Moving into Fall

Cullman,  AL

My daughter Terri who lives in Pennsylvania travels to Nashville on business usually twice a year.   When she does, she takes a few extra days to visit us.   Two times while here we had RVers that have become friends also here.     Terri knew she would be here in early October, so friends Karen and Rick arranged that to be their semi-annual visit.  So happy this works for all of us.

For the first time in a few years, we had a garden.  Weeds overtook it quickly.  We did get some tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage and watermelon.   Len got a head start this fall turning it over.  We will try for better next year.  He's never happier than when he is on that tractor.

Biscuit loves when RVers arrive with dogs.   I tell RVers to call me when 3 miles away.  He hears the phone ring, sees me pick up the guest book and beats us to the road.    We recently hosted the cutest Basset.   Biscuit enjoyed his company.   Them getting acquainted.

Aren't you glad when humans meet, they shake hands?

Again, this year I made Leonard go along with me and dress for Halloween at the Senior Center and 55East where we go on Friday nights.

He was Zorro both times.      We are at Senior Center.   I won for best costume   (I have no pride)

And at 55East

We host our 421th and 422nd RV guests today.   But first we will be going to son Lennie and DIL Lois' for their annual Holiday dinner for their Christian Motorcycle group.

Then next week a short trip to Missouri to visit old friends.

Until next time.

Gone and back

 Cullman, AL

On my last blog I talked about the new beagle we adopted.  Gravy.   He is a sweetheart.  Loves to be held.

Biscuit and Gravy got along well.  Too well.   On September 8 they both got on a scent.  We have deer, turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, armadillos of the property.   Hard to say what they had their noses to the ground on.   They both took off for the woods.  Biscuit never did this before.   As they didn't come back and we couldn't find them, I put out a notice on the local Facebook page.

Six the next morning I got a text that a beagle was on the back porch of a house about a mile and a half away.   We immediately drove to the house.  It was Gravy.  The search was on for Biscuit.  So many people were helping.   A gentleman with a drone, FB sites about lost and found dogs, friends who passed the information along.     No siting's.   No Biscuit.   Leonard and I were frantic.

During this time we seldom left the house.   No church, no senior centers, nothing.   We searched and searched.    On September 17 we both resigned to ourselves, he was gone.   

We had some errands to do in town.  While there we stopped at DQ for Blizzards.    I got a text message.   With a picture.    Is this your Biscuit?   YES.   Will he come to me if I call him?   YES.  Will he let me pick him up and take him into our house?   YES.    We are on the way.

When we got there, he came bounding down the steps to Leonard.   We all cried, including the kind young woman that found him.   As it turned out, while in HS she was friends with our granddaughter, and we had met years ago.

He was found one half mile from home.   Walking on our road.  Toward our house.  We were told to hang dirty laundry outside on trees, etc. every morning.  Replacing them the next day.  I did that.  Dogs will pick up our scent.   Is this what was happening?    

He loved being home.  And immediately went to his favorite spot on the porch.

About the clothes hanging on trees.   I am missing one item.   I forgot where I hung them.  Missing is my PJ top.   Maybe this wasn't the best item to hang in a wooded area.

I'll look again after the leaves fall.

Now about Gravy.    We realized he will run off again.  Doing what Beagles do,  And take Biscuit with him.  I tried to find him a home.   Talked (pled with so many. )  No takers.   We had talked to the local shelter.   They would take him but not until the 26th.   So, we continued to try to find him another home.   Our temporary solution was to tether him outside several times a day.   He was always so good while I hooked the leash.  Then when I unhooked it, he would run right to the door to come in.  He continued to follow me everywhere.  He really is a sweet dog.

September 26 came around.   With sadness and a few tears, we took him to the shelter.  I hugged him goodbye.   This was a 9 am .   The next morning at 10 am, a shelter employee called to let me know they were doing paperwork for his adoption!   He was there 25 hours and found a new home!   The next day I saw a picture of Gravy and the young woman that fell in love with him as soon as she saw him. A happy ending for all.

