Making Progress

OOPS!  I named this blog the same as the last one.  A senior moment perhaps?  Or just a DUH! 

This week when it was grass cutting time, I got on the riding mower and headed out into the front yards.  I finished my front and side yards and then started on Kevin/Renea’s.  Didn’t get very far when I heard several clunks and smelled something “hot.”  Seems I threw a belt.  That took care of the grass cutting for that day.  Anthony finished up with the riding mower I don’t know how to use – yet. 

Made one more trip to Lowe’s to get the rest of my rocks.  ONE JOB IS FINISHED – sort of.  All the rocks are down, and, I must say, it looks good.  Now I just have to finished edging and getting rid of some grass that has started growing. 

My plants are doing great.  The Gerbera Daisy is blooming again.  I was getting a little concerned about that one.  Plenty of leaves, but no blooms.  The petunias are doing beautifully.  The geraniums are blooming and healthy.  And, I have a lot of buds on the Rhododendron.  I’m really looking forward to them blooming.  Waiting for the Encore Azaleas to bloom for their second time.  I still don’t see any buds, but I’m watching.  The information says in the summer, so I’m not sure exactly when that will be.  The Lantanas are beautiful.  The original two that I planted have been blooming constantly.  They are part of a group called Butterfly Bushes and I can see why. 

I have a lot of butterflies coming to them.  The two Lantanas that Renea gave me (they weren’t doing too good in her pots) are surviving.  I was worried about them for a while, but it looks like they are going to make it.  I am going to have to quietly sit outside with my camera and try to get some pictures of the butterflies. 

Now, I have to decide what I want to do where the Azaleas and Lantanas are to control the grass and weeds.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

NOTE:  The Dawn Redwood is looking great!

I have a lot of birds coming to my feeders.  I love it!  I finally put the hummingbird feeders out.  I put a small one in each of the two Bradford Pear trees.  I haven’t seen any hummingbirds yet, but I keep watching.  It may take them a while to find the feeders.  There are also a lot of birds nesting in the purple martin house. 

The kittens are doing great.  They are starting to play, climb and walk all over the place.  One little black one with white paws greets me whenever I come to feed them.  I have started putting out some kitten food for them, but not sure they are eating it or Cleopatra is eating it.  I hope she is starting to teach them.  I know they check it out.  They turned four weeks old this week.  Still haven’t decided if I am going to take one of them.  I know a couple of you suggested the brown kitten, and that’s the one Renea and Stephanie think I should take.  But it’s the little black and white one that keeps “greeting” me.  Also there are two really small ones that are all black that are friendly.  The brown one usually ignores me.

Probably won’t get much done outside today.  It’s too hot.  Maybe I’ll just take a break, kick back and read for a while.  Sounds good.

Making Progress

The spring cleaning is finished.  It’s a good thing I have a small house.  The laundry is also caught up, until next week.  I seem to go thru an awful lot of clothes for just one person. 

 

We had about 2 ½ inches of rain, so my deck hasn’t been done.  We are waiting for a couple of dry days.  All the days we had with no rain, and now that I decided to stain the deck it rains just enough every other day to keep Anthony from doing the work.

 

I found the bells for CRAP JEOPARDY.  Actually they are not bells.  I found something better.  As for the SCAVENGER HUNT, I haven’t made any progress.

 

Still feeding the birds – hungry little fellows.  I have also noticed a lot of activity at the purple martin house.  Looks like there are a few nests in there.  That’s good because we want them to eat the bugs.

 

I cut all the front grass; both mine and Kevin/Renea’s.  Renea cut all of the back grass.  Of course, now that it rained and the sun has shown for a couple of hours I can watch the grass grow.  I’m thinking that by Saturday it will be time to cut it again.

 

I have about half of the area in front completed with the rocks.  Hopefully, I will be able to finish the other half this week.  I think it’s really looking good.  I trimmed all the dead stuff off the hydrangea in the section I finished and it’s looking good also. 

The kittens are growing rapidly.  They are so cute.  Took a few pictures of them yesterday along with their mama, Cleopatra.  Renea and Stephanie are still trying to talk me into keeping one.  We’ll see.

