Marilyn, yes, my friend Kate is doing well at home right now. No driving for several weeks. She went home Sunday, and her son is taking care of her. A physical therapist is coming to her home for at least two weeks until she can drive. She is still on some pain meds right now. Thanks for asking about her and for your prayers. She was quite chatty when I talked to her, and I expect she misses being out and about. I'm not sure if she has received the official results from the tumor but they are fairly certain it was a benign mass.
April is Awesome!!
Marilyn within Memory People there is another group called Dementia caregivers support. I belong to both groups. At the top of each page there are permanent files on all subjects. A one stop place for research.
Charlotte, I sent my friend the information about Memory People. She said she would check it out.
Elaine, I'm glad to know that your friend, Kate, is at home and doing well. I'm sure her attitude will play a big part in helping her to get well as fast as possible. I'm glad a physical therapist is coming to her home to help her in her recovery.
Today I had lunch with some friends from church. On my way to meet them, I noticed that the dogwoods in the area have just seemed to pop overnight. Yesterday I didn't notice any blooming but today was a different story. It is just amazing how quickly those blooms have popped open!
Unfortunately. tonight the weather folk are forecasting some severe storms for the Missouri Ozarks including possible tornadoes, golf-ball sized hail, etc. It doesn't sound good. I did take some photos of the daffodils that are blooming in my yard and I posted them on Facebook. I think all you ladies are on FB too so I won't re-post the photos here. You can go to my FB page and see them if you are interested. I just hope we don't get any hail tonight because it will definitely beat down the daffodils and the other plants too. :(
Does anyone remember the name of this bush .
Cindy I don't have any idea but it is a BEAUTIFUL bush!! Blooms look a lot like a wisteria.
Elaine that would be the best for your friend, Kate. I pray those are her results!!!
Karen it's good to see you posting!!
happytailYou've been really busy and it shows totally in that bed!!! It looks wonderful!!! LOL!!! The older I get, it takes longer to do everything!!
We've all had sinus/allergy reactions. I was the last to catch it but it hit me last Tue. and I was barely able to breath outside Good Friday, so I have done no planting. So today I had the bills paid and the deposits made so I played hooky and pulled weeds in the yard. I'm trying to get the areas cleaned up that I'm putting my caladium bulbs. If the rain holds off, tomorrow, I need to get as many planted as I can.
Mary is CANCER FREE!! YEA!!! There is a problem with her head and I'm not being funny!! She has had a head ache for a month so they did MRI's of her head and said she needs to see a Neurologist on the 26th. I'm gonna go with her to see what that is all about. She of course, fears the worst!!
Pray everyone stays safe during that bad weather Marilyn!!
I'm about to give up on that deck being built any time soon. Jimmy has almost all the holes dug for the post and I think they have 3 post set and the rain has hit. We're due to have rain here for a week. Then after the rain stops it has to dry up. Waa!!!
Cindy it looks like wisteria. That is in full bloom down here.
It is not wisteria has thick waxed leaves. I just can't remember the name seems like Texas was in the name .the flowered are thick too. Not delicate like wisteria. Grows very slow. Zone 8 and warmer,
I didn't mulch last year at all so I really do have to get it done this year. Plus I wanted to put down compost BEFORE I mulched but we'll see if that happens. Trouble is I want to clean the bed put down compost and then mulch it before I move on and logistically that is just troublesome for me. That means I have to have compost and mulch both on hand all the time which is just hard for me to do since I need the hubby to use his truck or trailer and I HATE shoveling that stuff twice once out onto the ground and once more into the beds.
IF it ever stops raining I might actually get something accomplished.
Hi back to all you guys - glad to be back posting.
It is a Texas mountian laurel. Thanks
That bush is beautiful, Cindy, and I am glad you remembered the name. :)
Fortunately, we had no bad weather last night but in the St. Louis area they had baseball-sized hail which did a LOT of damage!! More bad weather is forecast for the mid-west portion of the U.S. today.
The humidity here at 6:30 a.m. today was 89% and the temperature was 68F! You can feel all that humidity in the air. I really don't want to turn on the a/c but it might be necessary--not because of the temps but because of the humidity. It really makes it uncomfortable!! :((( plus it makes for a greater. likelihood of storms.
