Uninvited Guest

 

Yesterday afternoon this snapping turtle was by my porch. I was filling my bird feeders and saw him. He went still for three hours. I think turtles must be very patient.

Greta drove to Branson yesterday. Erin taught her how to set the cruise. Erin said set it 5 miles below the speed limit.  Once she said it, she remembered me saying the same to her. She said she also remembered thinking it was a stupid thing to do.  Turn into your mother!

We had big dead water oak in the Meadow. Logan and Astrid cut it and hauled it away to the brush pile yesterday. It was a huge undertaking. Sprouts had come up around the trunk.  Makes the field look clean and pretty. Johnny was right in the middle of the endeavor. I think he was what Daddy called a “straw boss”.   I really don’t know what a straw boss is.

Four Orioles were here this morning, plus Grosbeaks, an indigo Bunting, and a Painted Bunting. I must put my hummingbird feeder out.

I had a big bird hunter looking for bird eggs. I couldn’t get a hoe to him as he was above my head. Hope he doesn’t find my hen nests.

Sunday

Who’d have dreamed it. More rain last night. Only half an inch because I didn’t dump the 1/2 inch from the previous night. It stormed in some areas south of me but not locally.

I’m putting the filet heart here so I can find it again. It skips one stitch to make a heart. My other pattern skips two stitches making the holes too large. I am using up the cotton yarn I got 75 percent off at Hobby Lobby making another tote bag.

My mother was horrible at cutting hair. We never went to a beautician for a hair cut. We had short hair. My mother did not like long hair I think. Growing up her hair was short too. Grandma preferred shorter cuts. My paternal grandmother did not cut her hair her entire lifetime. People were different. Sometimes we got home perms when my oldest sister Patsy was an adult. She was a dozen years older than I was.  The picture below is me in 6th grade. I envied the girls with whispy little bangs and did this styling in the bathroom at school. I just wet the comb and matted some to my forehead. 

 

Saturday

Well, we were blessed with two nice rains yesterday. In the morning and early afternoon we received a steady rain. When it stopped I checked my Coach Fisher gauge and it registered an inch. I dumped it but over the evening it rained. I walked down early to see how much— another half inch. We’re still way behind. It’s was cooler yesterday so I made vegetable soup. I’ll have it again today.

“When the well is dry, we know the value of water." — Benjamin Franklin

Greta has her first basketball game with her travel team today. She may be playing the 5 stop. She’s 5’10” now in stocking feet. She is probably the tallest girl. Two girls one grade up are playing~~ twins. They are point guards and have picked her up in their car and dropped her off afterwards for practice. I know she feels grown up. Greta loves laying in the sun. I always loved it too. Wonder if sun loving is an inherited trait. 

I have a new trait in my dna file.  It’s about fashion. When I saw it I chuckled to myself. I knew I wasn’t fashionable.  I looked at Laura’s and she was very trendy. Poor Erin was a dud like me. Some of my fashion likes are— loose clothes, old clothes. My favorite color is brown! I never liked makeup. My hair looks like a cap on my head!  It’s a wonder I ever found a husband. He stayed with me 49 years too! What a wonderful man.

I’m easily amused. The terrapin was eating something after yesterday’s rain. I thought it was a slug! Do turtles eat slimy slugs. If I see one on my porch, I sprinkle salt on it. How cruel. Once my heat and air was tore up by slugs. They got in a connection box and shorted it out. My heat and air tech told me to get rid of any I see. I have made head way. Maybe the terrapins are pest getters! I like watching them. They ate fascinating 🧐.

Friday

I decided I’d have to eat the oranges I bought for the birds, but now more are here. I had three this morning. The oranges were 2.79 at Aldies. Maybe more will come. Yesterday, an Indigo Bunting was on the suet feeder.

I finished this crocheted tote. Can you spot the heart in the center?

oriole almost red

I had a new bird today. It’s a Catbird. They sing beautiful songs and look similar to a Mockingbird.

I push mowed some yesterday down my lane then rode my mower to do the rest. I’m glad I did as it’s raining today. I’m making vegetable soup because it’s cooler. 

Im trying to crochet bookmarks with a small steel hook. I’ve ripped out a lot. I’m making a baby blanket out of blue. 

