Spring in my neck of the woods

 Dogwood and Blackberry Bushes

 Greening - far end of meadow

 Flowering Crab n Flowering Plum

(only looks like the plum is dead)

 Buds filling up across the road.

Springing across the street near the pond.

 Fig trees - ALIVE! (Please don't freeze, please don't freeze.)

Heavy haze in the trees by the pond.

Allergy alerts have been out for a short while already. The fine mostly neon yellow/green pollen covers most everything. Now, if it doesn't freeze again, things should green up nicely by the end of the month! I hope y'all are having a fine weekend!

Sleepless in the country

Sleepless night. It began by getting hung up in one of my movies. I finally pulled the covers up around 1:00 a.m. Just as I started drifting off, Jill started  having a dream. The thing with Jill is that she sleeps on her side facing the wall, and then the dreams begin with paws flapping and nails clacking on the wall. In the quiet, it sounds like she's tap dancing with an occasional growl, woof, or moan. Unless I am dead asleep, there is no sleeping through this. I don't know if DH heard her or what, but he was up watching TV by 3:00.  I don't understand how I can sleep in broad daylight, but that TV lit down the hall seems so irritating ... So, anyway, I caught maybe 12 winks in the whole night. For a change, Jack didn't kick me at all - all night.

This is just a mention, one of those little known weird Sharon facts - When Jack isn't coming (or going) and he's not listening (being a brat), I can call him with my 'Mommy means it' voice - and I count, "One ... Two ..." I'm sure he doesn't really know how to count, but he knows I mean business and (ha ha) it sounds good. He comes (or goes) running and that looks like I have the smartest, most obedient dog. (And me a bit of a b*tch) I've never had to go to Three. I have no idea how either of us would react to that.

Just after DH went to work, I saw an ambulance parked here on the corner, lights flashing. I see a lot of odd people park on the corner, in the night. It's as busy as a late night city corner. This wasn't the usual late night pick-up, or drug deal. I'll never know. I am curious about it and hope if they were working on some middle of the trip life saving procedure that it worked.

Well, now that I've bored you to tears ... my work is done. Hahahaha, just kidding! Have a great day, night, whatever.

How does your garden grow?

My garden is not doing so well. The Tiny Tim tomato seedlings have started getting second leaves, but they are only, at best, 3/4" tall. Something is definitely the matter, they should look like tomato plants by now. At the rate they are growing, they might top out at a couple of inches.

 My lavender plant has become stringy and it looks as if it's going to bloom.

 DH bought me a chocolate mint plant. It smells lovely. I think the plant stems of reddish brown are more the 'chocolate' as it smells more minty than anything.

 He also bought a regular tomato plant ... with small talk about fixing up a planter for outside for it. Not sure, but I may be taking bets on it's survival.

 Please excuse the purple ... I'll get a better pic of the mint in sunlight later on if it blooms for me.

Tonight Masterpiece Theater has something new about the Bronte sisters. It starts in a few minutes. I think this is a one night only thing. Sounds interesting though.

Have a great week! 

Sorry for any confusion about the chocolate mint.
Here is a daylight shot. No grow light.

 

"You get what you pay for." Yep, thought my new sheets wouldn't be the greatest and they didn't disappoint. If I really had a full sized full sized bed, I wouldn't have bought them. The *pocket* of the bottom sheet wouldn't fit a regular thickness mattress, let alone one that needed the *deep pockets*! So, anyway, the fabric is thin and questionable in cotton content and the finished sheets must have been measured before sewn ... Oh well, at least they are better than nothing.

 It's hard changing sheets with Jack being an immovable object.

 This little guy spent over an hour checking out the old fig for snacks. I noticed he made a few very tiny holes. No idea what he was finding. I saw a few swollen buds, maybe I will have some leaves first thing this spring. ??? 

Back at Amazon

I've been putting it off for much too long. I actually like online shopping - for the fun things, but, BUT, I hate shopping online or in a store for household items. I can't believe the prices, I feel like Rip Van Winkle. Today, I had to force myself to let my fingers do the shopping for some necessary sheets - I had put my foot through the bottom sheet.

Have any of you priced sheets lately? If not, hang onto something when you do. You know, it's only about a year ago when we bought my bed, I remember looking at sheets at the time and decided I would make do with what I had. How wrong can a person be? The prices are noticeably more now. (I'm understanding now, why DH bought skeleton sheets for his big bed)

I shopped until my back and delicate parts ached so bad, I ended up getting 2 cheap sets of questionable fiber content. At least my foot won't get hung up and I didn't have to pay $40 for clearance kiddie sheets. Sigh ... 