Jeri: after the week-end, our weather folk are forecasting several days of rain, too, so there will be no working in the flower beds for several days! Fortunately, I do have the leaves cleaned out of all of the beds and Al has burned most of them so things are looking pretty good around here. I do hope we will be able to get some mulch put down before the rains come in, though. Al has to go to Mt. Home today for a physical therapy appt. so he can take the truck and get some mulch. :)
Bad weather is supposed to moving in here today. It's overcast and looks like rain. I got most of the pine needles off the flagstone in the back yesterday. I waited too late to do it. It was HOT yesterday. I don't get rid of any thing that falls in my yard. I put some card board boxes (big boxes) down in the area under the azaleas by the fence where a lot of ivy grows and put the pine needles on top of it. I'm hoping to slow the ivy growth. Still a lot that needs to be done in the back. I have a few things that have gotten too close to the walkway and I need to move those before the guys come to redo my walkways. I'm really looking forward to getting that done. It's going to look so much better and be so much easier to walk in spots.
What pine needles I don't use around in the beds I put in a spot in the back by my work area. It doesn't take long at all for it to break down and become wonderful compost. Marilyn with all those leaves I would find some spot I could keep some. If I need to pot up something, I dig into my compost pile. I also dig in to it and add compost to my beds from time to time. Not necessarily the whole bed but spots that particularly need it. I even save the leaves from my front yard.
I've got to take Richard to the dentist in a little bit. One of his front teeth broke off not long ago. The dentist said he could do a crown but recommended doing an expoxy tooth instead. He said it could pop off. Well it has! This is the third time we've had it glued back on. He was sitting on the sofa the other night fiddling with his tooth and it just popped off again. He may have to go ahead and put a crown on. Not sure Richard can handle it however. That's why the expoxy tooth to begin with.
Jeri, I was wondering if Mary ever got her results! So glad to hear it was good news! She looked so good when I was there.
Marilyn, glad that really bad storms missed ya'll. Small hail can do a lot of damage - baseball size hail is REALLY bad. My brother had that once while living in Florida and they had windows busted out in their house and vehicles and of course damaged roofs! Some people even had holes in the roof from it!
Elaine, glad to hear your friend is doing well. It does get lonely just sitting at home - especially when you are limited as to what you can do. Every time I have ever had surgery, I think at home and think of all the things I SHOULD be doing if I am home, but can't do most of them because of the surgery!
I have one of my salvia's blooming already! I couldn't believe it yesterday when I saw it. I believe it is Autumn Sage Red but I will have to double check the name! I don't ever remember it blooming this early but I guess it is about 3 yrs old now so more established.
By the way, is anyone needing a hot lips? I think I have a couple of small plants that I could pot up but I figured most people already had one or two of them. Didn't want to bother potting them up if no one wanted it.
Jeri I forgot to say that I was really glad to hear Mary's good news. I hope she doesn't have a big problem with her head.
Elaine also glad to hear your friend is doing well.
Thank God for Mary's good report. I hope her head gets easy soon.
Jerry is back in AFIB, another EKG tomorrow
Sorry to hear that Sandra!! Hope they do something soon that will permanently fix the problem!
His doc said ablation would be the next step, but Jerry is not too excited about having that. I don't blame him, I would probably hesitate on that too.
Happy Birthday to JERI !!!!!!
Sandra I think that's what my neighbor's daughter had done. She was around 50 (maybe 48) when she had it done. She hasn't had any problems since.
I wished Jeri a Happy Birthday on FB but will do it here, too, even though here it is a day late. I hope you had a lovely birthday, Jeri!
Sandra, I sincerely hope they can get Jerry's afib under control without him having to have the cardiac ablation.
