Not Quite What I Planned

When I got up this morning I had in my mind to try to finish up my taxes, so after doing my morning computer time I ate breakfast and then did a load of dishes. I opened one of the cabinet doors next to the sink and was greeted by a couple ants.

This was not the first time I had noticed ants there, I usually just squish them as I see them, but today I decided that I would start taking things out of the cupboards and see if I could see where they were coming from.

Well, I emptied the middle shelf; killed a hundred or so, and then scrubbed down the shelf top, sides, back and the shelf itself. While I had the shelf empty I notice several more coming down from the top shelf, so I started taking things off that shelf as well and killed another fifty or so. So I scrubbed down the top, sides, back and the shelf itself.

While I had the top two shelves empty I took everything off the bottom shelf as well and did the same thing to it. Kathleen came down while I was "cleaning" the shelves and I asked her to decide what she wanted to put where on the shelves. Over the years we have had help putting things away and since it is just the two of us rattling around the house now we might as well have things where we want them.

I collected two plastic grocery bags of things that had ants in them and I did not feel like messing with them. I also found several items that we had been looking for that we had actually gone out and bought some more.

I finally had to call it quits about 1500 as my body was really aching. Which reminds me; I did think to make an appointment to see my doctor this Thursday to see if he can figure out what is really causing my hip to hurt so much. Kathleen finished putting things away and started the corn beef for tonight’s dinner.

Strange Day

I slept in until about 0800 this morning, I kind of knew that I would not be making it to church or Sunday School this morning. I was pretty sure that when I went to bed last night that I would be running low on energy this morning.

While I did feel like I had gotten a better nights sleep than I had been getting for the last week or so; my hip did not even hurt like it had lately either. My bowels were not quite as kind to me though.

I spent a good portion of my day in the bathroom, so I guess that it was a good thing that I had not tried to go this morning. I did manage to wash, dry, fold and put away two loads of laundry this morning. While I was washing the first load of laundry Kathleen had gone back to bed; I had not realized it until I took the first load upstairs to fold I saw this lump in the bed and since I did not see Kathleen I figured that she must be sleeping.

So I took the laundry back downstairs and folded it on the couch. I put it into the basket and took it upstairs; putting my things away and leaving her things in the basket. I had to do the same thing with the second load except that I did not have to go upstairs until I had the clothes folded.

This afternoon I thought that I needed to mow the lawn since it was not raining and it might be the only time for a while to get it done. So even though the grass was pretty wet I mowed it and it does look much better now that it is all the same length again.

Well, I am pretty worn out now...mostly from running to the bathroom on a pretty regular basis. My hip still feels pretty good even after making several trips up and down the stairs and mowing the lawn, so maybe that problem is behind me...I can only hope!

Sunny/Stormy Saturday

Well if anyone wanted different kind of weather than what we were having at the moment all they needed to do was wait five minutes and it would be different.

Most of the morning it was drizzling off and on, so I went out an pulled some more of the vines in the front of the house next to the house. Since most of it was protected by the fir trees it was not too bad to work out there while it was drizzling, but as soon as it started raining harder, I decided that I would go inside.

Alyssa called later on and wanted some iris for a gift for one of her neighbors, so while it was not raining out I went out and dug several of them up. I also found a couple cardboard boxes that she could use to put them in.

By the time I got cleaned up it was time to start getting ready for Brandon's birthday party, so after I got cleaned up and my clothes changed I made myself a couple of melted cheese sandwiches.

Kathleen came downstairs and we were all ready to go but she could not find her purse, so after fifteen minutes of looking I finally found it. I had slipped down between a chair and ottoman and neither one of us saw it.

We had a good time; all the children and grandchildren were there except Aaron, Tami and their girls. They celebrated Easter with Tami's family as this was the only time that worked out for them.

Brandon was having a good time walking all over the place; Andrea is really going to have her hands full when number two starts crawling. Brandon came walking over to me a couple times and wanted me to pick him up and throw him into the air. I did that for a while, while I was sitting on the couch and he really got to laughing and having a good time.

He was disappointed when I put him back down, but ol' grandpa is not as young as he once was. So when he came walking over to me, I knew what he wanted.

We finally left and Kathleen wanted to stop at the store for a while, I tried it for a while but my hip was hurting too much and I had to go out to the car.

