Our dogs are angels

I look forward to seeing them every morning when I wake up and this is what I get....


THE BOSS

Mindy taps on the front door with her paw until I stop what I'm doing, making breakfast, and let her in. She continues to boss me around until she is completely satisfied. She demands her treat as soon as she comes back in from going outside, then she insists that she should eat her breakfast immediately. She stands underfoot while I attempt to make breakfast without stepping on her. Not always successfully. I don't know if she remembers that I have already given her a treat and that she has food in her bowl. I let her slide with this behavior because she's an old lady.


SHOTGUN!

Oliver stretches, rubs and rolls on the dog bed beside the front door. He thinks he should be loved on before he goes outside in the morning. He will refuse until you at least pat his head. After his morning needs are me, he hops in his dad's chair on top of his blanket and rolls around until he gets cozy. He sure does love Lee. He hops in Lee's lap every night. I swear he calls "shotgun" as he lays on Lee's left leg against the arm of the chair.


MORNING PLAYTIME

Ruby wants love as she exits her kennel. She rubs all over me, kissing and gnawing at my hands as I pet her. She runs around the property for about 5 to 10 minutes while I get the coffee going. Sometimes it's harder to get her inside, especially if she finds something to kill. She is usually pretty good about doing some tricks for her morning treat. I give it to her and she runs into the living room. I holler after her, "Don't get on the couch!" She doesn't. She hops on the foot stool to devour her Milkbone, but only after Mindy and Ollie have finished theirs. She likes to make them watch her. She is the Nellie Oleson of dogs. After Lee leaves for work, she wants my undivided attention for a while until she gets tired and takes a nap.

Recovered Outdoor Furniture

That didn't take long at all. I love it. The awning fabric is growing on us. Too late to second guess that decision now. I think it looks inviting. Lee will get the mister working this weekend and I am buying a plant or two for the window boxes and firepit today. I'm so glad to have this space back.

Outdoor Fabric!

Sometimes it amazes me, what I can get excited about. I went to Huntsville yesterday , on a whim really, to get outdoor fabric to fix out back porch back up. The awning needed to be replaced and the cushions need to be recovered. I was tickled to find the deal that I did. I love how mellow the color is and the lightness will keep everything cool out back. I hope. The best part is that when I got up to the register, I found that it was over 50% off. It was marked $10 a yard with 50% off, but when the lady scanned it at the cutting table, it was $4.50 a yard. When you are buying 21 yards of fabric that is going to be left up to nature, you really don't want to invest a whole lot of money in it. I'd rather not worry about taking everything down, dragging the pillows in and out of the house all the time, it's easier to replace it every couple of years.


This is the new awning, we made last night. I hem the ends, but don't bother with the edges. Lee does the grommet work. He hung the wire 3 years ago. It still works just fine. I give him most of the credit for this...all I do is pick out the fabric and do some stitching.



I am an impatient person when it comes to projects, so we had to put it up as soon as we finished last night. I wanted to be able to see it when I woke up this morning. Gosh, I need to wipe down the pergola. I knew it before hand and I'll have to be careful not to get the cleaner on the fabric, but I'm pretty good at working around things and not messing anything up.



This is what the old fabric looked like when we first put it up. It was between the stripes and "tangerine monkeys", which I was in love with, but I didn't want Lee to hate it, so stripes it was. I left yesterday with the full intention of getting stripes again, but the striped fabric available that was on sale had lots of pink.



It can look very romantic at night. With a plant in the fire pit and candles. The awning can be drawn back against the house to expose the night sky.



This is the fabric I got to cover our seat cushion! I LOVE IT!!!!!! So much! I think this pattern is absolutely adorable. Lee isn't crazy about it, but he's not hating it either. I can't wait to get it all fixed up again. And that is what I am doing today, covering seat cushions and I'm waiting on the floor guy, too. There is a lot of work to be done out there. Like I said the white wash needs to be wiped down. I need to get some heat and drought tolerant plant to go in the window boxes and the fire pit. We've used the fire pit to hold ice cold beer and have even roasted marshmallows a couple of times, but I think the best use was as a planter. I noticed our chandelier has decided not to work last night, so I have to figure that mess out.

Loving This Hot Summer

We got a lot done this weekend. We went to our first summer party this year and had a great time. We at at Top of the River in Guntersville, yum! I forgot how generous they were with their extras and portions! And we even found time to fight zombies. Good times! Finally caught up on mowing the grass. We trimmed up the crepe myrtles and a couple of other things that have gotten out of hand. Our grape vines over the arbor were up in everything out there. It was quite a task pulling them out of everything. We fertilized everything after we got a good rain yesterday. It rained so hard. We welcomed it because we had been out in the heat all day and for the water for our yard and garden. After it stopped, I added fertilizer to four of our buckets of water and distributed it around the yard to things that needed a little extra help. Hopefully we'll see some improvement soon. Lee picked up some fertilizer stakes at Lowe's on Sunday and put them around a few trees that needed some assistance. I'm so glad I'm beginning to see something out of the effort we've been putting in. I really like having the new things we've planted around the yard. Use to, all I really felt like we did was mow the grass. That was the only accomplishment I saw when we looked out on our yard. Now I see all the things we've planted over the years. I admire the growth of our beautiful leylands, crepe myrtles, azaleas, roses and fruit trees. I get excited thinking about what they will all look like in another year or so.

