many years ago when I was married to #1 a couple of things happened that will prepare you for "real" story,I once asked my bride to sew a hole I had in my pocket an she agreed an the next time I checked my pants she had sewed the whole pocket shut,another memorable time I was sitting on the front steps one fall evening smelling the leaves burning that I had placed in a big barrel as our township didn't allow open burning,I enjoyed the smell of burning leaves an just as the smoke began drifting my way the wind changed an the smoke went south,when fair wife heard me complain she told me to "turn the barrel around"now I've only told these stories to prepare you for the escapades of daugther #2,back in the late 80s we bought a home on a lake in northern Michigan that had a wonderful view but a very steep front yard going down to the lake,one warm spring weekend #2 came to spend a few days an the first thing she did was change into a bathing suit an grab a bottle of beer an start exploring our new home,after checking the inside she began inspecting the grounds an I should tell you we always have had a black lab running our homes an this new place was no exception an the lab treated the front yard as her own personal latrine ,since it was early spring the hill was full of bombs that I hadn't cleaned up yet,#2 walks around the front yard an before I could say anything she was on her way down the hill at breakneck speed,I was proud of her as she passed me on the steps ,she was in the classic downhill skiers position,knees bend,holding her beer as if it were the most precious possesion she ever had her hands on,she had stepped on a "bomb" barefoot an it supplied enough slippery substance that when she hit the next one it just added to her speed,I was thinking at that time that she might hit the seawall an like a downhill skier on the 50 meter hill catapult over the wall an clear the pontoon tied to the dock,but alas the last 20 yards of the sharp decline were too steep for even the dog to pinch off a loaf an #2 ran out of lubrication before she hit the wall,others watching claimed she did a lot of screaming an swearing but when she passed me,I couldn't say, I fell to the ground holding my stomach from laughing,to this day she still hates my dog,my four daughters gave me more precious memories than bad ones,what a blessing they were an continue to be
Nothing worse than stepping in something "yucky" when your barefooted. I can just picture your daughter going down the hill. Yeah, I would have been laughing too.
Aw, stepping in a warm cow patty barefooted in the barnyard wasn't really that bad of a feeling when I was a kid -- sort of nice having it squish up between your toes...... But then it was nice too to be able to walk down to the pond and wade around until it was all off. We never wore shoes during the summer -- even went to school barefooted as long as the weather was still warm until fourth grade, when I was elected class president and felt like my office required more "dignity".
I wrote to you earlier but somehow my comments are now lost!! Anyway, I wanted to tell you that your description was so well written that I could picture this happening in detail and it allowed me my first belly laugh of the day. Thanks.
I needed a smile this morning. Thank you for my laughter. It was a wonderfully told tale!
GC, when I was a child, we only put shoes on to go to school and to church...to this day, as soon as I get home from work, my shoes come off. You can keep your cow patties though!!! <grin>
Mary, I'm with you. I'm always bare-footed in the house. DH is always hollering at me that I'm going to step on something. Some day he'll probably be right. I hope not.
Mary, yes indeed, I'm sitting here barefoot, and never wear shoes inside the house -- even in winter -- one of the great things about living in Florida. I had put on boat shoes (no socks) to walk Lucy earlier today near sunrise, but probably won't wear them again today unless I decide to take her for another long walk late afternoon. I don't wear them for walking out to the barn/garage for tools or whatever (unless I've just showered and am trying hard to stay clean to go out later).
bluedaze, presents on the floor are not so bad. It's when one of the kitties sleeping on the bed starts garping in the middle of the night that I resign myself to encountering something unpleasant if I roll over. (-:
folly* I guess I'm a mean mommy. When Meeko starts making those lovely sounds @4am I gently apply my foot to his darling posterior and boot him off the bed.
So funny..ol don, you have a wonderful way with words. I hope you are writing down all this stuff for your grandchildren and great grandchildren to read.
Meeko is the six year old who gets up on the counter tops and demolishes everything in sight-last night it was a wine glass. He was prolly pissed because it was empty. He has the most angelic face you will ever see. Dennis my senior would never do that. Dennis was named by his breeders because he was such an menace as a baby.
