C'MON WEEKEND...

I have stuff to do and I need it to be the weekend so I can really turn up the gardening volume! Going in the ground will be Caladium bulbs, Lily of the Valley bulbs, 4 O'clock seeds (multi-colored), Alyssum and more Hollyhock seeds.

As I was planting the bulbs over the weekend I noticed that there were two different types of greenery coming up in the flower garden down at the flag pole. I'm not sure that they aren't weeds but I don't want to yank them out just in case they are the newly emerging Hollyhock seeds that I planted in August of last year. I posted a picture to see if any of you recognize the leaves for what they really are. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these little shoots are the result of my hard work. :)

I should have had the peas in the ground as of the 13th of March according to the Farmer's Almanac but that was Sunday and it rained all day. We couldn't hardly get out there and build a pea trellis and plant seeds in the rain. Well, we could have but who would WANT to? LOL Instead, the peas will likely go in the ground tomorrow and Sunday...well, it went something like this...

There was no race Saturday night so no reason to stay up late either. As Sunday dawned we awaited the rain that was promised and watched as the clouds moved in. We had just enough time to eat breakfast and feed the animals before the drizzling began. I made pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs with sliced green apples on the side. Don't be getting all bent out of shape over green apples...when you dunk them in honey, they taste just like a candied apple from the fair...I swear! And so the rains came and with them the wind - it was relaxing to watch from inside the warmth of the cabin.

We switched to Fiber One pancake mix and it's just so so... If I could find the Aunt Jemima mix that we had before, I'd definitely buy it again instead. The Fiber One makes a nice fluffy pancake but it doesn't have the depth of flavor that the Aunt Jemima whole wheat pancakes had. Oh well. I've looked everywhere to no avail so I'm settling for the Fiber One until I can figure out how to make them myself with whole wheat flour. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery would be greatly appreciated :)

To the scrambled eggs I added some steak seasoning and a little garlic powder. I think it's McCormick's brand but either way, it sure gave those eggs a little boost and changed up the morning routine just a little bit. We finished the sausage and the apples and washed it all down with big glasses of tea. From there we headed out to feed the animals. I had some carrot shavings and tops for the horses and a few chunks of romaine lettuce ribs. Rebel turned his nose up at the lettuce but Smokey was game. He ate all I threw out to him. Rebel chowed on the carrots and as always he stuck his head so far over the gate that he could have touched me nose to nose if he wanted to. Funny guy!

The roosters didn't come out from under the porch since the rain was now coming down so I threw a handful of sweet feed out on the ground in case they showed up later. They cock-a-doodle-doo'd the whole time I was out there but refused to come out in that weather...lol I have to admit that when their feathers get wet, they aren't the prettiest guys on the farm. Maybe they know it and are embarrassed to show their faces LOL!! hahaha Still no Roo... :(  booooo

The puppies are wild in the morning - they really need exercising to get them to calm down and stop jumping. Right now they are learning not to bark at us when we approach the dog house. As it is they just go crazy with barking, jumping, standing on their hind legs and running all around. I know they're excited but they have to learn that all their antics won't bring us there any sooner. They're cute as can be when they finally sit and stop barking. They still whine and you can tell they would rather be barking but they somehow manage if only for a minute or two. We can't ask much more than that from those youngsters lol!

So all were fed and petted (roosters - not so much) and settled into their daily activities...but let me back up just a bit. While I was making breakfast, standing at the kitchen window, looking out at the length of the driveway, I saw 5 deer eating the new grass just beyond Dizzy's apt. They had not a care in the world and stayed for quite a while now that there is plenty of green grass to attract them. As I cleared the breakfast dishes, they meandered off down the side of the hill where the holler is. I thought how cool it was that they were back after hunting season. We thought we had lost them all.

When next I looked up, Colt had starting barking his head off in the direction of the outhouse. I looked all around out there but saw nothing and I told Wally he was just barking at the wind I guess. In the next second after I said that, here came what looked to be about 50 deer running full speed ahead from behind the outhouse all the way across the yard, across both driveways and off down the holler where the other 5 already were. UNBELIEVABLE!!! That was absolutely the most deer I'd ever seen at one time. By the way, there were really only 8-10 but it looked like there were a whole lot more! lol As I stood there in awe, two more emerged from the woods and quickly caught up to the herd. Fifteen total as far as I could tell, possibly a few more that I missed when I was trying to watch them and count at the same time. Happy is how I felt - happy in the knowledge that we'll have another strong population again this year. It was looking pretty grim prior to Sunday.

I walked around and checked on the daffodil bulbs I had planted the day before and sure enough, they were all still there and all were happily soaking up the slight drizzle of rain that still fell. To me they seemed even perkier...perhaps it was because I was still on a deer-sighting high :) Really folks, this place just never ceases to amaze me.

