Fifty-two Years and Counting

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Today David and I will celebrate our 52nd wedding anniversary. Doesn’t seem possible that that many years have passed since we tied the knot.  I was just a young girl when I first met David and his brother at a basketball game where they threw paper Coke cups at his cousin and me during the game.  She and I hid in the restroom and every time we’d open the door, they would chuck a bunch of Coke cups at us. Sometime during the evening his cousin has told me I said, “I’m going to marry that boy.”  Now I don’t know which boy I was talking about at the time, but I ended up with David.

Fast forward a few years and I’m a junior in high school and David has moved in with his cousin’s family because his parents got jobs in the Virgin Islands and were moving there. David did not want to go.  The first time I saw him was when some of my girlfriends and I walked to the Dairy Queen during lunch and there was David, sitting all alone in his leather jacket, smoking a cigarette. Let’s just say my heart went BOOM.

At one of the first football games I saw him again. Now I don’t like football at all and only went to the games to be with my friends and flirt with the boys so I really wanted to flirt with David, but he spent most of the game talking to one of my friends, so I thought he wasn’t interested. But, the next Sunday his cousin called me and wanted to know if I wanted to go to a movie with her and David. SURE.  It was a setup, no two ways about it. It was a date, but not a date and yet, it ended so wonderfully. We saw the movie, Joy in the Morning, staring Richard Chamberlain and Yvette Mimieux. It was a love story and a wonderful movie. If you get the chance to see it, do.  Anyway, before I knew it, David was holding my hand.  Did I say he was a fast worker?   I was all tingly inside.  Then we drove around after the movie, went to the drive-in restaurant and drove around some more and David and I kissed. And kissed. And Kissed. I had always loved kissing, but David was the best kisser, ever. When his cousin dropped me off at home, my mother said, and I quote, “you look like you are in love.”  How did she know? Was it because she dated her high school  sweetheart, my daddy, and married him one day?  Yes, I was in love. That is how fast it happened. People say that’s impossible, but I’m here to tell you when you see the one you want, you just know.

So we dated the rest of the way through high school, David’s military training, my college year(My mother said I had to go to college at least one year before I could get married.)  I had the ring, just not the date. So I dutifully went to college which I really enjoyed, but I wanted to be married more.  So July 7th, 1968 David and I tied the knot.

My daddy said he could never give his girls away, so my big brother, Jack, got the honors.  I loved my big brother, He has since passed on to Heaven where I look forward to seeing him again.

David hid our car at the Stucky Pecan shop where I worked, thinking it would be left alone, but my friends at Stucky’s decorated the car and put bottle caps in the hubcaps which were really noisy when we drove away.

We were married by two pastors.  Reverend Stockinger, on the right had known me for years and had taught me and I became a Christian while he was pastor.  Reverend Taylor on the left, was our new pastor and I didn’t know him very well which is why I wanted Reverend Stockinger there also. It all worked out very well and we are double married and that’s been good all these years.

Did I say David was a good kisser!   Yes, he is.  This is when he still had brown hair and I was still skinny.

My daddy and mother, my sister all in pink because that was my color. I still love pink.  David’s brother, Bill, was his best man. He and his girlfriend got married a year later and just celebrated their 51st anniversary.  David’s mother flew up from the Virgin Islands.  It’s hard to believe our parents are all gone since this day just seems like yesterday.

I look like an angel in this picture, but I’m no angel!

I have always hated seeing brides stuff cake all over their groom’s face and vice versa. You can see I very carefully put a small piece of cake in David’s mouth. No squashing it for me.

It was a wonderful wedding and wonderful day, even when David’s brother, who was use to driving on the left side of the road(which is how they drive in the Virgin Islands) and took off out of town on the left side of the road until we yelled to get over.  We could have been a statistic instead of newlyweds. that day.

We honeymooned in Traverse City Michigan where David’s other grandparents lived and a lot of his relatives, too and I got to know them all and love them and we spent several Summers with them after our children were born.   We’d love to go back to Traverse City again, but not this year.  There is even a road named Craig road there because that’s all who lived on that road for years.  David’s grandparents had bought a farm on the peninsula many years before Traverse City became a tourist mecca.  I just read an article about the peninsula and the light house on the end of it. Been there, seen that. Many times.  Most of David’s relatives have moved or passed away and the ones who are left probably wouldn’t know us.

So on our honeymoon I felt free as a bird. No more curfews.  I was a grownup now. Little did I know that I would wish to be a young girl again with no worries in the years ahead.  But it’s been a wonderful 52 years for the most part. We’ve survived the downs and celebrated the ups and will continue to do so until death do us part which is several years away, I hope.

Happy Anniversary to us!  Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Fourth of July

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The fourth of July is going to be a big Phsttttttt this year.  No fireworks displays. No congregating with like minded people to watch explosions go off in the air. No hearing the national anthem, which, by the way, is the only national anthem of our country.   David is working so I will be home alone. I wonder if I could be like Kevin in the movie. Eat ice cream in bed, watch old movies, and plan a way to stop the bad guys from getting in the house. That last part I really hope never happens.  But you can bet I will be busy doing something or just laying out by the pool, whichever suits me.

We have had several people swimming in our pool. Our daughter brings her friend, her kids and her friend’s kids and sometimes friends of the friends.  I say the pool is there and it needs to be used, so they have been using it often. I’ve been in the pool once this Summer. The water has to be like bath water for me to get in it.  I like sitting out and watching the kids have fun.  One day they swam for six hours. They all are as brown as nuts.  I tell them that and they laugh because they’ve never heard that before.

