A Brilliant Week

 Where to begin?

It's been a lovely week. We've just been getting on doing things and took a day trip. 

Today is our dog, Brunel's birthday (and we got him ice cream at Andy's (his favourite place) and cupcakes to celebrate it with Lightning and Rover). Yeah we know we're crazy but hey, it's ok, we have nobody to please but ourselves.

I've been doing lots of plantings. Today I've tried a hack I watched on a video, and planted grapes in banana segments, apparently it helps them get started. We shall see. I transplanted some more gardenias that had started rooting. Once Mark has the one side of the fence finished, we will plant some of them and the roses and cannabafolia down the fenceline to help add another layer of obstruction so's the dogs can't get out through it. They will also provide food for the bees.

Our beehive arrived and I have painted the sections with primer, and ow just have to wait for it to cure so that I can then paint it the pastel palest sage green, on Monday. Then, just have to wait for that to cure another week, and the we can get it put together and go to the Carolina Bee Company and get some bees. I'm hoping that using the honey as a sweetener will help Mark with his allergies to all things in our area. His allergist said he needs to move to the beach!

My plumeria cuttings are doing good. The white willow cutting was, but then the leaves shrivelled, so I've messaged the person I bought it from, to see if that's something that happens sometimes, and if it will still grow. I hope so. 

We have an abundance of tomatoes and blueberries on our bushes, so I'm very happy about that. My potatoes are not enjoying this heat but aren't ready to pull yet as they haven't flowered. The peas and beans are doing well and shooting up. I'm very happy with my crops thus far. The watermelon seedlings are still growing taller but not getting many leaves yet, and my cantaloupes haven't sprouted yet.

My poem, The Storybook Witch, was published as a children's book, this week, and is now on sale on Amazon, in paperback, and at Ingram in hardback. I'm working on some other projects and beginning to learn how to do what I need to, with Canva.

Our day trip was on Tuesday, to Helen, I did my usual chocolate shopping at Hansel and Gretel, and we went down by the river after eating lunch at Hofer's. Mark got some river rocks for my stream that he's started digging out. The only mar to the day was the journey, both ways we ended up behind folks doing 35mph on single lane roads where we couldn't overtake, it just seemed like our travelling was never going to end! We were both very stiff at the end of the day, but we'd enjoyed Helen and we have chocolate delights in the fridge for a few days of treating ourselves.

Mark has started removing grass from the areas that are going to be my stream and my pond, and moving the turf to the front yard (where everything washes away from, every time we get rain). We're hoping it will help bolster it up a bit.

We also got permission from a local building site to get rocks that they're digging up as they prep to build a subdivision. We are working on the 7th pallet now, and trying to figure out how to get some of the bigger rocks - which may entail Mark taking his tractor down there, with me following in the truck, so that he can use the shovel part to like some of them and put them in the bed of the truck. Then, once we got home again, he could use the tractor to unload them from the truck and put them about where we are going to want them..

Yes, it's been a nice week!

I'm getting so excited

 Not long now, and my book will be available on Amazon and other sites. Feeling pretty good. It's taken me long enough to get to this point, but hey, I'm getting there and THAT'S the main thing!

NEVER gie up on your dreams!

More Plantings and Planning

It's been another busy week, prepping for the pond and greenhouses that are going to be down in the field. We had to postpone the greenhouse erecting until next week as the heat has already got unbearable, and is going to be hotter this afternoon. I don't want my hubby and grandson dying from heat exposure putting up 2 greenhouses for me. 

The white willow that I put in water (per the instructions that came with it) already has 2 little shoots on. I've started watermelon seeds indoors, in peat pots, and am going to do cantaloupes today, the same way. I'm well prepared for when they grow and fruit, I have little supports for the fruits to keep them off the ground.

Today we tasted our first blueberries off of our blueberry bush - they were sweet but tart - very tasty. The tomato plants are dotted with green tomatoes, and the potatoes, peas and beans are growing nicely. 