Lee put misters up on the front porch and is replacing the one out on the back deck. I don't know how anyone can take this kind of heat with out them. The ceiling fans served us well up 'til now, but it just felt like a heater was blowing on us this weekend. I'm so thankful that I have a husband that knows how to do things. We always have my little sister's July 3rd birthday here every year, but this year is a big one as she is turning 30. He has decided to build a slip 'n slide. I know it's going to be so fun. He always goes above and beyond what is expected. Yes, I think he's Mr. Perfect.

Ruby is such a naughty girl. I caught her in the front ditch yesterday, after repeatedly getting on to her for being places she shouldn't be. Her little butt was sticking straight up in the air. I figured she'd done got her something. She come prancing across the side of the yard, giving me the side eye, knowing if I came after her or enforced her to come up to the porch, she might lose her prize. I was up to my elbows in gardening, so I let her slide, but I saw two feet handing out the side of her mouth. Yep, she got her a rabbit. All that she brought back up here this morning was one hind leg. I emailed Lee a picture of it, titled "Ruby's lucky rabbit's foot". No wonder she said her stomach hurt last night...and again this morning. Her food bowl in the kitchen is full 'cause her tummy has rabbit in it. I'm sure she ate too much too fast. No kisses for Ruby Sue. Yuck!

Mindy is getting too old for this Alabama heat. She was hanging out ion the back yard with us while we worked yesterday and looked down right delirious by the time we got her in the house. She had to be rescued. I carried her in and when Lee couldn't get her to drink, he stuck her in the sink. She came back around slowly, but she can't go out for very long anymore.

Oliver has been an absolute angel here lately. I could just squeeze him. He hasn't been as grumpy as usual. I'm not sure what the change in attitude is. Maybe the weekend away from us, with his aunt and uncle did him some good. I am thankful to have all our dogs happy and well for the moment.

Chasin' down a hoodoo there

Ruby Sue gets in more trouble when she gets out running around here. Here's a picture of her after eating a bee, or something that stings, cause her lip is all swollen and hanging down on the lower on the left side of the pic. I should have known when I was falling in love with her in Aunt Jo's back yard, that she'd be a handful. Her and her brother kept on running up the back porch steps, pushing through the screen door and eating the cat's food. Then she got in Grandmother's drain pipe. Let's see, this week she has been caught tossing a bird trying to learn to fly up in the air....she said she was "jus' helpin', Momma", I know the small creatures of our yard and surrounding woods are on some kind of terror alert this week. She hasn't eaten much of the food I've put out for her. I've been mowing grass for the past two days and so she's out and not watched very closely. Poor critters. I've noticed her visiting certain shrubs, messing around underneath them, and I know she's got one of her little prizes hidden from me. I'd just let her have them if she was an outside dog, but I don't want to have to clean it up if it makes her sick in the house.

Being gone last weekend put us behind on the yard work. I did the push mowing around the house and areas that Lee can't get on the tractor. Once he knocks that out tomorrow, we'll work on an unfinished project or two. Still got the walkway, we are pouring, and the rail fence to get done before we can begin another project. Then we'll probably get the porch ceiling up. I bet that's going to be a pain.

I cut my cousin's daughter's hair yesterday afternoon. She's such a good little girl and he's a good daddy to her. I finished mowing the yard around 5 o'clock, ran in and got supper cooked, and we were just finishing up when they got here. I was exhausted! She was so sweet to have not called me out on probably calling her everything but her name, which is Shaylee. I called her Kaylee and Kyleigh and who know what else that sound like her name. Bless her heart. I let her pick out a booshi bag to take with her. It was good catching up with my cousin. We all sat around and watched Reba while I gave Shaylee her haircut and talked about family, or better yet "crazy" family. He asked "have you heard anything from so and so" or "what do you thing about so and so" and I really had no reply or much of an opinion on any of it. I have excused myself from most of the nonsense and foolishness that's been going on in this family this year...not all of it, but most. But don't you think I'm not up for hearing the latest gossip for a little snicker. We got us a handful of white liars in this family and they just aren't good at it. Most of it is based on their own denial that they are wrong. Bunch of stubborn people. If your going to be right, be right. Don't half-ass it, and then have to fix it in a story so you can still feel good about yourself. And, telling half the story, you know, the way folks do so they don't have to answer for their ignorance, ain't right either. Just keep your pie hole shut about the whole subject, if you can't be honest. Guess some people just need to be talking to talk?

I need some more crepe myrtles.

The Latest Memphis Trip

We love Memphis! I would drop everything in a second and throw a change of clothes and my toothbrush in a bag if someone said let's go. Once you hit the corridor you have over 180 miles of turn free, and stop free, if you can handle it, driving straight into Memphis.

