Update Re: Yard, Flowers, etc.

Don’t remember if I mentioned that I bought a new birdbath for my front yard.  I have spent the past couple of days creating a circle to place it in and then filling the circle with white rocks like I have in my rock garden.  I also bought a statue of St. Francis of Assisi to put by the birdbath.  I think it turned out looking good!

 

My hydrangeas are finally starting to grow and look pretty healthy.  As for the lantana (remember I numbered them) are starting to sprout.  Numbers three and four, which I transplanted and thought I had killed them, are doing the best.  They both have a lot of new greenery.  As for one and two, I cut them back as I was told and what I read, and they are showing small signs of life.  Hopefully, all four will survive. 

 

The pink dahlia is doing beautifully.  The yellow one is green and bushy but no flowers.  It is finally starting to get a few buds.

 

 

I still have not had time to plant the irises I bought.  Kevin has made me a large planter for it, but it is not quite finished.  Anyway, the yellow one has a bud on it and so does the purple one.  The white one looks healthy, but no buds.

 

 

My azaleas are doing great.  I numbered them also.  Number one is the biggest and has the most flowers.  Number two is in the middle and has quite a few flowers.  Number three is the smallest, but it does have some flowers.  I’m just so glad they made it thru the winter.

 

 

My new weeping willow and weeping cherry trees seem to be doing just fine.  I tried taking a picture, but they are hard to see since they do not have many leaves on them yet. 

 

The two crepe myrtles that Kevin transplanted from his front yard to my front yard look like they may have survived.  I did not trim them or anything this spring.  I want to be sure they survived the move.  They are starting to get some leaves on them, so I think we may have succeeded. 

 

The red maple tree looks a little sad.  Not sure if it will make it.  It is starting to get a few leaves so I will keep an eye on it.

 

Not only have I been working on the flowers and birdbath, I also cut Kevin/Renea’s front grass.  I had cut my grass over the weekend.

 

Yesterday morning I spent at the doctor’s office getting my pre-op physical.  Yes, I have to have surgery on May 1^st.  I have been having “female” problems so I will be having a complete hysterectomy.  This morning I went with Kevin to the doctor’s office.  He had to have another procedure on his neck and he is not allowed to drive afterward.  He is resting now and doing fine.  Other than that, we are all doing fine.

 

It is supposed to be 90 and humid this afternoon so I may have to find something to do inside.

Spring Has Sprung!

As I mentioned before, Renea and I rented a booth at the Lee County Flea Market on Saturday.  We sold a lot of our flea market stuff, but not any of our business stuff.  Now we are looking for craft shows to take our business stuff to sell. 

 

As said above, spring has definitely sprung.  It has been sunny and in the upper 70’s to low 80’s.  I have been planting flowers, weeding the rock gardens, cutting grass, feeding the birds, etc., etc., etc.  Yesterday I had three hummingbirds at the feeders.

 

After the flea market we went to Lowe's and bought supplies to plant the trees we bought at the flea market.  I bought a weeping willow and a weeping cherry tree.  

 

 

Kevin planted my weeping willow for me in my back yard

 

He planted my weeping cherry tree next to my deck.

Hopefully, they will survive.

Kevin and Renea bought two weeping willows. They planted theirs in their front yard.

 

While at Lowe's we also bought flowers and potting soil. I bought some petunias, verbena and another hibiscus.  The dahlias I bought a couple of weeks ago are doing great.  I have planted everything except the iris.  I bought three of them. 

 

 

I also bought a couple more bags of rocks.  I am going to put them around the birdbath in my front yard.

 

My azaleas are blooming.  I have cut back my lantanas.  One has some new growth coming up.  I am watching the other three. I have been concerned about my hydrangeas.  It looked like all I had was the sticks left from last year.  However, I now see new growth coming up from the ground, but no new growth on the sticks. Again, I’ll keep watching.  Looks like my potted sticks of trees have survived.  Not sure about the two crepe myrtles that Kevin transplanted from his yard to my yard.  My maple tree looks a little sad, but there is some new growth so I will keep an eye on it.  My water bill will probably be enormous this month since I am watering all the trees. 

 

We have all been miserable with allergies.  The pollen count is in the extreme.  However, it is supposed to rain on Thursday and they say that will help.  I just hope we don’t have any severe storms. 

Just Keeping Busy

Saw my first hummingbird this past weekend, and they have been feeding every day since.  I had put my feeders out last Thursday. 

 

Have been cutting grass.  The weather has been great until yesterday.  Now it is cold and raining.  Kevin and Gio cleaned up the rest of the large branches and filled the holes in the yard.  I have been picking up the smaller branches. 