I'm still awaiting the arrival of 2 more varieties of plumeria, but the one I got the other day seems to be doing ok. 

The rockpile is growing, as is my pallet collection (which will be used inside my greenhouses to put my pots on.

Wherever we go, we are now picking up pallets (that are free by the roadside), and rocks. Likewise cuttings of wild roses, or off bushes that people will let me take a stem from. Today, I got a pretty yellow rose stem, and have dipped it in rooting powder and popped it into a nice wetted soil pot, and put it on the windowsill along with a wild rose cutting and the white willow. 

I also potted the stems of the rose posy we had bought from Publix a couple of weeks ago, that I'd had in water. The heads had died but there are tiny buds of new growth on the stems, so I deadheaded and then re-rooting-powdered the bottom and popped them into pots of soil. Now I'll just leav ethem on the front porch for a week or so and see how that works. If all goes well, then I'll have to repeat the process with another posy. The next one will be multi colours though.

Made a decision, today, to do the stream first, since it will be easier and give me running water more quickly. That will also mean that we can take our time in getting the main pond how we want it. My plans are getting bigger, I'm seeing a whole "garden of Eden" down there. Various plants and trees, a walkway, bridge and stream, and - of course - fountains and waterfalls. 

It'll take time, but step-by-step, slow and steady, I'm hoping we will get it done.

Ask and ye shall receive

 I'm bad, and I know it. I glean all the while from building sites. I ask to speak to the site foreman and then I ask if I can help myself to their thrown out stuff. When I was gathering for my train set and other projects, I gleaned wood 4"x4"s, 2"x1's and all sorts, now doing the pond and waterfalls, I'm gleaning rubble where they're clearing for the subdivisions. I've also been asking for old carpeting for my pond, having been told over the weekend to line the pond with carpeting BEFORE putting the underlay, and liner, for added protection.

So, today began with us stopping by the local new subdivision being built and asking if we could take their rocks. They were quite happy, and have no problems with Mark taking his tractor over to get them. They were really nice, it saves them money in needing it hauling away, and saves us money that we'd be having to spend in order to buy rocks as we get on with the project.

Then we stopped by to pick up a rug from a lady on Facebook, which will become part of our pond underside. 

Later I have to pick up some pallets that will be going in one of the greenhouses that my hubby and grandson are going to be putting up for me this weekend. My container gardening is doing really well this year, my potatoes and tomatoes are flourishing, and my peas and beans are now starting (since I planted them late having thought I'd already started them off when I'd started the tomatoes and potatoes. Not sure how that happened).

It's definitely been a good day thus far.

It's Monday!

 Am I the only person who likes Mondays?

To me they are a fresh start. A chance to rework things that I maybe didn't do as well the week before, or to do things that were supposed to get done and somehow didn't. A fresh chance to evaluate what's important (or not) in the plans that I have for the week, and to plan or re-plan those that I give the most importance to.

I like them even better now that hubby doesn't work them because it means he can also lie-in on a Monday morning instead of having to heed the 5am alarm and head out the door by 5.30am. That only happens Wednesdays and Thursdays now, since he's semi-retired and gone to part-time. 

Mondays, we try to plan for his medical stuff, his chiropractor and his allergy shots, and I try to do mine for Tuesdays. The dogs aren't as happy that he's home more, as they like to come in on the bed when he's not here, and if he's here there's just not enough room for the 3 of them and both of us. Maybe if they were chihuahuas but with 2 40lb-ers and 1 70lb-er, yeah, that doesn't work. Plus they don't behanve as well when he's on the bed, they don't settle as well and try to walk over him all the while. Not conducive to relaxation, whereas right now, with him at his allergist, they are just sprawled and sleeping.

In a mo, they'll follow me into the kitchen as I have to wash their blankets and disinfect their crates. Takes me awhile as I sit to do it and have to use a grabby thingie to pull the blankets out, bones and their ice cream containers. Yeah, these boys aren't spoiled, not at all.

