yardgranny6's Blog

New Year's
Dec 31, 2007 | 4:59 PM PST

Eve is here and midnight brings a brand new slate for all of us to fill. If you have made new years resolutions, I wish for you luck in keeping them. I have never been successful myself. Since my birthday is in January, it has always been a time for renewal in my life. A new place to start something different, begin a new hobby, dream about the gardens and how I hope they will be by the month of May.  Women tend to be nesters and we are never satisfied with the nest we live in. Hence we change closets, pantries and furniture. I have, over the years, changed rooms of furniture to accomodate the living space at the time.

We have had rain this December which is good but it is hard to tell what the coldest months (for SC) of January and February might bring weather wise. We run the gamet from rain, wind, sunshine, snow and ice. And there just is no predictablilty about it. You just take it one day at a time. Today was such a beautiful day, upper 60's, no wind, the humidity had gone along with the rain, most enjoyable. My hubby went out to gather more "Pee-cans" as he says. I grew up with the "Pe-cawns" myself. Had to revert to the southern dialect though, as most people don't know what you are a'talkin about when you don't say Pee-cans.

 I remember a story my mom used to tell, about a time she traveled to a southern state and stopped at a restuarant for dinner. My mom was from southern WV. She ordered 'peas' which to her were small, round green things. When her order came, you guessed it, she had blackeyed peas and thought sure the peas were bad. Be assured she did not eat them. I too did not know about blackeyed peas or any other peas but the green ones myself. When I first started cooking them after marrying a very southern gentleman, I called them 'dirt beans' because to me them tasted like the soil from whence they came. Frankly, I still don't care for them and yes, they still have a difinitive taste not to my liking.

I will be sorting seed and getting ready for the 'seed box' round robin in the next few weeks. Lots of seed to sort through and bag. Wondering just how many packs I will have when I finish and hoping I won't forget anything that needs to go into the box when it starts it's adventure across the USA. Exciting to start something new. Then the anticipation of being the last one to receive the box in a number of weeks. Sure hope it doesn't take months as I will be wearing a path through the yard to the mailbox looking for my new seeds.

I can hear fireworks in the distance now, so many people are gathering to bring in the New Year. The youth at our church are doing a bonfire celebration this evening. I would like to be there just to watch the young people enjoy themselves. So much to learn and so little time to learn it in when you are in your teens. Thank goodness they don't realize what lies ahead of them. They just wouldn't be able to take it all in. That first big job and knowing you finally can go out on your own, maybe marriage and babies to come. To think life happens to all of us even when we least expect it too. Thinking you know it all and then reaching the age when you realize you don't know near as much as you once thought. and finally understanding that it must come it stages for us to mature and become the man/woman we must be.

Have a wonderful New Year

More to Come Later

 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve
Dec 24, 2007 | 1:05 PM PST
Tag: Christmas Eve

is a wonderful day of the year. For my hubby and I it is usually a quiet time as it is for others that have grown children, especially when they don't live in your hometown.

Tonight we will go to our church for a Chrsitmas Eve service. Friends will be meeting us there that are not church members. We are happy that they have asked again this year to go with us. Special friends on a special occasion is extra nice. Then we wil go to Red Lobster for a bite to eat.

Our family christmas gathering was this past Saturday. Two of our sons were here with their families. The other son lives in TN and will be in the end of this week and our daughter in OK won't be able to be here this year. Sure do miss that one and only daughter. She is a love. We did get a wonderful christmas letter from her, documenting the events over the last year and an update on the ice storm and at last a return of her electricity.

I decided to do a brunch for our christmas time together and it was a big success. Even the younger grands ate and enjoyed themselves. Fixed the old standby from years ago - the sausage/egg/cheese casserole and added sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and waffles and fresh cooked apples (which were delicious).

Then we opened the gifts from one another. Since this gramma had been cleaning out closets this past year there were two special gifts for the two sons that were present. One was the old baby afghan knitted by a friend that the youngest son carried everywhere until I finally told him it was not to come out of the bed. If he wanted to have it, he would have to go sit on his bed. And that seemed to work alright.

