I Did Not Fly Away Today…

Although there were tornados all around the area where I’m living, we were all fine.  We had some pretty heavy rain for a bit which means I didn’t have to water either of the gardens. 

Speaking of gardens, would you like a tour?

What first caught my attention after I got back from going to the “doc in the box” was the mommas and babies wandering up by the fence in the back yard.  I had to go get the camera and see if I could get some pictures to share.

Calf 2911 was the most curious about what that white-legged one eyed tall thing was… I liked her hair do. I really like that the mommas and babies are so close to the house.  When the little ones start playing it is very entertaining.

It was getting on toward supper time and several babies were nursing…

Those mamas are very patient I think.  If I had one attached to me that butted my poor little girls as hard as these bump their mamas I would probably be biting the little grubber in the bohiney.

This little shy girl was looking for mama.  All of the cattle are Limousin.   They are low fat producers, a very lean breed, but are also known for being very protective so unless absolutely necessary we keep a fence or a vehicle between us and them…

Meanwhile, to the gardens we go.

This is the backyard garden.  So far there is broccoli, cabbage, spinach, 3 squash plants that were given to me already growing in their pots, some onion and at the far end, red potatoes.

     This is our first almost ready broccoli… about the size of a soft ball.

You all know me… I have to have something for size comparison.  That bare foot wears an 8 1/2  shoe…. when I put shoes on.  This is cabbage (in the center).  Crooked neck squash to the right and spinach to the left of the cabbage.

The beginnings of the front yard garden.  There is about 4 times the space of the back yard garden.  We have planted 12 tomato plants you see here.

To the left of the tomato cages are the second batch of new potatoes that I planted about a month after the new potatoes in the back garden.  We all love new potatoes and I thought perhaps I could extend the growing season…  Far left along the fence are iris. next are onions, next is more cabbage (these are red) and broccoli then garlic and finally more of the new potatoes. Coming towards us from the cabbage are three rows of onion that were planted about 3 weeks after the row on the left.

You know that besides my foot for size I have to show the red dirt.  This was after the storms blew through and the wind picked up the dust and the rain settled it on these huge leaves.

Another red dirt on cabbage photo.

This is the bloom stem of an onion that has been out there for a year or two.  I would have taken more of this but it was starting to sprinkle again.  Gotta think of the camera, you know, because we all know I don’t melt.

Yes, my cousin Carol and I both used this thing.  Her son, Scott, my wonderful second cousin tilled both gardens up real well for us and we use this between rows to turn up weeds and grass… and,in my case, to try to trim up some. I like cookies too much.

These are part of the things that have kept me away from blogging… well, no not really… I have to keep this part of my life real.  I have been having to deal with bad depression… Several things hitting at once.  Moving out of the relationship and home that I had with Carol for over 22 years this last stretch, the anniversary of the OKC bombing that hit me so close to home that I haven’t yet gone to see the Memorial, the anniversary of my mother’s death 16 years ago that still cuts like a knife, my sister’s husband of 48 years is dying of cancer and just went on hospice last Thursday so we are expecting a call any day now.  Sis is dealing with it a whole lot better than I am for worrying about her and realizing that at age 65 I have no control over any facet  of   my life. Hallie and John losing their oldest son to suicide and Connor, his younger brother losing his sib that he looked up to so much and that brought up my memories from when my oldest sister  died very suddenly of a brain hemorrhage when I was almost 13…

And to add  the kicker, I have managed to stress myself  flat into a case of shingles. Around from my mid-section to my back and that sucks big time. I’ve never had them before but knew folks who did and wondered how grown folks could piss and moan about how painful they were.  There’s even the folk or old wives tale, whichever you prefer that if shingles go all the way around your body they kill you.  Missy, who has had shingles, and I decided today that it wasn’t really the shingles that killed you… you just would hurt so much that you wanted to die…

Got to have good news to wipe out the bad… I received my summer squash crookneck seeds from Tipper over at The Blind Pig and The Acorn and we are going to do the good planting day vs. the bad planting day.  Yep, another experiment about planting with the signs.  Aren’t you excited!  I know I am.  My conscience won’t let me get by without reporting about how the squash is doing so that gets me off games on Face Crack Book as Kim calls it and back to where I belong…  With all of you.  And I am going to make it back.  Depression bores the crap out of me.  About 2 or 3 weeks is about all I can stand of being morose and studying what I can find of my belly button so I’ll grab the bootstraps, get them on and get outside to the garden where the sunshine and growing things bring me back to the reality of how much I have missed by just laying around and studying my navel…

For those of you that have stuck around, you have my deepest appreciation.  I love you all and I apologize for dropping of the blogging world for as long as I have. I promise to try not to ever let it happen again.

Deaths, Funeralizing And Daddy...

If you all have read my blog for any time at all, you know several things about me, among which is the fact that I don't deal well with death and I am somewhat irreverent. That being said... besides Butch passing, when I called my little brother I found out that my sister in law's best friend's brother died suddenly that same morning and then my sister called me a couple of hours after I had talked to her about Carol and Butch to tell me that one of our cousins in Arkansas had passed away on Saturday, also. She had been in a nursing home for several years and had been pretty bad off from what the cousin that called my sis had said.

I told Sue, my sister, that I guess the good Lord had gone green along with so many of us, that he was taking 'em to heaven by the bus load. My sweet Baptist sister got a good laugh out of that and said it sure seemed like it. I asked her if it was the full moon or what... she, being a nurse, knew exactly what I was talking about, because it seems things happen on the full moon and the new moon. I told her that I didn't think I wanted to answer the phone any more that day.

Then we got to talking about when we'd get a call from Tennessee that some of daddy's sisters or some of the other kin had died, our daddy would always go get the oil changed in the car and check the air pressure in the tires. And always before we left on the trip back to bury whichever one had gone to see Jesus, daddy took a bath, whether it was Saturday or not.

Our dad was from the older generation that took a bath on Saturday, whether you needed it or not, unless you had to go on a trip... then you took a bath before you left the house. Fortunately, he worked inside, bookkeeping, rather than being an outside laborer. I don't ever recall him being sweaty smelling. He'd get outside at home and mow the lawn and pull weeds and johnson grass out of the lawn, and when he was younger, he'd trim the hedges, but mostly he spent his time indoors.

I just thought I'd share this little tidbit with you all, because my brothers, my sister and our cousin have all had a good time talking about these idiosyncrisities the last few days, and I don't want to continue with all this funeralizing talk. We just try to talk about all the good memories and give each other lots of hugs and support.

After all, that is what family is all about...