Welcome May and happy day to each of you. It appears that after a very cold and frosty start to May, we have finally managed to get Spring!!!!! It has warmed and today we are having thunderstorms. They started in the middle of the night - and woke me many times. This morning I heard a thunder that sounded like it wasn't going to end! It lasted and lasted. Been out and fed Mr. Blackie - he isn't happy with the rain, as he has been enjoying outdoor weather much of the week!!!!!
This week's forecast calls for 70's every day!!!!! YAY! We have more rain coming - but it sure is green and beautiful out there.
I see this morning that a poppy is just starting to pop open. They are always such a joy to see.
I saw a new bird this week in the yard!!!!! A different type of woodpecker that I have never had before. I have had red-bellied woodpeckers and lots of others - but this beauty is a first.
My week:
- I went to my gr.gr. niece's 2nd birthday event on Sunday. Got to see lots of family and celebrate the special girl! She was so excited. Hearing 2-year-old belly laughs is the best!!!!!!
- Canceled the balance of the newspaper. I had halved my subscription a couple months ago - decided to just end it. Saves some money and maybe a tree!
- Changed out the furnace filter on May 1.
- Used the soda stream for carbonated drinks a few times this week.
- Made a gallon of peach tea and have been enjoying that
- Mowed and trimmed the entire yard
- Stopped at the hardware and got potting mix and bark for planting and for yard refresh
- Laid a lot of bark! More to do.
- Made up nectar and got the hummingbird feeders out. I haven't seen any yet - but many around the city have. Can't wait to see those beauties!!
- Used the air fryer one day instead of heating oven
- Went out to breakfast on Wednesday to celebrate my brother's 82nd birthday. Nice time with his kids and some grands
- Stopped Friday at Kroger - it was a 2X points day. Didn't need much, but figured I would go then to take advantage of extra points. I got .99 bag (6) of Texas sweet onions, 2 - .99 bags (4ea.) of huge Honey Crisp apples, and a .99 bag (8) Romas.
- Pulled weeds and did just basic yard work
- No heat or AC for a couple days, nor for the next many days.
- Getting to air out house
Meals this past week:
Had a bunch of finger foods at my Nieces on Sunday
Egg roll bowl
Sausage gravy over toast
Big breakfast out w/family - fruit snacks later in day
Beef bologna sandwich with a side salad
Fish soft tacos
Steamed cauliflower & carrots with cheese, chopped steak and tomato
It appears that sometime in the next week or two I will be able to plant garden. It will need to dry some before tilling is possible - but it looks like it will be staying warm now.
I hope to work on some of the pots and refurbishing some of the soil and then planting. There is just so many things that need to be done, now that it has warmed. It was just too chilly for me for a while!
How has your week been? Warming up? Planting? Deals? I love hearing from you all. We sure had some great conversation this past week.
I pray for each of you and your families. Stay safe and healthy.
Blessings from my humble little home to you and yours!!!!!
**********************
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!
Psalms 118:1
Lord, we know you will always love and protect us. I truly do not understand why we are worthy. But you believe we are, and for thank I am grateful. Help us each to be better people and to be able to forgive and to love with our whole heart. It is difficult for us to do at times, and we need your help always. Thank you for all of our blessings - both big and small. AMEN
Good Sunday morning to you! As always, I love the verse and prayer.
ReplyDeleteOnly took advantage of a few sale items this week. That's the nice thing about having a well stocked pantry and freezer--you can pick and choose among sales. We did have an expensive (somewhat) week in needing a crate, collar, puppy pads, etc. for the newest member of the pack. There'll be vet costs on Tuesday for shots, working, overall check and (if she's big enough) an ID chip.
Poppy--Hubs decided on that name--slept through the night for the 1st time last night! Praise God! She already answers to that name. Blue just loves her little sister. This has turned out to be a blessing for Blue, as she's never played with any dogs at the dog park, but loves playing with Poppy. I'd truly wondered if I'd lost my mind after the 1st night, but can see so many blessings. Both dogs are so sweet natured.