I'll leave you all and wish you an awesome Monday and a brilliant week.

I've been such a bad girl!

I'm not sure why (all of a sudden) I'm a big spender but I think it goes back to my stay in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. I realised my own mortality wasn't such a distant thing any more, and that - if I wanted to do or have things - I'd better get started asap because time was not on my side. Water calms me, as most of you know, and I can't always go to natural water places to settle myself when my blood pressure acts up, or my A Fib starts. So, I made a decision to make a water garden down in our back field. 

Temu and Amazon were happy to process my card, and a pond liner, pond underlay, solar aerator, and plant cuttings started arriving by Fed Ex, UPS and USPS fairly quickly.

My attempts to share the vision, that's in my mind, with my hubby (unfortunately) wasn't very easy. I tried to sketch what I was thinking ... a 2 year old could have done a better job. However, a pond tour, anabled me to show him some examples of what I was looking at, and some that weren't what I wanted at all. 

I want nature, a couple of waterfalls into a pond, stones and rocks, plants, my own Zen garden without the more angular regularity that those tend to have.

In my mind, "my" water garden begins with a half moon shape at the top, with a waterfall in the center surrounded by fragrant bushes and plants under a white weeping willow tree. The waterfall will come off a piece of slate, with rocks in the middle so that there are actually 2 "waterfalls" from one fixture. Facing it, the one to my right will go at about a 22 degree angle and cascade over 2 other slate "ledges". The other will be allowed to freefall onto some rocks below and then into the main pond.

The right triple cascade will fall into a pond that is slightly higher than the main one, so that this smaller pond then also has water falling into the lower bigger one.

I've been looking into plants to put at different levels to keep the water clean and oxygenated, and hubby wants some fish so they'll be in the bigger pond. 

Outside plants, I've checked into whether plumeria will grow here in SC and it will, but when temps fall below 40 degrees it has to be brought inside. I've ordered 3 different plumeria cuttings, and will eventually plant them in terra cotta type pots that will be at home among the rocks and flowers, and still look natural, but can then be brought indoors in cooler temps. I also the white weeping willow cutting coming, and that will start indoors and then be centered at the back so that it offers shade over the lowest pond.

Our trip to the stone yard the other day gave me an insight into what my rocks are going to cost me but it will just be a work in progress for as long as it takes (to be able to afford them!).

I'm garnering inspiration from pics of other people's ponds, talking with people who already have ponds, and books and resources online. I just wish I could draw so that I could show my hubby what I envisage. As it is, he and his trusty tractor will be doing most of the work and I'll be acting foreman. It will be beautiful once it's done though. For now, he's just started digging ...

 

Plantings and Plannings

For the past week or so, my life has been filled with cuttings and plantings, some rescues that I hope will make it (I hate when stores give up on plants and just stop watering them at all, poor things). Cuttings, we've been getting roses and honeysuckle, and I'll be doing some more gardenia as soon as I have space. I have to be careful with all my water-filled containers as the dogs like to get into stuff, and I'd be really mad (and have a BIG mess to clean up) if they managed to mess with my cuttings. Rescues, we've saved 2 lavender bushes and a lavender tree, got them planted in tubs, well-watered in but able to drain well. The other plant, I can't remember what it is, but it has leaves like gardenia and flowers red, so should look pretty. For now, it's happy having been watered, repotted, and given space for its poor roots to grow.

Today, I've also planted some snap peas and beans ... I only realised a couple of days ago that I'd forgotten to do so this year! I do love my peas and beans straight off the vine, they rarely make it in the house, we just eat them as we pick them.

My potatoes, in the potato grow sacks, are doing good. I have them on a low-level table, so they'll be easy to harvest once they are ready. The tomatoes are flowering, they are doing wonderfully.

