This week with my grandkids

Post # 73
"If I just knew how to operate that remote..."
          

                                                                     Taylor and I have the same hairstyle....

Taylor LOVES grabbing Casey's hair....

Taylor is talking to
Travis ....
 &  My daughter, Casey,
 and no, she did not win the lottery....
don't know where she got that shirt...
.but I wish....maybe she did, she gets to babysit Taylor, and Mason and Travis

watering with ice cubes

Post # 72  Gardening this summer has been a challenge.  Have I mentioned a dozen times that we need rain sooo bad?  In my quest to grow things in the horrible heat, drought, windblown area that I live in this is what I do for some plants....water with ice cubes.  I have two planters that consist of a long piece of rebar in the ground and pots strung on it at an angle.  Problem is since they are angled and clay pots and even moisture control potting soil can't seem to hold any water I place ice cubes in the pot in the hopes it will sink in to the roots before it evaporates. My verbenas seem to appreciate it.

In my flowerbeds and the portion of my garden that is planted directly in the ground I water by hand so that water only goes where the seeds or plants are growing.

When my grandsons and I plant anything we stick a stick in the ground so we know where we planted a seed so we only water that spot.  Some guys are remodeling the house next door.  I am sure they have gone home and said to their wive's "there is this demented old lady that stuck sticks in the ground and waters them.......must think she is going to grow trees!" That is ok, I like to think any amusement they get from the row of sticks I water makes up for the barking my dogs do at them all day! :) 

And I have high hopes for the veggies in my self watering buckets.  Love'm! Water goes in the bottom bucket, green stuff grows out the top bucket.  Note to self................next year recut the watering holes so they are round........like the hose!  (and I promise to not mention those buckets again!)

Hmm....strange things happen at my house

Post # 71   It is 100 degrees outside.  I grabbed the carton of ice cream out of the freezer, took the lid off to make myself an ice cream cone and discovered a cooked mac & cheese noodle in there.  In the ice cream carton. Did I mention my 9 & 10 year old grandsons have been here for a month?

turned to dust, gone to OK

Post # 70  I live in the Texas panhandle.  Our forecast for the next few days...Thurs -104 degrees, Fri -105, Sat -103, Sun -100 and Mon -101 and no rain to speak of since the first of the year.  I may have to change the name of this blog to "the dried up and blew away to somewhere in Oklahoma house." My Knock Out Roses are crispy, the new tender shoots on the crepe myrtles are black, my verbena's leaves are gray and my morning glories are shriveled.  We really, really need some rain.   On a positive note I can not say enough good things about my self watering buckets.  Go to http://www.globalbuckets.org/ to see how to make them.  My veggies I planted in my buckets are doing great even in this heat. Since the next several days will be just too hot to venture outside I am going to be forced to clean house. I'm starting with my bedroom, also known as the catch-all room....it may be days before I can dig my way out and post again.  I am in the middle of reading Par For the Corpse by T. Dawn Richard, a really good cozy mystery, and I am not going to let myself read another page until my room is spotless, fragrant, tidy and decluttered.  Gee, I hope the library will let me renew......

Any ideas??

post # 69    I have several garden hoses that I can not get unscrewed from the sprinkler or each other...does anyone know of anything I can soak the connections in to loosen it up so I can get them apart?

Oh My Gosh! These Are Good!

Post # 68    Decades ago I was a Girl Scout leader and that started my love affair with Samoa Girl Scout Cookies.  They now call them something else but they are so good whatever you call them.  I just found something that is similar.  Kellogg's Fiber Plus Antioxidant bars...I had never tried them before but my daughter told me about them tasting like my favorite Girl Scout cookie so I bought some. I got two of the 4 flavors...caramel coconut fudge (the ones like a Samoa cookie) and Dark Chocolate Almond.  YUM!  Like Pioneer Woman says..."ain't no paid commercial, I just wanted to share." and if you don't know Pioneer Woman you are missing out.  Her blog is http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

This and That

Post # 67
Where I live it was 106 degrees today.  The morning glories tall enough to climb my fence were beautiful yesteday but today they look pretty sad. 

So far this month we have had 8 days over 100 degrees; and rain, what is that???? none here.

I saw my first butterfly of the summer today.

It was time to renew with my cell phone provider and I got a free new phone.  It came today.  I have no idea how to text, get to my address book or anything else.  If it rings I do know how to answer! i think. Will be spending some time with the little booklet tonight. Oh, and I lost all of the phone #s I had stored in my old phone so if you want me to have your phone number please email me or text me.

our first squash of the year

If you give a kid a camera....

Post # 66
Travis ...a self portrait and some photos he took in the garden.....

tub  of watermelons....the ones just coming up are those small baby size melons....I've never bought one but I can hardly wait to try one.

                                                                         

Mason planting more watermelon seeds.  Stay tuned...we will see if melons do better in a tub with Miracle Grow Potting Mix or in rocky clay ground



Still no rain so Casey is watering at dusk

 

my favorite petunias



Andy's imagination!

Post # 65

I have had dogs all my life but Andy is such a character!  I never realized dogs had an imagination until Andy.  He has a stuffed dog that is his "baby"and he is a devoted papa.   Every night he decides it is bedtime and takes his baby and tucks him in Casey's bed, her laundry pile in the bedroom or sometimes Andy's dog bed and then Andy goes back to playing with Casey or his other toys.  Sometimes he takes his baby to the front door and looks at Casey like uh, my baby needs to go to the bathroom.  Obviously sometimes his baby is hungry because he will take him and leave him by the food dish and the in a little bit go back for him.  In Casey's living room the windows go all the way down to the floor.  He will get his baby and take him over to the window and leave him there while Andy goes back to whatever he was doing.  I am not sure if that means "ok, you guard the apartment for awhile" or if he thinks his baby needs to get some sun. One night he had tucked his baby in the corner of the couch under a blanket.  Andy started playing with a squeeky toy, squeeked it and then immediately swung his head around to look at his baby like "oh no! that squeek is gonna wake the baby!" then he jumped on the couch, grabbed his baby and took him to Casey's bed and then Andy went back to playing with his squeeky toy in the living room.    Andy just cracks me up and makes me laugh.

Aunt Casey, photographer Post # 64

 

My daughter, Casey, is my granddaughter Taylor's babysitter (my son Brent & his wife Kali are the parents) so she has plenty of opportunity to take photos. This is Taylor this week...and as grandma I can hardly wait to share them...we think she is a cute little sweetie!