Monday, May 31, 2010

My crazy neighbor

I promised you some time ago that I would talk about my crazy neighbor. We have three in the neighborhood, but she really takes the cake among them.

Let me start with the RV situation. There's an RV at the neighbor's across the street. This shot is taken facing east, so as you may imagine if you shut your eyes and think hard, the sun sets behind me and therefore shines on the camper in the afternoon. There is a reflection from the light hitting the camper that shines OH! SO! BRIGHTLY! into her window where she sits all the time. This light is piercing! for probably all of 8 minutes.

So she called the police department.



Do you see the truck parked on the street in the photo above? It is on the proper side of the street and facing the correct direction, but it is near the end of her driveway.

So she called the police department.

Finally that neighbor who is a very nice man named Wendell called the police department where he knows someone and he found out that she had called the police 60+ times that year because of all the infractions of her neighbor to the south (us) and her neighbor to the east (him).

We laughed.

We have an RV that is entirely within the city's rules for where it is parked alongside our house. Take a look at the photo below to see the property line. She called and the city sent out an inspector to be sure we were parked properly. He called to let us know we are not only in compliance, but more so than most people in town. Anyway...the property line:



Can you pick it out? The stake, sure. But look along to where the wooden border starts. That was put in by my husband after an argument about who-remembers-what. Then she started mowing the lawn so that all her grass clippings blew into the little shrubs along the driveway. So the wooden border turned into a small wall. She didn't like that, so she planted a tree near the property line. That was probably because we took down a tree to expand the driveway. That made her angry, which I really did understand. I wasn't happy about it either and there was a wee argument over here, too. Clearly, I lost. Anyway, then she planted a flowering shrub on the property line. As it grew, it began to arch over the property line. Now she wraps cord around the bush to keep it from going over the property line.

Seriously.

We know all about the property line because that stake has been there now for many years. The same stake. Year after year.

She's been feuding with my husband for years.

The little man below showed up to stick out his tongue at us a few years back. He shows up without fail now early every spring.



She hates us.

The photo below says more than the ones above. Years ago, she put a half-eaten flower bulb on the top of the trash can in our driveway. Hours later, I hear shouting. The two of them are going at it like screaming fishwives or Housewives from New Jersey. It went something like this:

Did you put this bulb on my trash can?
Yes, I did.
Why did you do that?
To show you the damage.
The damage?
Yes! Your rabbits are ruining my garden.
MY! RABBITS? We live in Iowa, we have a million rabbits and none of them are mine.
It's all your fault we have too many rabbits.
It's my fault? Are you out of your mind?

Somehow, and please don't ask me how because I was in the house pretending I didn't know this was going on, the screaming match conversation actually got worse.

You keep building and building. You tore down that tree for a bigger driveway and you have that big RV and now you're building a deck.
I'm replacing the existing deck that was falling off the house.
But you're making it bigger!
What do you care if my deck is bigger?
Everything with you has to be bigger, bigger!
Woman, you need to be sure to take your medication.
(Yes, he went there. Nice, huh?)
I don't take medication!
Well that explains a lot, lady. And don't you ever put anything on my trash can again! Don't even come onto my property, you nut job!

I was A-PALLED and I still am. [hangs head]



I cringe at the thought of this story. All of the dialogue above took about 30 seconds and I ran though the house to stick my head out of the back door. I did something wifely like sent a brain-blasting glare that every husband within a 50-mile radius felt.

A quarter of a million men simultaneously said, "What? What did I do?"

Thus ended the intense neighborly fellowship.

Anyway, this barricade went up last week, maybe two weeks ago. Apparently our rabbits are eating her flowers. Again.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Update on Boomer/BBQ

I saw Galen the Raccoon Dad yesterday and he said he met with the rehabber and everything went without a hitch. She said the baby was only a few days old and everything he did (and me, too, with the rice sock and heating pad) was just perfect. Raccoons can't have straight milk replacer and Galen knew that. He made up the raccoon milk recipe and that's what the baby had been taking.

It is possible, very possible, mama had just given birth to Boomer when the scared her off. Poor thing. The rehabber explained what she does and how things will go from now on. Handling the raccoon was OK, but there will be very little handling now so as it to keep it wild. Best case is that when he gets old enough and is moved to the final kennel with the door that is always open, he will leave and not come back.

