Leaving early today!

I ended up working an hour overtime yesterday so I'm leaving an hour early today to make up for it! Woo Hoo I just love getting out early on a Friday :)  At 6:30 this morning, Wally was getting the horse trailer ready so he could load up the horses and take them to get shoes on. That's a pretty good indication we might actually go riding this weekend. No sure bet but the potential exists!  You'll know Monday if I'm still sore from it... lol.

We got on the 4 wheeler and went to check out the blackberry situation. They still aren't ready. They range in color from light pink to dark, almost raspberry, red. Maybe they'll be ready in another week or so. From the looks of things, I'll need to get some more jelly jars because I don't have anywhere near enough. The blackberry bushes practically line the property on the southeast side. They're all over the place. Some I can't get to because they are too deep in briers but even without those, I'll have bazillions of blackberries. Wally said they don't all come in at the same time and that I'll have to check back every week once they start. Man I sure wanted to eat one but that would have been seriously detrimental to my health so I held off. It wasn't easy though as they are getting really, really plump!

The mystery plant is still hanging in there and the bees are just loving it. I noticed a couple of the flowers were just starting to show signs of fading but the majority are doing just fine. They Day lilies are thriving still and continue to put out new flowers every day. The Tiger Lily, I'm sad to say, is completely done. I did notice a different variety in one of the yards down off the main road. It's much taller than my Tiger Lily but has the same type of leaves. It's probably 4 feet tall and from what I can see from the road, the blooms are blood red. I'll be looking into those for next spring!

Since the Day lilies and Tiger's are orange, I'm thinking about planting blue flowers or blue flowering shrubs in the spaces between them. It's either that or mow and I'd much rather have flowers! On the other side of the tree, opposite the lilies, there are red and white mums that Wally's grandma planted when she was alive. I would never take them out but I'm at a loss as to what to plant between and around them so I don't have to mow that area either. I may use the cuttings from the Hostas that Claudia said she would share. They are mostly just green leaves but some have white lining the edges of the leaves. Her varieties bloom too. It's not a plant that does very well in FL because it's just too hot.

As I make my lists and then erase and make new lists I realize that I might as well just stop at the nursery and see what I like and take it from there. The mums only bloom once a year so really anything could go with them. Looks like I'll be getting the post hole diggers out again! I'm gonna need some tougher gloves. I used mine until they tore and then I went bare-handed (they were cheapo anyway). It wasn't too bad but it quickly became apparent that my hands weren't used to that kind of abuse. lol

All over the property there are Brown-eyed Susans blooming. I cut some and brought them in the other day. They just can't help but brighten up any room they're in. They're about 3 feet tall in the ground and I cut them to about a foot, foot and a half. I love looking at them in the vase on the wagon wheel table in the living room. Those big, bright yellow blooms really stand out against the mostly tan and brown colors of the living room. If anyone was here to see them, I'd put a vase of them by my bed. They would really look pretty next to that blue and white quilt! But alas, we have no visitors...    ha ha ha

I have another mission for those of you who are interested. The bed in the spare bedroom is antique I think. If it's not, it's very old and probably close to it. I'm looking to buy some sheets for it but can't find anything that matches the size. The label on the mattress says "4x6."  I looked on-line and found some that were close but even shopping antique sheets I found a variety of dimensions. None that are close enough to fit. The closest I could get had the length at 5 inches longer than the mattress and the width 3 inches longer. Do you think those will fit? I mean, I know the sheets have to be a little bigger in order to fit, especially fitted sheets but you know how I am about shopping. Once I force myself to go get them, I'm not going to want to return them if they don't fit... ugh!! By the way, Bed, Bath and Beyond is over 50 miles from the house... lol  But there's one that's not too, too far from my work. If I have to, I can go there. Thank goodness they have kitchen stuff too... takes my mind off the fact that I'm shopping when I'm in that department.

Please keep Derek Mercer in your thoughts as he mourns the passing of his Mom. She fought the brave fight with leukemia but ultimately lost. Bless her heart raising all those boys! While Derek might try to hide it so as not to ruin his bad reputation, she did instill some qualities in him that became more and more apparent as her illness progressed. I won't list them here but suffice it to say, if you know him well, you surely have seen some changes. This was one tough lady, very classy and very sweet. May she rest in peace.

As always I stopped at Kroger for my fuel last night. It was down again from $2.50 last week to $2.46 this week. That's a pretty good savings when you consider the miles I'm driving. I wanted to go in and get some fried chicken but I decided against it. I have to stop reading the websites promoting healthy eating if I'm ever going to be able to buy fried chicken again. It's so so so so so so so bad for you. Probably why it tastes so so so so so so good!! We had sliced pork tenderloin instead. I mixed together the leftover Okra and blackeyed peas to go with it. Since that was so juicy, I added some whole wheat pasta ribbons to soak up some of the liquid. Nothing fancy but it was way healthier than fried chicken would have been...

Wally promised to take me to the Franklin Farmer's Market tomorrow morning. You can google it and see what they are all about. I can't wait to get some fresh beets, spring lettuces, tomatoes and hopefully some sort of melon for my lunches next week. Who knows what all I'll come home with. Poor Wally will be my guinea pig if I find a bunch of stuff I've never cooked before lol  Somehow I don't think he'll mind.

I made him a dessert the other night that you should all try. You take some regular graham crackers and a tub of sugar-free cool whip. Break the crackers in half and top one half with the whipped topping. Take the other half of the cracker and make like a sandwich with it. Put them on a cookie sheet and slide them into the freezer for about 3 hours. Once they harden, you wrap them in foil and they'll stay good for about a week or so. If they last that long. It's kind of like having an ice cream sandwich. They aren't completely sugar-free but they are low enough where Wally can eat one or two without complications. It's keeping him away from that third one that's the problem. LOL

I'm giving myself the night off from cooking. Mostly because I forgot to take something out before I left the cabin this morning...lol  It's that memory thing again. I think we're going to the diner and I'm planning on having the cheese-burger with onion rings. I let the fried chicken stay at Kroger but the burger is all mine!! It's handmade and grilled and they'll cook it however you like it -even pink in the middle for me!  I can't wait :)

So my weekend will be filled with weeding, hopefully planting, the Farmer's Market and horseback riding. Do you think I can fit it all in? LOL  No matter what I end up doing or what you end up doing, I hope your weekend is as fulfilling as mine in every way.

“The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.” Anonymous (contributed by Kathy Connelly - my girl I used to carpool with in FL and an avid reader of the blog - Thanks Kathy!)