I spent some time cleaning out the refrigerator, rearranging the pantry and making my shopping list. Believe it or not, this actually consumes quite a bit of my time...lol What is it that takes so darn long? After that I got the pooper scooper and scooped the rooster poo off the back porch. Darn roosters! While I'm grateful for the fertilizer, I wish they'd keep it on the ground where I can shovel it up and use it LOL but that's not the case. Glancing off the porch, I saw that a bunch of stuff had blown down the hill during the storm so I headed out there to pick it up.

Going down the hill towards the holler I must have picked up two or three plastic dog bowls, a couple of cans, some of my planters that weren't heavy enough to elude the winds and fortunately the garbage can itself. LOL this made bringing everything back up the hill, much easier. Am I out of shape? You betcha! I was winded from just that little bit of a climb up hill. We've been doing our walk with the dogs every day that we can fit it in but Sunday's little jaunt reinforced the notion that one day missed makes climbing the hill all that much harder hahahaha It's not like it's that far to go - it's just that it's so steep :) Apparently I'm still a flat-lander. LOL well, you're welcome to come on up here and walk it with me...any takers? hmmmm that's what I thought! haha

The day went fast and before we knew it, it was time to retire. Oh was I ever ready. I spent a whole day doing lots of nothing but it sure kept me busy...ever have one of those? You can't really tell you got anything substantial done but you worked all day at it? That was me on Sunday :)

Monday - oh, around 7am, I received a call from a Fraud Prevention company who notified me that they had detected some unusual usage on my Visa debit card. Low and behold, someone had somehow obtained my number and bought themselves an X-box, something from Apple on-line and two things titled only with the New York Times name. As you may know none of these are anything that I would ever buy and so my card had to be shut down completely.

In order for the credits to be posted to my checking account, I have to fill out a claim form and send it to my credit union. In the meantime they are sending out a new card. Blah, blah, blah lots of work for me and rarely do they find the culprits of these thefts.

Can you imagine going back to using checks and cash...??? You are treated as if you have leprosy or something...lol! It's true though. The people in line at the grocery store were not impressed with my delaying them their purchases. The lady at Fred's actually had to consult with her cash register to see how much change to give me when I paid cash. What's worse is I had to check the receipt to make sure she was right...LOL I can't do math without a calculator either - hello!!!

The work week has been very busy, hence the minimal blogging but it's going to get worse before it gets better. Sorry!!! I have to cover a team mate next week so that's twice the work. Then, the week after that comes my much needed and I think, well-deserved, vacation with Ernie, William and Britney. Whew! I'll have to take notes to remember everything that we do so I can post it here for you. There's sure to be lots of funny stuff.

Wally has been working on changing out motors from one vehicle to the other. There's a picture of the one that's going into the bronco on the flickr site. Already it looks much different than the picture. He de-greased it, pressure washed it and painted it. It looks like new! He tells me what kind of motor it is but of course I don't remember all the words. It came out of a 5.0 Mustang - I know that much...LOL We hope to have the truck running when our company gets here so we can all fit easily in one vehicle.

One night this week we were both pretty tired at the end of the day. I had thawed out a couple ham steaks from the piggy harvest so I put them in some water with some black pepper and ham bouillon. They simmered on low while I made some mayonnaise biscuits to go with them. Can you believe we actually had no veggies that night? It was so weird. It didn't bother Wally in the least because I had made gravy with the pan juices that were left from the ham. I just thought the plate looked kind of bare without any peas, carrots, corn or green beans on it... It was good and it was very filling but it still seemed strange.

I bought corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day but was too tired to make it. This training is wearing me down I tell ya... lol We're going to have our St. Patrick's Day dinner on Saturday if you would care to join us...LOL! There's still time to get here :) We had tuna salad on toast with lettuce, tomato and mayo (for Wally) with a pickle on the side.

The last of the refrigerator pickles was eaten last night. Come on cucumbers!!! I gotta make more of those little babies :) Neccy took a jar home with her but I haven't heard whether or not she liked them...if you see her, ask her. She was hiding them for a while so no one else could get their hands on them...LOL I hope it was worth it.

As you can see from the new pictures, the plants all seem to be coming along just fine. The puppies are growing like weeds and springtime is truly on its way to Tennessee. It comes this Sunday as a matter of fact. We're supposed to be in the high 60s with clouds on Saturday and sunshine on Sunday. Next week it's supposed to be in the 70s so we'll be outside as much as possible. There's surely enough to do to keep us busy through the whole summer lol We're already planning cook-outs! The invitation remains open for you to come visit.

The weather is cool, there's always a breeze on the top of the hill, the grill and smoker will soon be fired up and the cooler stays filled in anticipation of your arrival. We even turned on the water to Dizzy's apt. so the outhouse is back in action! LOL Don't worry, if you can't make it up here, I'll take lots of pictures so you'll feel like you were in on it.

Enjoy your weekend - plant a flower or put up a bird feeder - you'll be surprised what one little thing like that will do for your attitude.  :)

"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams