Half Over!

As this little Downy Woodypecker does, I find it a bit hair raising to realize that half the year is within hours of being over!  Time is really flying whether we are having fun or not!

Woody got up and walked early...in a heavy mist that got a bit heavier by the time he was back home.  He did take an umbrella and used it.  Later in the morning he did our weekly shopping at Aldis and Kroger.

I have spent most of the day getting ready for Melany, Wade and Erin to come celebrate the 4th tomorrow.  At this point I have vacuumed through the whole house except for the family room and Woody is going to do that room.  I have just been plugging away at one job and then another...with lots of rests in between!

We have had rain off  and on and the humidity has risen accordingly...not the pleasant temps of earlier in the week. Flowers and yards are enjoying the extra drinks.  This is so different from the drought of last year. Today I heard one of the weathermen say that we now have an excess...from one extreme to another!

They Didn't Keep Me!

I will have to admit that when I first got to the Criminal Justice Building in Manchester, TN (our county's county seat), that I wasn't sure if I would be able to come home before it was time to blog tonight!  I guess they had double or more cases on the docket today due to last week's shooting in this building.  They closed the building down and didn't hold court after last week's shooting that ended up wounding two sheriffs and the inmate taking his own life.  So today there were EVER so MANY on the list.  They had so many cases being heard that they could only bring down so many of the prisoners at a time because they didn't have room for them!  The judge read through the list of people who were going to be "taken care of" today and it seemed to be endless!  "My invader" was listed.  Then the judge talked to some of the prisoners who didn't have representation and told them about their sentences and asked whether they wanted a court assigned lawyer...and, most of these did.  THEN the judge put the court into recess and thus began the time of lawyers talking to their clients.  (There has to be a more efficient way!) There was no indication as to how long the recess would be.  I did finally hear a lawyer say two names and indicated that they were witnesses...so I had hope that I would eventually be called to talk to someone before "my invader" was brought before the judge.  And, sure enough...more than 1 1/2 hours later I was called up by "my invader's" court appointed lawyer and he told me that he was going to try to find a DA assistant so they could both talk to me at the same time.  And, that is what happened.  I was called into a conference room that was just off from the courtroom.  They both talked to me and I told them what happened.  Then the DA assistant told me that if it was okay with me that this is what they wanted to do...have him serve more time in jail...but then have him enter some form of substance abuse rehab for part of the time.  I told them that sounded good to me and they told me that I was free to leave...or that I could stay.  I headed out pretty quickly! I was just as glad not to have to see "my invader" again!  Woody drove me over and waited in the car in the parking lot so I was glad that he didn't have to stay all day!  We were back in Tullahoma before noon.
 
We stopped at the DQ for a treat on our way home.  We hadn't had blizzards in a while and I had gotten a buy one get one free coupon the other day so we took advantage of it.

Woody went on his four-mile walk a little after we got back home.  Today was more humid than it has been. Not long after he got back home from his walk we had a downpour and then later in the afternoon we had another downpour.  Happy yards and gardens once again!

We had pesto on pasta tonight as my plans for making bread tomorrow have changed since Melany, Wade and Erin are coming on Saturday to celebrate the 4th with us.  We have plenty of basil so I will make pesto again and make bread with it that time.

They're Lined Up Waiting!

On my way upstairs to blog, I opened the front door to scare off a squirrel that was IN one of the bird feeders...and lo and behold on the branch that leads to the feeder there are two more lined up waiting their turn.  I scared them all off...at least for a moment.  I guess I have to sit on the front porch to keep them away...they don't often approach when one of us is sitting on the porch.  This afternoon I scared one off when I was on my way to work in the church library.  As soon as I got in the car some of the little birdies were flying in to be able to get back to the feeders...I had scared their feeder intruder off so they were coming in quickly to get a seed or two!

Speaking of inturders...I will be heading to Manchester to answer my summons to testify against my home intruder.  Will let you know tomorrow night how that goes!

Woody got up and walked early this morning.  He drove to the local farmer's market later in the morning...driving lets him get a bit more produce than if he walks!  Today he did find some "early girl" tomatoes and some corn.  He has also worked in the yard today.  He is continuing with his mowing.

I ended up spending most of my time today cooking.  I made a potato salad this morning.  I managed to get it completed before heading off to work in the church library for a couple of hours.  I also harvested enough basil leaves to make pesto.  I made the pesto after I got home from working in the library.  I read about using pesto in homemade bread...so bread making plans in the near future...unless I decide to use today's pesto on pasta!  I was so "done-in" after the pesto and library and the earlier potato salad making that I told Woody I was going upstairs to rest for a while...well, rest I did...I slept pretty soundly for a while.  As I left the kitchen, I told Woody that I had to go rest and that I would be back down to load my pesto dishes mess into the dishwasher.  Well, when I got back downstairs for a late supper (Woody ate while I snoozed...and approved the potato salad.), Woody had cleaned up all the mess.  I have now eaten...and the potato salad did taste quite good...the first potato salad of the season always tastes the best!

It has been another beautiful day.  I think that the temps and humidity are supposed to start going back up tomorrow.  These last days have just been ideal.

I guess I'll go see if I am needed to scare away any squirrel scavengers/intruders before I settle in with a good book!

He Does Have a Red Belly!

This is a picture of a red-bellied woodpecker.  I had always questioned why they were named that as the main thing that I notice when they come to visit our feeders is that they have a red head...or course the red-headed woodpecker has a much redder head!  In this last picture that I took this afternoon while sitting on our porch shows some red feathers on its belly!  This is the first time that I have ever seen the red on the belly. I sat for quite a while this afternoon and watched the birds.  I am always amazed by how many birds come to visit our feeders while we are sitting there so close...and just amazed at the variety that come.  I guess they have figured out that we aren't a threat.  I'm also glad that I can silence the electronic shutter button on my camera...that way they don't hear me clicking away with the camera.

I spent some time this morning cleaning the school room.  I had pretty much left the school room alone since our intruder had been in there.  I had cleaned up the mess that he (intruder) made, but hadn't cleaned up the art mess that the children had made one afternoon.  So today I remade the bed that had been unmade since the last sleepover and cleaned up the remnants of an art project or two.  I also vacuumed so it is is pretty good shape once again.  I folded a large load of towels and got them put back in their proper places.  After that I decided that I "deserved" some time on the porch.  I finished filling bird feeders.  Yesterday I took one down and cleaned it really well and had to wait till it was dry to fill it and hang it back up.  The hanging up part of the job was Woody's.  The birds and the squirrels are thanking me for all the new seed, etc. that is out there. They were definitely flying in this afternoon to check things out and enjoy a seed or two or... I even saw a little chipmunk out there this morning eating seeds that had fallen to the ground.