I went to Kroger this morning in the rain. I was about through shopping when the electricity went off. The checkout has a generator so I was able to get what I’d selected. I spent 9.00. Everything’s too expensive to purchase. I bought some hotdogs. They were 1.99. Gas jumped up 20 more cents. All life seems depressing. Thinking of all the families who have children. 😢

 

Thursday

I thought I’d enjoyed all my old timey irises then this peach one blessed me this morning 🧡 The irises I have are in different areas and sorted by color.

I picked up sticks yesterday and burned them with some rotten boards I tore out of a deck Larry built for my chicken feed. When we have a windy, day more limbs fall. Just small ones.

I thought the Orioles had left but this morning he was back eating his breakfast.

 

Hump Day

My last Iris is blooming. It’s the middle of the week. All the days run together for me. 

Clayton enrolled in College yesterday.  I was blogging when he was born and wrote this …. Clayton was born at 4:46 P.M. June 27, 2008. He is a beautiful boy. First one born in the new wing of Boone County Hospital so he wins a 2 year scholarship to the College there. What a lucky young man...already has a two years of his college education paid.  So 18 years flew by and now he is collecting for his win! He will probably choose computer engineering as a major. He’s 6’5” now and barely fits behind the wheel of a car! I’m praying he loves college and applies himself to succeed.

2008 to 2026

 

Tuesday

I finished my scrap throw. It’s just left over yarn. If I do another I think I’ll roll the yarn in a big ball first alternating light and dark. A blog friend did that and I think it’d be easier.

I weed eated part of my yard yesterday.  Not near all. I’ll be mowing before the weekend. Later I’ll just spray around some areas to lessen the weed work.

I cleaned and moved my bird bath. It was full of green gunk. 

Today I lifted weights an hour and did chair yoga. Library called me. They had Paper Girl for me. I requested it.

I just finished “ Holy Envy”. It’s written by a lady who teaches religion in college. Her denomination is Episcopalian. I really enjoyed the book and learned much about other religions. I’m reading The Fox Hunt now. It is by Muhammad Al Samawi who was born in Yemen. He was taught to hate Jews and Christians. A teacher, who is there teaching a class he enrolled in to learn to speak English, gifts him a Bible. He reads it! I’m not finished but I really like it too. Erin bought it for me Christmas. 

As I bike ride in the morning, I try to find something on YouTube to watch. I am trying to pick topics that look interesting. Today, I learned about Matthew Henry. I have his Bible commentary and it’s my favorite. He was born in the 1600’s. As I watched it, I realized that I have studied what he has written for 50 years, yet knew nothing about the man. 

Last week one of the things I learned about was Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home. Wow, it was intriguing. It’s been added on to up teen times. I am amazed at how much I don’t know!

 

Monday

Larry wanted the Wood Ducks to nest by his pond. He built a wood duck house in 2019 at the pond’s edge. He was already sick but finished it. No wood ducks had came by 2020 when he passed, but in the spring of 2022, they found his house and have been laying eggs there each spring. Astrid sent me a text this week “Gigi, the wood ducks are here”! New life appearing on the pond is exciting. There are eggs in Larry’s wood duck house. Life ends, life begins!

This is a lily called Italian Arum, but most folks call them  “Lords and Ladies”. They like shade and remind me of a peace lily. I love the thick foliage in the spring.  Later in summer all the foliage will die and orange shoots spring up.  The flower  has calcium oxalate crystals in its leaves.  These are very irritating to skin and soft tissue… like the tender mouths of hungry deer.   All parts of the Arum are poisonous, including the corm from which it grows.  Deer, squirrels, voles and rabbits won’t touch them.

My friend sent this. She wondered why the bird nest in her bush had a speckled egg. It’s a Brown headed cow bird egg. I have them coming to my feeders and they aren’t a bird I like. They are a parasite bird. They lay their eggs in other birds nest. The other eggs in this nest look like finch eggs to me. 

Ada got sick Thursday. She had a fever, cough, etc.  I wish she lived near me so I could help with her more. By Sunday, she was able to sit in the sun and read. Erin went to the library alone and picked her books. She said she wanted chapter books. She was not full speed this morning but she slept all night and felt better. She went to school. She lives school.