Monday Mysteries

Couple of mysteries...First one.  I was excited that my banana tree my friend mailed me last year from Florida made it through the winter and was looking really nice (it does not get really tall like some i see around here).  But it was really full and lush looking.  Then we realized not only does it have a couple new plants coming off it...but 3!  So i offer to send one to my OK cousin whom i know loves growing things and a couple to my brother in law who loves growing things.  Well i sent my sister a picture of the plant and she says, i don't want anything to do with that weird scaly reptile looking thing! 

I looked at the picture again, and was like what is she talking about?  And then i realize it is my little barn i have underneath!  LOL

My cousin got her banana plant in the mail and was very excited!

I got around to making my sister and myself a 'windchime' with my holey rocks!  I gave her hers this weekend.  We both agree they are cute, but need metal to hit the rocks to make more sound.  So we set out at couple places to find the perfect objects that were 1)  metal, 2)  would 'wear' well out in the elements and 3) were inexpensive.  We found these cute little crosses at Hobby Lobby and bought 3 each.  They will help the sound.

I used fishing line and a piece of my Crepe Myrtle old wood.  

Speaking of planting...i gave my Florida friend some seeds from my jasmine.  I can't wait to see how this stuff does down there.  We have to bring ours in the garage every winter.  We got the non hardy version and my husband refuses to let it die back.  It smells so good!

OK for the other mystery...We had the handy man put a motion sensor light in the peak of our house to the north early June.  And we have another one in the back yard, which is fenced in.  Well, the back yard light never goes on unless it is us or the dogs that activate it.  But the north side we see on all hours of the night.  Last night it was on when i got up at 2am and i peered out the window and could see nothing!  Also, there have been 2 times something has pooped in my raised garden beds.  Weird.  DH thinks it is a stray cat or racoon.  I am now thinking i need a game camera on that side of the house!  It is interesting.  These are shots of that area during the day and at night.  The lights you see here are the solar spot lights i have trained on my arch i am growing wisteria on.  

Last photos are my porch swings

And my dog Penny enjoying the window seat.  Have a great week!

Typical Tuesday

Well here it is Tuesday.  I was so glad i was not going anywhere this last weekend after going to the lake 2 weekends in a row.  But i did get out on the river nearby and had a nice kayak float.  Went with a woman i know and one of her friends and a group out of Oklahoma we did not know.  Nice women and nice river.  However it did seem these Oklahoma women were in more of a hurry than us!  LOL.  We basically paddled the entire 10 miles!  But we did stop twice to visit and eat snacks/lunch.

On the gravel bars i was told by 3 of them they look for heart shaped rocks.  I found one shaped like Oklahoma.  Then couple of them said they find lots of rocks with holes too.  I found a few.  Then my friend Lisa said they make cool wind-chimes so i found as many as i could.  I am going to make a wind chime for me and one for my sister.  Her birthday is tomorrow.  We are going to have lunch Saturday.

Last week right after work i jumped in DH truck and ran and got a bed-full of mulch.  I put newspaper and cardboard down around all my hostas and then mulch.  They are said to do really well with rich organic matter based soil and the paper/cardboard breaks down while thwarting weeds...helps the plants stay watered in this dry hot summer weather.  It was a 2 day job.  I am SO glad it is finished.

this was before much.

And after!

I hope you all are staying cool out there and staying healthy.  I have had a head cold for 8 days.  No fever.  I am doing ok, but yoga sure was difficult last night with my sinuses so clogged!  We have been blessed with some rain couple times in last week.  Makes it super humid, but stuff was really getting dry and brown!  I am worried about losing some of my new bushes and trees.  We are watching them close and watering them a lot.  The clouds have kept it from being too hot, was high 80's low 90's last few days but going to upper 90's rest of this week!  Good time to do my outside gardening and watering early in morning or late in evening...otherwise we are catching lots of movies on Netflix!  I am trying to convince myself that now is a good time to paint my master bath ceiling...we shall see.  It had an old leak that someone covered - badly.  Needs a dose of Kilz and a coat of paint and will be so nice and fresh.  To be continued...