Our other son did and still does swear that duct tape can repair anything from tennis shoes to books. One book in particular really got covered in duct tape. It was the bible he would carry to church as a young boy. I found it tucked away and decided it would be in his christmas gift box. (you can find a pix in my photos) He actually enjoyed seeing it again. He told me that the things he had underlined were areas in which he had had questions. Also put in his box a little golden book called 'Tommy goes Camping'. He and his brother loved that little book and I used to read it to my daycare kids as well. It had held up well over all these 30 or so years.

One of my gifts was a new bird bath. My DIL did not know I was wanting a second one for another area of the gardens. So it is now doing its job of watering the birds. For my husband, the John Wayne movie guy, I found him a metal barn type sign with JW on it. He enjoyed that a lot. The newly pierced ears received a couple of pair of earrings and one beautiful set of 'peacock' colored pearl earrings, necklace and bracelet. In all it was a wonderful day.

Wishing each Garden Guides member a Wonderful Christmas Season

 More to Come Later

 

Ear
Dec 19, 2007 | 2:04 PM PST

piercing does HURT! But I was a good girl and got a sucker in my little bag that tells the world that you have just gotten your ears pierced at Claire's.  Hope I can get a pix in an album. They are such little things, no more do you actually get anything gold for free. But I did choose the red teeny gem as it is my birthstone for January.

My daughter finally has power, she sent a few picutures of the trees down in her yard. It will be awhile before the cities are clean again. What a mess!! Still have all of you in my prayers that are enduring the bad weather.

Children coming in on Saturday for celebrating our Christmas together. Going to do a brunch complete with lots of comfort food. Any of you remember the old time Egg/Sausage/Chees casserole? We will start there and do it up big all the way around. I think it will be a good day.

More To Come Later

 

 

digging
Dec 18, 2007 | 4:38 PM PST
Tags: baking , sharing , batface , spring

has turned into baking. Something I don't do often. So far there is an Applesauce Cake, Pumpkin Bread and Chocolate Chip/Pecan cookies. Making Lemon Squares this evening. Want to bake Banana Nut Bread as well. I guess you can tell how I gained those 30 pounds I lost over this last year in the first place.

Decided since we were visiting the doc, the hairdresser, the rehab gals and want to share with my Chiro guy, this would be the time to bake.

The boys and their familes will be here on Saturday for a Christmas brunch. So there will be apples seasoned sweetly and cooked slowly in the crockpot, Sausage/Egg Casserole, bisquits, bacon, perhaps waffles for those that don't do the casserole bit. There are always a few that don't do the really tasty morsels. Then we will roast some of those pecans my DH has been feverishly cracking. Some of those will be salted and just for me I will use a little sugar and cinnamon on a few.

And under my little 4ft prelit Christmas Tree will be a gift for one and all. My gift from hubby will be my pierced ears, shining for all to see and hopefully not shining from infection. I intend to keep them clean. He also has found a charcoal grey set of pearl jewlery he wants me to get, necklace, earrings and bracelet. Mind you we are not into surprises in this house. Although I do surprise him once in awhile and he did do some shopping alone today while I waited in the car. No telling what that might be. Surprise - Surprise!!

All in all it will be a great day. Any day with your kids and family members around is a good day.

We got a good freeze last night, was a reported 22 degrees early this morning. My neighbor and I were commenting on the fact that one of her new plants for the year, the Batface Cuphea does not look as though the cold hurt it at all. We are eager to see if it will be a comeback for the spring. We both really liked it.

There will be some more cutting back and pruning right after Christmas and then the gardens will really be put to bed for a few months. To think here in the south, by late February, early March the bulbs will be ready to display their beauty. Bring it on.

More to Come Later

 

 

 

 

Six days
Dec 15, 2007 | 2:35 PM PST
Tags: six days , family , laundry

so far that my daughter in OK has been without power. She and a friend have managed to set up heaters in their homes in hopes the pipes won't burst. Amy's bill for reattaching her power to her house will be bad enough.

She says when they go out to eat, many people look like refugees with their odd clothing and the 'bed head' look.

At least they are finally seeing trucks working in her area. That would mean her friend could get power soon and then perhaps her house as well. Then getting a repairman will be the next hurdle.

Thank goodness for family members that can take you in. She is trying to do a repay by helping out with the laundry. A family of 5 plus what she needs for herself. If I remember right, that can be a full time job.

