Good news; bad news, regarding the birds.

So, today, regarding the bird saga, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that I got a picture of a couple of little heads as they stick up above the nest. The bad news is that a broken egg appeared on the porch, so I guess the mother threw it out when she found that it was a defunct egg. Of course, I picked it up and brought it in to get pictures. (Eyes rolled.) I have pictures on the blog of the little heads sticking up and the broken egg, so you can believe it with me. Remember, you can see more details if you click on the picture. We know that there are 3 little birds in there. We’ve seen three stick up their heads and open their mouths wide enough to gobble down a whole egg. They do that when she is there feeding them. When she is not there, they just sit with their mouths closed. There might be more than 3 in there, or there might be another bad egg in the nest. The mother is pecking at something on the end where the babies are not. We only saw one whole egg when we got that first fuzzy picture, but I guess there could have been an egg underneath. Maybe if the eggs don’t hatch in due time the mother pecks on it to help it out if it’s good or to determine for sure that it’s not good? It’s been so interesting to watch!










Today also, there were baby purple finches on the front porch with another mother purple finch feeding them. They are more developed than the ones on the door. They can fly, but they just fly onto the porch and then jump around peeping until the mother who is just a tad bigger than them feeds them the seed we have out there. It’s almost comical to watch; they are so impatient!

The rest of the good news is that I did the beginner exercises on the Power Plate today. I think it’s got to be a great thing. We’re only supposed to do it 3 days a week and not consecutively because it’s so strong. It’s hard to describe, but it is called vibration exercise. I was afraid the vibrations would make me sick, but it doesn’t. It’s another very interesting thing. Many high profile athletes use this type of exercise to build bone and muscle strength, improve circulation, etc.

I am nearly done with the herb and vitamin throwing. I just have to package them; I should finish tomorrow. At least they are thrown and I won’t have to do it again for a month.

Count the blessings; they are EVERYWHERE. God is so good!

Power Plate and Jiggler.

We have busy day after busy day. It’s hard to travel and catch up. Today was catch up day and there were extra things like throwing herbs and setting up the Power Plate. Ugh. I’m running late. I’ll have to finish the herbs and vitamins tomorrow. Thankfully, I have enough for tomorrow already done. Tomorrow I will use the Power Plate for the first time, too. There just isn’t time tonight. I did get on it for a few seconds and my mother is somewhere smiling because I have been ‘shook ‘til my teeth rattled.’ I hope I can stand it!

Lady Bird is sitting faithfully with the babies, but she does leave them for longer periods. They aren’t making any noise, yet, but we can see a head stick up above the nest every now and then. Soon maybe I can get another picture. They’ll get bigger and their heads will stick up, I hope; then I can get a picture from the driveway, I hope.

The pictures on the blog today are the Power Plate and my in home chiropractor, the Jigglin George. I have NO problem with George; he keeps me mobile!

I’m off to get a bath and get to bed, counting blessings as I go. God bless us all!

Winning is SWEET!

Wow! Our guys WON their tournament! They scored 8 every game today. I don’t remember what the others scored, but it was always less than that. Our guys were hitting and they were defending. They did everything right, and how exciting it was for all of us! The weather was PERFECT, so we weren’t drained from heat or wind and we didn’t get rained out; it was just PERFECT! Nobody got hurt. It was just PERFECT!

The only picture on the blog today is the winning team! Our son, David, is the dad coach on the right in the back and our grandson, Bruce, is in the middle of the back row of kids. I didn’t realize he is actually the tallest on our team, but I should have known that. They all seem to have grown like weeds since last year, so I’m so amazed at all of them. Their height might be their least asset, though. They are all wonderful kids, bright, big hearted, and talented and skilled players. Just ask any of us grandmas at the field!

Don and I had a safe trip and enjoyed more wildflowers along the way as well as our usual reading and discussions. It was dark when we got home, but I turned the light on the front porch to check on Lady Bird. She appears to be sitting on the nest, so I guess all is well out there.

Tomorrow is a big day for us. I’ve got the throw herbs and vitamins for the next 30 days; I’ll get started on it, at least. The main thing is that our Power Plate is coming. That’s a piece of exercise equipment that we’ve ordered and are very excited to be getting. I’ll tell you more about it after it gets here.

I’m headed to bed, thanking God until I fall asleep.

