Just need to talk to my friends (145)

ladyzetta

Hello All,

It is so nice outside I decided I would go out and work in the yard for a few hours. Once I did get out and started to be productive racking up what Molly left behind I wore myself out, now I am back inside and I was only out 20 minutes. I am such a wimp! Lorita I need some of your energy.

Lorita,  I hope you head is better. With you saying some pain is kind of scary that is a good reason to see if there is something causing your head to be hurting like it does. On those days your head is hurting I hope you are waring your alarm button. Being alone is not good I am alone most of the time but at least I know my son will be home in the evening. I don't know if those Alpaca's are gentle and cuddly I did not get that close to them. As far as Coyotes I don't know if they would go after a alpaca. There are coyotes in that area so I am guessing maybe they don 't bother them.  Molly is like Stormy she thinks every time I go someplace she needs to go. When she sees me getting ready she gets so excited I need to tell her No your not going to calm her down. Then she goes on the bed and pouts.    

Iris,  I understand why you worry about the bees stinging your cats I also worry about them stinging my little dog Molly. I keep children's Benadryl on hand just for that. I have never had to use it, knock on wood that I don't.

Well I am going to go outside and finish up what I started. Hugs 

Lorita

Hi,

 Weather radio just came on issuing a tornado watch until 11 p.m. for all the counties in this area.  It's 80 and humid but the wind has changed to the north so maybe that will bring the temps down and with that the chance of really bad weather.  The front has come through Tulsa and it's in the 60s there, at least it was at noon.

 Thanks, Zetta, for the concern but the headache will go away in time.  I haven't had to take anything for it today. 

 Don't work too hard out there, Zetta, tiredness can creep up on you.  If you're like me I get started and want to do just one more thing, then just one more thing and before long it's been too much.  I haven't done anything today except take down the trash and cook the beans.  I mentioned I soaked them before I cooked them but can't tell much difference.  I've never soaked beans before. We used to use a Presto cooker and we'd bring it up to steam, then let it set for about an hour, then it only took about 25 minutes to cook them.  Guess I need to get that out and use it again - or - lean how to use the Instant Pot, Sandy.

 The weather's about to come on so I'll stop.  Keep your fingers crossed that our weather doesn't get bad tonight.  Dread it.

Iris L.

Ladyzetta, I haven't seen any more evidence of bees.  I checked the grass and the big olive tree.  My complex has had bee hives embedded into the walls and under the eaves in the past.  One hive was in the balcony wall next to mine, and the bee guy said it had been there for years.  Eww!  

Lorita, feel better soon!  I rarely get headaches, but when I do, I lay down in a dark room with a cold cloth on my head.  Whatecer method works for you, let it work!  

Iris

Lorita

Hi,

 Iris, glad the bees seem to be gone for now but watch it - you never know when they'll be back if they're looking for a home.  Could you hear the bees when they were next door to you?

 I'd like to lay down but can't do that yet and it looks like tonight won't be a quiet one.  The weatherman just said the boundary had gone just south of us and the wind's out of the north but the temp is 82 and it's kind of muggy.  I hope with the boundary being south that means if there are storms, and I hope there won't be, they'll be south of us.  Just too nerveracking especially when you're alone.  Charles was never scared of storms so that helped.  My grandma and mother were so afraid of them so guess that's how my fear developed. 

 I don't think I'll go down to see the girls this evening - they've been around the house so guess they're okay.  I will go out and check the barn and see what I can see from there.  I need to put gas in the Gator in the morning and I don't want to do that tonight.  Last night I left the two pair out where they could go west of the house but tonight I think I'll close that gate.

 Got the few dishes done - got everything into LocknLock containers after I made some more mac and cheese. 

 I took a couple of Ibuprofen an hour or so ago so hope they work soon.  Iris, every day I think I'll lay down in the afternoon but never get around to doing it - always something else to do - like clean the catbox (haven't done that today). 