I still miss Belle.  Molly still looks for her. I feel sad when I see her bowl I never have to fill and her bed in my shop where she will never lay again. The vet sent us a sympathy card and it made me cry.   She was such a good dog.  But I am looking for a Lab puppy.  The only way to fill the empty space is to fill it with a puppy.  Belle can never be replaced, but a puppy will help heal the sadness. I found a breeder who has three day old Labs and I’ve given him our phone number in hopes he will get in touch with us. I told him we were seriously looking for another Lab.   I sometimes think I am a glutton for punishment by taking on the care and training of yet another puppy. Molly tried our souls. She really did, but she has turned into the sweetest, most loving dog, but she still will chew anything left out in the yard. Our daughter called and said she left her Boes  music box outside by the pool. I immediately felt my stomach drop wondering if Molly had already discovered it and done her work, but fortunately for our daughter, it was still in one piece.  Once the man who mowed our lawn left headphones out in the yard and Molly made mincemeat of them.  So this is what I want to take on once again with a new puppy.

So much has gone on this Summer and so much will be going on so I’m thinking this will be the fastest Summer to pass in decades. We all will certainly remember this Summer, if not this year as the time of the Virus when we were held hostage by a bug that they know very little about and have no cure for and yet we have to work around it somehow and make our country work.  My grandsons will have to wear masks all day at school this Fall.  I feel for them. I’ve worn a mask two times and both times were at the doctors’ offices where they handed me a mask to wear. I really feel claustrophobic with a mask on so I go nowhere where I have to wear one.  I need to get my hair cut, but they require their patrons to wear masks so my hair will be very long before I make an appointment.  I’m getting use to having long hair although it is a pain to take care of and keep the tangles out.

I hope you all are having a good Summer.  It’s a wonderful time to read a book, lay in the sun and just enjoy the lazy days.   I’ve been reading some really good books on my Kindle.  On one blog she has people send in the names of books they recommend. So many books. So little time.

I also have been having fun with my new pastime, painting by numbers. These are not like the old paint by numbers we use to paint. These are very intricate paintings where you really have to pay attention to detail.  I finished one of a flower in a vase and now I’m working on one of all colors of roses. David ordered some frames for them.  It’s very calming to sit and paint.  I think about the masters like Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and even Norman Rockwell who painted pictures for the front of magazines.  Now they didn’t need numbers and they really had to pay attention to detail, but I bet they got the same relaxing feelings I get when I paint.  I feel at one with them.   I can even order Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh to paint if I so wish. If you are interested, just check out paint by numbers and you will find several companies that produce them. Just know, at this time they are being overwhelmed with orders because of the virus and it takes a month or more to get your set, but if you are patient, it will come in time. My first ones took three months to get here and I have another picture I ordered over a month ago. But they are worth it.

So Happy 4th of July. God bless our country and protect it from those who would destroy it.  May we continue to live in peace.  Bye.

 

My Heart is Broken

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Today I lost a friend.  One who came into my life a little over twelve years ago and has been by my side ever since. She never asked for much.  She never gave me any trouble. She was faithful in all things and was always ready to be by my side whenever I asked her.   She made me laugh and today she made me cry.  I am broken hearted at her loss.  It wasn’t easy.  It wasn’t expected.  Yesterday she seemed well enough, but today she had horrible symptoms.  She could barely breathe and could barely walk.  So I did what I had to  do and called her doctor.
“Come in at four and you will see Doctor Witt, ”  I was told. Or rather she would see Dr. Witt. We had to sit outside in the car while they took her inside. It did not look good. She had a mass in her throat and she would have to go through all kinds of tests causing her much stress and I just couldn’t bare that.  David signed some papers saying we agreed to the last procedure.  One which she would not live through.  I could barely contain the tears. My throat felt tight.  My heart, oh, my heart was breaking.

You see, it was my dear dog, Belle, who went to the Rainbow Bridge today.  I could not  bear to put her through all the stress of tests and surgeries . She was old and didn’t need that, but it still did not make it easy.   They made a cast of her paw and I can’t bear to look at it right now. Maybe later.

Belle was such a good dog.  I remember when I saw chocolate Lab puppies advertised in the paper and immediately called their owners to see if I could come see them.  When we got to their house they took us to their garage where they had a low cage for the puppies. One jumped over the cage and came right to me and I knew then that she would be mine.  I named her Belle Lattedah, her registered name and we called her Belle.   She came home with us that day and she’s been a blessing ever since.  I watched her grow and she and I took long walks together almost every day until one day I couldn’t walk because  I had hurt my leg.  The walks got shorter and less frequent. I knew she missed them.  I sure missed them.  She’d get excited if I even touched her leash. I felt like I had failed her in some way.  But we still played in the yard. She and Bonnie were buds and then we brought home a third dog that decided she would rule the yard and Belle let her for the most part.  I saw her growl and snap at Molly a few times to show her authority, but as she grew older and Molly grew bigger and stronger, Belle was no longer the dominant dog.   She spent her days lying under the porch where it was cool.  Sometimes she’d come out to chase a rabbit or bark at the neighbor’s dog, but she spent most of the time sleeping.