So ... plannings. Well, hubby is charging the batteries on my old ridearound which was bigger and heavier than the one we take with us that breaks down into 4 parts to make it portable. The older one is definitely more rugged, and I used to go down the field in it years ago ... and that's the goal now. Get it back to running order so that I can go down the field again. Why? Because I hve decided to build a pond down there, with water features, so that I have my own tranquil place, rather than having to drive to my streams and villages for the sensory relaxation. Temu is my friend, and I'll be getting much of my supplies from them for it, pond liners, plant baskets, aerators, etc. I'm going to start collecting rocks, pebbles and stones now, so that once I can afford everything, I'll hae the wherewithal to make it look natural. 

Also, I'll have plants in amongst the rocks so that there's a nice fragrant aura around as well as some pretty colours, plus I'll have some water plants to help keep the water clear and oxygenated.

I've decided that, one of our side gigs, with hubby being semi-retired, will be for me to get plants and trees growing and sell some. We're planning on vining roses, gardenia and honeysuckle through the fencing down the field, to surround it in fragrance but also to block in the fence with them as a natural barrier to stop the dogs from trying to get out.

We're waiting on our first beehive arriving, and I've ordered special paint that is non-toxic to bees, so that we can get it painted and set up ready for getting our first bees. All of the flowers will provide plenty of pollen for them, and the pond will give them a natural non-chemicalled source of water.

I'm also thinking of trellis in one of the corners of the field, and then getting grape vines to intertwine up it, like I had in Florida many many moons ago.

I need to set up a couple of greenhouses down there as well, with some shelves/tables in to use for propagating, and hopefully the dogs will not be able to interfere with them then. And get about 5 100 feet hoses, to attach to the back faucet on the house, so that I can water everything. I'll have to learn irrigation as I go.

I'm excited. 

Sometimes I think I'm crazy

... Others, I know I am.

Like this morning.  

I'm lying down, relaxing, having just paid bills, bills and more bills ... and feeling GOOD about paying them!  There has to be something wrong with me that I'm feeling satisfied giving money away, no? I guess maybe it's just that I am thankful that I have the money to pay them? The opposite being that - if I didn't - I'd be stressed and worrying about how to do that (and trust me, for many years, it was that way). I've just learned to be more efficient with it, I suppose.  

First Week of Semi-Retirement Over

This week was hubby's first of his semi-retirement. He was going to retire, and then they offered him part-time, 2 days a week, so he took it. Those extra days of sleeping in do seem to be making him less stressed, which is good, and it's not as if all he's doing is sleeping. Just that I want him to be able to sleep as much as his body needs. Between the Long Covid and the Leukaemia, his body is almost permanently fatigued. This way, it's getting the rest it needs.

He's not being lazy, by any means. Today he's out mowing down the field, in preparation for building a berm alongside our fence. Just one of many long term projects ahead, including replacing the old barn, and the old trailer. Generally tidying up, neatening and organizing outside ... as well as the ptojects of remodelling inside. He loves the tractor and all its implements, it probably ranks as the best gift he ever received, surpassing even his flying lesson/ride in a WWII training plane.

The storms this week stopped some of the outdoor activities ... it was torrential, thunder and lightning, tornado watches, scary stuff. I ended up in the living room for some of the night as I worried I'd wake him up with my tossing and turning. I am deathly scared of thunderstorms, and have been since I was young, way before moving here where there's the possibility of tornadoes in them. That's just given me something else to worry about!

It's been a fairly good week though, so here's to the next.

Life

Today began with a light shower and now the sunshine has dried everything up. It's really nice out there, not too hot, I have the doors and windows open and just a ceiling fan to move the air a bit.

Brunel, Lightning and Rover are splayed out on the bed, legs twitching as they run in their dreams. They snore too! It's good having happy boys. Rover loves it here but he does miss his mum and human siblings. He loves it when they are over and he can chase after Daniel (he's Daniel's dog).

