LOOKIT!!

Do you see what I see?????

Do you see it?  Yes!  That there is a bird on my bird bath!!  OK, he was drinking instead of bathing, but still, it's a bird!  On my birdbath!!  A mockingbird to be specific.  But, but, but that's not the point.  The point is there is a bird on my birdbath!  Maybe they're starting to find it.  

Does this mean I'm officially old now?  

By the way, one of my projects this fall is going to be to dig up those shepherd's hooks and straighten them up a bit.  I plan on using some of that red clay to fill the holes in this time, so maybe they'll stay upright better.  

My other projects for today were to move the compost bin and tumbler off of the slab that used to be the old dog kennel. 

I want to try to get someone out to break it up, pull up the remnants of the fence posts, and haul it all off.  

I feel like I almost got a bit of a bait and switch with the fencing company I hired, because I'd researched them and saw heavy equipment on their website and FB pages.  Even when the man came out to measure and give me the quote, I told him I wanted this all removed, and he said, "Yes, Ma'am."  I took that to mean he was going to do it.  It wasn't until after he'd put in the new fence that he told me he didn't have access to the equipment so he couldn't remove it.  Apparently, the company had sub-contracted my job to someone else.  

Why can't people just be honest?  If he'd said so up front, I could have gotten someone to pull all of that up before he put the new fence in.  Anyway, I'm going to try to work up the gumption to post that in one of the local groups and see if I can get someone out here to do that job, and also to pull up the short bit of fence between the house and the shed.  

The other project was to get my flag holder replaced.  I'd noticed a few weeks ago that the old one had cracked -  it was plastic and had just worn out.   The next time I'd gone to the store, I sprang for one of the aluminum ones, and this morning, I finally got around to replacing it. 

I'll need to find someone with man muscles to get that bottom screw all the way in, but it's pretty sturdy even with it hanging out half an inch.  Nevertheless, Old Glory is back in her rightful place, 

and I have a spare hanger, just in case.   I'd had a Texas flag hanging there in the past, but until I can find one that doesn't fade after a month, I'll leave it empty for now. 

Whelp, I have to get off of here because Navy and LSU  play at the same time, and I'm going to need my computer to watch one of those games.

Laters. 

There Has Been Crafting

In the midst of all this chaos, there has been crafting.  Not a lot, but there has been crafting.  I finished another charity hat.

It's Red Heart, something or other.  I don't remember.  Green.  That's all I know.  I already put the yarn back into the closet, and don't want to go...wait a minute...Light Sage.  

I'll be casting on another hat soon, but here lately, I've been working on my Zoom Loom squares.  Since sock yarn varies greatly in thickness, I decided to separate the squares out.  I put the ones woven with thicker yarn in one stack, and the thinner ones in the other. 

Then, I thought, "Might as well go the whole nine yards."  I dumped out all my balls of sock yarn and separated it, too.  I'll be weaving two different blankets.  If I get one of them done in time, I might send it to my sister and her husband for Christmas.  Weaving is the fun part.  It's sewing them together that I'm struggling with.  Sigh...

Since Walmart doesn't carry deer corn this time of year, when I was there yesterday, I picked up some of this berry and nut blend.  

The plan was to put it into my squirrel feeder, but when I saw the price, I said, "Nope."  I guess I'll have to go into Tractor Supply Tuesday after work, and see if they have deer corn.  I'll mix this in with that, and that ought to give them a treat.  

By the way, when I opened it up to fill my feeders this morning, it smelled so good, I could almost eat it myself.  

I gotta go now.  The National Memorial Day Concert is on, and I must watch it.  Laters...

Pathetic

I'm so pathetic.

How pathetic am I?  I'll tell you.  I needed to mow.  For about a week, I've needed to mow, but I was out of gas for my lawnmower.  

Every day at work, I'd tell myself when I got home, I'd get my gas can out of the shed and go fill it up, so I could mow.  But every day when I got home, I'd tell myself let me just sit down for a minute.  I'll go after I eat.  After I watch such and such show.  After this...after that...and before I knew it, it would be time to start getting ready for bed, and I still hadn't gone and gotten gas.  

Friday is when I usually go into town for errands and my weekly resupply run.  This week was no different.  The plan was to go get groceries, and after I got home, I'd my gas can and go back out to get gas.  Yeah, deep down inside, I knew that wasn't going to happen.  So, I went to the store -- and this is where the patheticness comes in -- I actually put a brand new gas can into my buggy, thinking I could stop and get gas on the way home, and wouldn't have to go back out for it.  Seriously, I was going to spend $15 on a second gas can that I didn't even need, just so I wouldn't have to leave the house again.  

Now, tell me that's not the most pathetic thing you've ever heard. 

Anyway, there I was, walking all over Walmart with a gas can in my buggy, so I wouldn't have to leave the house again when I got home... just before I went to check out, I came to my senses and put the gas can back.  After getting home and unloading my groceries, I put the gas can in the back of my car, and got gas Saturday on the way home from work.    

Back to Friday, while I was in the local Walmart, I hit the jackpot.

I still haven't found deer corn, though.  I guess I'll have to go to Tractor Supply.  They usually have it.  

