FFA PLANT SALE DAY

Up earlier this morning to get chores done and then go with daughter to the plant sale out at the high school she works at to get some flower plants .
The morning is so pretty after the rain from last night.

She came over at 9:00 and left at 9:15 going to the sale. The FFA teacher was only allowing 2 people at once in the greenhouse and everyone had to make an appointment. Hubbie stayed home with IR and CA.
We got there a little early but the person before us hadn't showed up so we got right in.
The plants were smaller this year and the selection wasn't nearly as good as past years.
Guess not having students around to help with all the plants made a big difference. We found a few things anyway and loaded them into the Honda.
Next we both had bills to mail and then I dropped off the pay checks at market for the janitor and lady that is taking over manager duties. Our manager doesn't feel safe going there yet.
We then stopped at a local strawberry farm for some of the best tasting berries of the season so far. The mountain berries always have a better flavor than the flatland berries.
We came home and then had an early lunch. After we ate d-in-love brought g-son and RL up so she and daughter could work on their school online work.
The girls played together pretty well. CA is getting so big and wants to be a part of everything RL and IR do.

CA isn't happy at the fence we put up so that she has to stay in the living room with us.

I did a load of laundry from the bed covers and then got all last months things put away.

It is cold outside today only getting up to about 60 degrees and very windy with clouds moving in this afternoon so the girls had to play all afternoon inside.

After they left I carried all the new plants into the basement and made a place for them to stay until this "blackberry winter" cold spell is over.  This is what is called supporting your local school FFA program even in not so good years !!

These were some new plants they tried called Goldfish Plants. They are a tropical perennial plant that will need to be wintered inside as houseplants.

I got chores done and hubbie cut some boards to help hold the covers up off the plants that are in our raised beds in the coming nights with the temperatures dropping into the low 30's.

The wind is blowing tonight and there is still some clouds hanging around so they are saying it is going to stay around 40 tonight. Hopefully they are correct.

This beautiful full moon will peak tomorrow night but it is huge tonight. 

This full moon is called the "Flower moon" since it is at the beginning of the flowering month of May.

I came inside and hubbie and I relaxed and watched Survivor on TV tonight and then went to bed early to get warm !!!

It is already 40 degrees at 11:00 that scares me but I can still hear the wind whipping outside.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

ALWAYS AFTER THE RAIN THE SUN APPEARS

An overnight drizzle left almost 1/4 inch of rain in the gauge this morning as I went out to get chores done under a cloudy sky that looked like it might rain again any minute.

Hubbie went over to daughter's house early to help move a storage shed from her neighbor's yard to hers that she had bought.

He brought IR back with him to stay with us while daughter took CA to the doctor. She is cutting some back molars and we think she may have an ear infection by the way she is acting. Poor thing didn't have an ear infection so she will just have to suffer through and hope her ears don't get infected like they usually do when she cuts multiple teeth. Going to the doctor these days is an adventure !!

 Daughter was impressed that she didn't fight this mask and left it on the entire time they were at the doctor.

I had a list of things to get done this morning so hubbie played with IR while I got my plants all watered and I had to spray the pepper plants again for the aphids .

I also did a couple loads of furniture cover laundry and got all my Easter decorations put up into the attic out of our bedroom floor.

On the news cast at noon they were talking about the 3 earthquakes in our county in the last couple days. We didn't feel any shaking here from these.

Daughter picked up IR after lunch and hubbie went to work in his shop and went outside to work on cleaning up around my sewing shop and getting some plants re-potted out of broken pots.

I looked around at all the beautiful blooms and said a prayer that the temps won't get as low as they are predicting this weekend to kill all this beauty.

This old climbing rose is just showing off this year and I will cover it to hopefully save these beautiful blooms.

These two different roses are just starting to put out their blooms this year but there is so many buds on them I will try to cover them also.

The Iris are all showing off and they are on these long stems so covering them is not an option sadly.

I have been adding these sage flowers to salads and they are delicious.

I will harvest them before the cold temps and dry them for using this winter for added flavorings.

As I went out the back door this morning with IR she asked what that smell was and I went back to smell what she was talking about. It took me several minutes to locate the source of the pretty pungent smell. Years ago when I went to a lady's house to purchase some plants she had advertised she gave me some of what she called voodoo lilies. I threw them down just outside my door and over the years they have gotten partly covered up and stomped multiple times during the construction of the sunroom but they have endured as if very determined to survive. My voodoo lilies have never bloomed the typical stinky  blooms that I found when I looked them up on the internet but this morning this long colorful long leaf was covered with flies and I knew that it was the source of the smell since the smell these lilies produce is that of rotting flesh so that flies and other insects will be attracted to pollinate them so I imagine my lilies are going to have their first blooms this season.

That is if the cold temps this weekend don't put an end to that.

Hubbie and I were both ran inside around 4:00 by the dark clouds, thunder and lightening that signaled storms were coming our way.

As we sat inside and watched the storm clouds pass south of us we thanked the Lord for sparing us the hail and wind some areas received from these storms. We only got another .2 inch of rain.

We waited until the thunder and lightening was far away before heading out to get chores done.

These storms left a beautiful sunset this evening that brought to mind this Walt Disney quote.