Baseball update.

We tied the first game, 2-2. The second game we won 8-1. It sure felt good to win. The guys were playing great. We play next at noon tomorrow. We're whipped and headed to bed. PTL and count the blessings. Thanks for keeping up with us.

Baseballing . . .

I'm thinking it's going to be late tonight when we get done with the baseball games since we're starting late, so I thought I'd do a blog entry right quick before we leave for Wichita Falls. If I get a chance tonight I'll write, but the last game is scheduled for 8 and they are usually late, so I'm thinking I'll just fall into bed after my bath tonight.

We had breakfast at church this morning. They had a fellowship breakfast and the men were fixing breakfast! How cool was that? Let me tell you the best part. I didn't want to go because I can't eat biscuits and gravy and don't want the rest. I just take all my pills with a piece of rye bread and that's a good breakfast for me. (So, I did that before we went.) I wanted to participate, though, and I wanted Don to have a breakfast he really enjoys, so we went. The part that was so cool, was this. When we got there everyone was just around talking and the guys were cooking. Don went over and checked to be sure all was going well in the kitchen and then came back and told me they didn't have anyone who could make gravy, so would I do it? That's my calling! Gravy I can do! I was so pleased to be able to go in there with the guys and do my gravy thing. It feels good to be needed and appreciated, especially from Don but from the other folks, too. It was cool!

The pictures on the blog today are from our trip to the reserve the other day. I usually take all the pictures, but Don wanted to get one of me with the 3 waterfalls in the background. I was scared to get out there on the edge, but pleased that he wanted to help with the pictures. We hiked down to the waterfalls, too. It was so much fun!

My sister called a while ago to tell us about the death of a good friend's son in a car accident last night. What a shock and loss. God tells us to give thanks in all things, and sometimes it's hard to do that. There are lots of blessings in every situation, even shock and loss. I'll be counting the blessings of Greg's life; I pray that they can, too. When my mom died I was so at a loss! The greatest help in her death and in every one since then has been this quote from an unknown author: "How long does a man live? It is as long as you can touch him or as long as he touches you? . . . " That tells me that we never have to give up our loved ones; we only give up their bodies. God lets us keep them in our minds, so we have them as long as we have our minds. We learned from Don's dad that when we lose our minds, it doesn't matter or hurt. God blesses and I give Him praise and thanks.

Wild flowers from the reserve.

Whew; today I got a chance to catch my breath. We stayed around the house and nothing incredible happened. We got our walk done this morning and I got my jiggling done and wore the kangoojumps while I dusted and did the floors. We got up early so I could make brownies for the canasta crew tonight, and I made Essiac tea because it was time. No wonder I’m tired; it’s been a full day. We won all 3 canasta games, so I’ll sleep well; I always do, anyway.

Tomorrow we go to Wichita Falls to watch another tournament with Bruce. They don’t play until 4, so we don’t have to rush to get there or even leave early. We’ll get up and pack in the morning, so I’m going to bed early tonight. I think it’s too late for that, but I’m going right after I get this blog done. Tonight’s pictures are the hot pink cactus and the Missouri Primrose, then a shot looking down over a bank of coreopsis and Indian Blanket (Galardia) with the hot pink cactus toward the bottom. (Remember; click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see more details.) See why it was so breathtaking to be hiking around among all those beautiful flowers? It was so perfect!

Have a wonderful and safe weekend. Count the blessings with me and thank God!

I stand amazed!

“LIFE IS NOT MEASURED BY THE NUMBER OF BREATHS YOU TAKE BUT BY THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY.”

Today was filled with breath taking moments! Our trip to the reserve with David and Dorothy was such a treat! We enjoyed every moment and came home entirely breathless! After I dumped the pictures that were pretty much duplicates or weren’t worth keeping, I still had 61!!! How do I choose what to share with you first???

First of all the birds seem to be fine. The mother and father are very busy with feeding in the nest, so I think all must be well. The must have forgiven me for taking pictures yesterday. I’m not going to ever get that close to the nest again, though. I was so scared she wasn’t coming back until she came back. I don’t want to go there, again. I’ll take one when they get big enough to hold their heads up over the nest.

