Cut flowers

Do you want to feel better? Get some cut flowers. A Harvard study shows that cut flowers in the room decreases anxiety and worry and increases compassion. Hey I will try anything! LOL Seriously. I know that when I look at the pretty flowers I have sitting on my desk right now I smile. Anytime you smile HAS to help you feel better. And if you can smell them then you have a bonus! I am seriously thinking of planting lavender so that I can bring those sweet tranquil smelling flowers in my house. Just remember do not leave them in the vase so long they start looking sad. Dead flowers dropping over the side with brown petals falling all over is just sad.
It has been raining off and on since yesterday morning. This morning the sound of  thunder rumbles in the distance. The rain is good and so necessary for the earth. It is not the hard, driving rain we had in the past weeks but the gentle rain the the ground welcomes and drinks its fill. I just heard a full minute and half of rumbling thunder, steadily breaking across the sky and then slowly faded into the distance.  The lions of March are fighting to stay to the end. The lambs are being made to wait until the last minute to escort April in.

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True Lemon

True Lemon is giving samples away to you and for everyone of you that signs up they will give our troops some. I love this stuff!

CLICK HERE TO HELP  SEND 1,000,000 PACKETS OF FRESH-SQUEEZED LEMON TASTE TO OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Click here to learn more about Operation Gratitude and the great work they do supporting our troops!

This stuff is great. I love making lemonade with it. I add it to a bottle of water and a pack of splenda and viola! Instant lemonade that tastes so close to fresh squeeze without the pulp!  Click here for your free sample.

Spring and stuff

It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!  ~Mark Twain

It feels good to be able to go outside and do stuff without freezing, getting wet or being too hot!. It is the perfect temperature to do stuff. Now if only the pollen was not floating all over the place it would be A-1 perfect! Talk about itchy, burning eyes! Ah but the price we pay for pleasure. The ground is still a bit wet for tilling. IF it does not rain today or tonight I will dig up my small garden by hand if I  must! We are still in extreme drought conditions in spite of the recent rains. I will not be planting corn this year as it really does not tolerate watering. It needs rain. More than likely I will concentrate on beans and okra.
Brook and Pat rode horses yesterday. I miss riding. Brook has taken over MY horse. She is supposed to be riding Dancer. LOL he is a big horse compared to the others. I think he will make a good horse for her. She needs to ride him so he can get used to her and her to him.
Ok , I need to do some cleaning as much as I hate to.

Justice not served

Donna linked to another blog about how justice was not served. In my opinion it was raped! Go here and see for yourself.

Tags: cops, justice, child molester

Please pray for my friend, Dariana. She has received devastating news that she has cancer that has spread. She is a fellow blogger. Please visit and let her know that she is in your prayers. Right now her son is in Iraq also. Visit here Charmed and Dangerous

Tags: Dariana

Weekend

This weekend was pretty good as far as holidays goes. No fights among anybody, everything was ready to eat on time(which for me is a miracle.) he kids found all the eggs and everybody ate too much. I don't know how it happened but I was not able to eat all the food on my plate and I did not make myself either!

Sunday we rode horses for a bit. The wind picked up and it started getting them going crazy so we called it a day. They are still so woolly! Crystal will not take much currying to get her winter coat off but the other two looked like woolly mammoths with their long hair.

 

Brook is out of school this week for Spring break. This is the longest break I have ever seen for Easter. She was out Friday also.

 

It has been snowing here all day. This morning we had a slight ground cover. It is SPRING!!! You know the season, flowers blooming, bugs flying, birds singing. All the good stuff is supposed to be happening, not the white stuff!

 

I need to get busy. The dryer buzzed. See y'all soon.

Life goes on

Life goes on. I just look like the nerd I am. LOL I am a bit dorky looking anyway.

Tuesday night was the talent show at the school. Brook was looking good. (As usual)

Here she is doing a bo staff fighting sequence with Master Lee. The kids did real good.

Tonight starts her intense training for the black belt test again. She really needs to build up her legs. She is weak on kicks and part of the test involves breaking a number of boards with her foot. I believe 18-20. In all she will have to break 50 boards and 1 brick.