 Storms are beginning to form west of McAlester so hope they stay south.  There's stormchasers out and around - now, if the TV reception just wouldn't go off.  I can't find a place on the internet that shows our weather.  Someone mentioned cable TV (Jo,  maybe) we'll never have that out here - too far from town and some people say civilization.  The news says we're in a remote area.

 I think I'll go look in the barn and down in the pasture without going down before 6 so I can watch the news and weather.  I looked a while ago and didn't see Rose Bud so may not feed her tonight.   Keep your fingers crossed that our weather doesn't get too rough tonight.   Ron, maybe it'll all be north of you - hope so.

Mint

Good morning

We just had a quick thunderstorm.  Rained and dark all day yesterday.  Giving rain today and several days this week.  Think we are getting our April showers in May.  

I’m lazy Lorita.  When I first started raising seeds did all that transplanting.  Didn’t take me long to see I wanted to skip that step.  Thought why should I do this twice.  So started seeding in pots going to grow in.  Seeded four zucchini, six okra and Two cantaloupes yesterday.  Will finish the rest next week, that will be started inside. These are all new veggies for me to raise so will see what happens.  Planted a few extra in case they don’t all germinate.  Only going to raise two zucchini.  Not sure about okra.  Have read you get a bit of okra off each plant.  If anyone out there could give me guidance on how many okra plants would be enough for one person would appreciate that.  Cantaloupe will raise one or two depending on if I find a nice watermelon plant at nursery.  Next year will raise my own maybe.  My beets, spinach, carrots and lettuce I seeded are starting to come up.  They are in containers.

Will clean house this dark day.  Not a favorite of mine but a necessity. 

Hope everyone has a peaceful day.

ronald71111

Lorita, you had asked if I ever watched Cheyenne; I'm watching it now. Later, I'll watch high Chaparral,  The Nig Valley and the Virginia. There is a olf John Wayne movie made in 1936; Winds of the Wasteland on st 7:30.

Orkin was here again yesterday and retreated the bedroom and living room. He told me that no bugs were found on Lou and little bits bed and only one little one on mine. I mentioned that not having overnight guests in awhile I was concerned about not knowing that the extra bedrooms were ok and what if we still had bugs in them. He told me one of the rooms only had a few when he treated it and the other none, but later he will recheck them. I was wondering about the warranty and he said he would treat for them until they were gone. Hopefully this time it's over! I have to wash the bedding every time he treats, Saturday I washed and had to wash again yesterday. 

Lou and I sit out on the front deck while orkin was here, we were told to stay out of the house for 2 to 3 hours. After he left, we went and got breakfast at McDonalds, sausage and egg mcmuffin, hashbrowns and apple pie and came back and ate on the front deck. It was so nice outside yesterday with a cool breeze and comfortable temperature, that Lou sit out there for several hours while I washed. I would check on her often to see if she was ready to come in and no was always her answer till early afternoon when it started getting hot. Last summer she always enjoyed sitting outside early before it got hot.

Ron

BethL

We got < 0.1" of rain yesterday. It drizzled for a few hours. Have more chances for rain later in the week.

My spinach, sugar snap peas, lettuce, kale and radishes that I planted from seed are coming up. Have 2 tomato plants that I bought and also planted green beans. I picked rhubarb to make a pie later. Sara, you have an amazing garden! So many things! Do you can or freeze the excess? I don't can. I will give away and freeze excess. 

I have ranunculus corms soaking. Will plant tomorrow. Also have some gladiolas to plant. I think that will complete most of my planting for the year.

Seeing several orioles on the jelly feeder this morning. Makes me happy. They are so beautiful.

I feed "Woodpecker Gourmet" birdseed, which contains nuts and fruit. Yesterday I pulled a volunteer tree & was surprised to see the seedling was growing out of an almond! The birds planted an almond tree in my garden.

Enjoy your day.

Mint

We have had about .7 in of rain.  Everything seems soaked though.  Think because it’s dark, humid, nothing drying off.  Have my green containers covered with row cover.  This morning thought I had better look under there and see what is going on.  So glad I did.  Found two slugs.  Just saw on YT channel where she puts tulle on the ground around her plants and no slugs.  So I’m trying that.  Would rather do that than use bait.

