What can you do in a week?
Well let me see.
1. You can screw up your ability to get pictures from your camera onto the blog.  What in the heck is a MIME?  Going to have to call Les this morning for help.
2. You can get an OK from the foot surgeon on Tuesday saying that your right foot is healed and he is ready to do the other one.  Unfortunately a cracked rib says you ain’t!
3. You can take poor Brandy back to Dr. Buck’s office on Thursday to find out that the scratched eye is a little better but continue the drops and come back in a week.
4. You can wake up every morning not knowing if this is a pain or a painless day until you start moving around.
5. You can go shopping on Wednesday for the fixings for tea sandwiches for a project you promised to do.
6. You can spend time with your daughter when she comes to visit on Thursday for a while but you aren’t the greatest company she has ever had.
7. You can start work on the fillings for the tea sandwiches that Jay will help you finish when he gets out of dialysis on Friday.  See Jay’s Jammin’ for a run down of the results that took until after 11 pm to finish.
8. You can spend Saturday alternately napping and trying to sew squares together for Grammie Pammie.  Not a pretty sight folks—-she might not want them when I get done with them.  But at least each strip looks a little neater than the last one and maybe by the time I get the third one done it may pass for presentable.
9. You can smile on Saturday afternoon saying I’m glad the bridal shower guests like our sandwiches and accept a thank you from the Bride-to-be. You know we really do love doing projects like that. 
10. You can finally catch up on the blog and e-mail reading and then post so someone doesn’t send the ‘wellness police’ to check on you.
11. You can say good night to everyone and go to bed because it is 1:42 am and only avid bloggers and fat old ladies sit in front of a lighted screen, in a corner of the room, blathering on like they had something to say that you were dying to hear.  GOOD NIGHT MY FRIENDS!

I found it!!!!  Three copies of Medical 2008 January through May stuck in the wrong file folder.  I knew that I had printed it but be darned if I could find it.  I started June through ? this morning and put a copy of January through May in three different places. 

The yard this morning thanks to neighbor Steve looks absolutely great.  Of course Jay’s job mowing the grass that had grown underneath the fallen tree helped to enhance the beauty!

We have a few more dead ones to remove as the money becomes available.

A check on the barrels this morning shows all is well.

I also looked at the Butterfly bush that I had run over with the mower.

Much to my delight it has decided to grow despite my careless treatment. 

This is all for today because being helpful yesterday has taken a toll on my chest.  So I’ll take a magic pill and sleep awhile.  Have a great Sunday!

Well it has been a week and a day since I decided to smooth out the bedroom carpet with my face.  It has not been fun.  A lot of crawl into bed and wait for the pill to take effect.  I must confess that the last two days have been a little better and I think I might just live!  I have been lurking a little around the blogs but I didn’t have a good thing to say about breathing, walking, sitting, standing, or laying down. 

Brandy’s visit to the Vet turned out to be a scratch on her eye ball so I have been putting drops in it three times a day.  She has a return appointment next Thursday to see how she is doing. 

My appointment with the orthopedic surgeon is next Tuesday but I have a feeling the cracked rib is going to delay any decision on surgery until I’m better. 

The big tree that we lost in a storm a couple of weeks ago is gone.  Steve, Phyllis’ husband, came over. cut it up and haul all the mess away.  Jay and I tried to help but we are piss poor clean up people. 

We have been getting a decent amount of rain so the veggies in the barrels are doing well.

Well I pulled another dumb stunt the other day.  I accidentally erased my list of medical expenses for the year so far so I’m going through calendars, my budget sheets, and the receipts to reconstruct the thing again. I do this about once every two years and swear that I will print out each month but never do.  Oh well someday I’ll learn I hope. 

I also committed a social blunder—forgot my dear friend Pammie’s birthday.  She was another year older on the 18th. 

I guess that is pretty much an update around here for the last few days. I hope all is going a little better for you!     

B.T.C.R. I managed to get the Impatiens off the chair and into the ground. 

The Catalpa tree in the front yard has realy taken off after all our showers. 

Also the Rose Of Sharon in front of the bedroom window is also loving all the water.

After the mishap on the 13th I managed to get to Courtney’s open house on Saturday but spent most of Sunday flat on my back dozing when the pain pills kicked in. 