Thanks to Michelle at Rambling Woods for being willing to help me when I needed to ask for reassurance.

Last week I looked into the freezer and saw two huge pork roasts from a few months back. I needed the room, so I put them in the fridge to thaw and I decided to have a BBQ today. I made pulled pork and macaroni salad and two desserts. I bought patriotic decorations and did up the deck. I cut peonies and bought sugary drinks the kids are normally allowed to have. Everyone showed up and had a good time despite the heat. The kids got tired and started to cry, which ended the party at the two-hour mark and right now my portion of the crying children are asleep in separate bedrooms.

It's been a good day. Hope you are enjoying your summer kick-off.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Oh, the plans I had!

I had plans for this evening. Walk, swim, groceries, banana bread...

I was in the middle of the walk when I was called for "emergency child care" of an infant raccoon.

When I say infant, I mean about a week old, maybe?

It is draped over one of my old socks that is stuffed with rice and had been warmed in the microwave. I was alone with him for about 90 minutes and I just didn't know what to do. When I got home, he was cold. They lose heat very quickly; they haven't much hair. It looks hairy, but along the bottom and on the legs, there wasn't hair beyond fuzz. Mostly just skin. This little fellow's eyes are still closed and his ears are still stuck to his head.

He's so new.

Let me introduce you to his "dad" Galen:
Galen works for a company that leases out huge land-moving equipment. They had put a big crane and boom into a locked building three days ago and when it was moved, the mama ran off out of the boom. Today they moved the boom and little Boomer here fell all the way to the ground and survived (he's injured around the mouth and jaw). I thought surely the mama must have been able to come back, but the DNR said it was possible for him to have survived three days alone. I'm just not sure! He's tiny and so helpless. Galen held him all day long to keep him warm and made a special formula just for raccoons because they can't simply have milk replacer.

I couldn't get the little devil to eat more than a few drops and when I tried to put him down he cried so loudly it tugged at my heart really bad. I got a heating pad and put his box half on, half off with some clean shop towels inside. He liked that because he settled down. I ran upstairs and when I came back, he was so quiet I thought he had died.

What an awful babysitter I am.

So I woke him up and he moved around and started crying. I apologized and shut the box again to prevent him and his heat from escaping and ran back upstairs. I got a sock and put rice inside. I heated it up and twisted it shut with a tie. When I put it in the box, he clambered over it like it was his ma or a sibling. It was adorable. Then Galen's wife came up and the crowd grew as people started coming back home and the pressure was off me.

Thank goodness.

As they left, I asked if I could warm the sock again because it had completely cooled. I ran up and threw it in the microwave.

I set it on fire.

I didn't take the twist tie off and a flame shot up as soon as I remembered the twist tie. I tossed it in the empty sink and got the mate, poured in more rice, and did it up properly for his ride home (three houses away, mind you).

As we were all admiring him, the rehabber finally called. Hooray! Hopefully the exchange has been made and baby Boomer is now in the right hands.

And not with a babysitter who sets things on fire.

I made the banana bread after he left and I was so distracted that we'll have to see how the banana bread actually turns out. It smells good. Maybe the recipe is FOOLproof!

Then I put a cup of coffee in the microwave for 33 seconds. I wondered why it was still running and glanced at the appliance just in time to see the boiling coffee explode over the top of the cup. 3:33. Oops. I let that sit awhile.

Everything's all cleaned up now. I think I'll go to bed and start over tomorrow!!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Nature Notes and Signs of the Season

You know how some crappy days never seem to end? That was today. From before I left the house for work until after a 4-mile walk, my day was crap from end to end. But as my walk ended, I walked into my backyard and began expanding my garden. Although I am exhausted from a difficult day, I am going to sleep feeling a little better for having played Garden.

Let's start out with the rhubarb. Do you remember the tiny little plant that got started early this spring? This is what it has become.

And folks have picked some already! Tomorrow after work I'm meeting someone I've never met before so she can pick some. One of my students introduced us this morning via email. She makes jam for a farmer's market and she's going to use my pesticide-free rhubarb! I get jam!

