TIDBITS

So we're finished moving and I haven't touched a box or heavy piece of furniture since Saturday night......so explain to me why I am still so sore EVERY morning that I've gotten up since. I could understand Sunday and maybe Monday but today is Tuesday and I still have issues when standing and taking those first steps. I quit screaming first thing, now it's just a low moan that carries me from the bedroom to the hallway.

This morning I think I've stumbled on one reason...I DREAMED I WAS MOVING ALL NIGHT LONG.....packing and lifting and carrying boxes. I have just gone insane, plain and simple.

But we're finished. I have renamed Massey Gardens #2 (since we've sold #1) Massey Ponds. I think we're going to like it over there, when we're finished unpacking and rehabbing.

I've "misplaced" one of my granddogs. Ginger H. The last dog that lived with DD and SIL. I was tasked to babysit her this past weekend and since it was a big moving weekend, I opted to leave her and Snoopy in the city house since I was coming back in the evening. Snoopy was quite anxious about a canine guest, so I put her in the house and gave Ginger H. the run of the yard. She had a nice bed on the back porch, fresh water, a rawhide chew bone and I fed her a good breakfast of Snoopy's food before I left. I had asked the neighbor to check on her in the evening because I might be coming in late and when she did, she discovered the gate was wide open and Ginger H. was gone. Who knew she could figure out how to open the gate. In four years, Snoopy has never even tried.

The neighbors drove around looking for her a bit and then called me in the country and I headed home. I looked all over for her and no luck. DD and SIL told me not to "stress" she runs away from everywhere and she'll be back. This happened on Friday and today is Tuesday and so far she hasn't came back. DD seems more upset over it now which makes me feel worse than I did initially. She is microchipped but didn't have her tags on her. So if she makes it to the Humane Society, she'll find her way back home but if a person has her, with no tags, that's pretty much impossible.

I did find it oddly comforting though on Saturday morning before I left for the country as I was driving around looking for her in the rain, I kept seeing rainbows. I really took those as a sign that she was fine....whereever she was. I'm superstitious like that.

I've been fighting poison ivy for two weeks now. Papa suggested maybe it was shingles instead and a neighbor seconded that suggestion. I've been using prescription cream and taking steriods but. it. just. won't. go. AWAY.

The P's spent last week (with their parent's) at the Lake and were reported to have had a fantastic time. Perfect reported he went fishing and caught corn (what they were using for bait). But now, both of them and DD are all sick with summer colds now. Poor P's.

So there are a few tidbits of life happening around me.

Until next time....Grammy

To-MA-to, TOM-a-TOE, TOE-MATER

Here are some updates to our hanging upside down tomato plants.






Growing by leaps and bounds but nothing red....YET.

TOE-MATER GRAMMY

SUMMER AT THE POOL(S)

We are always building pools at our house. I really think we should just get a pool built-in and be done with it all.



This is the first summer that Perfect needed a pool....(yes those are my legs, naturally I'm in there with him!)

Then last year we built this monstrosity.



Papa taking it for a test run.



and then Perfect.



Then this summer we decided to forgo the big pool monster and get something more manageable for tiny children.



Perfect seemed to really enjoy it...Precious, being the diva she is, didn't enjoy the spray in her face and passed.



So one country weekend, I found this and thought Precious would really enjoy it more.



She didn't.



Maybe next year will be a better pool year.

Persistent Pool-Purchaser Grammy

WALKING DEAD

Can you be asleep (or actually unconscious) and still be walking around, somewhat functioning? That's exactly how I feel these days. We have suddenly sold Massey Gardens #1 and had three weekends to empty a house of nine years of living. Everything went to the rehabbable Massey Gardens #2.

No, of course it's not finished yet. We still have three rooms to do. Big rooms, like the kithen, dining room, and living room. But that didn't stop us from cramming a whole entire house into three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a storage room. We have yet to empty the garage or storage room in #1 but at least the new residents of #1 have the house empty for the most part, to move into.

And suddenly. Yessiree bub, that's exactly right. What went from "if so and so moves to #2, I think I'll buy #1 from you", into, "we have sold our house and need to move into #1 by 7/25".

I've been having difficulty with this suddenness and can't refrain from making snide comments about being "kicked out of my home" and pitching fits when Papa feels the need to spend a day mowing the grass.."it's not your's any more, let it grow". As well as the constant "you started the wheels rolling in this dog and pony show, so quit complaining".

Papa is, to put it plainly....lazy. He doesn't like packing, he doesn't like moving boxes around, he doesn't like going to town and begging for empty boxes, he doesn't like doing much whatsoever on the weekends but hey, this wasn't my idea (another of my often made comments the last few weekends).