 

Renea and I are renting a booth at the Lee County Flea Market on Saturday.  She has a lot of “stuff” to sell and I have some “stuff” to sell.  We decided that it would be more practical to rent a booth since we don’t live on a much traveled road.  We also live in what is considered the country and would be far for people to stop by.  We also plan to take a few items from the business.  We have made some new things and we want to see how they do.  I have been making items from plastic canvas such as coasters, bookmarks, magnets and a few other things.  We are also taking a few lamps that Kevin and Renea made.  We have decided to expand from just wood products to include crafts. 

 

The church I attend had an Interactive Stations of the Cross Service on the Wednesday before Easter.  This was a first for them.  It was different from anything I had ever attended and it was awesome.  I hope it becomes a regular event.  They had a beautiful Easter Service on Easter morning. 

 

When I got home from church the Easter Bunny (the one that lives next door) had been over to my house and left an Easter basket with lots of goodies.  I had Easter dinner with Kevin and Renea.  It was only the three of us.  Kevin had fixed a brisket that was DELICIOUS!  We had sweet potatoes, vegetables and bisquits.  Stephanie had to work so she wasn’t there. 

 

Not much else to tell.  Just been doing the usual stuff.  Nothing exciting. 

It All Started With.....

…..pulling weeds.  I have started cutting grass.  Just the middle circle where the bird feeder, Bradford pear trees and Jim’s tree are located.  After I finished cutting the grass Kevin put my new birdbath between the bird feeder and one Bradford pear tree.  This year I bought a concrete birdbath rather than a fancy one.  Hopefully, this one will last longer.  Of course, all of that took place over a week ago and the grass needs cutting again.  I had pulled all the weeds, but there are a few cropping up again.  So it seems that chore needs to be done again.

 

I had told you earlier that Kevin and Gio had to cut down one of the pecan trees because it was sick and full of bugs.  That was only the first step.  Next I hired a man to grind the stump, which he did.  Now I have a big hole where the stump was located.  Kevin and Gio both took a lot of the wood for their campfires, but that still left a lot of branches.  Saturday a week ago Kevin decided to start burning the branches in the stump hole.  It was determined that it would probably take all summer to get the job finished.  So we decided to buy a wood chipper.  That is working really well.  He is down to one really large stack of branches and several small ones.  Renea and I have been picking up the smaller ones and stacking them.  The yard is looking much better, but I still cannot cut the grass in that area yet, and there is still a large hole where the tree stump was.  The most important thing is, we are making progress.

 

Monday Renea and I did some shopping.  I bought a couple of plants; four red geraniums, two yellow dahlias and two pink dahlias.  I have transplanted them into large pots (two plants to a pot).  I put one each of the pots of geraniums on either side of the entrance ramp to my deck.  The pots with the dahlias are on tables on my deck.  Tonight I am going to bring them all inside because we have a freeze warning.  I knew this could happen, but that’s okay.  I will adjust.

 

Yesterday I also fed my azaleas, hydrangeas, hibiscus, and rhododendrons.  All the plants look good.  They appear to have made it through the winter.  The four lantana bushes are just twigs.  Not sure when they will show signs of life.  If they didn’t survive I will get some new ones because I really liked them; especially watching all the butterflies visit the flowers. 

 

A couple of items I have planned for the near future is putting bricks around the birdbath and then filling the area with the white rocks like I have in front of my house.  I also plan to put my St. Francis of Assisi stature out by the birdbath.  I also have a cat in a resting position with a bird on his head that I plan to put outside somewhere.  Just not sure where at this point.

 

I also plan to mark off an area with bricks on the south side of the mobile home and fill it in with those white rocks.  I would like to plant a snowball bush in that area next to the end of the deck. 

 

I am also hoping to plant two tulip poplar trees in the front on the north side of the driveway. 

 

Kevin had transplanted two crepe myrtle trees from his yard to my yard.  They are in the front along the road.  If the two crepe myrtle trees I have in pots made it through the winter I plan to plant them out there also. 

 

If the two redbud trees made it through the winter I will plant one in my yard and Renea wants one for her yard. 

 

Not sure what I am going to do with the rest of the trees that are in the pots.

 

A quick note about Jim’s tree since I have had several inquiries.  It looks to be doing fine.  It will be a while before it comes into full bloom (I guess that’s what you call it regarding trees.  I was going to say leafage, but I’m not sure that is a word.)  It looks healthy and has a lot of buds.

