner.

 

Which will be followed with yogurt.

 

We're also in the market for new health insurance.  The company we have had for 10 years is leaving the state, effective the end of March 2015.  We have plenty of time, but I'm not waiting.  I've gotten a few quotes and am waiting on a couple more.  I knew that the government interference was affecting policy costs, but I was still shocked to get one quote for less insurance than we have now with a premium that was doubled!  And that was from the company we have our cars and house insured through.  We had been thinking it might be time to look into another carrier, now I really thing we will.  But it will probably be after we get the health insurance situated.

 

Froggy, yes the lumberyard probably does not want to store anything they can't use over the winter.  I just think it's a little "unfair" of them to give it away when people don't need it but to charge when people may be desperate.  But it's their business and they can run it the way they want to.  But, in their defense, it is only $5.00 per pallet load and the pallets are very full.  Depending on the weather next week because I think it might be rainy, Bill will get another load.

 

It's in the mid-90's today, it's been mid- to high-90's all week.  Tomorrow?  Well, tomorrow will be in the 70's.  And probably rainy as well.  But still, 70's?  That is wonderful.

 

It rained pretty hard earlier in the week, I don't know what we got in terms of amounts but it was a good, hard rain and there was a lot of it.  I think the old rain barrel is probably full now, and since Bill cleaned it out and replaced the broken spigot control we can use it easily.  The newer one was about 3/4 full, we were trying to use as much water as we could so that Bill could take it off the stand and re-align everything.  It's full again now, so that will have to wait a little longer.

 

My clematis has come back - the mowers we used after Bill's hand surgery took it out with the weedeater.  Along with a couple of the honeysuckle plants on the back fence.  The honeysuckle will probably come back, it's hard to kill.  I wasn't sure about the clematis, it is a strong plant and is very resilient.  But I wasn't sure if it had enough time to really get established, since it had barely survived being eaten to the ground by what was probably a rabbit.  Bad bunny!  But I checked on it Thursday and it's still alive.  It's not huge, but there is a nice size clump of it growing.  It's next to a fan-shaped trellis, I think the trellis is a little further from the plant than I wanted it to be but part of that is because it's growing away from the trellis.  I have some strong twine that we've used before as training for climbing plants and it's attached to the trellis then draped around the baby clematis plant in the hope that the plant will climb it and go the direction we want it to.  I haven't checked the honeysuckle at the back fence, but it's a very hardy plant so I think it will probably come back if it hasn't already.

 

But that bunny better stay away!  He can go find another salad bar, and not the one in my back yard!

Sunday Birds Toads and Water

It's Sunday so I guess I'd better blog.  Otherwise, Froggy might get mad at me and since I have already tormented her today by sending her pictures of a drink cup from the place we got lunch at (Braums!)...

Bill mowed the yard this morning.  It was overgrown again, but not as bad as it was when we had it mowed by Slow & Clueless a week and a half ago.  We got just enough rain a few days ago to start the grass growing.  It was still very damp when he mowed, but it was so humid that it wouldn't really dry and he finally just got tired of waiting and mowed it damp.  With frequent stops for a baby robin!  Flying lessons were taking place in the back yard and he didn't want to run over it.  At one point, he had me go move it off of the fence at the dog yard because Frasier might have had a snack, if he'd seen the little featherbrain.  The baby robin was pretty stubborn, but I think that the parents finally got it to fly off with them.

When Bill was mowing the front yard, I found a tiny toad in the grass.  It was smaller than the top of my thumb.  It was a toad and not a tree frog, it was just very small.  I relocated "him" to the back yard to be free of being mowed as well as the fact that it would have more access to water, hiding spots and mosquitos.  How did the little squishy thing repay me?  He leaked!  I wasn't really surprised, they tend to do that.

The first rain barrel has been full for a while but we haven't been using it.  The spigot was plastic and the twisty part broke off a while back so we left it closed until we could get a metal spigot to replace the plastic one.  Which we forgot about!  We've been using the 2nd rain barrel, every time we get it down to a point where Bill can consider moving it back into place (it got out of place when it froze over the winter and the bottom shape changed), it would rain again.  Bill remembered the first rain barrel spigot issue today, so we went to Ace Hardware and got a metal one.  Which was the wrong size, so I had to go back and exchange it.  He drained the first rain barrel and cleaned it out, then he put a mosquito dunk in it and put the metal spigot on it.  It's ready for rain now.  Of course, that probably means that it won't rain for a while...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOADLES!

Blogger is being odd today, it won't let me justify the margins and eaven everything up.  Which is a real problem for the Borg Queen!  Everything in it's place...

(Nevermind, I found a backdoor way to fix it.)

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.

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!