Yesterday a trip was in order to Wolverton’s Nursery to pick up two flats of strawberries before we missed the season .  Set up at the kitchen table me hulling on one side and Jay slicing on the other.

We worked most of the day with a couple of trips to the store for pectin, sugar, and jars worked in and ended up with this.

We have 14 half-pints of Strawberry Rhubarb Jam Made with the recipe from Owl Haven’s June 10th entry!  Good stuff yum!  Also 36 half-pints of Strawberry Jam ( the Sure Jell recipe). 

I spent this morning getting the canning equipment ready to go back down to the basement but I’m not moving it with the pain in the side.  Nope I just took a pain pill and I’m off the doze awhile!

As we arrived preparations and setup were already in progress.  Family was bringing in things from the kitchen, setting up platters of meats, cheese, fresh veggies, chips, and crackers with several dips on the side.  Chafing dishes containing homemade meatballs in gravy, mashed potatoes (made by Anne) and two different pasta dishes.  The tables were adorned with different chocolate suckers in pirate shapes, assorted candies, bags of different nuts, little containers with 2008 on them, and lots of balloons.

At the back of the room was this memory table.

In another room was a video presentation created by Les that showed films and stills of Courtney from infant on up.  Several birthday parties were included in it brought back some sweet memories. 

The graduate with her new hairdo was as busy as everyone else getting things set up, asking people if they wanted anything to drink, and greeting people as they arrived,

Family and like family were there to help Courtney celebrate.  Clyde and Nancy are known as Skyline on our E-mail.

Dar of ‘Too Much To Say’ and Michael writes ” The King’s Corner’ are seen on my sidebar.

Then it was time to eat and everyone lined up to fill their plates. 

Kathleen took time for a well earned sit down and a little bit to eat.

Now due to the pain f my mishap I was unable to get pictures of several others who attended.  My apologies to the following ;

Daughter Cindy and son in law David
Shane my clowning partner and dear friend who marched in many a parade with Courtney and I.
Bob and his friend ( Les’ long time friends)
Mr. and Mrs McCormick and their family (Kim’s Dad ).
My sweet hubby Jay
And anyone else that were gracious to attend.  Thank you all for the memories.

An added thank you to Diane of Normal .IL.(Mrs. Dof )

Any one who knows Courtney knows she will use this well.

An unlucky day, it sure was for me.  I had just finished dressing, had turned off the bedroom light, tripped over my extra pair of shoes and slippers, and fell on my face with my right arm tucked against my chest and cracked a rib.  A slightly swollen right knee that finally got better as the day wore on and an abrasion on my left elbow.  X rays at the doctor’s office pronounce the knees o k but the rib was definitely cracked.  Oh well shit happens at the most inopportune times.  But I did get Brandy to the Doggy Depot for her summer cut before I got into the Doctor’s office.

Tomorrow is Courtney’s Graduation Open House so I’ll try to get some pictures! 
My chest hurts like I have a tit caught in a washing machine wringer so I’ll close for now!

I’m back and you didn’t even miss me did you.  Loss of electricity yesterday morning pretty well shut my mouth for a little while.  But it came back on this afternoon.  It seems a big tree didn’t like the wires running under it so it fell and took them with it.  We have a generator so we weren’t totally in the dark(another little joke).  But we turned it off at night when we went to bed.  I did manage to get Brandy to the Vet’s office for her booster but we both looked pretty shoddy with no bath and all. 

This morning I ran the dishwasher and then the clothes washer.  I couldn’t use the dryer because the generator can’t handle it.  So I did something I haven’t done in a long time.

Yep that is clothes hanging there on that clothesline with real clothespins!!!  They all got dry and are folded ready to be put away now.

During the last two days the two Peony plants have burst into bloom.

Some day I hope to get a couple of different colored ones to add to the mix. 

Back during Mother’s day Cindy had brought me a Hyacinth pot with three separate plants in it.  Also her half dead Snap dragons to plant.  Well They like it here I guess because here are two of them and it looks like I may have some more coming on.

I’ll keep a close eye on the remaining plants to see if we caught them in time too.

Well I have some blog visiting to do and Email to catch up on so I’ll leave you for now. 

Yesterday Jay’s sister Marilyn (who broke her ankle recently) told Jay that it was a good day to deliver the barrel he had promised her.  She lives with another of his sisters, Jacki, in Mt. Clemens, MI.  So John, behind us, loaded it on the pickup and we took a partially filled recycle bin full of the mixture to top off the barrel when we got there.

