Monday

So we are getting ready for a camping trip.
Today is all about getting some things done around here
before we go.
Boyfriend is at the vets getting some flea medicine for the kitties, running to the store, and a couple others places. I'm supposed to be getting things together around here like cleaning some and packing.
But I've been sitting, reading blogs, and watching Property Brothers. :O)~

friday

My first Black  Eyed Susan bloomed. We planted 9 of them last fall. I was surprised that all 9 survived!

 I have 5 more tomatoes. Hopefully they will grow as fast as the last batch grew. And then a video of Weeping being attacked by a bird. She's been after all the neighborhood cats in an effort to protect her little ones in the nest. She nose dives at the cats each time they leave the porch. If you listen you can hear the neighborhood rooster!

monday

We went out to breakfast this morning, boyfriend and i, and then we went to the grocery store.
when we got back i picked up the garbage from my yard that had blown over from my neighbors yard. they refuse to use their garbage can lid. so the coons get into the garbage and drag the trash around.


i found a book tucked between my front doors. dad left it there. the name of the book is "the boston girl" by anita diamant. i really enjoyed it. i love when you find a book that you don't want to put down and you don't want it to end! that's how this book was for me.
dad also dropped off a stool he found in the garbage.
i'll have to have a better look at it to see if i want to keep it.

friday

Weeping this morning.

 

I went to water my tomato plant yesterday and was dismayed to find that all the tomatoes had been removed from the plant. It was my best crop (that's how I would refer to my plant when I would talk to boyfriend about it. lol) ever! Now it's picked clean!

my little visitor

tuesday

The little bench that I rescued from the garbage.
It's heavy. Probably weighs 25 pounds.
It just needs a little TLC and then I think it will
be really cute!



So I'm cooking a head of cabbage seasoned with garlic, onions, salt, and pepper for dinner tonight.
I'll also make red potatoes, sausage, and applesauce. Sounds good to me!

sunday

I found a cast iron and wood bench in the garbage this evening.
As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to have it!
It's so cute. I will take a picture of it tomorrow.
I think I will paint/stain it, put a pillow on it and let Mr. Bojangles use it
for a bed.

saturday

I went to my nephews high school graduation party last night.
He was only there for the first hour because he had to work.
He owns a lawn care company employing 2 other people. He's also a volunteer for the fire department and works security for an amusement park.
The party was a nice time. Some of the people who were there went to the same high
school as I did around the same time as I did.So it was kind of fun catching up and talking about the old days.

(nephew and his big sis. he's getting ready to leave his party to go to work.)

This is our new camper. Whether or not we ever use it remains to be seen!

 my daffodils are blooming!

deer in my backyard

tuesday

We are back from our camping trip.
It rained on and off most of the first day and night. But I had bought  rain ponchos at the dollar store for everyone. They worked well.
Oldest son and his wife camped with us the first night, and they brought along their dog, Manny. He's a cute little guy!
Daughter and daughter-in-law crashed early the first night. Son and I stayed up at the camp fire for a couple ours after the others had gone to bed. It was nice.
I was up about 3 hours earlier than the others that first morning. I went fishing. Caught several fish. I had them on the liner thingy so that I could show them to son and cook them later but when I brought them out of the water to show son, something had eaten their faces off. :O)~
 It was so nice and peaceful that morning fishing while the others slept. It was the highlight of my trip I think!
After I fished I cooked some bacon and eggs over the fire. It was delicious!

Shortly after the others got up my dad stopped in for a visit.
He hadn't been at this park for well over 20 years. It brought back a few memories for him of time spent there with mom.

Boyfriend also stopped in for a visit.
He didn't look well. Dad and daughter both mentioned it.
He's losing weight and his color is pale.
I felt guilty for being away from him.
I worried what if he is dying, what if the cancer is still there somewhere growing. I just felt incredibly sad. And I felt scared of losing him...&..scared of navigating alone in this world. I worried about growing old and ending up dependent on others and wondered would anyone be there for me if I needed them. Would they be resentful of my needing them?


I kept reminding myself I was there to enjoy my daughter, to fish, and to relax.......and I did mostly..............daughter and I took walks, explored the place a little. Daughter cooked Smores over the fire while I roasted marshmallows because I don't like Smores..................................and mostly we fished. We would fish and listen to her play list on her phone.............Bob Seger, Bob Dylan, Leonard Skynyrd, Eric Clapton, and the Rolling Stones just to mention a few............................I was surprised by her music list, and I liked it! Some of the time though we just listened to the sounds around us. It was pretty serene.
We talked, laughed, watched the sailboats, listened to music, soaked up the sun, and fished! At night we fished or sat by the fire and talked........................at one point we played family feud on her phone.

We dried some little twigs and such in the sun to use to build our fires. I couldn't get one going but daughter could!
We roasted mushrooms, red and green bell peppers, onions, garlic and corn on the cob over the fire for dinner. It was so good............

We used bottle water to was our hands and faces and we used it to brush our teeth. We decided to  just not bath for the few days, to skip the bath house all together. Gross I know, but it's what we did!

All and all is was an enjoyable trip.
I'd like to do it again.

saturday

You can't really  see in the picture all the wonderful tomatoes on this one plant. I counted 20 of them yesterday! I have 2 bells peppers growing.

Weeping chillaxing!

My flowers blooming.

Both my babies enjoying the morning.