Our own landscaping plans have started. The side yard grading should be done today (I hope). Hubs has started laying gravel over the septic field and I hope to do some raised beds this year. I'll at least do some potted grow-ceries. The daylilies are getting bigger and the lilac shrubs really leafing out. Temps are no longer below freezing at night and the days are almost steadily in the 70s.
Praying this month brings many blessings to everyone here. Thank you so much, Cheryl. --Elise
Oops... worming, not working. LOL! --Elise
DeleteLove the name - Poppy!!!!! I am so happy she is loving hands and doing so well. Blue and she will be besties! The expenses will be well worth it and then done for a while.
DeleteGlad your yard is coming along.
Yes, it is nice to pick and choose what to buy. I really needed nothing other than fresh stuff - so just went to look.
Have a wonderful week!
Poppy is a cute name for your new puppy. I'm sure Blue is happy to have a new play mate. BTW our eldest granddaughter's middle name is Elise, such a pretty name. My husband was away at sea when she was born and wondered why our daughter had chosen the name Elsie!!! We did have to laugh.
DeleteYes, Heather, I heard "Elsie" a lot when I was younger. Also "Eloise" and "Leslie". Hopefully, as a middle name, your granddaughter won't have to correct folks too often. LOL!
DeletePoppy is a cute name. I thank Elle for the suggestion. We'll find out on Tuesday how old she actually is. So very grateful the pups get along so well. --Elise
Poppy! Yea, I'm not usually that creative with names. :-)
DeleteAwwww..... Poppy. How adorable. What a wonderful new blessing to your family! You and your husband are going to be so entertained watching Blue and Poppy play! So precious!
DeletePoppy is settling in amazingly quickly. Should I knock wood? She's also gained a bit of weight and is more "normal" puppy now. Yes, Amelia, we're already entertained by them. They're just so darned CUTE together. --Elise
DeleteThe Father is indeed good! We have had some things happen and we don't know why but He does. I praise Him for his love and care.
ReplyDeleteThat was one heck of a thunderstorm. The thunder was loud and long! My little Riley doesn't like storms. It seems the rain has stopped for a while. We need to go to Cox's, Costco and Meijer. Will check the radar to see if anything is headed our way...again. Definitely won't be working outside today or tomorrow. Time to switch out winter things for warm weather clothes and shoes.
So happy you got to visit with family! My 88 year old sister-in-law called last evening to update me on what was going on in her family. Her daughter was taking Mary to a doctor's appointment and a fellow blew the red light and ran into them. Tore up Nancy's car pretty bad. Mary has a cracked sternum so her activities are limited to not much of anything. She can't take prescription pain pills because of her limited kidney function. Her spirits were good and her grandson has been helping her with chores she can't do. One of her other grandsons needs a kidney transplant and is in a wheelchair. His problems stem from complications of diabetes. Lots to pray for with family.
Your posts always generate good conversation!
Adding your whole family to my prayer list, Donna. Hugs!
Delete--Elise
Yes a heck of a storm for sure. I just went out to pull out dandelion plants from the garden patch. Geesh - they come root and all!!!! Good day for that!
DeleteOh gosh, prayers for your family. I pray Mary heals well and quickly. That is just awful. People just do not pay attention when driving. It is so scary. Huge prayers for all.
Have a blessed week.
Thanks, ladies. We all need all the prayers we can get. I forgot to tell you that Erin fell off a ladder at work and fractured a rib.
DeletePrayers Erin heals up quickly!
DeleteWe have the Anna’s hummingbirds year around so we have feed them all winter. Now that the flowers are just beginning to bloom they are not drinking as much from the feeders. Last weekend we had our first days above 70. We actually made it into the 80’s then we cooled to the 60’s the next day. My husband was out cleaning up flower pots when he was surprised by movement in one of them. He came and got me so I could figure out what it might be. I took one look and said baby bunnies without even seeing them yet. So much of mama’s fur. We moved the fur back with a stick and found 5 babies. We covered them back up and put the pot back in it’s original location. Mama has been back so she did not abandon them. Only 10% of baby bunnies make it to a year old so we didn’t want to be the reason these don’t survive. They only stay in the nest from 15 to 21 days they are at least 10 days old by now. I expect if I pulled back the fur they would have eyes open now. I felt really bad when we got bad rain this week that they would get soaked but they were covered in fur so hopefully all survived. Nancy in Vancouver, WA
ReplyDeleteI wish we had hummies all year - I so love watching them.
