Look Who Came For Dinner

Fear the vulture, and the vulture will come.  Fear nothing, and you are the vulture,

Suzy Kassem

 

 

I looked out the French doors to see this bird.  He remained just so until Freddie Peepers (a wild cat Dear Husband feeds) spotted him and decided this could be dinner on bird feet.  Very interesting face, don't you think?  We do feed birds, just not these.

Spring is Here

“Every day may not be good... but there's something good in every day”

― Alice Morse Earle

I am ready for Spring.  This Bleeding Heart was a $1 special at Lowes last year, I am very proud of it.  Turned out much better than I thought it would after the first winter in the ground.  It is well mulched.

These are a new kind of chives for me.  Instead of sending up blossoms, it sends up tiny plants much like an Egyptian Walking Onion.  I bought the plants last year from Burpees after having read an article about them.  Dear Husband is going to help me bend wire so I can peg the little plantlets into pots to start new plants to share.

The little plantlet. I feel so proud.  They are doing just what was advertised.

I told my Husband a month or so ago that the pole the wren house was on was crooked.  Last week he decided to try straightening it.  The little wren came flying out, probably off her eggs, cussing up a storm. She flew up in the tree right above, flying from limb to limb and chirping in short bursts, most likely asking just what he thought he was doing! She did eventually go back in. She blocked the door. Not a happy camper and you should have seen his face.

Vernal Equinox 2016

Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes.

~Author Unknown

I don't know about you, I am ready for fresh tomatoes and herbs from the garden.  It is time to get my fingers in the dirt.  Right now, it is snowing but I am looking at seeds and dreaming.  We have been talking about the greenhouse and trying to plan where everything will go.

We will still be putting in lots of different cherry and grape tomatoes.  All of us miss the colored jewels that graced the family table last summer.

I am looking forward to the rosemary blooming again.  Summer garden dreaming, on such a snowy day.  Homemade pesto :)

 

“It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

― Mark Twain

Last week, the first week of March, our Queen Elizabeth rose decided to put out leaf buds.  I really need to get it pruned.

Rose is the theme.  My friend, Vicki, gave me a wonderful present, a rose scented geranium. the scent is wonderful, I am ready for Spring.

The Rosemary made it through the winter! It has a new little buddy from Vicki's shop, a concrete bunny.

   

While I was there for a visit, she broke off  a bloom from her pretty camellia.  There was enough that I am trying for a groot.

Flowers don't bloom where no seeds have been planted. If you want kindness, be kind. If you want acceptance, be accepting. If you want encouragement, be encouraging. If you want forgiveness, be forgiving. If you want love, be loving. If you want respect, be respectful. We should not expect from others what we fail to give to them.

 Tom Krause

A friend gave me this young bulb last summer, it was left outside after the first few frosts.  I thought it was dead, but brought it in anyway and my man closed it up in a cardboard box.  My dear husband checked it for me every time he watered the lemon and lime trees.  It threw up three tiny leaves, we put it in the sun. It has four blossoms.  I have never had one rebloom before.

Today, we enjoyed weather in the 60s, in February.  In celebration, my Granddaughter and I planted amazing tulip bulbs.  Granted, I began and my hands would not cooperate.  I gave instructions and she did a fantastic job.  I am very proud of her!  My dear husband gets credit for the soil work.

I hope we really will have an early Spring.  The hellebores are not blooming yet but we have tulips and daffodils are coming up.  The fig tree, as well as the cherry and peach are pliable.  Chives, all three kinds, are coming up, the cats have catnip coming up.  I am wondering if I will be able to garden this year.  Need to be stronger.

As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat. Ellen Perry Berkeley

As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human mind.

 

Cleveland Amory

Schuster has been my companion for a few years, almost 18. When she was 16, her vet told me she had the body of a 6 year old.  Pretty cool.  She has been there through good times and bad.  She loves my Husband and he loves her.  That was one of the ways I knew he was a good man.  Love me, love my cat.

And now for Freddie Peepers, peeping at us through the French door.  When we first met him, he was so thin you could see all his ribs and you could count his spinal vertebrae.  My soft hearted man started feeding him.  Outside.  In return, Freddie Peepers was pretty much responsible for decreasing the mole, vole, groundhog, and chipmunk population on the property.  We haven't even had many squirrels!  He is a keeper.

Until he started limping.  We were afraid we might have to put him down.  We worried and fretted until he finally tripped the trap.  The vet had him for about 4 hours, his wound was cleaned, he was tested for diseases, all negative.  He was neutered (sorry about that, Peepers, but who wants those child support payments anyway?).  He was vaccinated and spent the night in one of the sheds.  He is so much better now and we are relieved.  Love him, Love his cat.

2016

“A woman’s strength isn’t just about how much she can handle before she breaks, it’s also about how much she must handle after she’s broken.”

STRENGTH

 

This year, I am doing something new.  I have been thinking about it for weeks.  I have read about it in blogs. I read the Daily Guidepost, a gift from my parents.  The January 3rd entry was written by Debbie Macomber, one of my Mother's favorite authors.  I have chosen a word for 2016, Strength.  I am going to work to take back some of the things that MS has stolen from me.  I have been reading about nutrition at the cellular level.  My friend, Marge, and her daughter are using turmeric, with good results.  After reading and learning, I want to give it a try.  Dr. Terry Wahls has a diet called the Wahls Protocol.  She was also confined to a tilt recline wheelchair but can walk and ride a bike again, she gives me hope.  I am stepping up my exercise and stretching.  I want to knit more.  I have a cabinet full of wool, I want to teach my Granddaughter how to make pennies.  I want to walk again, that is the goal.  This year, I need strength to fight.  I will definitely need strength.