Life in the Yard, or not

I've spent a good share of Monday and Tuesday weeding out the rows and paths between the strawberries. A couple more days and I could have the whole garden looking sharp...except, the library books are due on Monday and I still have two to finish.

At any rate, here is my prized ditch-recovered Button Snake-root.
Or as it's alternate and my preferred name states, Rattlesnake Master :-D

Eryngium yuccifolium, to be precise. Though early settlers thought it could cure or ward off snake bites, it was never proved to have that power. Formidable name and appearance, though!

And now, I'm sad to report that the song sparrow nest is completely vacant.
It's possible a raccoon or cat got them, I don't know. But I doubt if our checking on it helped matters.

I don't blame her for being mad.
(it would help, Ma'am, if you didn't build the nest on the ground...)

Purple Coneflowers are starting to bloom.
Echinacea purpurea. The first part of the taxonomy comes from the Greek word, "echinos," which means "hedgehog." It's the spiny center of the flower that gets that name. Know an animal with a similar moniker? That's right, the "echidna." Gotta love words and their meanings :-)

Going back toward the house, I spied a very large bumblebee, on the hollyhock which guards the door.
Focal black and white.

_______________

In other news, we celebrated Kendra's birthday tonight, but I can't put up the pictures yet because I just realized I haven't but up Nolan's birthday, yet.

Yes, I'm behind.
 

Tweet

Big, Big Day at Des Moines

Brought to you by the ineptitude of Picasa. Sorry, Picasa peoples, but I had infinite trouble uploading to your site, and find that the pictures load after the captions, at the moment.

Maybe it won't be so bad for other people, as it was for me.

29 pictures of our day at Des Moines, on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and I'd do it again, though maybe wait a month or so.

Des Moines Day Out

Probably more interesting for our family, giving the brothers and sisters a chance to complain about never getting to enjoy this type of outing.
 

Tweet

Life in the Yard

Time for an update on the baby song sparrows
This is eight days out and they're getting more feathers. I actually do not know any more WHAT day they hatched. The first picture included one unhatched egg, which I assumed hatched later that same day. However, last night I still saw the egg in there. Unfortunately, the photo was blurry, but it's under that guy on the right...

My purply Hoary Vervain (verbena stricta Vent) is really coming along, this year.
The term "vervain" supposedly comes from the Celtic word, ferfaen: fer="the drive away" and faen="a stone," and thus it was used for "bladder stones" (kidney stones?).

I dug some from the roadside and it is really spreading from seed. Roots can go down as far as 12 feet, so it would be an interesting experiment for the makers of Roundup, ha, ha.

Here's an older robin fledgling, sitting atop the humongous swingset.
He was making these soft little noises, at regular intervals, so I managed to catch him mid-chirp.

Do you think he might have come from this nest on top of the garage light?


Some day I'm going to put up a photo montage of the different shades of hollyhocks...all of which originated from two deep red flowers growing near the house when we moved in.

Even this lemon yellow beauty.
I don't often get this color.

That's all for now. Weeds wait for no Ma.
 

Tweet

Birds in Yard

Ma was out mowing the back 40 when I noticed an Eastern Kingbird flitting about and landing repeatedly on the burn pile fence.

Later he landed on the chain for the tire swing...


The Kingbird completely lives up to its Latin name, tyrannus tyrannus, which would be something like, "double tyrant," in English.

This was one of the birds hassling the hawk, yesterday and they are fierce defenders of their nests and territory.

They also have a very cool ability to hover,
which you don't see in many besides the hummingbird.

I think that besides it's bossy attitude, the "king" part of the name may be attributed to a hard-to-see orange "crown" on it's head. Perhaps if I get it to face me while hovering.

Anyways, I told Ethan NOT to burn the trash for a while, for I'm thinking it might be protecting a nest built amongst the weeds I pulled and tossed there to dry.

Also along the bird theme, I was picking cherries the other day and heard this persistent chirping from nearby. Looking over I saw a fledgling Robin, sitting in the crook of our littlest apple tree.

Yes, they're common, but still cute to observe.

