Monday, June 30, 2025

Goodbye, June

I thought that you might find it interesting to see a Tennessee Century Farm...it has been in continuous use as a farm for 100 years or more. I believe that I may have posted a Century Farm some time back, as we have come across them every so often on our barn trips. Nathan and Joseph stopped by this morning to pick blueberries and then came in to see me. Joseph is hanging out with his dad as others in the family are scattered about. Kathy is with her mom, as Kathy's dad passed away over the weekend. Their whole family had been in Georgia with them, but Nathan and the children came home yesterday. Four of the kids needed to get back, as the youth group at their church have camp this week. So it is just Nathan, Graham and Joseph holding down the farm. This afternoon, Nathan came back and took my car for an oil change. I decided that I wanted to make potato soup...even though is summer. Now I have the mess in the kitchen to clean up, as I didn't get the soup finished till it was time to go to Monday night prayer meeting. So I am off to do KP duty! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Spur of the Moment

Marie called this morning and suggested we head out before the rains came this afternoon...so 45 minutes after her call Marie, Carolyn, and I werer on the road. It was so spur of the moment that I ended up not getting my little point-and-shoot camera into my camera bag...left it on the couch. I had been arranging cameras and lenses into my camera bag and put it aside till I found a space for it...well...it never got into a space! Probably a good thing as I end up going to that camera over my other ones because of the powerful zoom lens. This way I just took pictures with my new camera and its newer zoom lens (not as far reaching) and another camera with a prime lens to get wide-angle shots. I have been "playing" with my photos since getting back and am pretty pleased with most of them. We did NOT miss the rain. We started out with no rain and took a few photos prior to the rain getting to us and we stayed in rain for most of the two hours that we were out on the highways and byways. So raindrops did get in a good many of the photos. I did figure out about getting location information "into" my photos. I think that my cameras are using their GPS or my iPhone's GPS...but the camera software does not show it on my iPad. I finally figured out that when I was able to see location on the iPad that I had been using either my iPad or iPhone to take the photos. So today I would at specific places take a photo with my iPhone and then the location was recorded on that photo...and...when I opened up the info about the photo, there is a map that I can click on and the photo is shown on the road that we are traveling on. So that "problem" has been solved! A barn trip = a good way to spend a rainy morning. i don't think that rained at my house while we were gone...didn't look like when I got home and the rain gauge showed no evidence. But later this afternoon, another storm blew through here and we did get some more rain. Carolyn needed to get home and we passed her house (and Marie's) before getting back to Lowe's, where I had parked my car. we dropped Carolyn off and then Marie took me back to my car...but we decided on our way to my car that Mexican sounded good so we went to a Mexican restaurant before heading to our respective homes. When I got home, I started transferring photos from my camera to my iPad...took a while...and while waiting I dozed off and got in a little nap. When I woke up those photos had transferred and I then transferred the photos from the other camera and the iPhone. I definitely have some new fodder for future blogs! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Friday, June 27, 2025

Final Friday of June

Today was a day to go Krogering. I hadn't been in two weeks...pretty much the norm these days. I realized that it is almost the end of the month and that I had better get gas and use my May Kroger gas points or lose them. So I did make a stop to get gas before I got groceries. By the time I got home and got the groceries put away, it was lunch time. This afternoon, I have spent tiime with my cameras. I'm trying to figure out how the GPS feature works on the two cameras that have it. I get it all turned on according to instructions, but I don't see the tagging of where the photos were taken anywhere in my software where I can look at details. I'm missing something...somewhere! I'm probably making it too hard! While trying to figure out this feature, I did get camera batteries recharged. Later in the afternoon another storm attempted to blow up...but mainly we just had wind and a few sprinkles. I did empty the rain gauge. The morning and evening rains that we got yesterday put a total of 2.3 inches. We have definitely had the rain lately! The dark afternoon put me in the mood to read...so that's what I did. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautiouis!