Woody has spent quite a bit of time outside today...another great day to spend outside.  The high for today has only been in the 70's...just beautiful.  Woody did quite a bit of mowing today.  I even took advantage of the nice temps and did a little weeding and also dead-headed some of our flowers.  Woody walked to the prayer room at church (his walk for the day) after supper and is still there.  Earlier he cleaned up the mess that I had made cooking.

I think that I am going to go read or maybe watch something on my iPad...time to put my feet up!

May-Like Day in June!

What a beautiful day!  When Woody went on his walk early this morning, he needed a sweatshirt.  The humidity is even low...a very, very pretty day.  Woody had his usual busy Monday.  He went to the Life Care Center and had Bible study with Jeff and then visited with several church members who are residents there.  This afternoon he mowed a little.  And, this evening he went to the Monday night prayer meeting at church.

I feel like I have done nothing...and really haven't done a lot.  I started studying for the Sunday School lesson for this coming Sunday.  I did manage to gather all the thread spools together and get them put in their appropriate place...lots out due to so many sewing projects...all kinds...regular sewing and embroidery thread spools.  They are stored in various places...drawers, plastic cases, and with projects.  Good job done and my sewing machine table looks lots better without all the tangled thread that kept catching on things!

Melany has just called so guess I will close for now and catch up on her and Wade and Erin and Alex.

Look Who's Eight (Almost)! (Oops looks like this didn't post correctly last night!) So this was Friday's post and Saturday's is below this one!

We celebrated Elijah's eighth birthday today after lunch.  We celebrated a bit early as he and his entire family will be on a mission trip to Poland on his actual birthday.  In the bottom picture I'm not sure if Isaac is singing to Elijah or attempting to blow out the candle before Elijah gets a chance to blow! I think he is actually singing...but it does look a bit suspicious!

Woody got up early and walked during a dry spell from Cindy.  We got lots more rain at various times during the day...but had no threatening weather, as in tornados, etc. Goosey (Woody) took Abigail to the orthodontist as she had a bracket come loose.  After the orthodontist appointment, Abigail and Goosey headed off to do our weekly errands.  They went to the library, Aldis, Kroger, and WalMart.

I got up and started to sew on a project that Elijah asked me yesterday to do for him.  He wanted an over the shoulder carrying bag for one of his electronic hand-held games.  He and I discussed what he wanted yesterday and then he helped me make a "sketch."  Last night I chose lettering to put his first two initials on it (EZ).  This morning I got busy trying to find the right fabric scraps and then attempt to make this item without a pattern.  I am a person who really likes to follow a pattern that someone else makes...but this worked out pretty well.  I worked on it this morning before Elijah's party and then again this afternoon.  I took it over to him a little before supper time.  And, it worked for what he wanted...something to help him keep track of it on their travels.  A few minutes ago, he brought me a shirt that needed some mending before it could be packed!  So I guess that this was an Elijah sewing day.

Woody's Find of the Day!

Woody has an uncanny ability to find four-leaf clovers just by standing above a patch and spotting the one and only four-leaf clover in that patch.  I don't remember him ever bringing in a "sprig" of clover that has two four-leaf clovers on it.  I think that it was a first for him.  He put them in a bowl of water so they would survive for me to see them.  I decided that they were photo worthy!

Woody walked early this morning.  Later in the morning he went to the library and visited church members who are in the local hospital.  He has read, done puzzles, and watched TV.

I got up with intentions to clean up sewing messes created by my pillow making spree and also from Elijah's carry case that I made yesterday.  Well, as so often happens I got a bit distracted while putting things away.  I ended up making plans for my next sewing project rather than getting everything put away.  I still want to get all the embroidery thread and regular sewing thread that seems to have exploded all over my sewing room.  I did "almost" get my sewing cutting table cleared off before I put possible fabrics for this new sewing project on it.  The sewing table is hardly ever cleared for very long!  As soon as I publish this I am going to go over my notes for tomorrow's Sunday School lesson.

"Come Set A Spell!"

 I finally got all the pillows finished this morning and got the last rocker all wiped clean and snapped a picture.  The porch is all ready for doing some good old fashioned Southern Settin'!

 I sit on the glider rocker most of the time...puts me in the center of the action, I guess!  But it also lets me have a camera or two next to me either on the seat or on one of the tables next to me.  The two smaller "lumbar pillows" were made by appliquing designs from one of the other fabrics onto the base stripe fabric. I really like this stripe fabric. It reminds me of paint brush strokes. The larger pillow in the middle is a good way to use an old bed pillow...I just made a pillow sham to go over one of our old squished pillows...just right to go behind one's back and not be to thick!  The flowers that I appliqued onto the one pillow came from the fabric that I had left from the last time I made porch pillows.  That flowered fabric is on the back of most of the pillows.

 Above is the pillow that I did machine embroidery on.  When I got this machine embroidery design a year or two back I imagined it being used on a pillow on the porch...from imagining to reality! This design is a rendition of the Mola art form of the Kuna Indians of Panama.

 The above pillow has a strip of the "seaside print" and I bordered on the top and bottom with the stripe fabric.  This was the pillow that I finished this morning.

Here is the rocker that I bought the cushions for and it has the "porch sweet porch" pillow on it that my sister gave me last year for my birthday (I think).  Also take note of the thermometer on the table next to this chair.  I took this picture after lunch today...and it was 69.6...Cindy has brought us a lot of rain and kept the temperatures lower...pretty humid out there, though!

Woody went to a retirement party for one of his former co-workers today.  He enjoyed getting to see a lot of the folk from work once again.  They met at lunch time at University of Tennessee Space Institute which is fairly close to Arnold Air Force Base where all these folk work and/or worked.

Elijah came over after lunch to tell us that we are going to celebrate his birthday tomorrow.  They will be on mission in Poland on his actual birthday.  Before Poland they will be flying into Iceland and staying a couple of days before flying to Poland.  Talk about world tavelers!