DeleteOh bunnies! How sweet. Nice of you to put them back and that momma is still happy. I hope they thrive.
Have a great week Nancy.
The only red-headed woodpecker I've seen was the Woody Woodpecker cartoon. :p It is a very pretty bird!
ReplyDeleteI notice the chives in my front flower bed are up and the Jacobs Ladder is sending out new leaves. While I had thought I would wait a week or so, I gotten bitten by the garden bug yesterday and picked up my annuals. The prices have increased significantly, so I've scaled back considerably. I'll be dragging them in and out of the garage for a couple of weeks yet.
LOL - I tell you what this guy is so much prettier than Woody!!!
DeleteYAY - you have things growing. I think I will go this week and get what I need in the way of veggies and flowers. I brought my tomatoes in and out until last night. I understand!
Have a great week.
Happy Sunday Cheryl. You sound like you have had good times this week with your various family members. Hopefully soon the weather will be warm enough for outside planting.
ReplyDeleteHappy things this week. We have all our tomatoes planted, along with 3 pepper plants and 3 aubergine in our poly tunnel and green bean plants outside. Yesterday our daughter and two eldest grandaughters came round early to watch King Charles Coronation on the tv. We had a lunchtime buffet and pink prosecco for those not driving. Today, the only fine day for a week, we went to the coast and the dog was not car sick.
Tragically, one grandaughter's good friend and her Dad moved to our rural area from one of the London suburbs to escape the violence and racial tension a couple of years ago. One of her friends was stabbed to death last week. One of the lads who worked at brother in law's garage has terminal cancer and only has weeks to live, he is having another operation this week to maybe give him more time. He is only in his early 30s with a young son. He is a lovely man who did not have the best family life when young.
We are truly blessed with our life and I pray for both families and friends.
Heather, do you think all cities everywhere have become a lot more dangerous? It sure seems so to me. I'm glad you were able to enjoy the Coronation away from the crowds.
Delete--Elise (adding more prayers to the prayer list)
Sounds like you had a nice day yesterday. My goodness, already planting. Good for you.
DeleteIt seems violence is everywhere. We have so much in our city. You can't get away from it sadly. Big or small towns or cities - there it is.
So sad your family's friends have endured so much. Prayers for all.
We can sure take it for granted - can't we? We are beyond blessed.
Have a wonderful week.
I was able to take advantage of some bargains at the store yesterday morning. I got $55 worth of groceries for $20. Most of it is going into the pantry. I did get some produce as part of that purchase. I then spent most of the day cooking and prepping/dehydrating/freezing food. I also made a big pot of vegetable soup. I used a recipe called Journey's End Vegetable Soup that I found recently. I made it according to the recipe (I rarely do that! lol) so I would have an idea of how it's "supposed" to taste. It does have a lot of ingredients but with my stocked kitchen I had most everything. Because there are so many ingredients, I think it will be easy to substitute and still maintain the flavor of the soup. I also made up two jars of the dry ingredients for the soup so next time it will be easier to get the soup started. I ate 2 servings then froze the rest. I don't usually make soups with a lot of ingredients but this one was so good it was worth the time and fun to have something different. It's a recipe from a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteLOL - I had to laugh. I usually don't 'follow' recipes either. I can remember Glen saying did you use the recipe I found or wing it?!!!! It is good to know the first time - what it SHOULD be like! Soup is so forgiving when making it. Sounds like a yummy soup.
DeleteYou got some deals and quite a savings!!!!
Have a wonderful week!
Sounds like a really nice week for you. It has warmed up here with highs in the low 80's. We just had a thunderstorm roll through and cool things off a bit which is nice. Everything is so green and growing Spring is definitely in full swing. Hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
ReplyDeleteGlad it is warm with you as well. Yes, it is so pretty outside! More storms coming through here yet tonight and in the morning. I guess it is that time. With the heat up it is even a bit sticky feeling!