Even though I got about ten hours horizontal time last night I did not sleep all that well, I kept waking up. A couple times I realized that my hip was hurting so I guess that every time I role over my hip hurts and I wake up. This getting old is certainly not as much fun as I though it might be.

Wet Ending to the Week

Yesterday was pretty wet, but the canal that I dug around the front walkway worked pretty well. I did have to use my hoe to increase the slope of the canal so that it would drain a little better. It now drains well enough that there is no longer the puddle in front of the front steps.

Last night Kathleen and I went over to Aaron and Tami's to watch their girls as they went out to eat and over to some friends house for desert. Toni and Chucky joined us a little later on after Chucky got off work. We actually got there for the early shift so that Aaron and Tami could leave when they needed and then we left early and Toni and Chucky got to put the girls to bed.

Today was another wet day so when I got up I was anxious to see if my canal was still working...it was. I also noticed that the dam that I built on the west side of the driveway was doing its job as well. Until I built that area up I would get all the water coming down the hill coming into my driveway. Now it just puddles up in the driveway to the east of us.

Andrea called about 1000 and wanted that to know if Kathleen could help watch Brandon while she made some birthday cakes for Brandon's first birthday party Saturday. Kathleen was not up yet so I told Andrea that I would have Kathleen call her when she got up.

Since it was so wet outside I knew that I would not be able to go outside and do anything, so I picked up the rugs in the kitchen, living room entrance and laundry room; shook them out and then loaded them into the washer. While they were washing I swept and mopped the kitchen and laundry room floor.

Aaron stopped by after he had taken his flight physical; he passed for level one which is for commercial pilots, he really only needed a level three for his private license, but it was nice to see that he was able to get the higher level as well.

After Aaron left I worked out in the garage for a while. Last week when I washed Kathleen's Acura I could not find my car washing bucket so I thought that I would unstack some things to see if I could come it underneath the pile...I did!

Kathleen finally left for Andrea's late this afternoon so I knew that I would be on my own for dinner. I remembered that there were a couple slices of meatloaf from the other evening in some aluminum foil, so I heated that up and put it between a couple slices of dark rye for dinner.

I am tired tonight, I usually get tired every afternoon and I think that I have figured out why. I realized that last night I was waking up about every half hour to an hour, I am not sure why I have been waking up so much, but that certainly could be the reason for my being so tired.

Changing Weather

This morning I went out and pulled some weeds in my large rose garden and then chopped up the lavender bush and the birds nest spruce. I had dug them out a couple weeks ago, but had not gotten around to chopping them up.

Kathleen took off for a while this afternoon and I took a nap in my chair. I probably should have mowed the lawn, as it looks like we are in for a few days of rainy weather and I am not sure when I will be able to mow again.

When Kathleen came home I woke up; she had stopped by the German Deli and picked up some German potato salad which we had tonight along with the rest of the turkey Kielbasa that she cooked in an onion and cream sauce. She also steamed some asparagus spears. This time of year asparagus is so good.

Aaron and Alexis just come over; they usually stop by on Wednesday nights as they take Becca to AWANA and then spend that time with us.

With that said I think that I will call it quits for tonight.

Wondering about the Weather

I have been really tired the last few days even though I have been getting nine to ten hours sleep at night. I have not been doing that much during the day either so I am not sure why I have been so tired.

Saturday I panted for a couple hours and Sunday I did several loads of laundry so none of that should have tired me out. Then yesterday I moved some stepping stones which was kind of hard physically, but I only did it for about an hour. I also did some more pruning on the roses by the back stairwell and that was not physical at all.

Then this I assembled some of my yard equipment that I had gotten delivered UPS yesterday; that took a couple hours, but was not difficult or physically tiring. This afternoon we went to Costco and spent a lot more money than I thought that we would. I was thinking maybe a little over a hundred dollars but it was over three hundred instead. It is really hard to go there and not spend a lot of money.

Tonight Kathleen heated up some of the left-over beef stew that she made the other night. I found some really lean beef stew meat at Winco last week and it really made a good stew.

I do not feel as tired tonight as I have and I only had seven hours sleep last night so I do not know what is up. Today the weather folks had said that the rain would be turning to showers this afternoon, but unless I missed something in did not rain today at all. I did feel a couple sprinkles as we were leaving for Costco but that was it.

I know that it did rain last night but that is all the real rain that I remember today. We have had a really dry month so far; it has also been pretty warm as well, no records but nice days.

