chattycarnation's Blog

A beautiful September Day
Sep 21, 2008 | 4:02 PM PST

This was a wonderful day for gardening. This afternoon I decided to start working on the yard a little bit. I have been a little under the weather, have a bit of whiplash from the accident last week and just plain worn out. But winter will be here soon and I am sooo far behind!

The week before the benefit our contractor added our porch and new sidewalk and it looks really nice. I have been waiting a long time for that!! We finally decided that it needed to be done, not just wanted it:) The old concrete was deteriorating at a fast pace and we did not want anyone to fall, so we decided to make a little porch and a small deck off the front and the south of the house. Much easier access for sure!! As soon as I can get pictures I will post. We will not stain the wood until next spring so it can dry a little bit.

I worked on two beds that had lots of weeds, pulled lots of pokeberry or whatever it is called out of the bed with the old barberry in it and planted 3 mums.. named Wanda. I also got the north bed weeded a litlle bit. But my neck and ankle started hurting so I thought I had better quit for now. If it is not too windy tomorrow I want to spray my iron benches and shepards rods etc.. we will see how the weather goes.

This ankle thing is getting to be more than a pain, it is getting to be a hinderance in the garden. I cannot believe that I have this condition in both ankles! It is quite painful, I am going to physical therapy 3 times a week and still have to walk gingerly.

The benefit
Sep 15, 2008 | 12:08 PM PST
Tag: Benefit

Well, i am definately still pooped out! All the efforts and the work of many volunteers and comittee members was quite a success. We figure over 300 people attended the event, despite several inches of rain, flooded basements and flash flooding in the area. Carrying in all the auction items during that torrential rain was a challenge. Getting the meat cooked .. was a challenge.. loss of power to our cookers etc.. But we made it!

The 2 sisters were well enough to attend the event and they got a chance to see many people they had not seen for some time. We are blessed. We raised a nice size amount of money to help the girls meet a small portion of their medical bills, and hope it takes a bit of stress from their lives. Thank you all for your prayers, ideas and suggestions.

Today is the day--- and it is POURING down rain
Sep 14, 2008 | 5:31 AM PST
Pray for us today please. We are under a flood watch, there is flash floods in the area and my daughter has 4 foot of water in her basement..! The benefit is today as well, so we are trying to carry everything in and cook things out in the rain. I will let you know how things go. Thanks!

Final push to the benefit
Sep 11, 2008 | 7:58 PM PST

I keep going over and over things.. I dont want to miss anything!! Right in the middle of everything.. my computer crashed!! I am on a backup computer right now, but all my documents were on the other one

All the donations, donors, etc.. I am haiving to go back over everything and I keep hoping I am not forgetting anything! Things are coming together.. no big items, but we have some neat things.. like a sightseeing steamboat trip for a couple and 4 children and an hour airplane tour down to the Arch in St. louis.. I am excited about some of the things that have been donated. You can never have too many! We had one landscaper donate 2- $250 gift certifricates for landscaping and some plants.. I will be really busy the next few days and hope I get one of the bed and breakfast packages so i can go and rest for awhile!:)

Medical benefit one week away
Sep 6, 2008 | 9:47 PM PST

Down to the wire here... final plans are almost  in place.. the last minute push for last minute donations, picking up donations that have been promised and getting everything in order is a little overwhelming to say the least. We have some nice things and although we are still short from my orginial goal. I am not counting out things coming in at the last minute. Hoping that we will have a successful auction. This is the first time I have ever had to be in charge of this type of event. I have planned 3 weddings for my girls so used some of the things that I learned doing that planning this event.  You learn a lot every time you atempt a new project. Learning is growing.

My yard needs mowing.. anyone want to volunteer?? The temps here have been wonderful, we had quite a bit of rain that came up from Gustaf, but it seemed to soak in pretty well. It was a steady rain, not much wind and we got about 2 inches of rain from it. The temps are moderate and we can feel fall in the air already:( I am simply not ready for that.. it took so long for summer to get here, I am not ready to let go of it:)

Happy gardening,