Next, these are my chives. I liked chewing them a month ago. I need to put chives in my google machine to learn more, but I like the purple flowers and for my little point and shoot, I thought this came out nicely.
My peonies were perfection yesterday, but a storm was blowing in so I ran out and took photos of them before they became laden with water. They never seem the same after a storm. Again, for my point and shoot camera, I was very happy with this photo:
Lastly, and I see now that I put these in backwards, we expanded my garden this evening!! I decided on the smother method, so cardboard and newsprint went down, was wetted with the hose and then covered with mulch. First is the after photo followed by the before photo.
You can see how the garden has finally become crowded, so this fall I will start moving things around and spreading things out for everyone.
I think Cypress mulch must have a lot of oil in it. I don't have allergies, but my eyes were burning somethin' fierce. I took off my garden gloves and I washed my hands right away. I must have touched my eyes because they started to burn so badly I considered gouging, but decided it was a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I just jumped in the shower with my face wash.

Have a nice day.

Monday, May 24, 2010

roses are red, my love

Apparently, this is what happens when you pay attention to your roses:
You also maybe get good camera karma:
And finally, I got my Save the Frogs tote from Rambling Woods! Hooray! I love it.
Using a bag at the store: 5 cents.
Getting a nice little something in the mail on just the day when I needed a surprise pick-me-up: priceless.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

How does your garden grow?

I missed Nature Notes this week because I can't keep track of time. Obviously. I will set aside the RHUBARB OVERTAKES LOCAL GARDEN photos for this week's Nature Notes. I'm sure you will all be salivating and anticipating the marvel you'll experience.

Let's start off with my li-bud/red-lac tree that a few of you are very well acquainted with:


Well, green on green doesn't do it justice. I will try for another from a different angle. See the tree? See at the bottom all the stems that look like suckers? Is that what they're called? Suckers? What the heck am I talking about? Where did that come from? Someone must have told me that long ago. Anyway, those stems at the bottom are a lilac shrub.

Stop laughing.

Next we have a daisy of some sort that I planted at least two if not three years ago and this is the first year it has ever produced flowers and what do I get? Chernobyl daisy.

More good news and this is wonderful because last year I thought my Columbine had died. But this year it is blooming! On my route through the neighborhood I see purple and white Columbine and I want me some (go K-State!). I relocated this plant last year because although the tag says "sun" the tag apparently is a big fat liar. It is now in the shade of the largest Peony and blooming, so when the tag says "sun" I no longer believe a word of it.

Didn't I mention how I had neglected roses for many years and wondered aloud if I could pamper them and be forgiven? It looks like we may be on the right road. I made a bucket o'weak coffee and destroyed some egg shells in the blender. I gave it all to the roses. I then pruned them of their dead stuff and opened up the middles so they could breathe. Apparently, and you know how I live and die by the google machine, roses enjoy breathing. So I pruned. And look! These two are blooming while the other isn't blooming, but is putting out new little leaves like it has some intentions for later on.

Four flowers on each! Previously the one below only threw up one long-stemmed rose and then did nothing all summer long but simmer in anger and resentment.

Maybe I've been forgiven by the roses, but the jury is out on the li-bud treeshrub.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Ode to orange cupcakes

No actual oranges were harmed in the making of this treat. It says "natural orange flavor" right on the box, which is a dead giveaway to the skeptic in me that there is nothing orange within. Also note the appearance of the orange on the box: not an actual orange but an orange sort of shaped cupcake.

Truth in advertising!

In Iowa I can't find a box of these and only rarely do they sell the two-pack. When I was in Ohio, I went grocery shopping and brought these back in my bag. I have eaten them all and I don't regret a single one.

Have you watched Unwrapped on the Food Network? They go to places like Hostess and show how treats are made and they actually look like they might be yummy like when your mom made your 8-year-old self homemade cupcakes. I knew someone who worked at Nabisco and he said Oreos and chocolate chip cookies coming right off the line were out of this world.

At the grocery store this evening I bought a box of nutty bars. The teenagers at my check-out were commenting on them and I told them I bought nutty bars because I don't like them and they got a chuckle out of that. So I pointed out that Hostess ho-hos, Suzy Qs and Twinkies were on sale but I didn't buy them.

They both got a kick out of that as well and laughed, "Because obviously! You would eat them!"

Catch my interactive comedy show on Checkout 9.