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Blueberry Thursday

Melany came this morning...a bit later than she planned, as we had a storm come up and had lots of rain over the early hours of the morning. we got over an inch. I was going to go out and check exactly how much...but it is thundering...again. Melany continued in the long garden that goes along the driveway and, she a l m o s t finished it. But she did lots of other things besides weeding...weedeated, planted some more ground cover that she brought from her house, dug out an intrusive tree...that we had cut back multiple times. This time she went down to the root...maybe she got it out and it will stay away. It was a small mimosa tree that wasn't welcome in the garden! I'm hearing rain drops...guess it is raining...again. When she got to the stopping place for today, we had lunch. After lunch, we went out to the "back forty" (my lot behind the house) and picked blueberries from the blueberry bushes that Nathan planted years ago. Nathan came yesterday and picked blueberries and told me that I should go out and pick some. So Melany and I did just that. She took home about a quart and, I kept enough for some blueberry muffins. This evening I took a few pictures of the branches with blueberries at various ripeness.Yum! Lots more to ripen and be picked over the next days...perhaps weeks! I hadn't even thought to look at the bushes this year and figured since we hadn't netted them that the birds had probably helped themselves to them and probably left not many for us to eat. Anyway, the bushes are really loaded this year...I guess...enough for the birdies and for us! It has been a nice day. I will admit to being tired and did take a short nap after Melany left. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautioius!

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Happy 4th Anniversary, Alex and Brooke!

I'm going to post early today, as I am going out to eat and don't know exactly when I will be home. Today has been a stay-in-and-keep-cool day! We continue to see highs in the 90s. I got warned a little while ago about a pending severe thunder storm...but haven't seen any signs of one...except that it is cloudy. I have enjoyed the afternoon upstairs working on a few things in my bedroom with the ceiling fan going. It is warm enough that the air conditioning has kicked on and off a few times and with the ceiling fan, it is very pleasant and I have accomplished a couple of things that I had been putting off. This evening our Sunday School class is gathering at a local restaurant for good eats and fellowship. I am looking forward to the evening. As tonight's blog title and photo indicate, it is Alex and Brooke's 4th anniversary. I've been thinking back on memories of that day! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Truly Tuesday

Not a lot to report...just that it's HOT! Donna and I did work in the library this afternoon. We assigned some books to be memorial books and went through some books we had been given to check for duplicates and too old to put into our collecton, etc. Donna took books to take to a local used book store and I took books that we were disposing of...don't worry...you would not want these books! It is hard to throw books away...reason that we get gifted with books that others can't face just disposing them on their own! Somebody has to do it...at some point...and, we accept that challenge at times! When I got home from the library, I needed to get my trash ready to take out to the curb...emptied the inside wastebaskets and gathered the recycle items. By the time I got it all to the curb, I was very aware of how hot it was. I came in and sat down to cool off and ended up taking a nap! I have stitched on my latest Christmas ornament and I finished listening to an audio book. More stitching and reading are planned for this evening. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Monday, June 23, 2025

Twenty Years Ago and One Year Ago

So this date marks days that are held in my memory. Twenty years ago today, my father died and Woody's funeral was one year ago this date. Once again, I remembered a year ago more yesterday than today, since Woody's funeral was on a Sunday. Ever since the 16th I have had a different mentality about the days that are passing me by since Woody died. And, I realized that it is the fact that on any given date between June 16, 2024 and June 16, 2025, I could look back to see what was happening in Woody's and my life "a year ago." And, now if I look back a year ago, Woody wasn't a part of my life anymore. Maybe I have that feeling more than others might, as I have the blog to look back on. Often during this past year, I would look up in the blog to see what "we" were doing a year ago. I still have the blog to look back on...but the time is no longer measured as I have been measuring it! Maybe this makes sense?!? Anyway, just an observation that I have made over the last week. But now if I look back on what was happening a year ago...it is just "widow stuff!" Tomorrow, a year ago, is the day we buried Woody...so after tomorrow this kind of anniversary is over for the time being at least! Today I finished up the downstairs spiffing up that I started on Saturday...so the stairs got vacuumed and the dusting is done. I started a new Christmas ornament, as I did finish one yesterday. I started a new book and continued listening to another one that I am in the midst of. It has been a hot day...summer has arrived. When I was coming home from prayer meeting just a few minutes ago, the car registered the outside temperature as 91°and that was around 7pm...pretty warm for that time of the evening. Nathan and Isaac stopped by this morning and mowed, weedeated, and did some bush trimming. I appreciate them doing this on such a hot day. They left to move on to their next mowing job...the Motlow College BCM yard. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Saturday, June 21, 2025