After the Kingbird incident, I went over to check on the baby Song Sparrows. At first I couldn't find it, but I pulled back this chunk of another nest...
...and here they are at day five. I count four birds here, so I'm not sure what happened to that unhatched egg from day one...

After interrogating the boys, I found out Trevor had placed that extra piece of nesting material over the hirds' home. I knew I'd regret showing them the location of the nest. It's hard for them to stay away.

Coming back across the yard, I discovered the Kingbird had coopted the mower.

Which reminds me....I need to get back to work!

But before I go, I'll tell about our big plans for tomorrow:

It's the State Republican Convention in Des Moines, and my erstwhile junior delegates are attending.

Provided I drive them.

So we're doing a repeat of the Dubuque Day of Fun...I drop off Melinda, Carolyn and Ethan, and then take Nolan and Trevor to different places around the city for amusement and education. I have several possibilities in mind, some of which depend on the weather.

Should be a lovely, long day.
 

Tweet

Hawk Drama in Hoytland

There's been much avian ado, the past two days.

I was hearing a high-pitched sound, repeated over and over the other morning, and naturally I turned to Ethan. Ethan, who seems to have an opinion on everything, "Do you hear that? What is going on outside?"

"They're fertilizing in the other field...that's probably it."

Yes, because farm machinery often makes high-pitched, repetitive, squeals.

Going outside to take a few pictures, my attention swung to a group of crazy grackles, giving their best imitation of a group of thugs, heckling some unfortunate victim.

As I wandered over to the north property, I heard the screamy call again, and suddenly it registered, "Hey...I know that sound...it's a hawk!"

Well, Red-tailed hawks are in abundance out here in farmland, but never in the trees surrounding our house.

Today I finally got a picture.
Poor guy (or gal). There are always a bunch of grackles or whatnot, trash talkin' the lonely raptor.

They just won't let it alone...
...driving it from Mr. Lupkes' trees, to our trees, to the property south of us, and back again.

You can hear the very distinctive call, whenever you're outside, and sometimes inside the house.

Speaking of distinctive calls, the voice of the Red-tailed hawk is what's used in almost every movie, no matter what the type of hawk or eagle. It's just so awesomely raptory :-)

I figured the grackles were overreacting. Engaging in a little manly blowharding, while the females stay home and slave over the kids. But then I looked up what they eat, and while they do go mostly for mice, voles and small mammals, they also eat blackbirds.

They've even enlisted the local Eastern Kingbird to help them, and kingbirds are fierce and fearless attackers.

I feel kinda sorry for the hawk.

Why can't they all just get along?
 

Tweet

Kids and Summer

It's summer, people! And that's why I started Nolan and Trevor on their remedial studies, today. All due to my exemplary teaching methods, in which I refrain from doing TOO good a job, thus depriving them and me of fun bonding during summer vacation.

My evil plan is working!

Of course, it's not all study and desperate attempts to placate the Des Moines Department of Education. Yesterday was a hot one, and Trevor easily persuaded me to set up the sprinkler.
A real high-tech gadget, but nothing is too good for my little slackers, oh no.

It was an ex-TREMELY drippy day, and the night ended up being a long one, with tornado watches and warnings. Thankfully, no injuries, unless you count our lost sleep.

Kendra and I were watching lightning out the west window and it was looking pret-ty fearsome, let me tell you. We were reassuring each other with, "Well, the trees are tall, so I'm sure they'll get hit before the house..."

Amazingly, no branches down despite being hit by two storm cells that had produced 80 mph straight winds to the southwest.

On to this morning. I blearily crawled out of bed, stumbled to the kitchen and was met by son Nolan, all excited over a wingless fly he'd found.
I didn't inquire as to whether the fly had been sans wings all along, or...*cough*...had met with some unfortunate "accident."

Sometimes it's best not to ask questions.

But this wingless critter was seriously creeping me out. Me, who with nary a thought picks up snakes, toads, disposes of dead mice or even finishes them off when the trap proves insufficient in snuffing power.

No telling where the thing came from or how it got that way. Maybe it ate something I threw out of the fridge and then mutated.