Found another surprise, had greens to pick.  So had fresh greens for lunch.  Beth I have 6 kale plants of three different varieties.  Four Swiss chard plants of two varieties and two collard plants.  So that is twelve plants all together.  Last year they did not do fantastic but did get to freeze some.  Think I’m learning a little each year.  This year had a lot more compost and all my containers so far have compost.  Also  put alfalfa pellets in them.  My green leaves have never been as big as they were today and it is just the first of May.  They were so slow before.  Maybe will have some to give to others this year.  Would consider that a huge blessing and would so enjoy that.

So what I’m saying is try to raise a lot of variety but not too much of most things except tomatoes.  If ever find a few “perfect” tomatoes will not grow so many of them then and I would like that.  Would have more room for other things.  Only freeze, dry and ferment.  When I make kraut, pickles or relish just store them in fridge.  Worked well last year.  Freeze my apple butter.  

Like rhubarb but not enough to give it the space it needs lol.  Sound like we have the same things going except I have a lot of cilantro right now too.  Have learned to really like it in a plain salad as well as Mexican dishes.

Ron wondered what you did when Orkin  was there.  Glad you stay out for awhile. A couple I new rented a motel for several days.  Isn’t it nice eating outside.  Was able to eat lunch on porch with windows open.  No rain at this moment.

Do you have wild mustard where you live Beth?  It is an invasive species.  They have days at nature preserves where volunteers pull it up.  Last year noticed a bunch of it in woods behind my house.  The neighbor was letting it grow in their yard like a flower.  Related to him what it was and asked for permission to pull up what was in the woods behind their house.  Last year was first year could see into woods as had wooden fence before and now have chain link.  This year so far have pulled up no more than ten plants.  Looks like maybe I’m making a difference. It encouraged me.

Beth do you use a squirrel proof bird feeder and does it work?  Can you give me the name of it if you do?    Just have a hummingbird feeder and Gold Finch feeder as squirrels don’t bother them in my past experience.  Would like to feed the others to get them into my yard a bit.  Have many birds because hear them, all different ones.  Heard a barred owl not too long ago.  That really surprised me.  But I want varmints such as squirrels to stay in the woods due to my garden.  They can be very destructive, otherwise I wouldn’t care and enjoy them.

Lorita

Afternoon.

 We had storms last night - but most of them were south of us at least one county.  We  had another inch of rain so that's a total of 7.8" in the last two weeks.  They said we might have some hail so I put a Frost Guard over the windshield of the car - it's a thing that covers the windshield with plastic on one side and heavy cloth on the other - thought that might keep hail from breaking the windshield - we didn't have any hail, thank goodness.  There were a lot of tornado warnings - we were under a watch for six or eight hours.  The weather radio kept going off.  Finally did find a place on the internet where I could watch our weatherman.  Funny, the TV was on to the weather and it kept going off and on and the same with the tablet - it was probably 30 seconds behind the TV - all of that plus the weather radio. 

 It's very cool today - 56 right now, cloudy and windy.  I walked down behind the barn to see the girls - couldn't see everyone so came back and got the Gator - finally saw all of them.  Only Tom, or Jerry, is here today.  Worry about him when he's gone.  Wish he'd just bring his girlfriend home with him.

 Made another loaf of bread this morning - only takes about five minutes to get it in the breadmaker.  I was in the kitchen a while ago and something smelled soooo good - realized it was the bread baking.  Got it out when it was done, rubbed butter over it and it's cooling.  I don't let it cool in the bread maker.  Did the dishes I had in the sink - trying my best to keep them done.  I've lost a big jar of shredded parmesan cheese.  I've used it once or twice and now can't find it anywhere.  I had one of shredded and another of grated  - I have the grated one but just can't find the other jar.  

 Still have that headache - didn't have it when I woke up so I know it's nerves.  I'll start taking my Librium and aspirin and get over it.  I only have a few Librium so will have to have that refilled - wonder if they'd send it to me?  I'll check but the Pharmacy is next door to the grocery store so maybe....