Things have been going ok. 3 weeks into the higher dose of my blood pressure patches and I'm staying more stable than previously. I'd explained to my doctor that I just have so much going on at the moment, and have been running on stress for the past few months since hubby's accident at the dog park, the running around for appointments, his surgery and recovery, my granddaughter having to move because of the burst water and sewer pipes making the property she rented uninhabitable, then her having a shed brought here for her stuff and us having to get ours moved in order to get it situated. I mean, I get WHY my BP was erratic, and I dealt with it with my emergency med regimen, but the doc decided she'd rather me be more stable without having to resort to that.

House projects are still going on. I have a man coming out tomorrow evening to look at our soffitt at the front of the house, and give me a quote for replacing it, and then Monday morning, I have a man from Duke Power coming out to sort out putting up an area light down in the field, to hopefully keep the coyotes at bay, or at least let me see when they are out so that I don't let Brunel, Lightning and Rover out. It's worrisome, in the dark, when the 2 big ones come back and Lightning isn't with them, and just taking his own sweet time coming in, after they've been let out to go potty. An area light will take off some of the stress of worrying about that.

At my last doctor visit I'd lost a pound. I told her, I know I'm a stress eater and (in all honesty) I'd expected the scales to have headed the other way, so even that solitary pound was a nice surprise.

I've been working on building my stamina back up and my times with my pedalling. A couple of years ago, I was averaging a couple of hours a daty, and then I was sick for a couple of weeks and just struggled to get back into it. I was barely able to do 10 minutes, twice a day. I felt like I was being lazy but I just had no "oomph". Now, my problem is my bum going numb, so my sessions are 20-30 minutes and I try to do at least 2 a day and often now do 3 or 4, plus I have the Teeter that I do as well, so I'm happy to be getting fitter again. It doesn't help me with my mobility, I don't stand well unsupported, and walk only with my walker, or holding onto things, but it stops muscles from atrophying and is good for my heart and lungs. I'll take that and be happy with it!

Hubby starts working part-time in 2 weeks, instead of retiring. I have plenty of "honey-dos" to keep him busy, plus am looking forward to him being able to sleep in until his body is ready to wake up. Between the long Covid and the leukaemia, he is constantly tired. Weekends, he sleeps until 10 or 11 some mornings, as long as I leave him to. Sleep is good for him, and he ain't no spring chicken any more, no more than I am. 

I've been busy getting my container gardening going. I now have 3 tubs of toamtoes, 1 tub of mixed peppers, and cucumbers and cantaloupes started. My rosemary is outgrowing the planter it's in, so we are going to plant it out so's it can spread. I also need to start taking gardenia and rose cuttings again and getting new bushes started for along the fenceline. Plus, we need to get something sorted down at the back of the field so that we can get a beehive and some bees. Everything takes time and effort though and sometimes hubby and I are like the decrepit leading the decrepit with all our aches, pains and ailments. At least, amongst the seriousness, we can laugh at our fallabilities. 

So this is where we are at, at the moment. We can't complain, we are well blessed, and there are so many who suffer a lot more than we do. Enjoy your day.

Looking Into Hibiscus, And Other Updates

 Yesterday was a pretty nice day. The sun was shining, I felt well, and all was good in my world. First thing, we delivered 3 AVON orders to my customers, and then went to Greer, to have our massages at Studio Rejuvenate.

The "water" yesterday was a blend of kumquat and hibiscus, and me (not knowing what they "do" in the body) wanted to find out more. I was quite impressed - hibiscus lowers blood pressure!! Oh yes, that def sounds like something I'm interested in. I spent some time researching and plan on ordering some online, since my local health food stores don't stock what I'm looking for. 

Hubby has been making the most of his new toys. Over the past couple of days, he has felled a Bradford Pear and transported it down to the field and dropped it in the trench to rot back into the earth. He's also been moving mulch from the free pile that we'd had delivered the other year, and spreading it around the yard, and levelling more of the gravel pile by the driveway. Yesterday, we stopped by Lowe's and he picked up another roll of the weed barrier that we are putting under the gravel.