A Zoom Saturday

Today was my monthly Zoom book club meeting with some of my Cottey College alums. I had not been able to get today's book so I mainly just listened and found out about the book. I decided that I didn't mind missing this read! Before my Zoom meeting I got the Sunday School lesson printed out. I did a quick vacuuming downstairs this afternoon. I ran out of steam before I did the stairs...maybe I will find the energy before I sleep...maybe I won't! After my vacuuming, I did find time for a nap. I am in the midst of getting a load of wash out of the dryer...have a bit of folding to do now. I am close to finishing a church library book...that means a "real book." I am trying to read an actual book every so often these days. I had been having trouble holding a real book...the hand I held it with was cramping...but lately that hasn't been happening. So I figure if I don't over do it that I can read a real book now and again. I have continued to work on my current cross stitch ornament...closing on a finish. It is now recognizable as to what it is...at least to me...since I know what the end result is supposed to look like! I hope to do a little reading and stitching before my eyes close for the next/last time today. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Friday, June 20, 2025

Tea Luncheon

Today I went to lunch at a fairly new Tullahoma eatery, Tullahoma Teapot, with Vicki, Carolyn, and Marie. We had a very nice lunch and lots of good visiting and catching up with each other. Fun to try out a new restaurant. Before going for lunch, I worked some more on the Sunday School lesson. Mid morning I ran a quick errand. I was close to finishing the lesson before I left for lunch, and have it ready to print and proof read and decide if it is really completed or if I need to tweak, delete, add, or change the order of anything that I have typed into my outline...in other words see if what I have written down in my notes makes sense! I will do that proofing tomorrow. Tonight I'm ready to just sit and stitch and watch TV.

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Tiring Thursday

Tonight's photo shows one of the plants that Melany brought me when she came to work in the garden this week. Such a pretty color...almost neon! I have had a busy day at home today. Like yesterday, I ate breakfast and then got busy on the Sunday School lesson. I quit a little before lunch time. I still have one more study help to incorporate...so a little more work before it is ready to be printed out. This afternoon I spent making enchiladas. I made the two sauces that I use for them...I combine a red enchilada sauce and then pan gravy. This time I hadn't cooked a roast prior to making them so I didn't have the gravy...so I had to improvise...I sauted chopped onion, carrots, celery and garlic until soft and golden...oh, and added some of my shredded pork. After I made the gravy, I used the immersion blender to make it all smooth. Turned out quite tasty and worked well when combined with the enchilada sauce that I had made before the gravy. After I got the sauce made, I was ready to rest...I was both tired and my back was protesting. So I turned on the heating pad and then took a nap. After the nap, I was ready to assemble the enchiladas. I no longer roll the enchiladas. I layer the tortillas, sauce, black olives, shredded pork, and cheese, repeat and end with the sauce on top. I made two small pans today...one with corn tortillas and one with flour tortillas. I froze one of the pans without cooking it. The other I cooked and had a narrow (looks like an enchilada) slice for supper. When the enchiladas have baked and are hot through, I top them with more cheese and slide them back in the oven to melt the cheese. I enjoyed my repast tonight...but I will admit that this is a tiring recipe to make...and making is only the start...then there is the clean up. The dishwasher is loaded. I have already washed some of the dishes by hand, but still have more to wash. Then I will wipe down the counter tops and stove and close the kitchen down for today! But I admitt to being quite tired tonight. I have been working on my wash, too. The dryer is spinning now and I plan to get another load going in the washer shortly. I doubt that these clothes will get put away tonight...but maybe. I'll at least get them hung up or folded and leave them on the couch till I have more energy to get them upstairs. This afternoon, I went out to empty my rain gauge...in the 48 hours since I had emptied it there was 1.1 inch more. It rained this morning, but cleared up later in the afternoon. It was quite pleasant out when I went out. I hope to be able to keep awake long enough to put in a few more stitches in the Christmas ornament I am working on presently. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Mid Week and a Little Past Mid Month

This photo was taken many years ago. It popped up on my iPad today and I decided I wanted to use it again...one of my golden-oldie favorites. Today has been a slow-paced day. After I ate breakfast, I worked on the Sunday School lesson most of the rest of the morning. I did make some headway on it...still a ways to go, but a good start. I did finish the Patterson book. And, I have done a little stitching, but very little. I managed to carve out some napping time. And, other than that, I guess, I have just done a little of this and a little of that. My outdoor activities consisted of taking the garbage can back to the back of the house...and picking up a few sticks in the front yard. From that activity, I can report it was rather warm--mid 80s and the humidity was noticible. That's my weather report for the day! I plan to stitch and watch some TV this evening. so...a rather ho-hum day!

