Roses

I spent two days weeding, fertilizing, and watering my roses. Then it rained 1.3 inches. We are supposed to get a lot more rain this next week. Maybe I'll have a chance to toss some fertilizer onto my knockout roses before the rain sets in tomorrow. The temperature is not so terrible.

Nice Day

Today we went to Pebble Isle Marina. The weather was cool with tiny patches of blue sky. By this afternoon it had cleared off but the temperature remained pleasant.
 I got a bag of MiracleGro moisture control potting soil. Larry asked why I wanted it. I told him I'd decided to plant herbs in some flower boxes on the back porch. He asked why I wanted to do that as we don't cook with herbs. I thought about it for a minute and admitted I didn't have a clue. But I got the potting soil.
When we got home, I dragged the potting soil onto the back porch, a bag of lime, a box of miracle gro fertilizer (blue granules), and a bag of 6-12-12. I want to empty the bags into sterilite containers so the stuff will be easy to get to without trying to manhandle the bags. The bag of potting soil wasn't too awfully heavy, but the bag of fertilizer was really heavy. Finally I decided it would be easier to carry if I put the bag in the sterilite container and carried that. Carrying it up the stairs (only six) was almost more than I could do. I ended up cracking the container, but I did get it up the stairs.
Tomorrow I'm going to work in the hybrid tea rose strip, weeding and fertilizing. The temperature is supposed to stay moderately cool so maybe I'll get that done.

Grandma's Rose

Well, it's not my grandma's rose. A friend's neighbor showed me her grandma's rose. She said it was easy to root and gave me a cutting. This is the first rose I've ever successfully rooted. It has put on new growth so I thing it has rooted. The pink is not part of the rose.

I also have an althea (rose of sharon) that rooted. Both are pink.

It's Beautiful Now

 When I planted the knock out roses, they were about four inches tall. The crepe myrtles were some I'd rooted, and the day lilies and irises were given to me (I dug them up from a lady who wanted to share:)

It's been about four years and everything is about how I pictured it (except I have some tall weeds in there, too).

Porch Flowers

 It's the end of June and my porch flowers look amazingly good to me. I root the angel wing begonias in the fall so I will have a start the following spring.

They look really awful when I first put them out.

It is miraculous how they grow so lush and vibrant from the pitiful beginning.

I got my start from three cuttings I got from Mama. I've kept them for years. I have enough to fill all my flower boxes and baskets as well as sharing them with friends.

Gardenias

These are my gardenia cuttings from three years ago. I have plenty of new growth, but so far no blooms. The plants to the right are angelwing begonia cuttings I haven't used yet.

Slow Cooker Meal

First I put breakfast pork chops and a few frozen chicken thighs in the slow cooker with a jar of Bartolli 4 cheese sauce. I let it cook until the meat was tender. I took out the meat and added part of a bag of frozen vegetables, a box of fresh, sliced mushrooms, and let it cook for a while as I shredded the meat. Then I added the meat, a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of water and a bag of mixed greens, mostly spinach. I let it cook until everything was warm and bubbling.

I thought it was a good idea. It isn't wonderful, but it is low-carb food. I like adding the bag of green stuff.

Finally Better

I volunteered today for the first time in three weeks. I tried last week but had to leave early because of coughing. Today I made it through the whole time. I can take a deep breath without going into spasms. I slept through the night without waking up coughing!
My flowers got their weekly portion of fertilizer, I cooked...ran the dishwasher...if I could just get over my poison ivy, I would be fine!

Revisiting Old Books

I remember liking Little Women as a child. I recently recommended it to a family going on a long road trip. The whole family enjoyed it so I decided to see if I still liked it. Fond memories are sometimes better left as memories. I tend to be more critical now. Listening to the young people gripe about being poor while they had live-in help strikes me as being one of those relative things. And having roses at Christmas isn't a poor thing, either.