Charlotte, Al started saving leaves years ago which he had mulched up with his lawnmower and DR leaf vacuum. He has a big pile of composted leaves. The only problem is getting him to start digging them out of that pile! I am sure the leaves at the bottom of that pile have made some wonderful compost! The spot in our back yard where he made the pile is a bit hard to get to. I think if I go out there some day and just start shoveling out compost from the bottom of the pile, he will decide a weak little woman such as myself needs some help and he will come and do it! ROFLOL Why didn't I think of this sooner??? :D
Today I planted 12 "Fire King" crocosmia, 5 "Eyeliner" Asiatic Lilies, 1 "Raspberry Mousse" toad lily, and 1 bottle brush. I put all but 2 of the plants in the area that was burned. I put 2 of the Asiatic Lilies in the big flower bed out front. I had ordered these before the fire and as it turned out, they filled some of the bare spots left by the fire. The toad lily and bottle brush were bare root; the others were bulbs. Al and I mixed some bagged manure into the beds before I planted them. Afterwards, I put a thin layer of mulch over the bed.
Tomorrow we will spread some mulch over the big bed out front.
Marilyn take a sharp metal rake (can't think of the name but has long curved tines - sort of like what you move hay with) and rake the top layer of leaves to one side. You can then get to the compost and it will help the leaves that haven't composted to compost if you move them around. It's actually very easy digging. I dig in mine all the time. I've dug up several wheelbarrow loads of it before.
I've said it before but I really mean it now. I don't have room to put anything new in mine unless I dig something up!! I do have some things that are spreading too much. I'm just in the maintaining and tweaking stage. I've been in and out the back door going to the workshop this afternoon. One trip out a huge dead pine limb had fallen while I was in the house. It came from a long way up as broke in several pieces on impact. Sure glad I wasn't walking in the area when it came down. It was inGot the pathway to the gate.
I'm pooped. Didn't do any yard work but I've worked on organizing all day. I cleaned out some shelves in the workshop so I could move my backstock that I seem to have all over the house and garage! Got a lot accomplished but still a lot more to go. I need to pull a 6 ft table out of the garage and put it in the workshop. Means boxing up all this "stuff" on the table! I have several pieces of furniture I need to be painting but I decided I had to get some of this done first so I have more room to work in and so I can get my living room and dining room cleaned up!! I also had the washer and dryer going all day!!
Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. I got older yesterday and after trying to beat the rain all day which didn't come until 1:00 PM today I ended up feeling like I had aged 2 years instead of one. LOL!!! I did manage to get a lot done on my TO DO LIST.
On the first trip to the compost pile I found 4 different kinds of EE growing in the compost pile. I went back and got my shovel and dug out some that I could get to out without meeting any slippy sliders. I'll put my rubber boots on later and get the rest.
I discovered that the cover over the top patio looks like it is about to collapse. I hope Jimmy can get the deck around the pool built before he has to stop and dismantle the cover. So until I get that done I don't anywhere to put the plants in the G/H.
Hello all...been missing in action for a few days because I have been swamped at work - but had flakey internet at home. I HOPE they are able to resolve that today.
Sandra, hope they are able to get Jerry's problem resolved quickly! I know he is tired of this back and forth. Is he working in between all his trips to the dr?
Just wanted to let ya'll know that my friend Lana is not having surgery until the 17th. They had to reschedule and I didn't find out about the change until late in the week - and haven't been on to tell everybody.
I worked all weekend in my large bed and I have made some major strides but I hit a section yesterday that I never got cleaned out last year and it is COVERED in Bermuda and it is very difficult to get thru. I made a dent in part of it yesterday, but I would have to work in it for a while, and then move to a part of the bed where it was just little things coming up thru the mulch and then go back. It was so hot, I just couldn't stay with it all at once. I have a strip about 18" wide and probably 4' long to go of the really bad area. You might say I'm just a little sore this morning. Supposed to rain for the next three days so I guess all progress on it will cease for now.
Hope everyone has a great day!
Genna, thanks for letting us know about your friend Lana.
I kwym about working in the yard. We worked in ours too. Most of Saturday and yesterday afternoon. I can't really tell I did a lot, but I did get some weeding done, planting some things I bought at the nursery on Friday afternoon, cleaned up some things on my workbench, trimmed back some things I had forgotten to do earlier. Where does the time go? It's supposed to rain all week off and on the rest of the week. Next up is to get my tomato and pepper plants in the ground when it's not too wet. I was tempted to put them in this weekend, but it's about a week too early.