It's all coming together pretty nicely.

I'm working on publishing "The Storybook Witch" by Halloween, I have about 6 months to accomplish that. I'd like to give a copy to each of my great-grands, and to my niece, Sophie, who is now a mum herself, but whose need for a witch poem one year when she was in Primary School, prompted the writing of the poem.

I'm looking out for peat pots so that I can start planting seeds and get them started. I found out last year that the plastic trays do not give up the seedlings very easily, so this year I'm going to use peat pots inside the trays, which should make removing them for transplanting so much easier. So far, the Dollar Tree hasn't started putting them out so I have to be patient.

Spring is definitely on it's way, and the white troughs that I do my container plantings in, need repainting on the outside to spruce them up. I'm hoping taht my great grandson can do it one time when his mum comes over. He can earn himself a few $$$ and have fun at the same time.

My reading list recently has included a book about, and another by, Corrie Ten Boom, a heroine of WWII who hid Jews in Holland during the Nazi occupation and became a public speaker about the Holocaust after the war. She was a very God-centred Christian who eventually set up Healing Centers where the persecuted and their persecutors could heal from the evil that had occurred.

As for the 4 legged sons and great grandpuppy, all are well and having a blast playing out, and being able to run in and out at will, on the nice sunny days. They're not too keen on the rainy ones, as coming in, after being outside, means no lying on the bed or couch, but confinement in the kitchen until they are fully dry. Those days are no fun for anyone.

Hope everyone has an amazing day. Thanks for reading!

Coming Together

It's definitely been a busy couple of months recently, that's for sure! We've made a start on reorganizing the front yard, and moved Mark's shed so that my granddaughter could put one in our yard, for her stuff. We got some gravel delivered, it as a special name but I can't remember what it is, but the stones are smaller and there's concrete like dust in with it. We had 15 tons delivered and hubby has been putting a weed barrier down on the right side of the driveway,  and levelling the gravel over it. It's coming together really nicely.

For his birthday, I got hubby a secondhand Massey Ferguson tractor with  a bucket, scoop, lawnmowing deck and plough. He loves his new toy and it has made levelling the gravel much easier than by shovel. He's not had a lot of free time for the past few weeks, between doctor visits, pre-retirement financial meetings and stuff to get one of our sheds moved so that my granddaughter's could be delivered, to try out the mower deck yet. He's been using the bucket part to move tree limbs and such that he's been trimming with his new extended arm tree trimmer. I am hoping to get him to plough part of the field and then try to get someone to plant veggies for me and take care of them. Being unable to do that for myself, I may have to pay somebody but I do love fresh veggies from the yard. I can, at least, start the seeds. Just, being unable to stand unaided, planting in the ground just isn't in my capabilities any more.

I am now in the process of getting "The Storybook Witch" illustrated for publication. I have 2 possible professionals and am waiting on the first to give me a sample pic of how he envisions my idea and interprets it, to see if it's what I want. If not, then I'll give the second the same chance and hope that they can. Been trying to get this done for years, and they've rolled along and it's not come to fruition. 2024 is going to be the year that it does.

Hubby's knee is healed better than the surgeon expected, but he cannot kneel on it yet as when he tries, he's on the plate and it pushes on the screws that go into his bone. The surgeon said eventually he'll get the flesh growing more solid around it and then it won't hurt as much. Meanwhile - he can't start on the flooring in the bathroom which needs to be done to restart the bathroom remodelling, so that the walk-in tub can be installed.

I'm thankful though for all our blessings.

 

The Coyotes Were Out This Morning

I hate doing it, but - every morning before I let my dogs out into the yard - I start my hubby's truck using the auto start. The engine starts, the lights come on, and then I let Brunel and Lightning out. We have coyotes in the field next to us. They come and go. They hadn't been heard in a while, but I worry, so every morning, that's my routine.

I'm also scared of the dark. I hate it. 68 years old and still haven't broken the habit. Sometimes I feel a bit ridiculous but it is what it is.