Yesterday she seemed fine or as fine as an arthritic twelve year old dog can be, but this morning David told me Belle was not acting right.  She just stood and hung her head and her breathing was labored. l It reminded me of the day when Bonnie died and I knew this day would not end happily.   And it didn’t.  I know one day I will get another puppy.  That’s a given. It will never take Belle’s place, but it will make my heart a little less sad.

So, farewell old friend. I really hope there is a Rainbow bridge. I can’t think God would create something so wonderful as dogs and not allow us to see them once again. I know animals don’t have souls, but God knows our hearts and what we need so I’m planning on seeing all my dogs again one day.  I love you, Belle. Good-bye.

 

 

Creating

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I’ve had plenty of time the last few weeks to put my creative juices to good use.   A couple of weeks ago I got these.

That necklace was a Mother’s Day gift from my daughter.  You can’t see them very well, but my grandchildren’s names are all engraved on it.  I love it.  But what I was really trying to show was the paint by number picture.  I ordered two of them in March and just received them recently. The colored picture is what I will be painting.

I also got this one which is a picture of a flower in a small vase on a table. Doesn’t look much like that right now, does it?  I love these because you don’t have to mix colors. A few years ago I bought a paint by number at Hobby Lobby and you had to mix some of the paints to get the color you needed.  I wasn’t very good at it and gave up half way through. Now that I’m painting these pictures, I think I will go back and see if I can finish that one if the paints haven’t dried up!

Anyway, I ordered yet another paint by number from another company and they wrote me that they were weeks behind because of the high volume of orders they had received. Must be a lot of bored people out there wanting something to occupy their time.  I find painting is very relaxing.  I wish I had taken some art classes in high school and college because I think I would have loved painting pictures of my own making.  I know I love painting in general as I have painted every room in our house several times since we’ve lived here.  Something about taking a brush with paint on it and transforming a room or a canvas  just makes me happy.

I’m hoping to have this one done in a week or so and then David is going to build a frame and we’ll stretch the canvas onto it. Saw them do that last night on the show Home Town. One of my favorite fixer upper shows.   David and I took a road trip to Laurel, Mississippi where the show takes place and where the hosts’ have a little store downtown.   Very nice little southern town with beautiful houses and big oak trees down the streets.  I can see why people want to move there.

Do you notice how I get off subject pretty quickly? That’s how my mind works. It meanders through one thought to another thought until I forget what the first thought was!   I was talking about painting, wasn’t I?   When I was a girl I would get color by number picture sets for Christmas and used color pencils to color the pictures. I absolutely loved doing  it. I wish I still had some of those pictures. They sell them on E-bay now and people decorate with them.

But painting is not all I’ve been doing.  I am working on six quilts. Six!  I have a plan, but I can’t write it here because nosy people might know what I’m writing about.  I found some wonderful fabrics in aboriginal prints that I am using in a couple of the quilts.  It’s really amazing fabric.   Sadly, my stamina isn’t what it use to be and it’s taking me a lot longer to get sewing done than it use to.   I have a deadline when I want these quilts completed, so I’m going to have to get it in gear and work harder.   Maybe I’ll show you a corner of a quilt sometime.

And of course, there is always socks.  I could knit all day I love it so much, but it would not be very good for me to sit so long so I get up and do other things like feed and water the chickens, chicks and dogs.  That’s my life. Feeding and watering birds, both wild and domestic and the dogs.  They can’t do it themselves and I’m the only one here most of the day, so somebody(me) has to do it.  Yesterday I accidentally left the door open on the young chick’s pen and two of them got out. Luckily the pen was in the cabin so all I had to do was shut the cabin door and catch the little rascals and all was well. The chicks are getting almost big enough to join the big girls.   Next week we will put their pen inside the coop so they all can get acquainted.  I always worry how the older chickens will take to the younger ones. Once our daughter’s family was going somewhere and needed chicken sitters while they were gone so they brought their flock over to put in with mine.  Well, the rumble began as soon as her chickens saw mine. Her chickens were thugs!  Bullies!  I had to keep them all separated or someone would have gotten hurt. Not going to try that again. Chickens are very territorial.

But, back to knitting.

I got this lovely yarn in the mail.

And this one. This is called Monopoly because it has the colors of the Monopoly game.  This designer always sends a little charm with each hank of yarn she sends to her customers.

Of course, Monopoly had a little green house.

The pink yarn included this pink and white sucker charm. I have several charms from this lady and I bought a charm bracelet the other day and am going to put all the charms on it to remind me of all the stockings I’ve knitted from this one business.

I’ve also been going through my yarn and finding like colors and making patchwork stockings. I knit until one color runs out and join yarn and keep knitting. I’m loving these Christmas colors socks.

The flowers in my garden change almost weekly. The peonies were so beautiful this year, but just did not last long enough.

The last paint by number I ordered is actually a picture of peonies in a vase somewhat like this picture of my peonies. So I can have peonies all year through if I get the painting done.

We practiced social distancing long enough and our grandchildren were ready to get out and the came down to see us.  It’s so nice having grown grandchildren you can carry on a conversation with. They are such fun to have around.

I just love these kids so much and could not be any prouder of them than I am already.

The one on the left is the youngest! I told his brother that one day he’d be taller than him and I was right.  Two are in college and the youngest will be a freshman.  I can’t believe how fast these children grew. Seems like just the other day I was holding them on my lap and reading them stories.

I baked banana bread twice. It is so good with a glass of cold milk or a cup of coffee.