I will say one thing about shopping at Amazon - their gadget for narrowing down your preferences simply doesn't work for spit! I type in cotton full-sized sheet set and it shows up nearly any size or fiber content. It takes a long time to wade through all that stuff. 

I'm doing some better, I have no idea how long it takes these things to feel normal again. Have a good day, night, or whatever and  ... take care!

Living up to "Grace"

For a few years now I have been worried about falling. My balance isn't what you could call good. All this time though, of bouncing off the door trim/walls and catching myself, I hadn't fallen. Until the other night ...

Tacky wanted to be fed, and as usual, I filled her cup with cat food and made my way through the storm door, avoiding stepping on my o2 tube. I put the food in her dish, turned around and she was still loving on me. I opened the storm door, my tube got hung around the cat, and as I lifted my foot to go through the door - I didn't! I landed square on my dignity. 

At first all I felt was my throbbing finger, my foot, and my back. I had slammed into the storm door with my back, it felt as if someone slammed me with a 2x4. It hurt every time I breathed in. I figured if I went to the doctor, they would tape me - seeing that I can't stand a bra because of my breathing, I opted out of that idea. I called DH and he came home. I never would have made it up into my bed without him. 

In the morning, I found out that it was my coccyx I landed on and not just my dignity. Everything went into sympathy mode and I felt like I had whiplash. I felt like I had been in a bad wreck. 

It's getting better, thanks for the well wishes! I can sit now, but I wish I had one of those donuts. ;-) My foot and finger are fine. Been using Aspercream, which helps my back and other painful areas. I informed DH that he can feed the cat from now on.

MIB

Missing in Blogland ...

Last night:

Wouldn't you know it? Playing (not really) with the cat, her food, and my bleep tube and trying to get her food outside in her dish - - - - Lost my balance, landed on my butt, hitting my back on the storm door, jammed my finger, hit my foot on the threshold I guess and landed on the porch floor. I don't think anything is broke, but I imagine I will have a few bruises tomorrow. I called Bobby, he's going to come home and look at my back and help me into bed - a chore I'm not looking forward to. May have cracked a rib, but probably is just bruised from the jolt.

This morning:
Feel like I was hit by a truck from my bottom to the top of my neck. Can't sit at my computer.

Back later ...

Everybody has snow ...

Except us! This is an old photo from January 2011. I thought I'd post this for all the folks who are under the delusion that it is always warm and sunny in Tennessee. Heck, we are almost in Alabama! Jill was only a couple of years old and she loved the snow and playing in it with Daddy.

 We may not have snow now, but it's down right chilly!

Mr. Bluebird on my ...

How many of you thought ... on my shoulder?
I took these shots the other day and thought it would be too much for the page. Well, anyway, this little guy waited around for me to get the camera, turned to give me the various views, but of course, I thought he would fly off and didn't take the time to focus properly. I do love my little bluebirds!

 He was such an obliging little guy!

Got a couple movies from my son today. One is Howl's Moving Castle and the other is Stardust. Howl's Moving Castle is a Disney animated film. I watched it right away, cool family picture, I recommend it for family viewing. (Or a rainy afternoon)

1. This is an ad from Amazon:

Sundance Now - Watch Howl Free

All Access To Exclusive Releases. Ad-free. Anytime. Anywhere. On Any Device.  www.sundancenow.com/

Have a great week!

The much advertised snow ...

We didn't get much more than this. It was pretty. Of course, it's gone now. Last night, Jack and Jill had fun running around and barking. I'm sure the neighbors liked that, not.

Tacky came flying in as soon as I opened the door. She played a new game with me. "I want out!" and "I've changed my mind." We were at it for over an hour. There is no lock on the doggy door, you see, and as soon as I would get her out, she was back in through the doggy door. When she was in, she meowed at the door and as soon as I had her out - she was in again! It's not a game I want to play in the middle of the night.

 Have a great week, Y'all!

Week's End

Snow was/is in the forecast. Last night, I guess, Nashville got an inch of the white stuff. We dodged the bullet, but the second wave is on its way. The system is heading due east, we may yet go unscathed, I don't know. If we get any, it shouldn't be much. (I hope, I hope, I hope)

 The temperature is 41 and that's our high ... The dogs are already hiding, too gloomy out there, I guess.

I found the Tiny Tim seeds and put them in. These are 3 days out of the ground. I hate when the seed husk stays on the end, I have this overwhelming urge to pull it off. Haha. I have more seeds, if one of these doesn't make it. I don't always have the best luck ...