Until next time.

As the summer moves on.....

 Cullman,  AL

On this property there is so much work to be done.    We started with one acre mowing that has grown to over 3.  And weed whacking around the pond, buildings, trees, etc.   One task we kept putting off was trimming the holly hedges around the house.   Len started them a few weeks ago.   WAIT!  Let's make it easier.   Rip the dang things OUT!

And so we did.

We will be planting more perennials in their place.

One morning I looked out back.   Not only a deer family but a turkey family also.

Plenty of room for all.    Frequent visitors now.

I suppose Leonard was happy.   As I noted before, he rebuilt a gooseneck trailer.    JUST IN CASE.  Just in case the tractor had to go to the shop.   Cost to purchase the trailer, install lights, new tires, paint and new decking we have about $2,500 into it.   This saves us the $212 total charge for pick up and return.

Well, the tractor needed to go to the shop.  He loaded it and off we went.  Halfway there on the Interstate one of the tires he purchased had a blowout.   First time on the road.  I told him I would call AAA.   No, he insisted.   He would change it.  He who is on oxygen, has a bad back that they won't operate on due to this health issues.  

We pay for AAA every year.   Have not used it for several years.   But no, he had to do it.  Well, luckily a gentleman pulled up and offered assistance.   Len had the damaged tire off and the replacement ready to put on.  He realized he really did need assistance.   Whew!   Stubborn.  Shop says 5 to 7 weeks.  It's been 3.  Should I be concerned about the trip home?

Now, for the great part.   A woman a few miles away posted on the local FB page that a beagle was hanging around her house.  She was looking for the owner.    I saw a couple of her postings.  I saw the sweet face of this beagle.  I called.  Yup, we now have two beagles.   We went to her house, taking Biscuit with us, to check him out.  We realized we had met the husband.   He was here a few months back with a friend.  We were giving a hot water heater away and he was helping the friend take it out and load it.

I fell in love with this sweet dog.  He follows me EVERYWHERE.   We asked granddaughter Abby, who named Biscuit, what we should call him.   She wanted Cheese.  CHEESE?   No, we named him Gravy.   We took him to the Vet for shots, Etc.   She estimated him to be about 8.   Biscuit was estimated to be 3 when he adopted us, making him 8 now.

They get along well.   

Gravy

Gravy

Biscuit and Gravy doing their favorite things.

Leonard has coffee and a small package of two biscuits and sausage most mornings.   When Biscuit hears the microwave, he comes and sits in front of Lens chair.  Len would share his breakfast with him. Gravy caught on fast.   Len doesn't have much of a breakfast anymore.

Speaking of breakfast.  Wow the cost of eggs are soaring again at the stores.    We have been buying ours from a local farmer.   Two - fifty if you return a carton, otherwise $3.00.    Wondering what kinds of chickens he has!  One is even green. All size, all colors.  I suppose it would save on dying them for Easter. 

Until next time.

Loss of fish, putting Abby to work and surviving hot days.

 Cullman, AL

As I have often written we have a small pond on our property.  In it were catfish, blue gill and bass.   Every night about 5 I go out and toss some fish food into the pond.  If the blue gill were lucky, they got a bit before the cats took over.  A few weeks ago I went to the pond to feed them.   No fish jumped up for the feed.  None.  No blue gill, no bass, no catfish.   I thought that was off.   So I started walking around the pond.   There in shallow water lay dead fish.  Lots of them.  Then I saw some near the surface struggling.  

The day before a hay field across the road was mowed and I had cut grass.   The surface of the pond had what I thought was pollen.   No, it was something called an algae bloom.   Deadly to fish.  We lost them all in a day.   I would guess about 200 fish.

My thought was what about cleaning up the mess.  Should not have worried as the buzzards feasted. I counted more than 40.