I'm here all week.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Grab your pilates and come with me

Have you noticed how candy disappears much faster than oh, let’s say…a root canal? You could have a root canal’s worth of candy and it wouldn’t last nearly as long as the root canal. Just a thought.

I went to a Pilates class today for the first time. My 8-mile walk on Saturday taught me that it is time to get serious about training for October. Last night I walked 4 miles. Tonight I will walk again. If you thought (and you should have) that my life was boring before now, just wait until I have nothing to blog about except how far I walked and how the dirty dishes are piling up.

I was full of the first-day jitters since I went by myself and I don’t know anything about Pilates except the Hundreds and WHO KNEW you were supposed to breathe so much?

Going to a new class with a friend is only slightly comforting. It doesn’t make it less awkward to look like a cat giving birth in front of a co-worker. My co-worker is my only YMCA friend, you see. We took yoga together and I was clumsy and wobbly while she looked poised in her cute little size 0 yoga pants and perfectly polished toenails. It’s better to have her with me when we do new things, but I’m just going on the record to say it isn’t much better.

Awkward.

(my co-worker is actually fabulous)

Sure enough the teacher is in the class telling everyone what to do and calling things I am familiar with by non-yoga names like the Child Pose, which she calls the Shell Stretch. Please, people. It’s hard enough to get into a new game without having all the names changed.

The teacher noticed that I was doing the Plank on my forearms and when we moved to some other torture that involved my wrist, I just sat there and looked around. I was the only one doing nothing: hard to miss. She also gave me some sort of arch thingy for my back that I didn’t know how to use. I knew she gave it to me because I was struggling a wee bit on a sit up, so hi, point out the weakling in the back row.

(I give her a lot of credit for watching her students unlike other teachers who just power through and don’t look after us.)

Oh and the breathing! If I breathed as quickly as she wanted us to, I would have hyperventilated. I had read (because I put everything into the Google machine before I venture forth into the world) that Pilates uses yoga breathing – you know the sort where you fill up with air and then blow it all out? Please explain how you fill your lungs with lots of air them empty your lungs completely at a pace that produces a pant.

Another problem with the breathing, and I have this problem in yoga as well, is that I can’t seem to concentrate on the breathing at the same time I am stretching and other fine details like not falling over or landing on my head. I gave up on the breathing and just did what I could until I surprised myself on a few of the moves and actually caught up with the breathing rhythm. I was all sorts of proud of myself. Statistically it was bound to happen once or twice in a 50-minute class, but I was proud anyway.

I take what I can get.

There were 2,345,804.89 women in the room and I was squeezed in between two women who knew what they were doing. One was OK and she asked if I had enough room. The other woman was tall and skinny and don’t you have your own version of the basic nightmare*? For me it’s tall and skinny.

Naturally among all these women it is so easy to suppose that they are all executing things perfectly, breathing in perfect rhythm and in harmony with their inner Dalai Lama who is in Iowa, did you know that?

The news people in Iowa have been breathlessly fascinated by the DL’s holy visit to Iowa today.

And then class was over just like that. I survived. I think I’ll do it again.
For those who don’t know, the basic nightmare is from When Harry Met Sally. Follow along:

(Marie is getting her wedding dress fitted. Sally is sitting down, watching.)

Sally: Is Harry bringing anyone to the wedding?

Marie: I don't think so.

Sally: Is he seeing anyone?

Marie: He was seeing this anthropologist but...

Sally: What did she look like?

Marie: Thin, pretty, big tits, your basic nightmare.

(Sally nods her head once and pops an M&M into her mouth.)

Sunday, May 16, 2010

The Grandma Connection

Saturday morning before the calm disintegrated:

How Much is the Grandma in the Window?

I have had a couple blog posts in mind over the last three days, but they've all been robbed by my weekend walk (8 miles) and grandchildren. One of the posts I thought of was about my grandmothers. This post was born when I was at the grocery store early Saturday morning and it felt different than it feels now because I was pretty fresh into my weekend, but I think they're both parts of the same thing. Therefore, here we go.