Today we saw Buffalos, deer, wild turkeys, prairie dogs and MANY collared lizards close enough to get great pictures. Besides that I got great pictures of Missouri Primrose and hot pink blooming cactus, whatever their real name is. I don’t know where to begin with sharing pictures. The day was PERFECT. I told Don it felt like a Kona day because the weather was not to hot; not too cool; not too windy, but PERFECT. Plus we were enjoying perfect companions and we paid over $3 a gallon for gas! We love being in Kona, but it’s great to be at home in Oklahoma and have a Kona day, too! God is so great!

I put awesome pictures on the blog from Hawaii; well now you’ll be getting awesome pictures on the blog from Oklahoma. The reserve is Oklahoma’s best kept secret in our opinion, and we had the opportunity to get gobs of great pictures to share with you from this ‘secret’ today. I’ll share them along the way when there is nothing new happening around here.

I’ll begin with the buffalo, deer, and a precious picture of David feeding a prairie dog. David was sitting there watching the other many prairie dogs and felt this little guy on his knee. What a treasure! It’s an example of how breathless the whole day was.

Thank God for a day full of treasured moments, so much a sample of our whole lives!

Breath taking moments!

What an exciting day! I got up at 6 to drink my first dose of Essiac tea and went first to the window to check on the birds. On my way to the window I glanced at the magnolia bloom and it looked about like it did yesterday, which I still loved. Of course I saw nothing when I spied on the birds, so I drank my tea and went back to bed. Then we got up at 8 and I went straight to the window. I glanced at the magnolia and, “LIFE IS NOT MEASURED BY THE NUMBER OF BREATHS YOU TAKE BUT BY THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY.” It was one of THOSE MOMENTS!!! In the two hours since I’d looked at it, it was fully open. It is so gorgeous. (Dana, it’s not as perfect as the picture you sent, but it’s on my dining room table, so I think it’s perfect!) I took a picture and it’s on the blog today!

We went walking and I was able to catch a shot of a heron that we get to see a lot. I’ll put her on tomorrow’s blog. More breath taking moments!

Today, the Lady bird was off the nest, so I talked Don into opening the door and taking a peek into the nest. He said, ”I think one has hatched.” He just took a quick look because we didn’t want her to abandon the nest because we were looking. Of course we’ve beat a trail to the dining room window going there so much today. We’ve seen the male feeding the female several times. Then we see her sitting there bobbing her head up and down into the nest, so we figure he’s bringing food to her and then she feeds it to the babies. There are at least 2 other female purple finches that are feeding on the seed, finally. There are a host of sparrows out there making a mess, too. One time I watched the male down there feeding off the fallen seeds and then he flew up to the nest, but then flew away. I couldn’t stand it. No bird was on the nest, so I took my stool to the front door, opened it and climbed up and took a picture. Of course I’m still not tall enough to look into the nest, so I have to hold the camera up and shoot. I got several no good pictures, but I got this one that is good, but I still can’t tell too much about it. It looks to me like all of them except one have hatched. I can’t identify 4 birds, but I can identify one egg and I can subtract. There were 5 eggs and there is only 1 left, so there must be 4 birds. It’s really all a bunch of pink skin and fluff. I sure hope she doesn’t get mad and not come back to the nest. She let me take a picture of the eggs; surely she will let me take that picture of the babies. Anyway, it was exciting. I’ll feel bad if she never comes back! I’m not going to do that anymore; it’s too nerve racking! If they get big enough to stick their head up over the nest, then I’ll take a picture from the driveway. Good grief; I thought we owned that door, but I guess THEY own it because they sure have taken control of it!

God amazes me every day! Tomorrow we are going to the reserve to hike. Dorothy and David are going with us. They are taking lawn chairs and will sit and enjoy nature while we hike. Then we’re all going to picnic for lunch. That’ll be another day of breath taking moments; I’m excited about tomorrow, too. Our cup over runs and we give thanks!

Another bit of what makes Jo . . .

I guess if you read the blog each day you will put together the pieces that make me. You know that small, simple things thrill me. You know that I love the flowers in the yard, especially if I can cut them and bring them inside. You know I love my magnolia tree in the front yard. Today’s picture is my first bloom from the magnolia tree. I love this bloom! Tomorrow it will be open and even more beautiful. I wish I could give you the fragrance on the blog!

