Letter from home ...

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a busier than usual week for me. So far, I have about 4.5 - 5 gallon of blueberries in the freezer. Very hard for me to fathom, as Uncle Jimmy got quite a few. #3 son - not so much. I made my blueberry pie yesterday afternoon and finished it off this morning for breakfast. I am satisfied now. Going to prune the daylights out of them this winter so there is not such a glut next summer and they will be bigger. (less picking) There are quite a few out there, but I'm done for this year.

Meanwhile, my little blueberry cuttings are doing well. Maybe in a couple of years they will be a small source of income for somebody. 

Son #4 sent me this picture and others. He's taking sailing instructions and seems to enjoy the ocean as much as I. Wish I could go there. The temperatures are much more pleasant there than here.

At Oceanside

I'm still reading Poldark. I always read fast, to find out what happens. I did a No No, I read some of the last book. I know that it's not the way, but I wanted to slow down and try to figure out more about the battles. I will have to read some history later, to see how accurate the research was in the book. In the book(s) the times then are so much like they are now without the ability to blow the world to kingdom come. I'm in book 8 now. Poverty seems the same now as then and so do politics. People will never learn.

I'm trying to cook a little more, spending a lot of time on the chair in the kitchen. My back doesn't like it when I stand. I noticed a lot of little flies in the kitchen, DH sprayed the other day and I was in bed the next, unable to breathe. Spraying was a bad idea. Thursday, I took out the vacuum cleaner and tried to suck the little bleeps up. Cleaning the sink and trash container hasn't helped a bit and they just keep coming. Have never seen the likes of it. Have those fly strips all over in there, two of them don't have a fly on. Sounds pretty gross, doesn't it? It is.

Had a huge flock of birds come and land in our trees. DH had never seen so many. I imagine they were starlings. I would hope it was that and not birds gathering to migrate. I did hear geese the other day, we are not in the flyway. I searched the horizon and sure enough there was a huge flock of them. Gee, it isn't even August!

Speaking of August, it's the day after tomorrow. What the bleep is happening to summer? It seems to be going the way of all things already. I remember summer taking a lot more time than this! We still haven't had our first watermelon yet.

We'll have to dig up what we can find of my Naked Ladies (lilies) and get them moved. I only had a couple show up. I'm sure it is because they are so crowded and the ground was so hard and dry from the heat and no rain this summer. I hope they are still viable. A couple of years ago they were lush. Last year sparse. Guess we should have taken care of them then. Sigh.

The mockingbirds have their nest in one of the figs. I sincerely hope that Tacky doesn't get at the babies. The birds picked a bad spot. There is a lot of noise when someone gets close. The swallows have their nests out in the lean-to on the garage. They keep the bug and mosquito population down. The sparrows and cardinals are busy at the feeder again. What would I do without my birds?

All for now, I hope you are enjoying the fruits and joys of the summer! I have pot roast going in the crock pot, if you can make it for supper, give me a call. We eat at six.

Monday ...Again

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Sunday's early morning visitor. I'm surprised I got a shot at it. First I've seen of her since everything was warm and green.

I'm missing warm and green, BTW.

 We called the owner of the little Tin Lizzy. He pretty much talked us out of it. We would have to fix it so it would start and then it would go very slow. (And we would have to put it under cover for bad weather - and nobody would want to push it) It was kind of fun to dream of it in the front yard, overflowing with my favorite petunias ...

Jack went for his check-up on Saturday. He is becoming quite a regular at the vet's office. He got refill of the one pill, as she said he still had swelling. She also said his bad breath will return - he needs his teeth cleaned. I am a shade concerned about knocking the little guy out again. He's not young anymore. He's pushing ten, but boy has he normally got bad breath!

Later that morning, some guy's coon hounds were heading home and got stalled in our yard. Jack and Jill went bananas. We had howling and baying in the front outside and in the living room inside. Then the neighbor's dogs joined in. Noisy! Everyone says about the peace and quiet in the country - don't you believe it!

I can't sleep. Somebody must be out hunting again and the neighbor's dogs will not shut up. It's getting late here, gee whiz! Guess I will go and try again. Have a good week, folks!