Speaking of my deer, I saw my mama doe and her twins a few days ago.  Neither of the twins have nubbins, so I'm assuming they're both girls.  I should have a new crop of fawns here before too much longer.  

In other news, we have a second confirmed case of coronavirus in the plant.  I'm sure they'll have a meeting tomorrow to tell us what's going on.  Right now, all I'm hearing is rumors.  Some are saying the girl felt sick, and went and got tested, then came to work until her test results came back.  Others are saying she started feeling sick after she got to work, then left and got tested, then called and said her results were positive.  That second scenario makes much more sense, but you know how people talk.  

Of course, that means we'll have to be wearing those awful masks a few more weeks.  I was so hoping The Big Man Up Front would get over that before summer gets here for real.  If not, he'll have people falling out left and right.  More so than usual, I mean. 

And now, for a bit of good news,  I finally saw a hummingbird at my feeder!  It was a ruby throated male.  I know they've been feeding, because I've had to refill it several times, but this is the first time I've actually managed to see one. 

And finally, we have our first named storm of the year.  Meet Arthur:  

We just can't catch a break, can we?  

Not Eaten

No, I have not been eaten by a shark.  At least not yet.  I'm just worn out, and don't really feel like doing much.  Not even blogging.  The good news is, work seems to be slowing down a bit.  The plant only worked a partial shift today -- component areas and a few lines.  I didn't have to go in, due to my having taken vacation yesterday.  So, what have I been doing with my days off?

For the most part, I've just been relaxing and being lazy -- and watching Shark Week, of course.

Yesterday, the first order of business was to go to the dentist for my semi-annual cleaning and checkup.  We discussed getting implants for my recently broken tooth.  What Dr. Horan suggested was that I get an implant bridge.  See, I had some molars that my permanent teeth never came in, so my primary teeth never fell out.  When I was 19, my dentist pulled the primary teeth and gave me bridges in those spots.  I believe that's why I'm losing my molars now -- because of those bridges.

The problem is, once you lose a tooth, the bone in your jaw starts receding, and in those spots -- the ones where the tooth has been missing for 35 years -- doesn't have enough bone left for an implant.  We discussed some of the options -- trying to build the bone back up with a graft and what not, but he thinks doing an implant on either side and bridging the gap between would be the best bet.  He referred me to an oral surgeon who does a lot of implants.  I still have to call and make an appointment with her.

Yeah, you know me and phones.

It'll be October before I can get up there anyway, so I'll procrastinate until the last minute -- as usual.  BTW, he did not extract the root of my broken tooth, and I'm thinking he did it so the bone won't start deteriorating, since we're going to do implants. 

That was yesterday. 

This morning, the plan was to get up and go into town to do my business.  You know, shopping, payday errands and the like.  However, once I'd made the turn to get onto the access ramp to the highway, I discovered they had the whole road blocked.  No way to get onto the southbound lane, and no way to turn around and go back.  Well, no legal way at least. 

Gee, you could have let me know sometime before I got to the point of no return.

Not a big problem.  I'd just get on the Northbound side of the highway and get off at the Coffeeville exit.  Just a couple of miles up the road, and I needed to get gas anyway.  Alas, when I got up there, they had that exit closed as well.  I tried to get off, and the workers just kept waving me northward.  I had to go all the way to Tillatoba (ten miles further up, for you non local folks) to even find a place I could turn around.  I briefly considered going on up to Batesville, but I didn't really want to go that far today.

I turned around at Tillatoba, and got back onto the highway.  I got off at the Coffeeville exit on the Southbound side and thought, "While I'm here, might as well get gas."  That's exactly what I did. 

Once I'd finally made it into town, I ran my errands, then went on a bit of a spending spree.  See, the squirrels have found my bird feeders, and are emptying them out every day or two.  I figured, if you can't beat them, get them their own food.

Yes, I bought a squirrel feeder.

I hung it on the pecan tree just behind the fence, and filled it with loose corn, but so far, I haven't seen any squirrels feeding from it. 

I looked for some squirrel food -- which is just corn with peanuts and some other stuff added to it, but they were out, so I filled it with deer corn.  Hopefully, the squirrels will eat that, until I can get them some peanuts or something.  To complete the transition, I also bought what is supposed to be a squirrel proof bird feeder.

If anything heaver than a cardinal lands on those perches, the ports close and the squirrels can't get to the feed.  Eventually, they give up trying.  We shall see.

What got to me about it, though, were the instructions.  They said to hang the feeder away from trees or buildings, or anything a squirrel could jump onto it from, and to add a squirrel baffle.  What's the point of a "squirrel proof feeder" if you've got to do all that other stuff to keep them out?  I could have just bought the baffle and saved myself $20.  I hung my feeder on the hook under the eaves of my shed -- and moved the one that was there to a hook just outside my kitchen window.  Maybe I can watch birds while I'm washing dishes or whatever.

Speaking of, I was washing dishes, and saw one of my deer come out of the woods.  I've been seeing one of my big does these last few days.  I know she's got a fawn somewhere, because her bag is full.  I haven't seen the baby yet, though.  Buuuut, this deer wasn't her.  It was a little buck!  I think he is one of the fawns from last year.  He has antlers in velvet, and isn't a spike!  Yay! 