When we moved into our house in Oklahoma City about a hundred years ago (actually, I think it was 24 years ago) there was a magnolia tree growing in the atrium that was in our bedroom. I fell in love with that tree and climbed up on the roof to reach the blooms to cut off and bring into the house. Since that house, we’ve planted a magnolia tree in every yard we’ve had. So, when we moved into this house we planted a magnolia tree out front. TWICE the Oklahoma wind broke my tree off, level with the ground. I never gave up on that tree. I was convinced the roots were good, so I fertilized and watered and the tree SUVIVED. I’m so proud of it. This is the third year for it to have blooms. There are two more blooms out there that I can find. I’ll take pictures tomorrow.

The birds keep me glued to the window! The male has been back to feed the female, and another female purple finch is coming to the feeder to eat. Lady Bird is hugging the nest tight; she’s nearly always there. We aren’t using that door. We can’t hear any chirps or see any little heads yet, so I must be off on my calculations. Time has got to be short; though.

God is good and we give Him thanks and glory; all we have is His and we are so pleased to have a part in it.

Busy Lady Bird!

I’m all a dither today about the birds. Don won’t let me look into the nest for fear that she will abandon it. He makes me tired being right all the time. I can’t see into the nest from the window and I can’t take a picture because of the glare from the glass. Today is the 13th day, though, so I’m expecting them to hatch. She is definitely very busy. She has been sitting there all day and instead of looking around like usual, she is doing something with her head in the nest. We can’t even see her head for the most part. Also one time we caught the male feeding the mother! That tells me that she won’t leave the nest for long enough to eat. So, something serious is happening out there. I’ve stood inside the door and listened for chirps, but don’t hear any. I guess I just have to be patient. Man, that’s hard to be!

The pictures on the blog are of a butterfly that became my little buddy at the ballpark yesterday. I forget what kind it is; I’ll have to do some research and see if I can identify it.

Nothing new is happening other than whatever is happening with the birds. We’re doing the same old stuff: cooking, cleaning, walking, etc. Life is good and God blesses us. I thank Him and you for looking in on us.

Happy Mothers Day!

Full day! Bruce’s team gave us another break by losing their first game, so we got to come home early. We would rather have stayed and watched them win to the end, but it wasn’t the day for that. They are a great team, but they just didn’t have it together for this tournament. I know they are learning a lot that will prepare them for life. Sometimes you do your best and it still doesn’t work like you want. Sometimes you don’t do your best and you have to live with that. All I know is that these boys are talented and they are learning a lot as they go. I’m proud of their parents for giving them this opportunity to play hard and compete. I’m proud to be a grandparent among their fans. On the blog today are 3 pictures of our Bruce pitching.

We were able to stop on the way home and get groceries, which was good. We were out of all the good salad makings and we don’t always have everything we need here. Spinach isn’t always so fresh by the time it gets to Hobart and we never get Kale. I forgot to get carrots, though, so I still have carrots to buy and clean tomorrow. I had to clean all the lettuce, kale, etc. when we got home. Plus I had to make Essiac Tea, so it can sit and be ready in the morning for tomorrow’s doses. Ick. I checked weather.com and decided it’s a good day to spray the weeds, too. Those rats; they’re trying to get ahead of me, but I’m not having it.

My Lady Bird is faithfully sitting on her eggs. By my calculations, I expect them to begin hatching this week; maybe tomorrow. I’ll be so excited!!! The best I can tell she’s still not touching the seed I put out for her. Go figure.

The bed is so calling me! God is good and He blesses us so; don’t forget to count the blessings and give Him thanks and glory! Thanks for caring to look in on us. Hope Mothers Day was wonderful for you!

Lose some, win some; we're due to win tomorrow!

We got our Vitamin D today! The games were good and the weather was perfect. The first game was hot, but the second one came with a little cloud cover and nice breezes, so it was a nice finish. We lost both games by 2 points, but they were both good. Today’s games were just seeding for tomorrow’s games, so tomorrow is when it really counts. I guess that’s how it is. We’ll see how it goes. Our guys are really talented, but they are playing other really talented boys, too.

I came with everything except the cord to download pictures, so I can’t put pictures on of what we did or saw today. It’s only exciting for us, anyway, so it won’t take so long to download today’s blog.

We had a safe trip here and we’re enjoying it; counting blessings and thanking God for rich, rich blessings.

Have a wonderful Mothers Day tomorrow!

Day to day in Hobart.

