SPRINGTIME AT OUR HOUSE!

Now that I'm retired I've been trying to spend a little more time working in my yard and garden.  I've made some headway getting rid of weeds and grass, but I've still got a long way to go. I'm so lucky to have a nice yard and garden.  We just don't enjoy it as much as we should.

These are from the back yard...

I love this fountain because there isn't standing water for a child or animal to fall into.

My swing gives a nice backdrop to the whole yard.

 

Randy built me a simple window box that always looks nice with the impatiens.

He also built a house for the birdies!  The roof got dented a few years back when a limb fell on it and it's needing another coat of paint.  The Christmas wreath has been hanging over the "doorway" for a couple of years.  We've just never taken it down.

Ferns are one of my favorites but it's hard to keep enough moisture on them once it turns really hot.

 Here are some shots from the front....

The wicker chair was bought with Christmas money from my brother, Terry, back before we had the girls.  I can blame my having a concrete goose on my Aunt Elsie & Aunt Bobbie.  They got mother started and then I had to have one too.  Her outfits were getting a little faded so I got a few more made this spring;

 

 This hosta looks great right now, but soon the hot summer will take it's toll.  I plan to eventually move this one to the cabin where we have more shade.

 Daylilies, one of my favorite flowers.

They are so "springy."

 This morning I found this squirrel in my birdfeeder.

I haven't been able to figure out how to get this picture turned a quarter turn, but I love that I got his face in this one.  So just turn your head a little and enjoy!!

At The Cabin

Randy & I headed over to the cabin last week to spend a few days.  The weather was fabulous with cool evenings and warm days.  The lake is up since we've had lots of rain. As you can see the creek is pretty good size right now.

We went to The Berry Patch out past Austin and picked up a few flowers for the cabin.  I added red geraniums to the pots of ivy to give them a little color.

I filled the hummingbird feeder, but didn't see any little hummers around.  Hopefully they've found it by now.

I'd like to have a fern for the cabin, but in the past I've had trouble keeping one watered while we're not there.  If you have any ideas, please share.  We do have some wild fern growing down on the hillside.

I Lost My Shadow Today

Today has been one of the hardest days of my life.  Anyone who has never had a pet would not understand, but if you've had that indoor cat or dog that was a part of your life you would.
Toby has been with us since January 2000.  He was just 8 weeks old when we got him.  He was just a little black furball.

Toby loved going camping with Randy and me. Here he is in our old camper.

We were a little worried when the grandkids came along because he'd never been around kids before.
There was no need to worry.  First up was Katie....

 

 Next came Gabby....we didn't get to see her quite so often since they were in Kansas but she loved Toby too when they got to come visit.

                                         Next was Nate...Can you tell the love was mutual?

Toby was included in pictures with me and the whole crew.

Toby doggy.....you will be greatly missed!!!

October 31, 1999 - April 11, 2013

Spring has NOT arrived!

Even though I posted over a month ago that spring was trying to arrive early, it did not!!! And now it's truly spring, but still feels like winter.  Not only is it cold, but they are predicting snow tonight and tomorrow!!  booooo!  Come on spring!!

Spring is trying to arrive early!

I know, it won't be spring for another 5 weeks, but today we drove over to the cabin to look at some storm damage (thanks Pam for alerting us to the problems) and the daffodils were beginning to bloom! 
A storm blew through a week or so ago.  A small community north of here actually had a tornado.  Handyman had to replace a few shingles on our house yesterday but I hadn't even thought about there being any damage at the cabin.  A neighbor called after she and her son had taken a walk over to the cabin and found that a tree had landed across the steps that handyman built last summer.  It broke the handrails but that is just minor damage.  We also have some shingles missing on the cabin roof.  The back screen door had the screen blown out of it and it's bent.  A year or so ago the same thing happened to the front screen door.  Handyman got it fixed..it's not as pretty but it functions just fine.  The screen on the porch is loose in a few places, but we've been having that issue each year.  We'd like to find a better way to attach the screens and possibly have it glassed in for part of the year.  Maybe another project is looming in the future!! 
I'm looking forward to spending more time at the cabin this spring and summer.  Hurry and get here!!!!

Life Is Good!

This week has been the beginning of the second month as a retiree.  I must admit that I'm not working too hard these days.  January was a bit hectic trying to close out the 2012 financial year at church.  I found myself working at least 3 days a week there.  After getting those pesky W2s and 1099's out in the mail things returned to less hours needed at church.  I've only gone in to work one day this week.  I do check my mailbox whenever I'm at church for other things, but so far, nothing pressing has shown up in my mailbox this week. 
On Wednesday morning I got an early start by heading to Kroger before 8:00 to get my 10% off on Senior Day.  It wasn't too bad that early.  I ended up saving $18.00 by shopping on that special day.  It's not a huge amount, but as long as I can beat the big crowds by going early it's worth it.  After my grocery shopping I went the United Methodist Women's group at church.  They had a nice program on finances.  Lunch was provided after the meeting.  They had a nice fruit salad, chicken casserole, crescent rolls and a decadent dessert.  (It was similar to Hello Dolly Cookies, but they had used white chips, craisins and I'm not sure what else). 
I've also done more quilting this week. I have 6 of the 12 squares in my quilt top finished.  It's quite an accomplishment to get those 6 done in about 4 weeks, when it's been sitting for for well over 10 years with nothing being done on it.  Hopefully I'll get it finished before summer. 
Today was an absolutely beautiful day.  I spent a little time quilting this morning, then went over to the elementary school and had lunch with my little friend there.  Then I went out and worked in the back yard cutting back some of the dead foliage from last summer and bagging it up for the trash.  After a bit of time on the computer and reading I cooked country fried steak and gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans for supper.   I cheated and pulled some biscuits out of the freezer.  I knew they wouldn't be as good as fresh, but since we had frozen them I thought we should go ahead and eat them.  One of my goals now that I'm retired is to actually use all of the food that we put in our freezer!  We try hard not to waste food that we've cooked and eat left overs quite often.  But we have been lacking in keeping track of what is in the freezer and letting some of that food go to waste.
Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment at 8 am. Actually, it's not a dentist appointment as I'm going to the hygientist for a cleaning.  I'm not sure what possessed me to make that appointment so early.  I may need to rethink that time when I schedule my next appointment.
All in all, this has been a great week.  But I do feel a little guilty every now and then when I'm not being very productive.

FAMILY HISTORY

I've spent the past few days trying to make some sense out of all the papers that I've inherited from my mother along with diplomas, birth certificates, etc. that we have managed to accumulate.  I found this beautiful scrapbook with "Family" monogrammed on it and thought it would be a perfect place for all of those keepsakes.  I found that it was difficult to arrange the pages where they made sense.  I ended up trying to place "like" documents of couples together.  My parents had sent each other invitations to their graduation - even though they were both in the same class.  I thought that was rather cute!  My mother had saved them, so I did also.  I wish that I had more copies of the documents from other relatives but am thankful for what I do have. 

The next task is to take some of the not so important keepsakes and put them in an album.  I have some of the first greeting cards that our daughter made when we first got a computer with a printer, letters from camp, newspaper clippings, etc.  Then I have a few pictures to go thru.  Some of these were ones that had been sent to my Grandmother Jackson which are duplicates to ones I already have.  I noticed that on our girl's birth announcements, she had numbered them.  She wanted to make sure she remember who came first  I know it's hard to keep track when you live far away and seldom see people.  I also have a lot of 5" X 7" photos that have been framed at one time or another that I need to get into albums.  Hopefully I'll get this project completed by spring!