So, truck started, and I let the boys out, and Brunel IMMEDIATELY starts going crazy and barking wildly. Lightning came straight back after doing what he needed to, but Bru just kept running around, barking very forcefully. I finally got him back in, just before Mark left at 5.30.

So, the boys and I settle on the bed, and I'm working away doing stuff with my AVON, and on Facebook, and all of a sudden I hear those blood curdling yips, yelps and howling, the coyotes in full victory song. Down in MY field, closer than I want them, and one of the reasons I don't want my boys going down in our field.

Just scary.

So, when I let the boys out again at 8, after dawn broke, I was already dressed and went outside with them. If I am there constantly talking to them, they don't try to disappear down the field. 32 degrees at that point, and there I was, out with them, making sure they didn't abscond.

They're now sound asleep - again - on the bed as I work on the computer.

It's raining again!

It's pouring downright now, the first of 3 or 4 days so they are saying. Brunel and Lightning are most unhappy. They can't run in and out, or play outside, and when they do have to go out, they come back in soaking wet. Lightning doesn't even venture out in it sometimes, just stays on the porch looking sad, so I expect some accidents indoors today. Thankfully, my floors are tile and easily mopped and disinfected.

We've barely recovered from last week's deluges, and the ground hadn't really dried out properly, so my front yard is a quagmire, and the back field is beginning to show mini lakes on the plateaus. I feel badly for the outdoor animals, and the homeless. 

There's even some ponding on roads, and I daresay, by this evening, there will be some flooded out areas. One of the bad things about wet ground, here in SC, is that the trees don't have long roots, so heavy rainfall usually results in quite a few fallen trees. It's dangerous driving on the back roads because you never know when a tree will topple. We get a lot of blocked roads, but sometimes worse than that, wirth trees falling on houses or even on vehicles.

We had an old oak tree out front for many years, but over the last 5 or 6, the upper limbs died and would drop off any time it got windy. This last Autumn, we had somebody come and cut it down, and then had the stump ground down. Better safe than sorry, I couldn't risk it coming down on the house or car.

One of the nice "after the rain" things we like to do, is go down to Cedar Falls in Fork Shoals, to see how the rain has affected the river. It gets pretty awesome, crashing over the boulders, loud and noisy, and about 20 feet higher than normal, sometimes even cresting the banks above the "beach" area. Makes you realise how small we are in the world of nature, watching the torrent.

Thankfully, I have no plans to go anywhere today (or the next few days!). 

Life

Hubby returned to work last Wednesday, and we've pretty much settled back into a routine. I get up at 5am, use the auto start to get his truck running and warming up, make him breakfast and a cup of coffee, pack his lunch and snacks for work, let Brunel and Lightning out, feed said pair of 4 leggeds, feed the feline 4-legged, check hubby has his phone and has taken his pills, and then he's gone. He's out of the house by 5.30pm and will be gone until almost 5pm of an evening.

Brunel and Lightning say their goodbyes ... and then rush into the bedroom, jump on the bed and claim their spots on his side of the bed. I do some stuff online, my AVON, check FB, play my memory and observation games to keep my brain savvy, and then - usually around 7am or so - I switch everything off and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. I used to feel bad about it, but not any more. As my granddaughter said "you're almost 70", and since I worked in nursing homes as a CNA, I've seen folks much younger than me, sleep way more than I do. So, now, my naps are guilt-free.

Today's been a pretty good day. Not by much, but def a bit warmer than the past couple of weeks. I've not had to run my heat to excess, although my heartrate slowed a bit earlier, but 20 minutes of pedalling on my elliptical bike, and 30 minutes on my teeter, got it back to where I felt ok. When your resting heartrate is 45-50, when it slows below that it makes me feel decidedly "off".

The boys played outside for a bit, and I sat on the porch watching them bounding around the yard, chasing each other, rolling over each other, and generally acting silly and happy, amid growls and yelps. They are happy boys. Lightning is now less "snappy", especially around my face during "lovings", so he is learning. They are both spoiled rotten, and know it.

