Questioning my tree ...

Five years ago, Linda planted this tree for me. It is a flowering crab. You can see that it was just one tree that was put in the ground. Now, it has grown with more than one trunk. One is the white version, which bloomed earlier. The other is the pink, which is blooming now.

I may be wrong, but I am assuming that the pink was grafted onto the white stock. What do you think? DH wants to cut one of them out and I kind of agree, but I just hate to kill anything that is growing so well, you know? It's probably only alive because I wasn't the one who planted it.

I realize he should have pruned it before now, he's going to be screaming when it comes time to mow the yard, ha ha.

Forgive the blur - there's lots of wind

 

Stardust

Before my son went to California, he filled my computer with loads of information, games, youtube clips, mp3s, even some movies that I could never get with my limited internet. Some of the information he downloaded for me just blows my mind. It was like having my own personal google without the trial and error of the hunt!

I am a space/stars/moons/planets/stardust type of person and all this stuff fascinates me. The various information/videos on the Hubble telescope are wonderful. The picture today is a screen shot of Deep Space that was thought to be empty before the Hubble telescope was pointed into its nothingness. Awesome isn't it? My header is also part of a screen shot from a different area.

Hubble Deep Space. Can you count the galaxies?

Freeloader

I caught this little guy filching seed from the bird feeder. Thought it looked cute the way he is clutching his booty in his paw rather than his cheeks. Haven't seen any of these guys in quite a while - the dogs (not just mine) keep them run off.

Visitor

The Easter Lady

A lot of people have friends for years and years. Today, I am going to talk about my girlfriend of 55 years, Ruth.

Why Ruth and I are friends is beyond me, she's trim, athletic, very busy, very involved with her family and friends, and nothing like me at all. (Who is a couch potato, pretty much, anymore) She runs, yeah, like races. She bikes - miles. She walks - miles. Does the boy scout thing even though she's a year younger than I am. She even volunteers her time at the local food shelf. I guess you could say she is the woman I would like to be if only I had it in me.

I bring this up because it's Easter. Every year, Ruth makes dozens and dozens of eggs for a neighborhood egg hunt - in her yard. She also fills plastic eggs with candy and hides them too. Some plain boiled eggs stay in her kitchen for anyone to dye their own personal egg. She bakes fresh bread for her guests to enjoy as well. Her kitchen is open to one and all. 

Some of her eggs for this year.

 Somewhere there are photos of her in a bunny suit, if I can locate I will add it. She doesn't wear it anymore, and has someone else play the Easter Bunny. (But she was darn cute in it!)

You can understand why I love this lady, as a sister, friend, confidant. Who wouldn't? When we talk every week or two, we talk for hours until the battery is going to die. If I am on the phone and laughing, I'm talking to Ruth.

Y'all have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Sleepless in Tennessee

A loud, BEEP! and then a disembodied female voice said, "Low Battery."
This scared me as I sat reading in the absolute quiet before bed last night. It also scared the dogs, it may as well have been thunder. I looked at the clock and it was 10:20 pm.
BEEP! "Low Battery"
Sounded just a couple of minutes later.

I knew this would be one sleepless night. I called DH to let him know to bring batteries or he wasn't going to sleep after his shift either. Shutting my door helped a little, but through the night the alarm and voice continued. Around 3:00 am, it slowed down and occasionally was just the BEEP! and the disembodied voice was quieter, creepier. There was no sleeping at all. 

DH arrived home at 7:30 am  and took it off the wall to change the batteries. I guess when they say to change the batteries in your smoke detector when you 'spring forward' they are confident about how long the batteries will last. Have you changed your batteries?  

Hanging Out ...

... the south window that is.

My continuing ant problem

More Naked Ladies and the little Flowering Almond (?)

Flowering Almond (?)

The neighbor's Forsythia

A yard weed but pretty.

It's not much. Spring has just begun.

Enjoy the weekend folks!