I have ordered the business cards for BKM Wood Products LLC, and some pens to pass out.  Kevin and I have reserved a double table at the Ladonia Flea Market on Hwy 80 so we can participate in the World’s Widest Yard Sale.  This is the first year for the WWYS.  We decided to give it a try. Renea and I will be manning the booth.  Kevin is now busy making some items for us to sell.  By the way, our website is up and running.  Still needs work and tweaking.  Also, our email address links are not working.  Not sure why.  Still working on that.  Anyway, if you want to take a look at the site the address is http://bkmwoodproducts.com.  Original, right?

 

I’m not going to tell you what all I have to do yet.  Seems I made Ginger tired just reading my blog. You can rest now Ginger.  I also want to thank all of you for your comments and emails.  I do read them, and I enjoy hearing from all of you.  I’m just not too good about answering them.

I DID IT AGAIN!

I am so far behind I know I am first! 
 

I just keep taking on more projects before I finish any of the others I started.  First, there are the kittens.  They are so cute.  Every morning and evening I go over to the shed to feed Cleopatra and check on the kittens.  I also make sure she has clean water and I clean her litter box.  Of course, I have to visit for a while to say hello and keep them company.

 

Of course, I have a lot of hungry birds coming to the feeder so I fill those every day.  I also need to decide where to put the hummingbird feeder.  I know the hummingbirds are around because one tried to eat from a decorative red ball I have hanging out by my deck.

 

I have finally finished the CRAP JEOPARDY except for the bells and a large piece of cardboard.  I have set up the teams with the people I know are going to be here.  I split them up so “families” are not together.  The team captains are Bob, Renea and Tracy. 

 

I am still working on the FIRST ANNUAL JIM AKER SCAVANGER HUNT.  I have most of my items together and the list each team will be given.  Not that it makes any difference.  If it works like it did on Boomer Road everyone will help everyone else.  That’s okay.  They just won’t know the secret as to which item will win the prize.  Anyway, I still have quite a bit of work to do on that.

 

I still have not decided on who I will hire to put up my gutters and downspouts.  I have only received one bid and I thought it was rather expensive.  Going to get a few more bids.

 

My deck needs a coat of stain and waterproofing.  I have decided to hire Anthony to do that.  He said he would.  Now we just need a few days of no rain.  Since we decided to do this, we have had a rain shower every day.  Rain is also predicted for the next few days.

 

The grass needs cutting, but that will have to wait a few days. 

 

I still need to spring clean my house. 

 

I have been working on the website for BKM Wood Products LLC business.  It’s just about ready to upload to the internet.  I have the domain name and have set up our email addresses.  I am also getting ready to order our business cards.  We have decided to make up some fliers.  That’s also on my list (which just keeps getting longer).

 

And, I just couldn’t wait.  I had to go and buy some rocks for my one area in the front and side of my deck.  I bought white rocks.  They are looking really good.  However, I didn’t buy enough so it’s back to Lowe’s I will be going. 

 

I also bought two geraniums.  I think I will leave them in the pots and just set them in among the rocks.  I am getting new growth on my hydrangeas.  I’m watching my encore azaleas.  They should be starting to get buds on them for their next bloom cycle. 

 

Okay.  Break is over.  Time to head over to Kevin’s for supper. 

A LITTLE RAIN

We finally had a rain shower.  Just enough yesterday so that I didn’t have to water any plants or trees.

 

The kittens are doing fine.  However, we had to move Cleopatra and her kittens into the shed and lock the door.  Cleopatra is in heat and we don’t need any more kittens.  None of us knew that she could go into heat so soon after having kittens and nursing.  We found out after researching on the internet that within a week after having kittens a female cat can go into heat again.  Roscoe and Lola are pretty much camped out under the shed.  Renea did get a couple of pictures of the kittens.  They are starting to open their eyes so I guess they will be moving around more soon.

Kevin had bought a bunch of stones to put around his flagpole.  Since he had a lot of them left I confiscated them and made a border across the one area of my plants, the area with the hydrangeas.  Now I am filling in the area with white rocks.  I am sure it will look good when finished, but right now it is a mess.  I need more rocks!

In between I’ve been doing the usual, grocery, bank, laundry, cleaning, etc., etc., etc.  Oh yeah, and cutting grass.  That is a never ending project. 

Time to head outside.  Going to finish cutting grass in the one area where I use the hand mower, and finish spreading a few rocks.  Also have to go to the grocery.  Just keeping busy.