Broch recovering at Nana's

Poor Broch, no wait poor me. Matt and Jenny had to go to Kentucky for a long weekend so we get to keep our grand dog. Well since he needed to go to the vet they made it an all in one trip. Guess what, Broch needed surgery the next day to remove a couple of tumors. That means Nana and Papa get to take him to the vet and keep him a week while he recovers. Poor Matt and Jenny couldn't smooch and hug and snuggle with him so I had to make up for it. Actually he did pretty good. He was pretty sore the first day but the next day he seemed a lot better. I had to lay a sheet over his places so he wouldn't lick them. By the end of the week he would look at me as if to say "I am so tired of you telling me to stop licking, you do understand I am a dog and that's what dog's do, right???" Well he's back home now and I'm sure the spoiling continues.

Spring Fever in the Garden

The warm weather has just made staying out of the garden impossible. I wanted to try my hand at starting some seeds this year so I got all the stuff and place orders everywhere for seed. As the orders started to arrive I realized I had ordered a lot more than I thought I did but hey they had a coupon!!!! I started some "Red" Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, parsley and couple other things. I watered them with warm water and put the dome on for humidity. Vince installed a grow light over my dryer so they would have light once they sprouted. Well they sprouted nicely and it's been nice and sunny so I've been setting them out in a semi-sunny spot everyday. They are looking good. Yes I even talk to them a little, hey you never know!!!! We put a little fresh compost in the garden to freshen that up for the spring. The compost looks like black gold thanks to the chickens and Vince turning it. I put in a few lettuce, mixed greens, oriental greens, onion, carrots and peas. Some of those have sprouted already too. I have plastic for covering them if it gets too cold at night. I think it's going to be a good year for the garden!!!

Daisy and the water bucket

So what does a cat do when you buy her pretty bowls to drink her water from...she decides she wants to drink out of the dog's water bucket. That crazy cat. I think she's getting senile. Seriously, she'll walk into the living room and just yowl at the top of her lungs for no apparent reason. She's limping quite noticeably on her front legs. They seem to be arthritic. She's beginning to look down before jumping off of things and look around for someone to help her down. Other than that she's still just as demanding as ever. There's just no telling what "that cat" will do next.

Getting organized in '09

Well evidently my wonderful thoughtful daughter thinks I need to get organized. I'm not sure she realizes I've been trying to "get" organized for the last 30 years. However, now that she is doing most of the research and leg work it's getting much easier for me. That's really nice. Recently she introduced me to the Household Notebook she read about on one of the sites she loves. She also created a document that looks like the checkbook register which will be helpful for me in a couple of areas. Maybe I can get her to find the error in my checkbook that I've just carried over for about 9 months. I know it's there somewhere??? :-) She sent me calendars for planning my meals for the month and other forms for tracking stuff. Anyway, it's always fun to learn new ways and with this household notebook it should eliminate quite a few files that I really don't need. Everything I need will be filed monthly and it's almost automatically done as I pay my bills. These young people can really be quite useful!!!! All kidding aside she's really a jewel and I am so grateful to be blessed with a daughter that's so helpful and she let's me know when I need to "update" and get with the program. Now if I could just find that notebook, I know it's around here somewhere. hehehe shhhh don't tell Jenny.

Go girls go!

Cool!!! This is the best tiller ever. I wanted to do something about the grubs and slugs in the flower bed before planting this year and so why not use the best grubbers ever. I had an extra piece of fencing so I pulled it around front and blocked off a small area where the flower bed is and invited the girls in for a treat. It took a few minutes for some to figure out how to get around to the other side of the gate and I even had to carry a few but once they were over there boy did they get to work. Some of them work really hard and stick with it looking for every bug while others will walk from one to the other waiting till they dig something up then snatching it. Ha, I've met people like that. Well it didn't take long before the soil was looking rich and black from the scratching and I saw lots of bug eating. One of them snuggled down beside the brick for a quick bath. Whew!! That was a lot of work I think I need a break now. Now I need to get some seeds started.

Spring Fever

Well I know it's still a little down the road but I just had to plant something. Last May when Jenny and Matt were moving she gave me her African Violet to re-pot. During the move it just kinda sat there and since it was doing okay I didn't rush as you can tell. I noticed a few weeks ago it had a baby so I thought I'd better give it more room. I got this pretty pot at Lowes and I already had the others. I separated the baby (poor thing) from the mother plant and re potted them both. The darker one is from my mom and it needed more space too so I did it at the same time. I guess I should take Jenny's back to her now. I will miss it though. It's so pretty. I think she'll let me keep the baby one and it will be just as pretty. It's leaves are a little floppy right now. It's probably sad cause it misses it's mommy, but I'm sure it will perk up. Anyway that gave me a little satisfaction just getting my hands in some dirt. I think I'll plant some seeds tomorrow. It will be here before you know it!!

Brrr, I don't like it!!!!

Ha, I figured chickies needed to stretch their legs and wings a little so I bundled up in my warm coveralls and mud boots and set out to spend a little time with the girls. There were a few spots where the snow had melted up toward the top of the yard so I thought they would all just follow up there. It was hilarious, the first few out of the pen started flying the minute their feet touched the white powder. A couple few over to the fence and wouldn't move from there. Three of them did follow me up to the top but didn't really seem too excited. They all kept looking down at their feet as if saying, "what is this stuff, get it off." Then I started to worry about their feet being too cold so I went back to the run and most of them followed right in. I had to go pick up the two by the fence since they still weren't moving. The three up top came walking very slowly back so I picked them up too. They seemed very happy just to stay in their run today and I can't say I was too disappointed myself. Now back to the nice warm house.