This is perfect for the times we are experiencing right now as the state prepares to start re-opening some business even with the covid death rate still climbing at a scary rate even with all the closures.

Thankful that I have a merciful loving Lord that I know holds my future.

God Bless and Good Night

SUMMER LIKE PLAY DAY

Another week is starting this morning with beautiful warm sunshine. We got chores done and then RL and IR came to spend time with us while their mom's got their online school work done.
It was a beautiful day to play outside and we took full advantage.

I also got 3 loads of laundry done and got the furniture covers and bed covers changed out while hubbie took his turn with the girls.

The temperature got up to 80+ degrees today and was sooo nice compared to what is coming for the rest of the week after a stormy day toomorrow.

After the girls left hubbie and I got chores done and he relaxed for the evening while I spent the evening on the computer catching up my business and applying for some covid-19 assistance since I have no idea when I will feel comfortable getting back out into the public and opening my business back up.

Thankful for government recognition of the small business owners and their offer of help for us.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and praying that this virus stays away from our family.

God Bless and Good Night

COOKOUT SUNDAY

Another strange Sunday morning with not rushing around getting chores done and lunch started before getting ready for church.
It is beautiful morning as I got chores done and then gathered onions from the garden and lettuce from the one of my raised beds to have another round of wilted lettuce to go along with the spaghetti and corn on the cob.

We listened to Pastor Don Wilton while we worked on getting lunch ready this morning.

#1 son's family, daughter's family and Aa's family had lunch with us today.

Everyone enjoyed the food and then they all left to get home to other projects and come back tonight for hotdogs and smores over the firepit.
Hubbie went down to help #1 son get his first garden started. He flattened this spot off last week and it will make a nice little garden for him and d-in-love. He planted cucumbers and set out tomato plants today.

He is only setting out 6 plants so he can cover them this weekend when "blackberry winter" makes it's appearance. As I walked down the driveway today to check out his garden I passed these wild blackberry plants in full bloom.

And surely enough right on time we are going to get cold this weekend maybe even to the freezing mark Saturday night. Our area is on this map at 25 degrees below normal for this weekend.

I was planning to set all my plants out this coming Thursday but not now !!  Guess my sunroom green house will have to continue a little longer.

We got chores done a little early and set up some games for the kids for this evening.

All the kids had a good time until poor EL flipped out of the hammock and landed on a sharp rock with the back of her head. She cut it pretty deep but thankfully we got the bleeding stopped quickly and daughter gave her a dose of Tylenol to knock the pain down and she was okay. Re had to work tonight so she wasn't here.

Everyone ate hot dogs and smores until way into the night and we sat around the warm firepit which was really nice  in the cool breezy evening.

Hubbie and I cleaned up after everyone left and we were glad to get into bed after a nice but busy day.

Thankful for all the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

FIREPIT BUILDING

Up to get chores done and have breakfast.
Hubbie and I drove over to a local cement plant where I used to get pots and steps from. I haven't been over there in years so we weren't even sure they were still open.
When we got there and pulled into their lot it was obvious they weren't open for business anymore with the unkept condition of the lot. But the steps I wanted were right beside were we pulled in at and there was a pole with a phone number on it. I called the number and Me. Jones answered and said he could come down and talk with me.
He said his wife had gotten sick and he had to stop the business but he would sell me anything I wanted if I could find it and load it and to just come by his house next door and pay when we were finished.
He left and hubbie and I looked all around the lot and found 16 stepping stones that we needed. We couldn't find all 16 of one design so we picked different designs that were the easiest to get to the truck. These stones are very heavy being 18x18 and about 1 1/2 inches thick of solid concrete.

We went by and paid for them and came home to begin our firepit patio.

We stopped and had a late lunch and #1 son who was working on d-in-love's car after the part came that caused it to overheat a couple weeks ago came up to help us finish. It turned out better than I thought it would with his help.

While they were going back and forth to the workshop sawing I cleaned out my Iris bed and found this white Iris which I don't even remember planting but it is really pretty.

We got chores done and then enjoyed a hotdog and smores supper with #1 son's family at our new firepit.

It was a very relaxing evening after a day of hard work.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

WELCOME MAY

Hello May !!!
These ladies and their babies are enjoying the cool sunshine this morning.

I had a helper early this morning while her dad and mom worked.

We got chores done and then admired these newly bloomed out Azaleas that are some of my favorites. These double Azaleas look like  little Carnations.

And right behind them are these huge pink blooms.

It's a bright spot of color in the back yard.

IR was picked up just after lunch as her family is making a trip to Davie county to visit son-in-love's oldest brother for a couple days. 

After she left d-in-love and I made a trip to the local produce market and got some fresh vegetables for the week. The prices just continue to climb and I will be so glad when we have our own garden produce to eat.

While we were gone hubbie mowed the grass and the lawn looked so pretty when I got back.

We got chores done and then had a great supper from some of the fresh vegetables I had found today.

RL came up to have supper with us and enjoyed some boiled eggs and tried my boiled beets which she said tasted like fruit.

We had a relaxing evening.

Thankful for the blessings of the day and or traveling mercies for daughter's family.

God Bless and Good Night