 

I can see the purple martin house from my window when I am working on my computer.  I have a lot of bluebirds nesting there.  That’s okay.  At least birds are using it. 

 

Not that I have worn myself out thinking and writing about all I have to do I better take a break J

No Rest

The tree is down.  Kevin and Gio worked on it for two days.  They were able to use some of the tree for firewood.  Kevin took some for his fire pit and Gio took some for his fireplace.  The rest will be burned to kill the termites.  I also had a guy come out this week and grind the stump.  Now I have a big hole in my front yard.  It will probably take most of the summer to get my yard back in shape.

 

This is the pecan tree that was taken down.

 

 

After the tree removal.

 

So sad.  It was a big and beautiful tree.

 

I have finished weeding my front “rock” gardens.  I have done my taxes.  Now I am working on the business taxes. 

 

I finally finished taking down my Christmas decorations and packed them away.  They are stored in Kevin’s attic.

 

Saturday Renea, Stephanie and I went shopping.  We went to the Benning Bazaar on Fort Benning.  It was a lot of fun.  We plan on getting a booth there next year since they do this every March.  The money they make renting the booths goes toward scholarships.  They also ask for a donation to enter and they sell raffle tickets.  The one thing we noticed was most of the booths were jewelry.  From there we had lunch and then went to WalMart.  What can I say – always need to stop at WalMart. 

 

 I don’t think I mentioned that Kevin and Family and Brian and Family gave me an iPod for Christmas.  I have been putting music on it and it works great.  I’m really enjoying it.

 

I think the birds are glad I am back.  They sure are eating a lot of birdseed.  Since we didn’t sell the ones I made I bought them and have been setting them out.  The birds are enjoying them also.  I have some birds nesting in the purple martin house, but I think it is bluebirds and not purple martins.  Not sure what to do about that.  I hate to just toss out the bluebirds. 

 

Today is going to be another busy day, so I guess I better get started.  Later, y’all!

I'm Back!

Yes, I am back home in Alabama.  I came home last week.  Drove down on Monday and Tuesday between the snow and rain.  I missed the snow that has been pounding the Midwest.  As for the rain, I didn’t have any driving home.  However, we have had 5 inches of rain since I got home.

I want to apologize to all of you who I did not get to visit.  It was a little hectic.  I only got to see Brian and his family twice; and Rita and Bob once. Only was able to visit with mom about a half dozen times. Did talk to her on the phone every evening though. I did have lunch with Gail, did a little necessary shopping and banking.  Other than that I was busy.  Jana was not allowed to drive until three weeks ago.  Therefore, I was taking her to physical therapy, the doctor’s visits, etc.  She also needed someone with her 24/7 to help her, and that was me.  I plan to be back in July since our family reunion is in Cincinnati this year, and I hope to see all of you then.

Now it’s back to business here at home.  Yesterday and today has been sunny so I have been pulling weeds in my rock gardens.  I have finished one and plan to start the next one.  The trees are starting to bud.  It looks like the trees and bushes made it through the winter.  The grass needs cutting, but it’s too wet for that yet.  The mower would probably sink.  Also found out that one of my pecan trees has termites and needs to be taken down.  Kevin and Gio plan on doing that on Saturday. 

Last night we went to Lowe’s.  Jana and David gave me a gift certificate for helping them so I just had to spend it.  Of course, I spent more than the gift certificate.  I bought a bird bath for my front yard and a pantry for the kitchen.  Renea is going to help me stain it this weekend since I’ve never done anything like that.  It’s time I learned. 

My break is over and it’s time to get back to work. 

I'm Still Here

Good Morning.  Yes, I am still in Ohio.  And, yes, I know it's been over a month since I have updated my blog.  So, here goes.

Jana had her surgery and she is doing great.  I will probably be here until mid February.  She is now walking with a cane only.  She goes to therapy twice a week.  She cannot drive yet, so that is my job.  However, she is now doing most everything on her own.  Other than driving, the only thing she cannot do is bend.  Jana goes to the doctor on Friday and,  hopefully, he will give her the go ahead to do more.

I will probably not be visiting while I am in Cincinnati.  I am just running out of time.  However, I will be back this summer and plan on visiting everyone then. 

We haven't been doing any visiting nor having any company because of the flu going around.  We have not even been over to visit Mom except for a few times.  Mom is doing fine, but the flu was going thru the nursing home along with a lot of coughing, sneezing, etc.  We decided to avoid all that.

After reading this you know why I haven't updated my blog.  Now it's time to get ready to head for therapy.  So that's it for now.