Mackenzie's HS soccer team won the city championship Saturday. They were exhausted. They had one game postponed until Thursday, which meant that had games on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday nights and then the last game on Saturday morning at 10. She started in every game and played almost all of every game so I know she was ready for it to be over. They have a tough schedule this week with some of their toughtest opponents and then start the state playoffs in 3 weeks.
The time just FLIES! I went as hard as I could the whole time I was out there - and didn't accomplish nearly what I had hoped for the weekend....... :( and with the rain, I probably won't get anything done in the evenings.
I have a Dr. appointment in El Dorado this afternoon and I hope to swing by HD and pick up some tomato plants. They had them on sale this weekend - not sure when the sale price ended or if they will have any left. ORIGINALLY I thought I might get down there Saturday evening, but that sure didn't happen.
I saw your post on FB about Mackenzie's win. Soccer seems to have a crazy schedule. I know Jess has a friend that is on OBU's soccer team and they could literally have games on any day of the week...... and were gone to multiple games in a week. I never understood how on earth they were supposed to keep up with their course work! She had classes with him for a while, but I think he had to change from being a science major to something else..... I don't see any way for a science major to be gone that much. I don't know much about soccer - I watch it some, but don't know most of the rules!..lol
I know, Genna. We've been watching soccer since she was 6 and our son Matt played for 3 years in HS too and I STILL don't know all the rules, especially the off-sides rule. I'm just now getting the hang of that one and I've read that rule about 10 times. Plus some of the rules they don't enforce until the kids get older. If they have a rain-out for an Section/Area game they must make it up because it counts in their State standings, so that accounts for some of the crazy schedules. Fortunately they have a great field at their HS so they play a lot of home games.
Our Botanical Garden plant sale is coming up this week and weekend but I don't know if I'm going to buy much there. It is always so spread out and they have almost TOO much to choose from I get overwhelmed. I'm trying to hold back this year so I may not even go on the member day. We usually go to the special event night on Wednesday night and I didn't even sign up for that this year. How unmotivated is that?!
I had to go out and use my cell phone a few minutes ago. Jeri messaged me and Meredith (my daughter) called me to let me know my FB account had been hacked. I had to fool around with that to change my password...not that easy because it kept telling me I was not typing in my password correctly. Long story short - I finally got it changed and hope that's the end of that. Sorry if y'all got some weird message about Wal-Mart from me. I don't even shop at W-M as a rule.
This message was edited Apr 13, 2015 1:11 PM
I did get that message about a $250 dollar gift card and I clicked on it because it was from you, Elaine, but then I saw the comments that you had been hacked so I didn't go any further with it. I hope I don't get hacked, too. I changed all my passwords a few months ago when all that weird stuff was happening.
Genna, one thing about the rain--it will soften up the dirt so you can get that bermuda grass up more easily. :D
I am probably at the point with my flower beds where I don't really need any more plants, either, Charlotte. Some of the things I have grew really big last year like the hollyhocks and the Joe Pye Weed and the hibiscus and the black-eyed susan among others so I need to leave room for them to spread out.
I have already potted up several little black-eyed susans(rudbeckia) and white snake root and raspberry monarda for Kathy Ann's RU on May 30th. She has a page about it on Facebook so if any of you want any of those go over to FB and let me know on that page, please. Sharon has already asked for one of the white snakeroot plants. I will also dig up some gaillardia as soon as I get around to it.
Genna, you asked earlier if anyone wanted a Hot Lips salvia. Mine still isn't showing any green but it was really late coming back last year so hopefully I won't need another one. You had given me one and so had Sandra but only one of them survived. We may have winters that are too severe up here for them to do well so I should probably not try to grow them. I love them, though, and so do the butterflies and bees!
It has been raining here off and on all day. We need the rain but our total amount so far today hasn't amounted to much. We need a good slow drizzling rain all night so it will soak in and then a sunny day tomorrow! :) The redbud trees and dogwood trees are just beautiful in our area right now. All of the woods are awash with the red and white blooms.
