New for the Garden

Went shopping last Monday evening at Home Depot and found this beautiful birdbath. It has hummingbirds and flowers all over it.

They thought they wanted $42.99 but Mom had no intention of paying that much for it. She talked to 4 different people, pointed out the chips in the concrete and that it was left over from last year and finally got it for $25.00. We loaded it up and headed home very happy.

I found some hens and chicks while there

mini iris trying to make a comeback

they almost died out this past year

Wild Cat watching us unload our purchases

and staying well out of our way

tulip blooming by the porch

more tulips in the back yard

jane magnolias

blooming along the front of the flower garden

Velvet

checking out the truck while I'm loading it

apparently I disturbed him

trying to decide whether to jump or not

Leland Cypress trees for Jennifer's house

Lowe's has them for $8.50, their new low price

they were $14.98, we grabbed 4 of them

Rain, Rain Go Away

The Bomb

Alan gave Mom and I his old truck which we accepted with the condition he would keep it running. So, he gave me a list of 5 things that needed worked on and asked me to bring it to work for our mechanic to work on. I told Alan I would do this on Friday so Thursday night he drove it out of the back field and around the house and backed it in the driveway so I could just pull out in the morning. And I'm the one that chose Friday - dumb.

I woke up I don't know how many times Thursday night. Not a good start to Friday. It was still raining and dark when I left the house for work. Really not a good start to my day.

First Off, I load the trash for the dumpster and notice Alan left a box of empty beer bottles in the back of the truck -- no tailgate. I picked them up and the box falls apart and old beer runs down my leg. I cuss, go back into the house for a bag to put them in while trying to keep the cats outside. I didn't want the beer bottles rolling out of the truck going to work -- I could just see a ticket from the cops for that one. I finally get everything in the truck and left 1 cat in the house and I'm ready to go. It starts right off and keeps on running. My day is perking up I thought. Then in the dark I am looking for the lights and windshield wipers. I pull on the 1 knob and it comes off -- oops. Try and finally get it back on and turn it instead, the wipers start working. Now I'm looking for the lights and no more knobs but there is a stick thing so I twist and pull and twist some more. Lights finally come on I think -- who knows how -- surely not me. I pull out the driveway and stop at the church to see if the lights are really on -- they are shining on the church sign so on I go to work. It is still dark and raining.

I get to the post office to pick up work's mail and damn. I have to roll the window all the way down so I can open the truck door and it is still raining.

I get to work and turn off the wipers and try to turn off the lights. Since I don't know what turned them on I start pulling, pushing and twisting that stick thing. It finally pushes in and the lights go off. Now time to get out and damn, it is still raining so I roll the window down to open the door so I can go in and start my day.

The Bomb being worked on

Had to bring the truck back to work on Monday and I must say no rain helped tremendously. We are back to running like we should and the door handle is now fixed. Can't get much better than that.

Sandy

Our Hero

When Jennifer's house was built the builder decided to make it really tight and blew insulation all around the foundation blocks. He then put insulation under the floors through out the house which rested on top of the AC duct work. Needless to say this year we had a problem. We have had very high humidity this summer and that along with the condensation from the AC ducts was absorbed into the insulation and up into the sub floors and right on up into the house which has caused the floors to buck up. The insulation from under the floors had to come out so Aaron spent part of his Friday under her house pulling down insulation so Mom and I could haul it to the outside opening and Aaron's Mom could bag it up for the dump since Jennifer's home owners insurance company "Travelers" would not approve the claim. They only pay if it was an act of nature or someone ran a car into her house. We could never have gotten this done in 1 day without their help.

Aaron -- Our Hero

Our opening to the dungeon -- there is enough room under the house to duck walk and crawl on your knees -- we had a good laugh at each other pulling and tugging the insulation back and forth to this opening -- thank goodness no one had their camera handy at this point.

Finished just as Jennifer was getting off of work -- we ran out of bags and were waiting for her to pick some up on her way home from work. We let her help us bag all this mess.

truck load #1 for the dump

truck load #2 for the dump

Sandy