Wreaking Havoc - heat

100 + degrees

For over a month now.  Can I just say I am S-I-C-K of it?

I water the poor little plants every night.  They look pathetic.

I let the outside kitties come in for a couple minutes to try and cool off. Mostly they just languish on the garage floor concrete or under a tree. I even put ice cubes in their water to try and cool them off.

The weather people promised 60% chance of rain last night. My house, not ONE drop.

Today they promised oh highs only 95... LIES. When I got home over 100 again.

Weather is supposed to change in the Midwest. I am ready for some change!

Writing a book?

I am thinking about writing a book. I am completely in the dark on this topic. I mean I have a good idea for this book and I think it would do well as I haven't seen any books written on what I am thinking about but how do I go about it?

I know first I have to write a rough draft...that may take me years alone. Then I know I have to send it to publishers and try to get them to notice it. That is the part that has me concerned. How do I get noticed being a first-time author?  Will anyone take what I have to say seriously?

I wish I had a big audience that read my blogs so y'all could give me advice on this. Should I even tackle this? I mean I love to blog. Is that even a step in the right direction?  Please send me ideas or places to look!

Signed,
Budding Author.

Evil bugs!

We had a mild winter so I should have expected it, yet it always seems to come as a surprise.
Bugs.
They have arrived in my garden with a vengeance.  They are eating and killing more than their share of garden goodies. Sure I will reluctantly share but when you bugs start taking over my garden I get upset and fight back!

I should say hubby has been fighting back. We have tried expensive sprays, reliable old Seven, and old fashioned squashing them under our shoes.  Still the bugs seem to be winning.

I had a beautiful melon plant with baby melons on it. It was the best melon I had ever grown.

DEAD!

Killed by a borer bug.




Those aren't the only evilness in my garden. We also have squash bugs and cucumber beetles. Summer squash - almost dead. Cucumbers - suffering.


Squash bug shown above.


Cucumber beetle shown above.

I don't know how I will get anything out of the garden with all these pests taking over but I guess we will keep trying. Everything I read on the bugs, is they are hard to control and eradicate.

Any ideas?

Flower gardening

I have been updating you on my vegetable garden and fruit trees but thought I would take a time out and show you some of my flowers.  These are just what happened to be blooming when I took the camera out and snapped some pictures. They constantly change as sometimes they take a break from blooming and others begin.  I don't have the offical names of most of these flowers so if you would like to comment and add names I'd appreciate it.


I'll comment on the ones I may know.  This first one is a moss rose.

 This is a gerber daisy.

 Another gerber daisy of a different color.

 A yellow clumping mini rose. This rose was almost dead last year and now this year it is doing really well. You just never know about plants.

 This is a late bloom on the amarillyis plant. I don't know if I spelled that correctly.

 A regular red rose. This particular plant is my most fragerant rose I have in my garden. The smell is AMAZING!

 These are climbing roses. I believe a vintage variety.

 This is a decentant of a cactus plant from my relatives in Palm Beach Florida. They had this in their yard and I brought it back.  This one fell off the original plant and began growing over the winter. Now it seems to be going crazy. I have good luck with succulent plants.

And these are some of my many Aloe Vera plants. Need some???? This started out from one 4 inch plant many years ago. Now I have them in 2 giant planters plus 6 or so smaller planters. Told you I could grow succulents.

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY SON!!!

Happy 18th Birthday to my first born son!  I love him with my whole heart as I am sure any mother would. He is going off to college next month and I am sure it will hurt a lot. Here are some photos of my young man.


Here is a few years ago - before puberty finished.

 Her he is a couple years ago with ME! hee hee He is so blonde in this picture!

 One of my favorite senior pictures of him.

And here we are at graduation.

I LOVE YOUUUU!!!!!!!!!!

Vacation

Hi all -

I am off on a vacation with the family.  I hope we don't fight to much and hope we all stay safe.  I need to get away from the stress of everyday life and rush rush rush.

Take care and I promise to be back soon with stories and this and that.

Tribute to Mia

I hate writing this. It brings up the hurt and pain but Mia deserves a tribute so I will do this.

She was our little pumpkin. We rescued her, gave her a good life for the time we had her. She learned to smile with us!

Last Thursday she had a seizure. She had not had one for over a month with her new medication.  We went to check on her later in the evening and poor Mia had gotten worse. She was ice cold and her bowels had let loose.  We immediately called the vet and he said it sounded like she was in hypoglycemic shock.  We gave her some honey, held her to warm her. She seemed to perk up a bit so we put her in a box wrapped in towels by our bed.  In the morning she seemed a lot perkier but still could not stand. She drank water but was unable to keep food down.  We nestled her in her kennel and went to check on her at lunch.

Lunchtime visit was NOT good. She was worse so we took her into the vet. While there she began vomiting blood. We didn't want to admit it but it was time to say good-bye.

Mia can now run and play and chase cars. We miss her terribly. I miss her toenail tapping on the floor, her running right behind me no matter where I went. I miss her playing with me in the morning and rubbing on my leg like a cat.

You were a good girl Mia. (*sniff*) I miss you pumpkin!