Camilla Blooms

Camilla blooms are a welcome sight in December. We're mostly through with fall color, but these blooms open when nothing else seems interested.

Interesting Conversation

Did you sleep OK?

No, the weather is fine.

Usually I just continue the conversation he thinks we're having. Sometimes, though, I can't figure it out. Today was easy.

Charlie Brown Tree

I usually put these outdoor ornaments on the Japanese maple. But it doesn't lose its leaves in November/December. So this year I put the ornaments on a Cyprus tree. It loses its leaves for the fall and winter so the ornaments show up. It looks pretty pitiful, but Larry said he doesn't see anything wrong with a Charlie Brown tree!

Starting to Decorate

Larry has spent a lot of time trying to get the hangers to stay up and to decide how much drape to allow and still get the lights to cover the right amount of space. He has been much more patient than I expected. Those sticky things aren't staying up very well, but we bought a bunch of them. I suggested super gluing them (the hangers, not the lights) and leaving the little hooks up forever. I also suggested cup hooks. 

I helped untangle the lights. I wasn't very good at it, but some help was evidently better than none.

Pie!

 I made a pie crust for our Thanksgiving mincemeat pie. My favorite thing about a home made pie crust is that it doesn't get soggy. I've seen prettier lattice topped pie crusts, but I didn't make them. This is about the best I've done.

Free Cell

My free cell average is up to 99.51%. It takes a long time to move it up a hundredth of a percent when so many games are on record.

Range Practice

I went to the law-enforcement range with the Protect Only instructor. My pistol shot a few times and then quit. The instructor got one of his pistols and it wouldn't shoot my ammo. So he got some of his bullets. His gun and his bullets shot really well. It was a competition pistol with one pound pressure on the trigger. It shot as smooth as silk. I did really well. The instructor said the gun needed to be cleaned and something was wrong with the ammo. I took it home and told Larry my sad gun story. He shot it about eight times and then it jammed for him. But, I passed my class.

Old Pond

When we first moved here, we lived in what is now Larry's shop. We had a plastic pond and little fountain with flowers all around it. After a particularly bad rain, the pond floated up on water that was gathering under it and all the fish floated out. Larry has been filling it in for the last few months. Some day lilies are still there in spite of my best efforts to relocate them. It's gradually filling in. There are a good many rocks and a couple of pavers we'll move when it isn't so wet.

Storm

We had rain and straight-line winds which knocked a hickory tree over taking a smaller oak tree with it. Larry notified a neighbor who has a wood-burning hot water heater and heater for his house. They came over and removed both so all we have left are a couple of root clumps and smaller branches that we put in an erosion wash. It's good to have somebody who wants to clean up the mess.

Tortillas

 My corn tortillas didn't turn out exactly as I'd planned, but I didn't have to throw them away.

This didn't make a bad breakfast, and the tortillas with cheese dip made a good snack.

Years Ago

A long time ago in a history class, the professor said that assassination and acts of terrorism are an attempt on the part of the few to influence the policy of a larger population. That was my first exposure to the idea that people who did things like that were something in addition to lunatics and morons. I've never gotten over the idea that people who do things like that are crazy. But now I've decided that people are able to snag crazy people and use them to further their own agendas. The people organizing the crazy parade aren't the ones strapping on the suicide vests. 

Target Practice

I decided I wanted to try target practice. I wasn't very good at it and my husband kept yelling, "You're dead!" because I'm really slow at everything. I thought he must have a great deal of trust in me to yell while I'm holding a loaded weapon. It didn't make me want to shoot him, though. I just wanted to give him back the pistol and go eat ice cream.

That Worked

We changed gas providers. It had been two months and they hadn't come to get their old tank. Larry told them if they didn't get it within the next week, he was going to spray paint "For Sale" on it. They came to get it.

Harry Potter Books

Today the Harry Potter books became available on audible. Yea!

Free Days

Between the time I have lab work and the time I get the results, I have what I call "free days." This is Hagan Daz coconut pineapple, raisin rum, and caramel ice cream.I used my smallest bowl that isn't for condiments and a medium melon scoop.

On My Diet

 This is just ice, water, and lime in a pretty picture.

A sausage with spicy mustard and turnip greens qualifies as a diet lunch...meat and something green.

Finishing the New Bulb Garden

The circle of hyacinths is around the outside of this oval and covered with mulch. To plant the tulips inside the oval, I've made trenches. I put the first trench's soil in my cart to save to cover the last trench. But the rest of the trenches covered the previous one. I tried to stagger them in the trench so they wouldn't look like little rows of tulip soldiers.

I waited to dig up the nasturtiums until the last minute. They've been really pretty. I planted them with the expectation of adding the blooms to salads. I haven't eaten any salads, though.

The lavender at the right of the bulbs gets to stay and the Japanese maple, too.

Payin' for my Raisin'

I heard a nurse telling somebody about her daughter's latest escapade. Both people laughed and then the nurse said her mother says she's payin' for her raisin'. I hadn't heard that in decades.

Supergirl

I was curious about the new television series Supergirl. When I was much younger, I enjoyed the comic books with superheroes, including Supergirl. But it turns out that I'm not interested in the television series. Larry wanted to know why I didn't like it. All I could come up with is that I'm not twelve anymore.

I Want Mexican Food

I've been gathering up stuff so I can cook some Mexican dishes. I have the tortilla press. I have everything, I think, except the corn flour so I can make corn tortillas. It should arrive today:) It's a shame Larry isn't as excited as I am at the prospect.

How Do You Want Your Eggs?

We had lab work done and then went to breakfast in a local diner. The waitress asked, "How do you want your eggs?"
I had already said scrambled, but I repeated it.
She said they offer soft, medium, and hard scrambled eggs.
I had never heard that offer before. So I ordered medium scrambled eggs and they were perfect.

