What A Week!

It’s been a busy week.  We have had frost yesterday morning and a freeze this morning.  It is supposed to rain Friday night and Saturday.  I am not surprised about Saturday.  It seems it always rains on St. Patrick’s Day.  Our church which is St. Patrick’s Church is going to have a special Mass on Saturday.  We have a temporary priest because Father Jose is in Philadelphia in a hospital.  That is all we know.  No one has even told us what is wrong with him.  However, our temporary priest, Father Sherwin, has been doing a few things differently.  I really like him.  He is the one who agreed to the Stations of the Cross for Seniors.  It is held every Friday afternoon at 3:00.  I am thoroughly enjoying it.  It has much more meaning to me, and the other seniors agree.

I have been watering the magnolia tree and the new tulip poplar trees every other day.  They all seem to be doing just fine.  The Franklin trees that I started in containers last year seem to have survived the winter and are getting new growth.  I am really excited about that because we were told they were very hard to grow and probably wouldn’t survive.  It is still a touch and go situation, but there is hope.

Kevin and Renea’s new puppy, Shelby, is growing so fast.  Copper and her get along just fine.  They run all over the backyard.  In fact, Kevin moved his fence, with a little help from some friends, to make the backyard bigger.  The first time Copper came outside after the fence was moved, he ran up to the spot where the old fence was and stopped.  He looked around as if to say, what happened.  He didn’t stay there long.  As for Lola, she is just an old lady who doesn’t want to be bothered with a puppy.  Of course, Shelby still hasn’t learned that she needs to leave Lola alone.  Shelby has learned to sit.  She is especially good at this when she gets a treat and Copper is also sitting. 

I have stopped working on my genealogy for now.  I have kind of hit a road block so I decided to take a break.  I am back to working on my embroidery and plastic canvas.  I am also learning counted cross stitch.  A lot of ladies told me that it was hard and they wouldn’t touch it.  So, I watched a video on you tube, and decided that if I can do plastic canvas I can do counted cross stitch.  I’ll let you know how that turns out.  I bought a couple of easy projects, bookmarks and cards.  We will see how it goes.

I sure hope we get some rain soon.  We are still in a drought and I have been watering the new and transplanted trees.  If it doesn’t rain soon, I will have to get my mower, attach the cart and fill the sprinkling cans and start watering everything the hoses can’t reach.  I tried to get enough hoses to reach everything, but the hoses were then too heavy for me.  I sure hate getting old and not being able to do everything I want.  I am learning to adjust.

Just a quick update.  I have been sick the past week.  It seems I had the flu.  I am finally feeling better.  I have done absolutely nothing.  It’s been a rough week for Renea and Kevin also.  Renea’s dad died and they had the funeral and burial here in Alabama.  Her brother Mark and his wife came down along with a couple of other family members.  I felt really bad because I was so sick I couldn’t do anything to help them.

However, the past two days I have been packing.  Kevin is taking me to Cincinnati to stay with Jana.  We leave tomorrow morning.  She has to have surgery on both her eyes.  Both eyes have cataracts and one eye has a hole in the retina.  Recovery from the retina surgery will be quite lengthy and she will not be able to drive.  Not sure how long I will be there. 

The Frost/Freeze Has Arrived

Good Morning!  It’s a beautiful day in Alabama.  I have finished my morning chores, and now I am going to work outside for a while.  First on my agenda is mowing grass; at least two “sections.”  I finished picking up the twigs and branches that had blown down in two areas, so I thought I would mow the grass there.  I have even weeded around the trees and bushes in those areas.  Kevin got my mower charged and gassed yesterday so it is time to get started. 

So much for mowing the grass.  The mower wouldn’t start.  Kevin checked it, and I need a new battery.  So, I picked up a few more branches.

I have started embroidering the other hand towel to complete the set.  I finished the first genealogy class that I started.  I am keeping it open because I have been referring back to it while putting into practice what I have learned.  I have started the second class I am taking.  It is not what I expected, but I will hang in there.  I am hoping to get something out of it. 

It started raining early this morning (before I got out of bed) and it has been continuing.  It is a cool, wet and gloomy day.  We need the rain, so I am not complaining.  Since I can’t get outside I have been busy doing laundry and a few other chores inside.  I did hear on the news that we are supposed to have a frost/freeze the next two mornings.  I am sad about that because of all the plants, trees, etc. that are starting to show signs of life.  And, let’s face it, we can’t cover everything.  Just maybe we will get lucky and they will be wrong, but I doubt it.

