Wednesday

My friend Kay treated me to lunch today. I had sirloin steak, bake potato, and salad. All very good. Kay tried to hide behind the cars but I got her picture.

Erin is going to buy a trunk and dress up clothes for Ada for Christmas. She found this hat at a second hand store today. She’s going to buy the clothes from goodwill like places. Ada will love his hat.

What I admired about Dolly! 

She saw the good in people!

She did not judge others. That was God’s job.

She tried to help the less fortunate.

She contributed books to children.

She loved her family.

She remembered her roots!

She kept her private life private.

She sat an example for others.

 

Tuesday

 

When Astrid walked over to tend the horses. Piper got in the donkey water and cleaned it, ha! It was hot and she needed to cool off.

A friend on FB wanted a baby blanket for a nephew in LA. I said I’d make it but she’d have to drive here to get it.well they had a wreck so I ended up mailing it. It costs $35 to send it to MT. View, AR. Then the little boy came early….way early. She sent me this photo of him but you can see the hat is still way too big.

My purple Heart is blooming. Some folks call it wandering dude. 

I finished my first granny stitch heart baby blanket. I think it’ll look better with regular size yard. I’ve started a pink one with 4 ply yarn. I didn’t make it very big.  I had to watch what I was doing as every row is different.

Monday

Logan and Astrid are half way there on the fence. They lack the back side (Logan has cut the limbs out already), the gates and the water line. 

Ingrid made a key lime pie over the weekend. I really love them.

Fleta’s bunch got chickens around Easter and they finally started laying. But they started losing a chicken each night. They set up night watch and this guy came in to eat supper about 2:00 AM.  I hope they found the entry hole as it will not be long til another comes to feast.

Logan E and Sig finally got their tv on the wall. There are sprinkler lines in the wall and ceiling of their apartment and those had to be avoided. I know they’re happy to finally have it visible.

Clayton won another scholarship. It’s for stem majoring students. It’s another $4,000 a semester. To keep it, he’ll have to maintain a certain grade average. He’s finished one week of school. He’s still loading groceries at Walmart but he won’t be able to work as many hours.

It’s cooler and I have worked removing limbs that hit me in the face when I mow. My knee hurt so bad in the spring I let the overgrowth get away from me. I took out some of the 50 year old fence too. I had to climb a ladder to get to some of the limbs.

Laura returned to work today. I’m praying she has no more bad episodes with the student. 

Farmers Building a Fence

The farmers, Logan and Astrid, are fencing in another pasture.we have two Jack donkeys and not enough pastures to isolate them from their daughters. This will fix that dilemma. Logan will run a water line to the new enclosure. And we’ll have a new small pole barn in each pasture. Eric helped them by driving steel posts several hours. 

I’m most excited about the compost bin they’re going to build so we can recycle all our garage. I think even donkey poop can so in there!😂

 

Erin discovered these thoughts that Ada had been recoding about her brother. 

Next week will be the last week of August. We got a sprinkle of rain last evening and it is not as hot today. .
 

CrossTracking

A lady who lives by Ada’s church invited the children to ride her horses. Greta helped.We had a welsh pony growing up. His name was Cocoa. We road him a lot in the summer. 

Well, the squirrel would not just eat the droppings of sunflower seeds. I hauled him to the oak covered graveyard. The trap didn’t work the first try he just ate all the corn and went back to his tree. But I worked on the catch latch and yesterday he was trapped.

Picture day for Ada was this week. She had to have a bow in her hair and wear a dress. The red bow broke. So she insisted on the pink one! It’ll be a special picture indeed.

The butterflies visit my lantana daily. They are always flying near. I post on my iPad most of the time. It updated and then I couldn’t post an image. I have a very old desk top computer. I bought it in 2009. That’s how ancient it is. I have an old lap top too. I’m sure it’s over 10 years old. I worked with the iPad all afternoon but finally was able to change a setting. The cross tracking was blocking image upload. I need a new computer and maybe I’ll get a new one someday but since I got the iPad to work again it’s not a pressing issue. I have big bills each fall. House insurance, car and truck insurance and taxes on all I own. Plus, my air stopped working and it costs $650 to get it going. I’m thankful I have enough money to live comfortably. Many elderly ( Sigrid told me) have so many meds to buy each month, they can’t fill all the prescriptions. How sad. 