Ma. Saving the world from vermin, one moldy side dish at a time.

But enough of the appetite suppressants.

Nolan and Trevor have been playing quite nicely together--well, some of the time, anyway--with the Legos. It involves a castle...bombers and extraterrestrials...mmmm, bulldozers, I think.
Despite multiple plot incongruities, they've kept themselves busy without too much of the usual going-over-their-computer-game-time-and-frustrating-Mommy-to-death.

So far it's been a good summer.
 

Tweet

Life in the Yard

Technically, this first picture is just out-side the yard.
Several years ago I had Hollyhocks all along this fence, but I got tired of weeding out the grass. Looks like some seeds escaped over beside the corn :-) Frankly, they look better then the ones up by the house.

I was weeding on the south side of the garden yesterday when this Song Sparrow (I think) made itself known by hanging about and scolding...
...lunch, anyone?

The first Cosmos bloom, avec short child :-)
These are volunteer plants from last year. I've been tucking them into different places, for more color variety.

Since that bird just wouldn't leave, I figured there might be a nest nearby.
In less than 2 minutes I found it, hidden on the ground in a thick patch of Yarrow. Might not be able to weed around here for a while...

My Stella d'Oro day-lilies, culled from the overrun courthouse gardens.
The name literally means, "Star of Gold," but "stella" comes from Italian and "oro" comes from Spanish, so...somebody was either not that hip to languages or intentionally hybridized the name. Regardless, it's a purdy, sturdy little plant.

I'm gradually putting in more and more perennials, to decrease the digging needed each spring. Not sure if the white Yarrow qualifies as a flower or a weed, it is spreading so fast. I dug out a fair patch yesterday, but there's only so much I can do near that bird nest.

Hopefully I can give regular updates on the birdlings without being too intrusive.
 

Tweet

The Shakespeare Project - Act 1

You are never too late to imbibe a bit of culture. And that's just what's goin' down, come September.

It all started many years ago. Three decades, actually. At college, I had the chance to attend The Shakespeare Festival, in Stratford Ontario. Imagine: an afternoon and evening performance at Canada's premier arts town! At the last minute I canceled, as it meant I would miss valuable practice time for an upcoming recital. The sponsoring professor at Grace College said he thought I'd regret it.

He was right.

Not only did I miss the plays, but I still did a mediocre job on my piano piece.

It was a no-win, all around.

HOWEVER, every year of her college career, Kendra has been attending this same festival with the head of the English department and incidentally, one of my old professors :-) (different than the one mentioned above)

THIS IS THE YEAR!

Ma is planning to attend. Probably Kendra's last time and baby, I---is---agoin' !

Lord willing, of course.

First step was to apply for my passport, which is how I spent the entire afternoon.

I won't go into all the nasty details of how I very nearly ended up at Rockwell City, which is on the other side of Ft. Dodge. But clearly, someone erred when they allowed three cities to be named, "Rockwell City," "Rockwell," and "Rockford," all in the same state. The last two being rather close together.

Thankfully, just before pulling out of the drive, I remembered I hadn't written down the address and as I perused the map online, I realized I was about to be VERY disappointed.

Equally thankfully, Kendra had puzzled over the name I had mentioned, and listed the post office where she'd applied for her passport. A quick call saved me running all over tarnation and quite possibly driving off the edge of the map.

'Tis done. Or started, anyway. The Post Master took the picture, too, making it a one-stop shopping extravaganza.

Speaking of mugshots, my passport picture is something akin to a nightmarish accumulation of all the worst driver's license photos, ever.

By any-one.

Oh WELL.

It's enough to know that I shall soon be known by a new name...

International Ma!

Autographs available upon request.
 

Tweet

 

 

Tweet

Life in the Yard

My favorite Knockout Rose...Red
Practically fluorescent

Violas, hiding out in the rock garden
The eaten pansies grew back and it seems that the deer are leaving things alone, for now.