Today is Saturday.  We have had a frost/freeze the past two mornings.  The temperature was down in the twenties.  This morning was thirty-two.  I just finished watering the three tulip poplar trees.  There are leaf buds on them, and I think they are okay.  We will find out in a few days.  I will water the magnolia tree after Kevin finishes mowing the front grass.  He decided to mow his front yard and my front yard this morning.

I have checked some of my other trees and bushes.  Some have dead leaves and the flowers that were blooming have died.  However, I have a few bushes that the leaves are still green.  Not sure about the Franklin trees.  It’s hard to tell with them because they are late to leaf. 

We are supposed to have storms late tonight and tomorrow morning.  Then by mid-week it is supposed to go down in the twenties and low thirties again.  If the first freeze didn’t get the plants and trees, the second one will.

I finished both genealogy classes.  As I said earlier the first one was well worth the time and money.  I learned a lot and have been putting it into practice.  However, the second one was a waste of time as far as I am concerned.  I don’t feel like I really learned anything that will help me.  I will just keep looking for those German ancestors on my own.  Maybe I will get lucky and find someone.

Okay, I am back.  I have finished all my indoor/morning chores, eaten lunch, and watered the magnolia tree. 

Jana and I have been doing DOT-TO-D0T books.  The one I am working on now has some interesting quotes/sayings at the bottom of the page.  I am going to use some of them to end my blogs starting today.  Not sure how many I will do, but there are a few.

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand.  They are moments when we touch one another.  Jack Kornfield

Must Hope for No Frost or Freeze

Good Morning!  The a/c is now off.  In fact, I turned the heat on this morning to take the chill off.  We have had an inch of rain over Sunday and Monday.  I know that isn’t near what a lot of others have had.  Jana told me, and I have seen pictures on Facebook, that the Ohio River and the Miami Rivers are both well above flood stage.  I was just happy we received the amount of rain we did because it was good for the grass, trees, etc.  Now, we just have to hope we don’t get a freeze.  I have been checking the plants, trees, etc. and a lot of them have new growth. 

I am in the process of taking a genealogy class. I use the Family Tree Maker Program to record notes and information I find on Ancestry and other web programs.  I am taking a class to learn more of the features about FTM.  I have only taken two of the classes so far and have learned quite a bit.  Glad I am taking it.

I have also signed up for another one.  The next one is how to find your German ancestors.  I have subscribed to Ancestry World since I found out that Google has a translation program so I thought this would be a good time to try and find some German ancestors.  I also downloaded a translation program that Brian told me about.  I am hoping that between the two of them I can figure something out!

The purple martins have started to arrive.  They are busy building their nests in the apartment.  I have also noticed bluebirds, cardinals, sparrows, mourning doves, and many others.  I guess spring is on the way.  Yea!!!!  I will probably hang my hummingbird feeders in the next week or so.

Good Morning!  It’s sunny but a little on the cool side and rather windy.  Apparently, we were in the donut hole yesterday because we did not get any of the predicted rain.  We just had a LOT of wind.  This morning I picked up twigs and branches that were in my driveway and added them to the pile.  I have a lot more to pick up.  Since we didn’t get the rain, I watered all the new trees. All three tulip poplar are starting to get leaves.  Yea! 

I also watered the magnolia that the guys transplanted for me.  So far, so good.

I also fed the birds this morning.  They have been very busy and noisy.

The rhododendron looks great.  Lots of flowers. 

The forsythia “twigs” that I hope will grow into bushes also have green leaves.

The weeping cherry tree is starting to get little sprouts.  It never blooms like it should.  It gets a flower every now and then. 

However, the Bradford pear has just blossomed out beautifully.

The Rose-of-Sharon bush in the front of my deck is also looking good.

I also finished embroidering one of the hand towels of the set I am working on.  Turned out pretty good.  I really like to embroider.  I feel like I am creating a picture.  Weird, right? 

I have finished my first genealogy class, and I learned a lot! Now I have a lot to do.  Next Monday the new one starts.  I hope it is as productive as this last one.  

Now, as I said in my title we just have to hope we don't have a frost or a freeze.  Sad to say, that is very possible.