Well, hope you are getting out and about. We’ve eaten out a few times at restaurants that are serving.  Have you noticed most of them expect you to have a cellphone and place your order with the phone? David and I are old school and don’t carry our phone with us every place we go. We went to one restaurant where there was a wait and we said we didn’t mind waiting and the young man told us they would call us on our phone and David told him we didn’t have a phone with us and would you believe, the young man told him we could go to another restaurant!  Banned for not having a cellphone with us?  Needless to say, I wrote the company and told them what I thought of their policy. We have had no trouble at any of the other restaurants. They gladly have someone tell us our table is ready.  Oh, well. You win some, you lose some.

June is here. Can July be far behind?  Summer is going fast!  Bye.

 

 

Do You Have a Doppleganger?

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Do you have Doppleganger?  Do you know what a Doppleganger is?   A Doppleganger(I just love typing that word) is someone who looks like you.  Your twin sort of from another mother.   I have had several in my life.  When we first moved to our present home over forty years ago, we looked for a church and found one. It wasn’t long before I was told there was a woman in town who looked just like me.  That was interesting.

She evidently attended my new church, but had not been there for a while. I watched for my Doppleganger every Sunday and one day, she appeared, but I didn’t know it. You see, we all think of ourselves as looking one way and the world sees us in another way so when I was pointed out my Doppleganger I thought no way did she look like me.  She did have blonde hair and was short, but that was all I saw that looked sort of like me. But after that, I kept looking at her trying to see something others were seeing in her that looked like me.

I went to the library not long after we moved here to get a new library card and it was not long before one of the librarians told me she had seen someone who looked “Just like me” come into the library.  This Doppleganger I never saw and I was wondering if it was the same lady who went to my church.  Crazy.

Do you remember the model Twiggy back in the sixties?  Now in no way was my body like hers, slim as a rail. I had more curves and you might even call me a little chubby, but my boss where I worked said I sure looked like Twiggy.  And I guess I did a little in my pictures. In the face.  Funny how that works.  And in one of my younger pictures I look sort of like Princess Diana.  If I can find the picture, I’ll put it here.  I know that sounds crazy and I’m bragging, but I’m not.  It’s just that in one of my pictures and how I am posed, I look like Princess Diana.  I don’t look at all like her now. Of course she probably wouldn’t look like she did back in her younger days if she were still alive which I wish she was.   I still miss her.  I was one of those who got up extra early on her wedding day and watched, enraptured, the pomp and circumstance of the whole thing and then days afterward I looked for anything about Diana I could find on the TV.  Just wish she and Charles could have made a go of it, but I don’t think the love was equal in that relationship, sadly.

Anyway, back to Dopplegangers,  I put some pictures online a few years back while we were traveling and one of my friends told one of her friends that I looked like one of their friends!  Well, when I saw who they were talking about I asked David if I looked anything like her and he said, “Absolutely not!”  But her friends saw something in me that reminded them of her.

Right now with all the mask wearing it would be hard to see your Doppleganger if they were standing right in front of you.   Do you have a Doppleganger?  Are you happy they look like you or are you a little distressed about it?   Everyone has a twin, they say.  My grandson has a picture of his best friend’s grandfather when he was young and he looks exactly like my grandson.  I almost fell on the floor when I saw their two pictures together.  Twins!  I mean exactly alike.   There has be to a family relationship there somewhere down the gene line.

If you have a Doppleganger or just haven’t seen yours yet, keep looking.  Your twin may show up one day.  Bye,

 

A Walk Through My Garden and Other Things

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Some people say the time is going slow for them during this quarantine time. I have to say time has been absolutely flying for me during these beautiful Spring months. Where has March, April and May gone?  My three favorite months are almost a thing of the past for another year.  I’ve tried to enjoy each day as it comes and goes. It has been a cold Spring, so I’m hoping warmer days are coming.

I’ve knit several pairs of stockings,  pieced four quilts and almost have one of them quilted and bound.  We’ve painted a bedroom and organized another and can finally see the bed again after David stacked all my quilts on an old trunk and in a closet.   I’ve planted tomatoes.  I bought twenty packets of flower seeds which I don’t know why I did because we have very little space in the garden for any more flowers.

We started raising more chicks. Here they are huddled under their heat lamp despite the fact we bought this…..

A heater that simulates a mother hen.  If you’ve ever felt the underneath of a chicken when she is setting you will know just how warm it is.  Anyway, the chicks can get under this and feel like they are underneath a hen. You can actually buy feathers that fit on this to make it feel more like a hen, but we didn’t go that far.  The cone on top is to keep them from trying to sit on the heater and pooping all over it.  You can just see the corner of the cone on the above picture.  The chicks were just getting use to the heater and still were under the heat lamp, but I’ve seen them all go underneath so I know they are using it.

Soon the chicks will be big enough to join the big girls.  That one in the front is the talker who demands her cracked corn even to jumping up and pecking the bowl of it I am holding.  She is very demanding.

The chickens have been providing us with a lot of eggs.

They all usually lay in the same nest even though they have five to choose from.

Because we have very little room left to plant my seeds, we are using these boxes which are really the steps of our old back deck turned upside down. Just the right size to plant flower seeds in.

This is my dog gardener. At least she thinks she is. She has dug up some of my flower beds. I think she was looking for moles. I can’t get angry with her about it because I always have called the back garden the dogs’ garden.  Mostly they keep the moles and snakes out for which I am very happy.   They’re good dogs.