I went out on the front porch with Elijah and we sat and talked for a while and watched the birds fly in to eat at the two feeders.  We couldn't believe how many different kinds of birds we saw in a very short time.  Woody came out to join us and tried out the rocker with the new bought cushions.  He says that that rocker sits pretty well.  I sat for quite a while and took bird pictures after I took pictures of the front porch for the blog tonight...I know that Cheryl, my sister, has been wanting to see pictures...so here they are for all to see who read this!  Now Cheryl just needs to figure out when she can come see us so she can "set a spell" on the front porch...one of her favorite places to be when she visits from Arizona.

I made simmer steak for supper tonight.  Shortly after Woody finished eating, he went next door to "set a spell" with the grandchildren while their parents went on a date.  He did take an early morning walk this morning...hoping to beat the rains of Cindy...but the rain had already started even though he was up and out quite early.  I'm not sure how much rain we have gotten due to Cindy...but quite a bit.  It had stopped for a while, but started up again a while ago.  I think that we are supposed to get more from her tomorrow.

If you are ever in our area...do come and "set a spell" with us on our porch!

I Was Served!

And the way was served wasn't at a tea party...as you can tell by tonight's photo!  All I can say is that this is a first...I have never been subpoenaed before.  Looks like I will be driving over to Manchester next week.  They had an incident the day before yesterday at the building where I have to go...two sherrifs were shot and injured by an escaping prisoner who was there for a hearing.  I guess that the building will probably be safer next week than it was earlier this week!  I now know the name of our intruder. The sherrif who served me with the subpoena said when he handed me the paper and told me that I had been served...that he guessed that I knew the person named on the paper.  I told him that this was the first time that I had heard or seen his name, but that I assumed that he was the person who had broken into our house last week.  After the formality of serving me the paper, Woody, the sherrif, and I had a pleasant talk.  He just lives a couple of streets over from us and he was hoping that our neighborhoods weren't going to start having problems with crime.  We also talked about the incident at the Coffee County Justice Center where a prisoner shot at two sherrif deputies injuring both and escaping and ultimately turning the gun on himself and killing himself  and  we also talked about two escaped prisoners from Georgia who had escaped after killing two officers...those escapees ended up in a nearby town and held a couple hostage for several hours before stealing a car and going over to another community not far away and they ultimately gave themselves up to a civilian.  Too much crime! TOO CLOSE!!! Anyway, I guess I will have a "day in court."

Woody walked early this morning.  He included the local Farmer's Market on his walk and came home with terragon to add to our herb garden.  He filled a pot with dirt and I planted our latest herbal addition.  He also cut oregano this morning as it was starting to go to seed.  I will need to dry it...just haven't had time since he cut it. He worked in the yard some this morning.

I continue to plug along with the pillows for our front porch. I got another one made this morning and it is now outside on the rocker that I cleaned before placing it.  Just one more pillow and then I will be finished with the front porch sewing and cleaning project.  This afternoon Donna and I worked in the library for a couple of hours.  We finished reading the shelves...so for the moment books are in their correct places on the shelves. I came home and rested for a little while and then made Caprese Salads for our supper.

I guess it is time for me to go load the dishwasher.  Happy first day of SUMMER! It's been rather warm and quite humid here as a starter to this season.

 

Last Day of Spring!

We have stayed pretty busy this last day of Spring 2017.  Woody was in and out a lot during the day...when he was out, he was mowing.  He did his good deed for the day = mowed the neighbor's (Nathan and Kathy's) front yard.  Later in the day he made Cole Slaw (I think...anyway I think I heard the food processor going and now there is a container in the fridge that he usually puts slaw in.)  And, I can't ask him as he has disappeared.  I guess he has walked to the prayer room at church.

The reason that I don't know exactly what is going on is that I have had my sewing machine going this afternoon.  And when I am machine embroidering it is hard to hear what is going on.  But considering that it is Tuesday, I'm pretty sure that he has gone to the prayer room and I just didn't hear him tell me that he was going...all lights are off downstairs so that usually indicates that he has gone farther than just out in the yard!  I decided that it was time to do a little cleaning...so this morning I vacuumed the downstairs and even got out the spot cleaning machine and did some spot cleaning.  In the afternoon I "played" with my iPad trying to figure out what to do with the photos stored on it.  I really try not to use the iPad for photos and/or photo storage...but none the less the photos end up stacking up.  Today I found out a way to let Google store them for me on an app that they offer so decided to try it.  All my iPad photos are now backed up and stored in the Google photo app...and I have decided to delete them from my iPad to free up space.  Even if there is a problem with this method of storing them I won't lose much...as anything I really wanted I have transferred over the laptop and then onto my passport hard drive.  I don't like taking pictures with the iPad and the main ones that I save are either screen shots or photos that others send me.  I think that this new method will work.  I had been thinking about deleting a lot of them and this way I will still have them...just not stored directly on the iPad.  Guess I'll see if it works!  Just before blogging I completed the embroidery design that I am going to use on one of the pillows for the front porch.  That was a major step as it took more than an hour of machine embroidery to get it finished.  Now I just have to decide exactly how big I want the pillow and then cut it to size and then cut a back the same size...stitch it up and then stuff it...and one more will be done with only one more to go after that.  I never had time today to sit on the front porch.  I did watch out the living room and saw that the birds (and the squirrels) were enjoying the food in the feeders.

I guess I'll go and see what I can do about organizing the pictures in this new app...supposed to be easy...we'll see!  Enjoy the last hours of Spring...Summer is hot on Spring's heels!  See if you can spot the bee in tonight's photo!

Oh, and my gout rescue med seems to have done its job.  I'm going to stop taking it since the pain is gone.

Quite a Monday!

We have been busy, busy, busy!  Before I even thought about getting up Woody walked four miles early this morning. And, at some time, unbeknownst to me, he started working on cleaning the oven.  I mentioned yesterday that I had been meaning to clean the oven for some time and had just never found the time to do it. Usually I don't think about doing it until I am putting something in the oven to cook it and that isn't the time to clean it! Anyway, I was really surprised when I went to put the racks back in the oven that it was on its way to be cleaned...he had scrubbed it with Brillo pads...he didn't remember that we had the no-fume oven cleaner.  He got a really good start on it and it was starting to look much cleaner...then I sprayed the oven and left it on for several hours and then I wiped it clean the rest of the way...it is as good as it is going to get and it looks ever so much better!  I guess I have been "meaning to" clean the oven for six months as the neighbors (Nathan, Kathy and children) gave me a silicone sheet to put on the bottom of the oven so all you have to do is pull the sheet out and clean it when there is a spill over...that was given to me at Christmas...I didn't want to put it in till the floor of the oven was clean...so at last it is and the silicone sheet is in place!