 Sara - you are anything but lazy.  My goodness - all you do makes me tired to read about it.  About okra - depending on how much you eat- six plants should be enough.  You should get 2-5 pods off each plant.  When it gets to making good in the summer you'll need to pick it every day - you'll always miss a pod or two no matter how hard you try not to.  We always planted Clemson Spineless - fewer spine on it to make your hands itch.  There's also a purple variety - turns green when cooked.  One year we planted okra and somehow there was a rogue seed in it and the plant was huge.  It was way taller than me - at least 6 1/2 feet tall and it made such a wide plant I had to walk around it to pick it.  No idea which variety it was.  When we got the garden ready for winter Charles actually had to pull it up with the tractor.  I think okra, hibiscus and althea are probably in the same family, some way, at any rate the blooms look alike.  Charles and I liked to pick the pods when they were a couple of inches long and cook them whole in just a bit of water - and vinegar.  When I was growing up we always sliced it, breaded it in meal and fried it.  I also like it cooked with onions and tomatoes - kind of  like a stew.  Be sure if you do that to use a little bit of vinegar to cut the slime it produces when sliced or the pods break.

 Ron - sounds like you like old westerns, too.  I haven't been watching any lately except Gunsmoke or Cheyenne.  I turned on The Virginian the other day and Judge Garth wasn't on it - at least not the man I was used to seeing.  Haven't watched those others but we used to all the time.  Really enjoying watching Cheyenne - very easy on the eyes.

 How nice that you and Lou enjoyed sitting on the porch and having breakfast.  Being outside was probably good for both of you after the long winter.  Hope Orkin got rid of the BB this time.  At least you know they'll keep coming back until they are gone.  I understand they're hard little critters to get rid of.  Did you get any of the bad weather last night - might have gone north of you into Arkansas.  I get a kick out of the guy on the weather radio - he does say Arkansas like we do - doesn't pronounce it like Arkansaw.

 The GPs were outside this morning and I heard all this barking - went out and it was a coyote walking along between the pond and the house.  Wasn't a bit scared of their barking nor my yelling - just walked on down toward the north - he was going the wrong way so guess he was going to hunt some more.    I saw a little squirrel in the tree late yesterday when I went out.  I see him from time to time - guess he goes from tree to tree.  Hope he doesn't get on the ground much - I did see him on the ground one time.  He may be the one eating the violets but there's so many of them in the ground - don't know why he eats the ones out of the pots.

 Beth, I've never seen an Oriole around here.  I've seen pictures and they're really pretty.  I do see and hear woodpeckers from time to time.  I don't feed our birds in the summer - I think they get enough seeds from other things but I do feed in the winter.  The food you mentioned sounds good.  I usually feed wild bird seed with extra black sunflower seeds mixed in.  Not sure when we should put up the hummingbird feeders.  I do every year and occasionally do see one - didn't see any last year but the feed disappeared - maybe evaporated.

 We never planted swiss chard, collards or rhubarb and have never tasted any of those - maybe a rhubarb and strawberry pie, not sure.  Always had spinach, turnips and mustard greens.    Sara - I've never seen a slug so have no idea what to do about them.  Last year I was on the porch by the railing and saw a little thing moving - it was a  tiny snail.   I watched it for a while and when I went back I could see the little trail it left - first time I'd ever seen one of them.  How in the world it got up on the railing I'll never know - it's at least 3 ft. off the floor. and the porch is 3-4 ft. off the ground.

 Never heard of wild mustard - we have something called Dock but doubt it's the same thing.  I know there's lots of wild things people can eat - poke for one.  It's everywhere and I keep trying to break it off so it won't get so big.  Lots of work to cook it so I won't do it this year.

 One thing I've noticed and have mentioned it before--- when we watch these old westerns we see the same people on all of them - looks like there were probably a dozen people who played in all of them from time to time.  Jack Elam is one of them.  He's on Gunsmoke right now.

