Random Musings

My oldest niece graduates from college next week. This past weekend was her last college musical, and it was none other than "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". For those who didn't know, I've been an avid Peanuts fan since I was 8 years old. The following photos are from Welch College's facebook page, showing Em singing "Suppertime". Yes, she was Snoopy. :)  Her younger sister, who is a junior, is the one in red. Of all the parts she had, I think "Suppertime" was one of my top two favorites. (The other was the scene involving Crabby Lucy.)  We crammed a LOT into this weekend trip, but hopefully I can post more pictures this weekend.

With my last seed order I ordered a book (yeah...that book buying moratorium is a lot like my fabric buying moratorium...only the ones I absolutely NEED/WANT) that deals with saving the seeds from plants. For many plants, it's not that big a deal, but there are some heirloom plants that if you don't save the seeds from year to year you run the risk of not being able to find those seeds. So I thought it would help if I actually read HOW to do it instead of throwing away moldy seeds or planting seeds and having nothing come up, which has happened a few years. So the last few mornings, when my students have a 30 minute test stretch, I've been trying to read a few paragraphs. And I've learned that wasps, which I hate and make me swell like nobody's business, do NOT pollinate the flowers, but bees do. What really and truly shocked me is that FLIES are good pollinators as well. Yes, nasty flies, that crawl all over animal poop like it's a pot luck and carry diseases...

There are times when life is crazy, and then there's time I wonder if it's really life that is crazy, or me. At the moment I'm leaning more towards me. Our tiller is in the shop. When we dropped it off, I was expecting to get a call that it was ready by the end of the week. We weren't told otherwise. I finally called Saturday morning, and was told "We told your husband it would be three weeks before we could look at it." I didn't reply that I was WITH my husband when WE dropped it off, and no such thing was said, as it wouldn't change anything nor would it help them get to our machine any faster. And it IS a busy time of year for lawn mower service repairmen. So Saturday I started hoeing, did one row and a half and quit with blisters. Today after proctoring achievement tests we drove to Fuquay (a nearby town). Their Home Depot actually RENTS service equipment. Even with the 30-45 minute drive home and back,  I was still able to till the garden and st...

We had a 24 hour "community outage" with the phone company. I know everyone on the dirt part of Bryan Rd had no phone or internet for that time frame. And at times like that I realize just how much I use the internet. Bobby was laughing at me because I had several things online that I had on my to do list (you know, important stuff, like research puppies, etc) that didn't get done. In the meantime, the bathroom project of removing wallpaper is finally finished AND cleaned up, and I hope to receive a price quote from a painter today. I started tackling my sewing room yesterday, and while no one else would walk in and think "PROGRESS!!!", I certainly do. There's so many things I need to get done before my family comes in May, and I'm quickly running out of time to get it all done. Meanwhile, there was another raccoon in the hen house yesterday. A dead one. We don't know for sure which way he made it in, but we know he tried to go out through the bo...

The last 15 years of my life I have seen more wildlife than any of previous years. Coyotes, foxes, possums, raccoons, deer, rabbits, beavers, owls, herons, osprey, snakes, field rats, and now....a muskrat. Bobby saw it in the yard and we weren't exactly positive what it was. Neither of us had seen one before. So we googled it, and sure enough, it was a muskrat. Think beaver, but with a snake-like tail and much smaller front teeth. And of course, they're much smaller than beavers. There's a stray dog that has been coming and going at our place for a few months now. We think he may have been the one to discover it and place it outside our dog's fence line. We've not seen any more since then, but it was an interesting discovery, to say the least. So if you've ever wondered what a muskrat looks like, now you know.

About a month ago I was amazed as I'd leave in the mornings for work how much construction had taken place the day before. I did manage to get a few photographs, but have not had time to load them before now.  So here's the old updates from my bedroom window... As they scalped the landscape, the came across a very large rock. This is only part of it after it was dynamited and drilled. They're still drilling on it a month later (can the noise PLEASE stop?!?!) We took these photos the one night I got home early enough to walk before it went totally dark. Here they'd just poured the concrete for the main section of the building. Looking back at the machine parking lot and our house. You can see the scaffolding going up! Scaffolding has moved up quite a bit and the height of one doorway is now completed.

Often when I have a lot of things to do, I find that making a list helps me prioritize and not forget anything important. But there are times, more than I care to admit, when that is not the case. I have this nice long list made it a day/days before, and the day ends and....only one thing, or less, is crossed off.  Case in point: Yesterday's List of Things To Do:  - find a place for glass jars  - clean the chicken house  - change batteries in dog collars  - Call the Dr's billing dept.  - Call a painter  - CD to cousin  - get out cooler for Wed  - wire peas and plant the 2nd row (carryover from Mon)  - finish removing bathroom wallpaper/glue paper  - ironing What I Actually Did Yesterday:  - finished sorting slides  - covered plants for cold weather  - cleaned chicken house  - spent time at Lowe's with Bobby  - ran 2 errands  - vacuumed the bedroom  - cleaned up some yard debris...

Several years ago a friend of mine went though a very low valley in her life. It was one of those scenarios that even though you see coming you're never really prepared for the depth of it. And as the descent was about to pick up pace rapidly, we were preparing to head out of town. Later she commented on the people who weren't there for her when she needed it most. And in many ways, she was right. Physically, I wasn't there.  I met with a mutual friend before I left and gave money to ensure that some needs they would have during that time would be met. But I sent e-mails, I made a special trip to the store for a card, meaning instead of going to bed at 1am before having to start getting up at 4am, I went to bed at 2am.  With every prayer and most of my thoughts throughout that weekend her name was uttered up in supplication. And yet, my journey to check on my parents continued, because those planned times are rare and very important to me. But in hindsight, most of those th...

I don't know what it is about having people come that makes you tackle projects you wouldn't normally take on. My niece is getting married in May, so two of my siblings and my parents will be coming to stay with us (some for just one night) that week. So there's a few projects that have been roaming in the back of my mind that are finally getting tackled. Both of them need doing, but since one was in an area of our house that we don't use too often it's not had top priority. And that's probably one of the biggest differences between me and my husband. If there's something that needs to be done, he does it. Immediately. He may think it through first, but there will be absolutely no procrastination. Me?  Hahaha. I'm almost the total opposite. I'll mull something over in my mind FOREVER before I move on it. And that movement may be actually beginning to research it or look at options, not necessarily start the project itself. If it weren't for d...