Chores and Blooms

The Handy Guy was here yesterday and we got some chores done. He used the power washer to clean the porch cushions, furniture, floor, walls, etc.

End O' April

Toby and I are relaxing tonight after a very busy 2 weeks.

I am teaching Sunday school for the next two weeks, and getting ready has taken a great deal of time. As I may have mentioned before, we have no curriculum. Each of us decides what we want to talk about when it's out time to teach. I found this book and thought it might be the basis for a couple of lessons. So, I've been much involved with Heaven(!!) of late. Very interesting.

And just today I finished planting for the spring. Well, almost. I still have to find something to put in the two big pots at the end of the back stairs. But all of the annuals are in, and not a moment too soon! With our weird early spring, the perennials are ready for dead-heading before I had finished planting annuals. The irises are about finished, but the roses have been opening up in the last couple of days. Here are some of my lovelies today....

A bright yellow iris that I got from Linda. Did I?

A blue Japanese iris that I got from Karen Williams, here in Valley.

A very sweet lavendar rose. Isn't the color remarkable?

An orange and pink variegated rose.

And, of course, the basic red rose. Have I mentioned how much I love my garden?

Big Blow

We survived last night's big blow, but it did make for a stressful evening and late night. I had the closet all prepared in the basement and my pockets loaded with keys, credit card, cash, and a flash drive with essential documents on it. My new lantern, which I bought yesterday with Linda's help, was charged and ready to go. I said "good bye" to Carmen and begged her to find us among the rubbish if we blew away. Toby, of course, was going in the closet with me. My worst damage, thank goodness, was a broken limb on my georgeous snowball bush. Here is is waiting to be cut up and put in the garbage.It was so heavy with blooms that it couldn't withstand the winds. But I cut off some branches and made a bouquet for the living room.Even with the remaining it makes for a really nice show for this year. Like all of the blooming things this spring, the snowballs haave been loaded. Barbara's baby, first year, snowball even had several blooms on it.Linda and I were going to go to Leroy, KS to visit a large nursery there yesterday. In deference to the impending storms, however, we opted to meet at Stone Creek nursery in El Dorado. I offered advice on what to plant in her wash tubs, and picked up a few things for me, of course! It's too wet to be in the garden this afternoon, but I hope to get some annuals planted tomorrow. The coming week is fairly busy, leaving little time for gardening.

My Mother, the Methodist!!

Just goes to show that we are never too old to change. Last Sunday, Grandma joined the Methodist church. Here she is with the pastor getting "sworn in."
She's not given any indication that she's in fear for her immortal soul, so I'm guessing that being a Methodist must be O.K. now.

Time marches on....

It seems to me that when you get old, time should slow down. After all, when there is less of it left, we ought to get to savor each moment of it. But, no, it just speeds faster and faster. So....in the past few weeks, things have sped on, even if I wasn't paying too much attention. We had five days of rain and chilly weather. A HUGE deal for us, and at the same time that Chicago was hot and sunny. What kind of a deal is that? Spring has been arriving anyway. I planted tulips in pots last fall, and these are the ones on the deck just outside the living room windows. I've enjoyed them so much. Even when it was too cold to go out, I had the bouquet just outside my window.I drug a whitebud home from Topeka last spring and worried that it would not survive last summer's heat. But look how cute it is! Blooming beautifully in it's first year.
At some point in late February, I met Linda for lunch at the Chinese place in El Dorado. She brought me up to date on the many transitions going on in her famiy.My computer got sick and it seems to be terminal. Something about the Mother Board going out. I guess it was no shame since it was seven years old. See my new one? Now I'm trying to get used to Windows 7. A few curses here and there.Toby got sick last week and had to go to the vet. A great huge trauma for both of us. Fortunately he got well without intervention so my night of terror was all for naught -- thank goodness.And in addition, Kellie has moved, Carrie has vacationed in Hawaii, and T should by now be eating solid food. Time moves on.....

End O' Feb!

Another month bites the dust! And the last of our February birthdays with Linda turning 48 on Tuesday. Things have been rather calm around here the past couple of weeks. I even got in one gardening day when the temp hit 63 on Wednesday. I finished the New York puzzle last week.It was fun to do because it reminded me of a particularly wonderful trip to New York at Christmas time. Now I'm working on the bears and butterflies that I got from the Barkers. The first part was easy, now....not so much. A few clouds, a lot of white sky and thousands of blue butterflies!My bigest techno-accomplishment to date occurred this week. I installed my new printer, got it wirelessed, and printing. It was a significant challenge. At times I thought I might have to give up and call the computer guy. But only a few hours later, it was printing beautifully.Toby kept me company the whole time, which, of course, made the task easier.The quilt I started last August was returned from the quilter last week, and I got the binding on it. This is the one where I learned to do curves. LOTS of them!

Exciting (?) Events in VC

At Kellie's urging, I have been investigating medical alert systems. Grandma seemed O.K. with the idea and I discussed options with her. My choice was Phillips LifeLine because it is the only one with the super "auto alert" which can sense a fall and will automatically contact the monitoring agency. That means that the person can be knocked unconscious, unable to push a button, and help will still be on its way. The device arrived on Friday, and we got her attached yesterday. BUT.....the reality was not nearly as agreeable for her as idea of it. I got a lot of frowns, sighs, and pursed lips during the process. The smile below is only because I forced her to do it for the camera.Maybe the smile will become less forced after she gets a few encouraging comments from her granddaughters.

And then there is the vacuum deal. When Grandma got a cleaning service, it seemed a good time to retire her 30 year old clunking vacuum. That became the perfect excuse for me to invest in the Dyson that I've been wanting. As luck would have it, I found the top super-sucker model on sale at Best Buy. It's truly wonderful. It will suck the paint right off of the wall. But.........it won't go under my beds, the dressers, or the coffee table. And my cats do. So, that meant that I had to keep my old vacuum for those special places. After a trip to WalMart. Grandma had a brand new vacuum for her house. That left me with my old vacuum, my little quickie vacuum that lives in the coat closet, the super-sucker and a carpet cleaner for upstairs maintenance.
There is another upright vacuum and a hand-vac for the downstairs. That seems to be a grand total of FIVE vacuums and one carpet cleaner. Yes, I DO recognize that this might be indicative of a certain personality "issue"!!!