Ok the sun is shining and no rain is predicited for the next week. Crossing fingers the garden dries up!

Time to eat and get ready for Brook's class. I am going to walk while she is training. At least I will walk for at least 15 minutes.

Tags: Master Lee, taekwondo, martial arts, bo staff

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Luck

Good luck or bad luck, some people say you make you own luck. Others say that there is no such thing as luck. Fate, luck, whatever you call it, mine is on the outs this year so far. Motorcycle is broke, gas is higher than ever, food prices have gone up, my weight has gone up, owe big time on taxes,my glasses broke again. Yep I guess that is what has got me right now. I am running around looking like a nerd with tape on their glasses. This time I will have to replace the whole pair. This is not going to be cheap. Insurance no longer covers any part of them. At best I am looking at $400. I do not have that kind of money laying around. I checked with America's Best and they said they do not cover my prescription under their plan. Mine is one of the "restrictions". I may still end up going there. When it rains it pours...
Speaking of pouring. It does not look like we are in a drought around here anymore. The ponds are full, the lake has come back up to normal level. We have gotten a lot of rain in the past week or so. The bad news is the water table is still very low. We are still under a statewide outdoor water ban. All water companies are still under a mandatory water use reduction.
My garden is still too soggy to work. My plants will not make it if I can't get them in it soon. Must have patience, darn it I don't want to have patience. I want it done NOW.
Easter is Sunday. I am cooking, of course. We will be eating at Candy's house. It is a bit hard to fit 13 people in this place. I have done it but it is not easy. This year all those same people are a lot bigger (kids have grown. Come to think of it, most of the adults have put on weight too! LOL)
Ok got to go. Garbage man is coming soon. I really do not want to miss him. He won't be here for another week.

pictures

I finally have pictures! I found the missing cord and got them downloaded. As promiced here are the babies. The white birds are Lutinos cockatiels. They have red eyes. Really, it is not red eye from flash.  The one on the perch is a Pied cockatiel. There were 2 born in this set of babies. Mama(Peaches) and Daddy (Chip)are still busy feeding the babies.

I think Spring is here. Today it is supposed to get up to 75. We will see. We have more rain due. I still need a few more days of dry weather so I can get the little garden ready!

Brook is off to the Aquarium today. She gets to see the penquins. I wish I could have gone. I have never seen them before. Unfortunately it was an expence I could not afford.

The horses are happily mowing down every blade of grass that pops up. Soon they won't be able to keep up with how much grows. I hope that Pat gets the tractor running again soon. We need it! Must be something in the air here or something. The alternator is out on the tractor also.

I baked some Amish friendship bread yesterday. First time I have made any. It was good. Now all I need to do is figure out who to give the starter to. Too bad it can't be mailed.

Ok I am out of here. Trying to get some work down if my body will let me. I think I am falling apart one piece at a time.

Tags: cockatiels, birds, Amish bread

Home schooling

I was reading the news today and read an article about home schoolers. This article is about home schooling in California. California law states that children that are home schooled must be taught by a certified teacher. Since when did being certified make you a good teacher? No, I was not home schooled and I do not home school. I went to school in the public school system and I can tell you that certification does not make a teacher! My algebra teacher in high school did not know the quadratic formula! Oh jeeze, it seems she had her teaching certification in GYM. I know too many that home school and do so very successfully. Their children are bright, have inquiring minds, very sociable, and mature. Yes, I know of a few that have children that need to be taken from them and placed in school.
I do believe that they should take the same yearly tests that the rest of the school kids should take.

Tags: home schooling, teaching school, school, education

the bike

Pat and i tried to take a ride today. We took the battery off and had it tested. It was no good. We thought great! New battery and we ride. That was a no go. We head down the road and the battery started down. The generator is not charging it. Craps. At least we got about 20 minutes on the bike. It really was not my day. As we were coming home, up our own driveway, Pat drops the bike and I go flying off. he hit a soft spot and the front wheel dug in and went sideways and wham! I hit the ground about 8 feet away from the bike. My hip is a bit sore as is my back. No real damage because it was soft ground. I am glad that I did not land in the puddle. I was thrown completely over it.