House Wren...guess he forgave me for covering up the furnace exhaust pipe, for he's still singing up a storm around our house.
Sure, it's not the best image, but we're going for the cool effect of the wire :-)

My darkest hued Prairie Rose, the state flower of Iowa.
I'm so glad these are finally taking off...they were hard to transplant from the ditch...(I mean, if I were to DO such a thing, they would be hard to get going, I imagine). And with all the heavy rains of late, there aren't that many petals left on the rose bushes

White Tiger Lily. Got these bulbs from the local grocery store. They didn't look so hot but lo and behold, they grew !
Bought them to keep company with the Orange Tiger Lilies I rescued from the ditch. They aren't blooming quite yet, but they have survived the winter.

It's been a nice day to laze around, start a new book, make the kids pit cherries (feel sorry and help them), get some weeding done (it's so wet out there it smells like the lake), and have my slaves clean the bathrooms.

And right now the little boys are outside getting dirty after their baths. They were clean for a few moments, however.

That counts, in my book.
 

Tweet

Days of Storms and Tires

I'm a tad behind, having missed posting, yesterday.

With two plus days of dry weather, it still wasn't enough for the soil to be really workable, but I had a feeling it was my last chance for a while.

So after we finished mowing the lawn on Thursday, I went out to dig the last bed, designated for squash and cucumbers. It was difficult, in that it was still wet. I had cleared off mucho weeds earlier in the day and hoped the sun and stiffening breeze would do its work...but I ended up turning over soil that was less than perfect.

I figured that even though it was another "undate" night, I could still finish in time, but I barely came in under the wire.

The heat and dewpoint were stifling, so I came in to sit down for a few minutes and casually asked Loren, "So, what time do you want to leave?" Upon discovering it was an hour earlier than usual, I ran back out, finished up the bed and planted.

Whew, that was close!

And when you're that soaked with sweat, it's really hard to tell if the shower is doing any good...I think there was still steam rising off me at the theater.

We managed to get our errands, eating and movie-watching done before the threatening clouds broke loose. All the way home from Mason City we were traveling under a wall cloud, sometimes deluged with rain, sometimes buffeted by wind, always trying to get ahead of the storm.

And by the time we arrived home we'd made it into dry territory.

There was that big rain, then another one this morning (Friday). I decided to risk the weekly shopping, but the clouds were building once again, making a dark contrast in back of the wind turbine farm.


Made it to Goodwill just before another terrific downpour :-) Even more startling, I did not purchase anything!

It was dry by the time I got home, and Loren had put up the tire swing.
He got an old truck tire for free, and I think it's safe to say...

...that the two youngest are enjoying it :-D

(you may have noticed another regular sized tire, as well as several climbing bars that Loren also installed. I think the kids are set, now)

Towards sundown, I looked to the south, southeast and saw this towering cloud bank.
Maybe they don't look all that impressive, but they were actually located below Cedar Rapids, a good two hours away.

And then there were these beauties


I first saw clouds like this when my mom took me out into the front yard after the Palm Sunday tornadoes (I was in kindergarten and we lived in Indiana). She pointed up in the sky and said something to the effect, "See that? It means there's been or will be bad weather."

The official name is "Mammatus," and yes, it's a pretty obvious name. They occur when there is great instability in the atmosphere and even can be a sign of tornadic activity.

There's your weather lesson for the day!

Word is that we have a break from the storms for tomorrow, but it all starts up again late Saturday night and continues on through Tuesday.

Just thankful to get a few things done between storms.
 

Tweet

Cherries and Mowing and Mulching, Oh My!

What a DAY.

Loren and I are both fairly exhausted, working on separate projects all the live long day. Loren was messing with the swing set, attaching chains for the tire swing (we still need to get a tire--a LARGE one) and then putting up climbing bars.

There really should be enough stuff for all the boys to be doing different things and not get on each other's nerves, but alas, where there is Nolan, there is attitude.

Anyway, I'll get a picture up again, one of these days, after the tire is attached.
________________

Kendra and Carolyn have been picking cherries, and today I had the kids pit them (you can see how much FUN Nolan is having).
It's a messy job. And the trees are still loaded, so this same activity will take place again in another day or two. Five quarts so far and it looks like a banner year.