Signing off with my beautiful burgundy glad!  This is the first time i have grown gladiolas but i LOVE them.

Working Hard, Playing Hard

Well, i have been really working hard at my temp job.  We have been training and switching roles fairly regularly.  About the time i start to get comfortable with what i am supposed to understand and do...i get switched to another role.  It is a little stressful, but not nearly as stressful as this economy is to all the small business owners out there who i am trying to help.

And speaking of which, I have not had one rude person.  Well, maybe a little bit rude, but not bad at all...especially considering my former life occupation when i was an insurance adjuster!  I feel for all these people trying to keep business going during such a weird time...and they mostly all have been very polite.  Inspiring to me.

Well, having said that...about working hard, i did limit my hours the last 2 weeks to just 41 and took a part of the last 2 fridays to enjoy some time with family and friends.  Had a nice Forth.  Here are a couple of photos from the lake view.

The first was a nice firework i tried to capture.  2nd photo is 3 of those lanterns that people light on fire and set afloat - how are these legal?!  But frankly, i thought the fireworks unable to compete with that fabulous moon!  Am I right?

So, when i have not been working and running around i have been watering all my plants!  We are going on like 6 week drought here and i am trying not to lose some of my bushes, flowers and trees we have lovingly planted!  About 2 hours a day i am watering, weeking and picking veggies!

Here are some of my produce photos.  My tomatoes are getting ready to just go nuts!  I cannot wait.  Hope you had a nice Fourth of July and are staying cool.

The Days are Moving So Fast!

Hope everyone out there had a nice Father's Day!

My husband and I went on a short 3 hour kayak float on a nearby river.  It was only the 2nd time I have ever been in a kayak on a river.  Last Saturday I went with a group of about 20 on a larger river about 2 hours away.  It is a pretty well known river - The Buffalo River - in Arkansas.  It is actually the first National River designated in the US.  Here is the wiki link.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_National_River  It is a beautiful area.

Some parts of this river are pretty dangerous due to the narrowing curves and the rocks.  Not so much the rapids, as such.  There are areas where the river descends enough so that is a big of a challenge too.  A year or two ago there is a large sinkhole where a man drowned.  He was pretty experienced kayaker from what I recall.

I did an easy section last Saturday with some very experienced people.  We all are older and non drinkers/partiers.  I would not want to take a chance with people who were not experienced or who were drinking.  In 1995 when I was going to school in Arkansas, I did the challenging section...with an experienced outdoorsman, in a duel canoe.  We did flip over once, but were fine.  We were also in our 20's!

My friend and I felt my DH would enjoy a shorter kayak and made plans to go Sunday with him.  I am so glad we did.  We enjoyed so much the pretty scenery and the animals we saw (birds, turtles, frogs, a snake, etc).  DH had a blast.  The river we did yesterday was getting low.  They say parts of the Buffalo (the lower) are getting low too.  We had a lot of rain in March - April but it has slowed considerably.  It usually does, but more towards late July.  This is a little early for our lawn to be turning brown.  We really don't have very good grass, so I am not going to worry much about it.  As I finish diff landscaping projects, I will worry about yard next.  I read that a good time to seed is around Labor Day.  It is good and warm, the dry hot weather may be easing by then...can plant seed and it will be mature enough for me to weed and feed next spring.  I am just going to work on very small portion of lawn in the backyard to perfect it before I expand to the front.

I did have my bonfire Friday evening.  I scanned ALL my photos, scrapebooks, memorabilia, even yearbooks to my computer and burned all the originals, except what i am keeping for family (neice and nephews).  I love the feeling of getting rid of stuff so my house is not stuffed.  My in laws think i am crazy for getting rid of originals.  We had dinner with the in laws Saturday evening for Father's Day.  But my DH and his family are very much into antiques and keepsakes, just stuff.  Not me.  I used to be in my younger years, but the older i get the less around me I want to deal with.