The Country Mouse

I am not one to go screeching when a mouse gets in. I have always been drawn to their cuteness, so stick with me here. [Read previous post] 

One day, years ago, in a different house, we found a baby mouse. DC didn't know what to do with it. She had always been an indoor cat and had never had kittens to forage for. She was attracted to it, though not in the way we thought she would be.

Our son made this caption.

 A short time later, I was walking down the hall and thought I spotted a 'fur ball' [the coughed up kind] and it moved. Looking closely, like Gulliver, I saw that it was another mouse. It was holding up one of its hind feet and sadly looked at me, as if to say, "Look at my foot, it is hurt!"

Makes me think of Mr. Jingles of The Green Mile. No, we didn't kill the mice, they went for ride in a box to live down by the creek. I do prefer live traps.

Mickey's front door?

I have seen Mickey, maybe Minnie and who knows how many others? My eyes are not what they used to be and I would see one of the Mouse family from time to time on the fireplace bricks. They would disappear as soon as I took notice. Well, today, I found the little bleep's front(?) door! It only needs a yard light! I see that someone has been enlarging the hole, there is some kind of dust on the cane handle. Not sure if it's wood dust or brick, but they have been busy! The traps we have set for them have not been useful. Time for poison, I suppose. May just glue a pellet or two to the brick ledge and give whoever a belly ache.

 

Journey's end

Well, my son made it just fine, pretty much anyway. He is settled into his motel (temporary lodging) and found there is no refrigerator or microwave. He is not thrilled. It will be pricey this week, having to eat out for all meals.

He had to buy a couple of tires, 1200 miles into the trip. Found out his lug nuts were shy and loose on one of the wheels. Sigh.

 ~~~

Had to have the HVAC guy out again. He called to get directions and I told him, "The house with the ants," and he knew right away. Oh, and yes - they had invaded it again during the winter! No wonder the electric bill was so nuts. We need to be more aggressive against those pesky red ants.

~~~

Was 73 for a high today, warmer for a couple of days and then it will go back to being early spring temps again. Wish we had the new style thermostat for the central. I will get tired of playing with the controls before long.

~~~

That's it for now, time to relax!

See You Later ...

Son has a new job in California. He has packed his car full of necessities and he left a few minutes ago. He's going to run smack dab into the middle of that storm.

All that planning and I forgot to change the resolution on the camera. Now, it's too late to fix that. J n J are going to miss their boy, but not as much as I will. I was getting used to his weekly visits. I'm pretty bummed, see you guys later. Take care!

Re-post - Naked Ladies

Naked Ladies (Surprise Lily, Lycoris squamigera)

 Taken 2014 - my back yard

It's Official!

The 'Naked Ladies' or 'Surprise Lilies' foliage is up and growing well, if not a little crowded. They will grow and be green long enough to feed the bulbs, and then will die back later on. Around the end of July, the green is long gone and the area will be just lawn. One day, when they are ready, each bulb will send a single stem through the ground and a cluster of pretty pink lily blossoms will greet me, basically overnight, if the ground has had sufficient watering. This picture was taken by leaning out the back door.

I took this picture of the neighbor's mailbox while leaning out of the front door. It is down the road and as clear as my telephoto lens could get. I had some Buttercups or Daffodils right on the corner, but they have long since been run into the ground by neighbors cutting the corner with their big rigs. They are the only yellow blooms I can see from my house. Soon, the trees will begin to bloom in white and pink, but, sadly, this is it for my springtime yellow 'fix'. Spring is here!

Screen Shots

You know how I like taking pictures of the birds and dogs, and of my frustration in losing a cool shot because I am too slow or shaky. I was thinking of this, actually had thought of this on occasion. Why not take a movie and take a screen shot while I watched my movie and thereby have the best shot?

I played with it most of the day yesterday on some old digital movies with varied results. Birds flying were nothing but a blur. Movies for the sake of memories were not great. I realize now that I must take movies in a much higher resolution in order to get anything worthwhile. The following are a few of my practice shots.

Enlarging them becomes a real mess of pixels. I will try this again ...