Fiction and Politics

I like to read and listen to audio books. I like characters, plot, setting, etc.
The Tom Clancy books are conservative. The survivalist books are conservative. The Honor Harrington books are conservative.
The Lee Child books are apparently military, but in an anti-government sort of way. Maybe with the author being British, it makes sense to him.
The Nora Roberts "in death" series seem to be liberal...anti-gun, pro legalization of prostitution, etc.
I don't guess it is possible to have many characters with no opinion about anything.
I agree with some stuff and disagree with other parts. But I do like a good story.

Red Day Lilies

This is Larry's favorite day lily.

These are nice, too.

Cleaning Gutters

A big wad of algae matted together providing a base for weeds to grow in even though we have gutter guards. When we have a big rain, it sometimes washes some of it out.

Mimosa

We have to keep pulling up mimosa seedlings or they would be everywhere. But we like this one and put up with its effort to cover the land with others. My favorite part is when it is covered with butterflies.

So cicadas are still around but on the way out, Japanese beetles are just arriving...but the mimosas are in bloom:)

New Rose

This is the first bloom of this rose. It has several more buds showing color:)

Glaucoma Laser Procedure

Today I went with Larry for his glaucoma laser procedure. He was really unhappy because the doctor evidently scheduled all the people at the same time and lined them up. The procedure didn't last long at all, but the wait time was about an hour and a half. Larry doesn't wait happily.
I was planning to wait outside listening to an audio book. But an old guy was waiting on his wife to have the same procedure. He talked my ear off telling me all kinds of things I didn't need to know. One of the things he said was that his two sons are worthless and it's their mother's fault (his ex). She spoiled them. I said if they are worthless now, it is their fault. They are adults and should have figured out what life is about. He said his father was a good father to him but spoiled his sister. One time after she was grown, the father took her outside and booted her backside with the side of his foot, lifting her off the ground. I said, "Hard on his knee." Finally Larry was finished and we could escape.

Another Visit to Doctor

The doctor said the infection is responding well to the antibiotic but there's inflammation. He did a chest x-ray. He said my lungs are beautiful...very normal. Then he added that I have gas. Well, I didn't need an x-ray for that bit of information.Anyway, I got a steroid shot, a refill of my antibiotic, and some cough "pearls." I was surprised that it wasn't in liquid form. I hope I get over this mess soon; I'm sore from coughing.

Volunteer Bust

I tried to volunteer today but started coughing about an hour later. After coughing ten minutes straight, unable to really catch my breath or even drink water, a gave it up and came back home. I called the doctor's office. Now I'm waiting for somebody to call and tell me my prescription is ready to be picked up.

Volunteering Tomorrow?

I've been taking an antibiotic since last Tuesday. I think I'm well enough to go back to the hospital to volunteer. I'm still coughing but it's pretty clear. I thought I'd wait until next week just to be on the safe side. But today I found out that my Tuesday volunteering partner broke her hip. If I don't go, there's nobody there. Some weeks the days I'm there with my volunteer buddies are the only two days we have anybody there.

Raccoon Sign

My husband says this is clear evidence that a raccoon is eating my blackberries and visiting the porch! Yuck!

Dream

Most of my dreams are unremembered. I tend to remember bad dreams longer...some from my childhood that were recurrent are still filed in active memory. A couple of nights ago I dreamed that I was walking through a moderately busy, brightly lighted store when a young woman bumped into me, did the little dance around before laughingly going on her way. When she was gone, I was left with my purse empty of wallet with cash, cards, and id missing. The sinking feeling as I stared at my purse was what I keep remembering...and the next thought. I'm asleep. I don't have to worry about this. When I wake up, my purse will be fine. So I slept on without jumping right back into the sinking feeling of loss and aggravation.

Getting Better

Today I did a little work in my garden areas. It's the first time since last weekend that I've done anything other than water my hanging baskets and flower boxes. I weeded, watered stuff that required dragging hoses, sprayed my roses for black spot.I'm not well, but I'm probably going to get there.

Garden Annoyance

Today I went out to look at a tomato plant and a couple of pepper plants I'd planted recently. Something had dug them up. That was annoying. I hadn't noticed it in time to replant them. They were just completely wilted.