 Iris, we talk about old westerns a  lot - do you watch them?  What's your cat's name and what kind is it?  We have a tuxedo cat, Kitt, lost one eye and has only a little vision in the other, Max - a tabby, Lilly and her son, Sammy - Savannah cats and Tom and Jerry, black and white ones outside.  When we lived in the MH all of our many cats were yellow.  When we moved down to the farm house in 2000 I guess they stayed at the MH (a couple came with us) and then all of our cats were black and white.  All of them were feral but always came for food.

 Think I'll stop and have some iced tea and a piece of chocolate cake - sounds good to me.  Hope all of you are well today.   Judith, how's your UTI coming along?  Hope it's completely resolved by now.

BethL

Sara, how great that you have greens to eat! I do love salads. I am growing greens and spinach so that will be nice. The herbs I have are rosemary, basil, parsley and lemon verbena. I don't eat any of them. The parsley is for the swallowtail caterpillars, and the others I just like to smell. My mom always cooked with s&p, so I never learned how to cook with herbs. Crazy, I know. I have a history of as many as 18 tomato plants (lots to give away); I do much less now. I still have some to give and plenty to freeze and eat fresh. My favorite is Jet Star. Tasty, early variety, medium sized. 

Yes, we have the garlic mustard along the bike trail. Not in our yard or the pasture behind our house. Last year they worked on it but there is more. Awful stuff. There's lots of the invasive honeysuckle along the bike trail too. 

My bird feeders are a nyjer feeder for finches, an oriole feeder and a standard feeder. No squirrels bothers the finch feeder. I've seen a squirrel on the oriole feeder eating jelly, but only once so far. That feeder hangs on a shepherd's hook. My standard feeder is like the "Absolute II" from Duncraft. Duncraft.com, then click on all feeders and it is in the top row on the right. It's mounted on a steel pole. However, squirrels still bothered it so we bought a baffle from Amazon and mounted that on the steel pole; it works great. That is so cool that you saw a barred owl! I have only once seen an owl in our yard (Great Horned Owl). He or she was beautiful. Re slugs, I read on a FB group I belong to, to "salt" the slug. Another thought: use something like a cool whip container with a lid. Cut a hole in the lid and put beer in. They go in to drink it and cannot get out. 

Lorita, I'm sorry you are still having the headaches. Hope Tom & Jerry are ok. Are you expecting more babies this spring? Iced tea sounds good to me, too. Do you make your own? I like Pure Leaf unsweetened but I usually make my own with a Luzianne tea bag. I am sorry you have had too much rain, and storms. 

Ron, dining al fresco is great! We eat outside quite often in the nice weather. Glad you and Lou could enjoy it. 

It's a beautiful day today! A good one to spend some time outside. 

Lorita

Hi,

 The sun finally came out about an hour ago but it's still pretty chilly - supposed to warm up to the low 70s tomorrow.  I drove the car to the mailbox a while ago and there's still water over the road - our car is low so I wouldn't want to drive through it.  I was in a hurry so didn't let Stormy go.  I was in a hurry because I had seen a cow just standing still in one place so wanted to know if she had a new baby - she didn't.  Beth, we'll have several more babies strung out over the next few months.  Always keeps me on edge during the calving season.  I think the older I get, the worse I get.  Charles and I have pulled as many as three little ones in a day and then left them with their moms in the pasture.  Now I have an urgency to get them in the corral. 

 I opened up the back part of the corral today - there's good grass in there so I wanted the two moms to eat it today and tonight.  When I walked out that way this afternoon one was coming out of the lot and the other one was in that part.  We have a hayring in there with some old hay in it that is now growing and the two babies were in the hayrings.  They're so cute doing things together and staying together. They're both very active now so I guess I'll let them out in the morning.  I feel like a mother probably feels when she send her baby off to school for the first time.

 Thanks, Beth, my head will get better - just will take some time to work it out.  Tomorrow morning I'm going to try to remember to take an allergy pill - that may be part of the problem  - everything's blooming now and there's pollen galore.  The pretty yellow flowers are everywhere - there's a big pasture NW of us and it has turned completely yellow - did the same thing last year until they sprayed it.  I'd like to keep a little patch of them but that would be hard to do.