Okay, bluedaze, that's it. I'm calling Animal Protective Services. I cannot sit by and watch you abuse your cat that way. Personally, I think you're just looking for attention, making remarks like that. (o:
oh I have many more,that same daugther was sitting on the porch that weekend as we watched a boat towing another that had broken down,she asked me what was going on an I responded that one boat was having problems so the other one was helping to get it back to launch,she then asked me WHICH ONE IS IN TROUBLE? I've seen alot in my day but have yet to see a boat push another with a rope
No Chipper,her mother was polish thats why I told about her sewing my pocket shut an the smoking barrel,you've got too much time on your hands you should be out mowing that six ache ers lol
Good morning, I've been up for two hours already (DH was bright and bushy-tailed at 6 because he knew the cleaner was coming: she comes at 9). Some of you have probably not even gone to bed. Nothing like getting a head start. Since I was up anyway I decided to FINALLY tackle the freezer defrost. What a job. But so wonderful when it's done and I can find everything again, including all that stuff I had forgotten was buried in there. Hubby likes to help scrape the ice off the sides but since I wanted to do it faster today I sent him in to check out the morning news on TV. He's been watching it for more than an hour (it's repeated every 10-15 minutes but that doesn't bother him).
ol don, a planned early order of business for me after this AD journey ends is to get out in the yard and spend several weeks trying to whip these five acres back into shape -- grief therapy -- hard work is supposed to be good for the soul. With limited time available for doing yard work, I'm afraid I've let nature begin to reclaim the edges of the property with weeds and overhanging brush -- mostly non-native invasive Brazilian Peppers that are hard to get rid of -- and if I simply lop the branches, they tear at my increasingly fragile skin when I try mowing too close (at full throttle -- I always seem to mow at full throttle). What's really needed is to cut them down as close to the ground as possible, scrape away about an inch of bark all the way around the stump, and coat the bare area with Roundup vegetation killer. And then of course there are the overgrown flower beds and unkempt shrubs that need attention too -- those used to be in my master gardener DW's department, so they haven't received any attention in several years. I'd sure hate to have to start on all that in this hot weather, but it could happen -- seems like we're losing ground pretty rapidly these days.
GC, I have the same problem. The gardens were DW's domain. Now the flower gardens are overgrown with weeds, etc. The vegetable garden is gone, grown up in field grass. This never was my strong point, so I doubt I will ever get around to cleaning them up. Maybe one of the kids will do it.
Chipper since I'm a little younger than you I havn't grown as "smart" as you so this spring I bought one of those little Mantis tillers an now I rip up the yard on a whim for flower beds forgetting that the easy part is planting the flowers,with two big raspberrie patches an more flowers than you can count I'm really making a job for someone cause its about more than I can handle but since I'm confined to quarters here with LO it keeps my mind(such as it is) off the real problems,if it gets too hot down there for ya come on up north,I have two Cub Cadets,we can cut grass an sing as we go,oh ya lead but I always wanted to sing bass
old don, maybe 15 years ago my DW found that she could get a real bargain on fancy daylilies (17 cents each) by buying them in large quantities, so she bought 1700. I got busy with my Rototiller and we managed to plant 1100 of them in one large kidney shaped bed surrounding three cabbage palms down front, and the remainder in beds nearer the house. Talk about back breaking work! And, as you say, getting them planted was the "easy" part -- trying to keep the grass out was worse. A thick layer of pine bark mulch worked pretty well until we got heavy enough rains during hurricane season to float it away, and then once the grass invaded the beds it was difficult to tell which was grass and which was daylily shoots. Spectacular in bloom, but we usually left on one of our extended western RV trips about time the peak bloom started, so after several years DW finally consented to letting neighbors come in and dig up as many plants as they wanted, after which I just mowed through the remainder. Now you can hardly tell that there was ever a bed there.
That is as bad as the time I sent Art to the auction to get a buy on a few Western Red Cedar. He came home with a bag of 250 seedlings of Western Red Cedar. We planted about 60 then I traded the rest to a friend that sells only native plants for a couple honeysuckle and other plants. We have dug up some to use as a hedge for one side of my sister's property, but the rest are still growing where we planted them making a great hedge.
I love daylillies. Used to have them all along the edge of the lakeshore across our back yard. They were so pretty. Also had some snowball bushes on the sides that were taller than my head. Absolutely beautiful!!! One thing about living on the East Coast,...so many of the plants I love thrive there. It's just too miserably hot here and too dry. My water bill last month was almost $190.00. Can you imagine? We live in a MUD district and they recently raised the rates. We've always had a well in the past that we used for irrigation, but it's not allowed here. I have the the sprinklers running 5 minutes per zone at 6 am every day. There just has to be a break in the weather soon.
Our SUD (special utility district) has us on Stage III drought operations. Watering only once per week depending on ending # in address and only in the wee hours of the a.m. or late p.m. I've never fed the deer and don't plan to start but have put out water for them this year -- all the wild critters are suffering. We are all very worried about the fire danger -- everything is brittle here.