Now the garden is busting out all over. My very favorite flowers, the peonies are starting to bloom.

Isn’t this so pretty?

I can never get enough peonies.

The snowball bush is, alas, almost gone for another year.

It was so loaded with snowballs the branches were bent down.

It covered one whole end of our porch.

David’s grandmother gave us a start of her snowball bush years ago and from that we now have two snowball bushes.  I always think of his grandmother when I look at our snowball bush.  She was a gardener, too.

Now the snowballs fall like snow all over the ground.

Makes me a little sad to see them gone for another year.  I hope whoever lives in this house after us will get the joy out of the snowball bush that I do.

The honeysuckle by the pool house is blooming the best it’s ever bloomed. The hummingbirds love this.  David saw our first hummingbird on this  bush this week.

A hollyhock I found in an abandoned house’s yard one year.  It keeps coming up although I forget about it from year to year until it appears.  Last year it had so many flowers on it.

David’s grandmother’s poppies bloom every year and are spreading all over.

Then there’s the iris. What can I say about iris?  I’ve planted hundreds of them through the years and they keep multiplying and spreading. It’s one of my top five favorite flowers because they are so easy to grow. We mow them down every year and they keep coming back year after year.

I have several shades of purple.

 

David found these in a little woods by the place where he worked and dug up a few and brought them home to me and they have multiplied over the years.

Soon the Day Lilies will be blooming. There is always something growing in my garden.

Someone asked me years ago if I do a lot of weeding and I told them that I don’t.  I just plant a lot of flowers and plant them close together. They smother out the weeds after a while. I do have a lot of Creeping Charley in my yard, but it compliments my plants so I leave it alone.  Some call it a weed, but it has the cutest, little blue flowers on it and it keeps the soil moist beneath the plants so it’s doing its job.  It is from the mint family. Mint is very invasive. I saw where Creeping Charley was actually for sale on some garden pages. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you don’t care if it creeps everywhere. It’s nearly impossible to get rid of so you either learn to live with it or it will give you high blood pressure.

Sometimes I miss things in my garden if I don’t walk around it every day.  I had forgotten about this salvia. It is so dark and brilliant a color. It just glows.

Paired with purple and yellow Iris, it makes a stunning picture in the garden.

I could go on and on about the flowers and I haven’t shown half of them so I will save that for another day.

Molly says, “Hello.”  She enjoyed having David home for six weeks. Ralph Lauren opened his stores again this week, so he’s back to work.  I miss him.   Before, I was use to being home alone for days while he worked, but I got use to having him home so I was not happy to see him go back to work, but he loves his job and it keeps him busy and active.  So I had to get use to being alone again and I will.  Hope you all are finding things to keep you busy and occupied during this quarantine.  Many are not use to having so many hours in a day to fill that isn’t a job. Me, I’ve never had any problem finding things to do. I can honestly say I have never been bored in my life. There’s too many wonderful things in this world to discover and enjoy.   So I hope you are  discovering a wonderful world around you whether it be your family, your garden, your hobbies, books or anything else.  This time will pass and will become part of all our histories so we may as well enjoy it. Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My New Sweet Tweets

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I talked myself into getting chicks this week.  I know they are something else I will have to take care of, but since my flock is slowly diminishing, I decided it was time to add a few so the egg supply will continue next year.  I had certain kinds I wanted to get, but when I got to Rural King I saw that they didn’t have the ones I wanted so I chose two new kinds.  I got three Blue Barred Rocks and three Buff Orpingtons that are not buff colored, but will be black when they are grown. I looked them up and they look like they will be big, fluffy birds and good layers.  The Buff Orpingtons I have now are yellow and fluffy and good layers.

So then I had to name them, of course. My last six were named after ladies in my Sunday School class and this bunch are named after more ladies in my church and one is the name of another friend.  They will be Miss Wilma, Miss Shawna, Miss Nancy, Miss Erika, Miss Lori, and Miss Mary.   Now I have to decide who is who.

Before I introduce you to my new birds I have to tell you how much fun it is to have chickens.  After you’ve had them for a while, they get to know you and mine meet me at the gate every day and I have one that’s a real talker and will talk her head off until I get them some chicken scratch. She seems to be the spokes chicken of the bunch.  She also is demanding. She will jump up and peck the bowl with the scratch in it or grab hold of my coat sleeve in order to get to the scratch.  I believe she is hooked on scratch.  It’s like crack for chickens.   Which is why they only get a little of it every day.   Chickens can be as friendly as you want them to be, but you have to work at it because they usually are, well, chicken.   I don’t pick up the chicks too much because I don’t think it’s good for them, but you do have to handle the chickens a bit to get them use to you and to not run from you. I find that once I’ve caught a chicken and held her and stroked her feathers for a little bit, when I put her down she seems negligent in wanting to run away from me. I think they like being petted even though they fight it at first.