That's  my excitement for the weekend. No snow storm, nothing else but total boredom. I even remembered to turn the clock up and change the batteries.

Pat

Pat leaves for work at 3 pm. He gets home around 3 am. He sleeps sometimes until noon. He is here and he's not.

still making it here.

Sooner or later all things come to an end. I have a feeling after this weekend spring will be here to stay. At least in my part of the world. I have plants to put in the ground. I can't do that is the ground does not dry up some. They can take the cooler weather but I need dry earth to till!
You know your horses have a reputation when 2 people call you and tell you that they are out. The thing is, it was NOT my horse out. Thank goodness. I really did get tired of chasing them down and fixing fence.
Time to get busy cleaning again. I would like to be finished by Easter. Do you think I can change the date Easter falls on this year? I need another month or 2!
Brook is going on a field trip next week. I can't go. I wish I could. It will be the first that I do not get to go on. She is going to the Aquarium in Chattanooga.
I need to get back to making lists. I am not organized at all and the lists help me. I also need to get back into Flylady. She really helps me.
 I lost my big red rooster. I t put up a heck of a fight. Feathers all over the place. My red chick is now a hen. I get a pretty brown egg everyday from her.
Nothing is going on with me. It is the same old thing day in and day out. Nights are now filled with silence without Brook here. I sometimes go hours without hearing another human speak. Sometimes as long as 20 hours, actually most times. I startle myself sometimes when I say what I am typing. Sometimes I read out loud just to hear someone.

getting started again

What a weekend. It did not exactly turn out the way it was supposed to. Saturday was a beautiful day. Pat and I got on the bike and took off. Alas we did not get far.  We turned off the main road to ride through the country and shortly thereafter it died. No lights, no radio, no horn, Nada nothing. The generator that we paid $250 just to have it rebuilt($800 for a new part and it is unavailable) has died. Pat is rather upset. So am I.  A friend brought us a battery to get the bike home with. Lucky it worked. I did not really want to push this bike up on a trailer! So, no bike for who knows how long.
Sunday fared a little better. We saddled up the horses and headed down the driveway. Crystal acted like she has never been on a road or crossed a bridge. Precious had to lead her across the bridge.  Precious gave me a wonderful ride. She started racking up the hill and man o man that was smooth. I love it when she gives me a good rack. Everything went pretty smooth until a car came around a curve. Dang that was a quiet car. No sound until it was seen. Nothing really happened. Precious just stopped cold and was bunched up like she was going to bolt. She relaxed immediately when she saw nothing was gonna happen. Brook had seen us coming up the road and was jumping up and down. She was excited. We rode on up to the kids house and Brook got on Precious. Pat and she went out into the field to ride. Everything was going real good until Pat decided to bring Crystal across a low fence. She stepped over the fence with her front feet and then dragged her rear foot over the wire. When she touched the wire she panicked. All hell broke loose then. She backed up  and then got tangled and started bucking. I saw white hair go flying through the air. Next thing I know Brook is being dumped on the ground. Precious bolted. Brook's feet were not in the stirrups because she was in my saddle.  Poor thing was scared to death.  I have no idea if Pat was bucked off or if he got off. I know he was the first to reach Brook! After we caught the horses, which was not hard to do after they quit running, we road back up to the house. brook came right over and got back on Precious. She knew that  Precious did not dump her on purpose. Poor baby. She is hurting. She landed on her hip. She is walking okay, just bruised up pretty good. She has Tae Kwon Do today so maybe that will help work out the soreness in her hip. We did not take her for x-rays because she was moving pretty good. I just hope it was the right decision to make...
I have pictures of the babies. I have misplaced my camera cord to download the pictures. This is not good. It has a special end on it that fits the camera.
 I need to get busy. I still need to clean up my small garden. I have plants for it that need placing soon. Brussels sprouts and broccoli are ready to go in. They can handle the cooler temperatures. Supposed to be in the 70's again to day then winter is supposed to come back for a few days. I need to check my peach trees. Maybe this will be the year that they survive and give me peaches!
Ok I am out of here. The dryer just finished and the washer is full.