I suppose I'll get over my negative attitude with regards to this and come to terms with it. #2, being the rehab, is going to be completely new and as we dismantle #1, we just see more and more that needed to be done (that we weren't getting to) to keep that house standing, so we're better off in that regard.

Also on the positive side, we're off the main road, so the teenage party boy behind us can do as he pleases, the hundred of cars passing by all night long won't be affecting us any more (ahem....we kept that tidbit to ourselves and didn't share this kid's new weekend activity with our new neighbors!)

What's so hard is that we are trying to accomplish this move only on weekends and still maintaining our normal life Monday-Friday,,,work, social obligations, summer fun, P Wednesdays, etc.

So far, we have managed, without counting the 24 hour asthma event I suffered from last week after spending a day cleaning out dusty cabinets with Mold registering 31,000 outside. My poor lungs can only take so much before they rebel and shut down. But 24 hours later (having slept 22 of those hours), I was back at the moving site!

Then we had Almost Step-Son's fit throwing Friday and leaving after 10 minutes because he felt we weren't organized to his specifications on his arrival to help move big furniture. I had a list of 17 pieces that were empty and ready to go but he fixated on the one room that wasn't packed up yet, threw a fit and left. Papa explained he just didn't want to help to begin with so "we don't need his stinkin' help."

So my neck screamed, my calves cramped up, and Papa and I started lifting and moving all we could. SIL came by and helped us out last Sunday with his arm wrapped up in an ace bandage with a pain patch (sprained wrist from doing laundry----that's an entire blog in itself for later). We just treated him as a mover with 100% capabilities and trod on.

Papa sold some old dirt bikes to a co-worker and when he arrived and they got all the bikes loaded up in his truck,,,,we sprung on him and his wife that we needed some help moving a piece of furniture. That was an understatement. It took him, his wife, Papa and I all to move a piano (no I don't play, I won it in a raffle).

Papa had suggested a couple of weekends ago that maybe I should sell it because it is so hard to move but all I could picture was the movie Cold Mountain and the piano going down the road in a horse-pulled wagon. If Ada Monroe can have her piano moved under those conditions, during a war to boot. I, at least, could have mine moved across the road with me! So my heels dug in and my beloved, unused piano moved to #2.

So in a nutshell, that is what I've been up to the last month, hence no blogs. Things are settling down, we see the light at the end of the moving tunnel (more rehabbing hasn't been set to schedule just yet) but I'll have a little more spare time for blogging and such now.

Your beat down, worn out Grammy.

MORE BOTANICALS

I keep finding more pictures on my camera of things I've been growing here, there, and everywhere!

At Massey Gardens One, we have the routine, run of the mill daylilies.



They are growing at the house as well as growing wild everywhere I see as I drive around the countryside.

Then we have Massey Gardens Two, the property we are rehabbing and possibly moving to in the near future. The things over there are, for the most part, wild and untended. I see a lot work for this black-thumbed Grammy.

I'm not sure exactly what this is, but it was a pretty bloom the last time I was over.



I have tried to get Pampas Grass to grow over at Massey Gardens One with no success---actually I think Papa keeps mowing it down. But here at Massey Gardens Two it is growing wild and needs to be tamed a bit.



I'll put that on the list of things to do late fall!

Then back at the city house, I have these



I'm sensing a purple color scheme this year!! Everywhere I look, I have planted purple flowers!

Then lastly, Papa was visiting a friend and came home gushing about these upside down tomato plants his friend had planted. I looked around at some stores here and there and never noticed anything like that. One afternoon, we went out specifically looking for them and inquiring with salepeople. No luck.

Then I got on the internet and actually found the site https://www.topsyturvy.com/?cid=631718 and ordered us some hangers. Then I had to go out and procure some plants. I bought two Big Boys and two sweet cherry tomatoes for salads. Then we planted, filling each hanger with an entire bag of potting soil.

Then where to hang? These suckers were heavy. AH...the clothes line pole that never sees any other use!




So here are the "baby pictures"...Since we've planted about 3 weeks ago, they are growing by leaps and bounds. Amazing the amount they grow every day. I'll try to get an photo update on here in the next day or so. They have blooms and we are hoping by August 1, we might have our first fruit!!

Have you heard about my color change? The black-thumb seems to be lightening up and having some hints of green on it.

Planting Grammy

Return of the Attack Lilies!

OK, I'm back continuing from last week. So three years ago, I bought these small colorful flowers for my front bed at the city house. Filled the whole thing up with colorful annuals, I thought but every time I receive a mum (for some reason, I receive these as gifts quite frequently), I also plant it in the same bed.

