Roar

I didn't think anything could choke out these babies, but it looks as if my tiger lilies may be taking a back burner compared to my western salsify. I will need to get a handle on this situation before it gets out of control.

I am trying to stick with the orange flowers in the front yard. So far, so good.

I may have killed my mower last evening. I was finishing up and I have a tree in the front by my sidewalk with many roots and bumps. I lowered my mower at the beginning of this year (if you remember my daughter's old boyfriend mowed last year and come to find out he had the blade up very high). Well, I hit a stump and the mower choked and died. Smoke began pouring out of the engine and I stopped. I had enough anyway. I was whipped. Since the blade is lower I have been using the bagger and I had filled four huge leaf and lawn bags full of clippings. I used the biodegradable ones this time. They tear and don't seem to hold as much but I feel better knowing that I am not putting 55 gallon 1.3 ml plastic bags into the landfill. And for some stupid reason my bagger decided to keep falling off the mower near the end of my job. I guess it had enough, too.

If you've mown with a bagger in the back of your mower and it falls off, you know that you get a face full of grass dust. I was a mess by the end of the evening. I don't think I have allergies but I was a mess with runny nose, itchy eyes and coughing. I think it is a normal reaction to all the grass clippings and dust.

I already wear big race car type headphones and a wet cloth on my head, leather gloves along with yellow safety glasses. If I start wearing a mask over my nose and mouth my neighbors are just going to call the funny farm on me, I swear! Not a one of them wear safety glasses, or head phones. Not a one! Not even the older lady across the street who mows with an electric mower. I feel like such a wuss.

My daughter landed a job as a cashier in a local grocery store here in town. They call it seasonal but we have hope it will turn into something more permanent with benefits. Regardless, her self esteem with be boosted and she will feel so much better. And, it's my favorite grocery store.

Dressage

No, I know that (dressage) isn't the correct term for this class of horse show, I was referring to the gentleman at the lead. He was quite the looker, most of the others were dressed in Western flash, you know rhinestones and neon silk shirts. If I remember correctly, this duo (trio?) pulled a second place in this event.

The fair (and it's greasy food) is a distant memory. I am catching up on my sleep (one night I think I slept nine hours - almost a record for me). My feet are still hurting. As soon as I get paid this Friday I am off to buy new shoes for work, play and walking. They have to tie on the top is what the doctor says. Wear a shoe that does not let the foot separate from the shoe bottom when you walk (flip flops are horrible!). I despise flip flops. In a couple of weeks I will take my new shoes and have the doctor slip the insert into them and cut it to fit my shoe I will wear the most. I guess that would be my work shoe.

After that is taken care of I have a few more medical procedures. I am hoping that the main one does not require a hospital stay. It is just minor and will hopefully make my life easier. I keep telling folks by Halloween I should be feeling much better. Maybe I'll even be able to do more yard work by then. I hated letting that go this summer. When I have the pups outside, I'll pull weeds and trim some around my Hosta. My moon flowers are doing so well in front of the patio, I am going to keep the big set of them there and let them take over as much as they want. The smell in the air at night is heavenly. It covers up what the pups are doing. Ha Ha!

The pups had their second set of boosters yesterday. They are 8 and 8.5 lbs, now. (When we first took them in mid-July they were 2.25 and 2.50 lbs). They are getting taller, leaner and can run like little rockets. We may have over-watered them.

Work is going well. Schools are starting back up and techs are anxious to get their networks started out on the right foot. The filter is a big part of that and I am busy making up "how to" documentation. I really enjoy doing that. Step by step instructions with pictures.

I talked to an old friend this evening. I've not seen her since the spring. She has 14 cats, only 2 inside. She thinks some dog is getting the baby kittens. I could not let that happen. For starters I'd be getting a slew of them fixed. The ones I couldn't get fixed, I'd be taking to a shelter. But, she was raised different out in the country.

Her grandson started 4th grade today and she had to tell me all about it. Her older granddaughter is out west and is in dire straits. Seems she is pregnant with her boyfriend's baby. He happens to be married and is staying with his wife. She (my friend's granddaughter) was staying with his sisters, but they kicked her out. Now she is staying with one of her boyfriend's buddies. Yikes. My friend is so angry and upset with her. She won't listen to reason.

On the movie front, we watched "Identity" last week. It was a thriller. Remember "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie? Or it's other name "Ten Little Indians"? It kind of reminds you of that story. It has John Cusak so it was great in my book.