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Terrific Tuesday

This morning I spent with Jo and Carolyn. We met for breakfast and enjoyed the food, but mainly enjoyed being together catching up with each other and also chasing rabbits...our conversation went in all directions...when we are together, we are never at a loss for words! Last night Donna and I decided that we would put the library on hold for this week as we didn't have anything pressing to do there. I took advantage of the afternoon to get underway with the Sunday School lesson for this coming Sunday and I have made a little headway. I think that I will let what I read and listened to settle into my brain and do something else this evening...a little stitching and a little reading. I have made good progress on my James Patterson book, it is the latest in his Women's Murder Club series, 25 Alive. It is a very fast read so I should be through it quickly and get back to another book that will be whisked away in a few days. The Patterson book is what Libby calls a "skip-the-line" book so they only let you have it for 7 days. So that one takes priority and then I will go back to the one that is due the soonest. I'm not sure that I will get through with it in the time allowed...so it will be whisked away and I will get myself back on the list and eventually get it on down the line. We had another good rain shower this afternoon. I poured about a half inch out of the rain gauge when I got home from breakfast and when I looked out, it looks like there is about that much more in it now. I just got notification that we should expect rain tomorrow. We are definitely in a rainy cycle. We'll take it and pray that we won't get into a drought time this year...but summer hasn't arrived yet...I'm sure that we will have plenty of hot and dry days ahead of us. But for the moment the gardens are enjoying all the rain. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Monday, June 16, 2025

It Has Been a Year

Today marks the anniversary of Woody's death. In some ways it seems much longer than a year and in others much shorter. I feel that I really have two days that get me looking back to that day, as I have the date he died (16th) and I have the day (Father's Day) that he died--one and the same last year! But yesterday really had memories flooding in. Today Melany came and did more gardening for me...so we spent part of the morning and afternoon together...so that kept me busy and kept me from "looking back" too much. She got a lot more done on that side garden...but it is going to take her one more visit to complete that garden. I didn't garden, but did garden related activities. Melany and family had given me a new bird bath and a rooster solar light and some other solar lights. And, I got those ready to put in the gardens. Marie also asked me to teach Sunday School this coming Sunday, so after getting the garden items ready, I sat on the front porch and started making a rough outline for the lesson...at least it is a start! This evening I went to Monday Night Furnace Room Prayer meeting. So my day has been pretty full of activity. Melany brought a couple of new plants to put in the garden near the road. I needed to water them this evening and was going to water after coming home from prayer meeting, but I decided to water before going. Well, I should have waited, as a pretty heavy rain shower/thunderstorm rolled through while I was at prayer meeting. We have really been getting the rain lately! It was a pretty good day for Melany's gardening...it was overcast for most of the time she was working and there was a pleasant breeze and the humidity wasn't too bad. So she didn't get too hot during her gardening chores. We had a good lunch. She brought some pork chops that they grilled out yesterday and some homemade peach barbecue sauce (pretty good!) and I provided the marinated salad. Then she also brought some cheesecake from their Father's Day meal along with blueberry sauce. All was yummy! And. not much work on anyone's part today. Melany is home safely. I am home safely. She and Wade were out in their yard looking at their gardens...and their chickens (which, by the way, have started gifting them with eggs...the last couple of days each of three hens have provided them with an egg). I am now torn as to whether I am going to read or stitch. I am well underway with my next Christmas ornament, but I also had an e-book delivered that I had been waiting for...a James Patterson book...so that is hard for me to resist. We'll see as the evening progresses...maybe I have time for a little of both! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Flag Day 2025

