the little wild kingdom

[flowerbug]

turned on the AC today for the first time this cooling season. after getting the new filter in there and also to check out that it was working ok. it didn't come on at first, so i turned it off again and let it all reset. sometimes these electronic gizmos need a reset and to think it over again before you give it another try. 2nd time later this afternoon it all came on like it should. hopefully will only let it run for a while longer to get the humidity out of the house and after the sun fades a bit.

it's been a good unit so far with only one service call in 26yrs - that was the mice chewing through the wires that took it out. guy who came out to do the service call checked it all out and said it was doing fine.

 

[flowerbug]

mushroom season.

 

[flowerbug]

today is the 3rd garden club meeting. i'm going to bring some things to work on and seeds to give away. with the forecast for rain today at least i won't be thinking i could be out gardening.

i do need to keep at the weeding and am pretty much ready for planting in quite a few places so all is as on schedule as it can be, just have to work around the weather and other family things as it goes along.

the culvert did get replaced at the end of the driveway. we'll need to figure out what else we'll do out there (along the edges). the old culvert was completely rusted out along the bottom after 26 years. the end of the driveway looked nice for about 4 days and then we had rains and the dump trucks ran over the end making it back into a mess again. it really needs to be cemented or asphalted and we don't really have the $ for that.

yesterday's tree trimming was unexpected. the ISP contacted me last week saying that they needed to do a check on the alignment of the small dish it uses. no problem with me. yesterday morning they showed up and after a bit they said that the signal was too weak and that they'd like to move the dish. well, er, not really going to happen so they suggested trimming some trees that were blocking the signal. so i told them i could have them trimmed within the day and then they could get their stronger signal. it was quite fun and a challenge to work with substandard muscles and tools up on the ladder, but Mom was able to help and to hold the ladder. so we got it done with a few short breaks and some lunch in there. interrupted too by farm spraying for weeds, but luckily the wind wasn't blowing into the trees directly. i called them to let them know the trees were trimmed and said if they needed anything else to give me a call back. i guess the main issue was that with a weak and varying signal their tower had to keep changing what it was doing to compensate and that was making things bad for everyone else using that tower. ok. makes sense with me...

as usual we'll see how it goes...

 

[flowerbug]

as usual i continue to try to lose a few extra lbs. i'm doing ok. in recent weeks i've been trying to eat more vegetables and cut back on snacks at night. not always easy... a few weeks ago we were going to make some veggie pizza for a Mother's Day family event (so that the other mother would not have to cook ). Mom bought some heads of broccoli and cauliflower and there were leftovers so i had to eat them up. i also wanted Mom to buy some coleslaw mix of shredded cabbages and carrots so i could eat that as i find eating lettuce just doesn't do enough for me.

it has turned out very well, for dinner i have a decent sized bowl of coleslaw or the shredded mix with other dressings on there and it takes me some time to eat it so i'm feeling pretty satisfied with all that crunching and chewing going on. if i am getting tired of coleslaw with mayo dressing i can put something else on there. one dressing i do like is strawberry jam with yellow mustard. it hits all my sweet-and-sour cravings. even if there is some sugar in that it still isn't nearly the same number of calories as a full meal. bacon, cheese, onions, beans, etc can also go in there or if i want something heated up i can nuke it for a bit.

the added benefit is regularity. this all keeps the system moving right along on schedule. hahaha!

 

[flowerbug]

garden club meeting was fun, i talked too much. still good to talk to fellow gardeners in person and share some things about tomatoes, garlic, onions and the naked seeded squash. we also talked about fences, morels, cattle panels, groundhogs, mice, voles, moles, squirrels, deer and adventures in woodland or field living.

hope we will pick up garden plant starts today.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Glad the garden club meeting went well! Are you getting any more participation? Yay for starts!!

 

[Mini Horses]

Nice you do this garden club adventure. Hope it grows.

I absolutely LOVED the pic of that tiny killdeer and it's parent. You almost miss it in the pic. So tiny! Nice memory. We have them here...my only gravel is the driveway. Ya know how that ends.

There is an old newspaper box out by my mailbox. Haven't had that delivery in over 6 yrs. But, when I went to remove in a few yrs back, found a nest and tiny eggs. Every year now they repeat. . So it's still there!

 

[flowerbug]

... Every year now they repeat. . So it's still there!

you have repeepers!

 

[flowerbug]

Glad the garden club meeting went well! Are you getting any more participation? Yay for starts!!

so far it isn't increasing, so the few people who've showed up haven't normally been coming back. there are two of us who've made every meeting and one very solid third person who's a great person and i hope will continue to be there.

suggestions being thought about how to reach more people and different age groups but i'm not really a cheerleader type of person so we'll see what shakes out with that. also the suggestion was to have a topic for each month to give people something to grab onto instead of the general ideas i have on the flyer which is posted on the bulletin board. worms are a pretty good topic and i'll try that for the next month's meeting - need to redo my worm page anyways so this will give me a good reason to do that.

 

[flowerbug]

peas and beans are sprouting and coming up.