DeleteHave a blessed week.
I love red headed woodpeckers, they are sooo beautiful! Once in a while we see them here. We have beautiful owls too, there is one large owl that is sooo very expressive and eerily human-like in his face who lives right around our home. He swoops down, and sometimes he and a big black crow get into chasing matches! So fun to watch nature! So majestic. We also have eagles here too... It's a treat to spot one. Once, an eagle stayed next to our car, flying, going down the little road to small town, he turned his head and looked right at me as an escort. I was going through a very, very troubling time very concerned about my dad. Then the next week my mother had the same exact thing going home from our house, she too was concerned on my dad even though they were divorced but friends. It was God, no doubt, she knew it was God letting her know He was with us.
ReplyDeleteLast week we had a baked potato night and broccoli, I made a red kidney bean New Orleans soup we ate from two nights and froze two bags and a little bag of rice for the future! yay! I put collards in that soup too, I'm realizing I already wrote that several days ago. Oh well. : ) Today we ran by smalltown tiny Walmart and I grabbed my equate brand Noxzema, two of them. I can't seem to purchase the off brand one online. The a/c men were here yesterday replacing all the plenums up in the attic, cutting out part of the ducts and that always takes up the day, just corralling the dogs and such keeping out of the way. Bought ourselves a nice Kenmore hepa pet vac we like too that seems to do what we want it to do without breaking the bank. yay! It's going to be a lot of work, but it's just going to have to be done little by little and job by job calling sheetrock men if needed in areas.
This week I will be trying my hand at making some almond flour crackers for my mom and maybe some almond flour rolls too with very low sodium in all of it. We're having a time finding her almond flour or any gf (no corn) crackers or bread that isn't loaded with salt.
Today stopped by the little grocery store in smalltown, stayed close to home with bad weather today, went in and bought some almond milk, butter and almond flour etc. At wally, picked up some wider rubber bands, envelopes, one pack for my mom and birdseed. Last Friday went in an old antique store in an old town that still has the old uso building from WWII, (love the town) and went in that wally for my little bags of frozen veggies. Exciting eh? I like normalcy though. It's very interesting to me the different crowds at the stores, if you go in the morning to early afternoon, it's delightful, many older people, sweet little ladies, vets, once in a while from WWII, Korea, Viet Nam etc. In the afternoon and weekends...Not so much. ; )
Love your verse and prayer, so comforting.
Have a sweet evening, ~Amelia
I would love to see an owl or an eagle. That would be fascinating. I do believe in signs - things just happen too often to be ignored.
DeleteYour dinners sound tasty. A household is a lot of work and upkeep - and yes, doing things a little here and there makes it easier. Got to keep up our investments!!!!
'Smalltown' in your area - sounds like the places to be. I think it would be a nice change to be able to shop in smaller venues and see different things. That is neat. I think you are lucky.
Much to be said about the normalcy of living without drama. My life is pretty calm and quiet as well - I like that.
Have a great week!!!!
Yes, our daughter who lives here asks ..."Anything going on?" I say..."No, thank God." lol
DeleteI love normalcy and the natural rythms of life.
It is a blessing living next to a little humble town, I sooo appreciate it. I thank God for it literally when I drive there.
I wonder if the crow is a raven?
Yes. Those were such signs! I'm glad you too see God's signs in our life. They are truly there if we will see them. : )
Wow Cheryl how lucky are you to have seen that bird, God certainly created a lot of beauty for us to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteLinda was thrilled to have you say hi to her. I think she even giggled which was so cute. Have a great week, Louise.
I feel lucky as well. It has stayed around too. Yes, our God os wonderful.
DeleteOh, how sweet. She sounds like a wonderful lady and friend. You are lucky for sure.
Have a good week.