Now that I have been retired (semi retired) for close to 2 years, I know more about what stuff I will keep and use and what is just extra volume that I won't need (clothes, shoes, jewelry).  In a recent purge, I cleaned out a bunch of my costume jewelry and got rid of my large jewelry case.  At a local consignment store I found a small chest that fits under the counter in my bathroom where the vanity is.

I love the smaller one.  It is in my bath now instead of my bedroom and the lighting is much better.
Today it is pretty warm but this is late June.  I usu get up and work for an hour, then feed the dogs and when i let them out into the bigger yard, i water my vegetables.  My lettuce still going strong but growing to seed in next few weeks.  My spinach and kale is winding down.  My chard is about the same.  My tomatoes have tiny fruit and i am watching them close!

Have a great Monday!

hump day

Well I am really enjoying these longer days and warm evenings and so are my tomatoes!

I just hope they actually produce some good tomatoes.  I learned the hard way last year not to get water on the leaves and burned up my tomatoes last summer.  We just got a few really puny ones.  But our cherry tomatoes have always produced by the bucket-full.  This year our cherry tomatoes (on our deck) aren't doing anything.  I would have figured it was the frost we got in late April, but we also bought some decorative grass from same store that is not doing anything either.

Has been pretty hot and humid until late last week.  The heat and the work computer being down all last week promted me to find something inside to work on.  I have been wanting to streamline my home and reduce clutter (have been doing this for 10 years!).  I have a nice sized home, and love our high ceilings, but we still have to much stuff to comfortably store/access/clean around...so I have been doing another round of clearing stuff out. I work in a tiny office and am lucky to have high shelves, but wanted to put extra throw pillows way up high...so I had do something with the heavy boxes of pictures/letters/cards on the higher shelves.  Plus, I am liking my idea of storing light stuff up high.  

So I decided to go through the boxes and scan the photos and keepsakes I want to retain electronically and other than a very few printed out photos, burn all the originals.  I know it would be impossible for some people to do this - burn a picture.  But DH and I have no children so pass this on to.  Most of it is just personal stuff for me.  But photos of relatives and my family I am passing on to my sister and my niece and nephew.  

I even did my school year books, all 13.  I am only going to retain my senior scrap book and yearbook until my 40 high school reunion (God willing).  It has been a long job.  I just did a little everyday.  But I am going to have a cathartic burn pile when I am finished this week!

This plus another crate I will burn in my fire pit Friday or Saturday.  This is all I have left to go, a small pile of photos/cards and 4 more year books.  

I have gone from 4 of these big heavy boxes to 2.  One for me and one for DH.  His is FULL.

I am taking another car load to my sister in laws store to sell.  The house is looking clearer and more streamlined, easier to clean around and all the rooms function in at least one way - some two.  For example in my sitting room I can do yoga, or crafts, or just sit and watch TV.  The closet in that room is my "office".  I took the door off and fashioned a "desk" out of the lowest shelf.  Above the shelf to save space a strung led string lights.  2 shelves above that are my office supplies and the unit hanging behind my paper/envelope holder.  I have a chalk/board/metal magnet holder and a cork board next to it.  I LOVE the coziness.  Anyway, I usually work in the breakfast nook in the mornings enjoying the east view and the yard/birds/watching my dogs play.  Then in the afternoon I move to my closet and can darken it and have the ceiling fan to help keep that room really cool.

Hope you are staying cool and enjoying some fresh produce!  I cooked up a big bunch of rainbow chard last night.  Tonight we are having salad.  The lettuce is going crazy and will wind down in the next couple weeks.

Tuesday already?