This time we went with my sister and her boyfriend and we actually made reservations. We stayed at the Hampton across from the Peabody. It cost a little more, but you make up for it in cab fare and anxiety. We went to Rendezvous to eat first thing. Their ribs and service were great. I suggested that we stop at Johnny's Drive-Inn in Tupelo for a bite, but we stopped short and everyone ate road food instead, so I dropped it. It is a great little on the way stop and I would encourage you to make it yours, if you are heading to Memphis. It being in Tupelo, there is Elvis memorabilia from when he used to eat there. Their BBQ is delicious, so are their onion rings. YUM!
Rendezvous had a wonderful atmosphere, I liked it anyway. It was decorated with signed photos of famous people mixed with old junk, every bit of which is authentic. I saw this hanging above our table, so I snapped a picture.
And here is a pic Lee took of a photo of one of his favorites, Frank Sinatra.

So, now that you are officially mesmerized by my ability to blog you a slide show of vacation pictures, none of which have us in them, I'll get to the fun stuff. Thank you for your patience.

We headed for a martini bar that Lee and I had a blast at the fist time we went. It now served beer and hoagies, I think. Nope, not what we were looking for. We hit the Flying Saucer. I love that place! They have all the beer...actually their slogan is MOST BEER. Check them out at www.beerknurd.com. I started out with the special on tap. I then realized that my sister, who drinks beer when we hang out, doesn't like beer. I've been there before. Tell the waitress and she'll bring a few samplers of beer that tastes like wine coolers. All better, except that that stuff is very expensive. It has low alcohol and high sugar content. So you are actually paying $10 a pint for Kool-Aid, OH YEAH! Now it was time to do Beale Street. I had been drinking Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, which is about 9% or 10% alcohol, so things get a little fuzzy from here on out. Much like the above picture of the girl we met in the ladies room at Wet Willies, just loving her new t-shirt. She was very sweet.

Beale Street is very exciting with it's street performers, people hollering at you to come into their bar and shops with strange assortments of useless items to take home for souvenirs. Everything seems to have a WOW factor. We went to Ground Zero because the little fella at the door convinced us to and because it looked like a cool place to hang out and take some photos. We had a few drinks. My sister was happy to finally get her hands on a drink that was colored blue. Perhaps we should have stayed there, but there was no live music playing in there yet and I didn't want to get settled too early. It was still daylight. We walked on down, Coyote Ugly is at the end of the street. I had a blast there with my other sister. It was lame. The only bartender just didn't have what it takes to keep folks in there. The bartender that was on duty the other time gave us free shots and chatted us up. Before we knew it she had us up on the bar shaking what our momma gave us. We went to Wet Willies where they had frozen drinks but the beer selection blowed. I liked the live entertainment, until their female singer got on stage. She sang Chain of Fools great, but her dancing was on my last nerve, slinging her hair everywhere.

We were going to go the Silky Sullivan's, but at this point they were collecting covers, which weren't bad, but nobody was really crazy about seeing more live entertainment. Lee and I exited Beale and headed back to the Flying Saucer to find something besides Bud Light, which we can drink at home and my sister and her boyfriend went on their own adventure eating BBQ at Pig on Beale....how I don't know after eating this at the last place we went:
Happily back at our favorite bar in Memphis, we ordered our beer, not sold in Alabama, and I sent my sister a text that we had a table and to meet back up with us if they run out of things to do. It was here that I cease to remember the remainder of the evening. Not a clue. I have video of me using the video camera, rambling on about nothing, as Lee sits next to me drunk and very uninterested in anything I'm saying. I swear I went on for seven minutes, or an eternity, about absolutely nothing. It's so loud in there that you can't hear what I'm saying, thank goodness! Apparently my sister and her boyfriend showed up, we ordered more drinks, I got mean, spilled ice water and we left.

The next morning, we toured Sun Studio, hungover as usual. One of these day I'm going to have to spend more time in Memphis, so I can tour Graceland, Sun Studio, Mud Island, etc. without feeling dehydrated. I swear, I thought I was going to pass out on the tour of Graceland. I'm getting too old for binge drinking. From there we went to Interstate BBQ. This is always the last stop when we are heading out of Memphis because we always bring BBQ back. To be exact, we bring BBQ spaghetti back. It is so good! The other times we have been there the service has been more friendly. I did not see one smile while I was in there. It is a family owned and operated business and you never know what they may be going through, so I won't judge.
We stopped in Tupelo at Elvis Presley's birthplace on the way home. Another must and a perfect way to round out a trip to Memphis. It's very tranquil there.