They also did up a few strawberries for me, while I put the finishing whacks to the far lawn. Ethan had wanted to come out and continue what he started this morning, but I said, "No, you stay in where it's air conditioned :-)

Okay, so it's true...I HATE cutting up cherries (not that I've ever done it). But with all of the gang working, it was completed double quick.

(truth be known, most indoor chores pale in comparison to garden/yard work)

It was a propitious day in another way, in that Mr. Frey came with the auger to get grain out of the bins, and had his wife, Renice, mow the section, first. Mowing that square often generates enough grass clippings for a good mulching, so I headed over there abouts three and started in on the hot, dusty work.

Got the beans and 3 out o five raspberry rows mulched; I'm fairly happy with that.

And after listening to the KWWL weather at six, I took a chance that Schnack is right and there won't be any rain until tomorrow afternoon. Maybe I can get that last vegetable bed in, after all! And if I wake up to rain, I will be VERY disappointed, though frankly, I hardly had any energy left. I was making contingency plans to merely clear a few hills for the squash and cucumber seeds and process the rest of the bed, later.

But now, resting in the calm assurance that NO RAIN WILL COME UNTIL AFTERNOON, I should have enough time to get that baby done.

Providing I can will myself out of bed in the morning. Already I'm sensing the "I've-been-out-in-the-heat-and-I-can't-take-it-anymore-MIGRAINE," which will need some serious drugs, before bed.

And, my arms are turning so brown from the outside work that it's a tad alarming, but as I tell the kids, "The darker skin tones will make me look thinner."

That's true, right?

I find one's powers of rationalization increase, with age.
 

Tweet

Dirt Under My Fingernails, A-gain

And strawberry juice stains. We have to pick every other day and we eat and eat and now we're putting the extras into the freezer.

Yummy stuff, fresh strawberries!

And then, Kendra picked a bunch of cherries this evening, so we are going to be processing them tomorrow, as well as the strawberries that were picked today.

I'm starting to get a Pavlovian backache, just thinking about putting up fruit.

Wonder of wonders, the SUN CAME OUT TODAY. And it's supposed to be dry tomorrow. It's hard to imagine two days in a row with little (it misted for a bit) or no rain.

That will mean lawn mowing for sure, and hopefully more weeding. There is nothing like wet-weeding to get yourself all muddy. I need at least 2 full non-mowing days to clean up the garden.

In other news, we celebrated Nolan's birthday this evening, two days early. I looked at the calendar and realized his birthday would fall smack on one of Loren's and my undates, but Nolan was quite obliging in having his birthday early, heh, heh.

Pictures tomorrow. Maybe.

In the meantime, if you haven't heard about the famous England/USA soccer game, then I guess you must be living in a cave somehwere, in which case you're probably not reading this...but here's a novel take on the the big event, courtesy of someone who likes Legos and has too much time on their hands.

I'll bet the guys who put this together have better looking hands then mine.
 

Tweet

Rain, Rain, Rain

Every day, practically. I have yet to put in the squash and cucumbers, and now I'm just grateful I could get in the other stuff. We may have one dry day on Wednesday, but that's not long enough for the clay soil to become workable, again.

Ah well.

As a wise man once said, "If you're going to worry about the weather, you shouldn't become a farmer."

Doesn't really apply, since I'm not a farmer, but it's the closest thing I had to a seasonal adage.
_____________

I spent much of the day glued to my computer, hunting down remedial school supplies for my two underachievers to work on, this summer. "It'll be fun stuff!" I cheerily encouraged.

That's what I told them, anyway.

My hope is that it will take slightly less time each day than ordinary school and that if we're not done, I can just continue it into the fall with their other studies. Maybe the Department of Education in Des Moines--whom I haven't heard from....yet--will be suitable impressed. That I'm trying.
__________________

Here's a shot of the latest on the mammoth swing set/other-stuff-to-be-provided:

Loren got the two right swings put up before we had our anniversary getaway.

Yes, the kids had to take turns.

I KNO-ow!

Saturday, while I was gone most of the day on gardeny business, Loren got up the left swing and a climbing pole, on which you can see Ethan.

