Just need to talk to my friends (198)

Nice to hear from everyone

HB mom keeps you busy.

going to be a warm one here today. I brought mom’s load of wash home with me to do that. My lunch is not something you would normally eat on a warm day. A roast beef was already cooked. Carrots and celery were all frozen in the freezer and everything else was handy so it didn’t take me long just to put it all together make it almost like a soup/stew. I baked a pan of cornbread. It turned out very nice. I make it from scratch and it’s been a learning process for me but I found out today for the amount of cornmeal that I use for my self a half an egg works really well. It rises better than when I don’t use an egg, but with a whole egg rose too much, I didn’t like it that thick. I added just a little bit of yellow cornmeal to it also but not very much.

the new flower bed is not that pretty, but I still really enjoy it. The goldfinches love it, they come and eat sunflower seeds.. When the petals on the head fade, then I cut the head off and I put it through my chain link fence. So I’m seeing a lot of gold finches, which I think are so pretty. I like to see them in the flight, they kind of have an up-and-down motion. There was some buckwheat in there too. It’s self sows and seeds also get in my compost and I leave most of it alone because the bees love it and I think maybe the Cardinals have been coming and eating off of it because it’s starting to seed. I’ve seen them in my flower bed quite a bit. I’ve also seen several butterflies they like the zinnias. Before when I sat on my porch, I really couldn’t see any of my flowers, hardly except for the few that I let grow up in the garden.

if any of you gardeners have never raised Mountain Spring tomatoes, don’t. I bought them because the greenhouse said it was their number one tomato and usually I found their recommendations good there. This tomato is horrible. I’ve only eaten one, but when I sliced into it, it was very firm and it had like a white cord, looking pattern throughout it, and had no flavor. I’m going to let one or two more ripen, but if they’re no better than that I am cutting the plant off and throwing it away. I’m not wasting anymore time or water on it. From now on anything they recommend that I have not heard of. I will look it up before I buy it. I won’t trust them ever again.

Thinking of all of you. a couple of days ago my uncle’s blood pressure had been running on the lower side. Some days he’s a little more alert than other days.

I just saw a female hummingbird in my flower garden. That’s the first one I’ve seen. I kept telling people I have not seen a hummingbird. It is trying out the zinnias it looks like. It is a female, I have not seen a male hummingbird in years. When we lived on our small farm, we saw them all the time, them and females. I have two pineapple sages in that flower bed. They’re beautiful when they go into bloom but they don’t usually bloom till later here in our climate. Later can also vary quite a bit, but I’m not seeing any indication of blooms yet on mine. A few times I’ve had them not bloom till it was almost frost time.. That’s disappointing when they do that. I still like to have one or two every year because they’re such a pretty red. If they bloom early enough, the hummingbirds will like them. I will have to try to figure out something to put in that bed that will attract the hummingbirds. Maybe you have a suggestion Beth. My Mexican sunflowers are starting to get a few blooms. Once they get into full bloom, they should attract things also. When I lived with mom, I raised a vine. It was sort of ferny and has like little red trumpet flowers all over it. It did well there, the hummingbirds loved it. I’ve tried it two or three times here and I have not had a lot of success. The plants come up fine. In fact, I’ve cut them down all summer, but They don’t make a big plant like they made at moms that is covered in flowers. It was pretty, here it gets blooms but they’re just scattered and it is ugly and so I’m not messing with it anymore.

Last Sunday in July. Not possible!

Welcome home, Ron.

HB, do you have a Trader Joe near you? They have a Two Buck Chuck wine that is supposed to be pretty good, I never tried it.

Mint, how can you tell the female hummers? I have a couple that come to my yard in the mornings. I used to put up a feeder before I had cats, but Simon was a bird chaser.

Iris

Thanks, Mint. I'll have to try to get a closer look at the necks of the hummers that come to my yard.

Lorita, Simon and Seven are okay. I took Simon to walk in the grass this morning and I took photos and a video of him, he's so cute!

Iris

Sharing something that makes me happy. I see these flowers from my kitchen window and decided to make a collage of the photos. I also have a bird feeder nearby. We've had cardinals, goldfinches, bluebirds, blue jays, house finches, morning doves, woodpeckers, chickadees, towhees, chickadees, and an assortment of nuthatches and sparrows at the feeder. I'm in Southwest PA.

Aconite, your flowers are beautiful! What a nice variety of birds you have! We see lots of sparrows, blackbirds, cardinals, rose breasted grosbeaks, orioles, house finches, goldfinches, nuthatches, chickadees, wrens, hummingbirds, doves and woodpeckers (hairy, downy, red breasted and the occasional northern flicker). We live in Iowa. If I put out peanuts, we get bluejays but the abandoned shells leave a mess. I feed sunflower & safflower seed, nyjer and in oriole season, grape jelly.

Iris, Simon is adorable.

Iris, Jo, anywhere close to the wildfires? Even here in Iowa, the Canadian and maybe Californian too wildfires have been giving us hazy skies and the most beautiful bright orange sun.

I like your threads because your threads let us from the east know what's happening where you are.

David, yes, every new conversation is a thread. Keep in mind that this thread is on the Spouse/Partner Caregiver board. You have already started a few threads of your own on the "Living with Alzheimer's " board.

Aconite, your flowers are beautiful.

Mint, I'm with you, I'll let nature feed the birds. I couldn't keep up with a feeder.

Beth, I'm nowhere near any wildfires, here in the LA area. The sky is bright blue but there is haze in the distance, probably smog.

Lorita, we like reading about the cattle. Are there any left where you can get to them, or were they all moved far away?

Simon has lost weight, because he has sarcopenia. His back legs are atrophying and weak, but his front legs are still strong. When I take him outside he likes to walk around and munch on the grass. My cats graze on grass, just like cows. Just a little bit, though.

My feet and legs have been bothering me since I returned from my trip in early June. I finally started wearing support hose, and the pain is easing up, after only three days. I purchased the hose at Big 5 Sporting Goods store.

Iris