Today was the day that my Sunday School Class was doing an after-the-funeral-lunch for a class member and her family.  We needed enough food to feed between 40-50.  We have such a wonderful class...and we aren't all that large of a class...so to pull that size of a meal off might have been daunting for some...but not our class...all rose to the occasion...all it took was a few emails back and forth to have the matter taken care of.  We live just across the street and down a house or two from where we were to deliver the food.  I had asked Woody to help because several members had dropped off their food for me to deliver since they work.  I needed him for another reason as I was limping around a bit...another gout attack happened over the weekend and I am on my "rescue med." I am much better today.  It looks like the rescue med is coming to my rescue!  We were to have the meal delivered around noon.  One of my items to make for the meal...deviled eggs...for a crowd...I used 3 dozen eggs...so it was a bit of a job.  Got them done just as it was time to deliver the food. Even though we live so close, we had so much food to deliver we had to load up the car and drive the short distance.  It looked like we and others came through as there was a wonderful spread of a large variety of food.  After lunch I went out on the porch to do some work there and all the many, many children in their family were outside having a great time...all looked like they had plenty of energy after their lunch!

Shortly after we got back from delivering the food, Woody headed off to the Life Care Center to have Bible study with Jeff and also visit other church members there.  While he was gone I decided that it was time for me to do some more cleaning on the front porch.  I wanted to clean one of the rockers really well, as I was expecting new cushions to be delivered for it this afternoon.  Not long after I finished with cleaning the rocker, the UPS truck dropped off the new cushions.  I quickly put them in place and am pleased with the new look.  When I get the last two pillows made I will take a picture of the porch and post it on the blog.

While I was still cleaning, Woody headed off to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions for both of us.  I had been putting off getting a refill on my gout "rescue drug" till I was almost completely out as this medication is quite expensive...as long as I had enough on stand-by I didn't need to have a lot of extra on hand (was hoping that I wouldn't be needing it as much since my blood work results were so much better).  The way I am to take this drug is one every twelve hours until the gout attack is over or till unpleasant side effects start. Looks like I will be able to stop taking it after this evening's dose if all is good in the morning.  I am to the point that I hardly know that I have a problem.  Yesterday I was constantly reminded due to the pain in my foot.  Glad that the rescue drug is working!

Woody returned a while ago from tonight's Monday Night Prayer Meeting at church. And, we are all settled in for the evening. I "think" that tomorrow will be a bit calmer than today was. Maybe I will be able to sit in the rocker with the new chair pads for a while in the morning and enjoy what are supposed to be cooler temperatures.  I did "feed" my plants today and fed our birds...new suet cake and fresh bird seed in the feeder.  So perhaps my camera and I will sit and watch which birds come for a treat.

Summer (Well...Almost) Fun!

What could be more fun on a summery afternoon than two little boys with BIG squirt guns?  They were having the best time and it really got fun when one of their big sisters joined in...but she only had a little squirt gun!  Wonder who got the wettest! I kept reminding them that I had a camera and not to shoot me...and I didn't get wet at all!  They were having too much fun getting their sister!

Woody got up and walked first thing this morning.  Later in the morning he headed off to the library, the Credit Union, and WalMart.  He has been spending quite a bit of time reading the last few days.  He has two of this year's Newberry Award winners.  I know that he finished one yesterday and has been reading the second one today.  Lately the Newberry Award winners have been in the fantasy genre...not exactly his favorite type of book!  He didn't care for the first one that he read, but he said that the one he is reading now is much better.

I continue to be on the recieving end of emails about the meal that we are getting together for a friend's family. The challenge this time is getting it together for between 40-50 people!  But as always our class is coming through and I don't think that her family will go hungry!  I am going to cook a ham and make many, many deviled eggs.  The eggs are cooked and peeled and awaiting deviling...I will finish them Monday morning just before taking them to the family.  I plan to bake the ham tomorrow so it will be refrigerated and ready for them to slice when they eat.  The rest of the food is up to the rest in our class!

After peeling a lot of eggs this morning, I had to do a little shopping.  The shopping trip didn't start out the best...just before my turn to check out I went to pull out my billfold and I didn't have it.  Woody had given me some money and I hadn't getten it back in my purse!  Luckily they hadn't started checking me out and we just stacked up my things and I told the check-out person that I would be back shortly and to please set aside what I planned to purchase.  (I'm so glad that I wasn't at WalMart where I was planning to buy a lot more...this store was easier to leave and come back.)  Off I went, found my wallet on the kitchen table and off I went again on my shopping "spree!"  I got back to the store, paid for my purchases and headed off to Walmart.  I don't shop often...I had been adding things to a list for a while and just hadn't made it to the store so I had several things on my list...the birds will be happy (seeds and suet cakes), my plants will be happy (plant food), and on and on...I made my purchases and headed back home.

By the time I got home I was about beat, but had planned to cook a slab of spare ribs that Woody had bought yesterday.  I prepared them with a dry rub and popped them in a slow oven for a couple of hours. After I got all the spices for the rub back in the cabinets, I headed upstairs and immediately (just about) fell asleep upon sitting down!  I slept till just a few minutes before the ribs were to come out of the oven.  Perfect timing!   I will say that they were and still are finger lickin' good...and, enough left so we can have them again tomorrow for Father's Day!

Friends!

These two little Carolina Chickadees and several others in a flock entertained Woody and me for a while a couple of days ago while we sat on the front porch.  They were really looking out for each other..."talking" away to each other and even feeding each other seeds.  Looks like they were very good friends!

Woody went for a four-mile walk this morning.  Later in the morning he did our now weekly grocery shopping at Aldis and Kroger.  He also made cookies for the neighbors (Nathan, Kathy and family).