A Quiet Day

I made my morning pot of coffee then I let my oatmeal and flax seed soak for a while as I read the paper and drank my coffee. Andrea called mid morning and said that she and Brandon were coming over today. The got here a little after 1100 and stayed until after 1400. I got to play with Brandon while Kathleen helped Andrea fix some of her knitting and then I heated up some left-over noodles, turkey Kielbasa and the sauce.

By the time Andrea and Brandon left I was too late to do anything outside; it also was not that nice a day, not rainy, just kind of damp feeling all day. So with my back and everything else hurting as much as they have I decided to skip a day. I did pay some bills online, just so that I could say that I accomplished something today.

Tonight Kathleen reheated the left-over meatloaf and baked potato and heated up some corn. We still had some left-over and there is still one whole meatloaf that we have not cut into.

The weather is suppose to be a little wet for the next couple of days although they have said that most of the rain might be in the evenings and at night, so that may not be too bad.

A Digging Day

After putting away the dishes in the dishwasher and eating breakfast I washed the frying pans and loaded up the dishwasher with my breakfast dishes. Andrea called and said that she was coming over later in the day, but right now they were in the process of having their old deck, three month old) was being taken down and a new larger deck being put in to take it's place.

After talking to her for a while I gave the phone to Kathleen to talk for a while and I went outside and dug up more of the vines that had taken over the flower beds next to the house in front. Aaron came over while I was working on it with his latest guitar. This one is for someone he use to work with and is all green with shamrocks and a wolf inlays.

My back started hurting too much so I stopped, cleaned up my tools and cleaned up myself and visited with Aaron for a while. He showed me the PDA/GPS combination that he is getting for his flying. Flying has been in his blood since he was a little boy and I hope that he is able to realize his dream. Both his mother and I love to fly so it was no surprise to us that he inherited this desire to fly.

When I worked at Boeing I had several friends who had their own planes and we would go flying quite frequently. There is just something peaceful about being up there and away from the hustle and bustle. It also makes one realize just how small we are when one gets up a couple thousand feet and looks down at the earth below.

I had another friend at Boeing who was a pilot in the Air Force reserve and I took Aaron out to see him and he let Aaron get inside his F-4 (so you can see how long ago that was), and that led Aaron to want to become a pilot in some branch of the military. He was really disappointed when he could not because of his football injuries.

I had mixed emotions about that, as much as I would love for him to have been able to do that I was also glad that he would not have to go into the military. I did not have a bad experience with the Air Force, but I think that my experience was somewhat unusual.

Coming out of an ROTC program I seemed to get special treatment where ever I went. I know that I seemed to make rank quicker than most everyone else and seemed to land pretty cushy assignments...not a typical experience for most people who were in during the Viet Nam War.

After Aaron left I made myself some lunch and then took a snooze in my easy chair as I was really tired. Kathleen just took off to visit one of our friends who has a bad sinus infection. We bought some miniature daffodils the other day and she is taking over a card and a pot of daffodils.

Before she left she made a pan of meatloaf and put some potatoes in the over for dinner tonight. Andrea never made it over here today; she must have gotten busy with the deck rebuild.

Nice Weather Returns

Yesterday was an okay kind of day, not by summer standards, but for an Oregon winter day...not bad! Today was a really nice day by any standard, my iPod tells me that it got up to fifty-nine degrees today, while that is not quite up to summer standards it is still a nice temperature and only about ten to fifteen degrees from my ideal temperature.

While I was checking the temperature I also looked at how my investments were doing and all but two finished in the green and they only finished a total of .82 in the red. For the last couple of weeks they have been up and down like a yo-yo; a little unnerving, but overall they are doing pretty good compared the Dow or even the Standard and Poor's 500 index, so I really cannot complain.

Aaron called and talked to Kathleen for quite a while and then I got on the phone and talked to him. He is excited about starting flying again; I think that he said Monday would be his first flight and that he is hoping to go several times a week. I think he inherited the desire to fly from both his parents so that poor kid did not stand a chance.

This afternoon after the sun dried the dew off the grass I mowed again, and after I mowed I redid the contour of the rose garden...just a little. I made it a little rounder at the arch where the clematis is growing at the entrance to the garden path.

After finishing that up I went inside and cleaned up. Then I made my self some lunch. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and turned it on then I took a short nap in my easy chair.