When they got done, all I had to do was dispose of the skeletons.   We will not restock until next Spring.   Before stocking we will install in aerator system that will keep the water moving.  This will hopefully prevent another fish kill when the weather again gets this hot and extremely dry.

We have lots of growth around the pond and since the water is low due to this draught, we removed some of the growth.   Abby was a huge help with this project.

We have survived the recent hot, dry days.  But not most of the plants in our garden.  Being gone a great deal of the time, they did not get watered as they should.    We planned on having fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, watermelon and peppers up until the fall.    Not this year.

Abby had a great time while here.  She loves to eat out.

And join us at 55East for our Friday night outings.

Each week 55East has a drawing.   Three tickets are drawn from those who purchased them at $1.00 each for 6 for $5.00.    The first winner gets 1/2 of the funds collected, the next two get a free admission pass.   The first week Abby won $50.00.   When she realized she had the winning ticket she let out a loud WHOOP!   The next week she won a free pass.   I should say, we won because it saved us paying her $10 admission the next week.   The 3rd week, nope.   Luck ran out.

On a back road we often take we saw a newborn calf outside the fencing.   Several other cows were at the fence.   

We went to several nearby houses until we found two young men.  We all knew the calf did not belong in that fence but in the fence across the road.   They got a rope from their truck and tied her up.  They then made phone calls in an attempt to locate the owner of that property.

Len and I have been having difficulty sleeping.   We both tossed and turned all night.  We decided we needed a King size bed.    We shopped in town but didn't find any at the style we wanted nor the cost.

I have bought many items from online store Wayfair.   I found the perfect bed and mattress and at a VERY reasonable cost.   Of course, the bed had to be put together.

For the bed to be properly situated, we needed to move furniture around.  We moved our Queen size bed into the basement.  (Our safe space during tornado warnings).    We had the bed partially assembled when RVers arrived and Len and I went outside to show them where to park, etc.

We came back in to find Abby finished assembling the bed and moved all the furniture we had yet to move.   We are sleeping so much better.   Most nights this is biscuits bed too.

I have been purchasing our eggs from a local farmer.   They come in all sizes.   Small, medium, large. White, tan, brown.  All in the same box.   A recent box had a VERY small egg next to a VERY large egg.     Found the reason for the difference.

Until next time......

Visiting and not what we wanted.

 White Hall, MD,   Celona PA,  Lebanon, PA and Cullman AL

Only a couple of days after we returned from Texas and Louisiana we again were on the road.  This time to visit family in the northeast.

May 29 our granddaughter Charlotte graduated from HS.

After the ceremony she choose were to have dinner.   They might use chopsticks, but Len and I asked for forks.

While at the daughters' house in Maryland I had my first adventure.   I missed a step coming down from upstairs.   I tumbled down the remaining 10.   I had bruises all over.   But remarkably I didn't get hurt. Not a bit.   

It was chilly there in MD and we didn't bring jackets or sweaters.  Off to Walmart.   I could not find anything for me.   I found Leonard looking at jackets that were on sale.   

From the SNOOP DOG collection.    Don't care.  They felt so good.

As always Biscuit makes himself at home.  On their sofa

After a few days we moved on the daughter #2 house in Pennsylvania.   Biscuit is checking out their stream.

Our friends Jim and Darlene were nearby so dropped over for a short visit.

Hate that I neglected to get a picture of Terri and Steve.

One day Darlene and I went to Kitchen Kettle village nearby in Intercourse, PA near Lancaster.  We met up with my sister Debbie and her friend Kathy.

Debbie and Darlene.

Even before we went to Dallas, I had been feeling awful.   Worn down, coughing up phlegm.  So while at daughter Terris house I went to the local Urgent Care.   I was put on antibiotics.  The next night I was really sick.  Terri took me to the local hospital in Lebanon where I was admitted with pneumonia.  

