Memorial Day - 2010

Remembering Jacob at the first Memorial Day service at the new Veteran's Memorial at Bethany Lakes Park, where there is a stone for Jacob,and at the memorial services at the cemetery where Jacob was one of eight servicemen named.

Dad alway tried to harvest the first tomato by Memorial Day

Well - here they are dad - a day before! We've harvested some cherry tomatoes, beets, chard, onions, squash, and zucchini - along with a daily harvest of blackberries, but a few days ago I was wondering if the tomato would make it by Memorial Day. Most every gardener I've heard from has harvested their first tomatoes this week. (And that's the kind of thing we're concerned about over here in 'retired land'.)

Quick! Here's the yard before the heat gets it!

I bought a few more annuals today to fill in the spots that the early bloomers will leave. The goal for next year is to have them ready in the greenhouse when they are needed. Requires proper planning and restraint when buying flower seeds. (But at $7 & $9 a flat - is it worth it??)

New (permanent) sign on Wildernest Chapel

You might remember the post I did a few weeks ago that included some comments about a street festival in Winnsboro? One of the vendors there made laser cut signs and did it on, among other things, tile. We later sent him some artwork of our Wildernest Chapel sign to see what he could do with it. This is how it turned out. We really like it! It's an early Father's Day present from Glynda.

It's not a very pretty flower

But it's prettier if you know the story. This is a Shasta Daisy. It takes a long time to get one of the blossoms and this is actually the second one. The first is in a vase in the kitchen. In the mini-greenhouse picture which was taken in March last year, the Shasta Daisies are the seedlings to the far left. I planted them in the flower bed in April and they grew and looked good during the summer but they never grew very tall and they didn't bloom. I learned that they weren't suppose to. They stayed green all winter but lost a lot of the height they did have. They were only 6-8 inches tall and after a freeze they lay on the ground and looked to be gone. But now they are perhaps three feet tall and there are buds all over them. They bloom the second year - so I'm gonna have a bunch of these - just hope that some of the others look better than this one!

Something to really think about!

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be
fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or
one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our
children’s children what it was once like in the United States when
men were free.

—Ronald Reagan

(The post title is a link to the first chapter of the book "We Still Hold These Truths" by Matthew Spalding.)

Jacob Crawfish Boil

A fun time on Saturday! Not quite as many people as last year but still a good group. James kept the crawfish coming and several good musicians kept the music coming! Some of the family came in halves - Kevin there, Julie in class; Alex was there, Beverly was in PA; Pam (& 3 kids) were there, Joe recovering from a trip having arrived from China 6 hours b4 the party; I was there, Glynda was at Mary's making good on a postponed promise; Jill (& Caroline)were there at first, Greg and Ren at the "Superbowl" (Rens team won and they all came by afterwards). Jennifer was there, Josh wasn't (didn't get where he was.) The time went by in a hurry.

Zip2, ZODZip,

We're not sure what to call it but here's Daniel riding it. This was the third and final test after building it. At this point you still have to start from a twenty foot ladder. It goes over the pond (west to east) and the pond is looking really yucky (That's a technical term) right now. We're not sure what it was but something got Daniel's heart beating sorta fast on this ride!

Facebook friend suggestions:

I'm sure you've run across something like this before. I have. But it continues to amaze me - particularly one with such sparse information as this one. It showed up today. Facebook suggests Deonne Cobb as a friend. Her information says she lives in Dallas and she works for GLK Marketing. THAT IS ALL! She has ONE Facebook friend - Gary King. I don't know Gary and I don't know any of his ten friends. But I DO kNOW Deonne! She lived at Ridgeline Townhomes for a couple years at most and was on the board there with us for less than a year. How does Facebook know that I know her?!?!? The very little bit of common background is nowhere on my Facebook page or on hers. Strange!

Senior photos for Colby yesterday

It was a pretty good shoot. He's getting to be a big boy! (That's just the kind of thing a granddad should not say.)

Those few years in international marketing did give me some traveling opportunities

I ran across this on Facebook the other day and got to playing with it. I'd never counted them before but I've been to eighteen foreign countries. Mexico on my own but more trips with Thermalloy as Materials Manager. Austria and Hungry only on a vacation many years ago. That leaves fifteen other countries with Thermalloy as International Sales Manager (Canada and fourteen European countries) Most of these were multiple trips, always hosted by locals who sometimes provided some really nice entertainment. Lots of one-on-ones and a few get-in-and-get-out trips. Pretty lucky over all though to have had those opportunities!

How to Give a Cat a Pill

This came to me in an email. Thought it was funny enough to post! Actually, I had to dry my eyes from laughing several times while reading it!

How to give a cat a pill

1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.

4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse in from the garden.

6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.

7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail. Get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw

9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans and drink one beer to take taste away. Apply band-aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

10. Retrieve cat from neighbor's shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door onto neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw tee-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

12. Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from the top of the tree across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat.

13. Take last pill from foil wrap. Using heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed, tie the little *&#%^'s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of filet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour two pints of water down throat to wash pill down.

14. Consume remainder of scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room. Sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.

15. Arrange for RSPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

It was followed by instructions for giving a dog a pill which are - "Wrap pill in bacon and throw it at the dog."

I'm getting behind on my posting so I'll catch up here

Last week we drove over to Athens because that's the only place we could find to accept the kittens with a good chance of them being adopted rather than the alternative. When we were there we spent a little time at their arboretum where I took this picture. Kinda like it!



Yesterday we were in Carrollton and had lunch at a cafe on Addison Circle. We walked around the main plaza there and I took this similar photo. Also took the one below of a resident there helping me clean my plate:





It's been a week or so since the storm and we're seeing new tree losses down along the trail. The leaves on the fallen trees are beginning to die and what we didn't notice as fallen trees then, we do now. We also walked the long trail today and found several more - one was huge and it was along the west property line. This one, although the picture doesn't really show it, was a good size tree too.



This weekend was Mayfest in Winnsboro. This is a street shot and a picture taken in Art & Espresso. The guy in the black shirt is Gene. His wife, Suzanne, is the one with the white hair and the boy is their grandson. (They're looking at someone coming in the door.) Marilyn is the one that owns the shop. She's short but not as short as she looks here - she's getting something from under the cabinet. They make what's been recognized as the best coffee in Northeast Texas and their lunches are excellent too. It's every Wednesday lunch for us and Gene and Suzanne - and, as you can see, we were all there on Saturday too.





And you know what this:



Oh - one last thing. I posted a picture a while back of me and another Master Gardener accepting a local award for the Quitman Special Education greenhouse project we worked on last year. Recently the project won another award - a second place award for the Texas Master Gardner's 2009 Project.