Hot Diggity Dog

  I am not sure what kept me awake last night, the breathing noises from my husband or the constant visits from the raccoon. At this time, we know there are at least two raccoons who think they have found a smorgasbord of dining pleasure in the form of two types of dog food and cat food. I saw them both quite clearly the night they kept tripping the alarm of the Ring camera that is attached to the railing of the steps leading to our door. One is very large and has dark face with lighter fur contrast. The other is smaller with less defined facial features. I assume the drab one is female and the more distinguished looking one is the male. That is nature's way. The alarm sounded from the phone of my sleeping partner and we both got up to see if we could see them a few nights ago. My husband tapped  banged on the glass of the sliding door that protected us from the night creatures. The bigger one made a dash for the opening in the screen door he had made earlier. He was fast as h...

  The heat and humidity are oppressive. I have a small window of time in the morning and another in the late afternoon to tend gardens. I feel a little guilty complaining after all the footage on the news with people losing everything in the floods. I am thankful not to have to deal with that, despite my grumpy attitude. My vegetable garden looks like a huge failure. Looks like a deer ate all my bean plants. There were in the only part of the garden unprotected by fence or netting. I do have 4 butternut squash looking good, but the yellow crookneck bloom, then do nothing else. One tiny okra withered before maturing. I saw one watermelon about the size of a quarter and then it disappeared. No cucumbers, one tomato that was rotten inside. Green beans, zero. The bushes are vining on the fence, but not producing. My flower gardens aren't much better. I planted a packet of zinnia and none came up. I thought they were coming up, but it turned out to be tall sunflowers! How? No idea. I ha...

  I like the preparation for a trip. I think it is the anticipation of the destination. Then the trip there is fun, like we are cocooned in our tiny home away from home. By the time we are ready to leave I am tired. The sink is full of dirty dishes, and the bed has been changed three times. The bathroom smells like a swamp from Dora's habitat, along with all the other bathroom smells. It will need to be steam cleaned! My mind is busy organizing what I will need to do upon arrival home. That makes me tired before I even start. The driver is grumpy, and the dogs have lost the wonder of adventure. All I want to do is escape by sleeping in my newly secured recliner, but the driver and the dogs have other ideas. Home, I am tired, but adhere to my rule of never making the trip into the house without taking along something that needs to go in. I fill my arms with stuff like our medication and a pillowcase full of laundry. With three leashes attached to my arm, I stumble along to the front...

  So, you may recall the revelation that a racoon was the culprit stealing the dog and cat food. This explains a lot, since I marveled at how skinny the cats were. When we prepared to leave, we carefully closed the doors at either end of the screened porch. The doors are screened, as well. Screen is not exactly secure; I told the man who invited all the wildlife into our yard. Did he think they would simply sit and wait quietly for his return? And why would they not share the source of available food with their forest friends? Stay with me now and I unveil my evil genius .... I have suggested that we enclose said screened porch that is 10 feet wide and runs the length of the "house", some thirty odd feet. He scoffed at the idea, telling me it would cost too much, and he wondered what a 10' X 30' room would look like. Well, I know exactly what it would look like! I have the layout in my head! It will include a living space far bigger than we currently have, a huge clos...

  Home now. The trip home was uneventful and seemed so very long! Happy to be home and blissfully tired after a morning of mowing and setting my vegetable garden right. My granddaughter, Mila took the day off Monday to spend more time with us. My son had to work, but we went out for brunch with the rest of the family. I had a great time planting lilies and iris in Mila's garden. I was left to my own judgement as to where things should go. Mila is not one to care about the yard! I showed her daughter, Alondra how to water the plants. I chose carefully. Once the plants get going, they will be low maintenance. I put a couple of hostas out, too. I had planted some hydrangeas on my last visit in pots, and I got those in the ground under the big window on the front of the house. They will flank a bevy of yellow day lilies with purple bearded iris in front of them. There will be lots of color! Didn't cost a thing beyond my efforts. It all came from my gardens. The daylilies came from ...

  The party started at 6 and lasted long after we left to go to bed! My son's new family is Peruvian and there is a good-sized Latino community here. There was lots of food and music and laughter. Most everyone was speaking Spanish very rapidly, so that the little I know in Spanish was lost! My granddaughter Mila and her daughter Alondra participate in Peruvian dancing. They both performed for us in the costumes they wear .... once again, I wish I could download pictures! Everyone had a great time. A couple of my son's friends came, and it was good to see them. They both worked with us in our business here and it was good to catch up. All of our faces showed how many years it had been since we last saw them.  I remember my grandmother telling me that time went a lot faster as you got older. I was in my teens then and chalked it up to her advancing age. I mean, how could time be faster? Time is time, after all, and the time is the same for everyone. But I have learned that she ...