Madam is spoiled also, she sleeps on the bed of a nighttime, but chooses to hide in hubby's closet and sleep on his clothes, during the day. 

Now that hubby's doctor has released him, he's going to start on the remodelling projects again. Hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll be able to take a bath in my nice new walk-in tub, with my scented candles for soft lighting and Deuter playing. To say I am so ready, is an understatement. That had been what I wanted to indulge in on Christmas Day ... but - of course - hubby's broken leg and surgery put paid to that idea. All the best laid plans, as they say.

Well, hubby will be home in a couple of hours and I'm going to do him a pizza tonight. Maybe a hot cup of soup to go with it. It's still chilly, still Winter, even if it's not frigid, so warm comfort food's the way to go!

Enjoy your evening!

Hubby goes back to work tomorrow!

 WOW! The past couple of months have been a roller coaster, that's for sure! Hubby's run-in with a pit bull, at the dog park, on November 4th last year started it all. 

He was at the park with Brunel, and Bru and his buddies were all zooming around. They ran towards Mark and all but one veered around him ... and the one headbutted his knee,  and that was how Mark fractured his tibia.

We ended up at the St Francis ER in Simpsonville, and then at Carolina Orthopaedic and Neurosurgical Associates in Greenville, they scheduled his surgery, and then he's had to have physical therapy twice weekly, since the surgery.

Today, he went back to see the surgeon, and was cleared to go back to work tomorrow. He goes ack again in 6 weeks to get totally cleared by them.

The past 2 months have been a pre-retirement of sorts, other than - because of him being incapacitated - none of my "honey-do" list got touched. The bathroom still awaits his tender touch to get the barebones (where we'd taken everything out just before his injury) tidied up, the pipes cut back and replaced, and a floorboard replacing, so that the new fittings (my walk-in bathtub, new vanity and the loo) can all be installed.

Tonight will be a "back to bed at 10pm" ready for the alarm waking us at 5am tomorrow, when I'll get up and fix him something to eat and a coffee, and pack his lunch, for him to get out the door.

Thankfully, he installed one of those automatic starters in his truck, so I can turn it on for him before he goes out there, so's it's warm and the windshield is clear.

I know they've missed him at work, so they'll be happy to see him tomorrow. He's basically the last old-timer there, the others retired last year. The younger guys are just learning so a few times Mark got calls asking about stuff.

Oh well, hopefully he'll do ok, those 10 hours may drag after so long not being there.

Brunel has a new little brother

Yesterday, my granddaughter-in-law, Lauren, came with me to Greenville County Animal Animal Care to adopt a puppy that I'd seen pictured on their website and "needing a home". His name was Geddy but - based on his whizzing around the yard as soon as we got him home - he's been renamed Lightning! Brunel loves his baby brother, and they get on really well together. Weirdly, Brunel growls warnings like the sounds like Chewbacca on Star Wars, and last night Lightning suddenly opened up with a hound-like yodel, so we are having some fun moments listening to them.

Overnight was quiet. Brunel isn't food or pen aggressive, and Lightning has gone into Bru's bed a few times, but overnight I shut him up in his own bed with his snuggly toys, and he slept really good from 11.30 until about 7am. We've had a few accidents but he's usually trying to go outside when it happens, and as soon as he is out, he pees and then runs off to find a place to do the other.

He seems to be a natural "sit-er". When he comes up for loving, he immediately sits, so I'm simply telling him to sit before he has chance to, and then giving him his treat, so that he knows the command. With me also doing the command with Bru, it's just reiterating it.

He is a darling, and already loves us and his big brother, and is having fun exploring everywhere. Being a puppy, we're going through the same thing we did Bru at this age ... we have to hide ALL FOOTWEAR or they disappear in the mouth of the small brown speedy monster that zooms off when he sees us watching him.