More to Come Later

Taking
Dec 13, 2007 | 5:50 PM PST
Tags: A Break? , Just Do It

a break from the garden was more tiring than digging and moving heavy bags of sand!!  That man wanted to go everywhere before we finally got home 5 hours later. And I wonder who has the disabilities???  It must be me as I really did get a snooze in that afternoon.

Some of you know that I have lost some weight this year. December 15th, this Saturday will be 1 yr with the weight off. I took flowers and fruit in to my counselors to say a big Thank You and get weighed today. All was good this week. Last week was a bummer but I managed to get off those few pounds I put on and even lost one. It was a good thing. I encourage any of you that need to shed pounds to go ahead and get help with that. It was a very positive thing for me. The place I went to has private counselors and you can stay with the same one each time if you choose. There are individual rooms and they will close the doors if you want. So Just Do It!  Believe me you will never be sorry. I just had to learn how to keep those pounds from coming back and that was the biggest plus of all.

More to Come Later

Rock Pool
Dec 11, 2007 | 5:26 PM PST
Tags: rock pool , seed bed

has been established. Will take Pix tomorrow. The Bird Bath is sitting in it's new place and seems to be level at this point in time.

I hate to say that I have enjoyed our weather, as there are so many people, including my daughter who is in the frozen trundra of Oklahoma without any power just now, and just bad weather all over the place. But here in SC we have broken all kinds of high temps for each day so far this week. It has helped me finish up some projects and I may get a few more things done before the cold returns.

They tell us this will be a dry winter but the powers that be did not tell us summer would continue. I believe Dec 22nd is the first day of winter. It would be nice if it felt a little like winter and Christmas. One year we had our family members together with some out of town. They had to leave early because it began to SNOW. If they came this year we might be able to take them swimming. Time will tell.

Was able to move all the plants out of my seed bed. Won't let that happen again. Planted fall seeds a year ago and then never got the plants moved. Now I don't know if those plants will survive from being moved just now.  The one project I want to finish is the screen to cover the seed bed to keep the squirrels from digging and re-arranging the seed. I would like to know what is coming up in which row. After all I have some fantastic seeds from some of you that I want to see come to fruition.

Do you know how blinkin' heavy 50 pounds of sand or pea gravel is?????  I about didn't get that sand into the wheelbarrow. Won't be lifting anything that heavy again. I will get some good lookin' muscular guy from somewhere (maybe Irby Street, Meska?) to do that heavy lifting. And I do have some huge tiles that must weigh closer to a hundred pounds that I want moved. I have hesitated to ask even my sons to do that. They were in my neighbors yard when they moved there and I asked him if I could have them (he didn't want them) and that senior fellow (which means older than myself) moved those big ole tiles even after I asked him not too. His wife told me later he felt like he really needed to rest after that. He shouldn't have done it, but a man is a man after all.

Going to see about having my ears pierced this week. I had them done years ago and all the costume jewlerly just irritated me so that I had to quit using them. Then it also left me with a little cyst in one ear lobe. So now I will have to see how they will re-pierce them and if I want to give it a try one more. I love earrings maybe more than shoes? well maybe not, but I do like them. Especially the dangle ones. Not too big but enough to be pretty. My husband wants to take me shopping for my Christmas tomorrow if he is up to it. He has taken a bit of a cold and I am doctoring him for that. Hope he will feel like going to the mall tomorrow.

All in all it has been a good two days. Taking a break from gardening tomorrow will be a good thing.

More To Come Later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas is
Dec 5, 2007 | 5:38 PM PST
Tags: rudolph , shed wreath

ellusive this year. One day it feels like fall, the next day it looks as if winter is coming. The only thing is hasn't done is rain.

It was hard to get a pictures of my little lighted rudolph in the garden. The lights blurred in most of the pictures. This is the only one that came out OK. This pix is in the Changes album.

I did get a couple of great pictures of a giant sunset one evening. It is in the photo album, Neighborhood. (Ithink that is it.)

Also took picutures of my shed with its door repair. It looked so good I hung a natural wreath on it. So far the squirrels have not torn it down. They will swing on anything.

More to Come Later