This morning I decided that I wanted to finish stitching the Christmas ornament I was currently working on...and, I did. This afternoon I made a marinated veggie salad...lots of slicing and dicing. It is in the refrigerator letting the flavors meld before it can be enjoyed. I just got the dishes loaded and the dishwasher running. I still have a few dishes to do by hand, but for the most part I am through in the kitchrn for today. I did do a Saturday vacuum spiffing in a couple of rooms. I filed the papers that were in a stack on my sewing cutting table...so the table is just about cleared of non-sewing items. I serged the edges of some linen for some more cross stitch ornaments. I am planning on putting a strip of linen on a small cross stitch stand I have...it holds a small roller frame...that way the fabric will be taut as I stitch and I can stitch with "two hands." I can have my dominant a hand on each side of the frame and can stitch a little easier than when I stitch holding the fabric in my hand...perhaps it will speed up the process...which should help me finish the number of ornaments that I have to finish. I would like to stitch other things than Christmas at some point during the rest of the year! I am going to baste the linen to the scroll bars this evening. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! Oh, yesterday my rain gauge measured 2.2 inches of rain! We have "only" had a little rain today!

Friday, June 13, 2025

A Wet Friday

I got off to the grocery store a little later than I had planned. (I slept in a little later than usual.) But my timing was pretty good...as I was checking out, I got a message on my phone that the rain would be starting in about ten minutes. I got checked out quickly and got the groceries loaded in my trunk and headed home. When I was almost home, the rain started. It was raining pretty hard as I drove into my driveway, so I opened the garage door and pulled in and just sat till it let up. I didn't have any groceries that needed to get into the fridge or freezer immeddiately so the wait was fine. It started lessening and I was thinking about running between raindrops, but it was still thundering so I waited. It wasn't very long and it stopped and the sun came out. I got everything in before the next rain rolled in. It started again as I was taking in my last load. So pretty close to perfect timing...if I had gotten started just a little earlier, I would have avoided the rain all together. The rain has come and gone throughout the afternoon and on into the evening. What I can see of the rain gauge through the rainy windows, it looks like we have gotten quite a bit of rain. And, I don't think that it is over yet. The rain put me in the mood to stitch and read...so that is how I spent this rainy afternoon after I got the groceries put away. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Thursday, June 12, 2025

She Came Back!

Melany got here a little before 9am and worked until lunch...and we ate closer to one than noon. So she worked hard! Tonight's photo shows one of the gardens that she worked on. This is the garden at the head of our driveway...she got that one totally weeded and also finished the part of the side garden (that runs a good part of the side of the driveway. I did include one of my gardener that I snapped with my phone and I couldn't see very well and she moved...she was throwing away a weed in the bucket behind her. She did some transplanting of some ground cover that she brought from her house. When she was weeding the garden at the head of the driveway she found some small pieces of some of last year's plants that must have reseeded...so she moved them into better spots. After lunch, she weed eated until the weedeater's battery ran down. Then she loaded up and headed back home with plans in her head to return next week for more, of what I see as torture!!! Today I didn't send much time outside as I decided to make a casserole for our lunch. I did take on the duty of watering the new transplants this evening. I have done that duty and am in for the evening with plans to stitch on the latest ornament that I am working on. The one I started over the weekend is well underway and I am pleased with it...the first of the "farm" ornaments is going well...many to go! This one knows the way to carry the sleigh! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Wednesday Workings

Tonight's photos show my balloon flowers...one when it is still in ballon stage and then the other when the balloons have "popped"/opened. Right now they are in full bloom in one of the gardens...very pretty to see all the bluey-purple color interspersed in that garden. Speaking of gardens, Melany is coming in the morning to do more weeding. I have worked some more on getting things put away upstairs and have made some fairly good progress. There are a lot of little knit picky things to do when putting/finding a place for thee items...for example I had some photo prints that needed to be put in the Christmas scrapbooks...these I needed to find what year they were from and then I just slipped the enveloope next to the page where they belonged. Then there were the shirts from Woody's work that I had used for ornaments last Christmas. Well...I still haven't made the stitched pieces into the ornaments for Melany and Wade and Nathan and Kathy. So I really don't need to keep the whole shirts that I was using but needed to be sure that I saved plenty to complete the ornaments. I also used some of the buttons from the shirts when I finished the other ones so I clipped off more buttons that I would need for these. Like I said...lots of little details that I needed to do before I could clear off the space that the shirts were taking up. The leftover pieces of the two shirts have met file 13 and I have a nice neat stack of stitched pieces that are waiting to made into ornaments along with some of the things I will need to finish them. I will be adding the stitched ornaments that I have completed in the last week or so to that pile. There were some papers that I needed to file...did that. Anyway, I am well underway...now to complete the "project" before I start piling more things on the table!!! I really do want to use my cutting table for its real purpose...cutting out patterns...because I really want to get back to sewing. Speaking about patterns, I learned today that all the major names in pattern making...McCalls, Simplicity, Butterick, Vogue...will no longer be making patterns as they have been sold to a liquidator...hard to believe that they will no longer "be!" They have a loooooong time in history been there for us sewers...but no longer. I am glad that I have a pretty good stash of patterns that I can continue to use. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Totally Tuesday!