Kathleen was out most of this afternoon so I just kind of goofed off this afternoon. Tonight for dinner we had some whole grain noodles and a half of a turkey Kielbasa with a cream sauce and some peas. It must be the German in me because I could eat that kind of thing just about every day.

Working with Wet Weather

This weekend was not too bad, I was able to work outside Sunday for a couple hours edging and pulling weeds around the rose garden and the connecting side of the blueberry patch. My hip had been really hurting for the last couple of days so I thought that sitting out in the sunshine might help.

Well the just sitting part only lasted a little while until I decided to get out my mat and work on the border of the rose garden. It is in pretty good shape now and I hope that I will be able to keep it that way throughout the summer.

I have a few bare areas in the path of the rose garden so I will need to chip up some more branches and fill those in. I also have an area where I changed the direction of the path a little; where I have moved some of the lily's that I will need to add some chipped branches to designate the pathway better.

I finally got my hair cut Saturday; I can no longer put my hair up in a pony tail and I have to take in the slack in the back of my caps so that they fit better. I think that the last time I had gotten my hair cut was sometime last summer so it had gotten slightly ragged and long in the back especially.

I was outside when it started to drizzle this morning, around 0915 and so I spent most of the rest of the day inside. I was going to sand the stairs some more, but Kathleen needed to take a nap, so I worked in my office instead. I got my computer desk mostly cleaned off, so at least now I can see the top of it. I also cleaned off the spare chair next to my desk so that someone can even sit in it now. I also picked up some of the junk that had been gathering on the floor around the stationary bike so now I can even peddle it if I get motivated enough.

The weather is suppose to get nice again, with the temperature getting back into the sixties so I am looking forward to that. I still have a lot of yard work to get done, and if I do not get it done now it becomes almost impossible to do especially when I will be having to mow twice a week.

The Return of the "Normal" Weather

It was more overcast this morning when I got up, and as the day went on the clouds became closer together. After breakfast I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up and then went outside and worked on pulling the grass growing in the flower bed on the other side of the sidewalk from the driveway.

After I got the weeds pulled I re-dug the channel to drain the water off the sidewalk into the garden. Once I had that dug I decided that I would start pulling out the vines that have been taking over the flower beds next to the house. I managed to get the west side bed seventy-five done and the other side along the house but my wrists were hurting too much to continue.

After putting my tools away, I cleaned up and then emptied the dishwasher. Then I made myself some reduced sodium soup that Andrea gave me as she did not like the way it tasted. My children know that I can eat almost anything and this was no exception. I actually could not tell much difference in the cream of celery soup that I made today from the regular stuff.

After I finished eating I put my bowl in the dishwasher and then went back outside as I had noticed some ants on the foundation when I was pulling the vines out. So I got my gallon of insect spray out and sprayed the foundation on the two sides and the front. I did not do the back as I need to pull some of the thyme away from the house but I have not noticed any ants on the back side of the house anyway.

After cleaning up I sat in my chair and took a nap for a while. I seemed to have a little more energy today, but still not very much. Around 1600 I heard a car drive by and I could tell that there was water on the street. I had just started raining and so I had to go out on the porch and "smell" the rain.

Even in the "rainy season" it is still nice to smell the rain when it has not rained for a couple weeks. Tomorrow it is suppose to be rainy most of the day; I think that it might be a good thing for the plants that I have transplanted.

Well, I am doing this as I watch Fox News, because I know that if I wait until after we eat I probably will be too tired and it will not get done.

More Nice Weather

This is the forth day in the sixties with now rain either; for this part of the country and this time of year that is unusual. I think it was two or three years ago that we had a snow storm...how times change.

I played out in my garden again today, since I seem to only have a couple hours where I have any kind of energy I might as well take advantage of the nice weather. I transplanted some lily plants that were growing in the new walkway that I have created with the chippings that I made from the branches and other things.

I also pruned the roses a little more, more for making them look better more than any other reason, although a couple I cut just because I could see that they would be growing into the walkway when summer got here.

I also gathered up a couple piles of brush, mostly from the lavender bush that I took out a few weeks ago, but there were also some raspberry stalks as well.

I also fertilized the blueberry shrubs in hopes that we will get another harvest like we got last year. I am not sure if it was the fertilizing or just a good year for blueberries, but I want to do whatever I can to encourage a lot of berries.

After going in the house and making myself some lunch, I went back out and mowed the lawn for the second time this year. I think that my reprieve from mowing has come to an end and I will be mowing at least once a week until the hot dry summer weather stunts the growth of the grass. This time of year the lawn really looks nice all green and healthy.