Jumping Bear

My brother's house and all but 2 of his dogs. I think. The Yorkies start to blur together and I think they have four. Maybe five. Anyway the little chihuahua in there is the "teacup" one they got a couple of years ago. She runs back and forth with Bear (the outside larger dog in the caged run) and they both get their exercise. The Yorkies have sensitive legs and backs and though they run down to say "hello" to Bear, they don't run back and forth along the run with him the way the little chihuahua does.

I like to think they are saying "Hello". It could be something more sinister like, "You're ugly and your mama wears sled dog booties!"

My visit to my brother's house paid off. I got two zucchini, two cucumbers, one yellow squash and five tomatoes. We did not take Sable with us on this trip. I couldn't do that to my brother's dogs or to Sable.

I have not put up my beetle trap yet. I may not. My brother and his wife empty theirs three times a day. They have it in the front yard hanging under a tree yards away from their back yard flowers and plants. They get thousands of beetles in that trap. I should have taken a picture of it. It was half full when I was there. Their roses, hibiscus, beans and cherry trees are still getting eaten alive by the pests. Sigh. It is just that kind of year. Mine are not as bad. My hostas have taken the brunt of it and that may be something entirely different.

We went to see Hancock the other night. I have to say that I was disturbed. Maybe that isn't the word. Uncomfortable. The first part of the movie was fine. Then it changed and I was thinking to myself "No. I do not like the turn (or twist) this movie is going." After I read a few remarks and comments on the movie, a lot of other folk feel the same way. I have questions about the ending also. How will things be in forty years? I don't want to spoil it here. I liked all the characters and even though there may have only been one possible ending, it left a lot of questions.

After reading the summary by Wikipedia it clears up a little bit of what I had missed during the movie. It bothers me though that the mortals in this case will age and she won't. How do they deal with that in 10, 20 and 30 years?

I do like the super hero part. And how they changed him from an S.O.B. to a comical and reluctant super hero. I also like the humorous acting I am seeing from Jason Bateman in various movies I have seen. Charlize looked good in some parts, haggard and drained in other parts.

My daughter and I thought it was just a little too crass to show the prison scene and how Hancock deals with a couple of bully inmates. We got the picture before they showed the result. I did not think there was any call for the continuation of the scene. It reminded me a bit of Bruce Almighty with the monkey scene.

Heat drains me

A picture of the beautiful lake where I spent last evening. It was still over 80 degrees Fahrenheit when I arrived at the party. Yet, they felt the need to start a fire. Ugh. I moved my chair back as far as I could while still being a part of the group. Across the lake the pavilion had a band playing. They played a mix of Jimmy Buffet, Elvis, Alabama with a bit of The Electric Slide and The Macarena entwined into the evening.

My daughter went to a graduation party. It was way out in the country. I picked her up at a little bit after midnight. She wanted to stay all night. That would be 5 boys staying and 2 girls. I nixed it. She was a bit upset, but since she is 17, Mama still has the power.

I have about a half a dozen gnomes to add to my collection. My plants need all the help I can dig up. And, my collection of cosmetic bags has tripled. It is a strange collection. Some folks have a thing for shoes, some penguins, some folks like to collect dolls. Me? Cosmetic bags and totes. Who knew?

My daughter went with friends to see "You Don't Mess with the Zohan." Me? I'll pass on Sandler. I don't recall liking any of his movies all that much. Not enough to spend money on.

And this billionaire is reminding me of the book I just read about Charlie Wilson. Corruption.

My air conditioner can barely keep up with the heat. It is draining. A "do nothing" day. I worked out in it yesterday and Friday. My arm will barely move because of all the weed eating. I don't normally do that. Growing up I mowed the grass, but didn't have much experience with weed eaters and trimmers. I have a slight fear of them. I tackled the weed eating yesterday. Things were messy around the sidewalks and now they are nice and trim. But my arm is paying for it. And the humidity. Yowza. I'll try to tackle my fear of the electric trimmer next week. I bought the tools but I have never used them. My sister ran the weed eater for me before and a friend did, but nobody has used the trimmers. I use safety glasses, but I wore short pants. My ankles were stung quite a bit to say the least. I also broke down and purchased a pair of Crocs. I've seen folks wearing them and had no idea how comfortable they really are.

Green Beans straight from the garden

"Well, somebodies garden." That's what my Mom used to say. She had a garden for years. If she was serving something and it wasn't from our garden or years after we stopped having a garden that is what she would say. Somebodies garden.