I was in a reading mood at the start of the day.  I finished an e-book last night and had another in the wings that I need to go on and read or they will whisk it away from me in about a week.  Around noon, I got a call from one of Tullahoma's finest...one of the policemen who arrested "my" intruder last Saturday.  He was completing the arrest form and needed to know exactly what prescription meds were in Woody's weekly pill container that the intruder "happened" to have in his pocket after he was aprehended.  They needed to know how many pills of each were in the pill box and whose prescriptions they were.  I gave him the information that he needed and then asked him a couple of questions. I found out that the young man is in jail in the Coffee County Jail and that he was in his 20's. Several people had asked me how old he was and I had guessed late teens to mid 20's...so I got pretty close.  I spent some time this afternoon organizing a meal for one of our Sunday School members whose mother passed away this week.  I also chose thread to sew out a machine embroidery design for one of the porch pillows.  And, I just remembered that I have clothes in the drier that need to come out.  That about sums up what I have done today.

Nathan put together Elijah's birthday present while the rest of the family was at Vacation Bible School. He and several of his siblings tried it out this afternoon.  It's what, I think, is called  a "pitch back."  It is taught mesh attached to a metal frame that the children can throw balls at and they bounce back to them.  It will let Elijah and the girls practice pitching and/or just throwing the ball and then attempting to catch it when it comes back. I think that they will all enjoy it in one way or another.  Even the youngest was enjoying taking turns throwing at it.  A good way for them to continue practicing their ball skills when it is off season! The black rectangle is where Elijah needs to pitch to throw strikes for players in his league

War Declared!

War has been declared between me and either this fella pictured or one of his many relatives that roam the trees in our yard.  Just before I came up to blog, I happened to notice that a rascally squirrel had taken up a perch in our bird feeder...our new feeder lets them lounge while eating. I love to pull the front door open quickly and scare our uninvited guest.  Boy can they jump quite a distance into a bush...but then they just sort of shuffle off and hide behind either a branch or tree trunk till I have my back turned once again.  Sneaky little fellas...rather bold at times too.  Oh, well, I guess I have some bird food that I can share with them...but I much prefer birds at our feeders!

Woody went for a four-mile walk this morning...trying to get his walk in while it was still slightly cool even if muggy.  He has worked on this laptop today trying to defrag and delete really old emails, etc.  I guess trying to encourage it to speed up...and it was acting a bit better just now when I logged on.  He went next door late afternoon to "grandchildren sit" while their parents went on their Thursday evening date.  While he was over there, Elijah's birthday present was delivered so I have a feeling that he got Graham to work on getting it put together.  Woody has just walked back in so I guess I will find out what Elijah thought about his gift. Elijah is getting his gift early since they will be in Poland on his birthday.

I spent most of the morning working on Sunday's Sunday School lesson.  This afternoon we had a storm blow through so it was a good afternoon to read a good book. Woody thinks that he brought the rain since he watered a couple of things with the watering can earlier in the day. The gardens are once again happy since they got rained upon this afternoon.

Weeded, Watered & Walked

Now add "Woody" to tonight's title: Woody weeded, watered, and walked...and try to say it fast ten times!  Woody couldn't even say it once when he told me what he had done today!

This little Carolina Wren was just singing its little heart out yesterday while I was sitting on the front porch...serenaded me with a very sweet song!

tToday I worked on cleaning up the front porch some more.  Got the glider love seat ready for the first sest of pillows that I have made.  I ordered cushions online  for one of the rockers and still have two more pillows to make. Then the front porch will be all spruced up.

After lunch, I headed off to work in the church library for a couple of hours.  We are getting close to being finished with reading the shelves.  I finished the fiction today and found several problems...one of the reasons that it is good to carefully look at the order the books are on the shelves every so often.

Trying to keep the doors locked even though Bonnaroo is over!  There is so much coming in and out that it is hard to have it locked all the time.  I have convinced Woody to make sure that it is locked if he goes out walking early when I am asleep.  Today I will admit to jumping when Elijah came into the kitchen and I didn't hear him come in! A welcome intruder this time!

Some Like It Hot!

It's been a hot day here in Middle Tennessee.  Even the birds are looking for puddles made by the sprinkler so they can cool off!  Woody decided to walk early while it was still in the 70's.  He walked to and from the prayer room at church...had his prayer room time early instead of after supper.  On my way home from getting my hair cut, the bank thermometer said that it was 91 and that made me look at what the car said that the temperature was and the car said 90...close enough...and either were hot!

I stayed in most of the day except for heading out to get my hair cut.  I am working on the third pillow for our front porch sonce I finished the first two last night.  I did do a little cleaning today...but not enough to notice...unless you are me and know that I did it!  Woody did do some watering of the gardens early this morning...the watering still hasn't brought any rain...maybe we need to wash the car!

A Quiet Day in the Neighborhood!

I was thankful for a quiet day in our neighborhood...at least as far as I know it was quiet.  A good morning to sit on the front porch and take pictures of our neighborhood birds!  I love the markings on the red headed woodpeckers.  They are pretty when they fly too...you see a white band when they fly away.  This one is checking in on each of you, my blog readers!

Woody walked four-miles this morning.  He also got out the sprinkler and hose and watered some of our gardens...figuring that watering would make it rain...so far it hasn't!  I did a little watering today too.  He went to the Life Care Center to have Bible study with Jeff and then visited several church members who either reside there or are there for rehab. When he got home he made a recipe of  his Crispy Quinoa Burgers...rather a messy job.  But he now has some in the refrigerator when he feels like a "burger."  This evening he went to Monday night prayer meeting and stopped at the public library on his way home.  He picked up a couple of this year Newberry Award winner/honor books.

Oh, and shortly we should have a whole new car...we got notified of another recall on our 2014 Ford Fusion today.  Woody called the dealership about it and they told him to bring it on in as it was a quick fix...something to do with the front seat seatbelts. And, it must have been a quick fix as he wasn't away very long at all.

I cut out the back for a front porch pillow and have it pinned to the front...now to get it to the sewing machine.  Then I will be ready to stuff it and have another pillow done.  I just don't have much inclination to do much of anything today.  It has been quite hot today and "maybe" that is what has sapped all my energy.  It definitely feels like summer today.

NEWS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD!!!