After cleaning up and sitting down for a while I sat down in my chair and took a nap for a while. Our neighbor called and woke me up, she said that one of my refund checks had been dropped off at her house and wanted to meet me at the back fence to give it to me. I received the first one earlier in the week and when I checked the web site it said that they both had been mailed out so I had been waiting for it.

I did not want to go to the bank and just deposit one of them and was getting a little concerned when the second one had not shown up.

It finally got to be 1745 and Kathleen still had not made it back home today so I reheated the left-over spaghetti from last night for dinner. She called just as I was cleaning up my dinner mess and loading up the dishwasher and said that she was on her way home.

A Day of Digging

Today started out really foggy but as soon as the fog burnt off it turned out to be a really nice day. I think that the temperature got up to around sixty degrees today and there was not very much wind either so that made for a good day. The weather folks are saying that our winter is officially over and do not expect anymore chance of snow of below freezing weather...I like that!

I went outside about 1115 and started puttering around the gardens; I dug up some holy seedlings, and moved them to west of the driveway. I also dug up more fox glove plants and moved some to the west side of the garage and others along the east fence line.

After a while I decided to sit a while in my Adirondacks chair and rest for a while. Even though I had not done a lot of work, I was really tired and I am learning that I need to rest a lot more than I use to.

After resting for a half hour or so I went back to transplanting fox glove plants. Say Andrea you were asking about what you could plant out back; I have several more fox glove plants that I will be moving so if you want any of them let me know.

About 1430 I went back into the house, cleaned up and made myself some lunch. After putting my dishes into the dishwasher I sat down in my easy chair and took a little nap.

Kathleen had come downstairs, so I had her go outside with me to show me which ferns she wanted me to move to the front where I took the Bird's Nest Spruce. So now I have a project for tomorrow if I can muster up enough energy.

Tonight made some Ivar's clam chowder for dinner and added a little hot Hungarian paprika to it to spice it up a little. I only had a bowl as it only made enough for two bowls.

Bye Bye Bird's Nest Spruce

Today is about the eleventh day with the weather in the fifties. The weather has been unseasonably warm and almost dry for the last couple of weeks. I think that it has only rained part of three days and most of that has been in the evenings leaving the days dry and somewhat sunny.

After my walk today; and I cut it short as I could feel my hip starting to get that little tinge to it that usually proceeds it really hurting, I rested a little. Then feeling a little like I needed to be doing something; I decided that I would trim some more off the Bird's Nest Spruce. I reached a point and then decided that I would get my shovel and stubbing hoe out and actually take it out.

It came out rather easily and the roots did not go into the lawn and were pretty small in diameter so that after I chopped a couple of the larger roots I was able to push it over. I think that I will transplant a couple ferns in the spot where it was.

The ferns are smaller and I already have them on the other side of the walkway. I am even thinking about adding another cement stepping stone on the other side of the walkway to give a larger area to come in from the front lawn.

Even though I did not expend a lot of energy digging out the spruce I was tired enough that I needed to take a nap this afternoon. I seem to have just enough energy to complete one task a day...this is getting pretty old.

Later this afternoon I spent some time in the kitchen killing ants; one of the things that I seem to be doing a lot of lately. They seemed to have found an open bag of hard Christmas candy we are talking hundreds of them. So I took everything out of the bottom shelf and wiped everything down and then the shelf down as well. Even after dinner I was still finding a few stragglers but nothing like what I found this afternoon.

A Day at the Doctor's

Last night when we got home, after watching the total eclipse of the moon, around 2000 we had a message on the phone reminding Kathleen that she had an appointment with her sleep doctor. I reminded her that she had also agreed to watch Brandon at the same time, so she called Andrea and Andrea was able to get Toni to watch him.

This morning we took off to Tigard for her appointment. We were there for over an hour and we got home about 1230. I changed clothes and went outside to see about pruning the Rose of Sharon. Kathleen came outside just as I had gotten started and said that she had made an appointment with our G.P., and wanted to know if I wanted to go with her.

So I stopped what I was doing and changed clothes again. We no sooner got seated when the nurse called her in. They did some blood work, a chest x-ray and an EKG and they all looked good. She had been having some pain in her breast bone area and her sleep doctor suggested that she check with her G.P.