Elaine I think it's great that Mackenzie is involved in a sport. I think they really learn a lot from it. My grandsons played Lacrosse. It's the hot thing out there and seems to be finally becoming popular here. After Justin and Clint got so involved in the band they dropped out of playing Lacrosse but got accredited as referees and made fantastic money! They could choose the games they wanted to referee. Their jazz band schedule was extremely hectic during competiion . They went all over playing in competitions. Justin's girlfriend goes to a college in Iowa and is on a softball and academic scholarship. She is a science major also but seems to be really smart and doesn't have any problem keeping up with the hectic softball schedule and her studies. Justin went to Iowa over spring break to see her and watch her play in a tournament. I doubt she had any time for spring break. She only gets to come home Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Elaine I was tagged in the WalMart post on FB but knew it had to be spam. That was just not the kind of thing you post. I untagged myself from the post. I've had it happen to me. I don't know how that happens but it's really annoying when it happens and you have to start changing passwords and all that.
Another rainy day here! More rain forecast for most of this week. Beginning to get old.
Today is Justin and Clint's birthday. They both really seem to have a great group of friends. I never post on their FB page but see all the posts to their page. They each have a big group of 12 or so kids both boys and girls that they call their "family". Justin's group took him out to dinner last night at a chinese resturant and they posted pictures on his page. Such a wholesome looking bunch of kids. They all go to church together and they have all rented a two story house/duplex for next year so they can all live together. Boys on the bottom and girls on the top floor. Clint has the same kind of group and they do all kind of things together.
Elaine I know it is an awesome sport - and they have to be in great condition to play because it is continual running! Personally, I don't know if I could have ever played the sport because I am not sure I could have ever gotten used to not using my hands! LOL
Marilyn, I will try to pot you up one - just in case.............. maybe you could plant it on a southern wall and give it a little more protection from the cold? Not sure if that would work or not, but I don't mind potting it up. I saw one little bloom on mine this weekend while I was working. I was surprised because I gave it a haircut the weekend before because it had so many dead stems in it. I guess the cold weather did some damage - but it managed to pull thru. It was solid red - but mine usually start that way and then become mixed. I need to find that thread on FB - because I would love to have a monarda. I lost all of mine several years back.
Charlotte, happy birthday to the guys! How old are they? It is awesome they have such a large, good group of friends. I wish Jessica had that! She only has a few good friends. So many of the kids are in the sororities and she isn't and with her crazy science schedule she just hasn't met a lot of people. Well, she knows several people, but not well enough to be good friends with them. This year has been a little better and she has made a few new friends and that has been a nice change.
They were 19 the 13th. This is one of the pictures posted on Justin's FB page. There were 2 tables of kids. Justin and Clint have always had a knack for making friends. It does amaze me that they were able to find so many like minded friends in such a short period of time. They don't neglect their studies either. Justin was just recently inducted into the National Honor Society. They just don't spend time watching tv or anything like that. They didn't even take a tv to college with them. They didn't want one! I sent them an Easter gift and Justin didn't have time to go to his mail box until the day after Easter.
Justin is the one in the middle without a hat.
Looks like they had a lot of fun! Jessica would love all the party hats!
This is one of the things Clint does for fun. He is in what they call the Cheer Band. It's not as demanding as a marching band and allows him to keep up with his music. They were in Las Vegas recently playing for something. Guess it's basketball season now. Clint is the one in the middle with the red on his forehead and cheeks. They paint themselves up when they play and wear red and white striped shirts.
Cute photos. I love those cheer bands. I see them sometimes at basketball games. I know they must be having fun at college from the looks of it, but taking it seriously too.
This whole week is nothing but rain, rain, rain. I would love to get my tomato plants and peppers and some seed in the ground but it is too wet. We are going to Nashville Saturday and staying Saturday night and won't be back until Sunday night so I won't get a thing done in the yard this weekend. May have to take a day off if the rain will stop so I can get 'er done. I should have planted things this past weekend but it seemed early (out date is the 17th). I didn't think we would have any more frost but didn't want to take any chances I guess.
Clint looks like he has fun with it.