Okay, so here is the last photo with a funny little story. We call this death by ice cream.
We stopped at a gas station just before we got to Tupelo on the way home and my sister decided she needed some ice cream. So she and her boyfriend grabbed them a cone and we hopped back on the road. She was driving at this point and for some reason found it very difficult to eat her ice cream cone and stay on the road. Lee was sitting up in the front passenger seat. I was in the seat directly behind him and my sister's boyfriend had dropped the seat next to me and was in the "wayback" with his feet propped on the seat in front of him. He's chillin', eating his ice cream cone, trying to relax, as he has done a lot of the driving thus far. Every few minutes my sister ran off the road and it made an awful noise, vibrating the whole vehicle. We joked with her about it, but being all hungover, truly wishing the annoying noise would stop. After a while, he calls her on it and gives me a mental image that makes me cackle for the next five minutes. I even snicker right now as I remember him saying, "I'm not sure what happened, Officer, but look at that, they have ice cream all over them." I could just see our dead bodies splattered with ice cream and thinking that's not how I want to go. I piped in with a whiny, "I don't want to die." After another run off or two, there was a tiff and she had to give up the cone.

My, How Things Have Changed

I was looking through recent photos to see if I had anything to post, I didn't. These are some of my first fried green tomatoes I made two years ago. I was so proud! I couldn't wait to get some tomatoes large enough to eat from our garden. That's why they were so small. But they were good. I brought them straight up to the house, dug through my cookbooks until I found a recipe for batter I liked, then, I sliced them up and deep fried them in my cast iron pot. I was so tickled to share them with Lee when he got home from work. I can't wait to do it again this year. Yes, last years fried green tomatoes were bigger. Robin made fun of how tiny they looked in the picture. You can tell how grand I thought they were based on the time I took to PhotoShop them up.

Rambling on, I saw all these pictures of crepe myrtles we had just planted and the house before Lee built the porch on the front of it. Our yard looked bare compared to how it looks now. Ruby's puppy pictures, Mindy before she turned white, Oliver...okay, Ollie doesn't seem to age. It's all kind of bittersweet. I found a little sadness creeping up on me. Thank goodness I found that picture of the tomatoes and got out of those folders. I need to reorganize all that mess.

I did Momma's hair yesterday afternoon. Going to do Robin's today. I have to get moving! I've almost finished my coffee. I don't plan on looking like much today, so getting ready should be a snap :)

I barbequed yesterday, so we have ribs, bacon wrapped brats and a pork shoulder in the fridge. The brats always finish first, so I served them with peppers, onions and kraut that I flash fried in the skillet. Lee only ate two brats because he couldn't get his head out of the skillet. That man likes him some stir fry.

I found another tick crawling on me yesterday. I am no longer surprised when i find one on me. The only one that really bit me, that I know of, was the one that got on me when we were working on the fence. Lee gave that hound dog a bath for me last night and I will give her another batch of Frontline today. That will protect her anyway. I had a tough time getting one off of her yesterday right after I found the one on me. I'm going to have to stop loving on that dog.

Y'all have a great weekend!

I Guess That Means I Should Get Out More

I've been so excited about going on vacation, but a few times recently (and last night) I wake up in a panic about leaving our home and pets. Ruby has been without me one night since we got her. That's 2 1/2 years. She's spoiled and I'm a homebody. For the most part, I don't see much sense in going somewhere that's not very different from our home, just to be uncomfortable in a bed that someone I don't know used the night before. There are places that I consider worth it, such as New Orleans, Savannah and Memphis all of which we have or would visit repeatedly, cause they are just too much fun :) Other places we have visited over the past 10 years were more about the resort we stayed at. Nashville's Opryland Resort, The Sunspree in PC, heck, we never even left the Swan & Dolphin Resort when we went to Disney. We had both been and done Disney, but the hotel was fabulous! We ate at all the restaurants, laid by the pool being served drinks by a cabana girl, and did absolutely nothing. I guess my point is, I'm not going anywhere, these days, unless it's a fabulous city or it has a heavenly resort because I'm going to miss my puppy :( She won't miss me, she will have her Aunt Robin (who I believe she thinks IS me sometimes) and her Uncle Eric to play with.

Hopefully, I will be okay after we begin to travel some. We used to go on several trips a year and I was fine with it.

I'm cooking out today. Loading the smoker up with ribs, chicken wings, and bacon wrapped brats. Mmmmmm! Thought I would put on a bathing suit and get some rays, but I looks like rain, rain, and more rain. I'll do laundry and watch the shows I'm behind on instead. I still have the last Ugly Betty and few weeks of Desperate Housewives to catch up on.

I was so happy to find our passports in the mailbox yesterday afternoon. We got them in two weeks. I figured it would take the full four to six weeks as promised and that there was no way we'd be able to book something for our anniversary, which we still won't because we've been researching destinations for three weeks. Now we are all kinds of confused because there are so many choices. Well, there aren't as many as when we began. We have dropped Jamaica because of the violence there right now. And we paid for our passports and we intend on going somewhere that we have to use them, so the US is out. We keep ending up back at Mexico and that is probably where we'll go. We have been checking out resorts in Acapulco, Cabo, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, and, now, a friend has mentioned Ixtapa, so we'll be looking into that tonight. The all inclusive packages run about the same for most of these places.