The photo above is from my grocery store. I thought I would try to take some produce pictures. One blog that I visit has a theme every Thursday. He says "Because Thursday is grocery night." I asked him if he takes the pictures in the grocery store. He said that he does, but he does it without anyone who works there seeing. Well, today I did 3 pictures. Bananas, peaches and green beans. And, I would like to know how in the heck he manages it. First thing I did was turn the flash off. And, I was still nervous. Oh, well. So here you have the green beans. I don't think I'll be doing any more. I'm not cut out for the sneaky stuff.

And, are people so organized that they actually DO go to the grocery store on a set day every week? Ack! When I leave for work I ask myself the following questions: 1. Do I have enough energy to go grocery shopping? 2. Do I have enough money to go grocery shopping? 3. Do I have appointments, errands or visits tonight? and 4. Am I hungry? Cause if I'm hungry, I am NOT going grocery shopping. Big mistake! Actually, I envy folks who are that organized. I barely know what day it is.

I wrote the "Me and FTP" tale that I spoke of a few days back. It is L.O.N.G.! Now, I have to write about the Todd the Technician episode. My speed seems to be back to normal. My download tests are averaging about 3000kbps and upload of 700kbps. Oh, well.

I still haven't brought the pictues of the mud at the construction sites off my work computer to home, yet. I was showing some folks today. What a mess. My manager told me not to go out there again until next week. And only if I have to go. I am hoping I can do everything remotely now that I have access to my equipment via telnet.

My nephew's house warming party is Saturday. It is about 2 hours away. My daughter starts school tomorrow. Hey, why isn't she in bed? Gotta go!

Clearly More!

Bonus Packs

I buy 'em. Every year, I buy 'em. Do I plant them? Not always. Sometimes I forget about them, sometimes I plant them too late and they make an effort to grow. I love orange flowers. I used to grow the huge red tulips. Now, I think I will get the orange ones. I thought I ordered orange ones from some nice ladies that sold flowers door to door. But, you can't tell from the bulb. They came up bright yellow. My house is dark, dark gray. Not a color I would have chosen, but the house suits me inside.

My Mom had one of the most beautiful flower gardens in 1975. When I was fifteen. She was out there everyday weeding it with great care. She always had plants in the house. I go through phases. When my daughter was born, I received a dozen beautiful green plants. I lived in a great big farm house with a huge east-facing window. The plants flourished. When my daughter was five I moved to a small cave-like apartment and all the plants died. One by one. I need to get some more and start over now that I am in a sunny house again.

When I was young, my Mom planted about twenty different trees on our property. She and my oldest brother did. I remember a Chinese elm, Russian olive (it never produced olives that I saw), good ole' Ohio buckeye, blue spruce, weeping willow, and a Catawba (Indian cigar) tree. We had two huge sugar maples in our front yard. One was struck by lightning and died. The last time I was visiting the old house you could see where there was the beginning of a new maple tree there. The old tree died back in the late 70's I think. Before we moved there in 1966 there were other trees there such as hemlocks, locust, apple, pear, pines, and an old cherry tree.

Of the bushes I can remember forsythia, lilac, roses, trumpet vine, and a honeysuckle vine. There was another bush by our back porch that the humming birds loved. It has soft pink and white blooms on it. I'll think of the name sooner or later. One year (I think it was '75 also) my Mom had the most beautiful red rose bushes on white trellises. I think that is the plural form of trellis. I'll have to dig through the old family album and scan those pictures in. Deep red roses. She also was fond of wine colored Irises. There's another one - plural of Iris? Patriot hostas.

Around our house when we first moved there were some green loose-leaf bushes. They had tiny white flowers that would bloom in the summer and when you shook them the flower pedals would fall off like tiny little white dots. Hundred of them. I used to pretend that it was snowing when I shook them. I can't find that bush on the web, either. (It was not the snowball bush! Way too big.) Not the asters, these didn't have yellow in the middle. Not snowsprite, trillium, azalea or white moth. The border bushes grew about four feet to six feet tall, had very dark green leaves that were tiny and not shiny. They were not a full bush, but that was probably because we never trimmed them.

Hah! I found the other one! I 'googled' plants that attract hummingbirds and found it on the second hit. Weigela bush. That bush was outside of our back porch and the bees and birds loved it. I love honeysuckle but I despise trumpet vines. Big black ants love trumpet vines. Our trumpet vine would find a way into our kitchen window at the back of the house. We are talking twenty feet up off the ground. It grew between the wooden slats of the window and bloomed inside the kitchen this one year. I think we have a picture of it somewhere. But, I hated them because of the big black ants. And they are hard to manage. Once they take hold, they take over.

I have not checked my hydrangea, yet. I am afraid to.