Today was a busy day getting ready to be gone for the weekend to another baseball tournament. Don mowed and nearly melted; it was plenty hot. He had trimmed earlier in the week, so he didn’t have too much to do. I’ve packed and got us ready to go.

Between getting ready to go we got in our walk and paced back and forth to the window to watch over miss Lady Bird. She has not touched the food the best we can tell, and neither has any other bird. We’re surprised. I figured I’d have to refill the feeder by now, but it’s still full. Go figure. She’ll get plenty of peace with us gone for the weekend. The birds might hatch Sunday or Monday if my research is right and if the eggs are still good.

On our walk this morning I took pictures for the blog. The walk around the lake is really pretty. The first shot is my favorite place on the walk, where the trees meet over the walking path. The next picture is of the ‘snow’ that we get this time of year. It’s the seeds from the cottonwood trees. You can see it on the ground, and if you click on the picture I think you’ll be able to see it hanging on the tree. It’s a mess, but kind of interesting. The last picture is of a couple of turtles sunning on a log in the lake. There were 3, but the one in the middle slid off when he heard us. We like to observe the turtles sunning all around the lake as we walk; they’re smart to get the Vitamin D! God provides!

I’m taking the computer with me and we should have access to the Internet, so I’ll intend to keep the blog up over the weekend. If you don’t see an update, don’t worry; it’ll just mean that I’m too tired or can’t connect or something. I’ll catch up when we get home if I get behind.

Thank you for caring about us! Enjoy your weekend and thank God for all our blessings!

90th birthday celebration!

Today seemed to fly past. Don’t they all, though? Today was my dear friend’s 90th birthday. She welcomed me to Hobart when we came as if I were her daughter. She loved Don’s dad and his family and just accepted me totally. She baked a birthday cake for his dad every single birthday. Bless her heart, she is failing to Alzheimer’s and is in the local nursing home. Her grandson called me Tuesday night and asked if I could be sure and get a birthday cake over to her that would be big enough to serve the whole nursing home because he had to be in Denver today. Bless his heart; he has his hands full with his family and career and lives 2 hours away, so I was really glad he called and let me help. I thank God that I didn’t have to BAKE the cake!!! She would have baked one and baked many for Boone. Anyway, a sweet girl at church bakes cakes and baked one for sweet Tommie. I picked it up this morning and took it over to her. Thank God that Don went with me. The cake was HUGE; I could never have done it by myself. Tommie was thrilled and was having a pretty good day. So many blessings to count!

My Lady Bird is very diligently sitting on the eggs. Nothing has changed on that front.

I spent the afternoon cutting off shorts and hemming them and making knee bands out of the cut off parts. Then tonight we watched Survivor and I made more lavender wands. Today I also made our reservations for the baseball tournament in Desoto, TX this weekend. That’s on the southeastern side of Dallas; we’ll be there for the 2:00 p.m. game.

Today’s picture is precious Tommie and her cake. Both her children and her husband preceded her in death. She has two grandsons and a granddaughter, but none of them live close, so it’s my pleasure to share her love. God blesses us again and again, and I thank Him.

The “Lady Bird” isn’t impressed with the feeder I put out for her. Maybe I’ll catch her using it tomorrow. I feel like I should put out a sign that says ‘Purple Finch family only!’ The starlings will no doubt find it and make a mess. We’ll see what happens. Today we had really big winds and hard rain and she sat out there all protected. I was pleased with that. This is storm season here, so it’s common to have big winds, rain, thunder, lightening and the like. I feel good about her being sheltered on the porch. We’ll use the side and back doors as much as possible to give her some peace.

I got our plans made for our trip to our family reunion in Tennessee on June 9th. We’ll go the weekend before to Mesquite, Texas for a baseball tournament. We’ll go straight from there to Branson and spend 4 nights there. Trish and her family will meet us in Branson. Then we’ll leave from there and go to Louisville, taking Tricia’s 3 oldest kids with us. In Louisville we’ll spend the night with Gretta and family and then go visit Gina and family the next day. Then on Saturday we’ll head to the Fox Family (my mother’s) reunion in Nashville. From the reunion we’ll come back home and bring Tricia’s kids as well as Garrett with us. All the grandkids are fun, but I’m amazed that as they get bigger they are developing into such great people. We love playing cards with them, etc. It’s fun to take them out to eat and they really eat instead of just picking over the food! Trish will be too close to delivering to make the family reunion. We’ll miss her, but it’s just too long a trip for her at 8 months, which is where she’ll be at that point. Last night and today is when we made all these plans, so they may change a bit between now and then, but the Branson part is a done deal. Of course if Trish goes into labor, all bets are off and we all head home! Everything will be with that rule from now until their baby is born.