Found another tick crawling on me last night. I am so sick of ticks. I told Ruby she was going to be the death of me. I used to think it was because she was forever more running off and something bad would happen to her, breaking my heart. Now I'm sure she will pass a tick on to me and get me sick. She's a very happy dog. She gets to run through the woods and chase rabbits and squirrels, then hops up on the couch for a nice little nap the rest of the day. That's where she is right now. Laying on her blanket, with her little paw and nose pushed between cushions. Rotten. And, yes, it's my fault, but I love her. Oliver is hanging out behind me as I sit on the edge of the sofa. He feels the need to touch whoever he sits with. Mindy doesn't care for snuggling much anymore. She tenses up when you touch her, like it hurts. She prefers to dominate the dog bed. She sleeps right smack in the middle of it and demands that the other dogs stay off of it. She'll stand beside it for us to run Ruby off, when Ruby takes her spot. Mindy is still barking after we put her in her kennel at night, but she doesn't do it all night like she was.

We have a caterpillar problem. They are attacking my roses and the oak trees. I sprayed the roses and lower limbs of the affected oaks yesterday afternoon. Bastards will probably move on to something else. Lee said it was probably time to hit the fruit trees with Seven again. I'm sure the pests will be looking for something to eat.

Yesterday, my sister, Robin, made a facebook post regarding our sister, Lesley, blocking all of us from her page. Her post just stated how strange it was. She lied and told us she deactivated her page, but then, friends started asking why she said this or that, and why can't we get her to stop putting up every personal detail of her life on there. She blocked us because we that is exactly what we tried to do. Some guy that Lesley is "doing stuff with" felt the need to defend her. We are certain that she was sitting back, very aware of everything that was said, probably egging it on. That's her style. I laughed last night, thinking about it as I cooked supper...how it all went down. This guy ran to Lesley's defense, accusing us of bashing her, not knowing that we still talk to her on the phone and by email, just not on facebook because she knows we will call her out on the dumb shit she posts. For instance, if she called another guy that she used, for whatever reason, a stalker because he fell in love with her. I wondered how long it would be before this fella, too, was crying in his beer while listening to a Dwight Yoakam song. It's my imagination, I think it's funny, just give me the moment. I know about her intended path of destruction. Love 'em and leave 'em. Keeps you from getting hurt. It also can make you dead inside. That's how I was....in college! I grew up. Count the candles , baby. There are almost 30 of them. And, I didn't have two children watching. I also wasn't doing it publicly on facebook. But she insists that she deserves to have her fun. Okay....what whore fed you that line? Whatever, she bragged about voting for Obama, too. I'm sure Pop-paw, Mom-maw and Daddy all already rolled over on that one. Anyway, Robin had to delete that post, because it got out of hand when all her friends began to defend her against the guy. She didn't want people to be mean to him. Yes, she's that nice.

He's A Strange Bird

Here is a picture of a pigeon that we are quite certain is lost. He clearly doesn't belong here in the country and hung out at our house, like a little stalker all weekend. He wasn't afraid of us and he cocked his head to the side when he was spoken to.

I'm Getting Eat Up Around Here

As I sat on the sofa sipping my coffee with Lee Saturday morning, a mosquito took at least seven bites out of me before I slapped it on my cheek and killed the little pest. Our goal for the day was to get four more sections of the fence done, so it meets the property line at the foot of the yard. We went to Tonka Supply, our local seed and feed and picked up 16 timbers for the posts and rails. Just as the last one was loaded, we discovered a black widow perched on one in the back of the truck. There was a sack next to it and I figured it had her babies in it. Lee said the ride home would probably take care of her, and it did. The turn onto county road 33 caused the posts to roll around and she was flat by the time we made it to the house. I drug us out a couple of beers and Lee started lugging the wood from the pickup. We really don't work that hard around here, not like we used to. I mow the grass when Mindy begins to complain about going down her ramp into it. Lee pulls out the tractor and bushhogs what I don't get with the push mower, but only after it really starts looking shaggy. We are going green with the lawn. Mow less, plant more. Don't know where we're going with it, but we are happy with what we've done so far. Back to the fence, we got one section up and I carried the next two posts down to where we were working. As I was sinking the nails into the end, so they would already be started, something bit me on the stomach just beneath my waistband. A freaking tick! For pete's sake! Yeah it hurt, that's tender. Lee pulled it off me and killed it with his knife. I told Momma about it. SHe asked if it was big or little. It was one of the big ones, which Momma says are less dangerous. I didn't know the difference. I thought the little ones Ruby keeps bringing in on her legs were just small. Now I know those are deer ticks. At least she brings attention to them, by staring at her leg until we take it off of her. Sometimes she eats them, which causes her to foam at the mouth before she spits them out. I hate all these crawlies around me all the time. I used to have a problem with bees, but for the most part you can see them coming and they don't really bother you. I've only been stung once since I was a kid. A hornet got me when I was using the weedeater on the ditch. It hurt pretty bad, but I got over it. It left a scar though. I'd like to think Ruby keeps the snakes run off. I still haven't seen one around the house, other than the rat snake that was in the bathroom that time, and I'd like to keep it that way. I'm sure if I went looking, I'd find one. This is Alabama, I grew up here, you'd think I would have come to terms with some of this by now, but here I sit, thinking about washing my hair again and wondering if that tickle in my book is a tick I picked up in the garden this morning. Might as well spray down with some Off and head back out there in a few.

