SINCE SUNDAY MORNING....

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The cake for Sunday, June 7th have been ordered and paid for. I am quite content that the lady who does the cake decorating will be able to do it RIGHT, even from a picture that was not very clear. I have seen so many cakes made & decorated by our Publix bakery; they have been beautiful. Many many folks use their bakery for such important occasions as weddings, birthdays, and anniversary parties.

Today is NEW TOILET day in the front bathroom. We are supposed to have the installer here by about 1:00 pm; I hope he arrives on time. That front toilet stops up regularly...it has for years. This new one is supposed to do that job...flush everything away on the first flush...with no hang-ups. The one in the master bath has been wonderful; we've had it for several years now. It has never failed to complete the task in one flush...no matter what. VERY RELIABLE!

The rain has not stopped being a daily occurrence since...gee, I don't know since when! Our back yard is soggy-wet. You squish every time you walk around to our side yard. The plants love it...the flowers boom beautifully with Nature's encouragement coming so regularly. It is raining right now. I guess this is much preferred to the drought we have been through the last 3 years.

This is a hydrangea we call "Ettar" since she is the one who gave Fred the cutting many years back.

Our new bird feeder IS squirrel proof. It's a "Yankee Flipper," and it cost an arm & a leg, but the squirrels absolutely cannot feed from it. They have tried and been thrown to the ground when their weight activates the spin mechanism on the perch. Thrashers, mockingbirds, and red-bellied woodpeckers are not heavy enough to make it spin...but, OH, the surprise that meets the squirrels when they try to "perch" on it to get to the cracked sunflower seeds we keep in it. Now, the old feeder still provides them a place to snack...but not the new one!

We are also using new hummingbird feeders...with no bee-attracting yellow on them. They also have a water reservoirs to prevent ants from attacking, too. We had our first hummer this morning...or at least the first one I've seen. T'was very exciting, as it is every year to see the first one.

The feeders are in our side yard, for best viewing from the kitchen window. You can see the Yankee Flipper and the hummingbird feeder with an extra water reservoir above it...no ants, no bees. The other is our very feeder...squirrel friendly.

Our new white mailbox is finally up. Fred finished the installation on Tuesday, when he located the correct sized nuts & bolts. We have quite a nice collection of mailbox covers, so we had to have a metal mailbox. The old one had been up over 30 years, was rusty, and the door did not stay closed. The photo shows the mailbox with the US Flag flying on it. We have all sorts of covers for all sorts of special days and the seasons. They look wonderful on a new, white mailbox.

The plumber is here NOW installing the new toilet. Augie is having a fit, despite his having no problem with the man petting him. I'll keep him out here on the lanai with me so he is not crawling into the man's lap. When Fred gets home, he will have his new toilet!

SCHOOL'S GETTING OUT! Sunday, May 24, 2009

Fred's school released the children last Friday, May 22. Were the children or the teachers the happiest on that day?...an age old question! He is looking forward to being free for the summer, although our summer is filling very rapidly. Post planning ends for him on May 29.

We are working now in preparation for the weekend-long celebration of our 40th Anniversary, June 5-7. The house is at long last getting cleaned out. You can walk into the living room now, the first time since we had the floors redone 3 or 4 years back. Fred and I have been going through boxes of STUFF that must be either eliminated or stored...eliminated mostly!

Yesterday we visited Publix to put in our order for the Reception Cake for Sunday, the 7th...the actual anniversary date. We hope to have something that looks similar to our wedding cake. We shall see what this wonderful cake lady at Publix can do. Whatever it looks like, it will taste delicious.

Greg, Kelly, Max and Ash arrive the evening of June 4th from Chicago. Jeff and Deanna, his fiancé arrive the next day, I think. We are thrilled to have them all here, but arranging for bedtime has been a bit tricky. We think we have it figured with everyone staying here, although Max & Ash may have our living room as their bedroom for a few days.

Saturday, June 6th, we are supposed to drive up to Eatonton, GA, to enjoy the Dairy Festival with Kelly's dad, Bob & wife Lois. That will be in the morning, with us returning by early afternoon. Saturday evening we plan to go out to the Cuban Restaurant for dinner and entertainment...a mariachi band and roving guitarists...if they are there.

Sunday is the reception day, but it will be for a small group of special family and friends. We are hoping that the North Carolina Hardins will make it down along with any and all of thier children & grandchildren. I hope they get here on Friday at the latest so they can enjoy the Dairy Festival and go to the Cuban Restaruant.

Thinking about all of that is exhausting. I will quit blogging for a while. I do have more to tell you about other "stuff" but this is long enough.

Love ya much...............

YAH FOR MAY!

You can really tell when Spring breaks and Summer encroaches...when the temperature around here hits 89 degrees F. The flowers are so beautiful...azaleas, amaryllis, iris, water lilies, Confederate jasmine, yard orchids, and more. The birds and bees and lizards are everywhere doing what they usually do. I caught the lizards in the act! It is fun just to sit in the yard and be at peace with Nature.
Doves have made their nest in the flower pots beneath our front bedroom window. We peek out each day to see how the eggs/fledglings are doing.

Fred and I are beginning to work the yard to have it in shape for our 40th Anniversary Party we will be having the weekend of June 7th. It is a pretty yard, back and front, to begin with, but the weeds like it here as well as the flowers.

Two views of our back yard...one taken last September on a foggy morning. The second is the patio with the pond on the left and a daylily/fern flower bed with lots of Fred's potted plants.

With my bad knees I can no longer kneel down, so my work is much more limited than it used to be. But I can do some of it, while Fred does the rest. It puts a load on him. I am heading out in a few minutes to do some weeding using my yard stool. It helps, but I do get frustrated.

Let me show you some of the flowers in our yard. I have fun photographing them.

Hope your Spring is as colorful as it is around here. Have a Great Spring!

The row of red amaryllis make quite a show in our front yard. We also have red & white stripes and a giant called "Peach Blossom" in our backyard.

The south corner of our back yard is a cool place to sit and see what's blooming...especially neat when you are sitting in the midst of blooming azaleas.

Daffodils have been a special favorite. The gold King Alfred's are extra showy, but the Ice Follies have to be the best growers we have had. From 12 bulbs when Jeff was born (1977), we have a yard full and have supplied countless friends and Macon State College with yards of them.

We have a big rhododendron we have been babying along for many years. This year it gave us many dozens of bouquets of fuchsia blooms. On the right is shot of our purple Japanese Iris. They have been a show beginning in late February through now.



The azaleas and dogwoods in the front yard put on a show this April. There are a variety of azaleas in this bed, and all of them go nicely with white dogwood.