I was at the grocery store trying to find juice for the children that wouldn't make me feel like I was pouring sugar down their throats all weekend. Even 100% juice makes me feel that way. I found a V8 fusion I thought they'd like (they did; they drank it all) and then I deliberated over what sort of treat I would make for the weekend (Shutemup Cookies from the I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken; completely consumed). As I walked up and down the aisles, it occurred to me that maybe my grandmothers did this same thing in anticipation of my royal presence for an overnight visit.
It made me feel connected to them and then I wondered if maybe they had moments like that - a moment when we made them think of their own grandmothers. I thought that when Grandma Betty taught me how to make candles, she just pulled out her supplies and we made candles on a last-minute whim.

I thought when Grandma Kier made me those tiny little pizzas that she always kept them in her freezer. I never thought about all the work Grandma Betty put into gathering the candle supplies to offer me a selection without too much selection and the anticipation that went into showing me something she was really good at.

I never thought about Grandma Kier standing in the aisle at the grocery store with Grandpa looking on while she deliberated over the pizza or (can you imagine?) getting Grandpa to drive to the store because she had to get the pizzas and tossing them into her cart just because I was coming.

Just because I was on the way for an overnight visit. It gives me shivers.

Now that everyone has gone home, I think about how I didn't consider either grandmother's feelings when I made a candle for Grandma Kier when Grandma Betty was teaching me. The candle was in the back bedroom where I slept for, like, forever. My grandmothers had about 3 things in common: me and my two brothers. You savvy?

Betty: Oh, nice. She can't make a candle to keep? One for her mother?
Mary: Oh, nice. Betty is teaching her crafts again.

The above comments are completely imagined in my adult brain. I never realized my grandmothers were anything but MY grandmothers (you know, like they were actually people?) until I was in my 30s.

God love 'em. You know what else my grandmothers never did? Strangle me. Starve me. Lock me in a closet.

Not that I had any of those urges this weekend. No, nothing like that. My cupboards are now bare, which just proves they were 1. able to swallow; 2. well-fed; and 3. only in the closet long enough to pet and kiss the cat.

This weekend wasn't particularly easy with the kids and I stopped by 1972 on the way home from church and picked up a huge package of "get back outside and stay there." I didn't let them in the house for anything but potty and eating supper. I ended up doing 100% of the work, which is not only tiring but also aggravating. One was super tired and the other was constantly hungry. I actually ran out of food for him because when I suggested a leftover cold hot dog he pulled back in horror. Melodramatic horror, too. I was too tired by then to think it was cute and I considered telling him he could gnaw on a twig like Euell Gibbons.

Instead I called Domino's. True story.

Nothing that happened was out of the ordinary or horrible. They were just being kids - active, starving, demanding, whining, charming, loving, laughing.

I must have spent too much time on nostalgic daydreaming and not enough in preparatory napping.

Also on Saturday I made the decision to buy ferns for the deck. That's them up above in the photo in which I show you how I inadvertently took a photo of my lovely self.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Trip photos

Here are some of the photos I took while I was on my trip. This is a favorite snapshot of mine. It's me and my brother John. I look about three. That's a guess. I didn't check the date. Remember back when photos had the date on them? It's on the white border. I remember the drapes and chair in this house. The chair was purple and had no arms. There's another photo of my mom holding me the day I was baptized and she is sitting in this chair.

Here's me being goofy and bored in the back seat. I wasn't actually bored, I was watching a movie on my iPod. I have goofy covered, so this is me being goofy.
The grave in the foreground is my brother John's. This is his view. As I mentioned earlier, this doesn't capture the whole thing. It was really lovely with the big trees forming a canopy over two rows of markers. Very pleasant.
And the best for last is my mom's cat Molly. She's on a bed in the guest bedroom. Apparently she doesn't want the blind lifted up, she wants the blind on her. Maybe it reflects heat back to her and keeps her warm. If that's the case, we should have sent her to engineering school since she's figured this out.

Have a great day!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Nature Notes-Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment. ~Ellis Peters


Visit Michelle at the fascinating Nature Notes Thursday to learn something interesting.

Updates:
1. There is no news on Question Mark Kitty.
2. No photos posted, either. I have been either busy or sleeping since I got back from my trip.
3. Today's post is full of quotes that make me smile and they're all about springtime!

Let's start with my favorite:

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

Now let's move on to the rest. I hope you see something you enjoy.

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
~Robert Frost

And a May day, apparently.

In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours. ~Mark Twain

Mark Twain, accurate meteorologist.