Having chickens means you have to get out of the house and take care of them which is good during this quarantine time.  It’s nice to get out in the fresh air and walk to the chicken yard and see my girls all waiting for me.   I like watching them as they scratch and peck around.  Free range chickens have to be the happiest creatures alive. They only live for that next bug, piece of bread(which they love also) or handful of scratch. They haven’t a care in the world unless a predator, like a hawk, comes around.   They are on a time clock with the sun, out at dawn and in by  dusk.  Anyone who thinks chickens are hard to care for aren’t doing it right or have never had chickens. Other than cats, they are the easiest pet of them all. They just need feed and water, don’t have to be walked or played with and will supply you with all the eggs you need.  Mine have never had any health issues except for one lame one I had who lived a happy life despite her handicap.   Sadly, I think a hawk got her or the other hens had a pecking party, I will never know for sure.  And yes, chickens can be vicious to other chickens especially if one has something that makes it weak in the eyes of the others.  I’ve never had that problem before to my knowledge.

So, anyway, here’s my new babies. Snug in their dog crate coop until they are big enough to go in with the other big girls.

I guess I’ll never get over how cute baby chicks are.  My daddy raised chickens on the farm and every Spring, we’d drive to the post office and pick up two boxes full of fifty chicks each and carry them home in the car listening to their peeps all the way. I loved getting chicks day.  We’d take them out to the brooder house, a little building specifically for keeping baby chicks, where there was a big heat lamp in the center of the ceiling. We’d let the yellow chicks out and they’d all rush under the lamp in one big clump. Daddy would fill their water jars and their feeders and then leave them to settle down.  I would go out to the brooder house several times a day just to look at all those baby chicks.  Sometimes I was naughty and would try to scare them and laugh when they’d all run in the one big clump to the other side of the room. My daddy would not have been happy if he knew I did that.  Baby chicks can trample each other if there are enough of them.  But they grew and grew and one day sprouted feathers and then were allowed outside with the older chickens and there were no more baby chicks until the next Spring.

This is a Blue Barred Rock. At least that’s what the sign read on the trough the chicks were in.  It doesn’t look blue to me right now, but maybe it will change.

They’ve got little fluffy white bottoms and white chests.

The lighter ones are the Buff Orpingtons, but again I’m not sure what these will look like or whether they will turn darker.  Sometimes it’s a mystery what you are getting from Rural King.

So now I begin the adventure of raising new chickens again. They will be in this crate for a couple of months at least until they are large enough to make it with the big ladies.

Molly sits outdoor of the cabin where we are keeping the chicks and whines while I’m in there wondering what I’m doing and not including her.

Belle could not care less.

Have to show you what one of my sons sent to me for Mother’s Day.

Good with a nice cup of coffee.

He’s a good son. I’ll keep him.

Here’s to baby chicks. Everyone should have some, sometime. Bye.

 

 

 

Not Enough Time

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So how are the weeks in quarantine treating you?  After I got use to having David around 24/7 it all started going pretty smoothly and the days are flying by.   March, April and May are my favorite months and here is April almost gone for another year.  I hope by this time next year the quarantine will be a distant memory.

I have been deep cleaning this week.   We have a room that years ago I turned into the cabin room. It was supposed to be the grandchildren’s room when they stayed overnight and where all the toys were kept.  For some reason most of the grandchildren didn’t want to spend the night. I don’t think it was because of the ghost stories I told them about our house!   So as they grew up, the room became a kind of catch all for things I didn’t use. Piles of quilts were on the single bed.  So this week, I decided to clean the room well and get it organized.

I found this Camp sign in an antique store years ago. It fit the theme for the room quite well.

A flag, one of our boy’s boy scout shirt, an old tin mess kit, a flag and a talking bird add to the atmosphere of a camp.  That bird was bought when our first two grandchildren were very little. It sang “Zippity Do Da,” and those kids would want me to play it over and over.  I’m not sure it works any longer, but we had a lot of fun with it when the grandchildren were little.

Through the years I bought pictures that had the woods and camp theme.

So we got this room all completed, curtains washed, floor scrubbed and everything dusted. Now I can leave it for another ten years!

A good thing not to do.

David neatly stacked several more of my quilts.  There are still more to get off the bed.

I rolled some more quilts and put them in this old laundry tub.

I have collected American flags over the years. I have several forty-eight star ones and one forty-nine star on and several fifty star ones.   I washed some of them and ironed them and we folded them neatly and now will store them in a basket.

I love our flag.

I put David’s old army shirt on my dressmaker’s form and put an apron on it.  Kind of been the story of our lives, the military man and the homemaker.  And one of our son’s cub scout caps to top it all off.

This is the view out this bedroom’s window.

 

Here’s the chandelier we hung in the bedroom we painted. It’s even better looking in person.

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And I love the shadows it puts on the ceiling.

It almost looks like a doily is on the ceiling.

It’s taken us over forty years to get this house the way we want, but I think we’ve finally done it.

Because we can’t go out to eat like we did, I’m having to cook more and we’ve had some delicious meals. I really don’t enjoy cooking and I never cooked before we were married, but I have some tried and true meals I can throw together that we both like.

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Meatloaf, scalloped potatoes and corn.  I am not bragging, but I have never tasted meatloaf as good as mine at any restaurant.  We bought a takeout meal the other day and we ordered the meatloaf dinner and I could hardly eat it. They had used shredded carrots in their meatloaf, but it overpowered the meat and just did not taste good.  Bonnie and Belle got a treat that night!  One time a long time ago when I was in the hospital, I ordered the meatloaf for one of my meals and it came and I looked at it and could not eat it. It was grey. How does anyone make meatloaf look grey?   So I will stick with my meatloaf until someone makes one I can eat.

Orange Chiffon cake.  It is so yummy and a light dessert.   Not a lot of icing.  If you like oranges, you would love this cake.  I’ve made two since the quarantine began.