All is good, here. Thank God for safe storms and rich blessings and care.

I'm so proud of the mother bird!

We’ve had storms tonight and I had the computer unplugged until now, so I’ll write a quick note. We’re fine and the storms are all east of us. I can still hear the thunder rumbling, but we can go to bed, now. I hope and pray the rest of the state gets off easy.

Today I did research on my little bird family and learned that the incubation period is 13 days. Then the babies will stay in the nest for 14 days. That means we should get to see a lot of fun stuff. I’m so proud of the little mother; she is so diligent with her eggs! Tomorrow I’m going to buy some birdseed and hang a feeder out on the front porch for her. We had one hanging there a couple of years ago but we took it down because they made such a mess. I’ll be okay with the mess because I’m so glad she’s back! I also learned today that these birds live an average of 3 or 4 years and sometimes as long as 8 years. I had no idea! That’s why she’s nesting out there; she must be the one who nested here before! I think she’s pretty smart, too, because on the porch she has to worry with us using the door, but she doesn’t have to worry with the wind and the rain. We may be rough with the door, but we are nothing like the wind out here! So, that’s the bird story.

Today’s picture on the blog is of a purple larkspur in the yard. You may have noticed some in one of the pictures yesterday. I love them in the garden for a spike of color. I like to bring them in and use them in arrangements in the house, but they fall and make a mess, so I don’t bring them inside much. The hummingbirds like them outside, too.

I worked in the yard today cutting off daffodil greens and pulling weeds, but I didn’t get new pictures. The larkspur I got the other day. Today I was hurrying to get what I could before the rains came. I hope I can get new pictures tomorrow.

Count the blessings! God is so good!!! He blesses us all!

More eggs!

I hope I didn’t worry anyone else. Ruthie called me today to check to be sure I’m okay because I had a rugged day yesterday. I’m just fine today. I think I was just exhausted yesterday from doing way too much after a full week, already, plus I was missing Grace!

Anyway, today started out wonderfully! After breakfast Don and I left for our walk. He’s tall enough to take a look into the bird’s nest, so he did that and announced that there are FIVE eggs in the nest! I don’t think I could have been more thrilled if he’d told me we’d won the lottery. I had to run get the camera and make pictures of the eggs, which are on the blog today. I’m so amazed that this little bird can even have one of those eggs in her body, let alone FIVE of them! She sits out there so diligently; I’m just amazed at God’s work, and it’s happening right on our front door. It happens all the time in our lives and we take it for granted. I can only give praise and thanks for the opportunity to watch it unfolding under my nose.

I made sure to jiggle for an hour today, so I’m in good shape. I made Essiac tea for the rest of the week, so that job is done. I have to make it about every 5 days. It feels good to have it behind me; it smells up the kitchen, so it’s good to have it behind us.

The second picture on today’s blog is the yarrow in a burst of yellow bloom. The third picture is a shot of the back flower garden with the crepe myrtles beginning to leaf. The lavender clump is to the left of the third stepping-stone from the bottom. Remember, if you click on the picture you’ll see more details.

Thanks to our Father for blessing us so richly!

Lavender Sunday.

Today was the end of my first week in my second round of 16 weeks of aggressive meds. It was the day that I leave everything except one medication off, so I was expecting a good day. I was pretty ragged, though. I got up and did too much before church, so that might have been the reason the rest of the day was rough. I did 3 loads of wash, gave Don a haircut, made breakfast and unloaded the dishwasher. Unloading the dishwasher is really hard on my back; maybe I should wash dishes? Probably. Anyway, after church we went to the Mexican restaurant for lunch and came right home. I shuffled the cards from last night’s games, so they’ll be ready when we want to play again and cleaned up the floor from last night’s popcorn while I let the 30 minutes pass after eating so I could jiggle and ‘fix’ my back. I love that jiggler!!! After jiggling I crawled right into bed and slept 2 hours. I guess I needed that. I’m not sure how the meds affect me. I think they make me sleepy, but I didn’t have most of them today, so I’m confused about that. Maybe the total of the week hit me today? When I went through this before I was in Tijuana with few responsibilities, so it’s different at home with lots of responsibilities. Anyway after my nap I felt much better.