Oh yea! We had Indian food and went to see Iron Man Sunday. Got some sweet summer nail polish at Ulta, OPI Birthday Babe, some tea from World Market, and two new coop Xbox games from Game Stop. I'm not a really good teammate, but Lee is sweet enough to spend nights playing the multiplayer games with me.

Blogs Divided

I started my blogspot with posts about my paintings. As I picked up new hobbies, I found myself blogging less because what I was doing didn't pertain to painting. I missed sharing, so I changed the title of my blog to Country Housewife Spills The Beans and then I realized I could have two blogs on one site. Today I separated them as best I could and hope I don't lose any interest because of it. I changed the original blog back to Disco Puppy Jive and added the Country Housewife.

A shady little spot to rest in our yard.

He'll Show Us!....Then We'll Be Sorry

This is a photo of a bad, bad dog, who is "not even speaking to us, right now", 'cause he peed in the bathroom. After his spanking, he said he was running away from home and he made it to the top of the driveway. This is a picture of him staring into the woods, as if he would leave the yard. Silly dog. He is housebroken, so when he does something like this, it isn't an accident. He is getting back at us.

I'm From Alabama, And I Did, In Fact, Marry My Cousin

We spend most Saturday and Sunday mornings playing online while we sip coffee and wake up. It can lead us to doing things like getting our passports the following Monday or planting a dozen shrubs/fruit trees in our yard. Yesterday we looked for travel destinations, so we can make use of those passport. Today we found ourselves looking into how closely related we actually were.

Lee's grandfather, Daddy Jay, could name all five of my grandfather's aunt's and uncles, so I figured it was pretty close. He would list them as follows: Bud, Bratch, Jim, Dock and Dolly, almost like it was a limerick. We share great-great-great-great-grandparents, Moses Cornelius & Cynthia Bynum. On Lee's side their son Joel Cornelius married Polly Easley, who begot William Thomas Cornelius, who married Charlotte Putman and begot Christopher Columbus Cornelius, who married Viola Thompson and begot Jay Pinson Cornelius, who married Dorothy Rutherford and begot Mary Elizabeth Cornelius, who married French O Whitten, Jr and begot Lee (love of my life) Cornelius Whitten.

On my side Moses & Cynthia's daughter, Eliza, married Tapley Bynum and begot Sarah Jane Bynum, who married William Squire Faulkner and begot Samuel Squire (Dock) Faulkner, who married Elma Gallups and begot Euel Otis Faulkner, who married Dorothy Inez Marsh and begot Pearlie Faye Faulkner, who married Charles Edward Crane, Jr and begot me. Whew! So we're 5th cousins.

We were surprised to see how close it was. Growing up I called people who were less closely related than we are cousins, so I found it a little more unsettling than Lee did. We're laughing now because he didn't think he had any living relatives left, but now he realizes that he has mine and not just through marriage. Our research led us to our ancestor, Rowland Cornelius, a Dutch immigrant, who came over on a boat around 1665. We found where the family name was changed from Fortner to Faulkner. Pleasant Fortner moved his family from South Carolina to Alabama and all his children were named Faulkner.

We did take notice of recurring names and I told Lee something wasn't right there. Then we found it. Oh no! Eliza and Tapley were first cousins. Eliza's mother, Cynthia, and Tapley's father, John, were siblings. So, and Lee is in no way owning this crap, my great, great, great grandparents are also my first cousins five times removed. Our family tree looks more like a topsy-turvy with strawberries growing out the top and tomatoes growing out the bottom, with a whole mess of vines instead of branches.

Lazy day To Ramble

I am loving the rain this morning. I mowed a fair amount of grass yesterday. I just used the push mower around the house. Lee will take care of the rest with the tractor once the yard dries back out. Man, it's coming down out there. My water buckets are full and ready to be mixed with some fertilizer and sloshed on our tomatoes, peppers and newly planted shrubbery. I have a few things that I've been nursing like the red bud and blue berry bushes that Ruby keeps eating. I swear that dog makes me crazy. She notices if I pay extra attention to something and the jealous little brat will tear it up. Last year we transplanted the red bud from the lower part of the yard, where we plan to put a garage to a spot right out front. It was just a stub with a couple of leaves because a late frost just about killed it earlier in the year. I put mulch around the base and watered it with Miracle-Gro to help it reestablish. Just when it started looking like it was going to be okay, she ate every single leaf off of it. I had told her she needed to come in, she said she didn't want to. I yelled at her, pointing my finger at her, as if to lay down the law, and she rolled over on her back and said just a few more minutes. I went inside, knowing that i would either have to carry her limp, fat, puppy ass in or I'd have to get her leash. I gave her a few more minutes, because sometimes that all she really needs, but when I returned, she was laying beside my little tree chewing the a leafless branch. That's just ornery. She can be so bad sometimes. You can understand my second guessing our decision to plant five azaleas around it this spring. After we did it, I thought about how "special" it might appear to her now. I've seen her take notice, but she's probably doesn't know where to start. We planted four more azaleas between the grouping and the arborvitaes, and five hydrangeas bushes under the trees behind it. Too much for her to process, I guess, and a pretty good strategy to use in the future. Looks like tomorrow should be pretty...and hot.