We are still under a supplemental feeding ban in my county, due to Chronic Wasting Disease, so I miss seeing my deer every day.  BTW, I tried to put the squirrel feeder high enough the deer couldn't reach it easily, but if some corn should just happen to spill on the ground, well, it'd be fair game,  wouldn't it?

The last things I bought on my spending spree were a book,

and some emergency blankets and panchos for my bug out bag.

They weren't but a couple of dollars each, so I grabbed extras, just in case. 

Now, if work really is starting to slow down for the fall, I'd probably better stop spending so much money. 

Got Christmas coming up and all. 

Birds!!!

I was sitting there in my chair Saturday afternoon.  It had been raining off and on all day.  I wanted to do a little bit of work outside, so I got up to check and see if it were still raining.  Much to my surprise, I found a pair of indigo buntings in my drive way.

I managed to get a half way decent picture of them before someone drove down the road and scared them off.

 Even better, I saw one of them in my back yard Sunday morning.  I'm thinking they might be nesting somewhere in the area.  I hope so.  Indigo buntings are one of my favorite birds.

Speaking of birds, when I was planting my marigolds Thursday, I got buzzed by a hummingbird.  I quickly filled and hung my feeders, but alas, within a few hours, the ants had found them.  Drat.  I did a bit of research online and found several suggestions on how to deal with them.  Some of them were to smear Vaseline on the hanger, or wrap the feeder with duct tape, sticky side out.  I was afraid these might be harmful to hummingbirds, so I decided the best way to deal with them was to add an ant moat to my feeder.  Instead of ordering one online and waiting for it to arrive, I MacGuyvered my own from the bottom of a water bottle.

I cut off the last few inches, smoothed the edges with a hot iron, and put some caulking around the hanger to seal it.  When the caulk sets, I'll fill the moat with water and hang it.  The ants crawl down the wire and drown in the moat, leaving the nectar pure for the birds.

I'm still working on getting all the plants I bought planted.  I finally got most of my impatiens into these window boxes.  I have two like this

and this smaller one.

I put a fresh coat of paint on the baker's rack Beverly gave me, but because it has rained so much, I wanted to give it an extra day to dry before I put it out.  Probably not necessary, but what would it hurt?

I still have a few impatiens I need to plant, but I've run out of planters.

I'm going to try to come up with something unconventional.  My next door neighbor had planted some plants in old boots, and it was really cute.  I want to come up with something like that.  It makes me wish I hadn't thrown out my old work boots.

Finally, if you've been reading my blog, you'll know I've been waiting with baited breath for my roses to start blooming.  I'd said they were going to explode with color when they finally opened.  Well, guess what greeted me when I got home from work today?

Yep, and absolute explosion of color.

That's not even half the buds opened.

The good news is, I found that they bloom on new growth, so this fall, I can really cut them back and clean them up.  If I get some of the thicker clumps thinned out, they ought to really bloom well next year.

Now, I need to get the gardenias planted, and that's all I'm going to do for this year.  Well, except for mulching everything, that is.

Such An Idiot

I felt like such an idiot Thursday.  One of the things I'd wanted to do on my day off was to order a new pair of safety glasses for work.

The plant has some sort of arrangement with one of the eye doctors in town, so we have to go to him to get our safety glasses.  He's not my regular doctor, and this is something fairly new.  Used to be, we got a form from HR and took it to our regular doctor, but now we have to go to this guy.

Anyway, Thursday, I was going to go order some new safety glasses.  I must have told myself 540 times before I left the house, "Don't forget to go by and get a copy of your prescription."  Well, guess what I did?

I know those people were laughing at me after I left.  But in the end, I got a copy of my prescription (even though I had to wait until the lady got back from lunch) and got my new glasses.  It'll take nearly a month for them to come in, but I will get them eventually. 

The good news is, the blackbirds seem to have moved on for the most part, and the finches are back!  I even saw a beautiful indigo bunting, but I only had my phone with me at the time, so I didn't get a good picture of it. 

You'll have to settle for this stock photo from the internet.  

For now, that is. 

I Give Up

But before I give up, first the good news. I'm a grandma!

Of sorts. My little birdie eggs hatched!

I know it's not the best of photos, but it had just finished raining, and I didn't want to keep the mama away from them for very long. So I just snapped a quickie and left them alone. Maybe on a warmer day, I can get a better one.

Well, as I expected, the seeds I planted a few weeks ago are all dying.  The Cosmos are all gone.  The Zinnias and Petunias are dropping like flies.  The Four O'Clocks are still hanging in there, but even some of them have died.  So, I gave up and bought some perennials.  

This pack has 12 plants in it. Eight blazing star, two purple coneflowers, and two Goldsturm coneflowers.  They are perennials, though.  Probably Saturday after work, I'll borrow James' tiller and cut up a bed for them and whatever seedlings survive.

I've also got three big pots that I'm going to buy some potting soil for and just buy some annuals to put in them. 

Parting shot:  How to tell when Jake has been visiting.

He brings every toy in the house wanting me to throw it for him.