  Day two of the trip went a lot smoother. After he stopped at a Walmart and bought yet another drill and some screws and secured my seat, things were calm.  We left Paducah at a reasonable time and headed northwest and drove through Missouri and on to Iowa. We stopped and drove through our old park. One of our campers had said that the barn burned and ruined a lot of equipment and we were curious. The grounds were sad looking. Most of my flower gardens were full of weeds or mowed down. The grass was in the process of being cut and it appeared it had not been cut for some time. I was a little sad about all the garden beds, but I can honestly say that I do not miss being there. We arrived in Osceola, Iowa while still light outside and parked at the RV park at the Lakeside Casino. They have nice level concrete pads to park on, and the casino has a restaurant. We like it as a stopping point due to its close proximity to the Interstate, and it used to be really nice. Now I noted o...

The trip began with me comfortably seated with my feet up in my brand-new recliner. Just as I had predicted, Mr. BoJangles found a perch on the console between the chairs. Toni Louise and Eddie were sprawled in the other recliner. This was much better than my make-shift seat on the bed made by lowering the booth table and shifting the cushions flat. My butt would become numb after about an hour on the road. Piles of bed pillows were put to use to make a back cushion and Bo liked to sit upon a couple of pillows to look out the window. I was lulled into contentment by the sound and motion of the ride and after a couple of stops to get coffee and gas up, I dozed off. Toni Louise had ventured into my lap and a jealous Eddie had pushed aside Bo and taken his place on the console to rest his silky haired head on my shoulder. He was protecting his mom from the affections of Toni Louise. He is not shy about letting everyone know that I am his person. Suddenly awakened by my forward motion, the...

  I am going to try one more time. Thus far my laptop has shut down 4 times today. I am hoping my son will fix it. We are heading north tomorrow for my son's 50th birthday party. Today has been a whirlwind of activity for me, but I will be coming home to a clean house, with clean sheets on the bed and an empty laundry basket. I also mowed this morning and loaded most of what we need to take into the RV. I am looking forward to my new seat in the RV. We removed the booth and replaced it with recliners. Actually, a loveseat recliner. I sat in it awhile ago and should have a much better ride. That is, if my dogs don't fight over the other seat. Bo will be riding in the middle console, and Eddie can take the other chair with Toni. I hope. Cleaning house this morning was a breeze. Had the washer and dryer going while I stripped the bed and then vacuumed the house and mopped. Cleaned the kitchen and bathroom. Put clean sheets on the bed and was done by 2:00. I mowed early while it wa...

  It will come as no surprise that the power washing is not yet done. We had to do it in sections and move stuff over and over. I finally made Drew go "rest" while I moved things into a semblance of order.  I was trying to get all the stuff off the table that I have dragged with us from Missouri knowing full well it is too big. I bought it on a whim in a thrift store. It is an old library table with drawers under the tabletop. It can easily seat 10 people. So, it lives on the screened in deck, porch, whatever you want to call it. I refuse to part with it. I keep those cheap vinyl tablecloths on hand to protect it from my husband. It comes in handy when we eat outside with company. I also use it to pot plants and paint rocks. It had chairs and all manner of stuff from everything that had to be moved. I was happily putting neat piles upon it, keeping things together so it would be easier to put back. Then my husband decided to "help" and just started piling things all...

  I will give it another try. Here lately I will begin a post and be deep into my dialogue when suddenly my computer freezes and then goes blank. When I get it back up and running, everything is gone. All my witty words and incorrect sentence structures are gone like a puff of wind! Of course, by them I am so irritated that I can't get back my thoughts and I just give up and do something else. How often does this happen? Too many times to count! We decided to power wash the screened in deck. I moved as much stuff as I could while the man was at the Huddle House scarfing up his cholesterol and fat laden breakfast. I know how very impatient he can be. He must have eaten in a hurry because he was back before I made a dent in all the stuff I preferred did not get saturated with water. He busied himself with the equipment. He occasionally asked for my assistance (Here, hold this). It irked me a little since I was doing the lion's share of the actual labor involved. All he wanted to ...