The boys are having lots of fun, and Ethan and Nolan have even climbed up to the top and over onto the wood...but I try not to look when that happens. I was told it would only be dangerous if they fall.

Kendra, no slacker in climbing history, ALSO shinnied up the pole but frankly, that's something this ol' lady is not gonna even try.

I worked up enough of a sweat ordering 8 items from Amazon and CBD, today.
 

Tweet

 

 

Tweet

Another Goodsome Day

It's been another jour de force pour Ma, though being away from home all day had...*cough*...nothing to do with it.

Took in my first workshop of the year, and since Melinda wasn't interested in the topics, it was just me and The Country Moose, counting down the top 20 :-D

And I learned something unrelated to twangy music...one strip of packing tape does NOT hold up a broken electric window. But it was on the back right, and doesn't slide down below halfway (much), so the only thing I had to worry about was turning up the radio really loud.

It was also raining buckets, but I discovered that not much rain comes in when you drive really skillfully.

The workshop had 6 different sections, and I do think I got my 10 dollars worth. The hard metal chairs did get a little uncomfortable by the last hour, particularly since they had trouble with the power point equipment and it ran late. But still very good overall, I thought.

Afterward we toured their little gardens. Ma may have to construct one of these tee-pees some day, and run morning glories up the posts.


Someone had heard about planting right in the bags, which is supposedly done in England, though vertically.
I don't know how you would DO that vertically, but I thought the horizontal approach was rather novel. Could work well for someone with limited space and hey...NO WEEDING.

After that I spent a couple of hours at our church, getting very dirty and sweaty and just generally making a scene amongst the neighbors....("Pastor John? Did you know there is an old, fat lady over at your church moving plants around with a shovel and that she has a dangerous looking Lincoln sitting in your parking lot?")

It was ex-TREMELY humid, as in, beads-of-sweat-flowing-into-a-continuous-flood-that-required-using-the-dirty-rug-of-kneelingness-to-wipe-off-my-face, humid.

Now I am tired but still abask in the glow of Vitamin D goodness.

I do love summer and getting my hands in the dirt :-)
 

Tweet

Over the Hill

As in, I am not safe to go out by myself, any more.

Kendra went shopping with me this afternoon and it's a good thing!

We came out of the Goodwill Store and she notified me that I might want to turn my shirt around since it was inside out....(oh brother...not a-gain).

THEN, while leaving the grocery store parking lot, I almost--well, it wasn't THAT close, Loren--backed into a car that was zipping (probably SPEEDING) past. I admit to being a little distracted, since some worker-guy was strutting down the street without a shirt--no, I was NOT ogling--and I was thinking, "Oh please, fellah...pull up the jeans, a tad..."

If people would just check with me first before living, these things wouldn't happen.
____________

The strawberries are bustin' out all over, here at the Hoytstead. The kids probably picked 8 quarts this afternoon, in the muggy heat of sweatingness. It seemed only fair, since I'd been slaving to get the groceries in the air-conditioned Lincoln.

Strawberries for supper, tonight! Along with nutritious hot dogs and frozen corn. Do I know how to make a meal, or what ?

After supper it's off to the Bible School program. That's where the parents come to see their youngin's and the older siblings come to eat goodies.

I'll try to get a few pictures up, if I can balance the camera with my multiple snacks.
 

Tweet

Ma and the Blustery Day of Mowing Tiredness

With the youngest four off on another Bible School morning extravaganza, Ma took to eating breakfast and schlooping around the Internet, grazing on fitful snatches of Facebook, news and weather. And speaking of the radar, I came across a huge green blob, with yellow and orange patches and....yes, a red ga-bloop, off to the west and north.

While snarfing power oatmeal, I carefully replayed the radar loop, gauging the possibility of rain destroying my chances of mowing.

It looked bad. As in, tracking just enough north to miss us, for a while at least, meaning I had to mow.

Finally, with no breaking news reports that required my attention, I had to face the sad fact that there was no excuse but to head out for more grass removal.