 I think the cooling pad for my laptop has quit working.  Yesterday and today when I'm typing the part where I rest my rest on the left side feels pretty warm.  So, guess I'd better order another one.

 Sara - sounds like you and Beth are really gardeners and do enjoy it so much.  It's hard work but having fresh vegetables is a good reward.

 Jack called this afternoon.  He's doing all right.  Still says he's not going to get vaccinated - guess that's up to him but I don't understand why he won't do it.

 Hope you all have a good evening and sleep well.

Iris L.

Lorita, so far, no more bee sightings.  That swarm was as tall as from the ground to the second story!  I couldn't hear a sound. I keep checking the grass and the tree, looking for bees flying and listening for buzzing.  But I hope they are far away.  

Several years ago, bees got into the plumbing system at one of the condos here.  Bees were coming through the bathtub faucet! Definitely a shock to see!  There used to be a Bee Man who would take these bees and the queen; I don't know if he is still around.

I have five cats, four rescued from the streets, and one rescued from a bad living situation.  I also rescued two rabbits, but one died, and the other one I rehomed through the Rabbit Rescue after I got him neutered.  Both rabbits wanted to be friends with my cats, but my cats ignored them.  

My cats are Callie, a calico, Simon, a Siamese, Seven, a polydactyl with seven toes on her front paws, Adam, already named from his previous home, and Sammie.  Sammie was initially named Sebastian by my friend who is an animal rescuer, but Sebastian is too long for me to call.  Se-baaaa-tian--no.  The first four are between ten and seventeen years old, and Sammie is about five.  

They are mostly indoor cats, but I let them stretch their legs outside in the grass once or twice a day for a few moments.  They have to be quick, because pets aren't allowed outside unleashed.  It was easier pre-Covid because I could let them out after my neighbors went to work, but now all of them have been working from home.  I can see that some are beginning to be away from home for a few hours.  

I wish your headache would hurry up and leave you!  

Iris

Mint

Good morning

Lorita hope that headache goes away soon.  Thankful the storm didn’t give you damage to have to deal with.  

Planted a variety of okra called Jambalaya.  The seed company bought it from is in Alabama.  They raise a huge garden as they do some market farming.  Say it starts producing at 50 days, and when 2-3 ft tall, and the most productive variety they grow.  Will get 5-6 feet tall, not sure how wide.  Sounding like a couple of plants might be enough.  Think will do 4 or 5, any extra will be good for compost.  Next year will know how many to raise.  Some YT channels have mentioned eating it raw in their salads.  May try that.  Roasting it though sounds like the way to go.  Many YT channels and all recipes site have given many good reviews for this method.  Some mentioned roasting tomato and onion with it.  Believe it is a member of hibiscus family.

Beth have never raised ranunculus.  Don’t know if I have ever seen it other than a picture.  Does it bloom all summer? Does it want sun?  Like gladiolus, have had them in the past.  Maybe will try a few here someday.  Have you ever had Tigridia or Mexican Shell Flower is it’s other name.  Trying them this year.  Have had them in the past.

Have quite a few parsley plants started.  I do dry some of it.  But will be plenty for the butterflies too.  Raised a lot of different milkweed varieties in the past but no where to do that here.  They take a bit of space.  Raised a lot of liatris before too.  Butterflies love it.  Takes a lot of space though and they only bloom about two weeks.

Have you ever grown pineapple sage?  Smells wonderful and has beautiful red blooms that the hummingbirds love.  They don’t bloom til late though, if we get an early frost they don’t get to bloom.  Have had years where they get to bloom quite awhile. They do get fairly good sized, almost like a small bush.

There is a YT channel that says Jet Star is their favorite.  May try that next year if don’t come up with a favorite this year that produces well.  Have honeysuckle in the woods and multi flora roses.  Know the roses are invasive so keeping them cut back.  Not sure what type of honey suckle it is.  Appears to be two plants together as half of blooms are white and others half are a pink purple color.  If I see a bunch start coming up elsewhere will cut them down.