I'm planning on heading upstairs shortly to do some sewing. Perfect thing to do on a day like today. Either that or go back to bed. Lee's not home, so I'll sew.

I haven't heard from anybody much this week. Not even Momma. I don't make a habit of picking up the phone unless I have something to say, so it's been quiet. Momma and Lonnie have a new grandbaby, Allison is in Disney World, Robin has a stomache virus, and Lesley is a fool, who has her disapproving sisters blocked from Facebook, so we can't see her make an ass of herself on a daily basis. Oh, but she sends us messages as our Avon Representative.

I'm Not A Hooker and This Ain't Rodeo Drive

I got treated like Vivian (Pretty Woman) at a fabric store in Oneonta, B&B Outlet. The bitty asked if she could help me find something. I explained that I was looking for something to make bags with. She felt the need to reply, in her nasty, better than most, voice, that they were a home decor store. I told her that I had shopped with them before and that I may still find what I was looking for. The other lady, who is always nice to me, concurred. I scanned the store for about thirty minutes. It's a large store, with a fair amount of fabric that dates back to the "80's, so you have to dig to find what you are looking for. The way she spoke to me bothered me, but I didn't want to drive to Birmingham or Cullman to do my shopping. I had been to the funeral home and really just wanted to be "somewhere" for a while before going home because I was afraid I would dwell on the sadness I had encountered. I found some satin and some fabric with frogs on it and took it all up to the counter. The lady I usually deal with was busy, so Miss Personality asked if I was ready for my fabric to be cut. I told her I was ready, being as polite as possible, with my "please" and "thank you"s. I told her the yardage for each selection. She grabbed the first bolt, rolled out two yards, snipped the edge with the scissors and proceeded to rip it. I realize it tears with the grain, but this was satin and she was stretching, distressing the fabric as she jerked it into two pieces. I have been buying fabric since I was a teenager for one project or another, and not once has a sales person chosen this method. I almost walked out when she started ripping. I should have. Anyway, it bothered me, even as I climbed into bed last night. I hadn't told Lee because I didn't want to bother him with it, and I didn't speak with anyone else the entire day after it happened, so with that and a poor dead boy and a barking, senile weiner dog and worrying about all my sisters (for some reason unknown to me 'cause I have a tendency to be sensitive to their feelings, even when I'm not sure if somethings wrong) I was up most tof the night. I finally got Ruby out of her kennel to snuggle/console me and fell asleep around 3am. Mindy woke us up again around 6 o'clock barking. I refuse to go back to bed after Lee leaves for work because I'm afraid it will mess up my sleep pattern. I haven't slept very well since the drug helicopter hover/garbage can theft. So, it's no wonder that I am getting sick. I have had a sore throat for a week. I keep fighting it off, then it's back.

Okay, I have things to do. Need to get the pork shoulders on the smoker, mow the yard & sew some new covers for the outdoor furniture. Everything else will have to wait. My floors are dirty and on my nerves.

Crabby Gina

Typical Gina

Lee and I were sitting around Saturday morning sipping our coffee and playing online, when we got the sudden wild hair to take a vacation. We need a vacation. Just a get away. We haven't taken one since I quit work. We have been stashing money in saving for a nice vacation for 3 1/2 years now and have decided it's big enough to take a slice out of. After looking around at possible destinations, we agree that we want a tropical location. We like the idea of an island. We also don't need or want the "family friendly" environment. We want the honeymoon experience. We never actually took a honeymoon. Although, we have taken a lot of vacations, most of which we found romantic. When we went to Disney, we stayed at the Swan. We bounced around between the Swan and the Dolphin resort, loving every minute of the fancy restaurants and the pool where drinks were served to us. We never even went to the park. We'd both been there, done that. There again, we can be just as content with a six pack, tortilla chips and strip of sand in PC. The topic came up that a trip to Puerto Rico does not require a passport, but we don't know anyone who has been there. We decided to get our passports out of the way yesterday. Here it is....I forgot to fill in hair color. I'd like to think it will not be a problem, what with the two photos and copy of my license, but who knows. I was having a difficult time getting to sleep last night. I am on the heaviest days of my period, so I sleep lightly, worrying about wrecking the bed, plus my cousin's son killed himself yesterday. It was about 1:30 am when I realized what I had done. Panic! It wouldn't be so bad, but I the last group of people I worked with were so uptight about every-frickin'-thing being "just so" that when I make mistakes now, not only do I worry about getting in trouble, but I beat myself up for being so stupid. Who skips a question like that, to go back to, and then doesn't even look over the application before submitting it? Who screws up something that costs over $100 to apply for? Me. Classic me. My phone number is on there, surely they can just call and fill it in. How bad could it be? I have no idea. I googled it...it appears that nobody else has done this. If they did, they didn't realize it, so unlike my freak self they weren't up at 2 in the morning googling, "submitted incomplete us passport application" and the like. Lee acts like it's not a big deal. He's the laid back one, but maybe I should follow his lead more. But I can't ask that of myself on my crazy week. I shouldn't have been applying for a passport on my crazy week. What was I thinking!