Oops!

I have fuzzy white insects that get on my flowers, especially in the greenhouse. I put some vinegar in a spray bottle and doused them a couple of days in a row. Unfortunately, one of the main ingredients in homemade herbicides is vinegar. I hope my plants survive my treatment of the fuzzy little wormy things.

Life's Good!

Some days I walk around smugly secure in how good my life is. Other days, nothing has changed except some small annoyance. I have to consciously remember that everything is still good, and I shouldn't allow small disturbances to disrupt my pleasure.

No Problem

When I thank somebody who has done me a service that they are being paid to perform, I don't think that takes the place of a tip. But I also don't like it when that person says, "No problem" in response. The situation could arise where "No Problem" could be appropriate. For example, if I dropped the tall stack of newspapers I carry back to the gift shop and someone passing by helps me pick them up. I would say, "Thank you!" and they could legitimately say, "No problem," if they have some deep-seated objection to good manners represented by, "You're welcome." But they showed the good manners of helping me, so they obviously have no problem (ha) with good manners. So, why? I have no idea.

Dressing Up or Down

I usually prefer to dress casually, but the dress code at the hospital, even for volunteers, requires that we dress "professionally." So I dug out my "teacher clothes" and shoes to wear with my pink-lady smock.
But the patients don't understand the significance of the pink smock and occasionally tell someone, "She's a doctor; ask her!"

Language

Bad language doesn't offend me but mean people do. 

I remember trying to get kids to not use profanity at school (yeah, yeah, ACLU, freedom of speech).

Now we aren't supposed to say "man up" or "You're crazy." 

Really?

Lady Bugs

I just got rid of the wasps and now we're covered over with orange lady bugs. I vacuumed outside for a while and finally gave up. I vacuumed up the ones I found inside off and on all afternoon and evening. They crawl under clothing, pinch, and generally annoy me.

TV Annoyance

When I try to share something I've read with Larry, he is rude and lets me know he has absolutely no interest. But he records stuff on television or takes it off mute so I can hear stuff I care nothing about. Sometimes I get up and go outside or to the greenhouse. If he's very determined, he just starts it up again when I get back. He's started telling me how long it will take.

When he asked if I wanted to watch Ol Yeller and I said I didn't, he acted like it was grounds for divorce. I said I'd watched it every year for ten years when I taught fourth grade so the kids could get AR points for it. He has the strangest ideas of entertainment we should share.

Swimming Pool Smell

I wash a small load of whites once every couple of weeks. Yesterday my husband mentioned that I must really like the smell of clorox. 

Actually, I do. It seriously reminds me of YMCA swimming lessons when I was a kid.

Sherlock Homeless

I was listening to Personal, part of the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. Reacher was referred to as Sherlock Homeless because he roams around solving mysteries with a passport, bank card, and folding toothbrush as his permanent possessions. He buys clothes to wear, tossing the dirty ones that he wore.

Bulbs

This flower bed is right in front of the porch. I decided to plant 100 blue jacket hyacinths and 100 flair tulips. The ground was a driveway until we built the house and moved the driveway a little further from the house. Moving the driveway consisted of putting more gravel down and letting grass grow. But I keep planting things there.

This time I had to use a pick and shovel to dig the trenches. Larry said it is like trying to dig through a Roman road. That is hyperbole, because I don't think I could dig through a Roman road and I did manage to dig up these tightly-packed pebbles. Larry didn't like how I did it, so he took the pick away from me and did it. Then he took the shovel away and did that, too.

 I wish he'd been as happy about that as I was:)

All the hyacinths are planted around the outside (You're digging in the wrong place; that's where I spray round-up!)

The flair tulips will be on the inside. I hope the ground isn't as full of pebbles. But there should be good drainage.

Update on my New Bulb Flowerbed

Trying to plant bulbs where we had a driveway has been a challenge. I wanted it there. Larry decided there are easier places to dig. Well, I agree. But I wanted the flair tulips inside the blue jacket hyacinth ring. So Larry came up about a third of the way through the bag of 100 and pointed out that he wanted them somewhere else. I said, "I know. But I had my heart set on putting them here." He said, "I know." Today I'll try to get another third dug in.

Tempest in a Teapot

I was watching a clip from the news about a transgender problem at a school. I thought the school had done a lot to ensure the privacy and emotional well-being of the child. But then the child decided she wanted to be in the gym changing room with the rest of the girls. S/he obviously isn't emotionally a girl or s/he would know just how annoying girls can be. Staring, snickering, etc., would be the next part of that scenario. Girls can be protective and nice or not. I'd really not want to be the one who is "different." The ACLU may be able to make the schools conform to what will bring in the federal dollars, but good luck making girls different:)

Well, that should have been Tempest in a Teacup!

Wasps

 It's been eight months since the last time I had people come out and spray my art room for wasps. This time he said I had two kinds of wasps and also yellow jackets.

They are easier to vacuum when they are dead:)

Rose

This is a beautiful rose with an elegant shape. I caught a minute between showers so it was rain-drenched. Still, the cool weather helps the bloom last longer.

Do I Need a New Car?

I went for my yearly checkup for my eyes. I'm good, according to the doctor. What he actually means is that everything that is wrong with me is normal.
My prescription hadn't changed much for several years. He said I wouldn't be able to tell any difference if I got new glasses. Then he asked if I went in a car showroom and asked if I needed a new car! He said I could get new glasses if I wanted something different, but I didn't need them unless I couldn't see. I said he was fuzzy right then. He said it might be due to my eyes being dilated. So that wasn't an expensive visit:)