Tuesday didn't end up as busy as I thought it was going to be last night when I wrote the blog. I had plans to go out for breakfast with Jo and Carolyn, but Carolyn isn't feeling well so we postponed our plans for today and will put that on the calendar when she is feeling better. I also had plans to work in the church library with Donna and we did do that. We did maintenance and a little nore weeding and had fun catching up with each other's worlds! I ran an errand on the way home and am now home for the evening. I just realized that I got busy inside once I got home and need to empty the wastebaskets in the house and get them out to the trash can. I rolled the garbage can out to the road when I got back home, but forgot to finish the task! It is still light so I will do that as soon as I publish this. Today I went back to sorting things on and in Woody's dresser. I had started doing that months ago, but had put that task aside to move on to something else and am now back to it. I did get underway with the next Christmas ornament...so now doing ornaments for family and friends who live close at hand...there are more of those than I have already made...so really only getting underway with the ones that I have completed...many more to go! But I am enjoying choosing ones that seem to "fit" each person I am stitching them for...the ones I am working on now have a farming theme...hmmmmmm...I wonder who those recipients might be! I found these patterns/charts in a cross stitch magazine from years gone by...as in 1990...a magazine that is almost 35 years old! Old...but still perfect for what I am doing. I always knew that I would use these magazines that I have saved! I told Woody several years back...that I had plenty of charts, etc. and that all I would need to buy would be linen and threads to stitch them on and with! True to my word! I rarely buy new charts these days. I am enjoying stitching on what I purchased over the years...liked what I bought way back when and still like them today. Now...there are some things that I purchased years back that I probably won't end up stitching as my tastes and the times have changed since then...but, samplers and Christmas ornament patterns really haven't changed in style...so on I stitch with purchases from the past! There is an acronym used for stitchers like me...Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy = SABLE...that's me a SABLE stitcher! And, I will add in here that what I have accumulated over the years is waaaaaaay less than what I see with the stitchers that I watch on Flosstube/YouTube for stitchers! I sit with nouth agape when I see ALL that some have accumulated. I have a very small stitching stash in comparison...but mine is plenty big and I will definitely not be able to stitch all that I have accumlated before I die...just stating facts!!!! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Monday, June 9, 2025

Another Monday

Another day...another Monday...they just keep rolling by! I can't believe that we are into the second week of June. I decided that the first thing that I would do today was complete the Christmas ornament that I was almost finished with last night before I fell asleep. I tiredd to finish it last night, but just couldn't keep my eyes open long enough. When I completed this orrament, I have completeed the last ornament that I need to stitch that I will send out of town. It is very good to have those done. I still have to make them into ornaments which takes some time to do, but no where near as much time as it takes to stitch all those little Xs! Joy came over this afternoon and cut my hair...so it was a very good day...hair cut days are always very good days! This evening I headed off to church for Monday Night Furnace Room Prayer Meeting. I am home and plan to watch a little TV and get things ready for my next ornaments. When I was looking through cross stitch magazines a while back, I put aside several magazines that ornaments that I wanted to stitch. One of the magazines has multiple ornaments that I want to stitch...am going to start on one of those. I started pulling thread out a little before I went to prayer meeting. I will check and see that I have found them all and put them in a basket. I still have to decide on the linen fabric I want to stitch them on. Onward toward Christmas for my stitching...only a little over six months till Christmas so it is time to get going on them in earnest! I will set aside a day to finish them into ornaments on down the road a bit. I still have a little patriotic pillow that I need to finish. I did think about getting it made today...I did move the stitched flag and some fabric to use in the finish...just never actually got out the things that I need to get underway with it...but it is closer to the sewing machine! I put away a few things today that didn't have a home...trying to once again clear off my sewing cutting table (the place that all homeless objects seem to land). We had another rainy period this afternoon. We have certainly been in a rain pattern lately! Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious.