It was a hard start. I felt old and tired and began entertaining thoughts of keeling over and being found by a passerby who would tearfully intone at my funeral:

"I didn't know her, but I could tell from the straight lines on the lawn that she was a really---good---person!"

*sniff*

Well, we all have our little daydreams, don't we...

At first I was just hoping to get one third done before taking a break. No, maybe a fourth.

Then a few drops fell, a small breeze wafted in and I began to feel better. The light sprinkling gave me new energy and it wasn't long before I began to feel like Babe Didrikson.

Well, maybe more like Babe, the pig.

I was getting my second wind and bordering on spunky.

The nice thing about mowing in a very light sprinkle is that you never really notice when the increase comes. You get wet so gradually that before you know it, you're close to soaked but almost done with the lawn, so hey...who cares?

It took 2.5 hours but I finished, though not before running out of gas 4 strips from the end.

A warm bath and complete change of clothes, not to mention lunch, put me right in the mood for a nap.

I was just getting to that warm and comfy--the body has almost relaxed enough to sleep--stage, when I realized the breeze was gradually picking up to a gale. But the bed felt so delicious that I hesitated to get up, which I'm pretty sure is the same as lying still.

However, when I began to feel a certain weird, wobbly sensation, I checked back into the dark recesses of my computer-like mind and pulled up a vital piece of information: "Attention Ma...the second floor will start to shake when the wind reaches around 50 mph."

I got out of bed.

Turns out there were no weather alerts, so either nothing bad was going on or else the weather people decided, "It's only that sparsely populated section of Butler county...no biggie."

Later that afternoon, after snorking off 40 winks, I discovered a couple of casualties:

My large, 6-foot Hollyhock, which was growing smack in the middle of my herb garden...
...plumb broke off.

That's OK. It was shading the thyme and I just didn't have the heart to pull the big lug out, earlier.

Over on Mr. Lupkes' property, I spied a tree that had blown over and hung up on another...
...Kendra saw that it was going rotten at the bottom, contributing to it's demise, no doubt.

And at the base of that double trunk lay an expired, fledgling crow. Did you know that under-grown crows are bigger than robins?!

In the end, I am paying for my grass-cutting exuberance. The rest of the lawn may be completed--the last hour in light to moderate rain--but I've been a faded ray on the orb-of-oomph, ever since.

I'm sensing OTC painkillers and TV, before bed.
 

Tweet

Wunnerful, Wunnerful Day

No, I am not channeling Lawrence Welk, heh, heh.

But it's been a pretty splendid, snapperiffic day.

Gorgeous morning for the kids to walk to Bible School
It was Trevor's turn to lead! Whoo-ee...that doesn't happen very often when you're the youngest. I should know, because being the youngest I had to always do what other people wanted, no one ever listened to me, and I was rather shy in my youth.

But I've managed to put that all behind me, now :-D

Not too long after I got rid of the kids they left, Melinda and I took off for the courthouse where we put in 3 of the required 6 hours for this year. Got that north rose garden all ship shape, and only two scratches! Pretty good for this clumsy ol' Ma. I am smart enough to wear gloves when pruning thorny stuff, I just don't wear sleeves, in case I get invited to some sumptuous ball, for which one DEF-initely should not show up with a farmer tan.

When we returned, Kendra informed me of happy, happy news...she was accepted into a CNA class in Waterloo! We're pretty excited, since several things fell through, one after another, upon coming home for the summer. But she did manage to get on an alternate list, and today came the call back. It's a positive answer to prayer.

After snarfing a late lunch and resting up for a bit, I headed out for more mowing. Ethan's tired enough from Bible School that I'm not requiring him to mow as much, so Ma had to gird up her loins...mostly to prevent a hernia. That crazy grass is tough!

Between the courthouse gardens and mowing, I managed to get my daily quota of happy vibes from vitamin D. Sunshine rocks.

Got both the "little" boys (Nolan's nearly as tall as me) to take a bath, and Nolan actually left some shampoo in the bottle...we win again! (I fine him when he overdoes it, and I had to do that today, but at least there was SOME left...I should have enough for tip money the next time Loren and I eat out at a snazzo place.)