I went out and cut some lavender and made 5 lavender wands while we watched TV tonight. Don went on to bed because there was nothing on local TV except the weather alerts. We have tornados dropping across the state, and lots of storms, but all of it is north and east of us, so we’re out of danger. It only sprinkled here.

The pictures on today’s blog entry are a close up of my lavender as it grows; a shot of the 5 wands I made; and a close up of one little wand. Don asks, “Why do you do those?” You’re probably asking the same thing. I don’t know a good answer except that I just love to do them. I like to give them to folks. Tonight when I sat down to put them together I couldn’t remember how to start and I felt like I’d had some great loss! I fumbled around until I figured it out and felt very relieved. I don’t know what that means except that I feel pulled to do it. Don would say it’s OCD (obsessive, compulsive, disorder), and he’s probably right, AGAIN! Whatever; I love to do it and I think doing it is good for me and not doing it would be very stressful. It’s really cheap entertainment for me, and I can do it while we watch TV. (I’m no good at just sitting and watching TV; I like to have something in my lap happening or I go to sleep.) It doesn’t hurt my back and it’s not costly like shopping. It’s a natural sort of thing and I love it, so now you know that quirky thing about me.

God is so good; trusting Him is all joy; He blesses us so richly, and I give thanks and praise!

We miss Gracie's sunshine!

We decided to take Grace home today instead of tomorrow. She was missing her family, and we didn’t want her to be homesick. I had the tea party planned for her and the girls next door for this morning, but then we figured she’d rather be home after that. We have the group coming for canasta tonight, and then we’d go to church in the morning. She’d rather be home to go to church with her family where she is comfortable, I think. Yesterday she was looking at the picture on the wall of her brothers and sister and calling their names with teary eyes, so we thought it would be better to take her home today. Trish met us about 30 miles this side of OKC, so that we didn’t have to make the whole trip and could get home in time to greet the canasta gang.

Now we’re home and MISSING GRACE!!! The tea party was fun and I managed to get a couple of pictures, so those are on the blog today.

I’m going to go jiggle and get some time in my kangoojumps before everyone gets here.

God bless us all!

Exploration Station and Grace

The mother bird is still sitting on the eggs. She flies away when we use the door, but I guess she sits there enough to get the job done. She’s still at it, anyway. She keeps us entertained.

What entertaining she doesn’t do, Grace does! We took her to Hobart’s new Exploration Station today. The community raised the funds, bought sort of a kit and then built Exploration Station last week. Today was our first day to take Grace and she loved every bit of it. I also took her to the park near our house and she enjoyed feeding the crusts from her sandwiches to the ducks. (Of course I’d been saving them; can’t throw away anything!) I had the camera with me when we fed the ducks, but I was too busy to use the camera. You’ll have to imagine that. I got lots of pictures of Grace at Exploration station. She’s really good at playing! She knows her way around playground equipment; she’s a professional, I’d say.

Don played basketball with her after dinner. She’s watching TV and he’s mowing the yard. As soon as he comes in he’ll shower; then she and I will get our baths. She loves blowing her hair dry. We love her haircut; it’s so easy to fix and seems to suit her personality so well.

Today Grace and I made cookies (easy, cut them up and bake them kind). We’ll have a tea party here in the morning with Grace and Sonia and Sasha from next door. (I hope I remember to get pictures!) Then we’ll have cookies for canasta tomorrow night. We’re celebrating birthdays for two of our canasta crowd and Grace’s birthday the 25th of April. We’ll run through with a sweeper and duster and we’ll be ready!

Weather is great, here; tornados north of us. They move east and north, so we’re safe from these. We count our blessings!

God bless us all!

Joy with Grace.

This week we’re back in the 70’s. Grace is so much like Trish was that I feel like I’ve stepped back in time. What a sweet trip. She is so much fun.

She and I went to the park today. We have a wagon and I pulled her there in the wagon. The exercise and sunshine were good for me. She’s been coloring on the computer a lot today. She’s pretty amazing. She couldn’t do it at all at first, but she’s learned to do it very well. We use a trackball instead of a mouse, so it was really challenging for her with her tiny little hands.