Sunday, June 8, 2025

Saturday, June 7, 2025

Saturday: Partly Sunny…Partly Stormy

I woke up to the sun shining, but by the afternoon, the promised rain did come through. Again, we had two different rain storms come through...the first produced just a little thunder and a little rain. But the second one came through with strong winds and more thundere and more rain. I happened to be going out to the laundry room when the strongest hit and I was really surprised at how dark it got and how strong the wind was blowing through the trees. It bleew a pot with one of my tomato plants in it over. And it "flattened" three of my tomato plants that are in a cement planter. In other words, the planter was too heavy so the plants just got blown over and were tall enough that the tops were laying on the ground. After it passd by I went out to set my tomato plant in the pot back up and I found some stakes to prop up the other three tomato plants. They are flowering and have a few baby tomatoes on them...so I didn't want them to end up broken off. They seemed to be none the worse for wear! I was surprised at how many small branches were blown down on the ramp. I picked those up and picked up a few on the side of the ramp near the house. Between the two storms we got a little over an inch of rain. I like these inches of rain that we have been getting...means that I don't have to do much watering with the hoses! One of my goals today was to get the cross stitch ornament I was stitching on finished and to start on another one...both of those goals were met. The good thing about this new ornament that I started stitching today is that it is the last one that I need to stitch that I mail out of town. The rest I stitch willl be for local family and friends. We are getting close to the haf-way mark to Christmas so that is when I have to up the speed of getting ornaments done. And, of course, none of these ornaments are really "done!" They are stitched, but still have to be finished into an ornament...but the stitching part is what takes the longest time...so I am in a very good place. I lacked a lot of energy today so it was a good stitching day! Yesterday I finished reading the public library book I had been reading and an audible book of this same series came up in my library app, Libby. So I decided that I would borrow it and listen to it while I stitch. I started listening to it sometime yesterday and have let it run in the background of whatever I have been doing...stitching, doing a little work in the kitchen, etc. Well, by this afternoon, I was getting close to the finish so I sat back with stitching in hand and decided that I would finish listening to it. At some point, I must have dozed off...and...when I awakened, the book had finished! Now to back up enough to find out exactly how it ended...it was a mystery...I do know part of the mystery...but not totally sure of "who done it!" One of the perils of me listening to books...it's easy to fall asleep and then have to figure out where you were when you fell asleep! I do know the chapter number of where I started listening before dozing off...so I should be able to go back enough to get the last details of this mystery! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Friday, June 6, 2025

Friday Once Again!

It really doesn't seem possible that it is already Friday, again...and, that almost one week of June is over. Time flies when you are having fun and even when you're not. I haven't had the greatest day today. I don't know if I was just tired from "all" my activity yesterday or if it was the weather front that was approaching. But I haven't felt like doing very much. That was good for finishing another book and doing a little more stitching. One reason that I chose not to do much, but pretty much stay in my chair most of the day was because one of my knees was bothering me. I put the heating pad on it and rested for a while this morning and that seemed to help. I tried not to go up and down the stairs very much. But when I needed to go get something a little while ago, I noticed that my knee wasn't bothering me like it was when I came downstairs this morning. My knee could also be from the front that has been approaching. I assume that the first of the weather that wasa expected today and tomorrow has passed us by so maybe barometric pressure is more stable than earlier. I did get a quick sewing project done that Kathy had asked me to do. I was glad to finally pick that up and do it. We did have a couple of rain showers come through late in the afternoon. I emptied the rain gauge earlier in the day...so whatever is in it now is from the latest of our rains. I didn't need to go to the grocery store today so I had another stay-at-home day...which I was glad not to have to go any place. i got the clothes put away that I washed yesterday so that was a good job done. I plan to continue taking it easy this evening. Maybe I will have more energy tomorrow?!? To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Thursday, June 5, 2025

A Visit from my Gardner Daughter!