I started watching Battlestar Galactica. I had never watched the series. Not sure how I feel about it - I just started the second disc. DH sold a bracelet for me, so I can do some guilt-free shopping. I ordered 3 DVDs with British movies, Heehee. When I have finished Battlestar, I also have Buck Rogers and I thought I had to break that up a little with some levity and romance, you know?

Son sent me a story in an email, the other night. I tried my darnedest, but the words just weren't making sense. It may as well have been written in hieroglyphics. I was over-tired and I had a headache. It seemed like I was trying to read some foreign language. It kind of scared me. In the morning, I tried again, and it was fine - a decent story. I have noticed this phenomenon happening more and more. (BTW, I had to play with phenomenon multiple times to get it right. To think how I used to pride myself on my spelling - Pride has bit me in the butt)

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

 

Springtime strut of Mr. Mockingbird.

Here is Mr. Mockingbird. You will have to take into consideration that he was quite far away and I had to zoom the heck out of him. He was doing his usual springtime courtship strut. He walks a few steps and raises his wings in a jerking motion, brings them back down, and walks a few more steps. He'll go across the open space in the yard for fifty feet or more. Of the many pictures I've posted, I had tried to get a shot of the patterning on the wings unsuccessfully, so I was happy for what I got. In flight their tails are quite impressive too - I just haven't gotten a good shot of that yet.

We're expecting a nice warm day tomorrow, and then it's all going to go to pot for the next week or so. Heard snow was in the forecast for the weekend. Brrr. March is not going to give up that easily. I can feel the changes in my bones already.

On my last disk of Quantum Leap. It's different from what I had remembered, although I hadn't seen very many episodes when it was being broadcast. Still entertaining, but not as much as what I remembered. Of course, I'm older now ...

It's over now

Victoria and Mercy Street are done for now. :(  I feel a little like when all the company leaves and there's an empty space where they had been. Sigh ... Now what? I guess they have a new show coming this fall about Vietnam, but that's not until the fall. They say we will get some more Doc Martin - next month, maybe. I don't see it on the schedule yet.

DH has tomorrow night off, it's the only night off for the week. It's just enough to really mess him up. Today, he actually got a full 6 1/2 hours sleep, which is the max he can get right now. I believe next weekend will be the clock change. That messes us up enough without this night shift. When I mentioned it to him, he swore. I think he could be hoping to see a lay-off slip. 

The peach trees are blooming. They aren't as pretty as usual, maybe that hard frost got to them. The flowering crab has a few blossoms. I don't know if it was affected or it's just starting. We'll see. The woods are looking more and more hazy every day. I would say, spring is on its way, ready or not. Brad still hasn't been parked in the garage and has that odd green powder on it. Noses are running, eyes itching - time to buy some Zyrtec.

The lavender leaves are kind of curling and looking dried. I think the dirt booster is a little too much for it. Mumble, mumble ... I may end up having to discard it and put in regular potting soil. Good thing it's right next to the window, I can just bail it out without having to carry it out in a bucket, if I have to change it.

All for tonight, I'm heading for bed as soon as I potty the dogs, feed the cat, and lock the doors. G'night all.

 

 

Must be that time of the month

Sometimes having a blog can be hard on the brain. Is it just me? So many blogs are asking us questions, questions that require a lot of thinking, a lot of time, if you are as slow as I am to think of the answers. I have a question for you, hopefully it's a simple one.

How much time do you have to spend reading, commenting, writing, and responding to comments?

I, myself, have no set amount of time that I reserve for blogging, but I like to be able to read and comment to every one, even if it is just a simple :-) I like to read the other comments too. I figure I take 5-15 minutes on each visit, depending. I average about 5 or 6 blogs in an hour. I spend approximately 30 minutes writing my blog and a few minutes responding to each comment. It's nobody's fault that I'm slow, I'm not saying that.

I'm not sure what it is that I am saying, maybe sometimes when someone asks questions that are of a personal nature, I feel like I am in a survey for an up and coming book. Sigh ... I won't ask you how you feel about that ...

My planter garden is not doing so well. The lavender that I put in the other day isn't happy. I thought it would perk up by today. I'll give it more time, no other choice. The tomato seeds are not sprouting at all. I lost the Tiny Tim seeds, but had some cherry tomato seeds from a couple of years ago. Thought for sure at least one would come up. The planter garden is looking more like a wasteland. :-(

DH is now on the full 12 hr night shift. Takes him 2 hours to drive there, find a place to park, and walk to the building. The place is packed ... Then the same to come home. He's beginning to look like death warmed over.

Jack and Jill did their nighttime potty thing and as soon as they came in - they made themselves comfortable. I really ought to just give up making the bed ...

Have a great weekend!