We have red-headed woodpeckers. They are fun to watch. It is 80s here and my seeds I sowed into a pot are coming up. It will be fun to see what kind of wildflowers I sowed. One was a postcard I received embedded with seeds in the paper. The other was a seed ball, full of wildflower seeds. The other pot got two packages of flowers just thrown on the dirt and watered. I have kept a fake snake on the pot to discourage birds from dining. It worked.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first and it sure is pretty.
DeleteHow wonderful on all the flower seeds sprouting up. Good luck - hope you get many beautiful flowers.
Have a good week.
Friday was my BIL's (who was my husband's twin brother) memorial service. It was a 2 hour drive but our 3 oldest daughters and one son-in-law went with us. It was a sad day but the best thing was that my husband's best friend of 48 years ago was there. They had a wonderful time reconnecting and will stay in touch now.
ReplyDeleteI told my husband about the red-headed woodpecker. We love to identify birds in our yard. Spring has finally sprung and we are looking forward to planting our flowers, cucumber, pepper, and tomato plants. This is my favorite time of the year.
I am glad that a sad day turned into a re-uniting of friendship. True friendships are hard to come by, and I hope they do stay in touch.
DeleteI am a bird watcher as well - it is so much fun to see something new in your own backyard! It sure is pretty.
I am ready to plant too. Next week or two I will get it done.
Have a wonderful week.
Saying a prayer for your family, Nana.
DeleteThat must have been very difficult to have a twin brother or any brother pass away, I'm so sorry. Prayers going forth. The longtime friend though sounds like a bit of a silver lining?
DeleteCheryl, you always manage to get a lot done. The wood will be all bucked up in a few days & I lined up the neighbor kids to haul it once split. There's been temps of 30C & as low as 9C with never-ending winds. It's very dry & we're in need of rain. There are wildfires in the western part of the province with thousands evacuated from their homes. Yes, it could always be worse. I had a playdate with the little neighbor girl. She "helped" me organize & load garage sale items that were dropped off at the local elementary school fund raiser. I was down for the count for 1.5 days with vertigo. Never fun. Yard work continues. I played hausfrau the other day. No fairies ever come in the night to get that done! Home Routes house concerts return next week after a 3 yr pandemic hiatus. That's organized. Meals this week: borscht, hamburger soup, fruit. Have a good week.
ReplyDeleteGood the wood is done - heck yes, get those kiddos busy!!!!
DeleteI sure hope you get some rain soon - I have heard about the fires. So sad.
Vertigo is NO fun at all. G used to get that once in a while.
Nice the concerts are returning. We have been back to 'normal' here for quite a while. Your meals sound tasty.
Hope you are feeling better. Have a great week.
Well, it had to happen. Our neighbor got MORE puppies over the weekend. There are now at least 7 puppies there, and they keep getting loose. One trotted over to our house today and was as boney as Poppy had been when she first came over. There are at least 3 tiny puppies on the loose. There were 4 out the other evening. Animal Control is on their way to check out the situation.
ReplyDeletePlease pray we don't get bad blowback from the neighbor. And thank you for your prayers. --Elise (thinking this is NOT the best start to a week)
I will be earnestly praying Elise. Oh dear. Sounds like a puppy mill type operation. Not good. Poor little things....
DeleteOh my - sounds like a puppy mill that needs shut down immediately. Poor babies. Prayers for your safety and that of your animals and home and grounds.
DeleteCheryl, I posted a nice long comment yesterday evening, it's not here! I'm so sorry. Maybe I can come back later to post again.
ReplyDeletePlease know I tried to comment! I don't understand what happened!
Have a great day!
Found it - it went to Spam. Posted above!!!!!!! Sorry!
DeleteAw, thanks Cheryl! That is so strange the way things will randomly go to spam, and for a couple of weeks your blog wasn't showing up on my blogger roster. I would have to go look at the list on my account where you add blogs to read. Technology...So unpredictable right?! : )
DeleteYep, there is nothing predictable about tech! LOL
DeleteYou had a lovely week. Getting to spend time with family is priceless. Great buy on the HoneyCrisp apples.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my blog.
God bless.
I did - I get to do it again this coming weekend too! I am on a roll!
DeleteNo problem - now that I know you have one!