2017 GIANT'S SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD

The Little League closing ceremonies were held this morning after the championship game.  Elijah's team was beaten last night so his team was out of the running.  The Mets won the championship this year.  Each year one boy from each team is awarded a Sportsmanship Award.  Elijah was chosen this year from his team the Giants.  He was also chosen to play on the All-Star coach pitch team, but won't be able to be on the team due to all the Dazzling Dorrell travels this summer for their ministry.  Way to go, Elijah!  (Last year Elijah got the Sportsmanship Award from a different coach and for a different team.) We are very proud of the thoughtful young man that he is turning out to be!


                                          VICTIMS OF BONNAROO?

Even in a quiet neighborhood like ours...a little after 7:30 this morning this is what our street looked like...four police cars in front of Nathan and Kathy's house and one across the street from us.  Around 7:30am I had quite a fright. I was dozing off after a night of not much sleep...though I was awake enough to hear someone come up our stairs...but I didn't think anything about it...just thought that it was Woody or one of the grandchildren.  Then I started hearing things being dumped out and a loud racket coming from the school room.  At first I thought that it was the children dumping out some of their K'nex building pieces...but when it continued and I didn't hear any giggling or talking, I began to get a bit concerned.  I was pretty sure that there was an intruder.  I had no idea where Woody was (He was on his daily walk and hadn't said that he was leaving because he knew that I was trying to go back to sleep).  My brain started trying to figure out just what I should do...being upstairs there really wasn't an escape route (maybe I could have gotten down the stairs if he had stayed in the school room)...so had to think just what to do.  My phone wasn't close so at that moment dialing 911 wasn't in my brain.  I was standing in front of my dresser, not in direct view when you come down the hallway to come into our bedroom, and trying to decide if I should hurry and close the bedroom door and lock it...when an arm came around the door frame and then a face appeared!  Well, I just started hollering at him as loud as I could (my throat is still a little scratchy!) to get out of my house...and I praise God he did retreat.  As I hollered at him over and over again to get out of my house, he was heading down the stairs and saying that he was leaving and that all he needed was a ride somewhere and that he had hurt his leg (this story changed a bit to each officer that he talked to later).  I just kept forcefully telling him to get out of my house...and for someone with a hurt leg...he retreated quite quickly. I did mention that I would get him a ride during my hollering at him...and I fulfilled that promise as he later got a ride in a police car! After he was out of the house and I had locked the door behind him,  I first checked to make sure that Woody wasn't somewhere in the house hurt or something...then I found my phone and instead of calling 911, I called Nathan and Kathy! And I'm glad that I did as the guy had just knocked on their back door and Nathan was talking to him.  Again the story was that he needed a ride somewhere.  Kind hearted Nathan was considering what to do when they got my call.  By that time at least two police cars were out in front of Nathan's house and Nathan and the guy had walked around to the front of the house to be met by the police. Phew!!!  I went outside and let the police know that he had been in our house and they said that they would come talk to me in a few minutes.  By this time there were two more police cars in front of Nathan's and one in the driveway across the street. (Can you tell that there isn't much for the police to do in Tullahoma on a Saturday morning!?!)  The teenage daughter in the house across the street was the one who called 911 because our intruder had knocked on the doors of her house and then she saw him cross the street and go up our driveway, open our green car door, and then go into our garage.  He did go through the console in our white car that is parked in the garage and pulled things out and just left them on the passenger seat.  And, later I found out that he got in through the garage door that goes into the house...a door that we never (guess I should say "rarely" use) so I don't think to check to see if it is locked...for some reason it had been unlocked today...for who knows how long!  I found it not all the way closed when I walked into our family room to check to see if anything else had been bothered.  Our front door was unlocked too since Woody was on a walk and he doesn't carry keys with him. So I guess you could say that we gave him easy access!

The police came over and talked to me and were each and every one very, very kind.  One came in and saw what the perpetrator had gone through in the school room...he had thrown the paper cutter down on the floor, had pulled out all the containers of paint and the paint brushes, and taken things off the top of the computer desk...strange items to go through and throw around...but I guess when you are probably looking for drugs and/or money you will look anywhere?
 
The police asked me about a weekly container of pills that they found on this young man.  I went and checked and Woody's container was missing from its spot.  They then showed it to me and it was Woody's (nothing taken from it).  Later we found out that he had picked up a baby bottle that is on our kitchen table that we are putting change into for a fund raiser for a local crisis pregnancy center.  I later found that in Nathan and Kathy's recycle bin on the side of their house. Woody is the one who discovered that it was missing because when he came home from his walk, he had change to put in it and it wasn't on the table.

I guess all's well that ends well!  The police are pretty sure that he was someone who was passing through from Bonnaroo...a huge rock concert type venue on the order of Woodstock in the days of yore!  Bonnaroo takes place in Manchester, TN  at this time each year. The town grows by thousands and thousands for those few days.  Manchester is about 20 min. away by car.  The story does go on a bit as a while later  police cars started showing up on our street again...two police cars and later a sheriff's car.  Then two policemen came back and were walking through the yards obviously looking for something.  When they got to our yard they said that they were looking for a set of keys.  They had found a stollen car that had been abandoned in a nearby church parking lot.  The police figured the stollen car and our break in were related.

We have come out of this none the worse for wear...at least I think we have.  One of the policemen said that the young man would be getting jail time due to the fact that he entered our house uninvited (made no difference that doors were unlocked) and also took drugs from us and that what he had done was a felony.  I just hope that he can get off the drugs that he was pretty obviously on (both police and Nathan said that he was pretty "spaced out" on something...hope that jail time will get him off the drugs and that he will come to his senses and clean his act up...but...guess only time will tell.   I am just thankful that he was very docile on drugs...as I easily scared him out of the house and he made no resistance to the police arresting him.  Not your typical day in OUR neighborhood!  

And, the Rest of the Day?

Well, the rest of the day for us was pretty mundane.  I had a hard time spending much time in the house after the break in.  I sat out on the porch for quite a while today...even attempted to put the finishing touches on tomorrow's Sunday School lesson out on the porch...but...hard to wrap my head around anything at the moment! Woody and I had fun watching a large flock of chickadees take turns at the feeder and then a group of nuthatches came also.  Relaxing watching the birds!  Woody went on to the library for his usual Saturday visit.  He has spent quite a bit of time mowing.  And, I'm going to go downstairs as soon as I hit the publish button and make sure that the doors are ALL locked! What was your day like? I hope you had less of an adrenalin rush than I!!!

Guess What!!!!!