We stopped in Lake Orion at Wes’ house and picked up our truck ramps for unloading the barrel..  Then it was off to Jacki’s place, Jay, Brandy, and me .  Upon arriving Jay discovered we had left our trusty dolly behind.  How to get the barrel from the ramps, around the corner of the house, and onto the patio!  Luck was with us because Jacki had a Radio Flyer, red wagon, that she hauled dirt and plants in.  So we slid the barrel down the ramps where the wagon was parked at the bottom.  Jay tipped the barrel as I slipped the wagon far enough under it to be able to pull it around to the spot they wanted. 

Then it was back home where I added a flat of Impatiens, that daughter-in-law Debra gave me while I was at Wes’, to the chair on the porch.  But there would be no planting that day because our barrels had to be filled.  It looked like rain and we were pooped  

This morning in the sunshine we started our work.

For those of you not old enough to know what the WPA—don’t sweat it—it is an old people’s memory thing.

Our first plant in.  I call it Jay’s cheater plant because he always buys one with tomatoes already on it.  Then he buys the other ones a little younger. 

Now we have it.  Six barrels filled—four with different types of tomato plants, one with peppers, and one with mush melon plants.  This leaves us with five more barrels to mix the fillers for, top them off, and plant what ever else we decide on.  Of course the poor flowers are still sitting on the chair waiting for my stamina to recharge.  Maybe tomorrow because I ain’t no farmer and I run out of gas once in a while. 

Around 1:30 this afternoon I heard a loud thud.  Thinking that the wind might have blown the umbrella and table over on the deck I went out to check.
Sure enough the umbrella was on it’s side and the table tipped half way over.  I righted everything and went back inside. 

About a half hour ago I went down to get the mail and newspaper and found this in the front yard.  The piece that had broken off reached almost to the front ditch.  As you can see a good part of it is still standing.  I’ll have to check with my neighbor John to see if he wants it and will take it away.

It certainly looks like I’m going to have to have the tree trimmer back in to take two more clumps out before something serious happens. 

By the way the wild bird seed is in the coffee cans and I cleared away most of the weeds in the barrels as I had promised despite the almost 90 degrees.  There was a brisk wind so that helped keep the working bearable.  (That of course is what also blew down that tree. ) 

Let me start by apologizing to Mrs Dof for giving her an early Birthday.  It seems my wishes were due on the tenth of June instead.  Goodness knows a person needs every day of life they can get when they are ‘39’ or older. 

Next to grandson Dakota…..

…..a big Happy ‘Brithday’ ( a family joke).  I know this is the right day!  He is now a freshman in high school!  Darn it I can’t stop these guys from getting older!

On to plants!

Brandy and I took our morning walk around the yard and found the following sights of interest. I seem to be waking up at 6:30 am every morning and have the urge for a cup of coffee, a visit to the throne, and a look /see out in the gardens around the dome. 

The Columbine is blooming in two different spots.

I also found the name of the vine with the little pink flowers at McDaniel’s farm market the other day.

This is called Cotoneaster and it is a pretty persistent plant.  Moving it did nothing to slow down it’s growth. 

The delight of my morning walk was the new bloom out on the berm. 

It started out at 72 degrees at 6:45 this morning and by 7:45 it had all ready climbed to 74.  We can expect close to 90 so I want to get my breakfast over with and go out and clean the weeds out of the barrels.  Jay has dialysis this morning so depending on how he feels the the barrels will be refilled with a mixture of peat moss, vermiculite, and compost on top the wood chips all ready in them.  Otherwise Saturday morning we will finish that off and get the vegetable plants in. 

Next for me today is to put the wild bird seed I picked up yesterday into coffee cans for storage and get the suet cakes into the freezer for ease in handling when I fill the suet hangers for the birds. 

Oh speaking of freezers I found a place for rhubarb yesterday while I was out getting the truck fixed ( new pins for the driver’s side door, running boards fixed and the one reattached, and couple of other things corrected).  I cut up and froze seven pounds of rhubarb last night so bring on them strawberries, blueberries, and apples because I’m ready to can!!

Enough lolly-gagging around my friend because the grass is also getting deeper in the yard and I got a new battery in the lawn tractor Yes!!!!