Now it's just a matter of reading to the kids and stuffing them in their beds. Then...Ma time :-D

*sigh*

I love summer vacation.
 

Tweet

Great Aunt Becky, Strikes (yet) Again

It's been a prolific year, for the nieces and nephews. I'm a bit behind on this one, who was born on May 27th.

Caleb Timothy Hoyt, with mom Alexia and big sis, Maria.


Proud papa, Bryan, and son.


Bryan is the son of Loren's oldest brother, Bruce. They live in New Zealand.
_____________

It's been a fairly busy day, what with voting, making bread, doing a bit of mowing and now nursing a migraine (from the heat and stress of mowing in the humidity).

Still, I had time to throw in a couple of rests as well as read a bit.

Jason and Derek drove up to vote, although Jason claims he mostly came up to eat. We had burritos and fresh strawberry shortcake for supper. Our strawberries! And real whipped cream. You just can't scrimp on the real whipped cream, for some things.

Also cut Jason's hair, so all in all, a pretty profitable day.

Plus, the youngest 4 were at Bible School all morning and it's amazing how they come back fairly quiet for the rest of the day!

I should really hire someone to wear the kids out for me, more often.

A person could get used to them being gone to school all day...

No, no. I did NOT say that!

(but you can't stop me from thinking it)
 

Tweet

Long Day for This Ol' Ma

But I didn't notice until I got home, so that's good :-)

The kids started Vacation Bible School this morning. I'll get a picture tomorrow (if it's not raining). I left before they did this morning.

Went down to Cedar Rapids and picked up Derek at his job, then drove on down to University of Iowa Hospitals so he could keep his 6 month check-up with the good Dr. L.

I stayed out in the waiting room and let him go all by his little ol' self.

Loosing the apron strings and all that.

It was such a chore (hee, hee) to drive down there...all by myself...drinking Diet Cherry Coke and listening to whatever radio station I desired.

Oh yes...it was hard :-D

There was the usual long wait. Ma got through 5...count 'em, FIVE crossword puzzles! As in, all done.

Someone is getting good, is all I can say.

What is not so good....Derek is in a-fib, again. He didn't even know it, so we have no idea when he went out of rhythm.

As usual, he was sent home--to Cedar Rapids this time--with a Holter monitor, which the staff will be going over with a fine-toothed stethoscope. Then they'll probably increase his main heart medication, hoping he'll convert out on his own. Barring that, it will be cardioversion time, again.

Okay. I'm officially tired and it's getting close to the kids' bedtime, after which I'll probably wake up, ha ha...
 

Tweet

Anniversary Getaway - The Final Frontier

Well, all great escapes from reality must come to an end.

And thus, Ma and El Hubbo came home to the Hoytstead, lo, this very late afternoon.

The day started out pretty good, with Ma making a practically perfect waffle at the hotel.

From there, we called up Derek--after waking up Jason...twice--and had him come out from work to open Jason's car so Loren could not discover his sunglasses inside.

Who said being a parent of older children wouldn't be rewarding?

Next came a short trip to the Earl May Garden center, where Ma discovered exorbitant prices on plants and decided to go with slightly less exorbitant seeds, instead.

Meanwhile, Loren walked across the street to pick up washer fluid so the annoying beep-tone indicating an annoyingly low washer fluid level would not be sounded by the annoying, modern, computerized control panel that emits tones which annoy Ma.

Then, we headed off into the west, to check out one more spot for potential lost park-ed-ness. And it was there!

Bonus points for MA :-D

Here are a few pics gathered in the really humid walkabout at Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center:

Close to the marsh, a male Barn Swallow, perched on a dried stalk.


Bull Thistle


Red-winged Blackbird


Eastern Comma Butterfly


Wild Columbine


From there it was a final eating out stop at Arby's, home of the beef-n-cheddar, Diet Dr. Pepper and curly fries with Ma's famous catsup and horsey combo sauce.

And when we returned home, Carolyn was in the midst of making two strawberry pies!

Talk about your need for a fast.

I figure I have until next anniversary to lose the weight.
 

Tweet