We're going to head to the ball park in a few minutes!  Elijah's team pulled off a win from a team that they hadn't beaten all season...so the Giants are still in the play-offs!

Woody did our now weekly grocery shopping.  He went to Kroger, Aldis and WalMart...busy morning.  This afternoon he went to visit a boy in his Sunday School class who hadn't been to class in a while.

Joseph spent some time with this morning.  We ended up reading a new library book that Goosey (Woody) had gotten at the library last week.  We read it at least three times!  After lunch, I worked on the next pillow for the front porch...the top is now ready for a back.  Joy and I got shoes this afternoon at our local shoe store that still measures your feet! I love shoe shopping there.  Of course I have known the owner since she was a child.  Elijah ate supper with us. Abigail didn't go to VBS with her family tonight and has stayed at home. Heading over to get her in a minute.  The boys (Goosey and Elijah) are having batting practice.

I will end saying: ""GO GIANTS!"

Almost Time to "PLAY BALL!"

I'm going to post early as we will be heading off to the ball park shortly.  Elijah and Graham just finished eating supper with us as they are the only of the Dazzling Dorrells in town at the moment.  Their family continues to do a Vacation Bible School in a neighboring town.  Tonight is the first game for Elijah's team in a single elimination tournament...so if they win they will play tomorrow night...if they lose the ball season is over for his team.

Woody had a meeting in downtown Tullahoma today so he chose the walk there and back as his exercise for the day.  He said that he did the tiniest amount of yard work...guess he was taking a well deserved break from all his weeding and mulching!

I have the top of the next pillow for our front porch ready for the sewing machine.  Isaac spent some time over here this afternoon.  He has a funny joke that he learned at camp.  He says: "Look under there."  And, you say: "Under where?" and then he cracks up laughing that you said: "Underwear!"  Besides joke telling, he read four stories from his Dick and Jane book.  He hasn't forgotten how to read so far in his summer time off!

Well, I guess the boys are eating their brownies so I guess I had better go get my cameras ready to head off to the ball  park.  Go, GIANTS!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

 As Woody said, "They just don't make days much more perfect than today."  The perfect day for him to finish up weeding and mulching the shared flower garden between our house and Nathan and Kathy's. He also said, "I wonder what I will do tomorrow!"  He has been concentrating on getting this garden finished for such a long time that he hasn't had many other plans for what to do next in the yard.

He went on two walks today.  He took one this morning and ended up cutting it short when he found a turtle that he brought back to the grandchildren.  He went on his second walk after supper and this

 time walked his full four miles.  He figures that he walked a total of six miles on both walks.

I have the first pillow for the front porch stuffed.  I wanted to stuff it and see if I liked the size before I made another the same size.  I have been looking at sites online that sell outdoor pillows deciding on what size to make the ones for our porch.  I found some called "lumbar pillows" and that is the size that I made first.  Those sounded like the ones that I want for the love seat glider...to go behind my back when I sit in it.  I will make two that size and then several others that are a larger size.

I went to the church library after lunch and worked for a couple of hours.  We continued to check to see if the books are in their proper place and I got started on our next book order.  I checked the computer to make sure that we didn't have any of the books that I was ordering.

I came home and fixed our supper.  While it was in the oven, I went outside and deadheaded some of the flowers, and attempted to take pictures of the finished garden.  It wasn't the best time of the day to take them due to the direction that the sun  was coming from.  I used the shade of Nathan's house to help me take them.  This is a hard garden to take pictures of...it is much prettier in person.  The pinks, blues, purples and oranges just don't show up as well as I want them to.  Graham is going to attempt to take pictures of it from up in the air with his drone tomorrow.  We'll see how well it photographs from the air.  I'll share some of Graham's pictures if they turn out and we figure out how to transfer them to me.

Tuesday Doings

We've had a rather busy day today.  Woody did a lot of weeding and mulching today on the same garden.  He's now working on Nathan and Kathy's side of the garden.

I did a bit more gadabouting than usual.  This morning our Sunday School class had a brunch at the nome of one of our Sunday School members.  We had a great time as usual...catching up, eating, and just enjoying each other's company.  Twelve of our class members were able to come this morning. It was a very pleasant day...temperature-wise and part of us ate out on the patio enjoying the cool after yesterday's rains.  Afterward I stopped and ran an errand.  I can now stuff the pillows that I am making for the front porch.

After I got back home I went over to Nathan and Kathy's to check on Abigail.  Abigail had gum surgery this morning.  She seems to be doing well.  The dentist used a laser so her recovery time is supposed to be quicker than conventional method.  She had to have this surgery in order for her orthodontic work to be successful.  Tonight Kathy, Nathan, Graham, Joy, Esther, and Isaac are off on another ministry event...this time for a Vacation Bible School in a neighboring town.  Abigail didn't feel like going so I said that I would stay with her.  Elijah had a baseball practice and Woody said that he would take him to practice.  And, Joseph fell asleep just prior to them leaving for the church so he ended up staying here too.  I have been working on my Sunday School lesson while sitting here while children slept.  Abigail had a good snooze.  She is doing very well...enjoying her yogurt, ice cream, pudding, etc.

Woody came over after Elijah's practice and ended up taking Joseph out to swing before he went back home.  While Elijah practiced, Woody went to the prayer room at church. He is now back home and I will be over here till the rest of the Dazzling Dorrells arrive back at their abode.

It's Raining! It's Pouring! Elijah Will Do No Scoring!

This is the view out our bedroom window just a few minutes ago.  And, as the title of tonight's blog tells...there will be no game for Elijah's team.  Tonight was to be there last regular game of the season with a tournament to follow later in the week.  It has been decided that tonight's games won't be made up so the tournament can begin as scheduled.

Today I have been doing several household chores...mainly in the kitchen.  We had a problem with the refrigerator over the weekend and had been working to right the problem.  We think, at least for the moment, that the problem has been solved.  I still think that something more is going to have to be done...but it is working and temperatures in both the freezer and refrigerator are back to where they are supposed to be.  Woody discovered that we had a problem just prior to church yesterday morning so he quickly took frozen items next door and put them in one of their freezers.  We brought them back today and all is well at the moment. I gave the counters a good cleaning and rearranged a couple of things...tried to place a cutting board in a different place...BUT...it just doesn't belong on that side of the sink...so moved it back...but more away from the sink so that "perhaps" water won't get under it! This afternoon I dried some of the herbs that we are growing.  I plan to go down and crumble them up and put them in their herb jars after I blog.  I also made Blueberry Cream Cheese Bars. Our Sunday School Class is having a brunch in the morning and I am taking the bars as my share of the food. They are so good! We always have many good things to eat when we get together...also lots of laughs.