 

Blueberry muffins are always a treat for us. These are from a box, but are so moist and full of blueberries. Have we gained weight? Probably. I don’t ever weigh myself. I don’t need that grief right now. David said he has gained a few pounds. He’s use to walking all over the Ralph Lauren store all day for hours.  He’s sitting a lot more except when he’s mowing or working outside.   So when this is over, it’s back to one meal a day and we both need to exercise more.  We will call it the nonquarantine diet.

 

The garden is still beautiful.

The azalea was full of blooms.

The crabapple tree from our front porch.

I just love this tree. You can see it from a mile down the road when we are coming home.

 

The redbuds never disappoint.  I saw a weeping red bud tree advertised and I’m thinking of getting one.

Lilacs and snowballs make a pretty arrangement.  We can smell the lilacs all over the house.

They are around for such a short time, but are worth every second they are around.

And of course, I’ve been quilting and knitting socks.   A lot of people are sewing masks, but I just could not get into that.  I’ve worn a mask once since this happened. At the doctor’s office and as soon as I walked out the door it came off.   I’m still not feeling the panic some people are feeling. I know there are some who have been ill and in the hospital and can’t even have visitors and I just could not stand that.  I told David If I got that sick, keep me at home because I never want to be trapped in a hospital again and not be able to see anyone. I pray you all are keeping healthy and finding some joy in this forced in home time.   I’m sure we all will look back on it with different feelings.  Some good, some bad, but knowing it was a very different time in our nation’s and the world’s history.  So keep staying safe. Love your family, Call someone you know is alone because those are the people who have been hardest hit, I’m sure.  I’m so glad I have David to keep me company.    Bye.

 

 

 

Making it Through the Quarantine

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Does it seem to you that this quarantine has gone on forever?   I’m sure our president has to be very careful about lifting it. Will the media attack him if even one person dies of the virus?  Or will people celebrate they are free to move around again and be out in society not fearing to be exposed?   It’s a difficult decision, but the quarantine has to be lifted sometime.  There will always be a virus around us and we cannot hide out from it forever.

Not to make light of it and  knowing many people were affected and some have died, this quarantine has not affected me very much. We went to the grocery yesterday and there were people walking around with masks and gloves on.  David and I were not wearing either and we were not concerned at all.  The grocery had some shelves that were empty, but most things I wanted were there so we are good for another month.  A friend of mine went to the same store today and actually had toilet paper taken from her cart when she wasn’t looking.  I don’t understand this toilet paper shortage at all.

It’s been nice having David home.  We are finding out we will not kill each other by being together for weeks on end.  He respects my need for privacy and time alone and I cook for him. It’s all worked out!

I told you we painted a bedroom and here are a few pictures after we put everything back into the room, minus a few things.

I absolutely love the color we painted the walls.

We folded some of the quilts on an old trunk.  We also refolded all the rest of my quilts and put them in another room. I must have at least one hundred.

This is David’s grandfather’s old rocker that my daddy stripped and refinished for me one Christmas long ago.  David’s grandpa would sit on his front porch and smoke a cigar every evening. When my mother and I would drive by his house at night, all we could see was the lit end of the cigar and mom would say, “There’s Mr. Henley, smoking his cigar.”  I didn’t know at the time I would be his granddaughter-in-law one day.  These are three quilts I’ve made.

I’ve still got to get some linen pillowcases and we just ordered a Victorian crystal chandelier and the room will be completed.

Can’t remember where we got this old chest of drawers. Probably an auction.

David learned his folding skills while working for Ralph Lauren. He’s folded so many clothes in the years he’s worked there so when I need things folded very neatly, I ask David.  I had a pile of tablecloths I’ve collected over the years and he folded them for me. I asked him to count them so I’d know how many I have.

Here they all are. He said I have one hundred tablecloths!   I had no idea.  I’m going to have to start getting rid of a few I think.  But doesn’t that pile look neat?  I would never be able to fold those so neatly.

When the days are warm ,we spend a lot of time on one of our porch swings and watch the world go by. Of course, not too much of the world is going by at this time because of the virus, but there are people still traveling the roads going some place.  We had an eighty degree day this week, but today it’s in the fifties and will freeze tonight.  While sitting on the swing on my shop front porch a few days ago we saw this…

Peeking through the trees across the road a big moon was glowing.

So David ran in and got the camera and we took some picture of the super moon. The Pink Moon or Planting Moon it is called.

I love the silhouettes of the branches across the moon’s face.

Then David took some close ups.

The moon is absolutely beautiful. They say we only have so many full moons in our lives. I’ve seen most of the ones I’m going to see, but I hope I have a few left.

Skipping along. David found an old fruit press we got a long time ago.  We had a few oranges so he made some juice. How many oranges does it take to make a glass of juice?

Quite a few. And with the juice and some zest I made the best orange chiffon cake with orange icing.  I didn’t get a picture of it, but suffice it to say it was delicious!  I’m going to make another one this week.

Can’t leave without showing the garden and how it’s springing to life.

The weeping cherry is about ready to blossom and the pink flowering almond is full of bloom.

More pink flowering almond beside the house.

The Azalea in full bloom.

We cut down dead foliage, but this space will soon be full of hydrangea and Indigo.

Redbud is everywhere in Indiana.  This one is in my front yard.