This is a picture of our welsh pony,  Cocoa. My Dad bought him from a Mr. Hopper for $30. He carried him home in the backseat of his car. My little sister was a Downs child.

Friday

 Well, I can’t load a photo. 

Decided I’d better  mow! It was hot, but it’s done! I didn’t start mowing until I was 70 years old!  I’m sure not a pro but I get it done! I clean my zero turn mower after each use! Larry always did that so I’m continuing the habit!

I’ll weed eat tomorrow. 

Thursday

Old Pope County Library and its Lantana!

Our old Pope County Library opened in October 1937! It was built by the WPA (Works Progress Administration)  under President Franklin Roosevelt and now on National Register of Historic Places.  It’s called the Heritage Hall and is used for community group gatherings, local meetings, and special children's programs hosted by the Pope County Library System.  

I’m proud of our wonderful library and all who work for US there. I returned some books there yesterday and picked up three. One was about one of the first forensic scientists—Alan Moritz. Already finished it and I found it very interesting.Found a new book about George Washington. I’ve started it. It’s really too hot to crochet. 

It’s picture day for Ada. She insisted on wearing a dress. Clayton finishes his first week of college today.

Blu has a birthday. Astrid celebrates their big day with cake and party hats. Blu is my Phinnie’s pup. She’s special to me. I think it’s number 7 which is 49 in human years.

My poor Laura was attacked at school by a special student. He kicked her, pulled her hair and tried to strangle her with her lanyard that holds her id. All very scary. She went to the Dr. and is home resting her injured leg. What teachers endure would surprise many. Laura programs his speaking devise. She’s a speech therapist.  She has a button to push and she pushed it. 
 

The Witches Brew

My favorite summer flower is Lantana. It loves the heat and we’re having a lot of heat. It loves the sun, too. It’s tough! Even a casual gardener like dumb old me can grow it. The butterflies, bees, and even the hummingbirds are drawn to it. My sweet Astrid bought this one for me. It won’t come back because it’s in a pot but in the ground it might. There’s a bunch of Lantana by the old Pope County Library that looks like bushes each summer.  All parts of the Lantana are poisonous when ingested in high amounts. 

Lantana has a dark side. All of us do…our old sin nature. It’s a Verlaine (Verbena) plant, the witches’ flower.  In “The Vampire Diaries”, verbena is a rare herb serving as a defense against vampires. When touched or ingested by a vampire, it burns them, induces severe weakness, and causes high fevers. When used by humans, it blocks mind control (compulsion).  

Even in the Middle Ages, Verlaine  was often used in magicians’ and witches’ potions for protection and as an aphrodisiac.  It was considered a cure-all for treating the digestive system and ailments of the abdominal region, as well as the lungs.  

Verbena grows about knee-high in dry ditches and along roadsides. The Romans called it the most sacred plant in their civilization. So did the Greeks before them. So did the Christians after them. It was put on the alter for protection. Anglo-Saxon healers put it in their remedies. Across history, medical and religious tradition that encountered this modest herb reached the same conclusion: it was sacred, and it had to be gathered with ceremony.

Wild verbena and not my picture 

 

Til the Storm Passes By

Yesterday afternoon I was thrilled when we started to get rain. But then the wind started blowing really hard. I watched from the back porch, but had to come in as the winds were horrible. The storm continued an hour plus and we got an inch of rain. It was about 100 and it cooled into the 80’s after it was over. It. Warmed back up by evening.

The high winds blocked Galla Creek Lane with limbs and debris. They snapped a maple tree in the big pasture.

The winds destroyed the donkey shed and bent fence posts. The barbed wire was twisted together. I went over and untwisted the wire and used zip ties to tie it to posts so the donkeys couldn’t get out.

Then I drove the other fence line and checked on Logan and Astrid’s and Eric and Laura’s houses. They were all undamaged but small limbs were down. The swing at the pond was toppled. 

The old shed has some roof damage.

Logan and Astrid repaired by zip tied fence after they got home. They’ll work again this weekend.

Sigrid started back to UAMS yesterday. Year two is underway. I’m amazed at how much she already knows. She’s going to be an awesome pharmacist! Clayton started his first year of college too. Wishing him success! After classes he went to his job at Walmart for the evening. I’m proud of him👏