Well, summer is here!  Whoo whee has been pretty muggy and warm.  We are having above ave temps here.  I know it won't last all June (maybe).  And I am learning to just accept that it will be hot and muggy most of the summer here in the (mid) south.  I hope you all are not getting too much Cristobel damage!  Sure seems like hurricane season is early!  We are also above ave rainfall here too.  Weird weather, virus, rioting, etc.  I feel bad for all the people who are reeling from all the virus damage and now rioting damage.  I support the sentiments, I just wish it would stay peaceful.

My husband got an inflammatory email about the BLM movement.  I see people I know on FB post things and I feel sad and hopeless.  I cannot even imagine how people feel who have experienced racism their entire lives (and generations!).  I feel bad for our kids who are going to have to pay for all this deficit and heal our country.  I do worry because I feel this is going to require a spiritual solution and it seems like people and families are moving away from churches.  Maybe I cannot envision the future and I just give it up and pray for God to heal us all.

I feel sorry for old people locked away in their quarantines (like my dear granny).  I feel for all the animals being neglected...I am a real ray of sunshine but the important thing is...that DH and I had a talk about it and we both feel comfortable to support BLM and my DH is a former homicide detective.  So, enough about such weighty subjects!  I am just working and doing my yoga couple evenings a week and walking few times a week...I am enjoying my structure.

Structure for me brings order and peace and quiets my mind.  As so does my devotional readings, meditation, exercise, music and mindless escapes like podcasts and Netflix!  And blogs!

Here is a picture of my patio sitting area.  This makes me feel peaceful.  I hope you are finding your own oasis in the heat of this strange summer.  Peace!

P.S.  My brother in law came down and got grand dad's homemade cabinet.  I got all of DH 45 years old huge wooden furniture moved out and I am waiting for a chance to run to closets IKEA for better/lighter/more efficient/brighter storage solutions for our sweaters and sweatshirts...and more importantly, my treadmill has been moved and I got my sitting room back.  I will be working (and yoga-ing) in here more, so I am happy for the space.  

I truly loved this lovely one of a kind cabinet, but I just cannot afford the space.  It is going to the brother in the family who has kids.  They have some really cool WW2 artifacts to store in it.  Pictures on the room make over soon!

Here is my cute sitting room

Here is the same small guest room before we bought the house.

Before I go, just wanted to share a delicious thing I have been doing with fresh veggies, greens, frozen veggies - whatever you have!  I have learned that I prefer my arugula cooked.  So I cooked it in generous amount of butter.  Sauteed some slivered almonds and then I toss it with cooked pasta (I have used rice noodles for less gluten option) and I throw in some vegan faux cheese, and or feta cheese and or goat cheese and it is DELICIOUS.  My In laws loved it.  I have used fresh and frozen veggies (carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, zuchhini, etc) and greens - kale, spinach and/or arugula.  

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I haven't posted since my Memorial Weekend find.  My girlfriend T came down from  the city.  We did a bit of antique shopping.  It was weird to be out and about after so long in self quarantine.  She likes to come down and visit the country, said the city had been really eery with the closed down everything and empty interstates.  I now especially worry for her and all my city family and friends with all the rioting.  What a strange time we are all living in.

Anyway, just keeping it light and happy - like I keep my social media...LOL.  I had found a really cool metal arbor on FB marketplace and was happy to drive 2 hours to get it.  I got the color I wanted and design was cool, very big and strong.  It is really nice.

I put it at the left side facing my house (north side).  It will provide entrance to my already existing
raised flowers planters and my new hosta garden (and hydrangea and ferns).  It is all on my north side and so they have some shade, but until few of my trees and bushes get bigger, will be pretty sunny.  I think some of the more hardy hostas will be ok.  They may not flourish as much as they could in more shade, but in time this will be a really pretty feature I hope.  I even ordered 6 sun tolerant ones to plant in the edge with the most sun.  Pictures later.

At the base of my arch I planted 2 small plugs of wisteria...one white and one purple.

Hope you are having some time to enjoy and not be too overwhelmed by the events in our country.  I too want to be informed and what not, but I just have to allow small pieces of news and just keep out much more than that for the safe of my well being.