On a lighter note, the little bag I am making are so cute! I made a pattern for a larger bag. Love it. I took Anna's to Allison yesterday. I made it from one of her old dresses and lined it with some pink satin I had been saving for many years. I am calling them booshi bags. I am making another large one today and have 5 small ones cut out to put together, also. I plan to sell the small ones for $10 a piece and the large for $20. I love them!

Checkin' For Ticks

We treat our dogs with Frontline Plus and give them Sentinel. I scrubbed them all down with Happy Jack shampoo. I'm still finding ticks on Ruby. She's a little more difficult to take care of than Mindy and Oliver. Those two hardly ever leave my sight when they go out. Ruby runs off several times a day. She takes off after squirrels first thing in the morning, diving through the treeline and into briar patches. She's crazy! She comes back to the house eat up with scratches and covered in dirt. I was snuggled up with her last night and as usual found a tick on her. It was on her leg. I grabbed a cotton ball and some alcohol and rubbed it til it let go of her. They are always tiny, so I guess they aren't able to get a fill off her. Makes my head itch. I'm constantly running my fingers through my hair checking. She insists on laying next to me and taking up the majority of the couch, stealing my Snuggie Momma gave me for Christmas, fool!. I figure I'll find one on me sooner or later.

We got a decent rain this week which filled our buckets real good. I mixed about 10 gallons of rain water with Miracle-Gro yesterday afternoon and watered just about everything out front. I picked up six more tomato plants with Momma. She helped me find some that I haven't planted before. I have a lot of heirlooms this year. I got her a pretty pot of Inpatients for coming with me. I think it got her and Lonnie excited about adding some color to their porch 'cause she texted me last night saying Lonnie wanted to know where we got our window boxes. The garden is coming along nicely. We have so much to do this weekend. It's going to be the first weekend in quite some time that we haven't had something going on. There's been charity runs, Easter, decoration, Mother's Day and company visiting all spring. I'm surprised we have accomplished what we have. Our front porch is decked out with so many flowers it looks like a little ole lady lives here and we've added nine azaleas, two rose bushes and 5 hydrangeas to the yard....all of which required big holes to be dug. Bless my sweet husband's heart.

I'm fixing to put some chicken and bacon wrapped brats on the smoker for supper. And, as usual, a pot of tomato gravy. I can't wait til our tomatoes come in, so I can use them for it. Then, I plan to get some sewing done. I hope. I have a cute little pattern for a knot bag. I can't wait to experiment with different fabrics on it. Have a great weekend y'all!

Sewing and gardening

I sure do love the pretty weather we're having. Rain, too. I have much gardening going on. Still not painting, but the sewing is eating up a lot of my spare time. I made the cutest little dress yesterday. I used some of the fabric Lee picked out for me for my birthday. It is in the style of my favorite top, I just made it longer, added a few special touches to it and huge 9"x10" pockets on the sides, with a lace accent. Just too adorable with my Durangos. I washed it last night because I was so excited to wear it.

We played with words in stone (a gift from my sweet friend, Cecelia) last weekend with left-over concrete from a path we are working on. It was well after dark before we finished. We are spending lots of time outside, as usual. We have tomatoes, strawberries, bell peppers and jalapeno peppers in our raised garden. We have so many flowers on and around the front porch that it looks like an old lady lives here. And, now, we are planting azaleas and hydrangeas all over the front yard.

The inside project just had to be dropped. I traded out a bedroom suit for a few of her unneeded pieces with my sister. We converted one of our guestrooms into a craft room. Lee bought me a sewing machine because I've almost wore Momma's out. It's a super-sweet piece of equipment....I compare it to butter. I love my new room. Lee put a window unit in the window to cut down on the heat up there. Our house is a two-story with the central heating and air temperature gauge (or whatever) upstairs, so if you get the upstairs cool enough, then the downstairs is freakin' freezing.

Ruby keeps bringing ticks in the house. They can't attach to her because of the Frontline we put on her, but I find them crawling around. She eats them sometimes. I found one that was missing legs this morning.

Ahhh, spring!

Couldn't be busier. Painting is on the backburner...well, until I get contacted by the couple who won a painting done by me in the Hi/Lo raffle. I'm totally up to a challenge, so I'm looking forward to collaborating with them on a work and hopefully exceeding their expectations. I've been sewing a lot and now it's gardening time! Love it!