Elaine, I know what you mean....rain, rain, rain and MILLIONS of mosquitos! ugh!
I had some phlox some in yesterday that I had ordered that was bare root so I ran out to try to plant it between rains and didn't quite make it .....got soaked in the process, but at least they are in the ground and hopefully the plants will enjoy the rain. I picked up a few tomato and pepper plants at HD on Monday after my Dr appt in El Dorado, but I didn't even attempt to get them all in the ground.
My friend Lana has developed Bells Palsy which I understand is a normally temporary facial paralysis condition and they are going to postpone her surgery again. :( I am not really sure why they are not proceeding - but they felt it best to wait until this past. She hopes to get a new date today.
I had Bells Palsy in my mid 40's. It is often stress related. Mine was. It usually just effects one side of the face. One of my eyes did not blink like the other one did and one side of my mouth was totally numb. I don't remember what if any kind of medication I took. My doctor sent me to a neurologist. My dad's happened after mother died. It can last 6 to 8 weeks. I'm sure they don't want to aggravate whatever is going on to cause the Bells Palsy. The more stress she has to go through the longer the palsy could last and could also become permanent.
Another rainy day here! It rained some here late in the day yesterday. It also rained during the night and looks like it could pour here any minute! I haven't bought anything for my garden yet. Just too wet. I covered it all with cardboard to keep out the weeds and still haven't uncovered it. We're probably going to be wishing for some of this rain come July!
Happy birthday to the boys, Charlotte!!! They are young men now and I know how proud you are of them. I've enjoyed watching them grow up since we met!!! They were little!!! LOL!!
I'm have watched all the HGTV that I care to watch!!! What happened to the G in that network? We are on the verge of being flooded in here.
I didn't buy many plants b/c I spent all my money on this large ugly rooster at the LSU plant sale. LOL!!! Don't even ask me why? I just fell in love with it!! Now I have to get some clear paint and spray him just to make sure the rust plague doesn't set in.
I gave up and hired two young men to build the deck. They are suppose to have it finished in 4-5 days. I'll let Yall know the rest of the story.
I'm headed outside to see how things faired through all the rain yesterday.
I lost Jethro my 24" black koi Monday and have no idea what went wrong for him.
I have a pond question for you Jeri. Do you have koi only? Do they keep the algae and pond scum from forming in your pond in the warmer months or do you have to keep treating it? I have some inexpensive goldfish and find I have a lot of string algae. I cheaped out when we first put in the pond and was afraid the fish wouldn't make it (herons, critters, etc). Well, we have only had a couple of attacks and my fake heron seems to have kept the real ones away except for one time I caught one at the sushi bar but he left pretty quickly.
BTW, glad you're getting your deck built. Sometimes you just have to hire help. I have learned that in the last 2-3 years.
Elaine the easiest thing I do for algae is put 3% hydrogen peroxide in. I put 3 qt at a time until it improves. I have a large pond so I have no idea how to adjust, maybe start with 1/2 qt.
Jeri does have a really large beautiful pond!! Mine is about 2,000 gallons and I mainly have koi. I have a few fancy gold fish. I have way too many fish for the size of my pond! I don't have any problem with string algae or scum. I don't treat it with anything. I do check the ph in mine. My ph tends to get too low because of the number of fish I have. I add baking soda to bring the ph up. The water will start looking funkly when the ph gets off and I when I add the baking soda you can see it almost immediately start to clear up. It also causes fish problems when it gets too low. I do have algae growing on my liner but it doesn't cause any problems and the fish do eat on it. It seems this is always the time of year I lose a fish. There is something about the water "turning" as it starts warming up and causes fish problems. I lost one of my really big koi a couple of years ago. It was I'm sure 24". Made me sick. It was fine one morning and just keeled over late afternoon. Like to have never got that thing out of the pond! The one I lost this year was a really big shurbukin (sp), He had lost some scales on one side. Not sure what happened.
Glad you are getting your deck built. I'm learning to hire it done too!! Just can't do everything.
Good thing about the peroxide it helps with fish boo boo's within 3-5 days I see an improvement on any scape or sore.
I need to add some peroxide to mine.