Then last year, these 'things' start growing out there. Who knew I had mistakenly planted a perennial, that wasn't a mum, something that would actually return for a second year, me of the black thumb.



But what were they. Daily, I watched these things in amazement grow and grow until about July, they started blooming. Lilies. And they were gorgeous.



So this year when the lily "trees" sprouted and started heading to the sky, I wasn't as surprised. Although they are more---have multiplied and are much bigger. Everyone that has seen them have commented they have never seen such big lilies. DD says they are a bit scary.

The P's were a little hesitant as well.




I can actually lay in bed with the window open (when it's not 100 degrees outside) and look eye to eye to lilies!



They are mine. I planted them. They grew. And now I want enlist in some sort of gardening club or plant show to show them off......well, maybe not. But I am so proud of my new babies, I have started helping them stay alive but watering them daily (it IS 100 degrees here EVERY DAY lately).



Green Thumb Granny!

WALKING....AFTER MIDNIGHT

So I try, I really do. When it's not raining or if I'm not completely exhausted, I set my alarm for 5 a.m. and take Snoopy for a walk around the block. I rather enjoy these walks once I get out the door.

The problem is usually getting out the door. So many times after a middle of the night bathroom run, I reset the alarm for that extra 30 minutes of sleep. I have to reset before it goes off because if it should go off, I have no choice. Snoopy is right there with her cold, wet nose and wagging tail expecting at 5 a.m. to go on a walk and at 5:30 to go outside and get fed breakfast at the very least.

And I swear to God, the dog can tell time. Somehow she has figured out the big numbers on the alarm clock because if I should not set the alarm on the weekends for example (if I stay in the city), she is still there at 5:30 trying to be the responsible pet and make sure her person is up and taking care of things. You laugh, but I actually turn the clock away from her sight at the country house on the weekends so she won't know the time. This causes all sorts of confusion from her waking me at 3 a.m. demanding breakfast to me waking her up when I get up (those are the heavenly days)---we have more of the first kind, however.

Anyway, back to our walks....it's just getting light when I go out (summer starts on Sunday, so the days will begin to shorten on me soon), and it's quiet. There are a few lights on in the houses but for the most part, the neighborhood is still sound asleep and no cars are moving anywhere.

Occasionally, I'll see the neighborhood police car rounding the block with me. For some reason, this usually happens when Snoopy is happily using someone's yard as her toilet and I have to make a big show of removing my "responsible" plastic bag from my pocket. Our neighborhood newsletter harps every month about being a "responsible" dog walker and "clean up after your dogs."

We see alot of cats running around this time, going home from wherever their nightly travels have taken them and the occasional squirrel. No dogs barking though which is odd. When we walk in the evening, dogs bark constantly while walking the whole circle around the block. Guess our neighborhood dogs must be inside sleeping too.

My neighbor's light is usually on---the young boy that lives alone. His parents have seemed to have abandoned him for their own lives which is sad. He lives alone and has finished high school finally and is a pizza delivery driver now. His dad comes over every couple of days to check on him and I suppose get the mail but otherwise this kid is left to his own devices. For someone that young, we are very lucky, he doesn't seem to be a big partyer. He has friends over but they stay inside and are relatively quiet. I always wonder if he justs stays up all night and sleeps during the day or what, to explain his lights being on.

Halfway, around the block, there is a light on in a bedroom and every morning, a woman is sitting at a computer in her bedroom. Is she just surfing or actually working from home at this hour? Who knows.

Then I come to the house that puts a smile on my face every morning because it reminds me of Fantastic Son. He works very early hours so they can get off work before the high heat of afternoon occurs in the cactus state. He's also one for carpooling whenever he can work out his job site with where his current co-workers live.

Anyway, every morning, a young guy in a pick-up truck pulls into this driveway and sits there a minute. The lights are on at the house so the occupant(s) are/should be awake. The truck driver sits there about a minute and then he honks and sometimes honks a second time (I bet his neighbors love him!) before the guy in the house opens the door and waves or pulls aside the curtains and waves. Then a few minutes later he finally comes out of the house.

This is amusing to me because I am usually rounding the corner when this truck drives down the street and I witness all this as I'm walking up the street and pass the house and usually by the time I'm halfway down the street, I hear the truck backing out of the driveway and off they go to work. This scenario is the same EVERY day. I wonder why the guy at the house is never ready when his driver pulls in and for some reason FS comes to mind and I smile.

Everyone's just doing their best.

Until later....Grammy