Old Friends are Gold

Sigrid still “hangs” with her high school friends. I hope 50 years from now they’re still in touch. I have tried to do that with my high school friends. None live where I do but I write to one and hear of others. Sig and her friends ate dinner together in our town. I know the girls’ history. I taught one’s mother and an another’s father. They went swimming yesterday at a friend’s pool. Mostly, I bet they lay in the sun and talked. All have gone to different colleges.

The picture in the background is our Presbyterian Church. It’s pretty on the inside too.

 

Ready to Play

Erin is sending Ada to summer school. She got new tennis shoes to wear. I’m glad Ada doesn’t know everyone doesn’t go to summer school. It’s better than all day tv with her older siblings.

 Yesterday the sun came out, and the squirrels attacked my feeders. I caught one and maybe today I can get the big fat one. 

Eric’s Big Day

Today Eric is 57. He’s still in the classroom. Laura finished yesterday.  Ingrid made her Dad a box to store cards in. He plays a card game called Magic. He likes fantasy movies. He watches the super hero stuff. So this box is for some of his cards.

Laura made him coconut pie. He likes cool whip on it.

Laura pinned and hemmed a skirt for Ingrid’s yesterday. Amy Patsy over saw the project.  Laura is finished with school this year. To celebrate this morning she walked 5 miles. 🤭

 

Stickers

I saw stickers today when I walked. The pink is Mimosa pudica! It’s called sensitive plant, sleepy plant, and shameplant.  It belongs to the pea family. The leaves close during darkness and reopen in light. The leaves even close when you touch them. The pretty yellow bloom is a common Prickly Pear Cactus🌵🌵

 

Rain Brings Flowers

Another inch plus of rain. My Powell Lily likes it as it’s had another blast of blooms shoot up.

The pond is full. It’s really cool. Yesterday we did not reach 70. Today will be warmer and soon it’ll be hot.

 

Still Raining

I noticed the Scissor Tails are busy catching bugs. They swoop off the fence with the tail spread and try to catch a bug. They are really fun to watch. 

It’s rained daily for a while. An inch fell yesterday and then it drizzled through the night. My chickens don’t like it. I went to tractor supply and bought shavings and scored for them.  My new chickens haven’t became part of my flock yet. For a while, they’ll be 2 groups. They sort act like kids with their clicks but finally they’ll all be friendly. The new ones have been debeaked so they’re at a disadvantage as my older ones can peck! I’ll be getting lots of eggs when they settle in. I don’t sell eggs but I love sharing them with my friends and family. 

 

Sister Headed to Coin

Sister Fleta headed home early this morning! But I kept her from Sunday Church at Coin! She enjoys Rev Jerry Scitern’s  sermons each Sunday! Sister is discarding things she is not using. She brought me her metal cake cover—just like Grandma Powell’s. Grandma often had an angel or sponge cake under hers. I checked and this one was made by West Bend! It’s not valuable but i like it. I had to take some unwanted junk to get it but I sent some home with her. Astrid sent eggs to share with our family at Coin!

Logi and Asti moved the horse feeders to the new barn and spread shavings so now I have close neighbors to see each morn!  

  I compare myself to a good barn. You can have a good barn, and if you paint it, it looks a little better. But if you take the paint off, it's still a good barn. Dolly Parton

Laura made holiday shirts for her girls. They’ll work for Flag Day and July 4. Homemade gifts are the best gifts.

 

Apple Pie, Oh, My!

My Sisters are my blessing! Fleta is here for the weekend. Helen sent us a homemade apple pie to enjoy. Fleta enjoys a crumb top but I said I like the  double crust. So what does our previous sister do—she made half of it double crust and the other half crumb. That’s the kind of person she is She always thinks of others. Fleta and I didn’t get as much of that trait.  We had a slice for breakfast with ice cream on top. Delicious 🥧🥧

 

Ada Graduated

I bought 10 hens from an egg house. He sells eggs to hatcheries. They’re a little over a year old. I lost so many hens to the hawks I needed replacements. These will fill out feathers in a week. They won’t lay until they get used to their new home. Egg shock it’s called.