I stayed in the hospital for three nights.  When I was admitted I was put in a room with another woman.  When she saw me she asked for a mask.   She claimed she was there because she could not breathe.   I saw her sleeping with a mask on.   Did that help???  The next morning she spoke to the patient advocate.   She asked why they put me in her room.  Her complaint?   I was from Alabama.  She did not want to be in a room with someone from Alabama.   They moved me.

No one rests in a hospital.   I came out bruised from not only the fall but from needles.

That was the worse.

The day after I was discharged, we headed home.  With us is granddaughter Abby.  I felt really bad all the way home.   I am still very weak and still coughing up phlegm.   We were supposed to go to MS the day after we got home to pick up our 4-year-old grandson while daughter D'Juana and family moved from Dallas to Austin.   There was no way I could tend to a four-year-old at the time.  Len is not much better.  We were greatly disappointed.

We did have a young family living here.

Nesting on a light fixture on back porch.

The grass and weeds around the pond needed tending.  I have been weed whacking around the pond as much as I can.  Abby is helping me mow.

Len is having back issues.   He, too, might be trying to do too much.    Even though back surgery would help, the cardiologists will not consent to surgery.   The risk is too great.   So on we go.

Until next time.

Busy May and it's not over yet.

 Cullman, Al, and Dallas Tx

Our May started out busy and will continue through June.

The early part of May saw several RV guests.   One couple stayed for 5 days. They wanted to see all they could in the area.   We took them to two of our favorites, Rattlesnake Saloon and the Coon Dog Cemetary.

They had seen signs for the Jesse Owens birthplace and Museum.   We had never stopped there so this was the perfect opportunity.  We are glad we did.

Jesse was not a large man but was he ever FAST.

He won several races and the broad jump in the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin, Germany a time when Hitler was in power.   In the museum they run a video on a continuous loop narrated by Jesse.  He tells of what it was like being a black man in Germany at that time.    He handled it with grace and dignity.  If ever in our area, this is must-see.

Mother's Day being May 12, I received a gift of flowers from my daughter Terri on May 7.  We were leaving on May 8 to go to Dallas for our grandson's college graduation.   Terri thought it was the next week.   After the flowers arrived Len called our neighbor Gary to ask him if he had gotten flowers for his wife Ashley yet.   When I told Terri we were leaving the next day, she asked us to give them to Ashley.   We had already handled that.   Gary and Ashley walked down a bit later and we all had a nice visit.  

After we pulled out the suitcases, Biscuit stayed close by one of us.   The morning we left, Len walked out to the car to start loading.   Biscuit jumped off his sofa on the porch and ran to the back door of the car.   Len opened it and in he jumped.   He refused to come out for the next hour as we packed up and got ready.

No way were we going to leave him.

Grandson Jared graduated from University of Texas, Arlington.   What a graduation class!  

Doctorates, master and bachelor's degrees.   This is Jared (with our grandson Jeremiah).  Proud to say Jared graduated with honors.

Earlier this week, daughter-on-law Lois treated me to a lunch out for Mother's Day.   She also gave me a potholder she croqueted, a scrub she makes from dandelions and goat milk soap.

I have been suffering with terrible allergies this year from whatever pollen is around.  I suffered prior going to Texas and Louisiana and upon return.  Not in Texas or Louisiana.   To help me a bit Len offered to mow.   I am glad to say I am not the only one who gets stuck in soft earth around the pond.

I got the truck, he hooked it up and I pulled him out.

I'm thinking..... do I really want him to mow?

Our busy month will continue.   We leave on Monday for our granddaughter Charlottes HS school graduation in Maryland.   We will stay at daughter Amy's for a few days.  Then to PA to daughter Terri's for a visit.

We get home on 10th June and will have granddaughter Abby with us.  On the 11st we meet daughter D'Juana in Vicksburg, MS to get grandson Jeremiah and then back home on the 12th.  We will have Jeremiah while D'juana and Joe move from Dallas area to Austin area. 

Len is thrilled to have this time with Jeremiah.

On my, no rest until late June.  Maybe?    Gotta love it.

Until next time....