Last, but not least, is the crabapple. It doesn’t look like much now, but when it blooms it will be glorious.

Hope you are faring well during this season of  our lives.  Enjoy Spring Or Autumn, if that is what it is in your part of the world.  Wishing everyone a very blessed Easter.  He is risen!   Bye.

 

 

 

 

Good-Bye March, Hello April

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Saying good-bye to March was bitter sweet. I always look forward to the month because it’s my birthday month and I celebrate all month, but this March, well, it sure wasn’t the usual March.  It started okay. We did the usual birthday stuff, eating out, cake, shopping, antiquing. But then everything seemed to go downhill fast.  The corona virus attacked and people went into hibernation, stores closed, people were out of work, people were getting sick and some were dying.  Not what I envisioned for the month of March.

David and I have adjusted to him being off work. Other than a short retirement right after  he left the military, he has never been home this much.  He’s always worked at a job somewhere, Sometimes two or three jobs. Now he has all kinds of time, is sleeping in past 5:30 in the morning and even has breakfast sometimes.   When he’s home I tell him I have to work harder because he’s always doing something and I can’t allow him to outdo me.

Here are some of the things I’ve been doing.

Surprise, I’ve been quilting. This is a small quilt I started January 2019 and I’m just finishing it up today.

 

 

Planting seeds. I’m wondering when the nurseries will be open or if they will be and if I can get some more plants this year. I’ve order two lilac bushes so I can plant something.  These seeds are cucumbers and phlox.  I’ve never tried raising phlox from seed before so we shall see how this turns out.

Decorating for Easter. Our younger grandsons asked us the other day if we are still having our annual Easter egg hunt. I told them we didn’t know yet.  It’s hard to plan things when you don’t know what’s going to happen. They’ve cancelled all the egg hunts around here.

The sky was so blue this day and the bush cherry I planted years ago was the tallest it’s ever been.  When the man next door cut down all his trees, our bushes and tree got a whole lot more sunlight and are growing taller now. I don’t remember this bush flowering like this before, but it was so pretty.

Our neighbor’s Bradford pear is just gorgeous. It fills my kitchen window with its beauty. We are going to get new neighbors over there as our neighbor has moved. It’s always a little worrisome getting new neighbors. You hope they are nice and you get along with them.  We’ve been pretty fortunate with most of our neighbors over the years.

Our little mulberry is full of bloom this year. ( This is not a mulberry tree. It’s a magnolia. I know that just didn’t have my brain in gear while typing.)  I’ve always dreamed of having a mulberry, (magnolia again)now I do.

Checking out all the perennials that are coming up. This is Dame’s Rocket. It came in a packet of wildflower seeds and reseeded itself and there are several more all around it, but this is the biggest one.  I love flowers that reseed themselves and don’t need much care.  It will be tall with pretty blue flowers.  Last year I had to protect it from the contractor’s builders as they were working around it, but it made it through.

Everywhere I look there are flowers coming up.

These big planes fly over us once in a while. They are from Camp Atterbury and the pilots practice their touch and takeoffs at the local airport.  I love seeing them. Our son flew in something similar when he was in the Air Force.

I’ve gotten a pair of socks finished.  And started another pair.  I love knitting socks. So relaxing.

I baked cupcakes, some of which I took to our daughter for her birthday.   Today I baked an orange chiffon cake.  David and I are going to have to loosen the elastic on our pants,

A friend asked me the other day if I had any eggs she could have. Do I have eggs?? At one time I had nine dozen in the refrigerator and couldn’t give them away. Then we took some to our daughter and then this friend got some.  She brought something to trade even though I didn’t expect her to.

Toilet paper!  She wrote on it, “Don’t hurry, don’t worry. Do your best and flush the rest!”  We got a good laugh out of that.  Now we are set on toilet paper for a while. I’ve got good friends.

So how are you coping with this enforced isolation?  We do get out and get takeout and ride around. We took a long ride Sunday through Brown Country down roads we’ve never been on before.  Took a ride through Brown County State Park which waived its entrance fee for the duration. There were a lot of people enjoying being out and exercising.   I try to get outside as much as possible and breath fresh air and play with the dogs.  My daily routine hasn’t really been different other than having David home all day.

When this whole enforced quarantine is over are we all going to come out of our houses like groundhogs on a bright Spring day?  Hopefully we’ll not see our shadows and won’t have to go back in.

Some of you are finding our what retirement is like except without all the fun because you can’t go anywhere. Believe me, retirement is a lot more fun than this.

This quarantine has made a lot of us think about our freedom and how wonderful it is to be able to go anywhere you want and not be impeded.  Right now it’s the grocery store or feed store to feed the animals and people and to the pharmacy to get meds.

This is giving our young people something to tell their grandchildren one day, about the great quarantine when the world almost came to a stop.  How they couldn’t go to school and had to learn at home.

Are you catching up on all that sleep you said you’d get once you didn’t have to work any longer? I know I am and I’m retired!  Between the quarantine and the cloudy, rainy days we have had and it still feeling cold to me, I want to sleep all the time.

Molly and Belle don’t know there’s a quarantine.

They just know David is around a whole lot more.  They like that he’s outside with them working around the yard.

Well, it looks like at least another month of this, so I will continue to look for projects. David is building a new fence along the back of our property so that will keep him busy for a while.  Hope you have something to do that you enjoy.  This time is really a blessing.  Really, it is.  And one day it will be over. Bye.