Melany arrived this morning with the back of her vehicle packed with needed equipment. She attacked the garden that runs along the driveway with a vengeance! She worked so hard and made a good dent in the weeds in that garden...but unfortuneatley there are plenty more for her next gardening visit, which may be next week. I kept busy...but not with weeding. I watered my herb gardens on the patio...first time to water the gardens this year. I also watered the gerber daisies at the end of the driveway. I sprayed off the filter that goes in our downstairs air return and sat it on the ramp to dry...I kept going back to it turning it up and down and backwards and forewards letting the wind blow through and the sun shine on it. It dried fairly quickly. I had been wanting to clean that filter for a while, but our weather hadn't cooperated with all the rain that we've had. But today was a good day for doing that. I cleaned my hummingbird feeders and made new nectar for them...again, a job that I had been needing to do. The squash plants that Wade planted seemed to have a problem...white powdery substance on some of the leaves. Melany and I looked it up on the internet and found that a baking soda solution could solve the problem...so I made that solution and sprayed the plants. Tben I warmed the lunch that Melany brought for us. We enjoyed our lunch. Melany planted a plant behind the mailbox (Thanks, Linda!) after lunch and then packed up all she brought back into her vehicle and she was off so she would be in time for a hair appointment back in Murfreesboro. It has been a good and packed day. I am sure that Melany is tired, as she did soooo much more than I did, and, I ended up taking a good nap after she left! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Wednesday

This barn has seen better days...looks pretty good from the from the front...but the sides really had a problem. I wonder if a storm blew through it! Today, I have once again stayed at home and enjoyed the day doing a little of this a little of that. I guess the main job that I wanted to do today was my wash and I am still doing that. I may not get done with this task till tomorrow. But at least I have started it. Melany plans to come in the morning to work in my gardens. I know she will make great headway with them. At the moment the weeds are just overwhelming to me. It has been another quite warm day with the high in the mid 80s. I have pretty much stayed inside. So I really haven't noticed if it has been hot or not. I enjoyed the potato salad today and I stir fried some yellow squash and zucchini to go with it along with some of the Pork tenderloin that I had roasted a couple of weeks ago and had put in the freezer...I had some of the gelatin salad for dessert...pretty good meal. Melany is bringing something from her freezer for our lunch tomorrow so we won't have to cook. Being well fed around here! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Technically Tuesday

It is hard for me to be totally sure that it is Tuesday, as Donna and I didn't go to the church to work in the library this afternoon. At the moment we are pretty much caught up with "have-to-do" library work. So if either of us has something else on our calendars,it is easy to skip a work day. Today was one of those days. Though, I did "technically" do some library work today, as I returned a call to someone who had a question about donating books. So the library wasn't totally forgotten today. I mentioned last night that I was in the mood for some salads...yesterday I made a gelatin salad...and that I was considering making a potato salad today. And, I did muster up enough energy to do just that. It is in the refrigerator getting cold. I am looking forward to eating it once it is well chilled. Making a potato salad made quite a mess in the kitchen. I have started on the clean up. I have the dishes that will fit in the dishwasher and those that can't, I will wash by hand when I get my next spurt of energy this evening. In my down time today I have done some stitching...and...some napping. I have done some texting with friends and also had a conversation or two on the phone. It has been a very warm day...summer is approaching...and, it is beginning to feel like it. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Monday, June 2, 2025

It’s June!

Hooray! I have the new keyboard working for the blog. I struggle with it each night to get it to work and most of the time it doesn't work. Often my blogs are much shorter when I can't get it to work! Maybe not working is a blessing to my readers!!! We really had a nice celebration with Esther yesterday. There were family and friends at their house to help her celebrate this milestone in her life. Wade, Melany, and Erin picked me up and we headed over to the Dorrell farm. We ate and visited for a while, then headed back home. In the end Alex and Brooke didn't come, as Brooke wasn't feeling well. So I "almost" had all my grandchildren gathered together in one place! Melany, Wade, and Erin left the party with some extra critters--chickens! As we drove to my house, Erin named them = Henrietta, Ducky and Lucky. I guess they have settled into Melany's new chicken coop. They are hoping for eggs! Since I had a pretty busy weekend, I didn't choose to do a lot today! I did do some cooking. I have decided that the temperatures are rising so I wanted to make some salads. Today I made a gelatin salad. I guess these days gelatin salads are not as popular as they once were, but I still like one every so often. I "may" get up the energy toto make the potato salad that I have planned to make this week. I went to prayer meeting this evening and am now back home and ready to start the dish washer and settle in for the evening. I'm planning to watch some needlework shows on YouTube and stitch. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Today We Celebrated Esther's High School Graduation!

Esther receiving her diploma from her principal, her dad!