After finishing with the doctor we stopped at Home Depot so that I could pick up some Soil Sweet for the lawn and also some ant killer to spread around outside and also some spray for the inside. After that we stopped at Fred Meyer to pick up several prescriptions for Kathleen.

When we got home I put the soil sweet into the garage and went inside and changed clothes again. Then I went outside and put the soil sweet on the lawn and then put the ant pellets around the east side of the house.

We finished the deli sandwiches, cold slaw and potato salad that Kathleen had brought home last night. So we got three meals out of it, not too bad, I can remember the days when we would have finished eating it in one sitting.

Another Almost Nice Day

This morning after making and eating breakfast, reading the paper and emptying the dishwasher I decided that I would try to get the Jeep through DEQ. So I changed my clothes and took off. I passed without any problem but when it came to the paperwork the DMV put the wrong fee on it. I told them that I would pay the higher fee even though they did not have it on the paperwork.

Finally I talked the attendant into having his boss make the decision; so after a little deliberation he agreed that I could pay the higher fee without having to go back to the DMV. It would not be so bad except for the fact that the wait is long and I already had to make an extra trip there because the had not put the correct information into the computer two years ago.

I changed to salmon plates two years ago rather than ordinary plates so I have to pay a little extra every time that I renew them. I do not mind it too much because it does go toward a good cause.

Once I got everything signed off and got my new 2009 tags I drove off. As soon as I got to a place where I could stop, I stopped and put the new stickers on the plates. I did not want to drive any more than I already had with expired plates. I had passed a couple police cars on the way to DEQ and did not want to press my luck.

On the way home I stopped and got gas for the Jeep, I had not filled up since last July, so it had been seven months on that last tank of gas. At that rate I almost do not care what they charge for gas, although I noticed when I was logging in my fuel consumption that gas had gone up about twenty cents a gallon since I last bought it. Of course it has gone down and back up in the course of the last seven months.

When I got home the garbage truck had just left so as soon as I put the Jeep back into the garage I gathered up the garbage can, the yard debris barrel and the two recycling bins. On my way back with the recycling bins I also picked up the mail. So since I had the recycling bin, I went in the house through the back door so that I could drop off one of the bins in the back porch.

There seemed to be a lot of catalogs and magazines in the mail today, of course there was no mail yesterday so that might explain some of the extra reading material.

After reading the mail, I made myself some of the butternut squash that I got from Alyssa last week and also had a couple pieces of toast to go along with it. This time I added a little cayenne to the soup...well maybe it was more than a little, and it did give it a good flavor.

I did not get a lot done the rest of the day, I had thought about going outside and working in the yard, but since I put the fertilizer on the lawn yesterday I thought that I would wait until it rained again before doing anything in the yard. Besides it was starting to get a little chilly, the temperature did not make it to sixty today; I think that it only got to about fifty-six degrees or so but there was a pretty strong east wind blowing.

I was going to trim off the rest of the branches from the birds nest spruce, but I thought that I would wait as it will be another two weeks before the yard debris gets picked up again. I spent a good portion of the afternoon killing ants; it seems that the warm weather the last couple of days has had the ants out looking for new digs.

I will leave you with this Pickles cartoon; it is rather appropriate only the one with the glasses on their head is usually Kathleen. Unfortunately the Pickles cartoon has more truth to it in our lives these days, but it is still pretty funny most of the time.

Here is the web address as the picture is a wee bit tiny:

http://www.comcast.net/data/comics/pickles.gif

Taking a Mental Health Moment

I thought that everyone could use a little mental health moment!

Enjoy!

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=dfdwvqns_0dnz4kgdz#

Springtime in February

For the past three days the temperature has been in the high fifties to low sixties, so it has been really a tease as to what I have been missing for the last several months. Tomorrow the "normal" weather is suppose to return, so that means rain.

I have been doing some things the last couple of days, but today I started out by transplanting fifty or so daffodils and tulips that I had in a couple planters. I put them around an old apple stump that is just about ready to fall over.

After I finished that I decided that I would give my roses their spring pruning, so I got out my good pruners and gave them a haircut. I probably will be doing a little more thinning later this spring, but I want to wait until they start to bush out a little before I do anything too drastic.

After dumping the rose clippings into the yard debris barrel, I decided that I would transplant some of my raspberries that were growing in places where I would rather they not. I put them in the rows where the rest of the raspberries where but were a little thin.