To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring. ~George Santayana

That’s what Nature Notes is all about!

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke

Or two months, but who’s counting?

Spring is not the best of seasons.
Cold and flu are two good reasons;
wind and rain and other sorrow,
warm today and cold tomorrow.
~Author Unknown

Spring is cruel. I prefer autumn for the steady descent into cold weather rather than the yanking back and forth of spring.

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;
To-day the glint of green is there;
Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;
I know no thing so wondrous fair,
No miracle so strangely rare.
I wonder what will next be there!
~L.H. Bailey

It’s true that spring has more delightful garden surprises than any other season.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. ~Nadine Stair

I do not like going barefoot except in my own backyard and this sounds like a good plan.

May is a pious fraud of the almanac. ~James R. Lowell

With 4.34” of rain just this week, I like to think of May being a fraud.

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens

Don’t just blame March. It’s April and May as well.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Travel Thoughts

I have been roaming the country since Thursday morning. The grandkids were a little perplexed that I wasn't at the house when they arrived yesterday evening. I called to say hello and once they got the pertinent information, they were satisfied.

"How did you get there?"
I rode in an airplane.

"What color was it?"
White. [silence] Should I look for another color?

"Try a red and black one."
OK. I'll look for one.

And that was it. That's what they wanted to know. The conversation was over.

I have photographs to show you, but I can't get this computer to read my memory card from the camera. I have a photograph of my brother's grave site. Dang! He has some serious real estate. It's a beautiful spot. I remember that day long ago in the middle of January. I looked out past the line of trees and thought it was stark, cold and sad. This time I looked into the cemetery from the line of trees and it was shaded and soft and green and almost happy. He's buried next to the pet cemetery, which I love. Naturally the photograph doesn't capture the feeling of the green grass and the rustling of the leaves on so many trees or the coolness of the shade.

Today I will go to another cemetery where many of the aged relatives hang out. Actually, there is at least one baby and one teenager there as well. The teenager isn't a member of the family, but I always think of her when I'm there.

A fair bit of my sorrow lives there, but it's best to be done.

I have a photo to show you that you will love. My mom's cat sleeps on a bed next to a window and has to have things just so. You'll see what I mean. For now that's all you get.

I took photos of old buildings trying to get all artistic and stuff. We'll see what you think. I was in the back seat of a moving car. Prepare to be amazed.

Funny, I thought I had something interesting to say after being away from you all for so many days. I hate when I'm wrong.

Have a good day!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Nature Notes and Signs of the Season


Visit Michelle at the fascinating Nature Notes Thursday to learn something interesting.

Things are going on in my backyard due to two solid hours last night. I haven't seen Question Mark Kitty, either. I'll keep you posted.

The photo above shows the dead lilies from last year. I bought six lilies and they promptly shriveled up and died and I was very disappointed. It was a surprise when I wandered out in the backyard and found these things sprouting up and looking fabulous. We'll see how they fare in this new location. I hope they can take 6+ hours of sunshine this summer.

The cages are to keep the rabbits away. They eat everything. Every. Thing. I also use the pinwheel to scare them. I don't know if it works to keep them at bay, but with the way the wind howls out of Canada, they twirl and twirl and twirl.

For the front yard, I bought a shrub rose. I also planted an heirloom tomato plant. Pink Brandywine, I believe. I have three roses that I have neglected the entire time I've lived in the house. I am trying to mend my ways. Two are red hybrid teas and one is a very small, but profusely blooming shrub rose (it's tiny) with lovely orange roses.

Last but not least: Rhubarb. It grows bigger than trouble on a Tuesday afternoon. This photo is after I took a modest amount out for a friend.

With everything growing so nicely, it is tempting to think summer is upon us. But this Friday night north of where I live they are anticipating frost. It's still early spring for sure!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Question Mark Kitty

Some of you have asked about him and the news is that he hasn't come back around. The hope has always been that he really belongs to someone and makes the rounds of the neighborhood mooching what he can from everyone.

I can't wait to see him again and be sure he is OK, but we know he travels far and wide throughout the neighborhood. He has a lot of territory to cover. Also, if he has humans we all expect him to be in the house being cared for.

I spent Saturday in Omaha with my girlfriend and her baby. Sunday I spent with the grandkids. I have a couple photos to post later on.

Have a great day.