She slept on a cot in our room last night, and went to sleep the minute her head hit the pillow. Me, too, and I think we’ll do that again tonight!

Enjoy these pictures of Grace and get the feel of how much fun we’re having.

God blesses us so richly!

Bird saga and a snake enters!

Today flew! We went to Oklahoma City and picked up Grace to bring home with us to stay 4 days. She’s wanted to come home with us for months and we always had a schedule that was too busy. As we went to bed last night we thought we didn’t have anything scheduled for the rest of this week, so it would work for us if Grace could come. We called this morning and made the arrangements. She’s a dear, so we’re having a great time.

When we got home she wanted to go to the park, so Pop took her to the park. While she was gone Dorothy called and said, “Let’s go to the Little Hacienda and get a bowl of beans.” I told her I was already cooking a hamburger for Don and had a pot of beans made for me, so why didn’t she and David come share with us, and they took us up on it. So, that made our dinner even more fun. David does Donald Duck better than Donald himself, so Grace thought he was too cool.

I got a picture of the bird sitting in the nest, but it’s hard to see. You have to look really close. Click on it and see how it looks. I’m so proud of that bird! Grace loves it, too! While we were at Tricia’s house, Grace and Mason took us up to see Gabe’s new pet, Kurt; a snake. A friend gave him to Gabe. My brother used to bring snakes home to keep, too. It seemed only appropriate to take his picture. They have a dog and a cat; I’ll have to remember to take their pictures sometime. The cat, Sugar, is too cool; she has 6 toes instead of 5 and has lived with them since I can remember. Rigel, the dog is a pretty good little dog; dogs just aren’t my favorite things since a dog attacked me when I was 15 and another did when I was 16. They say dogs can tell if you’re afraid of them, so it takes a lot of energy to act well enough to sell them on the concept of me not being afraid. What a concept! Anyway, today on the blog are our bird, Gabe’s snake and a beautiful iris from Tricia’s yard.

Grace is going to sleep on a cot in our room tonight, so we might be having a slumber party since she slept all the way here. It’s okay; what greater joy can grandparents have? I’m thinking Don probably helped her burn up a lot of energy at the park, unless it was the other way around. Ha! We are blessed and giving thanks! God is so good to us all.

Pictures of Grace tomorrow!

Tuesday's delight!

Ira and Barbara were here for a couple of days and nights and it was a wonderful visit! We shared everything from meals, games, and Bible study to treasured memories from an 18-year friendship. Meet them on today’s blog, pictured with Don.

As Ira and Barbara were leaving I was standing around the front door and noticed that there was a bird nest in the wreath on the door! Remember, I’m so easy to delight and that bird nest does it. I used to have a wreath on the door that I made with artemesia that grows in the front flowerbed. Bits of artemesia would fall onto the floor when we opened it, but I kept it because the birds loved it and I loved the birds. Little purple finches would build nests in the wreath and then they’d sit out there and sing great songs. I loved them! I found another wreath that I liked, though, so the artemesia wreath went by the wayside. I missed the birds, but I enjoyed the cleaner floor. The birds started pulling artemesia from the flowerbed and taking it across the street and building on my neighbor’s porch. She hated them and shooed them off. I just missed them and figured I’d lost them, forever. Every year I put cotton outside for the chats that build nests out back, and we enjoy watching them. Bird watching is a joy to us, and we gave up 29 different birds when we moved here from Tennessee. So, what seems like nothing to most folks is a big deal to me. Anyway, today when I saw that nest it was sooooooo cool! I went and got a stool so I could watch the nest from our front window. I also took pictures of the nest and was especially thrilled to see that they are using my cotton, too! I didn’t know they use the cotton, too. The three little eggs in the nest really warm my heart. I hope all the attention we gave to the nest today doesn’t scare off the birds! I’ll keep you posted. See the pictures of the nest and meet Tuesday’s delight!

God is so good; He blesses us so generously!

OOPS; too much fun!

Wow, we had so much fun yesterday that I forgot to do the blog. I went to bed wondering how I got to bed so early (10:30).

Barbara and Ira are here visiting and we're having a great time. This is Tuesday and they are packed to leave after lunch. I'll get back online with the blog this evening.

Love you all; thanks for checking in on us.

God bless!