I had just about gone in the house when I thought to myself that the weather was so nice and the grass was dry...so I thought I would see if I could give the grass in the front yard a haircut as well.

I was a little surprised at just how much I was cutting so when I finished the front lawn I did the back lawn as well. It is just about this time of year where the grass can really start getting ahead of me; between the grass being too wet or my not having time to do it.

Just to make sure that the grass grows really well, after I finished mowing I decided that I would put down the rest of the Scott's winter fertilizer from last fall. I thought that I would only have enough to do the front lawn, but I had just enough to do the back lawn as well.

My poor fertilizer spreader is broken, it actually broke last fall, but I thought that I would wait until spring to get another one. I still need to do that as it was really hard on my wrists trying to hold down the stub of a lever that allows the fertilizer to drop at the correct rate.

Well, it is late afternoon, but I though that before I got too tired I would jot down a few notes. So that is all that I can remember from today.

Beautiful Weekend

This certainly has been a great weekend...well at least for the middle of winter. Yesterday I roto-tilled the garden; it took a couple hours; most of it was cleaning out the tines of mud. It really was kind of gumbo like, but at least now it will have a chance to dry out a little so that it will be easier to do the next time.

After I finished roto-tilling I went into the house and took a shower as we needed to go pick up Natalie before going to Andrea and John's. My wrists and fore arms were so sore from rototilling for several hours.

We had a good time celebrating Chucky's twenty-eighth birthday and had lots of good food to eat. The grandchildren had a great time playing with each other and it was amazing that six children can get along so well and play without fighting.

By the time we got home last night I was too tired to do much beside go to bed. It tool me a while to get to sleep as my body was so sore that it was hard to get comfortable, but when I finally did I slept well.

This morning I was still pretty sore and so I did not try to go to church, Kathleen did not wake up until after noon, so neither of us made it today. Then this afternoon I started feeling better so I went outside and transplanted about a hundred fox glove plants a couple roses and one hydrangea.

After digging and transplanting for a couple hours I set up my Adirondack chair out and sat out in the sun for a half hour or so. It sure felt good to sit in the sunshine for a while. There is something that I do not get to do much in the winter.

Then tonight Kathleen made some stir fry using the left over duck from Gustav's the other night and she added some rice, carrots and broccoli. There was enough left-over for me to have it again for lunch some day.

Well, I am sore again tonight from all the digging, but it is a good kind of sore and I would much rather be sore from working outside in the sun and fresh air than just being sore for no good reason. I think with all the fresh air, I should be able to sleep well again tonight.

Days with the Grand Children

In the last three days I have seen all of our grandchildren. First Andrea and Brandon stopped by for several hours to see us on Wednesday; they yesterday Aaron and Tami stopped by with Becca and Alexis and I gave them their Valentine's Day chocolates; and then today we stopped by to see Alyssa, Natalie, Zander and Hayden and give the children their chocolates.

We were out in Gresham at the DMV getting the paperwork that I needed to take my Jeep through DEQ, so while we were there we thought that we would go visit the other grandchildren. Dan was at Mount Hood Community College where he teaches part time and so we did not get to see him.

Alyssa gave us a large freezer bag of butternut squash, so when we got home I made a pot full and had it for a late lunch along with a glass of organic buttermilk that she gave me as well. I had not eaten since breakfast, so by the time that we got home around 1630 I was more than a little hungry.

Tomorrow is Chucky's birthday, so we should see almost everyone again as we are all meeting at Andrea and John's to celebrate. Tomorrow is going to be a little busy for me as I have men's breakfast in the morning and then later in the afternoon it is off to Andrea and John's.

We have not gotten to do anything with the remodeling lately, we need to get busy and finish priming the upstairs so that we can put the sub floor down and then paint and put the flooring down. Our upstairs rooms are full with all the things that we took out of the hall way and landing so we need to get those things out so that we can use the other rooms.

Yesterday I took Kathleen out to Gustav's German Pub & Grill in Clackamas for dinner. She had a roasted duck in apricot sauce with green beans and mash potatoes and I had three kinds of sausages with sauerkraut, red cabbage and German potato salad. Then for desert Kathleen had a chocolate mousse and I had a dark chocolate cheesecake; we both had a cup of decaf coffee to wash it all down.

When we were done the just rolled us out into the parking lot and then we drove home. By the time we got back I was too tired to blog so I thought that I would just wait until today to do two for one.

I guess that this is about enough for today; I think that I have run out of words for now.