Snacks

Atkins puts out a lot of low-carb products. The one in the middle is Larry's favorite, but I like it, too. The one on the left is new. It is chocolate-covered caramel. Three of the little treats are two carbs. The one on the right is the one I take with me to the hospital when I volunteer. I eat it for breakfast. The meal bars have more protein. I've tried a variety of Atkins products, but these are my favorites. The crackers in the background are Larry's idea of a snack...but he has started piling them with ham and cheese instead of eating half the box of just crackers.

Frog

We have frogs everywhere. I like frogs. They eat insects and indicate a healthy environment.

Didn't Volunteer Today

I went to the doctor for bronchitis today. He said not to volunteer tomorrow, either. I have my medication. I guess I'll just have to lay around. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be spreading my germs around. I hate being sick.

Journal from 70's

I've always kept journals. This blog is my current journal. Today Larry brought me some loose pages from a journal I wrote when we went on a camping trip through Florida when the kids were young. We camped and toured as far as Disney and then came back up to the Mobile area.

One of the things I remember that I didn't include in my journal account was the bath houses. Every evening when I went to the showers, I would ask people where they'd been, if they'd  liked it, and would it be a good place to take three kids. We got excellent advice and the night before we went to Disney, several people who had been that day gave me their extra coupons. So when we went to Disney, we had to pay to get us all in, but we had enough coupons so that the kids could ride anything as many times as they wanted. I made sure to pass on any extra coupons we had to others.

We always liked campers.

Blackberries with Splenda

That isn't a baby spoon. The blackberries are large,  plump, and tasty.

They are just starting to ripen so it took a couple of days to get this little bowl.

Weeds

We had a lot of rain and so everything is full of weeds...the garden and flower beds. Today it was dry enough that I could work on the weeds without bogging down. It's not my favorite pastime, but it's not necessary to do all of it at once.
Our butterfly bush is blooming, and the blooms are purple. One of the nasturtiums is open...and the bloom is red. The cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes are just starting to put on buds. The squash plants are blooming and have little squashes. The cabbages look awful. Something ate most of the leaves.

Asiatic Lilies

The Asiatic lilies have started to bloom.

Afternoon Coffee

I bought a cute brownie pan that looks like tiny bundt cakes. I thought it would make a cute, delicious, small serving. Portion size is a big deal for me if I want to have something I really like and not turn into a blimp or run my blood sugar up. So I have a small iced brownie and a latte breve made from my Starbucks beans.

For dinner I baked talipia, microwaved part of a package of cauliflower, and put dill sauce on both. I'd never made the dill sauce before, but my dill is doing really well so I decided to try it. It wasn't at all what I expected, but was good. Larry ate an anorexic midget's portion and said it was good.

Day Lilies

 The day lilies have started to bloom. I grew up thinking the orange ones were the only variety. But there are some really pretty ones.

The yellow ones, stella de oro, is the first one to bloom. Mostly I don't know the names, but the pinkish one is one of my favorites.

Sad Day

As a retired teacher, it is nice when we know former students are doing well. But sometimes, things don't go well. In the past couple of months a former student committed suicide, one has been charged with arson (for burning several buildings including the fire department), and one is eight months pregnant and homeless. It is very depressing.

Call Charge

I got my Verizon bill. It had an additional $1.99 charge on it for voice. That didn't make any sense to me so when I was finished volunteering today, I went to ask what that was. It turned out that I have unlimited calls, local and long distance (in the US), but calling information costs $1.99. I didn't realize that.

First Ripe Blackberry

We are going to have a lot, but this was the first. I had to eat it because I've been anxious to know if it has really large seeds. It didn't:)  I'm really ready for a blackberry cobbler.

Columbine Seeds

I've spent two days getting seeds from the seed pods of columbines. The green stuff on the right are the seed pods. The black pile is seeds I've put out to dry. When I'm sure there are no bits of moisture left, I'll put the seeds in a bag to give away or start in other locations.

Cicada

This cicada is male. The red eyes are the giveaway. The noise from them is truly amazing.