Woody got up early and worked on weeding and mulching the garden that is pictured above...isn't it looking good! It looks finished from this side of the garden, but he still has work to do on Nathan and Kathy's side of the garden. He siad that it was REALLY humid while he was weeding.  Kathy came over and commented on how humid it was when she walked this morning.  I guess our air is really saturated due to all the rain that we have been having.  So we will probably be in for steamy days ahead...typical Tennessee weather!  It wasn't long after Woody came in that the rain started up again and it has rained off and on all day..  It had rained a lot last night and then several times in the night I heard it start up again.  I think that we are going from drought conditions to flood conditions!  I am hoping that drought conditions will stay away even as we get into summer.  Woody went to the Life Care Center this morning to have Bible Study with Jeff.  He also walked around and tried to visit with several other friends who reside at Life Care. He also stopped at the library as he didn't get to go on Saturday.  The rain has kept Woody from taking a walk today. He left a few minutes ago to go to church for the Monday night prayer meeting.

Now to sum up the day for me...I will tell a funny.  Our grandson, Isaac, loves to have "jammie days"...sometimes he even comes over here to have school with me in his jammies because he has declared it a "jammie day."  Well, I realized a little while ago that today has been a "jammie day" for me...I hadn't meant it to be...but...I went downstairs early to work on the refrigerator problem and then got busy on other things in the kitchen.  I guess I was comfortable and just didn't think about it.  I realized it after lunch and started to get dressed...got my clothes out...BUT...got distracted by something and just never got dressed...I guess I would have gotten dressed if Elijah had had his ball game...but...didn't have to ever go out of the house...so here I sit still in my jammies at the end of the day writing the blog!  I guess it has been a "lazy, rainy, comfy, jammie day" for me! I think that Isaac would be proud of his Grammy for choosing "his kind of day!"

More Hitchhikers + A Double Header

After Woody's meeting this morning, we headed off to pick up the girls.  They had a double header in the hot afternoon sun...well, it was cloudy for part of the time...but it was still HOT!  The games were kept on schedule so they started when they were supposed to and on the last game the ump said that we would play five more minutes and then it would be over...and when the five minutes were up we were ahead!!!  Their team won both games.  They were pretty happy on the ride back to our house.  We have had supper and now Esther is wanting to know what bedtime snack is going to be!  I'm not sure that my brain can wrap around meals AND snacks!  It's a tradition at their house to have a bedtime snack...so guess it is going to be carried on to our house.  I suggested popcorn and Esther reminded me that Joy can't have popcorn because of her braces.  So...guess that it may have to be cherry yogurt...don't know how exciting that will sound to them...but at the moment this grammy needs something simple!  I feel like I played a double header!  Tonight's middle picture shows Esther getting ready to steal from first base after she walked.  She walked three times and scored all three times.  Joy made two base hits and crossed home plate to score on one of those hits.  Well, I guess I am off to figure out bedtime snack.  We're going to read the book that Esther and I have been reading in school for their bedtime story.  I hope that my eyes stay open long enough to read to them!

On the Road Again...and Again!

This morning Goosey (Woody), Elijah, and I headed off around 6:45 to meet up with Kathy.  Once again we were meeting at the half-way mark between here and where the Dazzling Dorrells are ministering at a camp that is two hours away.  We made plans to meet back up with Kathy and Elijah late this afternoon to bring Elijah back for tonight's game.  We were part way to our meeting place this afternoon when Kathy called and said that they had a change in plans.  In the end we turned around and came back home and Kathy and Elijah drove all the way back to Tullahoma.  The game got over a while ago and Kathy and Elijah are back on the road again to go back to camp. Elijah has made good friends at camp and wants to spend Saturday with them.

Elijah's team, the Giants, lost both last night's game and tonight's...but they held their own playing against the two top teams.  They came away from both games with their heads held high!

Woody did our Friday grocery shopping at Aldis and Krogers today after we got home from our early morning journey.  We stopped at Aldis on the way back from taking Elijah this morning.  So I actually participated in some of our grocery shopping today.

Woody has a meeting in the morning and will probably go to the library after the meeting before we hit the road again...this time going to pick up Joy and maybe Esther.  Esther has made good friends at the camp so is reluctant to leave them to come back to Tullahoma to play softball.  We're not sure if we will be taking Joy (and Esther if she comes) back to the half-way meeting spot or if she/they will stay with us till their family returns to Tullahoma on Sunday.  I don't know how the Dazzling Dorrells do all their trips.  I know that my head is spinning just from the few that we have made this week!

Recall Fixed...Just in Time...

Woody got the phone call around noon that our Ford Fusion door latch recall was fixed.  I guess you could say...perfect timing...as we needed to head off to pick up Elijah for his ball game tonight.  Kathy and Elijah met us half-way between where they are ministering at a camp and our house.  It was about an hour drive for both vehicles.  We got Elijah and turned around and headed home and Kathy headed back to the camp.  This week has been an especially busy week for the Dazzling Dorrells...both having to do lots of programs and other duties along with trying to get Elijah, Joy and Esther to their games back here...a two hour drive one way if going from camp to the games.  Elijah will spend the night with us and then we will take him back to the half-way point early in the morning as he needs to be at the camp for the morning program that they are doing tomorrow: "The Prodigal Son" and Elijah is the Prodigal Son...so he definitely needs to be there to do his part!

Woody got his walk in early this morning since he knew that he would be involved with transporting Elijah from one point to another this afternoon.  As soon as we got back, Elijah and Goosey (Woody) went out to have some batting practice, while I fixed our supper.  We have eaten and I decided that it would be a good idea to blog before the game tonight since I will have a little charge to get off to bed pretty soon after the game.  I think that the camp is wearing some of them out.  Elijah has had two different swimming times today at the camp...one in the creek and one in the swimming pool.  He should sleep well tonight!  I took tonight's photo on the way to get Elijah this afternoon...everything is so green and pretty due to all the rain that we have been getting.  We even had a short shower on our way home...but so far none in Tullahoma so ball field should be okay to play on tonight.