So glad had wood fence replaced with chain link.  Knew I did not want the upkeep of a wooden fence.    Now I can see the floor of the woods, had not thought about that.  Mayapple is growing behind my neighbors yard.  Think I’m going to look out for native woodland flowers plants and see if I can get some started in the woods.

Going to make a no bake cherry cheesecake today if nothing happens.

Hope all of you have a peaceful day

Lorita

Morning,

 Headache's better this morning - just kind of dull - thanks for your concern. I did forget to take the allergy pill, though.   It's a beautiful morning - couldn't be prettier - gorgeous dark blue sky and green grass and trees.  Some of the roses the cows missed eating are blooming and they're so pretty and red  - knock-out roses have the prettiest buds.

 I was going to let the moms and babies out this morning but they were west of the house grazing.  Now they're in the barn so guess I'll wait until tomorrow.  I like for them to be out the whole day so they can get most of their exploring done  before it gets dark.

 Iris, your cats sound so nice - don't you just love cats?  The ones I have are cuddly and the two Savannah cats are very rambunctious but they're younger than Max and Kitt.  I've always liked cats but also like dogs.  Luckily the GPs and cats seem compatible, at least in the house.  Don't know what would happen if they got outside.  Do your cats sleep with you?  Kitt, the one with only one eye and not much vision in the other walks up my legs from the hassock and headbutts me. 

 My goodness, those bees sound scary.  I've never seen that many at one time.  When we had the hive in the tree I'd only see a few flying around.  Lucky you haven't seen them again - just be careful.

 Sara - we used to raise Jet Star tomatoes - they're very good - about medium sized and tasty.  I can't remember if they're determinate or indeterminate.  Sounds like you're keeping busy - glad you got some rain.   We've had enough for some time but the weather said we may have showers tomorrow and three or four more chances next week.  We'll be praying for rain in July and August - same thing last year.  It was so wet I couldn't get the pastures sprayed so looks like it may be the same this year.

 I may plant the caladiums today but may wait until tomorrow to let the ground dry just a bit.  I think I'll plant nine in each pot which will leave three extra.  May move some wild violets out of the other big pot and put them in there.  I'm trying to transplant some of the violets to the area where the little, white flowers are.  The ones in the pots on the steps are growing some so whatever was eating them have stopped, at least for a while.

 Not in the mood to do anything today - still need to do some mopping but that can wait another day.  I need to get to work on my taxes but want to be completely rid of the headache first.

 Hope everyone's all right this morning.  I'll be back later.

Lorita

Judith,   I just planted my caladium bulbs.  They were so nice and a lot of them already had sprouts, some were a bit dry (my fault for not opening and planting sooner).  But, they sent more than I ordered.  I ordered White Christmas, Royal Flush, Tapestry and Rosebud - total of 30 and I know I got at least 40.  Completely filled the four big pots - more than I usually plant in them.  I don't always plant them 2" deep either - if they're budding I just cover them good with dirt.   Had to transplant some of the wild violets out of one pot.  I'll go back in a little while and water them good so the dry ones can rehydrate - the ground was very damp but they can use more water.  I'll be anxious to see them come up and foliate.   I will order from Floridaboys again.  I found some of the old bulbs from last year but they were not good.

 It's beautiful out today - not too hot and not windy.  I'm wondering if Bryon and Shane will come this afternoon.  The main thing is getting the tree off the fence - it'll take too much time to take out all the sprouts and I told him he wouldn't need to mow.  I was going to let the two pair out today but they've gone into the barn and don't seem to want to come out - maybe tomorrow.

 Have you planted your caladiums yet?  Did you order White Christmas again?  They were beautiful last year.

SQBEAR50

Happy hump day all,

Been busy with legal stuff regarding my uncle. Never ends.

Been getting into the 90's here. Thank goodness for a/c. Heat drains me, headaches, loss of appetite. Not looking forward to another summer in Vegas.

Nicole