Ada graduated Kindergarten! She had a good teacher! The first few teachers are so important to a child’s education! Success starts with a strong start—this is just the beginning! I’m hoping she gets another good teacher next year! Kindergarten seemed to be much like first grade was when my two went! Proud of Ada🎓 Erin has enrolled her in summer school for June. She’ll attend til 2 in the afternoon for 5 weeks. In July, she’ll get to stay with me 2 or 3 nights.

 

Butterfly Farm

Ada’s kindergarten class went on a field trip yesterday. They visited a butterfly farm. I would have loved going along with her.

Astrid has new baby chicks. She had 22 eggs in her incubator and 21 hatched. I think they are precious.

Looks like the little boy is putting a butterfly in Ada’s hair. She oblivious to it.

 

Powell Lily

My Powell Lily is blooming. Its name honors C. B. Powell (1830-1904), Irish/English businessman and avid gardener who developed and introduced this bulb! Because Powell is my maiden name I love it even more.

Wild rambling roses bloom along my walking path. I have pink and white. They are invasive and I spray them when I have energy. It’s mowing time again. Lots to do and only me to do it.

Sigrid and I are going to lunch today. It’ll be the high light of my week. 

 

Rain

We received an inch and half of rain over the weekend. This morning it read 4 inches when I dumped it. So, lots of rain fell last night. With the sun shining today, green will be growing!

I sprayed the grass in the middle of my road with weed killer yesterday. I did half the lane. Need to get the other half now. I’ll also need to mow. Fleta is coming Friday. She’ll stay two nights. I’m blessed to have two sisters still. 

I bought a mop and mopped my floor last week. I’d been using an old towel under my swifter. The mop has a gadget to wring it out.i got it at the Dollar Store. I have to work up my nerve to go to Walmart.

 

Bed and Breakfast

Those two staying in my meadow must have told their friends about the great accommodations because now I have four in the meadow. 

Astrid bought these used chairs for Laura to put by her pool. They were white and she painted them black this weekend. They’re Razorback chairs. Laura has two degrees from U of A. She is almost finished with a new degree from A State at Jonesboro, it’s in educational leadership. Sigrid is having to take trig on line before pharmacy school in the fall. She made a great grade on her first test. I have no idea what you even study in trig, but I do know it’s higher math.

Astrid had a huge Water Moccasin in her yard yesterday. We’ve had a lot of rain and they seek higher ground. She got Logan’s pistol but it jammed. Her cats told her about it. These are aggressive snakes. Not like Copperhead snakes who will just lay there and don’t bite unless you step on them. I called our neighbor to help her and he went down and took care of the problem. Logan was working. Now he’s a Master Plummer, he’ll work some weekends when mgf plants are closed to unclog huge drains and such.

 

Sunday

Sister Fleta heard a “hello” at Harrison from Amy, my librarian friend. What a surprise. Amy recognized Fleta. It’s a small world indeed.

 Ada came and we had a great visit. She told me she’d be coming to stay with me soon. She loved her broom but left it here to use when she comes again.

Beautiful Ugly

Ada’s coming today. I bought her a new broom. She loves sweeping. Her old broom broke.

Laura finished another book and quilt block. She’s thinking she may just make a carry bag and not a quilt. This book is Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney. It’s a mystery. She said she could only give it a 5 out of 10. I can’t read fiction very well now so I won’t try it. I’m reading a history of Queen Elizabeth 1. Helen put the big Phoenix library on my iPad. This is the first book I’ve tried there. I hope I can find more.

 

Moving On

The Brown Thrush discovered my suet. He’s a beautiful graceful bird. Daily temperatures are into 80’s. One day this week it was 91. The Orioles will take leave soon. Each day I watch to see if they still feed on the oranges and each day I’ve been happy they are still here. The Buntings are still here too. I’m thankful the cardinals stay year round.