Daughter and I are headed out this afternoon for our 4 day camping and fishing adventure. I'm stoked about it even though it's supposed to rain the whole time!

friday

I went out on the porch night before last at 10 PM. Just as I sat down I saw a little white dog walk past my house. He looked like my sister Leslie's dog, Mojo. I called out to him, he didn't respond, then I remembered her dog is deaf and blind.  I called her and asked if Mojo was missing. He was. So I went after the little guy and held him until my sister got to my house. She lives six blocks away. Mojo would have had to take six turns to get to my house, though he could have taken 12 turns. He's a Russell Terrier and he's 15 or 16 years old. A sweet little guy. He liked my mom.
I'm glad he just so happened to walk past my house at the same time I was going out to the porch!
He snuck out of their house I guess. I'm happy he's home!

Yesterday my neighbor told me I have raccoons on my roof in my chimney. He said it's a mom and her 2 babies. I think that's what was in the duct by my furnace.It kind of freaks me out. I will deal with it when I get back from my camping trip.

wed

my daffodils and lillys are blooming! they are so sweet!

i saw a bright orange and purple bird bouncing around my back hill yesterday. it was one of the prettiest birds i've ever seen. i saw it later that evening flying in my front yard. i wish i would have had my camera.
there seems to be more birds here than i remember there being previous springs and summers. i love it!
we still have a rooster in the neighborhood. most of his cock a doodle doodling is in the evening. i hear a little boy down the street echoing him some of the time. cracks me up!

i woke this morning and boyfriend is gone with the camper. he's either left me to go live alone in the woods or he went to have the sheriff inspect it!

the air conditioning in my honda is not blowing cool air. i just dont like this car! it only has 8000 miles and already things are going wrong!

tues

Grilled steaks last night with daughter and boyfriend and had dinner on the deck. Grilled the night before with boyfriend and my dad. It was nice weather, good food and company!

We took boy friends car in this morning to have a hitch put on. I guess that's what you call it. We bought a little camper. Boyfriend saw it and really liked it. I didn't have the heart to talk him out of it. He was just so excited about it. I liked seeing him that way, so what the hell!

I have a little walk out from my garage under my deck. It fills with leaves and dirt. I hate cleaning it because of the spiders and all the other critters I imagine might be in there! I went ahead and cleaned it today. I filled two 35 gallon trash bags with stuff from under there. I'm glad to have it done!

I think we found what might be our perfect house. The problem is that it has a pending sale and has had since April 8th.. I started thinking that maybe whoever is trying to buy it is having trouble getting the financing. So I did go ahead and the realtor. She's going to check on it for me.

sunday

We had a nice day yesterday.
Ran into my sister and brother-in-law at the country store. They had their 3 dogs in tow
and a bunch of plants. They were headed out to their land for the weekend. They invited us out, so we went...........................The 4 of us, and their 3 dogs explored some of their 100 acres.
It's beautiful out there. They have apple, pear, and peach trees.........and they are starting grape vines this year. The views of the other ridges and valley's are beautiful beyond words!
I got to see a volture egg and a lot of the wild life pictures from their trail cams, framed and hanging on the walls.......some pretty cool stuff!

A few minutes after we arrived home last evening oldest son and daughter-in-law stopped by............daughter was here......................boyfriend and I sat on the deck with them for several hours chit chatting. I always enjoy the company of my adult children..................................................

My ex-husbands 16 y/o cat died yesterday.
He's pretty sad about losing her.
He cried.
The kids are upset  about the cat dying. He's been a part of their life before daughter and youngest son were even teenagers  .......and they are sad that their father is sad.................so anyway, they are meeting at his house today to help him bury the cat.

Daughter and I are going on our camping trip soon.
Today I'm going to organize the camping and fishing stuff we will need.
I'm super excited to do this with her!
Oldest son and his wife are going to join us for 1 night and middle son is going to come for a night if his work schedule allows!
I just can't wait!

saturday

We're headed out this morning for a drive in the country and will probably stop at our country store later in the day for lunch.

Dr. Heimlich, 96 years old, used the Heimlich maneuver for the first time yesterday on an 87 year old man! Yay for him,and for the guy he saved!
I've used it a couple/few times. Once on another nurse. We were in the break room having lunch when she began choking. At first I thought she was joking, quickly realized she wasn't, performed the Heimlich Maneuver and everything turned out okay!

Wed.

The plan for today is to try to get Mr. Bojangles in his cat carrier and take him to the vet. As soon as we pull out the carrier he goes into warrior mode and in to hiding. We couldn't catch him last year and then time got away from me so he is behind  with his vaccines. He also needs his nails trimmed. Daughter is off work today and since she is fearless she is going to help us!After we catch kitty we will call the vet and ask him if he can squeeze us in.........he's pretty good about doing that for us and for Mr. Bojangles!

My tomato plant has 16 tomatoes on it. I've never had tomatoes so early, or so many. When I planted my seeds I moved my container off the deck to a more shaded area and left it there  because I didn't want it dirtying my deck. I didn't think it would benefit my plant, but it really has........My green peppers are also doing quite well!

We also plan on going to Lowes today to look for shelves. I want to hang some  in the kitchen. We need storage in a bad way!
I love my little old house because it's where I raised my children, and because I've put so much time and energy into it.....................and I worked really hard to hang on to it after the divorce.  But the closets are so small........and I have so little space in my kitchen. It drives me nuts!